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NEWS AND COMMENTARY
| WORLD NEWS | COUNTRY NEWS |
COMMENTARY | COMMUNITY AFFAIRS | CAMPUS SCENE |
The Forum makes a weekly roundup of interesting commentary from all over the world about the English language and related subjects. To read commentary from a particular country, simply click the indicated country link. To go out of that country’s commentary section, simply click the country link again and choose another country link.
Peace, language and journalism
By Rina Jimenez-David, Philippine Daily Inquirer
BOGOTA, August 4, 2011—“FOR you, the Spanish language is the language of old and rich people, but for us, English is the language of the imperialist and the elite,” said Rosa Emilia Salamanca, coordinator of the Colombian leg of the “Comparative Learning Series” between groups of women from the Philippines and Colombia.
Salamanca was commenting on the language gap between our two groups, since none of us in the group were either old, rich, imperialists or members of the elite. But the reality was, we would have to speak in the tongues of colonialists and imperialists if we wanted to understand each other.
“Women, Peace and Security” is the theme of this exchange between two groups of 10 women each vitally interested in the intersections between gender, conflict and peace-building, and willing to see for themselves the roots of the conflicts besetting each other’s countries, and to listen to the stories of survivors, protagonists, advocates, peace-keepers, politicians and policy makers.
So the 10 of us are here in this city, in the first part of the exchange, listening first to resource persons recall the roots of the armed conflict in Colombia rooted in the displacement of peasants, the current hunger for land and exploitation of oil and mineral resources, and the complicating factor of the cocaine trade.
Later, it was the turn of the Colombian women to explain what they and their organizations have been doing to promote the role of women in peace and conflict resolution…
A Nightmare Of My Choice
By Sara Dumaup, Manila Bulletin
MANILA, August 6, 2011—When I found an edition of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness for only P20, I bought it right away. Of course, at the time I had no idea what Heart of Darkness was about. All I knew was that it was a classic, it was in the bargain bin, and at 72 pages, it looked like an easy read.
On the cover leaf, I wrote: An addition to my self-education, 31 March 2009. Then promptly forgot about the book for the next two years. If only I knew then how prophetic my own words would be. Or how painfully they’d bite me in the ass!
I’ve been trying to read it for over a month now. A month of frustrated reading and re-reading with nothing seeming to stick. Desperate, I’d thumb through it over meals. I’d highlight line after line until my pencils broke. I’d even read aloud to myself in between conversations—complete with an English accent!
Maybe it was my fake accent, but something about the book eluded me. I wanted so much to absorb, to understand, to grasp the world that Conrad had created. Essentially, it’s simple enough to summarize:
Written in 1899, Joseph Conrad meant for the book to be partly fictional, but mostly autobiographical. It begins with Charles Marlow on a boat on the Thames. During a lull in the work, Marlow rambles on about a journey he took up the Congo River, collecting ivory shipments for the Belgian colony. There he meets a man named Kurtz…
A Fil-Am book fair in San Francisco
By Butch Dalisay, The Philippine Star
July 25, 2011—I reported last week on some recent positive developments in getting Philippine writing more exposure abroad, and I’ll follow through on that thread this week.
A sizable contingent seems to be shaping up for the Filipino-American Book Fair scheduled for early October in San Francisco, USA. A partial list of those invited and those going includes such notables as National Artists Virgilio Almario, Bienvenido Lumbera, F. Sionil Jose, and Benedicto Cabrera; historians Ambeth Ocampo and Felice Sta. Maria; journalists Marites Vitug and Criselda Yabes; political scientist Jojo Abinales; publishers Karina Bolasco, Reni Roxas, and Jing Hidalgo; critics Soledad Reyes, Vince Rafael, and Isagani Cruz; and, as a special treat for the locals, poets Vim Nadera and Teo Antonio, who will perform a balagtasan in San Francisco. The younger generation of Filipino writers will be represented by the likes of Carljoe Javier, who along with some others will be sponsored by a grant from the Asia Foundation, which is co-sponsoring the event.
The book fair is a pioneering venture of the Literacy Initiatives International Foundation, headed by Gemma Nemenzo. Before assuming the executive directorship of the LIIF, Gemma had served as editor of the San Francisco-based Filipinas magazine, which was a highly regarded Filipino-American publication covering a broad range of interests (indeed, well beyond the usual search for Ms. Philippines-West Covina or Ms. Narvacan of Southern California) before it went down in the recession. I wrote a column for Filipinas for a good many years and could see how Gemma had tried her best to make it intellectually stimulating as well as entertaining, and it’s good to see her directing that energy and vision toward the promotion of Filipino cultural concerns in the US through LIIF.
I’ll be taking leave from UP, but I’ll be going to the book fair on my own, to promote the recent publication of my two novels, Killing Time in a Warm Place and Soledad’s Sister, in a combined US edition titled In Flight, published by the Arizona-based Schaffner Press.
How I got published by Schaffner is an interesting little story in itself…
A teacher’s “fulfillment”
By Rina Jimenez-David, Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 26, 2011—One of the more intriguing parts of P-Noy’s second State of the Nation Address (Sona) came towards the end, when he exhorted his “bosses” to stop the habit of pulling down their fellow Filipinos and instead acknowledge the efforts of other Filipinos who do good.
“Before you go home after classes,” he suggested, “approach your teacher who chose to invest in your future instead of prioritizing her own convenience; tell her ‘Thank you.”’ And then he added: “To my teacher, Thank You Mrs. Escasa,” while a rather blurry picture of a white-haired woman flashed on our TV screens.
I was well and truly intrigued. Who was Mrs. Escasa, and why should our President single her out from among all the teachers in his life for mention in an important speech like the Sona? Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, asked why the President mentioned Mrs. Escasa, said it was because “he wanted to thank teachers … and he remembered Mrs. Escasa who taught him Filipino.”
Turns out that this was not the first time Mrs. Escasa found herself in a speech by P-Noy. Earlier this year, as the commencement speaker at the graduation ceremonies of Ateneo de Manila University, his alma mater, the President cited his Filipino teacher, who would tell all her classes to “please do not bastardize” our national language, and to speak in unadulterated and dignified Filipino instead of the current ragtag “Taglish” which the President even parodied.
So when I tell Mrs. Nenita Escasa in a phone interview that P-Noy often attributes his fluency in Filipino to her, she simply replies: “Of course!”
* * *
NOW 81 years old and retired from the Ateneo after almost 30 years of teaching, Escasa wonders why the President should remember her after all these years. “He was my student for only three units (out of a required nine units) in Filipino,” she recalls, “and we didn’t have any real personal dealings outside of class.”
Change centralized Philippine government to a federal one!
By Bobit S. Avila, The Philippine Star
July 29, 2011—There is no doubt that the people supporting President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III found his State of the Nation Address (SONA) satisfactory, even great, although many still say that he should have included the Freedom of Information Act if he was truly serious in getting rid of that culture of corruption and negativism. Of course, the other side of the political landscape has already given us a litany of the many reasons why P-Noy’s SONA was a failure, for it wasn’t following the path embodied in his Matuwid na Daan. I agree with them that P-Noy never chastised his own people who’ve done more to hurt his administration than contribute to it.
In my book, if there was something grossly missing in the President’s call for change in our attitudes in his SONA, it is a call for a genuine political and economic reforms that can only be done through a change in our Constitution. But the call for Charter changes (Cha-cha) still made the news when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) proposed that we should debate this issue in the 15th Congress. But JPE wanted to amend the Charter to strengthen our economic provisions. Indeed, a greater part of our nation’s problems stems from a centralized system of governance, which is our greatest folly as a nation. We should think Federal; otherwise we could end up with a disintegrating nation before we realize it and by then it might be too late!
If you’re living in Metro Manila you’d probably end up totally understanding the President’s speech. But to us in the Visayas and Mindanao who are not fluent in the Tagalog language, one would think that P-Noy was addressing only the Tagalog speaking Filipinos as his SONA was almost entirely in Tagalog, which ultra-nationalists dub as Pilipino, which brings us to question again... are Filipinos Tagalog speakers? No sir, we are not!
I say that the President’s SONA was almost all in Tagalog because part of it was in Taglish!
Young Blood: A quote to live by
By: Desiree M. Negad, Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 26, 2011—I was scanning the pages of a magazine in our school library recently when a simple quote caught my attention. It’s a maxim by US President Abraham Lincoln that says, “If you cannot have what you like, perhaps you like what you have.” I smiled upon reading this because it perfectly captures the feeling I have at this point in my life.
When I was a child, I used to envision myself as a doctor, wearing a white frock with a stethoscope hanging around my neck. Admiration would be painted on my innocent face every time I saw a doctor. I was awed by their passion to heal and help people. I was fascinated by how they looked in their immaculate white frocks. I admired everything about them, and that’s why I dreamed of becoming one of them.
When I passed the college admission test to the BS Biology program of the University of the Philippines, I was floating on cloud nine. I thought a window had been opened for the fulfillment of my ambition. I considered it the start of something wonderful, the point when my fantasy started to turn into reality.
But I was wrong. After going through the medical and dental exams and after being interviewed regarding my application for financial assistance, my grandparents told me bluntly that I could not enroll in UP. They advised me to take up education instead. According to them, Bachelor of Elementary Education was not a bad choice for a course. If I would take up BS Biology, they said, I would still end up teaching because it was far from certain that I could proceed to medicine. Medicine was a very expensive course and they couldn’t see how they could raise the money to send me to medical school.
I cried hard upon hearing their words. My dream had been shattered. I could not even enroll in UP as an “iskolar ng bayan.”
Reactions: UP and Ateneo as among the top 50 English-learning institutions
Informal Poll, July 23, 2011, Philippine Star
Alexander Raquepo, Ilocos Sur: Congratulations! I hope this can translate to jobs and better economic indicators.
Romeo Villanueva, Metro Manila: I thought we were the third largest English-speaking country in the world? Wouldn’t it be better if we made it to the top 10?
We should take pride in this
Louella Brown, Baguio City: The Philippines takes pride in the feat of the UP and Ateneo as among the top 50 English-learning institutions in the world.
Leonard Kristian Gelacio, Cauayan City: We should take pride in being included in the top 50 English-learning institutions.
Ignacio Anacta, Metro Manila: The management of UP and Ateneo deserve recognition from our national leadership for making the world’s top 50 English-learning institutions. This is positive news that all Filipinos should be proud of. My heartfelt congratulations go out to both great institutions.
Deo Durante, Camarines Sur: This is another feather in our cap considering that the 2010 World Bank Expenditures Review reveals how our country spent less on education compared to our Asian neighbors. We must be proud of it.
Cris Rivera, Rizal: Considering the state of affairs dominating our socio-political life today, news of this kind says all is not lost for RP. It is inspiring.
What happened?
Ishmael Calata, Parañaque City: I am not happy at all that we trail behind other Asian universities in this criterion. There was a time when the Philippines was the choice of students from non-English-speaking countries wanting to learn English. Now, they go to Singapore and even Hong Kong! We ask ourselves, what happened?
Learning with the mother tongue
By Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid, Manila Bulletin
MANILA, Philippines, July 22, 2011—If House Bill 3719 authored by Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo eventually gets passed into law, the mother tongue will be the primary medium for pre-school to Grade 6. English and Filipino will be taught but only as separate subjects not as the primary medium of instruction.
Earlier, former DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus had issued DepEd Order 74 which changed the language of instruction from bilingual to a trilingual one to include the mother tongue.
These initiatives support UNESCO’s policy advocacy based on numerous research findings which cite the positive impact of MTBMLE (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) on learning and cognition.
I thought that the essays contained in the collection of essays, Starting Where the Children Are, edited by Ricardo Ma.Duran Nolasco, Francisco Andes Datar, and Arnold Molina Azurin, should be brought down to various multisectoral venues where they can be more widely discussed and dissected. This, before public consultations on the proposed law are conducted.
On the use of the first language as a primary medium of instruction, here is a sampling of comments from some educators: “The pupils were clearly engaged in the learning process;” “It is not only the students that are animated and energized, but the teachers as well;”
“Students learn better with the mother tongue and are better able to apply what they learn;” “L1 (first language) facilitates the learning of a second and a third language and more;” “Countries that use the mother tongue usually garner comparatively better scores in mathematics and science.”
