Transcript Tips for Giving Presentations in English

Things My English Teacher
Never Taught Me
Johanna E. Katchen (柯安娜)
National Tsing Hua University
(國立清華大學外語系)
[email protected]
http://mx.nthu.edu.tw/~katchen/
December 7, 2007
What does it mean to know a
language?
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What are our purposes?
Reading scientific articles?
Publishing papers?
Meeting employment needs?
Travelling abroad?
Talking to our colleagues in
multicultural situations?
• Religious rites?
December 7, 2007
How much English do our
students in Taiwan need?
• We assume four skills to prepare them
for whatever future careers they may
have
• At university we often focus on reading
so they can access printed material in
their fields
• Students often say that they can handle
the basics but just don’t have enough
vocabulary
December 7, 2007
Why don’t students have enough
vocabulary?
• Languages like English and Chinese
have long histories filled with historical
events and literary works that contribute
to the many cultural references in these
languages
• Both are also spoken over wide areas
with many regional varieties, each of
which develops its own specialized
vocabulary
December 7, 2007
According to
scholars, English has
about three times as
many words as other
modern European
languages. Why?
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors--Latin
• Latin has been a source for words since the
time of the Roman Empire, when Germanic
tribes on the continent conducted trade with
the Romans
• Our words for wine/vine as well as wall
and street date from this time.
• The Christianization of Britain brought all
sorts of Latin words into English, from words
related to the new religion (e.g., altar, candle,
creed) to everyday words (e.g., purple, cap,
sock).
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors--Scandinavian
• As a result of Viking invasions and
settlements, English borrowed some
900 words from Scandinavian
languages.
• Most of our words beginning in sk(some spelled sc-) come from this
source: sky, skin, scrape, and even the
lowly scab.
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors--French
• The Norman Conquest was the catalyst
for the introduction of about 10,000 new
words from French
• From French we have words from law
(e.g., arson, adultery) to food (e.g.,
beef, mutton, venison) to fashion (e.g.,
sable, satin), and so many everyday
words (e.g., common, nice, arrange,
cover).
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors—The Renaissance
• Borrowings from Latin continued, picking
up again during the Renaissance as
ancient books were translated from Latin
into English.
• Borrowings from Greek also increase
from the Renaissance with the rise of
science. For example, many words in
the medical field come from Greek, e.g.,
diarrhea, gynecology, stomach.
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors--Exploration
• In addition to these significant sources
of English vocabulary, words enter
English through exploration of new
lands, where new flora, fauna,
geographical features, and cultural
artifacts call for names, often
adaptations of the local word.
• From American Indian languages we
get, for example, skunk, chipmunk,
wigwam, and moccasin.
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors—Social
Movements and Events
• Social movements such as the
Renaissance as well as other social
events generate new vocabulary.
• In recent years English added words
like feminism and ethnic cleansing
from native roots as well as borrowed
words like tsunami from Japanese and
apartheid from Afrikaans (South Africa).
December 7, 2007
Historical Factors--Technology
• Peaks of technological innovation, such
as we are experiencing now, bring in
new vocabulary or old words with new
meanings: windows, mouse, fire wire,
and pixel.
• The internet allows new words and
ways of writing/speaking to travel the
world within seconds
December 7, 2007
• Abbreviations—acronyms—are a part of
this mew vocabulary—URL, RAM, CPU,
MP3, AVI and so many more
• Text messaging has added more and
more abbreviated terms like btw (by the
way), lol (laughing out loud), myob
(mind your own business).
• No one quite knows where the internet
will lead us with regard to language
change.
December 7, 2007
Cultural Factors
• Often it is difficult to separate cultural
factors from historical factors as they
are interconnected.
• Some cultural factors derive from deep
in the folklore of society
• Others are the products of written
records and great writers
• Yet others derive from modern
influences like popular TV shows and
songs.
December 7, 2007
Cultural Factors—
Nursery Rhymes
• Children learn nursery rhymes; adults
may remember the words to songs or
poems from their youth. Much of the
humor in the Shrek movies comes from
the meanings of nursery rhymes and fairy
tales: the Gingerbread Man, the Muffin
Man, and Prince Charming.
December 7, 2007
Can you answer these questions?
• Where did Jack and Jill go?
• What was Humpty Dumpty?
What happened to him?
• What did Georgie Porgie do?
• And the dish ran away with _________.
