The Dbottino Weblog

New Dibble Show, The – Season 2 – Episode 12: Good Old Days by Jerry Robbins might be a good book, but today’s busy lifestyles could make finding some time hard to do. Extended journeys to the office and day to day chores may eat up huge portions of your time without you recognizing it. Making a living, caring for kids or housework can all cut back the free time available to persue your hobbies. If you are a keen reading lover who finds it problematic to fit it in, time in the car may provide the perfect opportunity for catching up. Thanks to download technology, it’s easy to indulge in Longest Journey by E. M. Forster by Download Audio Book Online, or audible books brought to life by David Weber and John Ringo without even turning a page.

Making the most of your day has become an essential in the modern world. Audiobooks like Pimsleur English for Arabic Speakers I Part 3 by Dr. Paul Pimsleur for sale from Download Audio Book Online take advantage of the wasted moments everyday, whether it is time spent waiting in a doctor’s office or buying groceries. Audiobooks are obtainable to download as mp3 files for instance Pimsleur Arabic (Eastern) II – Complete by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, so if you’ve got an iPod or other mp3 player you have the opportunity to check out the latest best seller, such as audio titles by Paul Mannering without dragging a cumbersome book around.

The advantages of audio-books include hiring or buying the instructional book of your choice and listening to it in your own time. Interested in studying Spanish? Why not check out audio-books? Perhaps the latest commercial strategies matter to you, you may even explore religious or spiritual trends. A massive choice of writing styles and titles exist. It really doesn’t matter if you are a film devotee, or you are mad about biographies or if your interested in personal development, many can be downloaded at once. Choices are wide open; you can subscribe to a rental service or alternatively purchase what appeals to you.

Reading enthusiasts will always find a way to read, however the thousands of audio titles available offer convenience. A author or celebrity can enhance the experience of numerous books. Just reading a novel is not the same experience as enjoying an audio book narrated by David Weber and John Ringo, with the all the refinements established during a rendidtion. Hearing audiobooks performed by John Feinstein can supply more depth to your reading experience and can mean more than written words. The next time in future when you are thinking of purchasing a volume you will likely not get around to reading, think of audiobooks as a better choice.

Etymologically the vocabulary of the English
language is far from being homogenous. It
consists of two layers – the native stock of
words and the borrowed stock of words.
Numerically the borrowed stock of words is
considerably larger than the native stock of
words.

In fact native words comprise only 30% of
the total number of words in the English
vocabulary but the native words form the bulk
of the most frequent words actually used in
speech and writing. Besides, the native words
have a wider range of lexical and grammatical
valency, they are highly polysemantic and
productive in forming word clusters and set
expressions.

Borrowed words or
loanwords are words taken from another
language and modified according to the patterns
of the receiving language.

In many cases a borrowed word especially one
borrowed long ago is practically
indistinguishable from a native word without a
thorough etymological analysis. The number of
the borrowings in the vocabulary of the
language and the role played by them is
determined by the historical development of the
nation speaking the language.

The most effective way of borrowing is
direct borrowing from another language as the
result of the contacts with other nations.
Though, a word may be also borrowed indirectly
not from the source language but through
another language.

When analyzing borrowed words one should
distinguish between two terms – source of
borrowing and origin of
borrowing. The first term is applied to
the language from which the word was
immediately borrowed and the second – to the
language to which the word may be ultimately
traced. The closer the two interacting
languages are in structure the easier it is for
words of one language to penetrate into the
other.

There are different approaches to
classifying the borrowed stock of words.

The borrowed stock of words may be
classified according to the nature of the
borrowing itself as borrowing proper, loans
translation and semantic
loans.

Loan translation or calque
is a phrase borrowed from another language by
literal word-for-word translation.

Semantic loan is the borrowing of
the meaning for a word already existing in the
English language.

Latin loans are classified into the
subgroups.

1. Early Latin loans. Those are the
   words which came into English language through
   the languages of the Anglo-Saxon tribes. The
   tribes had been in contact with Roman
   civilization and had adopted many Latin words
   denoting objects belonging to that civilization
   long before the invasion of the Angles, Saxons
   and Judes into Britain (e.g., cup, kitchen,
   mill, wine, port).
2. Later Latin borrowings. To this
   group belong the words which penetrated into
   English language in the sixth and seventh
   centuries, when the English people were
   converted to Christianity (e.g., priest,
   bishop, nun, and candle).
3. The third period of the Latin
   borrowings includes words which came into
   English due to two historical events: the
   Norman Conquest and the Renaissance. Some came
   to English language through French but some
   were borrowed directly from Latin (e.g., major,
   minor, intelligent, permanent).
4. The latest layer of Latin words.
   The words of this period are mainly abstract
   and scientific words (e.g., nylon, molecular,
   vaccine, phenomenon, and vacuum).

