Best Way to Learn a Second or Foreign Language?

Is there one best method to learn a language? If you are a child, I'd say it's the immersion method. Living the language, children learn a second language about the same way they learned their native language. If you are an adult (post-puberty, more or less) learning a second or foreign language, it's a different story. There are so many different variables involved, that it's hard to say what would be the best method. Here are some of the possible variables: the learner's motivation, personality type, aptitude for language learning, learning style, what language the learner is hearing and speaking outside class, how the learner views the language being learned, the teacher's personality and style, the teaching materials. These are only a few of many variables involved in language learning. So when asked what the best method is to learn a language, maybe the best answer is "it depends."

Popular Ideas about Languages

There are many popular beliefs about languages that can't be supported by the facts. Some people believe that certain languages, like Chinese, are more difficult to learn than others, like Spanish. But wait a minute. Every language is easy for babies to learn as their first language. Babies learn Chinese and Spanish with equal ease. As adults, it's harder for us to learn any second or foreign language. Also, some adults are better at learning foreign languages than others. It's probably easier to learn a language that is related to your own native language than a language that is not. For example, it's generally easier for a Spanish speaker to learn Italian than to learn Chinese, just because Spanish and Italian both come from the same language historically, so they have many similarities.

People have other funny ideas about languages. French is considered romantic, German logical, Italian beautiful. Indigenous languages are thought to be primitive. These simplistic notions about languages have more to do with the way others view the histories and cultures of speakers of the languages--often based on stereotypes and prejudices--than they do about the languages themselves. What would make a language romantic, logical, or beautiful, anyway? Most people would probably use those words to describe their own native languages.

Text Messaging Mania

I read somewhere the other day that text messaging has become the primary way that young people communicate with each other. I think a close second is Facebook. Some teenagers and college students send HUNDREDS of text messages a day. I know. I've got teenage daughters. And I teach at a community college. Between classes I see the majority of students either checking their cell phones for text messages or sending text messages. What could all these messages be about? Why would they rather send text messages to each other than talk to the other person on the cell phone, or just have a face-to-face conversation?

Last night I was watching television with my 17-year old daughter, Maria, and we saw an advertisement for a new cell phone that you can talk into and it converts your recorded message into a text message. I turned to Maria and asked her if she would want one of those phones. She said no, that they would just be for people who were too lazy to type a text message. Beside, she said, if you recorded a message, why wouldn't you want the other person to hear that instead of reading it as a text message? Maybe there is still hope.

Can you imagine how we managed to live a mere 10 years ago before everyone had a cell phone? Don't get me wrong. I think technology is a good thing and has improved our lives in many ways. Usually. But sometimes I wonder if we are using the technology or the technology is using us. What do you think?

Accent Reduction in English: American English

Next month I will begin to teach an American English conversation course in a hospital in Indianapolis. This class is part of a program called American English for Internationals, which is designed to help international physicians, medical researchers, and other healthcare professionals to modify their accents in English to speak more like Americans. This will help them communicate more effectively with their colleagues and patients, and in social situations with neighbors and other Americans they associate with. Modifying your accent in a foreign language as an adult is not easy, but it can be done with practice and patience. Language habits, as with all habits, can be hard to change, but it's worth the effort. Your thoughts?

Present Tense in English

What is referred to as "simple present tense" in English, isn't really present tense at all. See my July 15 blog about tense and aspect in Spanish. Linguists refer to tense as when some event or action happens in time (past, present, future, for example), and aspect as how the event or action happens (habitually, repetitively, continuously, intermittently, etc.) So the the verb in the following sentences is referred to as "simple present tense."

John eats hamburgers.
Sarah plays soccer.

The verb in neither of these sentences refers to the present time, that is, right now, at this moment. Instead, they mean that John usually or routinely eats hamburgers, and Sarah usually plays soccer. So what is called "present simple tense" in English does not refer to the present moment in time, but rather to habitual or routine aspect. The reference to tense, or time, is not specific.

When we want to refer to the present moment in time in English, we use what is called the "present continuous tense," which also includes the aspect that the event or action is continuous, as in the following examples;

John is eating a hamburger right now.
Sarah is playing soccer right now.

In English, as in other areas, things are not as simple as they might first appear.

Language Interpreters and Translators

From the beginning of time there has been a need for someone to help people who speak different languages to understand each other; this is what language interpreters and translators do. I work as a freelance English-Spanish interpreter and translator. You might wonder what the difference is between interpreters and translators.

Interpreters work with spoken language. When two or more people need to communicate but don't understand each other because of language differences, the interpreter acts as an intermediary. Example: Juan and Bill need to talk about something. Juan speaks Spanish, but not English. Bill speaks English, but not Spanish. So they find an interpreter who speaks both English and Spanish to help them understand each other. Juan says something in Spanish to Bill and the interpreter tells Bill what Juan said in English. Bill replies to Juan in English and the interpreter tells Juan what Bill said in Spanish. And so the conversation can continue because of the interpreter. Professional interpreters play this role in a variety of settings in courts, hospitals, schools, businesses, government agencies, wherever language differences create a barrier to communication.

Translators, on the other hand, work with written language. They translate legal documents and agreements, books, pamphlets, Web sites, anything that is written in one language that needs to be translated into another language.

Because of the modern global economy and business and political dealings between people from different countries, there is an increasing need for interpreters and translators to facilitate communication. Many companies and individuals offer interpretation and translation services in different languages for different purposes. To be a professional interpreter or translator an individual needs to be very fluent in at least one other language besides his or her native language. This is referred to as the interpreter/translator's language pair; Spanish and English, in my case. There are courses and training programs for interpreters and translators and tests for certification in different types of interpretation and translation. One basic principle that both interpreters and translators follow is that their role is to act as a conduit for communication, adding, omitting or changing nothing in the process.

This might sound simple, but it can be difficult and challenging work, given the nuances of languages and cultural aspects of communication. For me it has been challenging, enjoyable and rewarding.

Spain Beats Germany

!Ganó España! Goooooooooooooooool. ¿Fue un milagro? No lo creo. Se me hace que España jugó mejor que Alemania y por eso ganó. No fue ni milagro ni suerte. Veremos si pueden ganar a Holanda este domingo. España nunca ha ganado la Copa Mundial. Quizás este es su año.

Spain won! Goal! Was it a miracle? I don’t believe so. It seems to me that Spain played better than Germany, so they won. It was neither a miracle nor luck. We will see if they can beat the Netherlands this Sunday. Spain has never won the World Cup. Maybe this is their year.

Sports Metaphors and Life

Sports metaphors and sports quotes are often used in the business world, especially in sales. When I worked in sales in publishing, my manager was a big sports enthusiast who loved to use sports quotes and metaphors to motivate me and the other sales reps who worked for him to do our best. Sometimes when he started with the sports metaphors, we would just roll our eyes--here he goes again! People who talk and write about success, motivation, and self improvement often use sports quotes and metaphors. Here are some common examples.

Sports Quotes

"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing." Vince Lombardi (NFL football coach)

"Sports is human life in microcosm." Howard Cosell (sports announcer)

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." (John Wooden, UCLA basketball coach who won more championships than any coach in any sport)

"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character." (John Wooden)

Sports Metaphors

The one-two punch (boxing) (to do two powerful things to get the sale, etc.)
Leave it all on the field (football) (give all you have to win or be successful)
To choke (basketball) (to miss the shot because of nerves, to fail because of nerves)
To hit a home run (baseball) (Hit the ball over the fence and score a point, to do something really good in life or business to be successful)
Suck it up! (football) (even though you are tired, do all you can to win or succeed)
Do it for the team! (general) (put the success of the team ahead of your own success)

Do you have your own favorite sports quotes and metaphors that are used in business and life?


ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY'S RIDDLES.

ENGLISH RIDDLE: Nothing.
SPANISH RIDDLE Nada. (A fish swims (nada). A fish does nothing (nada).

What People Say to Their Pets

I had a friend who used to say that it's not important what you say, it's important what the other person hears. So true. What about our pets? Do our dogs and cats understand us when we talk to them? Here's what I think it's like when we talk to our pets.

WHAT WE SAY TO OUR DOG SPOT

Good boy, Spot. That's a very good boy, Spot. Go fetch the ball, Spot. Good boy. Here's a treat for you, Spot. You're a good dog, Spot.

WHAT SPOT HEARS

blah blah Spot blah blah blah blah blah Spot blah blah blah blah Spot blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Spot blah blah blah blah Spot.

Words, Words, Words

I am a language teacher (Spanish and English) and I am also a translator and interpreter of the same languages. Translators deal with words. Some people say that there are only three things you need to know about a word; its meaning(s), pronunciation, and how it is used in a sentence (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc.) But it's not that simple.

