A maybe non-book of maybe non-poems
By Butch Dalisay, The Philippine Star 

May 30, 2011—It may be silly and presumptuous to introduce a book that hasn’t even been accepted yet for publication, but humor me as I compose this piece — here in my Umbrian hermitage about which I’ll write some other time — trying to justify why I just e-mailed a collection of my poems to a friend who just might be foolish enough to publish them.

This friend, a publisher, had asked me some time ago if I had any unpublished manuscripts left that she could consider for her press, and I had quickly said no, certain that I had exhausted even my juvenilia (I finally yielded my first Palanca-winning story from 1975, a fanciful piece titled “Agcalan Point” which I was never happy with, to Ateneo’s Kritika Kultura last year). And then I suddenly remembered that I had a rarely-visited folder somewhere in my computer, and finding both challenge and opportunity in my friend’s inquiry, I boldly went where I had never gone before and said, “Well, how about my poems?”

If my friend looked surprised by my response, she should have been; I, too, felt instantly embarrassed by my audacity. At 57, I’ve written and published over 20 books and edited as many others, but never a book of my poems. Very few people know that they exist, and I myself practically forgot about them; I’m not even sure they’d qualify as publishable poems, by today’s standards, which seem to eschew rhyme, fun, and things too comfortably familiar. Many of my poems were and are jokes, happy to be met with a few chuckles; I find — the philistine — that I can’t much appreciate poems that I can’t read aloud or memorize, or that I need a thesaurus or Google for.

In his introduction to my first book, Oldtimer and Other Stories, in 1984, Franz Arcellana mentioned that he expected me, at some point, to publish a book of poems. I remember being mystified by that remark, because I simply couldn’t imagine it happening…

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The great English language shift
By Leslie Lofranco Berbano, The Philippine Star

May 23, 2011—You have to hand it to the man.

Manny Pacquiao’s English may be far from impeccable but his punches are immensely articulate. In the ring he neither beats the air nor beats around the bush; every jab is a sure shot and every wallop deadly. Despite being linguistically challenged in English, Pacquiao has no trouble communicating his lethal intentions to a global audience. Indeed, by being clear-minded about his goals, he has risen from his origins as a two-bit boxer slugging along in provincial backwaters to become an international celebrity whose athletic prowess ranks among the very best in boxing history.

As a congressman, he’s pitting himself in an arena where the silver tongue wields as much might as the strong arm (of politicians, that is)  a prospect I find intriguing in relation to its repercussions on the English language. Pacquiao chose to deliver his first privilege speech in English, which, in his inimitable style, happens to be heavily accented Bisayâ English. He can, of course, opt to speak in Filipino or Cebuano and thus be freer to express his (many substantial) plans for his constituents, but that might turn him into a serious lawmaker quite inappropriate for Congress (as critics are wont to wisecrack). For now, the novelty of Pacquiao the champion-boxer-turned-Inglisero-congressman runs high as shown by the resounding applause he received from his fellow legislators  they being avid Pacman fans themselves  when he invited them to get “rridi to rrambol!”

Pacquiao has appropriated Michael Buffer’s famous catchphrase and stamped on it a uniquely Filipino trademark with his accent. Will such Pacquiaoisms eventually slide over into Philippine English?

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Being proud of our own Filipino-English diction
By Rico M. Hizon, The Philippine Star

Manila, May 23, 2011—Every single day for the past 10 years on BBC World News, over 350 million people from all over the world wake up to the sound of my voice.

What I say can make or break their business. How I say it, however, will affect how they will react  whether to stay calm or panic.

Delivery is key. Apart from having complete, accurate, and relevant information, the news must be read clearly to ensure that it is easily understood.

And for that, I am grateful for my education from the Philippines. Tubong Maynila po ako! I was born, raised and educated here in Manila. Hindi po ako nag-aral sa Amerika o sa UK. Hindi po ako nag Cambridge o Harvard.

I learned to speak well and clearly thanks to the patience of my parents, siblings, and my teachers at La Salle Green Hills and De La Salle University. My looks and my diction often leave people wondering about my nationality.

On many occasions, I’ve been asked if I’m a western-educated Chinese, Singaporean, Malaysian, or even Indonesian.

They wonder because of my eyes, skin color, and the way I speak English. I guess you can say it’s Pinoy super power.

We have the gift of languages. But what sets us apart is how, with any language we use, we are able to speak it clearly.

