Hi there!
I must be the laziest inhabitant of the blogosphere but,
truth be told, I’m a busy man. Anyway I promise I will post something you may
find useful for the impending exams. Today, however, I decided to share with
all of you something with a literary flavor, i.e. something rather useless…
Bear with me, please.
You may remember how I mentioned the old concept that in
face-to-face communication 55% of the message depends on the speaker’s body
language. The tone of voice accounts for 38 % and only 7% is conveyed by the
words which are uttered. Well, that happens to be an oversimplified version of a
statement once made by Albert Mehrabian, a psychology professor from UCLA (if
you want to know more about it you may click here). Whatever the actual reasons
for its success, the tantalizing idea has crept into college classrooms and even
become a part of popular culture to the point that even Hollywood comedies
mention it (check out the opening scene of “Hitch”, a Will Smith vehicle, and
pay attention to 01:00). I personally think that the concept may not be 100%
accurate in every single case but it definitely feels true, doesn’t it? More
often than not nonverbal communication overshadows the importance of the words
a speaker chooses to utter and words, my dear students, is what we are all
about at the EOI.
Why am I talking about this? Because we often neglect the
importance of stress and intonation and I’ve found a beautiful way of
illustrating just that.
Unlike what is happening (or rather NOT happening) in Spain
with Cervantes’s anniversary, in the UK they have taken the 400th anniversary
of Shakespeare’s death quite seriously. In their celebrations the Brits have shown
panache, originality and their unique sense of humor (yes, humor without the
“u”, I write in American English).
An exquisite example of this healthy approach to their
treasured history was offered by the BBC in this hilarious sketch that saw the likes of Paapa Essiedu, Benedict Cumberbatch and Judi Dench repeat what is
arguably the most famous sentence ever penned by the Bard. The show ends with a
plot device that I dare call princeps ex machina (yes, the term is mine, don’t
bother to google it). Anyway, if you are patient enough, you will be rewarded. Do enjoy.
What the hell is happening in our country? May be some morons think that Cervante's books are biased or we'll be biased if we read them... it's a bullshit
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