How I became an English major
By Butch Dalisay, The Philippine Star
July 4, 2011—We seem to be in the season of centennials (and sesquicentennials, and quadricentennials), so it may not be all that novel to celebrate another one, but that’s what we did, anyway, last month at the Department of English and Comparative Literature in the University of the Philippines.
That’s where I work, and where I’ve spent most of my adult life. These days I wear the exalted title of “Professor,” and sometimes I still wonder if I deserve it, refusing to believe that it was that long ago when I was a wet-eared freshman trying to find his place (and many other places, in the typical freshman runaround) in Diliman.
I entered UP in 1970 as an Industrial Engineering major. I was a Philippine Science High School graduate, and while we didn’t have any contracts then to tie us down to a career in science and technology (on a side note, I firmly believe such contracts to be stupid and counterproductive, as many of these bonded teenagers then do everything they can to get out of it), I did want to become a scientist of some kind.
I’d grown up on Tom Swift books, and the McGraw-Hill documentaries on space travel and marine research that we were shown in school whetted my appetite. For a while back there, I thought that the coolest thing anyone could wear on the planet and beyond was a space suit or at least a laboratory smock; in bed, I dreamt of making wild discoveries with Bunsen burners and pipettes (assisted by a curvy aide with a sharp resemblance to Rosanna Podesta).
Unfortunately, my aptitude (or rather the lack of it) in mathematics refused to cooperate with my ambition. My shimmering halo as the entrance-exam topnotcher in my PSHS batch dissolved quickly with a “5.0” in Math in my freshman year, and only a written appeal kept me in school, on probation…
Keeping it simple
Editorial, Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 5, 2011—Sen. Miriam Santiago last week pushed for the passage of a Plain Language Act to “improve the effectiveness and accountability of government agencies to the public by promoting clear communications that the public can understand and use.’’ Santiago, who is one of the more articulate members of the Senate, said that by using plain language, government officials would be able to reach out to more people inside and outside of government.
Her advice should be addressed principally to lawyers and technocrats, as well as members of Congress, a big percentage of whom are lawyers. Let’s take a look at a legal definition given as an example by Rudolf Flesch, an American readability expert:
“Ultimate consumer means a person or group of persons, generally constituting a domestic household, who purchase eggs generally at the individual stores of retailers or purchase and receive deliveries of eggs at the place of abode of the individual or domestic household from producers or retail route sellers and who use such eggs for their consumption as food.’’
Flesch said this long sentence could be boiled down to a sentence of just 10 words: “Ultimate consumers are people who buy eggs to eat them.’’
This is an American example, but we are sure there must be thousands of similar long, complex sentences in Philippine laws and regulations and legal and business documents which make it hard for ordinary people to read and understand official issuances and documents.
The singing and the gold: A memorable evening
By Elmer A. Ordoñez, The Manila Times
July 3, 2011—The Department of English of the University of the Philippines marked the end of its centenary celebration with an evening of recognition of alumni, students, and teachers since its founding in 1910. More than a hundred names cited for distinguished achievement in literature and distinguished service to the university and the nation were posted at the lobby of Bahay ng Alumni last Sunday. ’Twas an embarrassment of riches.
But by no means is the honor roll a definitive listing. Drawing it up has been fraught with many risks, particularly sins of omission. The awards committee has to work on the listing again before posting it in the English department website. Suffice it to say that the department has produced many distinguished and world-renown writers, educators, and leaders as well in diplomacy and public service. Many are icons in literature and critical studies not only in English but in Filipino and other Philippine languages as well.
Historically the UP English department had been a crucial instrument in the “benevolent assimilation” policy of the new colonizers at the turn of the 20th century, along with the Philippine Normal School founded earlier (1904) than the UP The teaching of English, then its adoption as the medium of instruction and official language, has shaped the Filipino mind and psyche, with effects manifest to this day. But to paraphrase Gemino Abad, while English has colonized us, we have colonized the language.
In early decades American professors dominated the English department. By the late twenties writers in English shed their apprenticeship and struck on their own…
“How did you begin to write? And why in English?”
By Danton Remoto, The Philippine Star
June 20, 2011—Friends and strangers alike would ask me that question. But the notion of beginning still surprises me until now.
As a child, I loved to draw, to memorize in my mind’s eye images of the passing day. I also loved to read — I would finish reading my English textbooks in one week, when we were supposed to read them for the whole year.
I read ravenously and I read everything — the ingredients in a can of soup, the newspaper my father bought every day, the Philippine Journal of Education my mother subscribed to, the 10-volume Children’s Classics that an uncle had given to us.
I grew up in Basa Air Base, Pampanga, in a small white house with sloping roof and French windows. My father was a soldier, when soldiers were still honorable, and my mother taught music in school. The Distance to Andromeda and Other Stories by the peerless Gregorio Brillantes was the first book I bought with my own money. Listen to the reasons why he writes, spoken in the third person, perhaps to give the memory a measure of objectivity:
“The answer... was tied up somehow with the town in Tarlac where he was born, and the acacias beside the house where he grew up, the sounds that wind and rain made in them. In that house, its rooms suffused with a clear white light in his memory, he learned that words, combinations of them, could unlock the doors to fancy and fable: the strange lands visited by Gulliver, Lord Greystoke shipwrecked on the African shore...”
Memory is the mother of all writing, it has been said, and many of my memories are tied up with the books I read in English, or imprinted on my mind in English…
Journalism as if Earth mattered
By Ma. Ceres P. Doyo, Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 22, 2011—I can’t resist this one, so let me say something about the matter before I proceed to the intended subject of today’s column.
When another round of fishkill occurred in Taal Lake a few days ago, was it a fisheries official who said that it was not a fishkill but “fish mortality”? A grouchy copy editor would have red-penciled it were it not a direct quote, an example of jargon, euphemism, even obfuscation, that could be a story in itself.
In a how-to-write monograph that I often use when speaking about writing, veteran editor Edward T. Thomson, presents basic guidelines. One of them is “avoid jargon.” He advises: “Don’t use words, expressions, phrases known only to people with specific knowledge or interests. Example: a scientist, using scientific jargon, wrote, ‘The biota exhibited a 100 percent mortality response.’ He could have written: ‘All the fish died.’”
Another advice: Choose short words instead of long ones. “Kill” is four letters while “mortality” is…
In his “How to write with style,” best-selling novelist Kurt Vonnegut points out that the longest word in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be?” (by Shakespeare) is three letters. Imagine Hamlet saying instead: “Should I act upon the urgings that I feel, or remain passive and thus cease to exist?”
Vonnegut adds: “James Joyce, when he was frisky, could put together a sentence as intricate and as glittering as a necklace for Cleopatra, but my favorite sentence in his short story ‘Eveline’ is this one: ‘She was tired.’ At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do.”
And so, with hearts breaking, let us say, “All the fish died.”
Big dreamer
By Lyndon John S. de Leon, Philippine Daily Inquirer
Last night I finally had the guts to re-open “Bobby.” You might think I am crazy, but yes that is the name I gave to my scrap book. I guess those dried santan flowers which were once red, those fastfood receipts, those Juicy Fruit wrappers, and those old letters from a friend now resting in between the pages of Bobby prove that I am one sentimental junkie. So I turned the pages and saw my past unfold before my eyes. And it was on the the final page that I felt the deepest sadness, bitterness and regret. That page contains two envelopes: one from the registrar of the University of the Philippines Manila, the other from the office of Sen. Mar Roxas.
For the record, I was one high school student who excelled in academics. Not a nerd, but not cool either – just one big dreamer. And two years ago, my big dream brought me to the UPCAT testing center in Ilocos Sur, as one among more than 60,000 graduating high school students who aspired to study at the University of the Philippines.
Months passed, and then I received my letter from the registrar of UP-Manila. I had made it, the only one from our school that did. I was ecstatic. But only for a moment. Once I finished reading the letter, I immediately realized that studying in UP was next to impossible. Being an Iskolar ng Bayan can be costly.
My life story would make a good material for “Maalaala Mo Kaya.” I was an only child. I remember being showered with all the earthly pleasures a child could imagine: school bags with wheels, toys that came with kid’s meals, etc. But then that chapter of my life ended abruptly when my father, who was working abroad, had to come home after being diagnosed with throat cancer. He died when I was 10. My mom and I were left alone. We were broke.
A challenge to Britain’s new “Speak English” rule
By Patrick Cox, TheWorld.org
August 1, 2011—Imagine you’re married to a Chinese citizen. You want to move to China to live with your spouse. But the Chinese government won’t let you because you don’t speak Chinese.
In reality, there is no such language requirement in China. Nor is there one for immigrants to the United States. The only language proficiency test in the United States is for citizenship.
But there is now such a test in Britain.
It has been introduced by Britain’s Conservative-led government, which has vowed to tighten immigration and reverse policies of multiculturalism.
“Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we’ve encouraged different cultures to live separate lives apart from each other, and apart from the mainstream,” said British Prime Minister David Cameron in May. “We’ve even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values.”
Cameron’s government has introduced a new English language proficiency test for some would-be immigrants.
Anyone applying for a visa for long-term residency— roughly equivalent to a U.S. green card— will now be tested to make sure they have a basic grasp of English.
As a result, Rashida Chapti, a naturalized British citizen, cannot get a visa for her 58-year-old husband, who, like her, was born in India.
When I didn’t know owt about posh speak
By Vicki Woods, Telegraph.co.uk
August 5, 2011—Tonight on Radio 4 I shall mostly be listening to Melvyn Bragg as he wanders down the routes of the English language yet again. He is doing one of his routine checks on whether or not Received Pronunciation (RP, aka BBC English, Standard English or the Queen’s ditto) has finally come to the end of its 400-year reign in the southern half of these islands.
The Blessed Melv has trod these paths before, but I never mind the repetition because I am a fellow Northerner, whose own speech has changed (softened, you might say, or even “mellowed”) over the years as much as his has. And I am as fascinated by RP as he is.
I like it. I don’t see why one shouldn’t prefer one regional variation of a national language over another. An Italian sculptress I met at a friend’s house near Lucca told me to listen hard to the prevailing accent if I wanted to improve my Italian pronunciation. “Molto, molto Toscano,” she said. “The best.”
Of course, the problem with RP is that it doesn’t strike people as regional variation but rather a social one. That’s because they don’t notice the difference between boring old straight vanilla RP (which Jeremy Paxman speaks) and URP, where U means Upper-class, as it has done since Nancy Mitford wrote her essay.
I love listening to real, proper URP when it pops out of Radio 4 occasionally – Lady Antonia Fraser reading her memoir of her husband Harold Pinter, for example, or Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, talking about hens or Mitfords.
“If you don’t speak English you can’t belong in Britain”
By David Green, The Telegraph.UK
UNITED KINGDOM, July 27, 2011—When the last Labour government introduced a requirement that immigrants who wished to marry a British citizen must learn English before coming to live here, it struck most people as a perfectly reasonable expectation. But that requirement is now being challenged in the High Court on two grounds. First, it is said to be racially discriminatory, because it impacts disproportionately on certain ethnic groups; and second, under the European Convention on Human Rights, it is said to obstruct the right to family life.
The case has been brought by Rashida Chapti, who wishes to bring her husband to the UK from India. Her barrister claims that the language requirement contravenes Article 8, the right to family life, and Article 12, the right to marry. Mrs Chapti is reported to have travelled back and forth between India and Leicester for about 15 years, but now wishes to settle here with her husband.
The Labour government planned to bring the requirement into force in July 2011, but it was brought forward to November 2010 by the Coalition. When Theresa May, the Home Secretary, announced her plans, she said: “I believe being able to speak English should be a pre-requisite for anyone who wants to settle here. The new English requirement for spouses will help promote integration, remove cultural barriers and protect public services.”
The requirement is not too exacting. Applicants will have to demonstrate English at “A1 level”, which requires them to demonstrate a basic command of conversational English, currently the same as the level required for skilled workers who have been offered a job in the UK…
Language of integration
Editorial, Telegraph.UK
July 28, 2011—If immigrants settling in Britain do not share its language, how can they fully participate in its democracy?
Once again the European Convention on Human Rights is being put to rather mischievous use. Rashida Chapti wants to bring her husband to this country from India, but cannot do so because he does not speak English. Since last November, a basic command of the language has been a legal requirement for those from outside the EU wishing to settle here. Mrs. Chapti says this breaches her right to family life and marriage.