The tendency of the English language to
borrow extensively can be traced during the
centuries. Thus, one can confidently claim that
borrowing is one of the most productive sources
of enrichment of the English vocabulary.

Linda Correli is a staff writer of http://www.customresearchpapers.us/ and an author of the popular online tutorial for students “What Teachers Want: Master the Art of Essay Writing in 10 Days”, available at http://www.go2essay.com/.

Several factors make learning Chinese a considerably more formidable task than learning another Germanic or Romance languages. Studying a foreign language is an excellent way for English and other language teachers to improve their own teaching. It also forces you into the role of a student so you can experience first hand the problems, difficulties and challenges your EFL learners face in your classes. Don’t believe me? Then look at what happened to me …

Greeting the language learning students with a cheerful “Ni Hao” (Hello), our teacher, Shutzng Zhang begins the second class session of the Santiago de Cali University’s first – ever course in Mandarin. The spartan class room contains a map of China – in Chinese of course, tacked to one side wall, desks, a small table, and white board. There are two worksheets with the vocabulary of greetings written in Chinese characters on her desk. We greet the teacher in return. She wishes to be called “Susana” to spare us the tongue-twisting pronunciation of her Chinese first name. She speaks Spanish fairly well but her English is considerably more advanced. Explanations are done in Spanish to accommodate the class majority.

Practice with vowels follows:

a, o, e, i, u, u

There are 11 Spanish-speaking adult students in the first week of the group. Each in turn tries their hand at getting their pronunciation of vowels and greetings phrases to an acceptable level. Then some consonants follow:

n, t, h, m, x, j, z

As I’d expected, there are more than a few problems in teaching the tonal sounds of Mandarin to speakers of a non-tonal language. Yiu Wing Fung, a Chinese man, has more trouble than others in the group. “Why is he here”, I wonder?

A series of common greetings is written on the white board with the Spanish transcribed underneath. I instantly want to make up (or have the teacher make) flash cards to give me something to study and practice. I make a mental note to ask later. I do ask for and get copies of two key pages of the phrases written on the board. I’ll make flash cards from these later on. That’ll do for a start at least.

Next, the pronouns are written on the board in singular and plural. They’re remarkably similar:

Wu, ni, ta – then ta, ta, nin

There are differences in the pronunciation tones to distinguish them, but I produce my own little chart in singular and plural.

Then the other shoe drops. We get to the tones in earnest. It’s like doing the musical scales. High, low, short, long, up and down. There are going to be three tonal values I think; high, medium and low. I’m wrong. There are five: first tone, second tone, third tone, fourth tone and no tone. Each student runs through their “version” of the pronunciation. Sometimes our young teacher giggles. Other times she simply shakes her head and has the student try again. From the look on her face, we know our speech is bad. We’ll need a tape recording of the pronunciations. Without it there’s no way to check, practice and mimic the tonal sounds. It’s a time-consuming but necessary process.

How do you ask, “Do you love me?” one of the ladies asks. In response, the answer; “I love you” along with “I love you too.” Are written and practiced by the class next. The five ladies in the class are thrilled and amused, blushing as they practice the phrases. “This isn’t foe me”, I think, but decide to stick it out another couple of weeks. Maybe with some practice and help I’ll make some progress and develop more enthusiasm.

Some photocopied sheets with the words and phrases on them would help. So would a practice tape recording of the sounds, pronunciation and tones. The spoken language and its related listening comprehension development need more than the cursory “twice a week” class attendance sessions to practice. We need much more exposure than that to internalize elements of the language.

A description with drawings of how Chinese characters are derived proves more interesting for us. For example, the character “sun” plus the character “moon” means “light” or “illumination”. Now we’re getting somewhere.

