Kripotkin: Valedictory
By Alfred A. Yuson, The Philippine Star 

April 4, 2011—[A] couple of weeks ago I got a series of SMS from my grandson Francis, now 17. And one of his texts actually made this lolo [grandfather] cry.

First off, he said he’d be happy if I could show up at his high school graduation from Christian Harvest Academy, which was held last Tuesday at the grand ballroom of Bellevue Hotel in Filinvest. Next, he said I could even join in for dinner after the rites. Then he dropped the bombshell. He was valedictorian of their high school class.

Now, most of you readers might well ask, what and where is this Christian Harvest Academy, and did it have more than half-a-dozen guys graduating from high school? The first answer is that it’s a private school that used to be in Parañaque, where Francis lives, until its transfer to the FTI complex in Taguig City. The second is that yes, quite a number of students can now claim to be high school alumni of CHA, which has existed for close to three decades, and ranks rather high academically as far as this lolo has heard, not just from his apo.

Of course I fulfilled my apostolic obligations not just as a matter of form, but with relish and pride, as it isn’t every lolo who can say that a grandchild of his was valedictorian of his high school class. There’s something about being No. 1, top of the class, that induces tears of joy, nostalgia and pride in even the most hard-boiled fool or soft-hearted clown, take your pick.

I cried, regretting as well that I wouldn’t be able to reward him fittingly, like, say, perhaps with his first Porsche. When I had recovered sufficiently from my emo vulnerability, I placed a voice call to ask for more details. He has a choice, I learned, between UP and Ateneo, having passed the entrance exams for both of these flakey institutions that remain close to my own heart.

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Lost in translation
By Ronald S. Lim, Manila Bulletin

MANILA, March 26, 2011—The issue of language is an oft-debated one in the country's literary circles.

There are those who advocate the use of the mother tongue, saying that it is the only one capable of expressing the nuances of the Filipinos' everyday life.

On the other hand are those who extol the virtues of the English language, saying that it opens up the country's writers to a wider readership.

But as the recent forum entitled “Writing the Asian Experience” reveals, the problem of language and literature is not unique to the Philippines – former colonies of English-speaking countries grapple with these issues as well.

Speaking at the forum were Vikas Swarup, bestselling author of Slumdog Millionaire, and Palanca-winning author Alfredo “Krip” Yuson.

The two discussed how the writers of their respective countries, being former colonies of English-speaking countries, dealt with the issue of which literary language to use.

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Think, speak English!
By Mila C. Espina, SunStar.com.ph

March 28, 2011—Teaching and learning a second language, like English for Filipinos, is sometimes difficult, if learners confuse or mix it with their native tongue. Certainly, comparing the first and the second languages may be helpful in some areas of linguistics, but, still, there is need to focus on the target language. Think and speak English, not think in the native tonque, then directly translate it to English, (here is where the confusion begins).

Cebu is an English hub and many schools and training institutions develop programs to develop the speaking and writing skills of local and foreign students, from the lowest grade level to tertiary. Never before have companies been so bent on requiring employees and applicants to acquire English proficiency. Presently, learning English in the schools is complemented by enhancement programs offered by training centers which have multiplied through the years.

Speechcom, one of the pioneers (1976-to the present) has enriched its English and communication and related areas—like rhetorics, public speaking; theater arts; social and business usage; grammar/composition and journal writing; music and choreography—to cope with the needs of students from pre-school to grade and high school, then college and professionals…

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Philippines needs new curriculum to improve math, science education

MANILA, March 17, 2011—Why has science and mathematics education in the Philippines deteriorated?

According to a University of the Philippines (UP) expert, this is because local education persisted in using an obsolete discipline-based curriculum in math and science (which is mostly by rote and without much inquiry and high level of thinking) already rejected as early as 1993 by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

Dr. Merle Tan, UP NISMED (National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development) director, said the present math and science curriculum has produced questionable results in the performance of students in the yearly achievement tests which are below those in other countries.

Also, Tan said, the present curriculum does not consider the high drop-out rate in local education and is not responsive to the needs of students who might leave school at a particular grade level.

“There seems to be a serious gap between science and mathematics education as it is practiced and the science and math education knowledge and skills needed for day-to-day living,” she said, citing a 2007 UP NISMED study as basis for her observation.

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Flawed dictionary lacks credibility
By Mark Abley,  
 
April 2, 2011—Trying to encapsulate the English language in a single book is like trying to hold the wind in the palm of your hand. There's simply too much of it - too long a history, too wide a geography, too many new coinages clamouring for attention - for any one-volume dictionary to be more than an honourable failure. Still, the dictionary makers keep on trying, and none more devotedly than at Oxford University Press.