Not for the first time, this case raises the question of whether the rights of the individual trump the rights of the wider community. The language requirement – enacted by the last government – is supposed to help bring an end to the continuing segregation of many immigrant communities. It flowed from the Cantle report on the racial disturbances in 2001 in Burnley, Oldham and Bradford, which found immigrants in the towns, many of them from the Mirpur region of Pakistan, leading “parallel lives” with the local white community.
A study in this month’s Prospect magazine suggests that a decade on, the divisions are even deeper. The generational integration common to most immigrant communities is not happening in these and other towns, partly because young men continue to return to Mirpur to find brides.
The English language is an important mechanism for breaking down such barriers.
How to say the hardest word in the English language
By Mark Fletcher-Brown, HuffingtonPost.co.uk
July 17, 2011—Apologies are back in the news. After Mr. Murdoch's very public "sorry" at the weekend, the game has been upped. All of our expectations will have been raised: where we have been let down, we will expect no less.
But saying sorry isn't easy. Bernie Taupin wasn't kidding.
Before you get anywhere near saying anything at all, there's a lot of weighing up to do. Sorry implies guilt and potentially liability. And that can cost money. So you'd want to know how much and to whom it might have to be paid.
And paying out because of liability can upset other people besides lawyers: shareholders, staff, customers, and investors. Apologising to one person can upset many more. You can so easily start a trend.
Once you've understood those implications, you need to think about the questions that can be begged by a simple sorry. Often in day-to-day life, we'll say, "sorry - it won't happen again". But uttering those words can make life very complicated indeed.
It means understanding fully what happened in the first place. Who did what, where and when and with whose authority? It's a promise that the things that failed won't fail again. And it's stamped with the imprimatur of the person issuing the apology. A lot can ride on an apology that fails to deliver.
Say “non” to phrasebook foreign language in fiction
By Daniel Calder, Guardian.co.uk
July 13, 2011—Is there anything in this sorrowful world worse than books written in English where foreign words with everyday meanings appear untranslated in italics? Well yes, obviously. But that does not mean that the untranslated word is not an evil worthy of severe condemnation.
You know what I am talking about. Usually you find these mots étranges sprinkled liberally through mediocre travel books or pseudo-exotic novels set in foreign lands. Consider, for instance, this passage from an egregious offender- Frederick Forsyth's Day of the Jackal.
The setting is France:
Lebel finished reading the last of the reports from the file in front of him. When he looked up it was to find fourteen pairs of eyes on him, most of them cold and challenging.
“Alors, rien?”
The question from Colonel Rolland was that of everyone present.
“No, nothing I’m afraid,” agreed Lebel. “None of the suggestions seem to stand up.”
So here we are in a room full of Frenchmen, and naturally enough one of them starts speaking in French. But then another Frenchman replies, translating the French word into English before continuing his speech in the language of perfidious Albion…
Bring chaos theory to English language teaching
By Maurice Claypole, Guardian Weekly
July 5, 2011—A van pulls into a UK service area sporting in foot-high letters the query, “Does my broadband look big in this?” Nearby, McDonald's announces to the world: “I’m lovin’ it.” To the learner of English, often brought up on a diet of grammar rules and comfortably defined meanings, such instances of language use, while commonplace, often seem to defy analysis.
In particular, it is pointless to debate whether the hamburger slogan represents correct use of a stative verb. If the rule does not match such widespread usage, it is the rule, not the example, that has to go.
But why are grammar rules so elusive? Why do so many items of vocabulary seem to defy the attempts of lexicographers to tie them down to anything other than a vaguely defined core meaning? Why does the socio-cultural context of today exert such a powerful influence on the received meaning of tomorrow?
The answer lies in the dynamic nature of language itself and in the complex network of ever-changing patterns that are constantly being expanded and reformed through an ongoing process of interaction, iteration and feedback.
Sometimes a simple phrase can, through a process of quasi-repetition, spread from its initial roots to spark off a new generation of inferences. Thus, the example cited above is being used by a British telecoms provider to capitalize on a popular catch-phrase from a 1990s comedy series in which the question, “Does my bum look big in this?”, is repeated in a variety of humorous situations.
Bring chaos theory to English language teaching
By Maurice Claypole, Guardian Weekly
July 5, 2011—A van pulls into a UK service area sporting in foot-high letters the query, “Does my broadband look big in this?” Nearby, McDonald's announces to the world: “I’m lovin’ it.” To the learner of English, often brought up on a diet of grammar rules and comfortably defined meanings, such instances of language use, while commonplace, often seem to defy analysis.
In particular, it is pointless to debate whether the hamburger slogan represents correct use of a stative verb. If the rule does not match such widespread usage, it is the rule, not the example, that has to go.
But why are grammar rules so elusive? Why do so many items of vocabulary seem to defy the attempts of lexicographers to tie them down to anything other than a vaguely defined core meaning? Why does the socio-cultural context of today exert such a powerful influence on the received meaning of tomorrow?
The answer lies in the dynamic nature of language itself and in the complex network of ever-changing patterns that are constantly being expanded and reformed through an ongoing process of interaction, iteration and feedback.
Sometimes a simple phrase can, through a process of quasi-repetition, spread from its initial roots to spark off a new generation of inferences. Thus, the example cited above is being used by a British telecoms provider to capitalize on a popular catch-phrase from a 1990s comedy series in which the question, “Does my bum look big in this?”, is repeated in a variety of humorous situations.
Mind your bad English, Kingsley Amis “don’t like it”
By Charles Moore, Telegraph.co.uk
July 14, 2011—Kingsley Amis died in 1995, and this book was found among his effects (I can imagine him making good comic play with that usage), and published. Now it has been reissued, with a new introduction by Kingsley’s son, Martin, for the century its author never saw. The title refers to the famous book of the same name by the Fowler brothers, whom Amis greatly admired, but also to Amis himself: “The King” was a nickname which, as Martin puts it, his father “tolerated”. I remember Kingsley fantasizing that he employed a gang of East End vigilantes who would go round to the door of pretentious writers and confront them with their literary crimes: “Don’t do it,” they would say menacingly, “The King don’t like it.”
There were many, many things which, in the use of English, the King didn’t like. This book contains a selection. Martin shows too much filial piety when he praises the book’s “spirit of reckless generosity”: it contains many more curses than blessings. The King is particularly alert to mindlessness and to dishonesty in the use of words. In the first category comes the addition of the ending “-athon” or “-thon” (derived from marathon) to describe anything that goes on for a bit, such as “telethon” or “talkathon”. (The same applies, though Amis doesn’t mention it, to the ending “-gate”, as in Watergate, appended to any scandal.) In the second category come words which try to fool the reader that something is being achieved when it isn’t. An example is the way we journalists claim to be “addressing” a question – thus helping to solve it – when in fact we are merely mentioning it.
It may be baby talk, but we understand and speak it
By RUSSELL SMITH, Globe and Mail
June 29, 2011—My partner hands me a coffee. “Daydoo,” I say absently. She understands – without even realizing that I am not speaking English – and responds, “Weggum.” We have made no conscious choice to start speaking the idiolect of our two-year-old, but his language seeps into ours. If you live in France, you accidentally start speaking French. If someone very close to you says “toobee” for “excuse me” (and particularly if that person usually says “toobee, daddy,” in an impossibly cute way), and everyone in your little house—a world of its own—understands what “toobee” means, you may be charmed into thinking that “toobee” is the preferable formula for moving someone out of your way.
This is the opposite of what speech and language therapists counsel you to do, of course: You should repeat the garbled phrase in clear English so that the child will learn to correct his eccentric ways. One tries to do this, but the natural instinct to mimic one’s interlocutor runs both ways. This human tendency is surely crucial to the development of all communication: We adjust to and repeat the speech patterns of others in order to make them feel at ease.
Furthermore, there is a great emotional and egotistical appeal to secret languages – languages spoken only between lovers, for example. We all love code words. And is it a coincidence that lovers’ talk is so frequently baby talk? Our speaking two-year-old dialect is a form of bonding. So now I call out in the supermarket, unconsciously, that I am going to get a carton of “mowkie” and that we might have “pida” for lunch, and I don’t care who hears it.
Shakespeare, King James Bible and English language
By Harold Raley, Galveston Daily News
July 31, 2011—By an interesting historical convergence, the founding of America coincided with the two towering influences that shaped the language of the English Renaissance — Shakespeare (1564-1616) and the King James Bible (1611).
Not only was England expanding through its overseas colonies but also the English language was beginning its emergence as a major world language.
Many of the words attributed to Shakespeare might have appeared earlier, but he popularized them as never before.
Here are some that became fixtures in common English — “accommodation,” “assassination,” “barefaced,” “countless,” “courtship,” “dislocate,” “dwindle,” “eventful,” “fancy-free,” “lackluster,” “laughable,” “premeditated,” and “submerged.”
Not all his invented words gained a foothold. “Vastidity,” “abruption,” and “protractive,” among others, disappeared.
Many idiomatic expressions can be traced to Shakespeare — “a foregone conclusion,” “a tower of strength,” “at one fell swoop,” “play fast and loose,” “it’s Greek to me,” “in my mind’s eye,” and “cold comfort.”
Unlike Shakespeare, who wrote for the masses and used many new expressions, the scholars who translated the King James Bible aimed for a lofty, not a popular style.
In fact, the King James vocabulary looked backward in its vocabulary and grammar.
Original English
By Giles Harvey, The New Yorker
August 3, 2011—As an English person living in New York, I find myself in the odd position of frequently receiving compliments for the simple feat of having a voice. Because of my exotic accent, with its lingering vowels and well-behaved consonants, I tend to be mistaken for someone far more witty, widely read, intelligent, and authoritative than I really am. This state of affairs suits me fine—I’m all for it. “Don’t lose that accent, honey,” I am often counseled by hyper-friendly barmaids and call center operatives, and I assure them I won’t.
The American accent has had less success in England, and judging by a recent and much-read piece in the BBC Magazine—Matthew Engel’s “Why do some Americanisms irritate people?”—the same could be said for American idiom. Engel’s article lists several Americanisms the author finds “lazy and pointless”—”faze,” “wrench,” and “rookies” among them—and concludes with a puzzling plea to maintain “the integrity of our own gloriously nuanced, subtle and supple version—the original version—of the English language,” by which he presumably does not mean the West Germanic dialect spoken by the settlers who came to England in the fifth and sixth centuries.
The idea that there is such a thing as “the original version” of English is wrongheaded, as is the failure to recognize that the nuance and suppleness that Engels so treasures is the direct result of the language’s multifarious appropriations. English is sedimentary: on top of the Anglo-Saxon base was laid the French dialect of Norman conquerors, to which was then added the Latin coinages of Renaissance humanists.
As Borges once said, English is really three languages rolled into one, in which the speaker can Germanically ask, Frenchly inquire, or Latinately interrogate. (In fairness, Engel does acknowledge that the “flexible” and even “anarchic” qualities of English are “part of the secret of its success.”)
Don’t let Spanish speakers remain trapped in their language
By Debra Boelk, Daily Democrat
August 5, 2011—This is in response to Becky Olvera’s July 21 rebuttal of Rita Sandoval on Spanish speakers not learning English: I am not quite sure what your argument was for letting Spanish speakers remain trapped in their language here in the U.S. You started out well, but devolved into some babble about baby cooing being the purest language.
Your first point that English is not an easy language to learn is well taken, but you only went so far as to compare issues with pronunciation between the two languages. Spanish grammar is quite difficult from an English speaker's perspective and if native Spanish speakers can handle that complex grammar I'm sure they can master English pronunciation, establishing at least a moderate vocabulary. You, obviously, have mastered spelling and speaking, and although some of your word usage and grammar was imperfect.
Your point that only “the poor and needy and those with little or no schooling” are the ones who emigrate from Latin America is faulty. There are plenty of erudite Latinos who emigrate here. My assumption is that you are mainly referring to illegal aliens; who don't belong here in the first place.
I think your point was that the unschooled are the ones who have no command of their own language so they can’t get a grasp of English.
Anglo-Saxon on the menu
By Henry Hitchings, Wall Street Journal
July 25, 2011—“Whether considered as a word or thing, no other vegetable is quite as confusing as the leek,” writes Ina Lipkowitz in Words to Eat By, an exploration of culinary history as revealed by language. Where “leek” was once applied by the English to the “entire family of pungent vegetables,” she says, that honor now goes to the onion—an indication of “the triumph of the south, the Romans, and the Romance languages.” Chives, shallots, leeks—they are all considered varieties of onion (from the Latin allium). Northern Europeans and the British still eat the mild leek, but elsewhere the stronger-tasting onion rules.