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Two new bright literary lights
By Butch Dalisay, The Philippine Star

May 16, 2011—On the heels of Miguel Syjuco’s acclaimed Ilustrado comes another important breakthrough for Filipino fiction in the international market. Marivi Soliven Blanco, author of the bestselling Suddenly Stateside expat essays and the Spooky Mo horror stories and who’s now based in San Diego, California with her husband John, has sold her new novel, In the Service of Secrets, to Penguin Books. I’ve often complained about the lack of humor in our novels, despite the fact that we’re a funny people with a wicked comic nerve; well, here’s humor in spades.

When I visited with Marivi and John a couple of years ago, she was working on a novel for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month, an annual global frenzy that’s surprisingly given birth to more than a few decent efforts), and Secrets came out of that initial push. The novel, says Marivi, involves a mail-order bride, but “begins in Manila in the 1960s and follows three generations of a family and its servants all the way through to the mid-’90s in San Francisco and Oakland. It runs along two parallel story tracks, and bounces back and forth between the Duarte-Guerrero clan and the Obejas sisters (their servants).” Pinoy readers should find many of its locales   UP, Malate, the Hotel InterContinental, and Cubao   thoroughly if disconcertingly familiar.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the book—which should come out next year—that Marivi was kind enough to allow me to share with Penman readers:

“Beverly   over here!” The Filipina Sweetheart manager waved from an armchair at the far end of the lobby. She could tell Carmelo was sizing her up as she approached, and wondered if he was ticking off the checklist he called her “pointers for self-improvement”…

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Corporate-speak sucks the life out of our education system
By Rob Forbes, Sydney Morning Herald

May 31, 2011—Beyond simply reflecting who we are, the language we learn and use creates who we are. Which is why I find being an English teacher so satisfying: I inspire the thoughts and personalities of new generations, unleashing and extending the staggering potential of the human mind. As philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein pointed out, "The limits of my language define the limits of my world". We can't know anything until we have a word for it; so language can extend or contract our horizons.

School should be an exciting time of broadening horizons. And so I found it: as a year 8 student proud of my spelling ability, I found myself stumped by a five-letter word — "bigot". A year later I encountered "prejudice"; then "empathy" through Atticus's classic definition in To Kill a Mockingbird: "You never really understand a person until you . . . climb into his skin and walk around in it." These new words were crucial in developing my understanding of human nature and my philosophy of life; and I use them to teach my own students in an effort to broaden their minds.

In first-year university, I was flummoxed by "ideology" and "postmodernism" — as well as a host of other "isms". Ultimately, learning these words helped me be a little more tolerant of bigots: I realised we all see the world through prisms that colour our views — some prisms are just a little narrower than others. My own mind, though, I could sense broadening with my ever-increasing vocabulary, and I am forever grateful to my parents, teachers and a host of authors for their gifts of language.

But, as George Orwell showed so presciently in the dystopian novel 1984, language can narrow horizons, too. "Big Brother" knew that the disempowering of language — when "ungood" replaces "bad" — can leave the mind devoid of thought itself…

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Little gain in lazy English mangling
By Julian Fernando, The Sydney Morning Herald

May 18, 201—Yes, our language is changing. I have—as someone who tends to use words such as ''imposition'' in text messages—come grudgingly to admit that the ''rules'' are not ever set. Even the oldest of us do not speak Old English, and that's probably a good thing; but is all change the same, and is all change for the better? Is our language evolving or devolving?

Rob Forbes argued on this page last week that ''the future of our language is brighter than ever''; I tend to disagree. He cites the historical changes to the English language, such as the incorporation of many Norse and French words, as evidence that the fluid nature of language serves to enrich it. But are the changes that are happening now of the same kind? Changes such as ''u'', ''da'' and ''LOL'' seem to consist almost entirely in abbreviation (or misspelling) and not in developing new words that describe new concepts, or that have subtly different meanings to existing words.

Forbes says these abbreviations are ''efficient and make perfect sense'', and therefore serve to streamline our language. Where he sees efficiency, however, I see laziness (at the risk of getting into a ''one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter'' type argument).

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Rethink English test for maids
Letter from Ajit Kumar from Tan Saw Bin, TodayOnline.com
 
June 4, 2011—The English test has produced a lose-lose-lose situation for employers, maids and agents. What any employer needs is a maid who can do housework well. Good work ethic and honesty are important.

