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.
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Monday, August 2, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, June 21, 2010
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.
(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.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, June 7, 2010
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.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
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.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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?
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?
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