Words have many different aspects that need to be taken into account when learning a language or translating the words into another language. I will use the English word lovely as an example. Aside from the word's basic meaning (beautiful), pronunciation (lovely is made up of five separate sounds, two syllables, with the stress on the first syllable), and how it is used in sentences (as an adjective), all of which can be found in a good dictionary, there are other aspects of the word lovely that we need to be aware of. Following is a discussion of some of these aspects.

Connotations. Most words have connotations, which means that they can imply subtle emotions, feelings, and relationships to other words. Some connotations of lovely, are that it is usually used to described beauty in women ("She's a lovely woman" but not "He's a lovely man")and situations and cultural things(It's a lovely sunset.") Lovely has the feeling of softness. You might say that a painting or work of art is lovely, but you would probably not say that a car was lovely, no matter how beautiful the car was.

Differences of degree. Lovely is often described as a synonym for pretty or good looking or gorgeous. But for most people, these words would represent different points on a beauty "scale." A woman described as lovely would rank higher on the beauty "scale" than one described as pretty or good looking, but lower on the scale than one described as gorgeous. There are probably no true synonyms because of these small differences in meaning and usage.

Level of formality or register. Some words have a more formal, quaint, or "old fashioned" feel when you use them. Lovely is one of those words. Most teenagers and young people probably don't use the word lovely very much for this reason. They might prefer to use a more "modern" word like hot when describing a lovely woman.

Usage. Most words in English can be used equally by men or women. But there are certain words, like lovely, that are more commonly used by females than males. Men usually don't say lovely. Some other words that are used more often by women than men are divine, adorable, delightful, and sweetie.

Intonation reflecting attitude. Most words' meanings can be changed by the intonation used to pronounce them. If you say, "Well, that's just lovely !" stressing the word lovely and saying the sentence with a sarcastic tone of voice, you don't mean lovely at all. What you mean is that something is a mess, or a problem.

Most words are not as simple as they first appear. So we need to be careful with the way we use and translate them.

Living Abroad

Sometimes my students ask me what the best way is to learn Spanish. I tell them to go live in a Spanish-speaking country for as long as they can and avoid associating with Americans and speaking English while they are there. There is no substitute for this total immersion approach that I know of.

I have lived in Mexico for five years, one year after graduate school on a Fulbright Scholarship and I later taught at a university in northern Mexico for four years. When I lived in Mexico, I associated with very few English speakers and would sometimes go weeks and months at a time without speaking English. This was a very valuable experience for me and helped me really become fluent in Spanish and familiar with Mexican culture. As a result of these experiences, I look at the world in a different way, and can appreciate how Mexicans have a different worldview than Americans.

For this reason, I would recommend a living-abroad experience for every young person. It will help you learn a different language, culture, worldview, and at the same time, make you appreciate some of the things that we have in the U.S. that you might take for granted. So go volunteer for the Peace Corps or volunteer to work in Africa helping the people there. You will never be the same.

Good Writers, Good Movies

What makes a good writer? I think one of the most important things is to be a good story teller. Everyone likes a good story. If you can tell an interesting and creative story that keeps the readers' attention, that is maybe the most important key to good writing. Many books become movies. In most (not all) cases, it is because the author tells a good story that captures the imagination of the readers. So it is not surprising that books that are interesting to read go on to become movies. I like John Grisham's books about lawyers. Grisham is a good story teller. He has published many books, and I think that almost every one has been made into a movie. The books are usually better than the movies. Why is that? When we read, we engage our imaginations and create rich images in our minds of the characters, the situations, the places, and so on. When the book is turned into a movie, there is only one story, the one we see on the screen, and there is really not much left to the imagination. Some other well known authors whose books have become movies are Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Pat Conroy, to name a few. Their writing styles are different, but they have one thing in common--they can tell a good story.

The Soccer Flop

Watching the World Cup soccer games, I have noticed that many of the players try to fool the official, falling down after minimal or no contact with the other player, and rolling around on the ground as if they were mortally wounded. In fact, almost every time a player falls down after contact, it appears that he is so injured that he won't be able to continue in the game, and then he jumps right up and keeps on playing. The flop is fairly common in the NBA; several basketball players have a reputation for flopping a lot trying to draw fouls. The acting involved is sometimes almost funny to watch. It is easy to see a flop on instant replay. Sometimes the acting is so good that you think the player should receive not a penalty but an Academy Award. This year the NBA came up with a new rule to stop the flopping, so if an official thinks a player has flopped, the player can receive a technical foul. It seems that there is even more flopping in soccer than in basketball. In a game I watched earlier this week, a player from Brazil grabbed his head and fell down, twisting and turning on the ground while he held his leg in pain. He had not even been touched by the player from the other team, but he thought he might fool the official and draw a yellow card for the opposing player. The official wasn't fooled and neither were the people watching instant replay. It wasn't even very good acting. Maybe soccer and basketball players need to go to acting school to really perfect the flop and sell it to officials and spectators. Or maybe acting shouldn't be a part of sports. What do you think?

Heat and Humidity

It is really starting to heat up in Indiana this summer, with temperatures in the 80s and 90s, and relative humidity at similar levels. I am from the Southwestern U.S. (Arizona and New Mexico), so I grew up with hot summers (often above 100 degrees), and with low humidity. In other words, a dry heat. I can be comfortable in very high temperatures with low humidity, but the combination of heat and humidity as we have in the Midwest in the summer just about kills me. When the humidity is low, the body can sweat and cool itself off through evaporation. But when the humidity is high, you sweat but the sweat doesn't evaporate and cool you down. For this reason, I dread the Indiana summers and probably will as long as I live here. That's also why I would never go to Florida in the summer, where the humidity is even higher. Give me that good old dry heat any day.

Getting Back to Language

Most of my recent blogs have been about soccer because I am so interested in the World Cup games. In today's blog I will return to language, English specifically. One of the most commonly used words in spoken English is "get." It is very common, especially in informal speech, and it seems that it has many meanings, but really all the different meanings of "get" can be classified in three groups.

(1) "Get" is used instead of "be" in passive sentences. So we can say, "My wallet was stolen" or "My wallet got stolen" and both sentences mean the same thing.
(2) "Get" means this: 0 <------. Something or someone goes towards something or someone or is received by something or someone. "I got a present from my friend" means the same as "I received a present from my friend."
(3) "Get" means "become." "I got tired" means the same as "I became tired." Or "She got pregnant" means "She became pregnant."

If you are learning English as a Second Language and having trouble understanding all the different uses and meanings of "get," this explanation might help you to understand and use "get" better.

Playing to Win or Playing Not to Lose?

It seems that soccer is one of the few sports where a game can end in a tie. I wonder if that is a good thing. I think when you play a sport you should always try to win. That is the main mission. In the World Cup, teams get a point for a tied game, which can help them pass on to the second round of play. I see the teams sometimes playing conservatively for a tied game, instead of playing more aggressively to win the game, and maybe risk losing the game. Maybe it would be a good idea to change the system and not give points for a tie, only for a win. Another idea would be that every game tied at the end of regulation time would have to go to penalty kicks to decide the winner, as they do in the championship game where one of the teams has to win. What do you think?

World Soccer Parity?

There have been several major upsets in the World Cup, which makes it more interesting to watch the games. Team USA ties England. Mexico beats France. Spain loses to Switzerland. Paraguay ties Italy. And this is only after a week of play. In past World Cups, it seems a hand-full of powerhouse teams (Brazil, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Argentina) could always be counted on to win. Maybe this means that the level of soccer has become stronger around the world, giving more countries a chance to win. And that would be a good thing.

Mexico Beats France in World Cup!

Mexico's 2-0 victory over France in the World Cup today was very impressive. I don't think many people thought Mexico could beat France. Just like people didn't give Switzerland a chance to win over Spain yesterday, but they did. This is what makes the World Cup so exciting. Maybe there is even hope for the USA team!

The Vuvuzela

I have always wondered what that droning sound like a giant hive of bees at international soccer games was. I've been hearing it again at the World Cup games. So I decided to ask my international students what caused the sound. They explained that the sound comes from a three-foot long plastic horn called a vuvuzela that many of the fans use to cheer on their teams. Apparently the horn came from South Africa originally and then spread to Mexico and then around the world. I imagine the word comes from an African language. It is also called a lepatata. Apparently, some people don't like the sound of the horn and want to ban its use. I think that would be a shame. That crazy, constant noise has become a part of soccer.