With some justice, the press prides itself on being the home of the English language. The great Oxford English Dictionary, whose origins go back to the 1850s, required 20 volumes for its most recent print edition; its successor, which is now being published in electronic instalments, may not be completed until sometime after 2030, and almost certainly will never appear in print. Oxford dictionaries have the advantage of bearing a registered trademark, whereas any dictionary can insert the name Webster's in the title; most American ones do just that. The result is that "Webster's" has become effectively meaningless.

For the past few months I've been using the most comprehensive onevolume dictionary on the market. Published under the somewhat confusing name Oxford Dictionary of English, it first appeared in 1998, with a revised and (of course) expanded third edition that came out in 2010. The confusion arises because despite the similarity of title, it's not based on the OED; it's a completely different animal.

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The problems with English teaching in Taiwan
By Scott Sommers, Taiwan Today
 
April 1, 2011—English has historically been the most influential foreign language in Taiwan. It is often described as playing an important role in personal career preparation, as well as the development of an internationally competitive workforce.

Despite the emergence of a large number of highly skilled Taiwanese English teachers, language issues remain a significant obstacle for the country. While local schools get blamed for this, the real issue is that homegrown instructors are being ignored in favor of educational fads.

Beginning in the early 1990s, education reform in Taiwan increasingly began focusing on the improvement of English language skills. Compulsory instruction was expanded from elementary school to university and in 2002, as part of a six-year national development plan, English was given quasi-official status. Universities and the Ministry of Education even toyed with the idea of using demonstrated English proficiency as a requirement for university graduation.

In addition to curriculum changes, major language tests in Taiwan increasingly reflect the reality of these pressures. Historically, official exams used to select students and employees contained questions about English. But it was widely understood that good results on these tests did not mean the same thing as a strong ability to communicate in English.

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Bilingualism is the way
By Hariati Azizan, TheStar.com.my

April 3, 2011—The call for a stronger emphasis on English in universities drew flak from certain factions which see it as an act of treachery. But some proponents of the national language support the move.

IZUAN M can speak and write in two languages but he knows this will not be enough for him when he goes into the job market.

That is the predicament for many Islamic Studies undergraduates like him, says this Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Islamic Civilisation student.

They are proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and Arabic but weak in English.”

Third-year student at Universiti Malaya's Academy of Islamic Studies Mohd Asri Zulkifli feels he is in the same boat.

Most of my coursemates are learning Arabic but we know we need to master English too,” says Mohd Asri, who is president of a residential college at the university.

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Translating takes more than knowing the equivalent word
By Dr. Haslina Haroon

April 1, 2011—I have never been a fan of sporting activities of any kind. Yes, I can generally tolerate 10 minutes of netball (watching, not playing) but as a teenager, I avoided sports activities like the plague, always thinking up diversionary tactics that would take me away from the field and back into the safety of the classroom. The 2006 Winter Olympics, however, is something that has always stuck in my mind, but for purely linguistic reasons.

Most of us would probably have forgotten by now but the 2006 Olympics was officially known as “Torino 2006.” I remember feeling rather astounded at this bit of information as I had no idea where Torino was. Granted, geography was not particularly exciting when I was in school, but at least I knew where Salt Lake City, the host of the 2002 Olympics, was. The location, of course, was etched in my memory due to my childhood crush on and fascination with Salt Lake City’s most illustrious son, Donny Osmond (who could forget that toothpaste-ad-worthy smile?).

Now, going back to Torino, I really had no idea where it was, except that it must be somewhere with snow and ice. It was only after rummaging through the sports sections that it descended upon me that Torino was actually Turin. Granted, my knowledge of Turin is limited to the fact that it is located in Italy but at least the name “Turin” was somewhere there in the depths of my temporal lobe.

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“Siege mentality” over the English language
By Collin Abraham, Malaysiakini.com

March 18, 2011—There has been widespread condemnation, literally across the board, on the opposition towards the growing demand for the greater use and development of the English language in our public universities and centres of higher learning.

But with respect, most of the issues raised are not new, resulting in a failure to grasp the 'dangerous' negative social impact assessment on questions of ethnic/racial integration and national unity.

Basically, it can be argued, that a significant section of the elite power groups appear to be challenging calls to raise the status of English, claiming it to be a threat to the Malay 'special position' within the same context as the theoretical framework of the 'sieze' mentality they are expressing towards the possible withdrawal of other Malay social privileges that I have enunciated in earlier postings.