Agents stand to lose profits when a candidate maid fails the test, so naturally, agencies pre-screen candidates primarily for their ability to pass the English test. This has shrunk the supply pool and affected the quality of the maids one can get.

The English test is no guarantee of language skills either; cases of miscommunication still abound. Why not instead let the employer and the maid declare to the ministry the common language(s) in which they can communicate? This would allow the employer more leeway to choose a maid based on their real priorities.

In language-critical situations such as a visit to the doctor, the employer then must make sure someone who can translate accompanies the maid.

I can cite the case of a maid fluent in English, who had deceived the family into believing she had been changing the water in the flowerpots every two days as instructed. The family was shocked when inspectors fined them after finding mosquitos breeding in the pots.

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Totally nice! Why Danes love to speak English
By Justin Cremer, CPHPost.dk 

DANSK, June 2, 2011—It’s an experience familiar to many newcomers in Denmark. You’re overwhelmed by a language that at the outset appears to be nothing more than mushmouthed gurgles when suddenly you overhear a conversation something like this:

“Jeg sagde til min manager, gurgle gurg gurgle teamwork. Han er gurgle gurg old school. Gurg gurgle out of this world.”

“Yes, gurg gurgle. Men gurgle gurgle better safe than sorry. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, eller whatever, gurgle gurg. Gurg gurg you name it.”

That Danes blend so many English words into their day-to-day conversations not only catches the ear of non-Danes desperate to understand what’s being said around them, it also catches the ire of Danish language purists like Jørn Lund.

As a member of the Danish Language Council, the director of the Danish Language and Literature Society, and the author of several books on the language, Lund has seen Danish change considerably over the course of his thirty-plus year career as a professor and researcher of the language.

“Danes’ articulation of the language has changed dramatically,” Lund told The Copenhagen Post. “In just four generations, Danish has gone from where most people spoke a dialect to where only five percent do today. Each generation has taken part in this transformation process, and standard dialect-free Danish is similarly in constant development. It is possible to determine the age of a Dane within ten years’ precision based on their pronunciation.”

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The classic English style of a true IPA

June 6, 2011—As an expatriate Pom who has lived in New Zealand for more than 16 years, I still occasionally get tripped up by the Kiwi language.

To me, Manchester is a rainy city in Lancashire, a dairy is a place where cows are milked, chips are hot and usually come wrapped in newspaper, lollies are fruit-flavoured icecreams on a stick, football is played with a round ball, and the word tasty describes anything flavoursome, not just a specific type of cheese.

And don't get me started on beer. While the rest of the world uses the term "draught" to describe any beer served on tap, here it identifies a specific style of sweet, mildly hopped, amber coloured lager that's uniquely Kiwi. Confusing, or what?

But what winds me up even more are some of the country's best-selling draughts, which are labelled as ales – or, worse still, as India pale ale!

India pale ale dates back to the 18th century, and was first brewed in England to be sent by boat to the troops serving in the sub-continent.

In the days before refrigeration, brewers knew the only way they could make a beer to withstand the rigours of the three to four-month sea journey was to make it very strong and hoppy – alcohol and hops both have antibacterial qualities – so that's the kind of beer they sent.

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Malaprops: What makes our English language so special?
By Jim Kempton, San Clemente Times

June 1, 2011—The misuse of words and their meanings can be unintended, marvelous works of gray tumor.

One of my favorite parts of the English language is the wonderful and wacky world of malapropisms. Who can ever forget Yogi Berra’s lament, “It was impossible to get a conversation going; everybody was talking too much.”

We think of George W. Bush as the modern master-garbler of speech, as in, “It will take time to restore chaos and order.” But the term is much older than that. In his 1775 Restoration comedy, The Rivals, Richard Sheridan introduced a humorous character by the name of Mrs. Malaprop. “Make no delusions to the past,” (allusions) and “He is the very pineapple of politeness” (pinnacle) are examples of the absurd assertions from Mrs. Malaprop that explain why her name became synonymous with hilarious misuse of language.

The expression malaprop is actually derived from the French mal à propos, which means inappropriate. Basically it describes the incorrect or nonsensical use of words in speech. In one scene Mrs. Malaprop scoffs, “That woman doesn’t begin to reprehend the true meaning of what she is saying.”