Young Readers

I am very proud of my daughter Maria for many reasons. Maria is 17 years old and will be a senior in high school next year. She does very well in school and is involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities in school, volunteer work, and sports. She loves to play on the rugby team. But one of the things I am most proud of is that she loves to read. She signed up to be in the Book Club at school next year and has already read two books this summer that she plans to recommend to the Book Club members as books for the group to read and discuss. I notice that many young people don't read much. They spend a lot of time watching TV, using the cell phone, on the computer checking their Facebook account, and "hanging out" with their friends, but much time at the library looking for new books to read. Since I believe that reading is one of the best ways to learn and become a lifelong learner, I am very pleased to see that Maria is developing a love for reading at a young age.

USA Ties England at the World Cup: A Moral Victory?

Yesterday, the USA surprised everyone (except maybe the USA team players) by tying England 1-1 in the World Cup. The USA team was definitely the underdog. England scored in the first few minutes, a very nice goal. It didn't look good for the the American boys. In the second half, team USA got lucky and scored a goal that should have easily been stopped by the England goal keeper. So the game was tied. I think that goal gave the US team a little more confidence, and they had several good shots on goal in the rest of the game. With only a few minutes remaining, they had a break away play and a shot on goal which the England goalkeeper deflected and it hit the post and bounced out. If the ball had hit the post about an inch more to the right, it would have gone into the net and the USA team might have come away with a 2-1 victory. But it didn't, and game end tied. To me, it was a promising start to the World Cup for team USA, and a disappointing start for England.

The World Cup: USA vs. England

This might be the most important day in USA soccer history. Can the USA beat England? I don't think the USA team has ever beaten England. England is favored, as they should be, but the USA team is getting better, so they have a chance to knock off England. I understand that most knowledgeable soccer fans don't give the USA much of a chance, and certainly in England everyone assumes England will win. I wouldn't bet on the USA, but I do hope they win. Soccer in the USA is improving. In past World Cups, many of the players on the USA team were from other countries. Now I notice that all the players on the team seem to be from the USA. They say that Donovan is very good. So that is an indication that soccer in the US is getting better. We'll see if the USA team can make history today.

Soccer

I was watching Mexico play South Africa this morning in the first game of the World Cup. I realized what a great game soccer is. It's a simple and elegant sport. There are no complicated rules like in American football or baseball, only one way to score, and the players are great athletes in excellent condition. I doubt most baseball or football players could run up and down the field without resting between plays for two 45-minute halves. I hope that soccer continues to become more popular in the US, so the US teams will play at the same level as the best teams in the world. That will take a few years, but it will be worth the wait. Maybe the US will be able to win the World Cup someday.

Language Learning: Input > Processing/Thinking > Output

I believe that with language learning it is important to talk about input, processing/thinking, and output. Input is listening and reading and output is speaking and writing. Processing/thinking is that complex process that occurs between taking in input (listening or reading) and preparing output (speaking and writing). I believe that in language learning input precedes and is more important than output.

Think about how a baby learns its native language. The baby spends about two years listening to what will be its native language being spoken by its parents, other adults and children, and programs on the television and radio. The baby is surrounded by this constant barrage of language pretty much all the time except when it is asleep. Then after two years the baby starts speaking its first words, and then its language begins to develop very rapidly for the next few years. By age five or six the child understands and is very fluent in its native language.

It's not that different with adults learning a language. They need to listen to the target language and read a lot in the language (input) before they are ready to start speaking and writing fluently (output). This has implications for language teaching. I tell my Spanish students to listen to as much Spanish as they can (Spanish TV channels and movies, Spanish radio stations, free Internet podcasts in Spanish) and read as much Spanish as they can (free Spanish newspapers at Mexican restaurants, books in Spanish for children and young adults, and reading Spanish sites on the Internet). I tell them not to worry if they don't understand everything they listen to and read. Just like babies, it takes a while for the input to all soak in, and then the output kicks into high gear.

Learning a Second Language

I'm teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language courses this summer at a community college. My students often ask me what I think is the best and fastest way to learn another language as an adult. My advice to them is usually along these lines: go and live in a country where they speak the language you want to learn and do not hang around with other people who speak your native language while you are there. Live as much as possible as the the people who live in that country do. Try to communicate in that language 24/7 as long as you are in the country. This is the fastest and most efficient way to learn a second language as an adult, and also learn about the culture, which is an important part of the language. This can be a frustrating and painful experience, but the best way to learn a language. It's called total immersion. I also advise students to stay away from anyone selling language programs or software packages that claim to teach you to speak a language fluently "in 48 hours" or some such short period of time. These programs are usually very expensive and don't deliver the results they promise. Anyone who has learned a second or foreign language knows that's not the way language learning works. Aside from total immersion, there are no miracle methods or shortcuts.

A Farewell to Arms

I think I'm becoming a Hemingway fan. I read some of his books years ago, but they didn't seem that interesting at the time for some reason. A few months ago, I decided to read some of the books again, and see what I thought. I started with The Sun Also Rises, and really enjoyed it. I just finished A Farewell to Arms. I'm not a literary critic, so the best I can say is that I know what I like and for me these novels are very interesting and well written. I like Hemingway's spare, unadorned writing style. He writes almost as a journalist does, with few adjectives and adverbs. I have always heard the Hemingway's style is short, simple sentences made up of short, simple words. That's partly true. But I noticed he also sometimes used very long sentences. In A Farewell to Arms I found several long, long sentences. There were a few paragraphs made up of one long sentence. That's supposed to be a no-no for writers. But it worked, for me anyway. I noticed that he would sometimes stick a long sentence in between two short sentences, or follow a long sentence with a short one. The chapters in his books also varied greatly in length, from 2-3 pages to more than 20 pages. This provides relief and variety for the reader. Some writers think all chapters should be about the same length.

Like his life, Hemingway's writing style is enigmatic and defies easy analysis. He was a good writer. For me, a good book or author is one I enjoy reading and re-reading. In this way, Hemingway has passed my good-author test and I'll be reading more of his books.

Language, Thought, and Reality

One of my favorite courses when I was studied Linguistics in graduate school was a seminar called "Language, Thought, and Reality." In that seminar, we examined the so-called "Whorf-Sapir Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis." Edward Sapir was one of the best-known linguists of the 20th century and published several major studies of Native American languages. Benjamin Whorf was an interesting character. He had a degree in engineering and studied linguistics as an avocation under Sapir at Yale. Like Sapir, Whorf was interested in Native American languages and studied Hopi, Nahuatl, and Mayan hieroglyphics. In the 1930s, Sapir and Whorf advanced their hypothesis on linguistic relativity, suggesting that our thoughts and perception of reality are influenced, or even determined, by our native language.

At first blush, this hypothesis sounds reasonable to most people, until you start thinking about its implications for thought, perception, and reality. Whorf wrote that "reality is a kaleidoscopic flux that is organized by one's language." Pretty strong statement. I would like to think that reality has a substance that is independent of our perception of it. To illustrate the hypothesis, Whorf said things such as an Eskimo does not see the same thing when he watches snow falling as an English speaker does because the Eskimo language has fifty different words for snow, and English only has one. It is pretty easy to poke holes in the hypothesis by asking a few basic questions. Do we think in language (words), or thoughts? What is the connection between thinking (cognition) and language? Do we perceive the world around us through our senses or through our language? If our language determines or limits our thoughts, why is it that we often have thoughts that we can't put into words? How is it that a baby is able to think, perceive the world and interact with its parents and others before it has learned its native language?

At the end of the seminar, after posing these kinds of questions and listening to several linguist guest speakers talk about the Whorf-Sapir hypothesis, most of the students in the class came to the conclusion that, while interesting, the hypothesis really doesn't hold up to scrutiny because although language, thought and reality certainly interact with each other, they are very different things. Complicating things further, language and reality are pretty well understood by science, but thought and perception appear to lie in that area just beyond the reach of science. Even though Sapir and Whorf might not have gotten it quite right, these are still interesting things to think about.

Race Day

Today is the running of the big race--the Indy 500. They say it is the single-day event with the largest attendance in the world. For some reason, the organizers of the event never reveal the actual attendance each year, but estimates of spectators range from 300,000 to 500,000. I've been once (see my blog of May 25th), and it was fun, but I think once is enough. I don't like to be around that many people and sitting out in the sun all day. I'd guess that over half of them have had too much to drink. So watching the race is only part of the fun; you get to watch lots of drunk people stumble around and see some who are passed out under the stands in the shade. I guess they wake up after the race and ask "What happened?" The race isn't televised live, here in Indianapolis, anyway. We like to watch the race in the evening, after it is all over, and you know who the winner is. It's still fun to watch. But you don't get the complete experience of going out to the track with the crowd. Since I'm not a big car racing fan, watching it on TV on tape delay is just fine.