By stifling the institutional access towards the mastery of English, the Malays, as correctly pointed out by a former minister of information, run the risk of becoming "second class" citizens.

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English holds the key to achieving Vision 2020
G. Jeyarahman, TheStar.com.my

March 21, 2011—As a former teacher, headmaster, assistant supervisor of primary schools in Selangor, lecturer of English at Universiti Teknologi Mara (preparing students going to Australia on JPA scholarships) and having been in the field of education (1955-2003), I feel I have something to say regarding the importance of English.

I remember when I was the headmaster of SRK Sungei Besar near Sabak Bernam in 1966, a Malay parent came to register his child in the school .

I asked him to register his child in the school nearest to his home and he asked why I couldn’t admit his child in my school which was English medium then.

He seemed rather annoyed and remarked that if ministers could send their children to English schools, why couldn’t he? I had no answer.

I am astonished that academics and students from universities who should be open-minded and models of progress, examples for ordinary folk to follow, are adopting retrogressive attitudes and behaviour in opposing the use of English.

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What do Sarah Palin, the Vuvuzela, Snooki, and the English language have in common?
By Donna Cavanagh, The SOP.org 

Every once in a while a word becomes popular. Television, current events or our own stupidity breed word changes that become part of our modern culture. I have decided to talk about some of these words that are now enjoying their moment in the sun. It is my hope that by focusing on them, we can erase these words from our language or perhaps come up with new definitions that might help them make the world a more literate and compassionate place to be.

My first word on the list is dogmatic. While I am acquainted with the religious overtone of the word dogma --16 years of catholic school will do that to you -- I was not aware that the adjective dogmatic is a word used by pompous people when they want to criticize or condemn someone else`s opinions or belief system.

If I had my choice, I would not get rid of this word, but rather, I would change its meaning because I think dogmatic holds promise. From now on, dogmatic should mean an automatic action by a dog.  For example, when I open the refrigerator door, I know it is dogmatic that my pooches will come running. Or, chasing a squirrel in the yard is dogmatic.  

See, this new definition works great with  no more religious overtones. To be honest, I am surprised how a word like dogma got to have a religious connotation  I mean, it`s true that dog backwards is God, but I don`t think that was done on purpose -- or was it?  Wouldn`t it tick off a lot of people to learn that God is just a big German Shepherd running wild in heaven? 

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Language and culture go together
By Peggy Doherty, Times Herald

April 2, 2011—Language, not culture? Impossible!

One cannot "know" another language without "knowing" its culture. The two are inseparable. High school students who study French are learning French culture as well as the French language. Students who are learning English are also learning about culture in an English speaking world.

For many years, immigration to the United States came largely from Europe. European languages were "useful" because they were spoken by our parents and our grandparents and because we had close ties to at least one European country. Perhaps a better understanding of Tagalog would be useful for a child living in a home with grandparents whose primary language is Tagalog.

Times have changed. Today, especially on the West Coast, immigration is from Asia. More young people are exposed to Asian languages. For most immigrants, especially the young, learning English is a top priority. As a longtime teacher, now retired, of English as a second language to adult students, I never saw an adult student whose primary objective was anything other than to understand, speak and write English. Their commitment and ability to overcome huge obstacles in order to do so were awe-inspiring.

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What is your most awkward language moment?
By Leslie Berestein Rojas, MultiAmerican.scpr.org

April 5, 2011—It’s been well documented by now that growing up bilingual can be good for you. But getting there? Survivors of an English-learner upbringing can attest that it’s not always an easy road, and that the bumps along it – some amusing, some awkward – continue well into adulthood.

I began learning English in kindergarten, learning it at the same time my immigrant parents did. Because I was so young, I quickly mastered the American accent, as did my immigrant peers. But one of the pitfalls of growing up in a household where everyone is learning English is that along the way, you pick up many of the mispronunciations common to English learners.

These mispronunciations vary depending on who is learning the language. For Spanish and Tagalog speakers, for example, the double “ee” of “sheep” is often pronounced like the “i” in “ship,” and so forth. I got over the obvious mistakes fairly quickly.

There are other mistakes, however, that I’ve learned about as an adult, when I’ve said something to a friend, a co-worker (or worse, an editor) and am met with a perplexed look. These blunders are more baffling to people because, unlike others who learned English later in life, I have no discernible accent. But as native as my spoken English may sound, the ESL ghost haunts me.