Ms. Lipkowitz goes on to consider how the leek proceeded from weedy wildness to cultivated vegetable, along the way informing us that the Roman emperor Nero was known to his subjects as Leek-Eater and that medieval physicians fed leeks to men with abdominal injuries. The doctors would wait awhile, then sniff the wounds—if the vegetable's distinctive aroma was detected, it meant that the digestive tract had been ruptured.
"Words to Eat By" abounds with such delicious historical detail. Ms. Lipkowitz, who teaches literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is an appealing mixture of scholar and foodie, and she has written a toothsome study of the relationship between English-speakers' culinary and linguistic heritage. She gives close consideration to five English food words: apple, leek, milk, meat and bread. Her work combines etymological foraging and personal polemic; the tone is bright rather than strident. But there is no mistaking her desire to reclaim the Anglo-Saxon lexis of food—and the staples of the Anglo-Saxon diet.
OMG, Internet jargon is debasing the English language
By Charles Housman, Phillyburbs.com
PHILADELPHIA, July 20, 2011—A writer responding to an article in the Smithsonian was critical, not about how the Internet provides information, but how it erodes the English language and believes it has created a generation of Americans who cannot write a proper sentence.
I’m not a writing perfectionist, but I’ll try very hard here to explain why I agree with the writer that we should avoid using LOL, OMG, BFF, and I’ll add still another, HA Ha. Whether I am writing to friends, business acquaintances, grown-ups or my grandchildren, I will not add HA Ha or LOL at the end of a sentence containing comments that I intend to be humorous. I expect them to know me well enough and be knowledgeable in discerning the difference between humor and facts and I should not have to explain my comments by adding LOL or Ha Ha.
I have, until now, believed Americans have debased the English language more than all other English-speaking people. But I also believe that many young Americans can still write fairly well provided they have graduated high school and are not addicted to Facebook. The one thing, which I agree with Michelle Obama, is that she does not want her daughters caught up in that silliness. I have grandchildren, a couple who have children of their own, and they send me gibberish that I do not reply to because it is not clear what they are trying to tell me. Moreover, because of the spelling, I would not answer even if I did understand.
Spanish works fine, but learning English leads to real power
By Sue Ontiveros, SunTimes.com
July 16, 2011—Not long ago, I was at a stoplight next to a bus that sported a full-length bank ad. You know the type: promises of great service, low rates if you become a customer.
As I waited, another bus rolled through the intersection. On the length of this one was an ad for a company looking for employees.
Both ads were in Spanish.
Not only totally in Espanol, but deep in the heart of suburbia. Guess all those news reports about Latinos moving to the ’burbs are right!
Oh boy, at that moment did I wish I was the type who always has her cell phone camera ready to snap away. That was a scene I would have loved to share with my e-“friends.”
I have a loyal band of emailers who love to rag me about Latinos. (It’s so sweet, some write almost daily, although their bosses probably wish they were working instead of corresponding with a journalist.) The one complaint I hear over and over is how “everything” is in Spanish, something they attribute to Latinos not learning English. And then they tell me that when their grandparents came here, they learned English.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Having grown up in a neighborhood with a good number of non-Latino immigrants, I remember things a little differently, including that that generation learned only enough English to get by.
The children and grandchildren embraced English — sadly, often discarding their family’s native tongue — but for the old grannies and granddads, English was difficult, so they never mastered it or adopted it as their first language.
Americanisms that rankled Brits: “Reliable,” “Talented”
By Bill Chappell, NPR.com
July 13, 2011—In this free-wheeling era, when the English language is often applied with little supervision, it's common for purists to complain about the abuse of words.
For instance, I dislike it when things are indicated instead of said. And impact gets rough treatment, as it's transmogrified into a Franken-adjective (impactful) and is too often made to serve as a substitute for affect — probably by people who are unsure whether to use that word or effect.
And there should be a petition to remove the word literally from use, for at least a lengthy rehabilitation and perhaps a permanent retirement.
But I was surprised to learn that in 19th-century Britain, readers viewed words like lengthy and reliable as signs of the coming apocalypse. It turns out that those words, along with talented and tremendous, were imports from America.
As Matthew Engel writes at the BBC, "The poet Coleridge denounced 'talented' as a barbarous word in 1832, though a few years later it was being used by William Gladstone. A letter-writer to the Times, in 1857, described 'reliable' as vile."
Liberals hijack the English language to control hearts, minds, and lives
By Grace Vuoto, WorldTribune.com
July 14, 2011—Since the 1960s, New Age liberals have been attempting to overturn core American values, especially by transforming the meaning of words that have long been in use. Similar to communist revolutionaries in Eastern Europe throughout much of the twentieth century, contemporary American liberals have discovered that the best way to alter behavior is to penetrate the mind by transforming our vocabulary.
There are five words in particular that have been hijacked and which form the basis of the liberal philosophy. The first of these is “judgment.” To judge is considered the cardinal liberal sin: “Who are you to judge?” is the most-often repeated phrase when a liberal assaults traditional morality. All the while, the very question is a form of judgment. Yet, every individual makes judgments incessantly, from what to wear, eat, work, live or who to marry. Judging is an inevitable function of the brain whether one is liberal or conservative.
What liberals are really doing is conflating “judgment” with “condemnation.” The debate is not whether we should judge or condemn — as we all inevitably do — but ultimately what behaviors are or are not acceptable. In short, the next time a liberal declares, “Who are you to judge?” an apt retort is that to judge is merely human; what the traditionalist is really doing is condemning, not judging. We condemn liberal values in the same manner as liberals condemn conservative values.
The next most misused word is “toleration.” Liberals believe that toleration is a right: all behaviors ought to be tolerated and to contest this is to be — brace yourself — the second most odious of liberal sins: intolerant. In this instance, the liberal is conflating “tolerance” with “acceptance.” To tolerate behavior is to allow it to take place…
Why you should know more than one language
By Michael Hacker, CarrollsPaper.com
July 14, 2011—I would like to take this opportunity to talk about why I think my fellow Americans should invest some time learning a second language. But first, an old joke:
What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
“Bilingual.”
What do you call someone who speaks only one language?
“American.”
As lame as this joke may be, it does reflect a very real perception of Americans.
Europeans often speak two or more languages, while Americans are looked down upon because we speak only one. There are, of course, obvious reasons for this. It would be easy to run into five or more different languages in a single week spent traveling around Europe. This obviously isn’t the case in America, but that doesn’t mean we can’t (or shouldn’t) apply ourselves to the study of foreign languages.
Many countries have made English-language education compulsory. In Japan, for example, students are required to study English for six years through junior high and high school. Yet, for some reason, the very suggestion that similar mandatory foreign-language-education programs would be a good thing for the United States quickly gives rise to what I can only describe as a sort of misplaced monolinguistic nationalist fury.
American vs. British English
By Michael Ricci, AuburnPub.com
July 11, 2011—Everyone who lives in the United States knows that English is the language spoken since the colonists settled in our country. But do the British people speak the same language as we do, or should we call their language British English and ours as American English?
Many of our citizens speak with various dialects, but our English is different from English spoken around the world. We therefore need to refer to our language as American English. All other forms of English, we refer to them as British English.
Through many past centuries the British government colonized many countries including Canada, Australia, New Guinea, and India. Any English spoken in these countries may be also called British English because their English language has been influenced by colonists from Great Britain.
How different is our English from the British version. All our history enthusiasts all know that several centuries ago Gaul (now France) occupied the British Isles and much of their language was assimilated in the present British nations and their previous colonized possessions. Many of these words are also evident in our language, but during the 20th century some have been revised to eliminate “our” phrases and words like neighbour, colour, and favour. Many of our late 19th century authors’ works can be found to still have some of these spellings like Booth Tarkington and Richard Harding Davis.
An idea to create a special English
VoiceofAmericaNews.com
July 7, 2011—Transcript of broadcast:
FAITH LAPIDUS: I’m Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the research scientist and broadcasting leader Henry Loomis. Mister Loomis held many interesting communications positions over his long career. He served as director of the Voice of America for seven years starting in nineteen fifty-eight. Mister Loomis played an important role in creating the Special English service.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Henry Loomis was born in nineteen nineteen in Tuxedo Park, New York. His father was Alfred Lee Loomis, a wealthy New York City businessman. Unlike many businessmen at the time, Alfred Loomis protected his wealth during the financial crash of nineteen twenty-nine. He later withdrew from the world of business in order to spend more time working as a scientist.
Henry Loomis and his brothers Lee and Farney grew up spending time in the private laboratory their father built. This scientific background and the people who worked with his father would have a big influence on Henry’s life. Alfred Loomis taught traditional values to his sons and stressed the importance of education and hard work.
English can be very confusing language to learn
By John Reichley, Leavenworth Times
LEAVENWORTH, Kansas, July 6, 2011—The new class of international military students (IMS) is at the fort and off and running in preparatory classes and getting to know each other.
And those from non-English speaking countries are hard at work perfecting their skills in their new language.
We sponsored the first student from a country that was part of the former Soviet Union, and he had to spend a year at the Defense Language Institute in San Antonio learning English. By the time he arrived here I thought he spoke it pretty well.
When I took him to get a driver’s license he was short $1 of the fee. He turned to me and asked “John will you please borrow me a dollar?” The license clerk looked puzzled, but I knew what he meant, and “borrowed” him the dollar.
Which reminded me that English is not the easiest language in the world to understand. To one who grew up and was schooled in another language it can prove quite intimidating.
The confusion is not just in the different parts of the language, but in how we use words. Consider the following, which every American knows, but which can be quite confusing to one just learning our language.
Learn why majoring in business could make good business sense
By Chris Kyle, Education.Yahoo.net
Forget about skinny jeans. The most popular accessory in school these days is a business degree.
Over 300,000 students graduated with a bachelor's in business in 2008, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That's more degrees than social sciences, history and health sciences, combined, according to the "Digest of Education Statistics, 2009" report.
Business is a popular degree with employers too.
“In general, the average employer views business majors as very solid job candidates, thanks to their broad-based education and business know-how,” writes Kate Walsh in her book What Can You Do With A Major In Business: Real People. Real Jobs. Real Rewards.
Wondering what you could do with a business degree? Keep reading for six increasingly popular business career choices that could offer great earning potential and opportunity.
#1 - Eco-Investor
Many experts believe green energy - and environmental investment - is America's next big bubble, and eco-investors will help sway what companies and sustainable practices take off. Like any kind of investing, eco-investing requires informed decisions, based on solid business practices taught in school.
“Eco-investors have diverse educational backgrounds,” writes Pamela Fehl in Green Careers: Business & Construction, “but most people in this field have a bachelor's degree in business.”
Are school librarians expendable?
Room for Debate, The New York Times
June 27, 2011—Carol Simpson is a former school librarian and school library administrator. She currently practices school law in Plano, Tex.
Faced with extensive budget cuts from lawmakers, administrators are forced between a rock and a hard place.
There are mandates for class size, special education and English language learning, for example. The librarian has no such protection.
When state law requires certain student to teacher ratios, administrators’ hands are tied when they are told they must eliminate a specific number of campus positions. Federal law mandates personnel-intensive services for students with special needs and English language learners, and multiple meals a day for economically disadvantaged services.
None of those positions may be eliminated. Who, then, may an administrator cut? Cutting fat must eventually yield to cutting bone.
Research shows that students are poorly prepared to cope with the volumes of information that confront modern students. School librarians are highly skilled in locating, evaluating and organizing information in multiple formats. In most states, school librarians are also certified and experienced classroom teachers. They are ideal choices to teach students (and teachers) the skills needed to manage information overload.
Language of choice
By Annie Zaidi, DNAIndia.com
July 24, 2011—The hall darkened. The screen lit up and I read the title in both English and Devnagri, feeling the different shapes of the alphabets on my tongue. This is a tangible pleasure for me and I kept staring until I realized that there was a third script on the screen. Nastalik.
I was so surprised that I forgot to focus on the next few frames, although it wasn’t so remarkable after all. Even until the 1990s, film titles routinely appeared in three scripts to cater to those educated in any of three languages — English, Hindi, Urdu. Yet, I’d forgotten that Urdu also belongs up there on the screen.