Birthdays Past and Present

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm not going to say which one. I had a great time with my family and friends. We had a Mexican-style barbecue (carne asada)and birthday cake. My daughter Carolina gave me a pair of BB target pistols with plastic BBs. Some of us guys went out in the backyard for some target practice. The pistols were very accurate from about 10-15 feet. We soon discovered that the impact of the BBs was not that great, so we ended up running around (moving targets) the yard shooting each other in the butt. We had a blast.

When I was a kid your birthday was a highlight of the year. My mother would say that the birthday boy or girl was "King/Queen for the Day." I remember getting cool presents like a baseball glove, a bicycle, and a BB gun. My Mom would always say that the Birthday King/Queen could have anything to eat. My favorite was Campbell's Beef Soup and banana cream pie. Of course we'd always have a special birthday cake and ice cream, too. Our family tradition was that just before the Birthday King/Queen blew out the candles, someone would say "Don't spit on the cake!"

When you get a little older, birthdays are still fun, but in a different way. Birthdays on the "milestone" years (30,40,50) can be a little unnerving. It's more about spending time with family and friends, getting silly birthday cards and goofy presents like BB pistols, and not so much about getting lots of presents. I am already looking forward to my birthday next year!

One of my best birthday presents this year was a cool Hawaiian shirt from by best buddy Nick (see my May 11 blog, "Finding Nick"). Nick and I were best friends in high school and then went our separate ways and lost track of each other until last year when we connected via the Internet. Nick remembered that we bought each other matching shirts from the small department store where we worked for our 15th birthdays (Nick's is on May 20, mine on May 26). I have no memory of this, but it's too crazy to make up. So we decided to start a tradition and buy each other "matching" birthday shirts each year. I sent him a Black silk Hawaiian shirt last week and yesterday a similar green print Hawaiian shirt appeared via UPS. So I guess they are matching shirts-- same style, different colors.

The Indy 500

The big race is coming up this weekend. I am not a big car racing fan, but I have lived in Indiana for the past ten years so I have gotten somewhat interested over the years. I follow the Indy 500. Not interested in NASCAR. Two years ago my wife's sister and my brother-in-law Arnold were visiting from Mexico. Arnoldo loves cars and car racing. So I took him to Carb Day (Friday before the big race) and the Indy 500. It was a great experience for the both of us. I think it was a highlight in Arnoldo's life, being able to go back to Mexico and say he had actually seen the Indy 500. We sat on Turn One (the cheap seats), the area they used to call the "Snake Pit," because people went there to do everything except watch the race. We didn't see much of that, except excessive drinking, and people passed out under the stands. We saw a couple of crashes, but nobody got hurt. We had a great time and the next day we went to the Museum inside the Speedway. Arnold was like a little kid looking at all the cars. He knew a lot about the different kinds of cars and engines, too. We spent most of the day there. I would have spent about an hour in the museum if I had been alone. That might be the only Indy 500 I will ever see live. Since I'm not a racing fan, I think once is enough. But I'll bet Arnoldo would like to see another one.

Is Soccer Cool?

Soccer is a very cool game, in my opinion. Not just in my opinion, but in the opinion of people around the world; it is the most popular game in the world, everywhere except the USA that is. With the World Cup coming up next month, everyone around the world will be watching the games and rooting for their countries to win, including Americans who will be cheering on the US team.

But what happens after June? Americans will be back to the NBA, baseball, and getting ready for the NFL season, and soccer will be largely forgotten until the next World Cup in four years. I was listening to the host on an ESPN radio talk show about this very thing this morning. His theory is that in the USA soccer isn't perceived as "cool" and to be a successful sport in the US, a sport needs to be seen as "cool," like professional baseball, basketball, and football. We love "cool" players like Lebron, Payton Manning, and Alex Rodriguez. Quick: Name a "cool" professional U.S. soccer player. The host made the comment that in the US, when you mention soccer, most people think of "soccer moms" driving their daughters to games in mini-vans, eating orange slices, and everyone gets a trophy after the game. I have three daughters who played soccer, when they were young, so I know about this first hand. So, the host says, maybe soccer has an image problem in the US. It just isn't perceived as "cool." Until it is thought of as "cool" with "cool" soccer hero players, it really won't be considered a popular sport here at the professional level. This will take a while.

The iPad

I'm not a power user of technology, but I think I can spot a technology product of dubious value and a limited life expectancy. That's how the iPad strikes me. It seems that Apple produced this new digital tablet because "it could." On one of the late night talk shows recently, the host was joking that people would purchase the iPad just to see what it is. Not a strong product endorsement. My daughter's boyfriend knows a lot about technology. He always has an iPhone in his hand and is constantly checking for text messages from his buddies, e-mail, and searching the Internet to find answers for whatever we happen to be talking about. I asked him about the iPad. With a look of disdain, he said the iPad doesn't do anything more than his iPhone does and he couldn't stick it in his pocket like his iPhone (not that he ever does). I guess Apple has sold a lot of iPads, but something tells me they might not be around long. But I could very well be wrong, especially about technology.

Digital Books? No Thanks.

The demise of printed books has been predicted for many years. With recent advances in technology we have Ebooks, Kindles, PDFs, and so on. I think it will be quite a while until printed books go away because they have become part of our culture. Think of what you can do with a printed book that you can't with a digital book. Many people like to have a book shelf filled with books they have read or intend to read someday. I do. Curling up in bed or in front of a fire with your favorite book is not the same as curling up with a Kindle. It's a different experience. You can dog ear your favorite paperback book and stick it in your back pocket to read later. You can't do that with a Kindle. If you are lucky, you can go to an author signing, buy a book and have the author sign it. I have several signed copies of books that I cherish. Try that with an digital book. Most people would rather read a printed page than a computer screen. I think it will be a while, maybe never, before people stop buying and reading printed books. There will probably always be some die hards, like me, who don't want to give up their library of printed books. Maybe if most people start reading digital books, the prices of printed books will go up. I'll still buy them and put them on my bookshelf.

Hemingway and Spain

I just finished reading Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. An excellent novel, and I was especially interested because the book was set in Spain and described bullfights and fiestas. I lived in Mexico for five years where I taught Linguistics at a state university. My wife Elvira is from Mexico. I teach Spanish at a state community college. My wife's maternal grandmother, Elvira, was born in Spain and moved to Mexico, where she married Elvira's grandfather. Grandmother Elvira died young of tuberculosis, so Elvira never got to meet her. It is said that Elvira had flaming red hair. We have a black and white photo of her, so we can't really tell about the color of her hair. One of Elvira and my items on our "bucket list" is to travel to Spain, spend some time there travelling around and find some of her distant relatives. Her grandmother's maiden name was Franco, so I hope that we don't find that she was related to the fascist general and dictator of the same name. I also like to go trout fishing, so I would love to go fishing for trout in the mountains of northern Spain as Jake and his friends did in The Sun Also Rises. By the way, Jake sounds a lot like Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was a big fisherman and aficionado of bullfights.

I think the next Hemingway book I will read is A Farewell to Arms, a semi-autobiographical novel about an American ambulance driver in Italy during World War I.

Ernie the H.

I had a friend in college who loved Hemingway--he called him "Ernie the H." I think it was my friend's way of being witty and ironic, maybe like Hemingway. I've read a few Hemingway novels and short stories over the years and enjoyed them. I like the way he wrote. I am reading The Sun Also Rises right now. It's a nice novel, maybe Hemingway at his best. I teach Spanish and am interested in Spain, so I thought this would be a good one to read.

I also have been a book editor for quite a few years, so when I read books I notice the way they have been edited and proofread, the design, type of paper, and other details that other people don't pay attention to. Whenever I read a book I try to catch at least one error or typo. That's usually not too hard. It's a rare book that doesn't have at least one typo. The copy of the book that I am reading, which is published by Scribner and is in its 27th printing, has an incorrect expression in Spanish on page 132 and a typo on page 133. On page 132 is the Spanish question "Por Ustedes?" A girl delivering telegrams in a Spanish town where Jake Barnes and friends have gone on a fishing trip. She is asking if the telegram is "for you (plural)." It should be "Para ustedes?" The distinction between the use of por and para is tricky. They both mean "for" but in this case Hemingway used the wrong one. Now for the typo on page 133, the facing page. An Englishman named Harris says "It's remarkable place," omitting the article. I would attribute the error in Spanish to Hemingway and the missing article to the proofreader. These are just small details. The novel is great, very well written. Ernie the H. may not have spoken perfect Spanish, but he sure could write.