December 7, 2007
Cultural Factors--Literature
• Expressions used by
famous writers sometimes
come into everyday use.
• Shakespeare’s works
have given us many
quotes used in everyday
life
December 7, 2007
Can you finish the following quotes?
• Friends, Romans, Countrymen ______________
(Julius Caesar)
• A horse, a horse, _________________________
(Richard the Third)
• Neither a borrower _______________________
(Hamlet)
• Romeo, Romeo, _________________________
(Romeo and Juliet)
• Double, Double, __________________________
(Macbeth)
December 7, 2007
Cultural Factors—Politics and
Social Movements
• Memorable quotes from political or
social leaders sometimes become a
part of everyday speech.
December 7, 2007
Most Americans would be able to
finish these lines. Can you?
• Life, liberty, and ______________________
(Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of
Independence)
• Give me liberty or _________________
(Patrick Henry, 1775)
• This country of the people, by the people,
____________________________
(Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address)
December 7, 2007
• We have nothing to fear but
____________ (F.D. Roosevelt,
Inaugural Address, 1933)
• Ask not what your country can do for
you, but _________________________
(J.F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961)
• Free at last, free at last, ____________
________________
(Martin Luther
King Jr., I Have a Dream, 1963)
December 7, 2007
• Famous quotes are often changed by
advertisers to market their product in a
memorable way.
• One can imagine, for example, a fellow
in a prison cell saying something like
“Give me liberty or give me a Nokia
5000!”
• Or imagine a journalist describing Paris
Hilton being released from jail as
someone who can return to “Life, liberty,
and the pursuit of fashion.”
December 7, 2007
Cultural Factors—The Bible
• The Bible has also been a source for
many quotes which find their way into
speech.
• Most of us are familiar with An eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth
(Deuteronomy 19:21) and
• Man shall not live by bread alone
(Matthew 4: 4),
December 7, 2007
Can you finish the following?
• Let there be light ___________________
(Genesis 1:3)
• For many are called _________________
(Matthew 22:14)
• Physician, ______________ (Luke 4:23)
• The spirit (indeed) is willing, __________
(Matthew 26:41)
• Ask, and it shall be given you; Seek, ___
_________ Knock, _________________
(Matthew 7:7)
December 7, 2007
Good Speakers Use Biblical Quotes
• Abraham Lincoln often quoted the Bible
• Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted
the Bible quite often (e.g., In “I Have a Dream”
the section which begins “Every valley shall
be exalted” is from Isaiah 40:4-5)
• Even advertisers have played with apt Biblical
quotes, using, for example, Man cannot live
by bread alone to sell anything from rich
pastries to a steak dinner.
December 7, 2007
Euphemisms
• Every society has its taboos, which are
reflected in the language.
• In some societies, one should not say the
name of any fierce animal for fear that,
upon hearing its name, one will appear.
• In English-speaking societies, taboo
language centers around sexual activities,
toilet functions, religion, and, to some
extent, serious illness and death.
December 7, 2007
• This is why the swearing or
cursing words, the bad words like
that F word, have to do with
these activities.
• Note that it is okay to say “Jesus
Christ” within the context of a
prayer or in a discussion, but to
many people it would be
offensive to say the name in
anger, as in swearing.
December 7, 2007
• To avoid using offensive terms or terms
that are overly direct, languages
develop euphemisms, ways to make
something potentially offensive seem
less offensive or inoffensive.
• Instead of the biological sexual
intercourse, one can say making love
with a positive meaning, or copulating
(not an offensive word but also said of
animals; however, mating is used
mostly for animals and is neutral).
December 7, 2007
• To avoid that F word, all sorts of
euphemisms have been formed: doing
it, engaging in bedroom sports,
playing between the sheets, and
others.
• How do you remind a man that he forgot
to zip up his pants? In the Pittsburgh
area people use a very local reference
to the well-known Kennywood Park and
say “Kennywood’s open!”
December 7, 2007
Regional Vocabulary
• Cultural factors become more complex
because of regional variation.
• People in Britain and the USA, although
having a common early linguistic
history, have had different cultural
histories during the past few hundred
years.
December 7, 2007
• While educated people may read the
same authors, the countries have
different politicians and different TV
programs, for example.
• Americans may quote Roosevelt and
Kennedy, while the British remember
Churchill.