And now I’m thinking about it, I can’t remember the last time I noticed film credits roll in Devnagri. In fact, I too have switched to the Roman script when writing in Hindustani. And perhaps it’s better this way. Perhaps it doesn’t matter because all civilisations move from one script to another, one dialect to another. That’s how Urdu got made, a language that came striding in from the battlefield into bazaars, used first by rough-tongued soldiers and then by ferociously refined writers.
But film writers no longer write in Urdu. Film posters no longer advertise themselves in Urdu. Credits certainly do not roll in either Devnagri or Nastalik.
But what of audiences who have not made a smooth transition to Romanised Hindustani? Is there an automatic assumption that these people are illiterate — and therefore cannot read the credits anyway — or that they are uninterested in films?
Shah meets Shaw
By Manjula Kolanu, TheHindu.com
July 25, 2011—For any lover of English language, Bernard Shaw ranks right up there among humourists. He is also favourite among theatre artistes, by virtue of his wit, his unique take on relationships, command over the language and the felicity with which his plays and stories can be adapted for the stage.
Combine Shaw with English theatre in India and one of the first names that comes to mind is the Naseeruddin Shahs' Motley group.
Clearly Shaw is a favourite with the Mumbai-based theatre group. Though Motley debuted with Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and staged Ionesco along with Ismat Chugtai and Manto, they have returned to Shaw time and again.
After Don Juan in Hell, Androcles and the Lion and Dear Liar – the last staged in Hyderabad too – Motley brings to Hyderabad its latest production By George, a collection of three short pieces by Shaw directed by Naseerudding Shah.
In less than two hours, the comical satire ‘By George' presents ‘Village Wooing' its longest centrepiece, a one-act play How He Lied to Her Husband and a poem, “English Pronunciation.”
The two plays are affectionate satires on the processes of wooing and wedding, and their aftermath. Both reflect Shaw's rapier-sharp wit and his unique take on these rites-of-passage.
Science of language learning
By Surabhi Pillai, AhmedabadMirror.com
July 25, 2011—Good morning! As Indians and as second language learners of English, we should be very happy. The other day, I had the pleasure of interacting with some international students and, to my delight, I found out that Indians are very good users of English. Yes, even those, among us, who are not adept at it, are perfectly comprehensible. This, of course, is something to smile about…
A few queries now:
Shyam wants to know the meaning of “second language.” He says that I have used the term very often without explaining it.
Apologies, Shyam! Here’s the answer:
Every person has a mother tongue (like your mother tongue could be Gujarati) which he or she grows up interacting in. But in school one might have to learn another language. In India we learn English as the second language. Thus, the language other than the mother tongue that one learns is known as the “second language.”
Language learning is easy for some and difficult for the others, some are gifted learners and can pick up several languages; such a person who knows several languages is a “linguist.” “Linguistics,” on the other hand, is the scientific study of language.
The study of language includes the study of phonology—the sound system, morphology—the structure of words, syntax—the combination of words into sentences, semantics—the ways in which sounds and meanings are related, and the lexicon or mental dictionary of words.
The valley’s paper tigers
By Sameer Arshad, Times of India
July 24, 2011—Syed Rafiudin Bukhari taught English for three decades before launching a media group that published dailies in English and Urdu. But he wanted to do something else - start newspapers in Kashmiri, his mother tongue. Bukhari met naysayers at every stage who dissuaded him from launching one, saying Kashmiri language was dying and a paper in it would be commercially unviable. But he went ahead and launched a multicolored weekly Sangarmal in February 2006 that did well to become the first Kashmiri newspaper to survive for more than two years.
There was not a single newspaper in Kashmiri before 2006 despite a burgeoning market with over 400 dailies. Sangarmal went from strength to strength and was re-launched as a daily on July 9. Another Kashmiri newspaper, Kehwat, followed suit two days later.
"It's a major milestone in the language's renaissance," says Bukhari, adding Sangarmal had brought out a special 100-page edition in July 2007 that also carried letters from two non-Kashmiris studying the language at the Oriental Languages Department of Patiala's Punjabi University. "The two, from Russia and (India's) northeast, wrote that our edition had greatly improved their Kashmiri language skills."
The letters were among many inspirations that pushed Sangarmal's re-launch. Then there was the enthusiasm from Kashmiri readers abroad. "We got overwhelming response from our online readers in countries like the US and Europe."
English ascent: American accent versus Indian accent
July 23, 2011—There is periodic angst in English speaking parts of the world about the Americanisation of the language, not in small measure helped by the increased reliance of a new generation on the ease of spellcheck over the tedium of acquiring a proficiency over a sizeable vocabulary. It is with a considerable degree of resignation that older speakers and writers of the language have acceded to the use of color over colour, taken elevators to apartments not lifts to flats, and realised that zee is not a comic Continental pronunciation of an article of speech but the last letter of the common alphabet.
Even in India, if we overlook the minor inaccuracy of calling a school year a “grade” instead of a “standard” or “class,” accept “math” instead of “maths” and disregard the offense of using “s” where “c” would have been more appropriate, some merit can be perceived in this trans-Atlantic tilt.
Ameringlish's disdain for prepositions (“Let's meet Monday”) and its proactive turning of nouns into verbs (which then “impact” instantly) and guillotining of extra letters (program, traveler, mustache), for instance, all end up saving time and space in speech, emails, newspaper columns and other modes of communication even if they irk grammarians and purists.
It must also be said that though the rise of what is also called Globish has seen a definite inclination worldwide for terms such as “speak with” instead of “speak to,” “I'm good” instead of “I'm fine” and “going forward” instead of “from now on” or “looking ahead,” it might be all to the good if it gets everyone on the same page eventually. Besides, if the numbers and soft power continue to go our way, there is no doubt that Indian ascendency over this language will be preponed too. Just check the Oxford Dictionary for proof of the inevitable. Mind it.
The world in Bangla
By Poulomi Banerjee and Sudeshna Banerjee, The Telegraph
July 17, 2011—Over the past month and a half, the city and the districts have been plastered with hoardings announcing the launch of Discovery Channel in Bengali.
The channel launched its six-hour Bengali feed in prime time from 6pm to midnight on April 15. The feed eventually became 24 hours from June 1. West Bengal, as it is, contributes seven per cent to Discovery Channel’s total viewership and is among its top five priority markets.
Bengali was added to Discovery’s language bouquet after Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It has led to a great adventure.
“Amay ektu joriye dhoro toh (Kindly embrace me),” says a sturdy Caucasian man, just rescued from the high seas, approaching another man on the deck with arms wide open. But no romantic overtone is intended in the show on whale hunters. One wonders what the original request was.
“Tough bugger,” says a sailor about his boat in the same programme, in its English version. His Bengali avatar says: “Etar bhalo dom achhey.”
But if the channel can ignore the nuances of language — well, broad meanings too — most viewers aren’t complaining. Going local has paid rich dividends. “The average ratings of Discovery in West Bengal witnessed a rise of 20 per cent after the launch of the six-hour Bengali feed,” says Rahul Johri, senior vice-president and general manager-South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific. Some glitches remain, but Discovery says it tries to take care of the Bengali. “The dubbed scripts and tapes go for multiple quality and technical checks with the highest-rated language consultants in India,” says Johri. The results are better than Nat Geo’s efforts with Bengali.
“Chutney meri, ketchup teri”
By Vijay Nambisan
Even a purist recognizes that language is an organic, dynamic entity, whose growth or decline it is almost impossible to check in any way. English in India has raised the hackles of practically everyone who has had anything to do with it. Either it is risible, or it is elitist. But now, as a more self-confident (if also self-conscious) nation since 1991, what do we make of the phenomenon called Hinglish?
This book, Chutnefying English: The Phenomenon of Hinglish, the proceeds of a conference in Mumbai two years ago, is an excellent first step towards understanding Hinglish, what it represents and those who represent it. Broadly speaking, the writers and scholars here are somewhat dismayed by Hinglish; the linguists are excited; the filmmakers and admen say, naturally, that they are only reflecting the reality; those not from North India decry the hegemony of Hindi; and the younger participants in the conference take it as a matter of course, while resisting the easy correlation that Hinglish equals Indian youth.
There is not space to dwell on each paper as it deserves, so I shall make a quick overflight, with a fell swoop now and then. Harish Trivedi is at his acerbic best in his Foreword, quoting a Hinglish ghazal from 1887, questioning Rushdie's credentials as a Hindi speaker and artfully destabilising Ezekiel's “Very Indian Poems in Indian English” (which I've never found funny) with the question, “Are his other poems in British English then?” He also asks if Hinglish is English in Hindi or Hindi in English, and raises the pertinent point that chutney is a spice, not the main course. (“Chutnefied English” was Rushdie's coinage.) Later in the book, Rahul Kansal insists Hinglish is a result of the ‘ketchupisation' of Hindi rather than the ‘chutnefication' of English. He has a point.
Hindi bashers to buffs—Tamil students pick central language courses
By Basant Kumar Mohanty, Telegraph.India.com
NEW DELHI, June 27—A few months ago, the then M. Karunanidhi government set the Centre a condition for opening Navodaya Vidyalayas in Tamil Nadu.
It was ready to provide land for these schools, the DMK government said, but only if they began teaching in English and Tamil and not in Hindi.
The Union human resource development ministry did not agree and dropped the proposal. Navodaya Vidyalayas continue to exist in all the states and Union territories except Tamil Nadu.
Yet the current trend of Tamil Nadu students increasingly choosing to learn Hindi, with some even opting for Hindi as the medium of instruction, appears to make nonsense of the erstwhile DMK government’s stand.
More than four decades after the DMK rode an anti-Hindi agitation to power in Tamil Nadu, it seems the state’s people are increasingly jettisoning their perceived hostility towards India’s dominant language.
Shift in policy on medium of instruction is imprudent
June 23, 2011—The government decision to give grants to English medium primary schools is not in the interest of Goan children in particular, and Goan society in general. Those who spearheaded the movement for English have failed to realize that primary education in Konkani is essential to empower Goan children to learn English better. This statement is based on the opinion of educationists affiliated to UNESCO and other renowned educationists.
While announcing the shift in the policy, chief minister Digambar Kamat said it will enable the poor to get enrolled in English medium schools which will empower them. In the same breath he said that English is just one of the options and that those who want to get their wards admitted in Konkani or Marathi medium schools have the choice to do so.
Many teachers and concerned parents, who have no faith in Konkani, have jumped to the conclusion that English at the primary level will help students tackle the challenges of the future. This attitude is not uncommon…
Pakistanis thriving in Afghan market
By Ahmad Fraz Khan, The Dawn
KABUL, July 5, 2011—With the Americans and their subsidiary companies – construction, supplies, telecom etc. – now running the show, Afghanistan has emerged as another labor market for the Pakistanis.
Security in Afghanistan is precarious and even Kabul wears the look of a war zone. The Afghan officials waste no opportunity to show their dislike, even hatred, for anything Pakistani. Yet underneath the political tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the market appears to define and rule the relationship between Pakistani labor and their employers in Afghanistan. There are, according to unofficial estimates, over 70,000 Pakistanis working in different sectors – hotels, telecom and banking – and some are even running printing presses.
According to the Pakistanis working in and around Kabul, two factors – dollarization of the Afghan economy and prevalence of English language – have opened the Afghan market to labor from Pakistan.
The Americans, one way or the other, are pumping over $100 billion into Afghanistan. “Even if three to four per cent of this money trickles down to a common man, it is more than enough to lift his economy,” says Haris Ali, country head of Aircom International in Afghanistan. Artificially pegged to dollar, the Afghani has improved to 45 Afghanis to a dollar; meaning that an Afghani is almost worth two Pakistani rupees. This exchange rate, though artificial as per economists’ claims, has become major attraction for the Pakistani labor, he concludes.
Google+ upstages Facebook
By Toby Shapshak, TimesLive.co.za
July 3, 2011—Like. That little word. Right now it’s the most powerful word in the English language. Not just English, every language that Facebook is published in.
It’s the little word that nearly 700million Facebookers use to, well, like something on the world’s largest online community.
With one word, or the gesture it entails, you can register your vote. It’s just a little nudge to say you approve. It's not as committal as leaving a comment. It’s just one click of the mouse, one tap of the touchscreen.