How Language Works

I'm reading a book called How Language Works by David Crystal. It is a really excellent, comprehensive look at what makes human language unique from other forms of communication, and, well, how it works. I studied Linguistics and have always had a fascination and love for language. I teach Spanish and English as a Second Language at the college level. When I tell people I studied Linguistics, they often ask, "What's that?" or "What do linguists do?" My standard response has always been that Linguistics is the study of what languages have in common (what it means to be a language) and how they differ. That usually seems to satisfy the curiosity, but sometimes it doesn't and people want more specifics. From now on, when someone asks me this question, I am going to suggest that they read How Language Works by David Crystal.

May, What a Great Month

May is a great month for at least three reasons. First of all, it is that month with nice warm days and cool nights before the hot summer hits in June. Second, May has a lot of nice holidays, beginning with Cinco de Mayo on May 5, followed by Mother's Day, and then wrapping up with Memorial Day. Something for everyone. Finally, May is a month for sports lovers and fans. We have the NBA playoffs, major league baseball, the Stanley Cup professional hockey championship, big professional golf tournaments like The Players over the past weekend, and I get to watch my daughter's rugby games. Her team came in fourth place in the Midwest Girls Rugby Tournament with teams from Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. The Kentucky Derby started off the month with the running of the ponies, and the month ends with the most famous car race, the Indy 500, right here in Indianapolis. We had the Indy Mini-marathon over the past weekend, one of the biggest mini-marathons in the world, with over 35,000 participants. So May is really a big month for sports fans, with all major sports represented except NFL football. But the real football, or soccer, will be here in June with the World Cup Soccer Championship. Is there another month that has so much to offer as May?

Goodbye Mittens: You Were a Good Kitty

We had a hard day today. Our cat Mittens, who we have had since she was a kitten 11 years ago, died today. A few weeks ago she started getting sick. We took her to the vet and found out that she had an autoimmune disorder with no cure. Mittens had been getting sicker every day, until she stopped eating and drinking this week. She wasn't strong enough to move. My wife and daughters said goodbye to Mittens today. There were plenty of tears. I took Mittens to the vet this afternoon to have her put to sleep. As I was waiting in the vet's office, Mittens died. She just twitched a couple of times and stopped breathing. It didn't seem like she was in pain. I usually don't cry, I guess because real men aren't supposed to cry, especially about pets. But I did shed a few tears.

Our family was lucky to have Mittens. She was lucky to have us. She had a good life. She was a good cat. We're sure she is now in that place where all good cats go, where there are lots of cats to play with and plenty of cat nip. So long, Mittens, wherever you are. You were a good kitty.

Is Baseball Dying?

It seems that interest in baseball is slowing declining over the years. I think there are several reasons for this decline. I remember in the 1950s and 1960s all the kids like me loved to watch and play baseball and collect and trade baseball cards of famous players. We knew all about players like Mickey Mantle and Roger Marris. I don't see many kids doing that anymore. Baseball is a slow game, and lacks the action and speed of basketball, footbal, and soccer. Our lives have been speeded up by technology with the Internet, cell phones, Twitter, and so on. We want everything fast. Fast food and fast sports. Baseball is not a fast game. I was listening to a radio sports talk show today and a writer for ESPN was talking about how over the years baseball is becoming slower, with more pitches, more walks, and fewer hits. Most people are not patient enough anymore to sit and watch a baseball game. There is action, but between the action the players stand around a lot. We want action and excitement. That is not what baseball is about. I think in the future, as action-oriented games like football, soccer, basketball, and hockey become more popular, baseball will slowly fade into the past as a game of the 1900s. That would be a shame, but it looks like that is exactly what is happening. A slow death for a nice, slow sport.

My Brother Bruce

My older brother Bruce lives in Arizona. He owns a trading post on the Navajo Indian Reservation and recently was appointed a county judge. He is an interesting person and has lived an interesting life. I have two brothers (Bruce and Harold) and two sisters (Gail and Debbie). I love all of them, but the one I feel closest to is Bruce. This is because when my father died when I was 15 years old, Bruce, who is ten years older than me, took over as like a father substitute. He spent time with me, took me fishing, hunting, and camping and even taught me how to drink a beer. He actually seems like more of a father to me than my own father. I love Bruce in a special way and stay in touch with him better than I do with my other siblings, although I love them too, of course.

One of the things that I love about Bruce is that he is open minded and can see both sides of just about any issue. I'm sure that makes him a good judge. When I called him last week to ask what he thought about the new Arizona immigration law, he paused and said that he could see both sides, and why people have strong feelings on both sides of the issue. That's just about what I figured he would say, and one reason I love him so much, Bruce my brother/father.

NBA and the World Cup

This is a great time to be an NBA fan. You get to see some really great games in the playoffs. It looks like the two strongest teams this year are the Lakers and the Cavaliers. I don't like the Lakers. They seem arrogant and cocky. If the championship game ends up being Lakers and Cavaliers, I hope LeBron and the Cavaliers win. But I wouldn't bet against the Lakers, either.

And just around the corner, in June, is the beginning of the soccer World Cup. I'm glad that soccer is becoming more popular in the U.S. and more people are following the games. I'd like for the U.S. to do well this year in the World Cup, but I wouldn't bet on it when they have to play teams like Italy and Brazil. They are not at that level yet.

I Never Promised You a Tomato Garden

I am not a gardener. I know many people who love to garden, take care of their lawns, plant flowers, and so on. These people include my neighbors on both sides. I am not one of them. The house my wife and I purchased ten years ago was owned by a landscape architect. The lawn, shrubs, trees, and flower gardens were immaculate when we moved it. They are not anymore. My wife and I simply don't have the time or interest to keep up all the maintenance involved in having a beautiful lawn and flower gardens. I like to cut the grass about every three weeks. My neighbors tell me the landscape architect cut the grass every three days.

We have a nice plot for a vegetable garden, but we've never found the time to plant and cultivate a garden. I take that back. A few years ago, we did plant a tomato bush out there and harvested some nice tomatoes in July and August. Right now the area could be best described as a weed garden. Some of the weeds have pretty flowers. So I guess we could call it a natural flower garden. Why not?

This summer my wife and I have made a goal to get the lawn in shape, fight back the weeds, trim the shrubs, and have a nice little vegetable garden. The mere thought of doing all this in the hot, humid Indiana summer makes me feel exhausted and sweaty. By August we'll know if we have been able to keep with it and reach our goal. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Rap Music?

I don't like rap. Yes, rap, not rap music, because rap has very little musical content or musicality, in my opinion. But my real issue with rap is not whether or not it is music, but the message and content of its lyrics. Let's get the music part out of the way. It all sounds about the same to me. I know that's what my parents said about The Beatles, but they were wrong. All Beatles songs do not sound alike; in fact, The Beatles' music evolved and changed a lot over a mere six years, in very creative ways, in my opinion.

Now for the "lyrics" of rap, the words and the messages. The rap that I have listened to (I have daughters 22, 20, and 17...need I say more?) seems to have four main, interrelated themes; sex, money, drugs, and violence. References to women are generally degrading; women (shorties) are sex objects or toys. I'll spare you some of the words used to get this message across. Money and what it can buy ("bling") seems always to be referred to as a good thing, the more the better, to buy more "bling," more sex from shorties, and more drugs. Sex, money and drugs often lead to the final theme, violence. Rap lyrics often involve guns, killing and drugs. How many rappers have been killed violently with guns?

You might be thinking I'm just a racist or a prude, and I don't like rappers because they are generally African Americans. Not so fast. I'm a big fan of the Blues, which had its beginnings about a hundred years ago in the South with African American Blues men like Robert Johnson, Son House, and Blind Melon Jefferson. Their guitar playing techniques were unique and skilled, and the lyrics were sometimes "salty" and playful, with metaphors about "squeezing lemons" and "jelly rolls." Nothing so explicit and raw as rap lyrics. The message of the Blues was mostly about overcoming hard times and the living conditions imposed by White Southerners. The Blues later migrated to Memphis and Chicago with Blues players like Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Then came Rock and Roll beginning in the 50s, which basically grew out of the Blues. White guys like Buddy Holly, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin. Many of the great Rock songs are just remakes of the origninal Blues songs. As Muddy Waters said, "Blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll."

I like the Blues. I like Rock and Roll. I even like Rock and Roll that incorporates a kind of rap, like the music of Linkin Park. I like just about every kind of music I've ever listened to, except "mush" like the music of Lawrence Welk (sorry Mom) and, well, rap. That is, if you call rap music.

New Arizona Law: The Long View

Maybe the real immigration problem is that the Native Americans, the indigenous people of America (North and South), did not have a strong enough immigration policy to protect their borders when Europeans like Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortez "discovered America" 500 years ago. Did anyone ask Mr. Columbus or Sr. Cortez for their entry visas? Maybe the only "real" Americans are the Native Americans (as the name implies), and the rest of us Americans are just immigrants from other lands.