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Grammar’s dirty little secret
By The Bureau Chiefs, WallStreetJournal.com

March 29, 2011—Listen, we’re going to let you guys in on a little secret: You can really put your commas anywhere. Grammar’s all a big sham.

Oh, the fancy doctors of English and keepers of the language must bristle to hear such a claim! But it’s true. Tell us this sentence doesn’t make sense: Down stairs; I walked, for in those dow’n stairs there was–A drink of a beverage and I drank it~milk*

Where are your rules now, fancy men?

Also, just think back to all the school children who got their knuckles rapped for split infinitives and ending sentences with prepositions, only to find when they grew up that those were no longer grammar errors. So, they developed early-onset arthritis for nothing. Or think of the cub reporter who got reamed out in front of the entire press pool by a cigar-chomping editor for leaving the hyphen out of “email” and making “website” one word. That kid gets little comfort from the AP Stylebook’s new rules changes while he is cashing his unemployment check.

The origins of  “grammar” are as shady as you would expect.  Samuel Johnson, along with other agents of the Crown, needed to devise a way of communicating with one another in unbreakable code. The solution that was seized upon was a complex and contradictory series of “rules” for writing involving periods, commas, colons and end-blights that would ensure that written communication was so arcane that only the most highly educated men could ever possibly do it “correctly.”

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“But” watch: The English language at its finest
By Anthony Peyton Porter, NewsReview.com

March 31, 2011—As you may know, one of the bees in my bonnet is the way we use our “buts.” I maintain that many of us use our “buts” mindlessly and poorly. If you doubt the justice and righteousness of my crusade to expose sloppy “buts,” read on.

The problem I’ve had in writing about my “but” findings is not having any evidence. I’d see bad “buts” all over the place when I’d forgotten my recorder and had nothing to write with, and since my memory is mostly a memory now, all those bad “buts” faded out of my brain. Now I try always to have a memory aid with me, electronic or pencil-and-paper. Not only that, I’ve expanded to include “yet.” Prepare to be shocked.

First, from The New Yorker, Aug. 2, 2010, “… his big but elegantly arranged features …” I see no reason to expect big features not to be elegantly arranged, so “but” makes no sense. I suppose if the features were big enough, fewer arrangements would be possible with the available space, perhaps precluding elegance, but I doubt it.

From Practicing the Power of Now, by Eckart Tolle, “… a silent but powerful sense of presence.” I can understand associating noise with power, but Tolle of all people knows better, and so should his editor.

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Learning English can be daunting
By Stephen Wilbers, Star Tribune

March 28, 2011—Why don't all those people moving to this country learn how to speak English? I mean, if they're going to live here, they ought to learn our language, right?

Let's offer them a little English lesson. You be the teacher, and I'll be the student.

"OK, let's begin with something basic," you say to me, "such as how to use the articles a, an and the."

"That's question I have," I say.

"No," you say, "that's a question you have. Use the article a (or an) before a noun whose specific identity is not known. Use the article the before a noun whose identity is known. For example, 'They wanted to buy a house, and they liked the house next to mine."

"That's the good answer," I say.

"No, you mean 'That's a good answer.'"

"But the answer is known to me, so shouldn't I say 'the good answer'?" I ask.

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The Second Arrow: Phantom power of language
By Mini Krishnan, Hindu.com

April 3, 2011—The energy of India's multilinguality is its greatest intangible wealth: unrealised and untested. We know it takes many subtle shapes in terms of services, products and concepts but its most powerful form is knowledge transmitted through translation. The biggest intervention in the social energy of our languages was the visitor language English, and the pressure this single language applies today upon our language empire is enormous. At some cost to our languages, while simultaneously enriching us with outside influences, it has nudged us into a sense of needing to keep up with world literature — a trend which has led to a near gold-rush for translations of Indian literary works.

The cultural encoding this brings naturally calls for great skill when a decoding for another language readership is undertaken and therefore the translator's workshop, created in a phantom space between two languages is, in some sense, a linguistic outerspace where there do not appear to be any recognisable norms. Monolingual peoples have tried hard to arrive at many rules all of which break down when the translators function in a multilingual context. Worldwide, the practice is to translate into one's mother-tongue. Indians are unique in that they have reversed the norm and are, when they translate into English, jumping a wall facing away from it. Indeed the strategies and skills deployed by Indian translators as they move regional-language texts into a language whose DNA they lack, is a tremendous demonstration of their power to read, intuite and express.

