Babel

The multilingual, multicultural online journal and community of arts and ideas. There's a heaven above you, baby.

Babel

From schoolbook Chinese to dreaming in Chinese: foreign language learning the “real” way

The To Speak, Perchance To ‘Dream In Chinese’ radio interview with Deborah Fallows, author of Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons In Life, Love, And Language on National Public Radio (from the US) is an excellent portrayal about how she learned Chinese in China. It shows just how important real cultural interaction is for foreign language learning. She talks about how polite words like “please” and “thank you” in Chinese actually create a separation between people and are not considered mandatory for good manners, like in Western countries. This example shows how judging a foreign culture through the eyes of our own alienates us from how people really are in other cultures.

Read a free excerpt from her book here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129552512#129552097

Prises de vues interdites

Contexte : Sur les quais de la Goulette, le port de Tunis. Les pêcheurs rentrent à terre à l’aube après une sortie en mer.

Pêcheurs triant le poisson avant de le débarquer

Pêcheurs triant le poisson avant de le débarquer

Arrivé à Tunis depuis quelques jours déjà, je décidai d’aller au port tôt un matin pour y prendre des photos du retour de la pêche. Je me levai alors à 5h et me mettai en route vers le port de la Goulette avec mes appareils. Après m’être fait , déposer là où embarquent les passagers des ferrys en partance pour la France ou l’Italie, je trouve assez rapidement la direction du port de pêche. J’arrive sur le quai principal d’où déchargent les bâteaux qui reviennent d’une nuit en mer au même moment que certains acheteurs dans leurs camionnettes réfrigérées.
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Does Your Language Shape How You Think?

I truly enjoyed reading the article, Does Your Language Shape How You Think? by Guy Deutscher in the New York Times Magazine, because the linguist author shows how different languages appreciate color, space, directions and gendered nouns and how these differences may effect the way we see and experience the world. As a speaker of seven languages and having studied three others, I know that my navigation of the Tower of Babel through my linguistic compasses forces me to think of my life in different ways. In English, I say, “I am hungry”. In French, “I have hunger.” These are two fundamentally different ways of thinking about one’s need to eat. Deustcher shows how much more profound linguistic differences can make us feel.

My question is: how do multilingual people see and feel the world? Do we get confused by the confluence of various directions to which our tongues point? I catch myself sometimes using the wrong sentence structure in a language when I am tired, but not everyone who is a polyglot is even consciously aware of the variations of speech patterns they have when they traverse from one language to another.

Below are his concluding words showing how important it is to open up one’s world and learn about how to think in another tongue. If we all did that, would the Tower of Babel still exist? Or could we all learn to understand one another?

“The habits of mind that our culture has instilled in us from infancy shape our orientation to the world and our emotional responses to the objects we encounter, and their consequences probably go far beyond what has been experimentally demonstrated so far; they may also have a marked impact on our beliefs, values and ideologies. We may not know as yet how to measure these consequences directly or how to assess their contribution to cultural or political misunderstandings. But as a first step toward understanding one another, we can do better than pretending we all think the same.”

Guy Deutscher is an honorary research fellow at the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures at the University of Manchester. His new book, from which this article is adapted, is “Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages,” to be published this month by Metropolitan Books.

First Cannibals Ate Each Other For Extra Nutrition

Jennifer Viegas of Discover News pens an utterly delightful story on a theory that the world’s first cannibals did so merely for nutritional purposes. Can you imagine a caveman looking at a fellow caveman saying, “Hmm. I’m in dire need of bone marrow. You’ll do.”?

HT: Arts & Letters Daily.

Cross-posted at Steinblóm.

Si ou Non: Learning French debate in the UK

I’ve read several articles from the UK criticizing the Labor government’s move in 2004 to not make it obligatory for schools to teach foreign languages to 14-16 year olds. I can’t believe a government in this day and age thinks foreign languages are not of supreme importance.

This BBC piece by Will Smale, Should British pupils give up studying French?, shows that learning French helps Brits when traveling abroad and doing international business and that language education needs to change and be more conversation based and fun. Language ability equals cultural exploration, financial opportunities and the ability to communicate worldwide. Why wouldn’t anyone want this for their country?

Below are some of the main points of the article.

Languages = Passport to international business

Russell Lawson, public affairs manager at the Federation of Small Businesses, says giving school children a solid grasp of French has always helped them go on and learn other languages.

He adds: “English may be the world’s predominant business language, but if you can speak just some of another language, it can be a great help. It’s a cultural acknowledgement that you are at least trying to engage with the customer on their terms, and that can reap business rewards.”