… Continued in Part 2 …

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an expert author and photographer offering Web Content Writing Services for top-quality articles on: Education, Language learning, Salt and Fresh water fishing, exotic foods, South American travel and culture, Ethnic issues – Blacks, Latinos, Indian native tribes, Health, Internet business resources and more … His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News, Brazil magazine and hundreds of sites online. For fr*e*e sample articles and available web content e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Spanish is undoubtedly the growth language in the world at the moment; it is now spoken by an estimated 352 million people as a first language (with a further 417 million speaking it as a second language) making it the second or third most widely spoken language in the world. Hispanic nations are also showing strong economic growth so the potential for work opportunities in Spanish speaking countries for those learning Spanish, is increasing everyday. Spanish is now arguably the second most influential language in the world behind English and in all is spoken in 21 countries around the world. South America, with the exception from Brazil, is entirely Spanish speaking, as well as areas of Africa, the Caribbean and an ever growing Hispanic community in the USA. Which such a huge and diverse Spanish speaking world community, it’s without a doubt one of the most useful languages to learn – a Spanish language course could open up many opportunities in terms of work and travel throughout the Spanish speaking world.

Spanish language schools in Spain and South America offer students more than just the opportunity to study Spanish in the classroom. The concept of cultural immersion encourages students to extend their learning to outside the classroom. Students get the chance to interact with locals in everyday situations whether it’s simply ordering some food or attempting a full-blown conversation on the day’s issues. This is also a great help in giving students a solid cultural grounding, many language schools in Spain offer extra-curricular activities and excursions to assist with this process. The whole experience of a foreign country adds to the excitement, not only do you get the chance to learn Spanish but you also get the chance to discover beautiful cities (like Barcelona, Madrid or Seville), sample the joys of Spanish cuisine first hand and experience the warmth and good nature of the Spanish people.

Language schools such as Babylon-Idiomas (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/eng/htm/learn-spanish-spain.htm) offer learning centres in four major Spanish cities (Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia) as well as in Costa Rica and Argentina as well – all very diverse and extremely different environments in which to learn a language and all with their own cultural nuances and wonderful sights to offer; from the eco-tourism and amazing wildlife of Costa Rica, to the majestic architecture of Gaudi’s “Sagrada Familia” in Barcelona.

It is important to remember, however, that spoken Spanish is not identical in the different regions of the Spanish state. In fact, its pronunciation and lexical characteristics can vary to a very significant extent from one place to another. However, the maintenance of a unified, standard, version of the Spanish language and of its written form is guaranteed by the Real Academia de la Lengua Espaola. The Academia sets the rules to follow in order to speak and write in a way that is accepted by all the different Spanish speakers.

Mike McDougall has five years experience working as a travel writer and marketeer. He is currently working to provide additional content for Babylon-Idiomas (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/eng/htm/learn-spanish-spain.htm) , a Spanish language school with an excellent presence in Spain and Latin America.
This work is covered by a creative commons licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/uk/

Intonation in English.

Intonation, the “music” of a language, is perhaps the most important element of a correct accent. Many people think that pronunciation is what makes up an accent. It may be that pronunciation is very important for an understandable accent. But it is intonation that gives the final touch that makes an accent correct or native. Often we hear someone speaking with perfect grammar, and perfect formation of the sounds of English but with a little something that gives her away as not being a native speaker.

Therefore, it is necessary to realize that there are three components to an accent, pronunciation, intonation, and linking. In other places we will examine pronunciation, the proper formation of vowels and consonants, and linking, the way that syllables within a word, and the beginning and ending of words come together.

We will look at three places that help us to hear clearly the difference that intonation makes in the daily use of a proper North American English accent. The practice with the following three situations will help you to notice, practice, and master the different intonation patterns that you will discover as you concentrate more on your use of North American English.

The three situations are: 1. the different intonation of the same word when it is used as a noun or as a verb; 2. the different intonation of the same word when it is used as an adjective or as a verb; 3. the intonation of expressions of two words.

You can find more on this topic at: http://www.goodaccent.com
There are resources at: http://www.goodaccent.com/accentbooks.htm
And in Spanish at http://www.inglesparlatinos.com/Pronunciar.htm

1. Intonation: Noun Verb

Knowing when and where to stress the words you use is very important for understanding, and is part of a good accent. A clear example is that of the different stress in nouns and verbs.

It will be useful for you to be aware of the stress in both cases. Here is a list of a few that will get you thinking and give you some practice in identifying them and using them correctly. Underline the syllable that is stressed, and write a brief explanation to indicate that you understand the difference. I start the exercise with two examples, the words suspect and present. You do the rest. And make sure you pronounce the words OUT LOUD.

