This just had to be said (On the English language, the Chinese and highfalutin words)
Word is out that the Chinese government is requiring the people of Beijing to learn more English and improve the translation of public signs in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. An interesting move, really, considering that learning a new language in itself is already a difficult task. Multiply this scenario by a billion times and you’d understand the case of China, I’d suppose.
Nonetheless, the move could be channeled to the advantage of the Philippines, a proudly, self-proclaimed English-speaking nation in that part of Asia. For one, Philippine English is very accessible to beginners, as it does away with the elements that usually make English-language learning a nightmare among Asians (the British accent, the American twang, etc.) Also, it cannot be denied that learning English with a Filipino or in the Philippines is much cheaper than learning it in the US, Britain or Australia.
The question of efficiency, however, remains. That is, are Filipinos really competitive in teaching the language to non-English speakers? Do we know the English that other people want to learn? I have been thinking over these questions here in Spain because I have to admit that after two years of living with Spanish as my main tool for communication, my English has deteriorated significantly (16 vowels, be gone!). And to think that I used to work as a teacher of English! Added to this is fact that the Spaniards usually need to learn British English and, whether you like it or not, there are very different elements in these two varieties. Remember this Will and Grace episode?
But over and above these superficial requirements, do we *really* know our English? And do we apply what we know whenever we have to use the language? Take some of these examples from the Friendster profile and blog of a Filipino teacher of English (who s/he was, I would not reveal):
- Struggle is just a butter of bread (wrong lexicalized expression),
- Amass your goals, then utilize it (wrong pronoun referent),
- People said, I’m intelligent and smart but, that’s just the outside characteristics of being me- based from my achievements (quoted speech and preposition use, among other things)
- We should have" esprit de corps" not "coup d’ etat". (I’ll put this one up as a bonus), ETC.
And the piece de resistance? In the "About Me" part, the author wrote that s/he is "Sedate, Thoughtful, Eloquent, Pleasant, Heedful, Amicable, Nifty, Innocuous, Extreme, Jovial, Inquisitive, Lively, Liable." Obviously, for the trained eye, the errors have just jumped out of the page.
Sedate, though it may mean calm and collected, gives the impression that the author was in previous state of shock and with the help of a tranquilizer, has achieved this new state of serenity. Innocuous, as far as I know, is better used in reference to things and not to people. After all, why proclaim that you’re harmless when in theory, all people should be like that? Extreme is vague and, when taken in the context of sports, can even mean dangerous. My personal favorite is liable, or for mortals like you and me, guilty. Did the author just admit that s/he is guilty? Of what, then?
Teaching English, or any language for that matter, does not depend on the amount of profound words one knows. Nay, it doesn’t even depend on the accent that one manages to produce. Remember that the main goal of learning a new language is to be able to communicate effectively with a native speaker.
The same applies to teaching language. If one goes as far as stretching the lexicon to lengths and heights so horrible that the resulting text becomes erroneous, probably there is a serious need to review and revive the curriculum and re-evaluate the performance of the teacher. Better yet and for the purposes of blogging, as the blogosphere is extremely far-reaching, why not try to write in the language that writer truly has mastered? After all, Filipino sounds as divine as any other language.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Good words.