It is Facebook’s secret weapon. You like something. The cloud-based software robots that are the Internet tell you what your friends liked. You go look. And Like!
It’s a popularity contest. It is like friggin’ high school all over again.
That like button is seemingly a better referral system than the almighty word-of-mouth. You can even organise an Arab Spring on it, apparently. Even if its executives have conceded what we already knew: Facebook’s role was a little overblown.
But you helped to overthrow a few corrupt dictators in the north of Africa just with that one mouse click. Isn’t technology great? Or so the mythology goes.
It’s usually high food prices, autocratic tyrants who have overstayed their welcome by several decades, and an unusual catalyst that spark the tinder house. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, it was a misread press statement that declared the border crossings open “with immediate effect.”
Accidental tourist encounters language barrier
By Stephanie Katz, Timeslive.co.za
June 26, 2011—I’d been learning two Spanish phrases a day for two months in preparation for the 14 days of freedom I’d been granted by the good people who usually chained me to the desk.
It mattered little that two of those days would be devoted to kicking it cattle class on an aeroplane from the ’50s; nor was I concerned that another seven would be monopolized by the very American family vacation that I’d managed to avoid for the past four years by living in Cape Town.
In fact, I was even excited to see my parents . and my parents’ friends . and my parents’ friends’ children . AND my parents’ friends’ children’s children. I’d even learned a Spanish phrase in my eagerness, “Otra cerveza por favor.” (Another beer please).
First stop, Valencia. Neither a tourist hot spot nor off the beaten path, Spain’s third-largest city falls somewhere in between, and consequently has all the trappings of a mediocre middle child.
Luckily for us, though, our randomly selected holiday coincided with Las Fallas, or the festival of giant demonic carnival floats and three-year-olds with cherry bombs.
The festival lasts five days; the first four are devoted to the construction of ninots (floats) by each neighbourhood…
Language skills no piece of cake
By Matt Hodges, China Daily
June 26, 2011—What annoyed me the most about Avatar—aapart from its lame attempt to go 3-D —was hearing Sam Worthington’s character describe learning the language of the Na’vi as something easy and routine. It’s just about memorizing words, he says, whereas most adults his age would argue that getting bilingual this late in the day sounds more like the precious mineral they are trying to rid the planet Pandora of: “unobtainium.”
Granted, there are people, like former marine Jake Scully, who’s not exactly what you call an ordinary learner. The guy can ride phoenix-like aliens on his first attempt. It took me longer to figure out how to turn on my washing machine.
But for the vast majority of us, it will never be as easy to process vast landscapes of new information post-puberty as it was before we had hair sprouting in the most bewildering of places.
Apparently they call this benchmark age the Critical Period Hypothesis, and it may be related to the delayed development of the pre-frontal cortex in young children. Or maybe it’s just that, as you get older, fast cars and fast women are a lot more appealing than playing hangman.
I certainly noticed the difference. Even though I can recall tons of random and useless French vocabulary from junior-school tests, it took me three weeks to remember the words for “how much” in Mandarin at age 30…
The booming market for English teachers in China
By Michelle V. Rafter, SecondAct.com
June 16, 2011—If you're considering teaching overseas as a way to see the world and enjoy an encore career, look east to China.
Private schools there are on a hiring tear because many Chinese parents want their children to learn English to thrive in a global economy. China is becoming the fastest-growing private English education system in the world, according to a survey by Disney English, a Magic Kingdom subsidiary that runs 22 Chinese academies that teach English to preschoolers. Another recent study says that China's private education market is projected to grow 45 percent between 2009 and 2012.
Some English language programs in China are soliciting people 40 and older to teach. Their ranks include the Teacher Ambassador Program, a joint venture between United World College, a chain of 13 international colleges and schools, and the U.K.-based Ameson Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes East-West cultural and educational exchanges.
The program, called TAP for short, currently is hiring recruits with bachelor's degrees and prior teaching experience to work in high schools in 13 Chinese cities this fall…
Where are Tokyo’s English magazines now?
By Bruce Rutledge, CNNGo.com
July 22, 2011—You should excuse Greg Starr for waxing nostalgic. After all, as editor in chief of Tokyo Journal during the first half of the 1990s, he presided over an age of hard-hitting, irreverent and money-losing local journalism that would be forever upended by the Internet.
He was editor in 1992 when the magazine published a piece by James Bailey called “The Incredible Inflating Man,” which revealed TV talent Dave Spector’s penchant for inflating his resumé.
The magazine ran investigative pieces on the plight of Filipino laborers, the murder of a Thai hostess and revelations of HIV-contaminated blood in government-run blood banks, and a subsequent bureaucratic cover-up.
“As much as I like the blogosphere and think it has a hugely important place in communications -- as proven with the recent earthquake -- I've never found any local journalism on Japan like some of those stories I've mentioned,” Starr tells CNNGo.
Tokyo Journal was popular, but it didn’t make money. “What a lot of people forget is that none of the sales-based English-language magazines ever made money,” Starr says.
“They existed solely because there was a wealthy publisher with an ego who was talked into it by some eager young foreigner or a foreign-owned company who used it to promote other parts of their business, such as creative and editorial production, or there was some other person unconcerned about losses in that business.”
Examining university English entrance exams
By Mike Guest, The Daily Yomiuri
It’s easy to find commentary about university English entrance exams. The Internet is full of prospective and past students, as well as teachers, going over the minutiae of just about every such test in the country. A lot of criticism of these exams can also be found—much of it justified—as many are poorly written. After all, many committee members are not familiar with good testing practices and might even be placed on the entrance exam committee unwillingly.
Surprisingly though, very little is written about how to design such exams so they are valid and reliable. Administrators tend to say little on the matter, merely exhorting test makers to avoid mistakes on the exam. Test makers, meanwhile, rarely reveal their identities, a cloak of secrecy which allows little discussion as to how to make tests better. Yet this is precisely what many test makers need since preparations start as early as June. So, perhaps it would be useful to talk today about what makes a good English entrance exam.
Let’s start with the big picture. What is the purpose for giving such an exam? Answering with, “because it’s always been done,” “because it makes students study” or “because it generates income for the institution” is unhelpful. Since a test is valid only if it succeeds in meeting its purpose, an absence of clear purpose leads to exams that lack validity—meaning the most worthy examinees won’t necessarily succeed.
Competition and cultural mores
By Helene J. Uchida, The Daily Yomiuri
July 1, 2011—Q: I have taught English in primary schools in South Korea and have noticed students are super competitive in class. I wonder if this is the same in Japan. I also would like to know how a teacher should deal with competition in class. Should the teacher encourage it or discourage it?—N.M.
A: We all know that culture has a paramount influence on education and that competition is a very strong factor in Asia. How we as teachers guide our students and conduct our lessons can feed into culture or complement it. I personally prefer to complement it.
I do not encourage individual competition in class because I believe each child is unique and enters the classroom with his or her own learning curve. I prefer to focus on helping students move forward at their own pace. Some may move faster than others, but I have learned over the years that speed is never the determining factor of English success. Very often slow and steady does win a race.
I do welcome gentle group competition for fun when we do warm-ups or play games for two reasons: One, group members are connected by their desire to succeed. Two, when one team wins or loses, no one loses face since the activity was played for fun. In essence, I do not make a big deal over who won or lost because I believe all the participants are winners.
In his book No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Alfie Kohn, author and lecturer on education, states his belief that cooperative learning leads to higher levels of self-esteem than competitive settings...
Let’s say “oui” to Macdonald’s dream of French and English in Canada
By Graham Fraser, Calgary Herald
August 1, 2011—Re: “7Up ruling proof it’s time to let Quebec go,” Brian Purdy, Opinion, July 22.
I was intrigued and not a little perturbed by Brian Purdy’s assumption that a judge’s ruling that Air Canada should treat its passengers with respect as far as their language rights are concerned is a reason for breaking up the country. He concluded that Canada’s language policy is an imposition on the rest of Canada by French-speaking Quebecers who, he claims, “are not like you and me.” Purdy presents a vision of a country that speaks only one language, suggesting that a national dream and a national ideal can only be possible under that condition.
Let me present an alternative view.
Canada does have a dream and an ideal. It is different from the American dream, but no less valid. It was articulated by Sir John A. Macdonald, before Confederation, when he wrote: “No man in his senses can suppose that this country can for a century to come be governed by a totally unfrenchified Government. If a Lower Canadian Britisher desires to conquer, he must “stoop to conquer.” He must make friends with the French; without sacrificing the status of his race or lineage, he must respect their nationality. Treat them as a nation, and they will act as a free people generally do — generously. Call them a faction and they become factious.”
This vision of accommodation, generosity, compromise and respect has characterized the policies of Canada’s successful prime ministers ever since: Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Mackenzie King, Louis St-Laurent, Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and Stephen Harper.
Brits and Yankees square in off in latest salvoes of the language wars
By Araminta Wordsworth, National Post
July 27, 2011—A recent call by the BBC’s Matthew Engel for examples of infiltrating Americanisms that annoyed inhabitants of the sceptred isle turned up an avalanche of entries.
Trouble is, most of them weren’t American at all. In many cases, objectors betrayed their abysmal ignorance, citing words that predated the founding of the 13 colonies.
In the meantime, Americans have rallied to the cause. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable tempest in a teapot that makes for entertaining reading. It also underlines George Bernard Shaw’s bon mot: Two nations separated by a common language.
First, here’s the Engel posting that started it all:
I have had a lengthy career in journalism. I hope that’s because editors have found me reliable. I have worked with many talented colleagues. Sometimes I get invited to parties and meet influential people. Overall, I’ve had a tremendous time.
“Lengthy.” “Reliable.” “Talented.” “Influential.” “Tremendous.”
All of these words we use without a second thought were not normally part of the English language until the establishment of the United States.
The Americans imported English wholesale, forged it to meet their own needs, then exported their own words back across the Atlantic to be incorporated in the way we speak over here. Those seemingly innocuous words caused fury at the time …
I’m bilingual, but I want to discuss my health in English
By Stephanie Kwong, Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL, July 19, 2011—I think Montreal is one of the top places to visit in the summer: fabulous, beautiful, charming, etc. But to live here is a different story.
I am originally from Toronto but have lived here more than 10 years and I am finally hitting my breaking point. I am six months’ pregnant and work at the Montreal University Health Centre. I want to make this clear: I am fully bilingual. In the centre where I work I can say that 95 per cent of the time the first question asked is, “Do you prefer English or French?” At least, I can say that for myself, I offer this option. If it is a third language that I can speak, I will offer this as well. If certain foreign doctors are unable to speak French, we promptly get someone who can clearly communicate to them the patients’ concerns and questions.
I am finally in a position where I am the patient and no longer the health-care worker. Thankfully the hospital I am delivering at is more or less fully bilingual – it is one in the English sector. And again, repeatedly I am asked if I prefer French or English, regardless of the native language of the person offering me the service. I appreciate and respect this. If the person has difficulty in English, I will put aside my preference and accommodate him or her simply because he or she was courteous enough to offer this.
But I have heard countless first-hand accounts about patients in French-sector hospitals not being able to communicate concerns and worries with anyone.
At my local Montreal CLSC, I have repeatedly spoken English to the people there and been responded to in French. As I persist, the person (more than one) has further insisted on responding in French. I am spoken to in slow, loud tones as if I am deaf and stupid, as opposed to them simply trying to say that one sentence in English…
Lost in translation
By Dr. Andrea Hunter, Nikki Bozinoff, and Katie Dorman
Editorial, TheSpec.com
June 26, 2011—Immigrants, refugees can’t get adequate health care if they can’t be understood
Phuong Nguyen, a 36-year-old woman who spoke little English, died on April 21, 1995, after a 23-day saga at a B.C. hospital. Coroner Jack Harding found that Nguyen’s care had been complicated by significant language barriers and inadequate translation.
Nguyen had been unable to communicate her previous diagnosis of lupus to her health care provider. It was only once she was pregnant and suffered complications that her prior diagnosis became apparent. Nguyen’s health care providers explained the serious health sequelae (negative after-effect) of lupus and pregnancy to Nguyen, without the use of a translator. Less than a month later, her child died in utero and she succumbed to complications shortly after.
Similarly, on Aug. 20, 1986, 55-year-old Harbhajan Singh Chattu lost his leg and experienced kidney failure due to vascular complications that had been misdiagnosed as back pain. The misdiagnosis occurred because Chattu did not have adequate English language skills to describe his symptoms.
