parrot time - issue 14 - march / april 2015

Parrot TimeThe Thinking of Speaking Issue #1 4 March / April 201 5

AArree LLaanngguuaaggee CCllaasssseess

WWoorrtthh tthhee MMoonneeyy??GGuueesstt wwrrii tteerr OOll ll yy RRiicchhaarrddss sshhaarreesshh iiss vviieewwss

WWhhyy EEnngg ll ii sshh iiss dd ii ffffeerreenntttthhaann aannyy ootthheerr ll aanngguuaaggeeGGuueesstt aauutthhoorr AAggnn iieesszzkkaa KKaarrcchhwwrrii tteess aabboouutt ll eeaarrnn iinngg llaanngguuaaggeessaanndd EEnngg ll ii sshh

CChhaattttii nngg iinn LLaanngguuaaggeessOOnnll ii nnee -- VVooiiccee CChhaattssSSeeccoonndd ppaarrtt ooff oouurr aarrttii ccll ee oonnuussiinngg oonn ll ii nnee cchhaattss ffoorr ll eeaarrnn iinngg

LLooookk bbeeyyoonnddwwhhaatt yyoouu kknnooww

Parrot Time is your connection to languages, linguisticsand culture from the Parleremo community.

Expand your understanding.Never miss an issue.

Contents

Parrot Time | Issue #14 | March / April 2015 3

28 At the Cinema - Viva La Libertà

6 Are You Wasting Your Money on Language Classes?The traditional approach to learning a new language is to attendclassed for it. But is spending the time and money taking thoseclasses really worth it, or are you wasting your time?

50 Book Look

49 Where Are You?

1 6 Chatting in Languages Online - Voice ChatsThis is the second part of our article on online chats. It talksabout using voice chats, specifically Team Speak and Skype,and the problems with getting people using them.

Parrot TimeParrot Time is a magazinecovering language, linguisticsand culture of the world around

us.

It is published by ScriveremoPublishing, a division of

Parleremo, the language learningcommunity.

Join Parleremo today. Learn alanguage, make friends, have fun.

Departments

Features

05 Letter From The Editor

Editor: Erik ZidoweckiEmail: [email protected]

Published by Scriveremo Publish-ing, a division of Parleremo.This issue is available online fromhttp://www.parrottime.com

The editor reserves the right toedit all material submitted. Viewsexpressed in Parrot Time are notnecessarily the official views ofParleremo. All rights of reproduc-tion, translation and adaptation re-served for all countries, exceptwhere noted otherwise. All copy-right material posted in the public-ation retains all its rights from theoriginal owner. Parrot Time, Par-leremo, officers and administra-tion accept no responsibilitycollectively or individually for theservice of agencies or persons ad-vertised or announced in thepages of this publication.

Cover: The rock sculpture ofDecebalus is a 40m highcarving in rock of the face ofDecebalus, the last king ofDacia, who fought against theRoman emperors Domitianand Trajan to preserve theindependence of his country,modern Romania.

40 Words in Your Mouth - Rice

32 Languages in Peril - Tribes of the Tamil-Kannada

22 Why English Is Different Than Any Other LanguageGuest writer Agnieszka Karch relates how she first becameinterested in other languages and how learning English wasdifferent than the others for her.

24 The Digital Language CollectiveWhen there are so projects competing to be the best, but thegoal is to help others learn, sometimes a better alternative isworking together. The Digital Language Collective is a newinitiative to unite language bloggers and website builders to helpeach other succeed.

PPaarrlleerreemmoo

LLeeaarrnnaallaanngguuaaggee,,MMaakkeeffrriieennddss,,HHaavveeffuunn!!

wwwwww..ppaarrll eerreemmoo..oorrgg

Letter From The Editor


WWhen we study a language and a culture, we learn aboutnew customs and traditions. These can be very strange butalso very interesting.

For example, every year in Buñol, Spain, there is “LaTomatina”, which is a tomato throwing festival.

Meanwhile, each May in Gloucester, England, an enormouswheel of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down a hillwhile people try to race it to the bottom.

In Catalan homes at the Feast of the ImmaculateConception every December, the little Tió de Nadal(“Christmas Log”) is brought out. It is a log with legs, aface, and a little red hat, and kids leave out food out for iteach night, hoping it will poop out presents.