There are many ways of re-writing, and representing the original, many ways of dealing with the unsaid, and naturally not all of them are successful…

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English and the job market are linked – inseparably
By Ajaz Hussain, GreaterKashmir.com

Thank God, we have overcome the dilemma. The doubt and uncertainty about the future of English language is over. We have come to realize the viability of this language on our soil and the trends of the present times are definitely in favour  of this language. The painful spectacle of English being treated with a chauvinistic intolerance at the hands of people, for whom it has opened up vistas of advanced learning in science and technology, commerce and industries, politics and judiciary, is no more witnessed. English  has and will play a vital role in establishing  our access  to scientific and non scientific  learning at the advanced  level  and will bring our younger  generations closer  to the level  where they will find  it easy to achieve  what they choose to. As a source language, it is the only language which is fully equipped with vernaculars and it renders adequately the entire corpus of technical terms and scientific jargon. This state of affairs necessitates a compulsive resort to this language for the people who come out of the institutions of Higher Learning to find jobs of their own liking.

Let me warn the critics of this language that English is here to stay. And as a medium of instruction, it will, I have no doubt, help the generations to achieve their goals fitfully...

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Of English language and identity
By Naila Neelofar, GreaterKashmir.com

March 26, 2011—In an age of satellite communication, and a gate-crashing invasion of  media in to our lives, the world has become borderless nevertheless opening new gateways of challenges before us. The world is just a click away. Technology has revolutionized economic and political structures adding new meanings to our lives. The world has changed and even the basic necessities of life such as water and air have been capitalized to make the  world  a  global place.  In the post colonial world. particularly, one has witnessed sweeping changes in cultures, traditions and languages and in the larger perspective perhaps identity. Identity politics, an aftermath of globalization, to a great extent  accelerated by English language has emerged as an important objective  to  rebuild  rooted tradition, religious sentiment and ethnic or national identities.  The process of globalisation cannot be undone but it is imperative to study its economic, political. sociological and cultural fall outs. The decline of vernacular languages in the corporate world has subverted identities  posing a big challenge to ethnicities and nationalities.

English language, the language of plowmen or peasants  reached its zenith by replacing the elite languages such as French and Latin, therefore, following the linguistic imperialism to its core. English is also called the killer’s language in the sense as it helps annihilate other languages and cultures by exclusive use of media. politics and economy…

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English assaults on language bastions
By VR Narayanaswami, LiveMint.com

March 21, 2011—B for Bombay! How often we have used this jingle, to help someone spell a word. That had to stop after the people of the city decided that its name should be restored to the pristine “Mumbai,” in place of its anglicized form. We should switch to M for Mumbai perhaps.

There is a close parallel to this from Russia. The government of Georgia wrote to Japan protesting against the latter’s use of the word Gurujiya as the name of the republic. This is the Russian name for the region, adapted in Japanese. Georgia’s foreign minister demanded that the name should be written Joujia, free from any Russian taint.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia was thrown open to Western culture, and this led to the adoption of many foreign words. On the streets you could see “djeeps” and “djeans”; entrepreneurs called themselves “biznesmen” and discussed “menedgment”. In 2003, a new Bill was passed to protect the language. In this order, English words were put together with slang and swear words. Anyone caught using these was to face punishment at a correction centre.

Three months ago, China launched a campaign to contain the spread of English. On 22 December, the General Administration of Press and Publication imposed a ban on the use of English words by the media and publishing houses…

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Stale language or not please spare us the freshies
By Andrew Biggs, Bangkok Post
 
April 4, 2011—A few years ago, I caused a minor commotion on TV and in Pantip.com chatrooms when I made an announcement that shook the Thai student world to its very foundations. In a nutshell, I told everybody to stop referring to any first-year university student as a "freshy" because in the English-speaking world this word didn't exist. And if a single Thai could find me an international dictionary with the word listed, I would run naked down Silom Road in broad daylight.

The news would have been less shocking had I announced I was moving to Pattaya to have a sex-change and begin my new life as Andrea. This was 2004, pre-instant-messaging, but the reaction was still swift. Surely Andrew couldn't be serious—but  he was.

I was tired of hearing young Thais saying and writing: "I am a freshy at Thammasat University."

How wonderful you were accepted by that esteemed institution, nong, but please, if you're going to speak English, use the proper English word. The word is "freshman" (or "fresher" in the UK), not the Thai made-up "freshy".