Subsequently, mis-speech has been called a malapropism when the word or phrase that is used sounds similar to the word that was apparently meant or intended…

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Language learning helps businesses compete globally
By Michael Schutzler, Forbes.com

May 27, 2011—Thanks to the Internet, even the smallest company can be a multinational. Over two billion people are online and an additional 500 million will connect for the first time this year. Over four billion people have a cell phone with SMS capability and many of them will upgrade to an Internet-enabled smartphone in coming years. Technology has unleashed a global market unconstrained by space, time or travel barriers.

Language is the one material barrier that remains. As technology delivers access to a worldwide arena of talent and customers, effective multilingual communication becomes an essential tool for productivity – and a competitive weapon for those who master it. English is clearly a factor in this evolving business dynamic, but it is not the solution. In fact, broad adoption of English as the language of commerce is the root of the challenge and opportunity looming.

For over 60 years, the United States has reigned as the leading international force in academics, politics, economics and technical innovation. This global influence combined with our stubborn insistence on communicating in English has finished the work begun by Great Britain, elevating our language to primacy around the world. More than one billion people are learning English in the pursuit of economic and social ascension. In China alone there are over 300 million people learning English right now.

It seems reasonable to conclude that English is the only language you need to master, but this complacency breeds catastrophe. English is not replacing other languages; it is merely becoming the most common form of social currency…

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Language fragments, levels in English
By Harold Raley, Galveston Daily News

May 22, 2011—During one of his visits, a philosopher friend of mine from Europe remarked humorously that one can almost speak other languages, especially Spanish, without ever getting out of English.

In this case, he was referring to the many Spanish words he noticed in Southwest English.

He mentioned the Santa Fe Railroad that ran through the city where he was staying, the Coronado hotel where he was lodged, the names of restaurants, streets, plazas, paseos and expressions, such as nada, adios, cerveza, rodeo, rancho, the names of trucks and automobiles, and dozens of other words and slang that one commonly hears and understands as a part of everyday English in the Southwest.

In a subtler and more basic way, Latin and French expressions are sprinkled throughout legal English and we speak them all the time.

For example, a reader of these columns asked me a couple of days ago to explain the meaning of Force Majeure, which appears in many commercial contracts.

The expression is French and simply means “superior force,” which though more understandable is, ironically, also remotely French in origin but borrowed in an earlier age and therefore more anglicized.

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Emma Donoghue’s Room among finalists for $20,000 Trillium award

TORONTO, June 1, 2011 (The Canadian Press)—Emma Donoghue's Room is among the six finalists for the $20,000 English-language Trillium Book Award.

Donoghue, who won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for Room and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Governor General's Award, is up against James FitzGerald for What Disturbs Our Blood, Rabindranath Maharaj for The Amazing Absorbing Boy, Ken Sparling for Book, Paul Vermeersch for The Reinvention of the Human Hand, and Michael Winter for The Death of Donna Whalen.

The awards also honour French fiction titles, English-language poetry and French-language children's literature.

Winners receive $20,000 while finalists get a $500 honorarium. Publishers of the winning titles receive $2,500 to help promote the books.

Finalists for the French fiction prize are Estelle Beauchamp's Un souffle venu de loin, Murielle Beaulieu's Laisse-moi te dire, Andree Christensen's La memoire de l'aile, Michel Dallaire's Pendant que l'Autre en moi t'ecoute, and Didier Leclair's Le soixantieme parallele.

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For me, English CEGEP opens doors
By Jean-François Garneau, The Gazette

MONTREAL, May 17, 2011—I am sitting in the main cafeteria of Dawson College, chatting with some friends about our incredible number of assignments, but mostly about my birthday party, which is taking place in a few days. Sitting around the table are Josiane, Maëlle, Ethan and Kate. We could talk until the sun goes down, but it is almost 10 a.m. “C’est l’heure,” says Josiane, putting her books into her schoolbag. “I’ve gotta go, see you later!” shouts Ethan, turning his back to go to class.

Before I came to Dawson, all of my education had been in French. To me, a francophone, Bill 101 is a symbol of the force and pride of French-Canadian culture.

However, I also believe one should have the right to choose the language in which one studies at the college level. On April 26, during the Parti Québécois’s convention, delegates voted in favour of extending Bill 101 to CEGEPs. Apparently the supporters of this policy are concerned that francophone students would become anglicized by the English education system. When I hear someone argue that, I take it very personally. Listening to the PQ discourse, I feel attacked, as if they are saying that I have lost my culture and have disowned it by attending an English school.