There is a lot at stake for the UK economy, he adds. “If you go to the City [of London] you will find that many top ranking bankers are French – UK firms always resort to foreigners when dealing with the outside world.”

–Michel Monsauret, attache for education at the French Embassy in London

Make languages fun!!!

“You have got to make French classes more enjoyable,” he says. “French needn’t be hard to learn if taught correctly, it can even be fun.

“Start by teaching children how to converse in French in any given situation, help them better express themselves in French, and it becomes a lot more enjoyable.”

–Michel Monsauret, attaché for education at the French Embassy in London

I fully agree with the French attaché’s comments about the financial benefits of learning French and the need to make it more interactive and fun. I emphasize making languages a part of one’s life and enjoying the learning process in my book, Language is Music.

VIDEO: John Carpenter – All That Glitters Is Gold

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John Carpenter is originally from New Jersey, but has become a breath of fresh air to the sometimes stagnant Los Angeles indie music scene. He performs frequently, and has been seen at Spaceland and The Las Vegas Shakedown Festival in (where else?) Las Vegas, Nevada. His music is a combination of Scott Walker, The Velvet Underground, hints of The Gun Club and Joy Division, and perhaps a dash of early Roxy Music. The man, and the band, are a record collection compressed into a tight performance troupe.

Cross-posted at A Miscellany of Tasteful Music.

L’Immolation pour Saint Thaddée

Contexte : Pendant le pèlerinage arménien en l’honneur de Saint-Thaddée, à mi-chemin entre l’église-monastère et le village d’éleveurs voisins, en bordure d’une petite rivière.

Abattage dun agneau par des arméniens-iraniens.

Abattage d'un agneau par des arméniens-iraniens.

Le pèlerinage en l’honneur de Saint Thaddée suivi par la communauté arménienne d’Iran battait son plein depuis l’aube du jour précédent. En ce jeudi matin de juillet, j’avais décidé d’aller prendre des clichés du site du pèlerinage depuis les crêtes des montagnes qui ensserrent ce monastère du bout du monde. Vers 8h30, j’entamais la redescente vers les pèlerins. 600 mètres de dénivelé et quelques kilomètres plus bas, je rejoindrais les pélerins. Je me rappelle avoir pensé,pendant la descente : “Peut-être surprendrais-je quelques lève-tard en train de finir leur petit déjeuner ?”.
Continue reading “L’Immolation pour Saint Thaddée” »

CBS interview about foreign language learning

Here is the link to my interview about how to learn foreign languages easily and my book Language is Music on August 22, 2010 on CBS. My interview was after the leggy Radio City Music Hall Rockettes and before a clip from “Beauty and the Beast”. I was in good musical company:) The reporter was interested in the subject because she’s learning French and Spanish. I hope this encourages more people to learn foreign languages and see that they can do it with music, TV, movies. radio and other easy activities.

Here’s the link:

http://cbs5.com/baysunday/Susanna.Zaraysky.CBS5.2.1871382.html

Bilingual nannies in demand!

I had heard that Chinese speaking nannies were in high demand in New York City, but I didn’t know that other languages were also popular.

The article Looking for Baby Sitters:  Foreign Language is a Must in the New York Times is good news! It’s inspiring to see monolingual parents actively seeking out bilingual baby sitters so that their kids will learn a foreign language. With educational games that kids can use to learn foreign languages, it’s becoming easier for parents to find fun ways to teach their children another tongue. I am a big proponent of using music and the media to learn foreign languages. Hence, I wrote a book on the topic, Language is Music, to help people use music, TV, radio, movies and other free and low-cost resources to speak another language.

Bravo to those parents who are teaching their kids to become global citizen!


How to learn foreign languages using music & media

“How can you speak so many languages with such good accents?”

This is a common question I get as I speak seven languages (Russian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian and Italian) with perfect or almost perfect accents.

I didn’t spend years majoring in foreign languages in college or specialize in pedagogy. I did take foreign language lessons or I taught myself with books and tapes.

Most importantly, I got into the rhythm of foreign tongues by listening to music and consuming media (radio, TV, movies, etc) in my target language. Language leaning can be fun. Believe me, I know. I’ve both taught and studied language. Get your groove on and learn your new language with music and the media. I explain this in my short and easy-to-read book, Language is Music, with tips on how to learn foreign languages using music, TV, radio, movies, the Internet and other free and low-cost resources.

Here’s my video to show you how:

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