I know, I know. I sound like a nit-picking party-pooper. It's the kind of topic that curmudgeons who infest PostBag in the Bangkok Post attack with relish. But I mean, on the grand scheme of things, who cares that Thais say "freshy" while the rest of the world says "freshman"?

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The decline in English language
By Kingsley Omose

April 3, 2011—The decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes. The English language becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits, one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration.
Two qualities are common in today’s writings. These are staleness of imagery and lack of precision. The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose and especially of any kind of political writing. The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness.

In writing, use words  is part of everyday life. We also use it to capture vivid images. Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. Modern writing consists  in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy.

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Excuse me: The grammar queen
By Victor Ehikhamenor, 234Next.com

March 25, 2011—While our first lady is out there bulldozing territories and taking no prisoners, people are busy laughing and forwarding BB, Facebook and YouTube messages of her grammatical carpet bombing to each other. Keep laughing all of you that think the Dame is grammatically lame and a better national comedian than an ambassador that can’t sing the national anthem. If you think she is too uncouth to be our next first lady, keep laughing while she undauntedly bludgeons her way to victory.

I am not a student of politics, but I doubt if extracting her special brand of rhetoric will move this iroko-woman from her current position as the First Lady of Nigeria come April. And for Nigerians who are sick and tired of PDP’s monstrosity, giggling at the Dame’s “broken bottle” is not going to stop them from driving this molue called Nigeria into the Lagoon.

Moreover, having watched the recent NN24 presidential debate a.k.a. “The Wind That Blew Feathers off the Chicken’s Yansh,” I am sure many of you would have seen that it is not only her that has issues with the foreign language. We all saw some speak as if they were haggling goat meat at Ekpoma Market, and others chew the language as if it was a piece of hot cocoyam.

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English teacher brings home lessons from Korea
By Emily Shapiro, BakersFieldExpress.org

March 27, 2011—“What are you thinking about?” asked one of my co-workers as we gathered in our favorite haunt for one last goodbye dinner and conversation. At that time my thoughts had been on all of the small piles of unattended clutter in my room. But more than that, my mind raced back to the very first days of my year teaching in Korea, and some of the things that I have come to understand.

When I first arrived, I was tired, scared, and lonely, and had one thought: “What had I done?” I had traveled 6,000 miles overseas to do something that no one I knew had the guts or the opportunity to do and I was more than nervous.

I remember thinking, “Aw geez, M. You’ve gone and done it now.” It would be ridiculous to compare myself to a pioneer; however, this is exactly how I felt.

Of course the Republic of Korea is not a third world country and I knew this. What I did not know was how much I would grow both emotionally and spiritually.

Before this trip all of my knowledge was absorbed through books, but books only take you so far. It’s great to read about the Great Wall of China or the Tower of London, but think how exciting, fun, and mind boggling it would be to physically go there and experience the sights, smells, and people of another culture!

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100 words of English: How far can it get you?
By Peter Jackson, BBC News

March 30, 2011—England's Italian football manager Fabio Capello claims he can manage his players with just 100 words. So how far could you get with a vocabulary of that size?

Despite his sometimes colourful language, communicating with Wayne Rooney does not require a Shakespearean command of English.

That's just as well, as the England manager has admitted he's having problems learning some of the basics.

"If I need to speak about the economy or other things, I can't speak," he told reporters.

"But when you speak about tactics, you don't use a lot of words. I don't have to speak about a lot of different things. Maximum 100 words."

In Capello's defence, his vocabulary appears to be far wider than 100 words and it was probably a throwaway remark. But his comment raises an interesting question - how far could such a limited knowledge of English take you?

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To cut a long story short, brevity is best
By Robert McCrum, The Observer

March 20, 2011—The average English word has just five letters. Words in the Inuit language, by contrast, have 14. "Short", a good old word, which expresses something vital about our language, also reflects a global appetite. In the age of brevity, English has become a default medium: functional, fashionable and well suited to the witty reductions of the keypad.

"Gr8", "u" and "lol" are now universal. It's said that even the French prefer "now" to "maintenant", while the Dutch write "2m" for "tomorrow". Traditionalists will scorn this text rendering of Hamlet's most famous line (2b? Ntb? = ?) but it reflects the zeitgeist. Sticklers for correct English like to strike an Anglo-Saxon attitude and deplore the consequences of the English language becoming the world's language. It is, they'll say, as if a three-rosette restaurant had been taken over by McDonald's.

There's not a lot they can do about it. Global English, whose ambitions are to make international connections and get its message across, shows every sign of morphing into what Hemingway once called "Babel's style"…

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