Over time, new traditions are born and old ones die.Sometimes, losing them is sad, but sometimes it is alsorequired to move on to better times.

The tribes in the Nilgiri Hills of India have several traditional trades, such as pottery andleather working, dating back thousands of years. However, in order to survive better in themodern world, they have been learning new trades. If they don’t, their people and languagemay not survive. You can read about them in “The Tribes of Tamil-Kannada” in this issue.

We have traditions with learning languages as well. Probably the oldest is to take classes toreach our fluency goals. But is that really the best way any more? Guest author Olly Richardsasks the question and gives us his views in “Are You Wasting Your Money on LanguageClasses?”

And as we change these traditions, we must make new ones. We can find new ways of learning,like using internet resources to talk with people around the world in many languages usingvoice chats. Be sure to learn about that in our article “Chatting in Languages Online - VoiceChats”.

Traditions are good, and a vital part of our lives, but sometimes, we must break with ourtraditions to find a path to the future.

Breaking with Tradition

Erik ZidoweckiERIK ZIDOWECKIEDITOR IN CHIEF

¿Está desperdiciando

su dinero en las

clases de idiomas?Te voy a enseñaruna lengua

Are You Wasting Your Money on Language Classes?


f you want to learn a new language, you’veprobably thought about taking language

classes.

But is this the best way to go? Are languageclasses really worthy of your hard-earnedcash?

In an industry said to be worth aroundUS$200 billion, it’s a question that we’re en-titled to ask, and I’m going to explore it here.

You may disagree with what I have to say,and that’s fine. But please read to the end ofthe article in order to hear my argument infull.

Let’s get into it.

Do language classes help?

Meet Rebecca. She’s learning Spanish.

Olly, do you think taking classes in a lan-guage helps?

Of course classes can help. Lots of things helpyou to learn a language. Language classes,textbooks, visiting the country, makingfriends with native speakers. . . they all help.

Great! So Imade the right decision sign-ing up for this Spanish class then!

Not so fast! I said classes can help. I didn’tsay you should necessarily sign up.

OK, now I’m confused. But you just saidit was good! The school I found is well-known and they hire professional teach-ers. I’ll learn Spanish in no time!

Rebecca’s just fallen into the same trap thatthousands of language learners around theworld fall into every day.

I call it the “pay a professional” trap.

And it has to stop.

Are you wasting your money

on language classes?bbyy OOllllyy RRiicchhaarrddss

This article was published by Olly Richards in his blog "I Will Teach You a Language" in

January, 2015 and is reprinted with his permission. The original post can be found here:

http://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/wasting-money-on-language-classes/

http://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/wasting-money-on-language-classes/


8 Parrot Time | Issue #14 | March / April 2015

What do you really want?

A trap? Don’t be ridiculous! I suppose youthink you’ve got a bettermethod?

Look, what I’m going to take issue with rightaway is the foregone conclusion that payingfor “professional language tuition” is a goodthing.

Now, in certain conditions, language tuitioncan indeed be a great thing, and if you findthe right teacher it can be life-changing.

But it’s a big “if”.

Rebecca, you’re going to class in order tolearn Spanish. So let me ask you this – whynot just learn with a textbook at home? I’mnot saying you should, but just humour me.

Because textbooks are boring. Taking aclass will make me study and I’ll makemuch more progress!

Right. So your problem is that you’re not mo-tivated enough to learn by yourself?

No! Iam motivated!

Ok, so I ask you again: Why not just learnwith a textbook? What are you paying moneyfor in the classroom that you couldn’t get onyour own?

Well, for one thing, in the lesson I’ll get tospeak Spanish with a native speaker! Youcan’t get that from a textbook. That’s whytaking classes is so good!

How many students are there in the class?And how much of the time are you talking toyour teacher?

Well, there are 10 ofus in the class, andwe spend lots oftime speaking in groups.So it’s great – I’m speaking lots ofSpanishduring the class!

Yes, I see. And how good is the other stu-dents’ Spanish?

Well, we’re all beginners, so ofcourse ourSpanish is not very good yet! We all makequite a few mistakes!

So then, how much time are you actuallyspeaking with a native Spanish speaker inclass?