A B.C. Supreme Court Justice found Chattu’s physician negligent in his examination and diagnosis and awarded Chattu a $1.3 million settlement.
Sadly, decades after these incidents, medical translation services remain inadequate across the country, leaving thousands of people with health concerns literally lost in translation.
The English language, but not as we know it
By Olivia Sanders, Odt.co.nz
July 27, 2011—“I will deny thee nothing. Whereon, I beseech thee, grant me this. To leave me but a little to myself.” - Othello
Confused?
So was I. When our year 13 English class had to read the play Othello, by Mr. William Shakespeare, there was a collection of groans - "But Miss, we don't understand it, can't we just watch Shrek instead?"
Being a senior drama student and having worked with Shakespeare before, I fared a lot better than my classmates who had to read the play aloud, cold turkey.
"Old English" - that is what we call this strange language in Shakespeare's plays. What will the English language we speak now be called in 500 years, when we are long gone and people speak in beeps and bops?
Will the English language even exist, or will it continue to be abbreviated beyond recognition?
The English language is ever-changing. It is unique from most other languages in how it has embraced words from other languages to expand its own. Little by little, Maori has been edged into New Zealanders' vocabulary. For example, Oxford's Dictionary of New Zealand English has added Maori words such as "whanau."
The German language does not add any words from other languages, in an attempt to keep German pure. What does this say about the English language?
Changes in the language are well and good, but New Zealanders are increasingly lazy with their use of language. We expect things to happen quickly. We are increasingly reliant on fast-food outlets, internet banking and self-service checkouts. Rather than reading a book to learn about the discovery of New Zealand why not Google it?
A toast to public speaking
By Praseeda Nair, Khaleej Times Online
DUBAI, July 3, 2011—The two most frightening words in the English language for most high school students are public speaking, or so it seems from the sheer number of young people clamouring to join speech-heavy extracurricular activities, ranging from debate to Toastmasters clubs.
As a global communication and leadership training programme, Toastmasters International has over 260,000 members in over 80 countries across the world. Each region is divided into a numbered district and area, allowing for inter-club competitions and sessions to take place within a certain locale.
The latest addition to Area 40 in Dubai is the youth-based club, The Republic Toastmasters Club, headed by a former Gavel club member (an under-18 Toastmaster-affiliated programme), Anamta Farook.
“The common misconception people have of Toastmasters is that we only deal with public speaking. It’s not about memorising speeches, but more about how to think on your feet and communicate effectively, both in a group and one-to-one,” Anamta said.
Toastmasters clubs aren’t exclusively for the shy or for those battling stage fright. Some are reserved by nature, others self-assured and loud, but all of them share an interest in perfecting their formal speaking skills.
Not quite journalese
By Dr Lim Chin Lam, TheStar.com.my
July 29, 2011—The suffix “-ese” is a formative of nouns and adjectives denoting: (1) locality, nationality and language (e.g. Japanese, Portuguese, Sudanese), and (2) literary style, etc. (Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, 1989).
In illustration of “literary style”, computerese is “the specialized vocabulary and jargon used by people who work with computers” (Webster’s, loc. cit.); legalese is “the formal and technical language of legal documents” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 2004); and computerese is a literary style that is “characterized by neologism, archness, faulty or unusual syntax, etc.” (Webster’s, loc. cit.) and “is thought to be typical of that used in newspapers” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2010).
What does journalese have to do with this article? None whatsoever, hence the above title. The criticisms raised against our English language dailies are not about journalese, but about the sins in grammar. One of my friends was so fed up over the matter that he cancelled his subscription to the offending newspaper.
It makes me wonder how our newspapers compare with those of our neighbours across the Causeway.
I was recently in Singapore for a few days and had occasion to randomly glance through some issues of the English language dailies there. No, I did not set out to do a full-scale research to compare Malaysian and Singapore newspapers. Anyway, the following are some telling examples of my findings (with the salient points underlined).
Malaysian teachers good enough
By YUGENRAJ, TheStar.com.my
July 25, 2011—I refer to “Best to use local English teachers” (The Star, July 23).
I totally agree with the writer that local English teachers are good enough to teach the subject.
The recruitment of British teachers to teach English will simply make the local English teachers’ credibility and capability become disputable.
Besides, the move by the Education Ministry would require a lot of money.
Is it essential to allocate and spend millions of ringgit while there are more convenient and expedient measures which cost less? NO.
By recruiting local English teachers, money can saved and used for various beneficial programmes and projects which in return, would lead to rapid growth and development of our country.
Furthermore, the recruitment of foreign English teachers would lead to various complications and communication barrier is one of them.
Foreign teachers have their own accent which might be too arduous for our students, especially those who are very weak in that subject. Even if they have doubts, they would hesitate to approach their English teachers, fearing that they may not be able to understand them.
Positif power of loan words
By Dzof Azmi, TheStar.com
July 24, 2011—During journeys along Malaysian highways, I like to sometimes play a game where I look for advertising boards that have no English or English-sounding words on them. It’s much harder than you may think.
Diskaun. Insurans. Bonus. Kredit. Lesen. Kelab. Promosi. Kamera. Elektrik. There are thousands of words in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) that originate from English and other languages. But instead of seeing them as an invasion of foreign culture, we should recognize that these words chart the history of the country.
Words from one language that have been taken up in another are called loan words. The examples above are loan words from English, but BM is littered with many others. For example, rasa, agama and manusia come from the Sanskrit, while sejarah and falsafah come from the Arabic language.
The Portuguese gave us bangku and meja, while the Dutch supplied rokok and buku. Nelayan and kapal are from Tamil.
What do some words borrowed from a language have in common? Sanskrit and Arabic words spell spirituality, while the Portuguese and Dutch gave us those tied to everyday items. Interestingly, Chinese loan words have a lot to do with food.
On top of that, many English loan words, especially the newer ones, have to do with sains, ekonomi and politik.
The “English” factor to succeed
By Liong Kam Chong, TheStar.com.my
July 24, 2011—There are far too many SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) top scorers in the country and this has led many to question the methods used in grading our students.
It is evident that the quality and standard of top-scoring students have dropped judging from the limited knowledge of subject content. Even teachers have commented that students who have not performed well in their school exams have earned high grades in the SPM.
Is something wrong with the way we grade our students in public exams?
There are many complaints that some top SPM scorers are very much wanting in general knowledge and subject content. They also seem to be lacking in communication skills and leadership traits and qualities and calls have been made to look into the declining standards and quality of the top SPM students.
While this is true, there are also a handful of the top students who continue to excel in their studies, show excellent communication skills and exhibit leadership qualities. They are the “jewels” in our education system.
There is clearly a disparity in the two groups of top-scoring students and as a former educator, I am convinced that those who perform better are those who are proficient in the English language.
Exploring English: Recognizing silent symbols
By Keith W. Wright, TheStar.com.my
July 10, 2011—Knowing when a vowel or consonant is “silent” will help you spell and pronounce words confidently.
A characteristic of the English language that causes spelling and pronunciation problems is the presence of silent symbols. Tens of thousands of English words have at least one symbol (letter) that is not sounded when pronounced.
Mastering silent symbols is necessary to be able to determine how a particular word is pronounced and spelt. To assist learners, 4S teaches a number of Keys that have already been introduced in previous Exploring English columns.
Silent symbols fall into three distinct groups: silent vowels, silent single consonants, and consonant combinations, where one or both of the symbols are silent.
The most common silent symbol is the final “e” in words such as: “ride,” “lame,” “bone,” and “tube.”
The 4S Key To Understanding Pronunciation and Spelling teaches: The final silent “e” usually lets the other vowel do the “talking”. When the final “e” is not sounded, the preceding vowel is “long”, i.e. it says its own name.
Use English, or lose it
By Dr. A. Soorian, TheStar.com.my
July 12, 2011—It is a fact that millions from a wide spectrum of people from different countries communicate with one another using one common language i.e. English. It has become an international language.
Barriers can be torn down, gainful employment can be found and bonds among humanity can be shaped via the use of this language. This has made millions strive to learn the language, even be it in point form.
In our country the newspapers have been awash with the dismal news of the falling standards in the use of the English language. We have been told that “300 US Fullbright scholars will be in Malaysia from 2012 to help improve English proficiency among schoolchildren in urban and rural areas, including Sabah and Sarawak”.
We are also told that qualified and capable English teachers will be made part of the special mobile teachers’ group to be sent out to specific schools which need their services.
But are all these efforts, valiant as they may be, enough? There must be some good reason why our VIPs send their children to study in international schools and abroad.
Reading English newspapers, magazines, novels and other material in all shapes and sizes with the skill and care one is capable of can help to master the language.
English can sometimes drive you crazy
By Peggy Tan, TheStar.com.my
June 29, 2011—CHOP! Chop! You need the teacher to chop on the form, then we can register for the course,” cried one student.
“Oi! Salah! Wrong lah. We not say chop but we have to get a stamp from our teacher! Aiyoh! You all ... so bad your English lah!”
“What news?” the Japanese man then greeted the teacher, grinning from ear to ear.
“No, you have to say Apa khabar? This is the Malay way of greeting each other. We cannot translate words directly from the Malay language to English,” explained the teacher to his foreign students in class.
Occasionally, a direct translation of Malay or Chinese to the English language can be disastrous. International travellers have relied on three primary methods of bridging the language gap: taking time to learn the local tongues; utilising a phrasebook; or engaging in a spirited display of improvised face pulling and sign language.
The Americans have invented the Phraselator, a hand-held device that translates 150,000 prerecorded commands and questions into 53 languages, including Russian, Tagalog and Arabic.
Native Hungarian talks about the differences between her native tongue and English
By Esther Kiss, WestSideToday.com
June 28, 2011—“Hello, my name is Esther” or “Szia, a nevem Eszter” in my native Hungarian.
They say that the English language is the hardest language to master; between verbs, adverbs, pronouns, nouns, conjunctions, punctuations, blah, blah, blah, there is definitely a lot to learn and very little of it is consistent, as is with the case with other languages. For starters: Hungarian uses a forty-four letter alphabet and English limits its vocabulary to twenty-six tools from which to make words.
The confusion between the two languages in which I function starts even farther back than that; in Hungarian, my native tongue is called “Magyar.” Whatever you call it, my first language is defined as a Uralic language and is spoken in many of the Baltic regions in Eastern Europe of which Hungary is a part.
While English is the most popular language in the world it has some idiomatic rules that drive non-native speakers… to study harder. For example prepositions do not exist in Hungarian/Magyar…
Promoting the English language
By Syed Farhan Basit, The Dawn
July 12, 2011—I wonder if the Quaid-i-Azam would have presented the case for Pakistan so strongly had he not been so eloquent in English. And there were many who opposed Sir Syed Ahmad’s call to learn English but whose generations are now studying in English-medium institutions and proudly emulate native English speakers.
While a vast majority in our country consider English inevitable owing to globalisation and other pragmatic reasons, there is another extreme side that considers English as the ‘killer’ of their regional languages and cultures, thereby suggesting to give it a narrower scope of merely a subject within classrooms. Instead of blaming the language for the prevailing situation, our attitude towards it should be readdressed.
Among the factors necessitating the use of English language, globalisation, no doubt, is one such strong factor that calls for a common language across the globe. Apart from globalisation, there are other pragmatic reasons too. It is this language that empowers our students to have access to institutes of higher education.
It is not only a passport to international studies, it is also a token for upward mobility within organisations.
In the meantime, regional languages should not be abandoned or looked down upon as they are the roots of our society and hence form our identity that we should be proud of.
We should also launch English entertainment channels for our children.
Urdu vs. English: Are we ashamed of our language?
By Amna Khalid, The Express Tribune
June 21, 2011—Most Pakistanis have been brought up speaking our national language Urdu and English. Instead of conversing in Urdu, many of us lapse into English during everyday conversation. Even people who do not speak English very well try their best to sneak in a sentence or two, considering it pertinent for their acceptance in the ‘cooler’ crowd.
I wonder where the trend started, but unknowingly, unconsciously, somehow or the other we all get sucked into the trap. It was not until a few years ago while on a college trip to Turkey that I realized the misgivings of our innocent jabber.
