Los Angeles November 2019

As many of you are already aware of, Blade Runner (1982) is a major obsession of mine. Some months ago, I posted some thoughts on the film. Suffice it to say that Blade Runner was the first movie I ever watched in its original version and it had a profound effect on me. But if I bring it up today it’s because the movie is set in Los Angeles and the story takes place precisely in November 2019.

Acid rain does not soak our cities, but climate change has become quite a pressing issue. Massive animal extinction is not a reality (yet) but there are thousands of endangered species. We don’t have androids walking the streets. However, different forms of artificial intelligence (Siri, Cortana, Alexa) are now part of our lives. As a matter of fact, experts predict that sentient A.I.s will come to exist sometime around 2060: the so-called singularity. And we don't see lots of cars flying overhead, but some prototypes have actually been manufactured. In short, Blade Runner was not exactly off target. Nevertheless it is not the film's predictions that I care about but rather its dazzling production design, its gorgeous photography, the poignant performances and its hypnotic soundtrack. Part of the appeal of the film has to do with the issues it addresses. Blade Runner, which in many ways was ahead of its time, dealt with matters which are painfully relevant today: environmental decay, artificial intelligence, the seat of personal identity, the essence of humanity, the role of women in our society... and yet, there is a theme that permeates the whole story and elevates the film: death. Yes. Death. That pesky little problem we all face eventually.

Why am I talking about it now? Well, the fact that I turned fifty last week may have affected my criteria for choosing this particular video. The truth is the clock is also ticking for you. So let's celebrate Blade Runner by watching the clip below these lines. A little bit of context might be in order now.

Roy Batty, the blond character in the scene, is a replicant, i.e. an artificial being designed by multimillionaire genius Eldon Tyrell who deliberately programmed a four-year lifespan into his creatures so as to prevent them from getting out of control. Batty knows that his own death is only days away and decides to turn up at his maker’s house to demand a stop to his impending end. So, when he walks into Tyrell’s chambers and plainly bellows: “I want more time!” we can identify with the dying replicant. “What seems to be the problem?” asks Tyrell, coolly. “I want more life, father”. Who cannot relate to that? Isn’t it a universal desire? Aren’t we all soon going to find ourselves bargaining for some extra time? Food for thought.

Let’s now take a look at the language in the clip. The scene has interesting expressions. “To meet one’s maker” is a standard euphemism for dying and “the facts of life” refers to something that must be accepted and cannot be changed, however unpalatable. The scene also contains a truly memorable line:

A light that burns twice as bright burns half as long

and you have burned so very very brightly, Roy.

Isn't it beautiful? By the way it, is interesting to realize that many writers equate life with light. Yes. An unforgettable example springs to mind. In his memoirs (entitled Speak Memory), Vladimir Nabokov wrote: the cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.

Anyhow, even though it is Roy Batty’s final soliloquy that has become part of cinema history (the moving forty-two words we know as “the tears-in-rain monologue”), today I encourage you to dwell on Tyrell’s very last words, for they are indeed wise: "Revel in your time!".

N.B. Writing assignments. C1.1 students: exam Task on page 15 of the textbook. C1.2 students: 280 words describing a city or a person that has undergone significant changes.

Fun fact: the original line in the scene above was slightly less elegant (I want more life, f***er). Clearly, the tone of the scene called for a loftier word choice. I trust you can guess the deleted term.

Steer clear of hyperbolic statements

"In less than two years my administration has accomplished more than almost any other administration in the history of our country". Those are the exact words that Donald Trump uttered last year (September 2018) during his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations. Understandably, the amused delegates laughed. The reason for that reaction is quite obvious: what Mr. Trump said is simply not true. In fact, it was so blantantly false that the diplomats could not help sniggering. Mr. Trump's spin doctors and supporters were quick to point out that their president only resorted to hyperbole but they neglected to mention that there comes a point where hyperbole is ridiculous. Just last Monday (October 7) Mr. Trump referred to his "great and unmatched wisdom", by which he means that there is nobody on the planet as wise as him. Let that sink in.