New Arizona Immigration Law: Some Uncomfortable Facts

WARNING: If you generally agree with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, you probably will not like what you are about to read. I have been listening to Fox Radio to hear what people are saying about the new immigration law in Arizona that allows police to ask for proof of citizenship when there is probable cause and the officer suspects that the person is not in the U.S. legally. Most of the talk show hosts and callers on Fox Radio defend this law vehemently and insist that the law violates no constitutional rights and is only enforcing federal immigration laws. Well, maybe, maybe not. The majority of the comments I heard can be summarized as follows: Those Mexicans are criminals in violation of U.S. law, should go back to Mexico where they belong, stop taking Americans' jobs away and generally bothering us Americans. Much of their rhetoric sounds pretty nasty, and they rely more on opinions and name-calling than facts.

I would like to offer a few current and historical facts, or at least objective statements for anyone who supports the new Arizona law to at least be aware of. It seems that some of these folks don't want to be confused by the facts.

1. Until 1848, the end of the US-Mexico War, the territory that is now Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, and California belonged to Mexico, and was taken over by the U.S. in the Treaty of Guadalupe. So most of the western U.S. was Mexican territory prior to 1848. Whether or not this was a legal action has been debated. Did the U.S. take this land from Mexico legally, or did they steal it "fair and square"? Mexicans tend to have a different perspective on this question than people from the U.S., as you might expect. Think about it. How would you react as an American if the U.S. lost a war with a foreign country, which then took control of a third of the U.S. states? Maybe you're thinking but that would never happen. Never is a long time.

2. About 30 percent of Arizonans are Mexican Americans. Many of them have relatives in Mexico who they travel to visit regularly, and their relatives travel to visit them in Arizona. There are currently about 500,000 Mexicans living in Arizona who entered the U.S. illegally or are here on expired visas. So roughly one in three drivers that Arizona police pull over to give a ticket may look like Mexicans.

3. Many Mexicans have been living in Arizona (and the U.S.) illegally for long periods of time, and their children born in the U.S. are U.S. citizens. Can U.S. citizens be deported? I don't think so. So do we deport the parents and leave the children behind to fend for themselves? Does that sound like a good idea?

Reaction to Arizona Immigation Law

The news for the last couple of days has been full of stories about the new Arizona immigration law--for and against. The law has created a firestorm of controversy within the U.S., in Mexico, and other countries around the world. It has created a division of Americans, who are in a heated debate about the law, and the larger issue of immigration in the U.S. In the end, I think this law is going to be a bad thing for Arizona and the U.S. Click on the following link to read one story about reactions to the new law and how it could affect U.S. political and economic relations with Mexico and other countries: MinnPost - Arizona immigration law: Will Mexico boycotts cripple trade?

What message is this new law sending to the world about the U.S.?

Arizona Law

The new law in Arizona which allows police to stop people and ask them for proof of citizenship makes me sad. This and the vigilantes (minutemen?) who patrol the border with guns looking for Mexicans crossing to use for target practice. I grew up in Arizona and New Mexico, so I have a love for that area and the people there. I hope that reason will prevail and they will repeal this new law. Can you imagine Mexican-American U.S. citizens being pulled over for a speeding ticket and asked to produce their proof of citizenship? You can be sure it will happen, even though they are saying there will be no racial profiling. Do you think they are going to be looking for Canadian and Irish illegal immigrants who are living and working in Arizona? It's interesting to observe that many Arizona Republicans want nothing to do with this new law. You can't blame them. In a state like Arizona, with the size of the Hispanic population, in many counties you probably can't win an election without the Hispanic vote. One of the reasons the U.S. is a great country is that the government protects our civil liberties and privacy. That's why I doubt that this law will stand up in court. Our constitution protects our civil liberties, and that has been and will always be a good thing.

More Crazy Indiana Weather

In Indiana they say that if you don't like the weather, just wait 15 minutes. We were starting to have warm sunny, summer weather, and now the sun is hiding, it's cold, and it has been raining for three days. I guess we can complain about the weather, but since we can't do anything about it, we just need to learn to enjoy the changes and wait for the sun to come out again. And it will. It always does.

High School Prom

Tonight my daughter Maria is going to the high school prom dance with her boyfriend, Bryce. All week, she has been so excited, buying the dress, the shoes, getting her hair done, manicure and pedicure. So tonight is the big night. This will be a very special memory for her and Bryce. I have enjoyed it too, watching how much fun they are having. It makes me remember my own high school prom with my high school sweetheart, Mary Ann. We had a great time. She looked beautiful, and it was the first time I had ever worn a tuxedo. We made a pretty nice looking couple, just like Maria and Bryce. These are special memories that you can have for a lifetime. My wife Elvira and I will be sure to take lots of photos of Maria and Bryce tonight so they can remember this special day for the rest of their lives.

Maybe Money Can Buy You Happiness

Yesterday, I wrote about how money can't buy you love. Real love isn't something that is bought or sold, in my opinion. Sex can be purchased, but not love. But maybe money can buy you happiness. That is, if you use your money in the right way. Let me tell you a story to illustrate my point. Earlier this week I was watching the program American Idol Gives Back on television with my family. I was impressed that this program has raised more than 15 million dollars to help hungry and sick children in Africa and the U.S. At one point in the program, there was a short interview with Bill and Melinda Gates about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and how the millions of dollars their foundation has given has helped decrease the number of deaths of African children from Malaria and improve their lives. As Bill Gates spoke about the good work his foundation has done, I saw a look of absolute joy and happiness on his face; a look that you can't fake. Here is one of the richest men in the world, who has so much money that it would be virtually impossible for him and his wife to spend it all in a lifetime. And how does his money make him happy? By using it to help people in need have better lives and make a difference with their lives.

Some of the stock traders and tycoons on Wall Street, who only seem to be driven by greed to have more and more money no matter the cost to others, could learn something from Bill Gates, and what he chooses to do with his money. Maybe if more of these people were more like Gates, our country's economy wouldn't be in the mess it is currently in. That's my two cents about money and how people use their money.

Can't Buy Me Love

You really can't buy love. The Beatles had it right in that song more than 40 years ago. If you could buy love, why then are there so many rich people who are constantly getting married, divorced, and "looking for love?" I loved The Beatles when I first heard them over 40 years ago as a teenager, and I still love them today, maybe even more. I love the music and the lyrics in their songs. Remember that the 60s were the decade of "peace and love." It's interesting to recall how many of The Beatles' song titles included the word "love." All my Loving. Love Me Do. P.S. I Love You. She Loves You. Words of Love. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.

Do you remember all those great Beatle songs? And "love" was the main theme of so many of their songs, even when the word wasn't in the song titles. The Beatles knew about the importance of "love" and they sang about it. They started singing about romantic love in their early days, and ended up singing about the kind of love that can change the world in their later songs.

The Beatles had it right when they sang, "All you need is love, love is all there is." She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah...

Jeff's Top Ten Books/athors

My Top Ten books/authors, in no particular order. I have read each of these books more than once because I like them so much, and have read other books by these authors. If I find an author I like, I tend to read all of their books I can get my hands on. Some of these books have been made into movies, and some of the movies were good, but the movies are never as good as the books.

1. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
2. The Firm, John Grisham
3. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Sallinger
4. Hatchet, Gary Paulsen
5. Relato de un Naufrago, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Tale of a Castaway, a novella)
6. Little Big Man, Thomas Berger
7. Mountain Man, Vardis Fisher
8. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
9. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
10. The Lords of Discipline, Pat Conroy

Ten Favorite Movies

As promised, here is a list of my favorite movies. I heard somewhere that you can tell a lot about a person by the books s/he reads and the movies s/he watches. If this is true, I have no idea what my list says about me, other than that I like them. Some of my favorite movies started out as books. By the way, in my experience the book is always better than the movie. I have seen most of the movies on this list more than once. In no particular order:

1. Little Big Man (book and movie)
2. The Karate Kid (just the first one)
3. The Grapes of Wrath (book and movie)
4. The Edge
5. It's a Wonderful Life
6. Mountain Man (book and movie)
7. Avatar
8. The Rocky movies (especially the first :)
9. Forrest Gump (book and movie)
10. Rainman

There you have it. Many other movies I love didn't make the cut and perhaps on a different day I would choose ten different ones. Favorite books tomorrow.