December 7, 2007
• We have all probably heard of some
typical differences between British and
American English: lift vs. elevator,
lorry vs. truck, petrol vs. gas, flat vs.
apartment, as well as the confusing
use of the same term with different
meanings.
• Pants are just trousers in
American English but
underpants in British.
December 7, 2007
If you entered a subway in Britain, what
would be the likely result when you
exited?
• (a) You would be in another part of the
city;
• (b) you would be on the other side of
the road;
• (c) you would have a sandwich;
• (d) you would be on a boat.
December 7, 2007
• The answer is (b); Americans would call
this an underpass. In the USA a subway
(a) is an underground (sometimes
overground) train, and (c) would put you
in the sandwich shop chain Subway.
Subs were originally called submarine
sandwiches because their shape
resembles the boat that can travel
underwater “sub + marine”.
December 7, 2007
• Sometimes these terms can cause
some embarrassment. If someone asks
for a rubber, what does s/he want?
• (a) An overshoe made of rubber;
• (b) an eraser;
• (c) a cloth for cleaning;
• (d) a condom. For a test of your British
English vocabulary, see the Appendix.
December 7, 2007
• Rubbers are overshoes made of
a rubber-like material for working
in water, and someone might ask
“Hand me my left rubber” in the
appropriate context.
• In Britain this is an eraser (rubs
out a mark)
• In the USA it is a slang term for a
condom (made of rubber).
December 7, 2007
Other Regional Differences
• In other parts of the world where English
is spoken, in addition to some differences
in pronunciation and grammar, there are
also many differences in vocabulary.
December 7, 2007
• Often this vocabulary reflects local
objects or concepts, such as different
animals (e.g., kangaroo and wallaby
from Australia), plants (acacia and
baobab trees from Africa), or foods (roti
from India, biltong from South Africa).
December 7, 2007
• Other words make their way into
English from other languages for
various reasons.
• In the past few years we are learning
more about Islamic culture and habits,
and a word like burqa/burkha
(woman’s long outer garment that
covers the whole body and even the
face) has entered the language. Also
burkhini for the beach in Australia (Fast
Track, BBC, viewed Nov. 28, 2007)
December 7, 2007
• We might find familiar words with
different meanings; for example, in
South Africa, robots are traffic lights.
December 7, 2007
Regional Differences in the USA
• In Hawaii, for example, many words
from Hawaiian have entered everyday
English: aloha ‘hello, good-bye),
mahalo ‘thank you’.
• In Pittsburgh a rubber band is a
gumband, while a sub is known as a
hoagie.
December 7, 2007
• Places that have had large immigrant
populations in the past may have taken
some of those words for general use.
• New York City, for example, with its
large Jewish population, has picked up
some words from Yiddish, which was
the language spoken by much of its
Jewish immigrant population about 100
years ago: schlep, yenta, nosh, as well
as food words like blintz, knish, and
the more widely-known kosher
December 7, 2007
Example from Eastern Pennsylvania
• We was down the store las’ Friday gettin’ an
order when we ran into Old Arner, who looked
like he had a snoot full. Nearly knocked over
our buggy. Said after playin’ the numbers ev’ry
day he finally hit the jackpot and was celebratin’,
the lucky old bugger.
• Then we ran into Nicky, who was bendin’ our
ears with his troubles ’bout his TV bein’ on the
fritz and his favorite pair of long johns finally
wearin’ out. That old cheapskate should know
you can’t wear long johns forever.
December 7, 2007
• By then it was nearly dinnertime so I asked
Mom if she wanted to get a cupla dozen at
the pirohy sale up the Russian church. She
said she’d rather order a pizza pie but not
with that there pepperoni ’cuz she don’t like
nuttin’ too burnie.
• We finally got home to find the neighbor
outside hollorin’ and cursin’ a blue streak
’cuz his septic tank backed up and he
wouldn’t be able to get the honey dipper until
at least Monday. There was crap all over his
porch and it was gonna take a lotta elbow
grease to clean it up, not to mention the stink.
December 7, 2007
• Language is never static and
unchanging except when it is dead
• Language is alive and dynamic as
people are using it and changing it
every day
• Become a linguistic explorer. Observe
how the people around you use
language—Mandarin, Taiwanese,
English, any language
• Listen for their intonation, watch for their
body language
December 7, 2007
Make linguistic observation
your hobby and you will learn
much more than your teacher
ever had time to teach you.
December 7, 2007