All the way

A couple of years ago, in good old Germany, someone asked me how come I could speak English they way I do. I remember I offered a very simple answer: “I went all the way”. The funny thing is that I later realized I had borrowed that reply not from the Sinatra song but rather from “Pretty Woman” (I believe it was the bathtub scene, where Vivian asks Edward if he had gone to college).

Anyway, I mention this because I recently came across a poem by Charles Bukowski which challenges us to do exactly that: “to go all the way”. Granted, it is extreme advice, coming from an extreme man. Leaving aside his controversial, self-destructive lifestyle, his rough prose, his legendary misanthropy, etc. Charles Bukowski was, among many other things, an interesting man. In one of the two poems recited in the clip below he suggests we should all act as if we were possessed by a life-consuming passion. I don’t think I can quite share such a radical take on life but I can certainly relate to the idea of pushing the boundaries, disregarding conventions and always going the distance. The truth is not everyone is cut out to be that passionate about things. Some people just want to dip their toes in the water. Some others prefer to plunge into it and explore the boundless abyss. Should we all dive and risk everything? Probably not...

Take the case of language learning. One may only want to learn enough English to travel or to read technical manuals or to make a business presentation or to express their feelings accurately or to write poems. You are entitled to choose how far you want to go. That said, it is true that those who go all the way often enjoy an indescribable kind of satisfaction. But I digress… This is my last post in this academic year. I’m afraid we have reached our final destination (for the time being). Are you somehow satisfied? Terrified? Calm? Indifferent? Whatever your feelings might be, please take two minutes of your time and listen to these poems. Appreciate the mesmerizing, gravelly voice that reads them, feel the words, savor the ideas, disagree with them, think of your own verses. It’s one of the great payoffs of learning a language, is it not?

Perseverance does pay off

A long tradition of blissful unawareness made it possible for epic blunders to happen in Spain. Just take the famous case of the Servicio de Hostelería Industrial de Terrassa (see photograph below).

 

Okay. That may be an extreme example but the trend still exists. We are still ignorant of many aspects of the English-speaking world. Let’s take the case of the dubbing industry in Spain. Leaving aside incorrect translations, one could argue that changing an actor’s hairstyle would be unacceptable. Oddly enough, it is perfectly alright to change his voice. Constantino Romero, for instance, had a voice which sounded just as elegant, throaty and velvety as that of James Earl Jones. It was therefore the perfect choice for the characters of Darth Vader in "Star Wars" and Mufasa in "The Lion King" but was clearly inappropriate to dub Clint Eastwood, who has always had a raspy voice which, by the way, fitted the “rough-around-the-edges” tough cop we all know as Dirty Harry. That’s just one example of an iconic voice (Eastwood’s) that was drastically modified by the film industry in Spain.

We should not forget our famous problems with English sounds. Incredibly, in the Internet era we have managed to come up with ridiculous pronunciations of personal names (Johnny Depp, Andy Murray), of brandnames (Reebok, Pioneer), of supposedly sophisticated words (socialite, vintage) or technology-related terms (Linked In, meme, etc…)

As for vocabulary issues we have created an infinite number of nonexistent words:

Real English	Made in Spain
audition	casting
camp site	camping
to switch channels	zapping
supermodel	top model

To be fair, as far as imaginary “English” vocabulary goes, analogous situations can also be found in France (whose elite invented its fair share of un-English expressions such as footing, autostop, parking, etc.) and, of course, in Germany, where unbelievable terms like handy, streetworker or basecap were mysteriously coined to refer to concepts like cellphone, social worker or baseball cap). Anyhow, I don't think that should make us feel any better.

Still… It is hardly understandable why Banco Sabadell chose to use the name “BS online” for its Internet service. I think it is safe to say that B.S. is precisely the kind of thing that no client needs to get from his or her bank.

The course is over. It is time to look back on your progress. At school you’ve had the chance to be in touch with a good deal of real English. I have tried to teach you some basic principles: imitate native speakers, seek exposure to the language, favor natural expression over grammatical productions, and so on and so forth. Those of you who are still coming to class will soon realize how rewarding perseverance can be. Hopefully you have gained a sense of direction and a more realistic take on the whole learning process.

N.B. There will be one last post in a few days.

What is B2?

Today I feel that I should jump right into it. You must be slightly worried about the upcoming exams, which is understandable. Now let’s be clear on one thing. Roughly speaking both Avanzado 1 and Avanzado 2 deal with basically the same stuff. So the obvious question is “what exactly is B2 material?” Here is a table that might help you come to terms with the kind of production I expect from you:

Area	Not good enough	B2
Specific vocabulary	The story happens in Prague	The film is set in Prague
Verb patterns	I’m sorry that I said that	I regret saying that
Collocations	A lot of traffic	Heavy traffic
Verb + Prepositions	He is like somebody that I know	He reminds me of someone I know
If only / I wish	I would like to know how to tell you	If only I knew how to tell you
Lexical strategies	Erm…..	I don’t know how to put it
Command of tenses	I waited for an hour and then he came	By the time he turned up I had been waiting for over an hour