Some (more) thoughts on translation

One thing I really like about Twitter is the ability to follow what other English teachers, experts, gurus and mavens are doing. This morning, Jeremy Harmer, who definitely falls into the "guru" category, was Tweeting live from the Directors of Study conference. Reporting live from the presentation of one Guy Cook (who argues for using translation in the classroom), he sent a tweet through that...well, I shouldn't re-type it word for word, but it basically said that students don't want to pretend that they're native speakers when they're in a monolingual situation.

If I can provide another point of view...

I grew up speaking English and French, but it wasn't until I went to Prague in 1999 that I was forced to live in a situation where I didn't speak the language. To be honest, I think that it is something that all teachers of English should do. That way, a teacher can better understand the sense of humility, the frustration, the curiosity and the confusion that a person feels when trying to learn English.

I should mention that, in 1999, the Czech Republic had changed a lot, compared to its Warsaw Pact years. There were only five public universities in the whole country, and to be able to attend one, you had to have the First Certificate of English. As a result, there was a lot of demand for English classes. (There was also a lot of demand because boys who attended more than 20 hours a week of English classes were exempt from military service; and some of the boys were quite eager to learn English.) After all, if you attend university and you want to have a decent career, Czech will only get you so far. The chances of working as a Czech-speaking lawyer in London or Los Angeles...or anywhere outside of eastern Europe...are pretty small.

So most people under the age of thirty could manage to speak some English. A lot of educated people over the age of thirty could, too. But if you had to get your hair cut, obtain a visa, read a store receipt, deal with the banks, have lunch in a non-touristy area, visit the pharmacy, not get cheated by fake public transit police, buy a train ticket and not get charged double for being foreign, or try to communicate with a bus driver...good luck! It was Czech or nothing. I clearly remember one co-worker, a vegetarian from Toronto, had a really difficult time trying to have something to eat because he couldn't communicate his dietary needs to anyone. A group of us went out for lunch, and our coworker ordered a fried cheese dish called smazeny sýr. And I'll never forget the look of disgust on his face as he poked at it and muttered, "I'm SO f***ing sick of smazeny sýr that I could vomit." (He eventually got a Czech girlfriend who translated food sayings for him.)

What I'm trying to say is this: No language learner ever wants to forget how to use his or her first language, but there are times when you have to behave like a native speaker, even if you don't particularly want to, and even if you know that THEY know you're not native. Does it suck? Of course it does. I'm not going to say that it's easy, that it's fun, or that it saves you from embarrassment 100% of the time.

There's another problem: translation only works if everyone in the classroom speaks the same mother tongue. Even in Spain, that's not automatically true any more, unless you're in a one-on-one situation. What happens if you have students from Morocco or Brazil or Romania in your class? Do you automatically assume that their Spanish is as good as the Spanish of the rest of the students? What do you do if it isn't?

Three months after I arrived in Prague, I started Czech classes. Our teacher, Petra, spoke wonderful English, but she did NOT speak it in class. In the first class, we were given a page with common expressions. If we couldn't say what we wanted to say, we had to wait until the end of class, or try to put together sentences to tell her what we wanted. (And if you've ever tried to learn a Slavic language, you know that it's not as easy as putting words in a set order.) Was it comfortable? No. Was it easy? No. Was it effective? You bet: the minute we stepped out of the school and had to do anything in our lives, we were prepared for it. I only took one semester of Czech, but I'm proud to say that I still remember how to count to ten, how to order 100 grams of ham and how to ask for aspirin in the pharmacy (lekárna!). I admit that in the nine months I was there, I was never brave enough to get a haircut in Czech, but I learned how to stare down a corrupt police officer and paid 50% less for my train tickets than other foreigners.

Translation may be helpful, but it isn't always effective.

To blog or not to blog...that is the question (kind of)

Everybody who studies and uses English knows that there are some words, like contract, train, present and look that can be used as both nouns and verbs. However, there are times when it seems like there are no rules with neologisms - words that have recently come into use. Why is it that we can text someone, for example, but "Facebooking" someone sounds strange to say?

The Economist's Intelligent Life magazine has some insights on how verbing happens:

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/anthony-gardner/youve-been-verbed

Now THIS is how you write a letter of complaint...