More on Good and Bad Movies

The subject of my last blog was what I consider good and bad movies. Today I'll share more thoughts on what makes a movie good or bad, in my opinion. If you've been to the movies lately, or rented a DVD, I think you'll know what I mean by bad movies. There are so many new movies being released, but most of them are not worth watching. I would estimate that about one or two out of every ten new movies is worth watching. These bad movies I'm taking about either do not have an interesting story to tell, lack interesting characters, have mediocre to poor acting, or are based on tired and predictable formulas (Chick Flicks, most Action Movies, Horror Movies, you get the idea). Many of them are guilty on all counts, leaving me asking why they were even made in the first place.

My general rule of thumb about which movies I will take the time to watch or rent is based mostly on the starring actors: I will watch any movie with, in no particular order, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Al Pachino, Robert DeNiro, Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan (yes, Jackie Chan), Denzell Washington, Diane Keeton, Will Smith, George Clooney, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, or Mel Gibson, to name a few. But this are no guarantees. I have seen each of these actors star in bad movies. Now for the truly bad actors/movies. I refuse to watch any movie starring Will Ferrell, Jennifer Anniston, Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller, or Johnny Depp, and others whose names I can't even remember, or never knew. Sometimes previously unknown actors come out in interesting movies, such as Twilight and Across the Universe. An example of a good actor in a bad movie would be Robert Downey, Jr. in Sherlock Holmes, which, in my opinion, is a truly bad movie, despite some good reviews it received. The Sherlock Holmes character that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created is an interesting character, but Downey's version bears almost no resemblance to the fictional Sherlock Holmes, and is more like a Jackie Chan version of Sherlock Holmes. Surely Doyle would roll over in his grave if he saw this movie. My wife and I watched Sherlock Holmes with another couple on New Years Eve, and I swear we would have walked out and found a better way to spend the last hours of 2009 if we hadn't already paid $20. I didn't like the fact that whoever made this movie took the license to turn Sherlock Holmes into just another wise-cracking, Kung Fu action figure. If Jackie Chan had played the lead role, it at least might have been amusing. A Chinese Sherlock Holmes. Why not? There are some movies that are so bad that they are almost funny to watch, but I'd rather watch a movie that is intentionally funny.

Tomorrow, I'll share a list of some of my favorite movies, and why I like them.

Movies: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Have you seen a good movie lately? I have, but I've also seen a lot of bad ones. First the good ones. A couple of months ago, I went with my seventeen-year old daughter, Maria, to see Avatar. We both agreed it was one of the best movies we had ever seen. For me, it was the most entertaining and creative movie I had seen in a long time. And we didn't even see the 3-D version, so we want to go back sometime and see it again in 3-D. I thought Gran Torino was an excellent movie; so good that after watching it at the theatre when it was first released, I have since watched it a couple more times on DVD. I watched The Blind Side with my family on DVD and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Good story, good acting. What these three movies have in common is that they have an interesting story to tell and interesting characters portrayed by good, and sometimes great, actors.

Now for the bad movies. Where to begin? There are so many of them. By bad I mean movies that don't tell an interesting story, lack interesting characters, and have generally bad acting. The length of this blog doesn't permit me to go into detail about all the bad movies I've seen, or refused to see, so I'll just mention one movie genre as an example: Chick Flicks. Because I have three daughters (one teenager, and two now in their early twenties), I have endured watching so many Chick Flicks that they have all kind of blurred together. It has been an act of love on my part to have endured watching so many of these awful movies with my daughters and wife. You know the ones I'm talking about; anything starring Hannah Montana or the Olsen twins, for example. I won't go into detail about why Chick Flicks are so bad, because this blog would end up being too long. I'll just say that they are almost always bad because their plots and characters are so predictable. So bad that even great acting couldn't redeem them. Having said that, I have seen a couple of pretty good Chick Flicks; one that comes to mind is A Walk to Remember, one of my daughters' all-time favorites. Otherwise, these movies are kind of like Danielle Steele novels. If you're read one, you've read them all.

I'll continue tomorrow with more on good, and bad, movies. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Too Many Books, Too Few Readers?

I love books and have since I was a child. I read books on a wide range of subjects, fiction and non-fiction, and I have favorite authors whose books I have read and re-read over the years. I have worked for 20 years in book publishing, in sales and as an editor. Over the past ten or so years, I have noticed that there has been an explosion of the number of new books published, books on every imaginable topic. Many of these books are really not worth reading, in my opinion. At the same time, I have seen statistics that fewer and fewer people are reading books. This is not surprising, given research on how most American adults spend their time working 10-12 hour days, watching television 4-5 hours a day, spending at least an hour every day on the computer surfing the Web, checking their FaceBook accounts, sending e-mail messages, Twittering, and, of course, talking and texting on their cell phones. It's no wonder they have no time to sit back, relax, put their feet up and read a good book. See my post yesterday about "busyness."

I am currently teaching Spanish at a community college. I sometimes ask my students about reading books. Many can't remember a single book they have read, except those they were assigned to read in high school. Of course there are always exceptions, those students who are always reading a book, sometimes so engrossed in their books that they sneak reading them in class. Fine with me! I would estimate that maybe 10-20% of my students read books.

All of this leaves me with the question: Who is reading all those new books being published?

I'll take on movies tomorrow. Have you gone to the video rental store recently and looked for a DVD to watch? There are plenty of new releases, but not too many that look interesting enough to spend a couple of hours watching.

Are you busy?

In our modern, fast-paced world it seems that people are busier than they were in the past, answering "urgent" e-mail, phone and text messages, attending to family, school, and work responsibilities, and taking care of urgent matters that arise daily. Is this a good thing? Maybe it's a good idea to stop from time to time and ask ourselves what we are so busy doing. In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey shares some important insights on managing our time more effectively, spending less time on urgent, but not-so-important tasks and more time on more important, less urgent tasks. Covey writes about the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. We can go to work and get so caught up responding to e-mail, phone and text messages, and "putting out fires," that we don't have time to get to the important items on that must-do list that we prioritized for the day. Has this ever happened to you? Covey says that we can be very efficient at taking care of pressing, urgent, small things, but not be effective at doing the things we have identified as important in our personal and professional lives. Sometimes "busyness" can even be a form of work avoidance; focusing on small, easy-to-accomplish tasks to avoid tackling those more difficult and important projects that we keep putting off.

Next time you feel too busy and completely overwhelmed by life, school, or work, stop and ask yourself what you are so busy doing, and if you are busy doing the things that are important to you. Depending on your answer, you might want to re-think and prioritize the way you spend your time. In my own life, it has been my experience that I "find" a lot of extra time to do things when I focus on what is important to me.

Can you learn a language online?

Can you learn a language online? A year ago I would have said no. Based on my background in linguistics, understanding of first and second language acquisition, experience teaching Spanish and English, and my own firsthand experience learning Spanish at the university and then while living and teaching in Mexico, I would have said that the best way to learn a language is by living in a place where that language is spoken, becoming immersed in the language and culture 24/7. I still believe that. A next best method would be to learn the language in a classroom, interacting with a good language teacher and other students actually speaking, listening to, reading and writing the language. All languages are first spoken and then written. So, in my opinion, learning to communicate verbally in a language should be the primary goal of language instruction. So how could you learn a language online?

I've changed my thinking on this question. At the community college where I teach Spanish, I recently took a course for faculty on how to teach online. I am now teaching first and second semester Spanish courses online with an excellent, highly interactive and dynamic program which includes a variety of activities on speaking, listening, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and culture. There is a discussion board on which students can interact with me and the other students in Spanish. The students record themselves speaking in Spanish, and I listen to them and provide feedback. They can even arrange online chats in Spanish with their classmates.

Learning a language online might not be the ideal way to learn a language, and it might not be for everyone, but I now believe that it can be an effective way to learn a second language. Many of my students work full time, so having to attend a class on a specific day and time can be a challenge. Being able to study online on their own schedule, any time and any place, can be a major advantage.

New Habits

I read somewhere that it takes about three weeks to establish a new habit. I started writing this blog earlier this spring with every intention of writing a short entry every day, without missing a single day. After seventeen days of writing daily, I stopped. February 23 was my last blog posting. So maybe this is an example of the "three-week rule." Maybe if I had just posted something for four more days, I would have arrived at that "magic" number of 21 days, and writing the blog daily would have become a new habit, a part of my daily routine. I'll give it another try, see if I can write for 21 consecutive days, and create a new, good habit. It would seem to be a simple thing to learn a new habit, but sometimes simple things are not as simple as they seem, especially when it comes to human behavior. Stand by.

An Opinion Paragraph

Here is an example of a paragraph that my English-as-a-Second Language writing class wrote as a group project. It is an example of an opinion paragraph, providing several reasons, each with supporting examples, to support an opinion.