Spending 23 hours a week at an English institution will not make me lose my French identity. Even if I only spoke English at school, which is not the case, I would still use French to talk to my parents and my high-school friends.

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Think Kylie is a singer? If so, you’re no snoot
By Robert McCrum, The Observer

May 29, 2011—Do you get a secret thrill from knowing that eclecsis means "a compilation from various sources", or feel a twinge of superiority in the precise use of "hone" not "home"? And were you pleased to hear President Obama, last week, saying "orient" where many people would say "orientate"?

If you are not a professional subeditor and paid to fret about such matters, and your answer to any of the above is stronger than a definite maybe, then you are what Lynne Truss calls a "stickler" and the late David Foster Wallace a "snoot" (for Syntax Nudniks Of Our Time). You will also be interested in two books that recently landed on my desk, The English Wordsmith by David W Andrews and Crooked Talk by Jonathon Green.

For as long as there has been a recognisable language, the colour, texture and everyday use of English has inspired the kind of devotion that lies north of obsession but south of idolatry. As early as 1531, some logomane (I just made that up) published a glossary of criminal slang entitled Hye-Way to the Spittel House. The Elizabethan writer Robert Greene, who may have been the model for Falstaff, a "man of fire-new words", launched A Notable Discovery of Coosnage, his "coney-catching pamphlet" in 1591. The prototype for an English dictionary, compiled by Robert Cawdrey, appeared in 1604 entitled A Table Alphabeticall "…of hard usual English words… for the benefit & help of ladies, gentlewomen, or any other unskilful persons". Dr Johnson's lexicographical milestone was still about 150 years away, but the rising bourgeoisie was developing its well-known anxiety, in a class society, about proper English, the right word in the right context.

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Your very own English discovery

May 16, 2011—With approximately 375 million people speaking English as their first language it comes as no surprise that it is often referred to as a “world language.” If you are in a position where learning or improving your English could help you progress (whether this be with your chosen career, your current studies, or even in travelling the world), then why not book yourself onto one of the many English Language courses and unlock the door to your very own English discovery?

So, what benefits are there to be had in learning English?

Firstly, the fact that it is the chosen language of international communication means that it can provide you with an advantage over non-English speakers when it comes to employment.

Learning English also gives you the opportunity to travel, and the chance to immerse yourself in the culture and language of other countries. As the majority of travel and tourism around the world is carried out in English, if you’re going on holiday or on a travelling adventure you will probably need to speak the language at some point. With this in mind, you can travel confidently almost anywhere and not have to worry about being totally misunderstood when you visit a new place or country.

Furthermore, English is the language that is most commonly used on websites. Therefore, being able to read and understand it will put you ahead for purposes such as research and communication.

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Khichri language
By Gargi Gupta, Business-Standard.com

NEW DELIHI, May 30, 2011—The Oxford English Dictionary, that holy grail of the Queen’s language, defines chutney as “a spicy condiment of Indian origin”. “Chutnefying English” would thus mean adding chutney, or spicy Indian elements, to English. Playing further with semantics, one could say that by choosing the phrase as this book’s title, the editors answer the very fundamental question that Harish Trivedi poses in his foreword – “what is Hinglish ... is it the use of Hindi words and syntactical elements in English, or the use of English words and syntax in Hindi?” – by implying that it is English that is the principal entrée in Hinglish, with bits of Hindi added on the side for relish.

But is that true? Think of phrases such as “ek chance milega” or “Pyar Impossible” or “side dijiye”. Which is the base language here, English or Hindi? Perhaps a better analogy, continuing with the food metaphor, would have been khichri, that dish so commonly made in India with rice, vegetables, meat and anything you can lay your hands on.

For we speak a khichri language, peppering our Hindi with English, and our English with bits of Hindi, so much that we seem almost incapable of keeping to any one language in the course of a conversation. But this is not a new observation. One half of the phenomenon – that colloquial English in India included many words from Hindi – was charted by Hobson-Jobson back in 1886, and there have been a few recent publications such as Binoo K John’s Entry from the Backside Only (2007) that have detailed the idiosyncracies of Indian English.