Heads up, First Certificate candidates. If you're looking for inspiration and ideas for the Letter of Complaint task on the writing paper, check THIS out:

http://tinyurl.com/2uasv7j

What English *can't* do

I sometimes wonder if there are more people who start taking English classes in January than in September. September is a more logical time to start classes: after you've been through school for almost twenty years, September feels like the logical time to start anything that is new and academic.

January, however, is a time of new beginnings, a time to start clean. So it's probably no surprise that a lot of people prefer to start classes in January. Why not? If you're already thinking about new changes for the new year, why not start (or re-start) learning English?

I think that anyone who has the guts and dedication to learn English well should be congratulated. It's a difficult task, but it can give you many rewards. That said, there are some things that English cannot do.

English will not save your job. Almost 90% of the time, when I start a new group class and I ask, "Why are you learning English?", students will say, "I need English for my job." The more we talk, however, the more it become clear that the student doesn't really use English at work. The student wants to make a good impression by attending classes, by appearing to learn English - but that doesn't mean that the student wants to actually learn English (or, for that matter, do the work that comes with learning English.)

Don't fool yourself. If the only reason that you want to learn English is that you think it'll keep you employed, you're probably better spending that extra 2-3 hours at work.

English will not make you smarter. A good English teacher CAN show you ways to learn more efficiently and to learn in a more efficient manner. That doesn't mean that learning English will help you raise your IQ. Sorry.

English will not make you sexier. Just think of the number of genuinely sexy English-speaking actors and actresses you know. Then think of the number of genuinely sexy actors and actresses (and singers and so on) who don't speak English as a first language. I rest my case!

English will not help you make more money. I have no research to actually back that up; at the same time, I have to say that I don't know of any studies that show that you'll make more money if you speak mediocre English. You've got a better chance of making a better salary if you speak really great English and by that, I mean being able to show that you speak English at the First Certificate Level, or better. That's not a crazy assumption: just look at the number of job adverts that specify a "nivel medio-alto de inglés." (Like I said, I haven't been able to find any research that can prove this. I may start writing people to get more information.)

There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your English, and being motivated is certainly an important part of that. Just be realistic!

Word of the Year!

Well, English may not have anything like a Royal Academy, but it does seem to have a LOT of popularity contests. Dictionary.com has published its choice for Word of the Year:

http://hotword.dictionary.com/woty/?t

Honey, I'm home........!

Sorry for the blackout over the Christmas holidays. I *trust* that everyone got some practice in during the holiday season (.....you DID practice, riiiiiiight?).

Anyway, just a quick message to let you know that I'm back online (without a nice, comfy sofa and my mom's cooking), so now it's time to get back to work. Just not exactly now, at this very moment. With all the flying and travelling, I've been awake for 26 hours I'm not thinking very well.

I think I'll try to get a bit of a siesta in, then work this afternoon. And I'll try not to sleep straight through to Friday afternoon.

Another "Schoolhouse Rock!" classic...

Here's one for those of you who are working with adjectives, or who have to master adjectives for your English exams...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhhWRB0Vfqs&feature=player_embedded

STOP SPANGLISH: The Seminar!

New Year! New English! New confidence! New abilities! Ladies and gentelmen (and everyone in between....) I proudly present to you....the FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STOP SPANGLISH seminar, which will start on Friday, January 14th, 2011.

Instead of babbling on about what an amazing course it is, I've put all of the important information in a downloadable document that you can print out and refer to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/45323270/Stop-Spanglish-Seminar-1

And, as always, if you have any questions, comments, doubts or requests, don't hesitate to send an e-mail.

The man who teaches the teachers

...not directly, mind you. A lot of us, however, are very thankful for David Crystal's lifelong dedication to language and making people understand why we use it the way we do. Today's online edition of The Guardian has an excellent profile of him:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/13/david-crystal-champion-english-language

Enjoy!

Who says you can't practice English over Christmas?

Blogger/teacher Alex Case, over at TEFL.net, takes a funny look at how your English skills can be useful during the Christmas holidays:

http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/tefl/xmas-tefl-skills/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

It's probably a LOT more true than some of us are willing to admit.