Indianapolis: A Great Place to Live

Indianapolis is a great place to live for three main reasons. First of all, it is a very safe place. The city has a lower crime rate than many U.S. cities. The city has a lot of police, especially in the downtown area. Second, it is a very clean place to live. There are city employees who clean the streets downtown every day. You never see old cars parked on the streets because the police tow any cars that are left for more than a day. Finally, Indianapolis has excellent educational institutions. For example, Ivy Tech Community College is a good place to study for not a lot of money. IUPUI is another good university where you can study and get a degree from Indiana University or Purdue University. I believe that everyone should come to Indianapolis to see what a great place it is to live.

Thoughts on Time

Time is a funny thing. Scientists can't even agree if time really exists apart from what we call time on Earth. Was there a beginning of time? Will there be an end of time? What is the nature of time? On Earth, there seem to be a beginning and end to all living things, including us humans. Observable stars and galaxies in our universe are apparently so old that the light we see left them billions or more light years ago. Scientists tell us that light travels at 186,000 miles per second. So light travels a long way in a year. By the time we see these stars and galaxies in our telescopes, they may have burned out and not even exist anymore. We don't know. So what about the stars and galaxies that we can't see?

On a more mundane level, here on Earth, time seems to be predicable and has to do with the movement of the Earth around the sun and the moon around the Earth. We can all agree on how long a second, minute, hour, week, month and year last. When you're a kid a year seems to last forever, but as you get older each year seems to pass faster. That makes sense, because when you're five, a year is a fifth, or 20%, of your life, but when you are 50, a year is only a fiftieth, or 2%, of your life. So the years seems to speed up as we get older. Still, in the grand scheme of things, considering the age of the universe, which isn't even known, even a relatively long human life span of 100 years is like a blink of an eye, less than a nanosecond. It's good to think about these things sometimes. It has a way of putting things in perspective.

Why is it? Questions Without Answers

Lately I've been reading Stephen Hawking's excellent books about the history of time and the universe, stuff like the Big Bang Theory and black holes. It's interesting to think about how the universe began, where it is going, if time really exists, and how scientists like Hawking have been attempting to answer such questions to arrive at a Theory of Everything.

There are other questions that are equally puzzling, if not as important, or answerable by science. Here are just a few.

Why do athletes and coaches pat each other on the butt during a game, when they would not be caught dead doing that off the field?
Why do you always find one lost glove on the ground, but you never find a pair?
Where do the socks that disappear in the dryer go?
Why do we ask "How do you do?" when we meet someone?
Why is it that men refuse to ask for directions when they are lost?
Why is the bottom of the pillow always cooler than the top?
How come the food that tastes the best is usually bad for you and vice versa?

I have no answers for these questions, but submit them for your consideration.

A Good Time for Sports Fans

Today has been a busy day and I really don't have anything in mind to write about, so I will practice a little stream of consciousness writing. So what's on my mind? I'm thinking that this is a good time for people who are interested in sports, like me. We've got the Winter Olympics going on, Tiger Wood's statement today, March Madness coming up soon, and the NBA. Something for everyone except football and baseball fans. Oh, I almost forgot the soccer World Cup will be coming soon. My daughter Maria is getting ready to start the rugby season next week. So this is a pretty good time for sports fans. At least for this sports fan.

The History of the Universe, in Under 200 Pages

For years I have been hearing about a book entitled A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, by Stephen Hawking. I had thought of reading it, but was put off by the subject matter, physics (I flunked physics in high school), and the length of the book (under 200 pages). I mean how could anyone write anything meaningful about the history of the universe and time in such a short book? I figured there would be a lot of equations and big scientific words that would just make my eyes glaze over. A couple of months ago, a friend of mine, an engineer and one of the smartest people I've ever known, mentioned that he just read the book and it was the best book he had ever read. So I decided to read it. I checked out a copy from my local library. It didn't take long to realize that Stephen Hawking is an excellent writer, one of those gifted authors who can take complicated concepts and make them understandable using simple language and everyday analogies that even I can understand. He even uses humor, almost on every page. He pokes fun at himself, and the limitations of scientific inquiry. He leaves the door open to the existence of God. There was only one equation in the book, Einstein's famous E = mc2. I can't say I understand the equation, but at least it looks pretty simple. I came away from Hawking's book with a better understanding of the universe, space, and time, and the significant progress that brilliant scientists like Hawking have made towards a Unified Theory of Everything. I was talking about the book with one of my Spanish students, who showed me another book by Hawking, The Universe in a Nutshell, which covers the same material, but in greater depth and with beautiful color illustrations. It's on my list of books to read.

J.D. Salinger, We Hardly Knew You

Last month one of my favorite authors, J.D. Salinger, passed away at the age of 91. He was an excellent writer and an enigmatic, mysterious person. His first novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was written in 1951, the year I was born. Like millions of other teenagers, I read The Catcher in the Rye, and identified with it. I remember so clearly when I read it I was 13, and I thought, here is a guy who knows what it's like to be a teenager. The world as seen through Holden Caulfield's eyes. Somehow, Salinger was able to really nail the way a teenager thinks, if you know what I mean. Salinger only wrote one other noteworthy short novel, Franny and Zooey, about a brother and a sister from a quirky family, and all that stuff. Both books are really hilarious to read, and sometimes even corny. Salinger also published a few witty short stories for the New Yorker magazine over the years. After writing his novels, he kind of disappeared and all. He was a recluse who was seldom seen in public and never granted interviews after the 1960s. He apparently didn't like the fame and notoriety that went along with being a famous author. He called those people phonies. My hope is that when they go through the house where he lived and died alone, they will find some book manuscripts to publish after his death. Knowing him, though, he probably left instructions that the manuscripts were never to be published. If you have never read Salinger's novels, I encourage you to read them. I have re-read both books since I learned of his passing, and I enjoyed them even more now than I did forty-plus years ago. They still appeal to my "inner" teenager. No kidding. They really do.

Stream of Consciousness Writing and Journals

I teach a writing class for college English-as-a-Second-Language students about how to write good paragraphs and simple essays. That was the topic of my blog yesterday.

There is a different kind of writing called stream of consciousness writing. As the name implies, in this type of writing you write about what you are thinking. You put down your ideas in words as they run through your mind like a stream, or river. Stream of consciousness writing can be fun to write and even more fun to read, but it is unorganized and all over the place because, well, that's what our thinking is usually like. I wonder how many thoughts run through our minds on a given day. I'm not sure anyone has every tried to estimate that! I ask my writing students to keep a journal every day. I encourage them to write about whatever they are doing or thinking. Sometimes they just write about their daily routines, but I encourage them to do more abstract writing about their thoughts, ideas, dreams, daydreams, plans, memories, likes, dislikes, pet peeves, whatever they are thinking about. I tell them that this will help them expand their vocabulary, and it might be easy, or it may be hard, to translate their thoughts into words. I tell them not to worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation--just write. I explain to them that learning to write is like learning how to play the piano or ride a bicycle. Writing is a skill that you need to practice every day if you want to improve.

Writing and Thinking: The Writing Process

I tell my ESL students that good writing starts with thinking--clear and organized thinking. We talk about different methods to organize and focus their thoughts prior to writing, such as brainstorming, listing, clustering, outlining, interviewing, peer-reviewing, and so on. Once they have a clear idea of what they want to write about, and how, the writing part is relatively easy. If they don't really know what they want to write about and what they want to emphasize and focus on, the result will not be good. I read somewhere that "every great thing begins as an idea." It's the same with writing. Great writing begins with great thinking. Or put another way, a piece of writing is no better than the thinking that produced it.

There is another kind of writing called stream-of-consciousness writing, which is basically writing what you are thinking. I'll write a few words about that kind of writing tomorrow.

Language, Publishing and Life: Where to start?

Over the years, I have thought about starting a blog, but it only remained a thought. Until now. So today I will launch my very own blog. Even though I have worked in book publishing for more than 20 years and have taught writing to English-as-a-Second-Language students for almost as long, I have never thought of myself as a writer. Until now. My job has been to work with authors to improve and polish whatever they have written before it is published. This has involved working with authors, developmental editors, copy editors, and proofreaders. I have taught students how to write good paragraphs and essays. I have enjoyed all of this very much.

Now I would like to try my own hand at writing, in my own blog. I have many interests, varied experiences, a loving family, good friends, and opinions. I am opinionated, if nothing else. Most of my professional experience has been in book publishing and language teaching. I have a passion for both. So that's what I will write about, as well as random thoughts on other interests and observations about life. I will attempt to write something daily, and my blogs will never exceed 300 words, the size of the box on this screen. I know we are all busy, so my daily blog should not take more than a minute or two of your time to read. Is that too much to ask?