VERB

to suspect

to have an opinion

NOUN

a suspect

a person under suspicion

VERB

to present, to give

to introduce

NOUN

a present,

a gift, now

to conflict

a conflict

to contest

a contest

to contract

a contract

to contrast

a contrast

to convert

a convert

to convict

a convict

to default

a default

to discharge

a discharge

to incline

an incline

to insult

an insult

to object

an object

to permit

a permit

to present

a present

to produce

a produce

to progress

a progress

to project

a project

to protest

a protest

to rebel

a rebel

to recall

a recall

to reject

a reject

to research

a research

to subject

a subject

to survey

a survey

Can you tell the difference in the following sentences?

You need to insert a paragraph here on this newspaper insert.

How can you object to this object?

I’d like to present you with this present.

The manufacturer couldn’t recall if there’d been a recall.

The religious convert wanted to convert the world.

The political rebels wanted to rebel against the world.

The mogul wanted to record a new record for his latest artist.

If you perfect your intonation, your accent will be perfect.

Due to the drought, the fields didn’t produce much produce this year.

Unfortunately, City Hall wouldn’t permit them to get a permit.

……………………………….

2. Intonation: Noun/Adjective and Verb

In the previous case, we saw that verbs of two syllables often have the stress on the second syllable, while the related noun has the stress on the first syllable.

This case, along with the previous case, is an example of the effect that meaning has on intonation in English. Many native speakers do not realize that the “rule” of this section is pretty rigorous. To know it can help you in building your vocabulary at the same time as you perfect your intonation.

There is another intonation pattern that you must master. Verbs ending in the letters “ate” pronounce the letter “a” of the last syllable with the “long a” sound (the name of the letter “a”, the sound of the words steak and make).

Related nouns or adjectives pronounce the letter “a” of the last syllable with the indefinite schwa sound (the sound of the “a” of the word about>, or the second “e” in the word elephant )

For each word, indicate that you realize the effect of meaning on intonation by clarifying the difference between the two uses of the same word (“same” meaning having the same spelling.)

First, give a brief meaning of the word used as noun or adjective and put the letter I to indicate that the final letter “a” is the indefinite sound of the “a” in about..

Next, give a brief meaning of the word used as a verb and put the letter A to indicate that the final letter “a” is the sound of the “long a”. I start the exercise with two examples, the words alternate and appropriate. You do the rest. And make sure you pronounce the words OUT LOUD.

alternate I

Noun: A substitute

alternate A

Verb: To take turns.

appropriate I

Adjective: Correct or suitable

Appropriate A

Verb: To take over.

approximate

to approximate

articulate

to articulate

associate

to associate

deliberate

to deliberate

duplicate

to duplicate

laminate

to laminate

graduate

to graduate

intimate

to intimate

moderate

to moderate

predicate

to predicate

precipitate

to precipitate

Read the following sentences, pronouncing the words with the proper
intonation according to their use in the sentence.

The facilitator wanted to separate the general topic into separate
categories

Would you care to elaborate on his elaborate explanation?

Have you heard that your associate is known to associate with gangsters?

How much do you estimate that the estimate will be?

……………………………

3. Two Word Stress

Knowing when and where to stress the words you use is very important for understanding, and therefore, as part of a good accent. A clear example is that of stress in two word expressions.

The place of the stress depends on whether the two words are used to describe something like a “white HOUSE” (meaning a house that is painted white, and not blue or gray). In this case the most important note is the noun because we are talking about a house that happens to be white. Similarly, a fat BOY is an overweight young male.

But sometimes-short two word expressions are set and “consecrated”, and mean something special, like “the WHITE house” where Mr. Bush lives. In this case, the emphasis is on the adjective because we are more interested in stressing that it is the house that is known because it is white. Similarly, FAT boy is the nickname of a boy, chosen because it emphasizes his weight.

It will be useful for you to be aware of both types of two word expressions. Here is a list of a few that will get you thinking and give you some practice in identifying them and using them correctly. Underline the syllable that is stressed, and write a brief explanation, for both uses of each phrase. I start the exercise with two examples, the words white house and light bulb. You do the rest. And make sure you pronounce the words OUT LOUD.

WHITE house

In Washington

White HOUSE

House painted white

LIGHT bulb

Shines with electricity

Light BULB

A bulb that is not heavy

Dark room

Dark room

A cold fish

A gold fish

The paper box

The paper box

An old key

A door key

A nice watch

A wrist watch

A sticky web

A spider web

A clean cup

A coffee cup

A toy gun

A water gun

A bright star

A movie star

A new ball

A foot ball

A sharp knife

A steak knife

An old brush

A hair brush

A dry leaf

A fig leaf

A pointy tack

A thumb tack

A blackboard

A black board

A gray hound

A greyhound

A down payment

A late payment

He’s a big man.