It is true that in colloquial speech we often use exaggerations. You may, for instance, say "Thanks for your help, Jeremy. You're the best" or "I'm so sorry I forgot about it. I'm the worst". Clearly, we don't think that Jeremy is the best in the world (at what?). By the same token we don't truly believe that there's no human being worse than us (at what?). An overstatement can be a figure of speech (usually not a very effective one) but you get the picture. However, there are obvious limits to such a rhetoric device.

If I were to say that Fermín Cacho "has won more Olympic gold medals than almost any other athlete in history" I would be lying because the record shows that he only won one gold medal whereas Michael Phelps has obtained 23 and there are as many as 78 other athletes with five or more gold medals at the Olympics. Historic political achievement is not as easily measured as gold medals but it can certainly be gaged. Were they alive, presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (to name but a few) could boast significantly more impressive achievements than Mr. Trump.

Anyhow, leaving narcissistic personality disorders and self-deception aside, I believe that exaggerations are common because they are easy. The problem, as in the abovementioned UN fiasco, is that over-the-top statements entail an inevitable downside: people don't take you seriously.

The tendency to use superlatives, to which many native speakers are no strangers, is also frequent amongst inexperienced learners. Indeed, basic and intermediate students often abuse the adverb very. Do the really consider every opinion they hear to be very interesting? Probably not. Why don't they use other terms such as fairly, somewhat, rather, quite, extremely, utterly? Well, because it's easy to say very and also because they probably don't know the other modifiers. Simple as that. They don't know the words. And that's precisely the kind of habit we should avoid at an advanced level.

At an advanced level you ought to be able to run the gamut: pairs such as hot and cold are fine when you're a beginner but at this point you should be aware of this lexical continuum: boiling, hot, warm, tepid, cool, cold, freezing.

When you abuse simple adjectives like important or big you may sound simple-minded yourself. I am not saying those terms should never be used. I'm just pointing out that if those adjectives are your usual choice you will not sound articulate. 

So, steer clear of hyperbole and try to be as accurate as possible. Overstatements can be used to great effect in poetry and some of them are part of everyday idiomatic expressions (I'm so hungry I could eat a horse) but exaggerations tend to be cheap. A film you didn't like does not need to be the worst movie ever. You can say it was predictable or dull or dreary or not memorable or maybe it didn't meet your expectations. Don't forget that people who constantly abuse hyperbole invariably come across as weak speakers. Now you can enjoy this short video. Just remember you're not Shakespeare.

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C1 after all these years

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So we’re back. I AM back, anyway… and once again I find myself in a déjà vu-ish situation, feeling a bit like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Yes. My Gollumesque quandary consists in an inner monologue that takes place somewhere in my head. A part of me tells me that most of my students will simply try and use fancy words on intermediate structures which they will invariably pronounce with a thick Spanish accent. The better side of me counters that that is not necessarily true because there are always learners who are hungry for knowledge and will challenge the stereotype (or the statistics).

As is usually the case, this is not an either-or type of situation. Pronunciation is tough. No doubt. Incorporating advanced structures is tough. It definitely takes practice. Vocabulary is hard to remember. You need constant exposure. Yes… But if you are reading this, chances are you are highly motivated, willing to listen to my advice and ready to do what it takes. That’s excellent news. It means you have the right attitude and remember 90% of this game boils down to your attitude, not your aptitude.

For the newcomers, though, I’ll just say a few words.

C1 is where you finally wake up to nuances. You realize that a sentence like he entered the room doesn’t cut it anymore because some voice in the back of your head keeps asking you how he entered the room and, of course, you want to know what kind of room that was. Did he rush into the room? Did he waltz or barge into the room? Was it a lunchroom, a classroom, a shower room, a darkroom?

An intermediate voice in your head will whisper something along the lines of “the context clarifies it all” but, of course, you want to be an articulate, independent speaker. So you will dismiss that voice. “Don’t worry” might the voice insist “you don’t need to know all the exact words because you can always find a synonym”. But quite often synonyms are simply not available. Just think of words such as these: alfil, foso, pezuña, tijeras. Can think of synonyms in Spanish?

If you want to improve your accent, diversify your grammar, learn vocabulary that feels accurate and natural you are in the right place. Welcome!

Those of you that might still have seconds thoughts may want to watch the video below. Disclaimer: I don’t agree with everything the speaker says but, all the same, I believe it can help you try and grab the bull by the horns. Enjoy.