This book, of course, has a more academic impetus…

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Loss of a language
By Ira Pande, TheHindu.com

May 25, 2011—I remember a particular dialogue from Mahmood Farooqui's play “Dastangoi”. “If I speak in fluent Urdu, Bengali, Hindi or Malayalam, you wouldn't understand because we are so used to broken pieces of different languages,” Farooqui said in chaste Hindi. That stayed with me. Many months later, Brinda S. Narayanan, author of “Bangalore Calling” spoke of the same issue. “Over 190 languages are extinct due to the desire of most Indians to speak English. We are losing our language cover. It's as important an issue as losing our green cover; we are losing a different kind of green.”

And then I meet Ira Pande who put the above analysis into perspective. Ira began her career as a lecturer at the University of Punjab in Chandigarh. She later worked briefly as a journalist and then had a successful stint as editor for various journals and publications, including Seminar, Biblio, Dorling Kindersley, Roli Books etc. Ira further distinguished herself as a translator of Manohar Shyam Joshi's novella “T-ta Professor”, which was awarded both the Crossword-Vodaphone award and the Sahitya Akademi award for the best translated work into English in 2010. Her latest book Shivani's “Apradhini: Women without men” is a translation of her mother's writings on women.

When I ask her what she considers a good translation, Ira Pande's articulate answer sets the tone for the interview. “Translations are either competent or inspired. Some translators are good with words but they fail to bring out the essence of a piece…

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Found in translation
By Gopinath Mavinkurve, Times of India

May 23, 2011—It's that time of the year again when people will soon exclaim, "Rain is falling!" as they always do when the monsoons approach and the first showers soothe city dwellers. The words are so commonly heard that few find anything wrong with them—although a stickler for good spoken language may butt in with, "Just say, 'It's raining!'" But how many people around do care for 'correct English', if there is such a thing at all? Not many, right? So we get an opportunity to listen to such amusingly wonderful expressions as, "Fun came at our last night's dinner party!" and "Problem became at the picnic", in conversations around us.

Although most Indians do aspire to learn to read, write and speak in the language which our colonial rulers brought to our shores, we have taken it forward to have our own regional versions such as 'Hinglish' and 'Bonglish' to suit our tongues and minds! Our native tongues ruled our minds - we continue to think in our own language and then translate our thoughts to English - and voila, we have our own dialectic concoction to serve the patient listener who can devour it all with great amusement. So we have our relatives yelling at wedding ceremonies, asking people to assemble so that they can "remove photos"! All you can really do when you hear that is get together and laugh for the picture - and perhaps thank your stars the person did not outdo your friend in school who announced he wished to do some "photo-take-out-ing"!

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English language best taught by native speakers or multilinguals?
By Elmer W. Cagape, AsianCorrespondent.com

HONG KONG, May 30, 2011—Hong Kong’s primary language is Cantonese, and uses such Chinese language extensively: newspapers and news broadcasts, medium of instruction in school, session at the legislative hall, and just about everywhere. Therefore, it is understandable that there is demand for foreign English teachers to aid the local education system in maintaining a good level of English literacy in the city.

Although Hong Kong is a former British colony, as evidenced by bilinguals signs visible everywhere, I experience some degree of difficulty communicating with certain groups of people because they prefer to talk in their local tongue. In another former British territory, Singapore, English is widely adopted and I had no problem chatting with locals in English. But this is probably because the Lion City is using English as major medium of communication.

Now, a Hong Kong professor has raised the idea that English language should be taught not necessarily by native English speakers (typically from US, Canada, Australia or New Zealand) but by multilingual teachers.

Andy Kirkpatrick, chair professor of English as a professional language at the Hong Kong Institute of Education, says, “It’s a revolutionary shift that we’re arguing for, and it’s that the multilingual way becomes the linguistic model for teaching kids English here, not that of a native English speaker.”

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France’s crumbling language barrier
By Christina Slade, The Australian

June 1, 2011—We chose to avoid royal wedding fervour in April to frequent a cathedral other than Westminster: Chartres, that great wonder of early gothic architecture and stained glass, close enough to Paris for friends to join us for lunch.

Elizabeth is French, Tom American, and they teach journalism at Sciences-Po in English. I was astonished. L'Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris (institute of political study, or Sciences-Po, for political sciences) is one of the grandes ecoles, those breeding grounds of the French oligarchy, for whom English remains at best an annoyance.

What is more, the so-called Toubon ruling outlaws university courses in languages other than French, except for language courses and institutions designed for foreign students.

The 184 or so institutions that comprise the grandes ecoles provide a separate and far more prestigious route for high-achieving French students than the university system.

Set up after the French Revolution to produce a scientific and administrative elite, each specialises in a particular professional track, more like a faculty than the generalist university.