He’s a big man.

A green house

A green house

The author, Frank Gerace, Ph.D, has worked in communication and education projects in Latin America. He has taught in public and private universities in Peru and Bolivia. Currently he teaches English to immigrant adults at an important branch of CUNY, the City University of New York. He also does private consultations for accent reductioon. He can be reached at accent@leerespoder.com. His website is http://www.GoodAccent.com and in Spanish it is http://www.InglesParaLatinos.com/Pronunciar.htm

As the world grows smaller; people travel across the globe more frequently and more business is done internationally, translation services are increasingly in demand. A translation service can now be needed for anything from the translation of an education certificate to translating a website. Due to the demand there are now hundreds of translation agencies across the globe.

Finding a translation service can be daunting. Where does one start to look for a translation service and when they find one, how do they know if they will be able to do the job well? What questions should one ask? This article will offer some useful tips on how to find a translation service to meet your needs.

Where to find a translation service?

There are three main ways of finding a translation service.
The first port of call should be your local directory such as the Yellow Pages. If you have a specific business directory for your area then even better. Simply look up “translation” or it may sometimes be under “translators & interpreters”. Have thumb through the listings and earmark some to contact.

The second, and easiest, means of finding a translation service is through the internet. Using the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN can bring up hundreds of listings. One added advantage of using a search engine is that you can be more specific with your searches. For example, if you are looking for a translation service local to you type “translation service London” or “translation service Oxford”. Similarly if you are in need of a specific language try something like “German translation service”.

With search engine results you will be presented with two types of listings, paid listings (advertisements) and organic listings (non-advertised results). It is good to bear in mind that those with organic listings are there for a reason, i.e. the search engine naturally sees them as important sites for translation services. On the other hand paid listings will be from companies that need the business. This is not necessarily a negative thing but good to consider when making a choice.

The last means of finding a translation service is to ask colleagues, friends or family. A personal recommendation is always best.

Contacting the translation service

Once you have a list of the translation service providers you want to contact, it is then key that you are prepared with information necessary to get an accurate quote.

Any decent translation service will want to know what languages they are translating from and into, the length of the document (especially the number of source words), the nature of the text (is it business or technical?), the format of the document (is it a paper document, an email or brochure?), when you need the translation delivered by and if necessary what format it should be delivered in. These details will help the translation service price your piece of work. However, remember that many translation service providers may not give you a concrete quote until they see the document. This is because once they see it they may realise they under-quoted you due to unforeseen elements such as the format, poor image quality or technicality of the document. It is always a good idea to have your translation in a format that can be emailed or faxed.

When speaking to the customer service agent make sure you thoroughly explain your needs. A good translation service however will always ask the right questions so they get a decent grasp of what you will need.

Questions to ask the translation service

Once you have established the cost of your translation it is always a good idea to probe the translation service with a few more questions to gain a better understanding of their capabilities.

For example here are 10 basic questions:

1. If they gave you on price, ask what their charge is per 1000 words?

2. Will they charge you per source word or per target word? For example, if you are having a document translated from Italian to English, Italian will be the source language.

3. Is the quote they gave you fixed? i.e. they can not charge you more afterwards.

4. Are all their translators qualified? What is their procedure for hiring translators?

5. Do their translators work solely into their native languages?

6. If your deadline is missed how will you still have to pay?

7. Does the price include proof-reading by another translator?

8. If your translation is specific or technical, do the translators have experience in the subject matter?

9. What format will they return your translation in?

10. If it is a large or important job it is possible to ask for a trial translation – however, this may not always be free.

These questions for your translation service should give you some insight into their understanding of the industry and their capabilities.

Which translation service?

Ultimately for many people, when it comes to the crunch they choose a translation service based on cost, location and speed of service. There are no hard and fast rules as to how to choose a translation service and it is really up to the individual to go with what they feel it best for them.

In the general scheme of things most translation service providers are bona fide and professional outfits. If when asking the questions above to a translation service you sense a level of uncertainty then it may be best to go with the service that seems to know what you want and how to give it to you.

Neil Payne is Managing Director of Kwintessential, a UK based consultancy providing cross cultural solutions to today’s businesses. They provide cultural awareness training, translation services, interpreters and multilingual DTP and website design.

Visit http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/translation/translation.html for more information.