A group of students of the LUMS Cultural Society trip went to Istanbul, Turkey to mark the 100th Anniversary of the famous Sufi poet Rumi. One day we were exploring the city when we stopped at a café for lunch. The waiter took our orders, and continued to hover around our table during the meal. We barely noticed him until he came with the bill, and asked us:
“Where are you from?”
“Pakistan”
The waiter looked surprised, and then asked whether we had been brought up in England. We answered in the negative, telling him how Pakistan was where we all had grown up and spent out lives…
Ten-year national action plan for a trilingual Sri Lanka
By Sajitha Prematunge, DailyNews.lk
June 23, 2011—Nearly 90 percent of Sinhala speaking people cannot communicate in Tamil and cannot communicate effectively in English. Whereas 70 percent of Tamil speaking people in Sri Lanka cannot communicate in Sinhala. But the new Presidential initiative on a trilingual Sri Lanka plans to change this.
A salient feature of the Presidential initiative for a trilingual Sri Lanka is the redefinition of language. “The initiative will not promote Sinhala and Tamil as mere instruments of communication, but as a holistic cultural package,” said Presidential Advisor and Coordinator of the programme ‘English as a life skill’ and the initiative for a trilingual Sri Lanka, Sunimal Fernando. “Language is an expression of culture. Knowledge of Tamil culture will facilitate empathy and affection for its culture in the Sinhala people and thereby encourage people to learn the Tamil language. The same goes for Sinhala.”
Under the trilingual initiative Sinhala and Tamil will be promoted as vehicles through which modern ideas, views, technologies and modern sciences among a host of other subjects could be discussed, discoursed and debated. English will be promoted as a life skill for occupation, employment, accessing knowledge and technology and for communicating with the rest of the world. English is basically a tool for communication.
Why Americans no longer say what they mean in plain English
By Lara Marlowe, The Irish Times
IRELAND, June 25, 2011—In the preface to Pygmalion , George Bernard Shaw famously wrote that every time an Englishman opens his mouth he makes another Englishman despise him.
This is less true in America, where social mobility and democracy have blunted linguistic markers, while in politics there’s a premium on imaginative language that makes an apathetic public sit up and take notice.
But Democrats are handicapped by their split electorate, explains Timothy Meagher, a fourth generation Irish-American and professor of history at Catholic University. Republicans tend to be white and working or middle class, while Democrats encompass the poor, ethnic minorities and Americans with university degrees.
“The language that appeals to educated Democrats is more formal, more academic,” says Meagher. “College professors love Obama, because his language is beautifully crafted. But other groups can find it alienating.”
Race further complicates Obama’s linguistic choices. In his efforts to be a “regular guy”, the president calls people “folks” and drops his ‘g’s. “If he indulges too much in colloquial English, it sounds like black argot,” says Meagher.
“It’s easier for white politicians to descend into folksiness.” Obama’s intelligence and Ivy League education can be a political weakness that make him appear distant and cold, Meagher explains. “Dropping his ‘g’s can seem hip and cool to blacks and young whites, but older whites, and especially middle-class whites, may hear language that conjures up images of poor blacks. Do white Americans see someone like them, or someone who crosses a boundary? He’s boxed in by American stereotypes.”
Where are the English speaking Tanzanians?
By Sharifa Kalokola, TheCitizen.co.tz
June 20, 2011—With countries such as Britain tightening up on the level of English language skills for international student visas, a significant number of Tanzanian students who look West for better tertiary education are having to invest a great deal more than others in improving language proficiency. But there are major concerns that the new generation is still not up to the mark when it comes to English language abilities.
By all indications, English is fast taking place in Tanzania as the language of trade, travel and diplomacy due to the free economy that has opened doors to foreign investment. This suggests that learning English may be as important to even young Tanzanians, who want to make it in the competitive labour market in the country.
However, while this fact has been known for a while now, it appears there is still slow progress as far as learning the country’s second official language is concerned. In fact, the old generation of scholars seems to be more proficient in the language than the new academicians.
“We need not underestimate the students as far as their English is concerned because we have a few of them whose command of the language is not that bad,” observes Faraja Kristomus, an assistant lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM).
Incredimazeballs rules, OK?
By Anne Treasure, Sydney Morning Herald
July 24, 2011—“Don’t write crap," Julia Gillard advised a room full of journalists during an address to the National Press Club.
How can they help it? Lately, politics is crap. Our national discourse is crap. Our use of language (I'm looking at you, PM) is crap.
What choice does the media have when language usage has degenerated to a level that our PM uses such crude terms to communicate?
While I bristled at Gillard's Rudd moment - shitstorm, anyone? - I've simultaneously been amused at hearing otherwise buttoned-up members of the fourth estate deliver news bulletins containing the name of internet prankster LulzSec, after its hacking of a British newspaper website.
Double standard? Sure. Bemoaning the degeneration of language is nothing new. Politicians use weasel words, teenagers (and those of us clinging to youth) communicate in textspeak, marketing departments have polished words so violently that we have turned into a society that actually uses meaningless phrases like "proactive" and "repurpose" in everyday life.
Now even text-speak abbreviations are being bastardised in an attempt to - to what? To comment pithily on their ridiculousness? LOL (Laugh out Loud) has become Lulz or Lolocaust or Lulzapalooza. ROFL (Rolling on Floor Laughing) has become Roffle or Roflcopter. A personal favourite is Roflulz. While economy of language might have been the initial aim in order to communicate more rapidly, now our aim is perversion in order to amuse or belittle.
Language pitfalls
By Fifi Box, DailyTelegraph.com.au
July 24, 2011—Visiting a foreign country is an exciting adventure, rich with cultural experiences that allow us to broaden our outlook on the world.
Travelling to a country where English isn’t the first language is all of the above, with a little frustration, intimidation and confusion thrown in. It was only upon arriving in Russia recently that I realised I may have overestimated the reach of the English language (presumptuous, really, considering Russia could easily swamp the entire Commonwealth with its enormity).
Not knowing the local dialect is how I imagine life is for a toddler who knows what they want to say, but can’t make anyone understand them. In fact, after a week in Moscow, I’m convinced even a three-year-old could have communicated more successfully than I did. The pitfalls of only knowing ‘Ya’ and ‘Na’ (and, yes, they’re just words I made up) led to a litany of mishaps.
One particular lesson I learnt quickly was not to say yes when I wasn’t sure of the question. After saying yes to a man who I assumed was kindly offering to carry my bags at the airport, I soon realised he was in fact taking them to his car to charge me 6000 roubles (that’s $200) to drive me to my hotel.
From then on, I said no when anyone spoke to me, for fear my bank account would be emptied within the week. I said no to the checkout lady who asked if I wanted a shopping bag, and was left to juggle my purchases all the way back to the hotel, dropping mandarins and bottles of water every few steps. I also said no to the concierge who offered me an umbrella, and consequently spent the afternoon standing in doorways to avoid catching pneumonia…
Plain speech can obscure truth as much as inflated language
By Sarah Burnside, Sydney Morning Herald
July 22, 2011—Dark connotations lurk behind our politicians' bland phrases.
Although there is consensus on little else in contemporary Australian political discourse, it is generally accepted that this is an age of deep disengagement from and cynicism with the political process.
In his book Sideshow, Lindsay Tanner traces the negative impacts of the media's entertainment focus and the 24-hour news cycle, documenting the sheer crushing banality of the 2010 election campaign and expressing distress at what ''the serious craft of politics … is becoming''. Similarly, Waleed Aly noted last year that in Australia ''we report politics as though it is sport, and sport as though it is politics''.
The current reporting on the carbon tax has seen an almost relentless focus on style, stunts and presentation: in addition to the tiresome criticism of Julia Gillard's appearance, witness the emphasis on her supposed woodenness, accent, choice of words and speaking pace. Against this superficial backdrop, the question of Gillard's credibility extends beyond the charge that she lied to the voters prior to last year's election - Laura Tingle notes that ''so much of the apparent anger about the carbon tax isn't about the carbon tax at all but about the Prime Minister herself''. This focus is perpetuated and reinforced as columnists delve into Gillard's public persona: exploring ambiguities, attacking perceived contrivances, and wondering endlessly who ''the real Julia'' might be, as if this mattered more than her policies.
Bad words distort our view
By Steve Fritzinger, ABC.net.au
July 9, 2011—Transcript of interview:
ELIZABETH JACKSON: It's funny how the English language can be mangled. I don't mean spelling mistakes or punctuation slip ups. Sometimes words are used to mean one thing when they in fact mean something completely different.
And according to the BBC's economics commentator, Steve Fritzinger, the use of what he calls bad words is on the rise.
STEVE FRITZINGER: If you're like most motorists you will occasionally attempt to change lanes only to realise that there is another car right next to you. Panicking, you will swerve back into your lane and exclaim “I didn't see him, he was in my blind spot.”
The blind spot is a very difficult problem for automobile designer to fix because it's not an engineering problem, it's a linguistics problem. Because we call all three mirrors on our cars 'rear view mirrors', people dutifully adjust them so they point directly behind the car. The result is one well covered spot in the rear and blind spots on either side.
“Rear view mirror,” it seems, is a bad word. Not bad in the sense of being rude or vulgar, but bad because it describes the object it refers to so poorly that it creates confusion and misuse. If we simply called it two mirrors on the outside of the car “side view mirrors,” which is what they actually are, drivers would adjust them so they cover the sides of the car and blind spots would disappear.
I am an English speaker, too (2)
By Ahn Hye-jeong, The Korea Times
July 12, 2011—In this article, I will further elaborate on the article published in The Korea Times on June 9. Particular attention will be paid to the development of English as an international language coupled with the skills required to become a proficient English speaker in today’s world.
English is a foreign language in South Korea. It does not perform any official function as a language. However, the cultural and social importance of English is notably more significant than that of any other foreign language. A high level of English proficiency is often associated with a more prestigious social status and professional and academic success.
The Lee Myung-bak administration also re-emphasized the importance of learning the English language by setting up a dichotomy of ``English- fluent” and ``English-poor” nations. The government simultaneously claimed that the English proficiency of any nation or individual is a central factor in promoting both the individual’s and nation’s status and success.
South Korea is well known for its dedication to learning English. The term, ``English fever” indicates how much emphasis Koreans put on English learning. South Korea is one of the largest consumers in the English education market spending over $10 billion a year on this alone. In 2007, more than half of the total number of applicants enrolling for TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) were Koreans and approximately 124,000 Korean applicants enrolled in TOEFL (Test of English for Foreign Language) making this group the clear majority of applicants.
English worship
By Deauwand Myers, The Korea Times
July 13, 2011—The English language owes its ubiquity to British power. Advancements in war technology and naval exploration created, for several hundred years, the largest empire ever known. Britain’s ex-colony, the United States, became a new kind of empire, and even in its current economic hardship, is the richest and most powerful nation in all of human history.
With this power came all the attendant privileges and problems. One of its privileges, that of English being the lingua franca of our time, makes it easier for American and British citizens (and her commonwealth nations) to globally interact.
But English is not the only language a student must know to be successful in the world. Asia’s fetishizing and romanticizing English, even ascribing magical powers to those who can master it, is wrong. There are racial, ethno-centric implications in this English worship. The more you can speak English, the more Western (white), sophisticated, and erudite you are.
Chinese and Spanish are widely used languages as well, and I wish Korean education would broaden its scope and enrich students’ academic lives with a menu of options in language learning.
Pedagogical studies have shown that students who learn several languages do better in understanding these languages (especially at an early age).
Revisit myth of English as official language
By Charles Dhewa, Newsday.co.zw
HARARE, August 3, 2011—Zimbabwe’s Medium-Term Plan (MTP), launched on July 7 2011 by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, highlighted Human–Centred Development as a key pillar.
One of the most important ingredients of human –centred development is language. To achieve human development, we have to revisit the myth of English as an official language.
The MTP should be repackaged into languages spoken by ordinary people such as Shona, Ndebele, Tonga and many others.
This will empower people to conduct business in their own languages through which they dream, aspire and make sense of the world. English should only be used to engage with the outside world.
To the extent that economic planning in Zimbabwe is currently the preserve of economists, some of the educated people who attended the MTP launch could not understand the arcane language in which the document was couched.
Most Zimbabwean indigenous languages have rich metaphors which can inspire business and economic development.
If English was the only language of success as is assumed in Zimbabwe, the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans whom we are trying to emulate, would not have become economic giants.