Entry is by highly competitive examinations: students normally study in a preparatory college for two years after the baccalaureate, which would qualify them to study at a normal university. Most desirable are the sub-group of 23 elite grandes ecoles. Students emerge with skills, networks and, in general, magisterial French.

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Education in Pakistan facing “tyranny of language”

KARACHI, May 29, 2011—‘Be not the slave of words’ was the advice given by Scottish literary Thomas Carlyle over a century ago, and can be applied to Pakistan today with respect to language in education. Be not the slave of language or rather, be not under the tyranny of language, was the topic of discussion at Saturday’s launch of Zubeida Mustafa’s latest book Tyranny of language in education, the problem and its solution, at the Karachi Press Club.

During the event, speakers critiqued the dominance of the English language in Pakistan’s prevailing education system.

Senior journalist and writer Zubeida said that education essentially played the role of equaliser in terms of opportunities, but in Pakistan it was reinforcing the division of society.

The main purpose behind the book was to spark a dialogue on the medium of instruction in the education system, especially at the primary level so as to improve Pakistan’s current education.

The book also marked the writer’s shift from political journalism to social journalism.

Director Pakistan Study Centre at Karachi University Dr Jaffer Ahmed pointed out that Article 251 of the 1973 Constitution mentioned making Urdu the official language within 15 years as well as the promotion of provincial languages, adding that the elite class was responsible for preventing it materialisation.

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Language and literary
BY Emily Prucha, PragueMonitor.com

June 3, 2011—The other day when my Czech friend Jolana and I were exchanging emails about her fall English language classes, she raised an interesting question: She wanted to start a small English-language library for her students to give them greater exposure to the language in different contexts, but feared that "normal" Czech parents might be intimidated reading to their children in English. Without giving the question much thought, I responded that I wasn't sure either. I couldn't really picture one of the non-English speaking parents of the children I teach feeling very confident picking up a borrowed English book and reading it to their child. Even some of the parents I know that speak English choose to communicate with me in Czech.

Jolana doesn't live in Prague, so I suggested that she think about initiating some of the activities that Class Acts has successfully brought to Prague's bilingual community, such as starting a children's story hour in English, with a confident English speaker leading the reading, or founding a book club for older children who are already readers. Finding additional enrichment activities for the children in ways that are not dependant on the parents' English abilities seemed to be a good path to follow. I even added that, personally, I almost never read my children Czech stories at home, except short rhymes and poems. For me, reading storybooks to them in Czech goes beyond my language abilities…

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More English speakers, please
By Kester Eddy, FT.com

May 31, 2011—Let’s overlook the uncomfortable fact that Hungary has a prime minister who is wont to impose sudden and discriminative tax burdens on foreign-owned banks, insurers, telcos and retail companies.

Let’s forget all that and concentrate on that one of the oft-mentioned barriers to attracting foreign investors to Hungary – that is, the population’s poor foreign language skills.

True, the professional classes these days generally speak English (often, it has to be said, to an excellent standard – those with language skills are often very good indeed), and many in the western part of the country speak German. But the sad fact is that the average Janos and Maria – raised on a TV diet of dubbed films – are rather like Joe Bloggs of the UK; they barely speak a word of a foreign tongue.

Why should they? After all, they are taught in school that their translator of Shakespeare actually produced a better version of Hamlet than the bard from Stratford – and many [mainly monoglots] believe it.

Even in Budapest, a regional hub of over 2 million souls, the new, pro-government mayor, Istvan Tarlos, has upped the municipal expenses for interpreters. (His predecessor, the liberal Gabor Demszky, a former dissident leader, managed without for two decades.)

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Sheikh’s death is GAP to fill; TEMPORARY suspension

BONGO, May 28, 2011—There are just too many gems here, which our cameraman unearthed in one sweep at Keko Bora in Dar: “STATIONARY” for stationery; “PRINNTING” for printing; “SCANING” for scanning; “TAIPING” for typing, “RAMINATION” for lamination plus “PHOTO COPY” for photocopy (one word). Trust signwriters!

One of our esteemed readers, Chris Gumbley, whose letter appears on this page, cautions us quite aptly, that English language can be deadly, more so when it comes to grammar! 

And we might add: it’s even deadlier when it comes to prepositions, an area in which we really mess ourselves up, no matter how schooled one might be.

And the unfortunate thing about prepositions is that there isn’t a formula for you to get them right all the time. To be on the safe side, you simply have to be a perennial reader, and a keen listener to native speakers of English or people who speak it like the natives. Learning, we’re often reminded, is a lifelong process.

While still on the difficulties surrounding the (mis)use of prepositions, let’s take a look at an example we unearthed from two titles.

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In praise of learning grammar—and not conversation
By Mike Guest, The Daily Yomiuri

May 23, 2011—My 2-year-old daughter is learning the past perfect these days. Yes, that scourge of ESL students the world over is being learned by a toddler. She is gradually understanding that the "had + verb" pattern is akin to a retrospective past tense. She can't express this of course--that will take at least six more months--but she is starting to understand this aspect (and she does sense it as aspectual, rather than as a tense) of English.

My Japanese neighbors think that I must teach her English. Of course, I don't. Her main teacher is George. You probably know him as Curious George (or O-saru no Joji in Japanese), the monkey of children's book fame.

George's curiosity leads him into adventures and dilemmas that any small child can understand. George flies a kite. George rides a bike. George gets a job. And George uses the past perfect. A lot. In fact, in George Rides a Bike, the past perfect is used 27 times in 46 pages (with each page containing on average only two sentences). How can toddlers understand George's adventures when the text is loaded with this tricky, elusive form?

George's regrets and past experiences inform his current dilemma, hence the use of the past perfect. Children who are engaged by George's predicaments absorb this. So, as I read George's stories (regularly), my daughter builds up an association between this odd "had" word and the notion of retrospective--before the before--past…

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Weekend English classes: make it a must-pass subject
By Samuel Yesuiah, letter to The New Straits Times

May 22, 2011—The Education Ministry has never neglected the teaching of English.

The subject has been a vital part of the curriculum for all types of schools, be they primary or secondary. English is taught daily by qualified teachers in all schools.

The establishment of the English Language Teaching Centre to develop courses, curriculum and training to improve English language teachers' proficiency and pedagogy shows the commitment of the ministry towards the teaching of English in this country.

The effort of the ministry in bringing in 300 tutors from the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada to teach English in low-performing schools is commendable.

The re-employment of retired English teachers at schools where there is a lack of qualified English teachers is also a positive move.

Though the ministry has done everything possible, it needs to put more pressure on the government to make English a compulsory subject in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah, Penilaian Menengah Rendah and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations.

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Speaking the same language
Opinion, NEXT.com

May 24, 2011—Philip Hensher once wrote how "the apparently arbitrary and complicated orthography of the English language holds back children in acquiring writing skills, and costs the economy countless billions a year." We wonder what the fulminating novelist would have to say on the state of things in Nigeria, with its hundreds of orthographically challenged languages.

The orthography of a language specifies a standardised way of using a specific writing system (also known as script) to write the language. Though "orthography" is often used as a synonym for spelling, spelling is only part of orthography. Other elements are hyphenation, capitalisation, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.

The Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) and the South Africa-based Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS) presented harmonised orthographies for Igbo, Ijo, Hausa and Yoruba, in the Nigerian capital, Abuja recently. The process of harmonising and standardising the four indigenous language clusters had begun in October 2010 when CBAAC and CASAS organised and funded a two-day international workshop. Two more workshops (in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and Johannesburg, South Africa) followed before the documents were finally ready.

While it is true what Kwesi Prah, the director of CASAS, said, "the more languages you talk, the more the different worlds [you have] to bridge," it takes more than standardising orthographies to make this happen.

While the initiative is laudable, we are a bit worried about its implementation.

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Teaching English at primary level no threat to local culture
By Ali al-Khabti, ArabNews.com

AL-WATAN, May 20, 2011—The significance of teaching children English at an early age has been highlighted by several studies.

Even European countries that are deeply passionate about their local languages and cultures have realized the need to teach English to their children at primary schools.

Studies have also proved that learning English at an early age helps students grasp their mother tongue better, simultaneously enabling them to acquire remarkable proficiency in their second language.

Currently, 98 percent of Internet content is in English while other languages are relegated to a mere two percent. Besides, English is the language employed in most of the studies, research papers, details of inventions and innovations and represents the official language for the majority of institutes, universities and research centers.

The implementation of English teaching in primary school may also become a useful means for the younger generation to promulgate a deeper knowledge of the Islamic religion and culture in the world.

France and Germany are the most sensitive and proud nations about their languages…

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