Hmm. Well, not much, I guess. And to behonest, the teacher actually explainsthings in English halfthe time. Look, Iknow I could – I should – probably studyby myself. It’s just much better to join thisSpanish class. It’s nearmy house, andquite convenient to get to.

All right. That makes sense. But since we’vealready established that you don’t spend anytime speaking in class with a native speaker,what exactly are you paying for? I mean, I’mguessing it’s not cheap.

Sure, it’s not cheap (actually, it costs alot), but it means Ido actually go, I dolearn things each week, and Ido go offand do the homework that the teachergives me.

So taking classes is a way to get started ba-sically? That’s great, and well done for takingthe plunge!

Knowledge or experience?

Ok, Olly, I know what you’re thinking.You’re thinking that I could just do this bymyselfand don’t need to pay for classes.But I’m OKwith paying for classes. IfIdidn’t take classes Iwouldn’t know whatto do. It’s better than just muddling alongby myselfand not getting anywhere.

I understand. You want to learn Spanish, butyou don’t know how. You want to takeclasses because you want some direction. Andthat’s absolutely fine! I mean, language learn-ing is nothing if not hard!

Yes, that’s it. I’m really committed tolearning to speak Spanish fluently, andI’m really not a talented language learner.That’s why I’m investing in classes.

I love your ambition!

Now, forgive me, but I’m going to dig a littledeeper on this point. Just now, you said thattaking classes is an alternative to learning byyourself, one that you’re happy to pay for be-cause it’s motivating and it makes you study.

But what you’re implying is that takingclasses is just as beneficial as learning in-dependently (with the added benefit of ac-countability) .

But I question if these two things are in factequally beneficial, and therefore whetheryou’re making an informed choice.

Let me ask you this. If you believe that youyourself are not a talented language learner,and you wouldn’t be able to learn on yourown, then what makes you so sure that you’llbe successful with your new teacher?

She’s a Spanish teacher, ofcourse she’llhelp me learn Spanish!

Ok, but what makes you so sure?

Look, Olly, she’s a native Spanish speak-er and a qualified teacher. Are you reallygoing to tell me that she’s no good? Youhaven’t even met her!

Let’s be very clear here, because a lot dependson this point. This is not about how goodyour teacher is, or even where she’s from.What this is really about is a question of fun-damental beliefs about how languages arelearnt or taught.

Specifically, I believe that a language cannotbe taught, it can only be learnt. Con-sequently, however talented your teacher,however enlightening your classes, what I’msaying is that your dream of becoming fluentin Spanish will happen as a result of yourown initiative and self-directed learning,not because of what you may be taught.

So, yes, language classes can help supportyou in your journey of becoming fluent, butthey are absolutely not a replacement or asolution in and of themselves.

You’re going to have to explain a bit moreabout why classes alone aren’t going towork.

Of course. Let’s get more specific.



If you were to walk into a random Spanishclass somewhere in the world, here’s whatyou will probably see: The teacher will select acertain grammar point, teach you about it,and (hopefully) create some opportunities foryou to practise it with others in the class.This is a generalisation, to be sure, but apretty accurate one (I know, because I’ve ob-served hundreds of teachers in different coun-tries) .

In other words, by attending language classes,you will learn about some of the unique ele-ments of Spanish. But the fact that the teach-er has chosen to teach something does notmean that it’s either useful or possible for youto learn it right now.

My point is that systematically learning aboutthe Spanish language is not directly address-ing the actual issue of learning to speak it.

You can go through all the textbooks underthe sun, become a genuine expert in Spanish,but not actually be able to speak it natur-ally in conversation with a native speaker.

Learning the language and learningto use the language are not thesame.

Now, compare this to an organic process oflearning whereby you read books, listen tomusic, go out there and speak, decide foryourselfwhat you need to learn next (basedon evidence), and then learn it. . . and youhopefully start to see where I’m coming fromin my critique of relying on language classes.

So, when I ask you whether your Spanishteacher can really help you, I’m not question-ing her ability to teach you all about Span-ish and how it works. I’m sure she’s great atthat.

She can choose appropriate exercises fromthe textbook, ask you to complete them, andcorrect them. She can also get you to try outyour Spanish with your non-Spanish-speak-ing classmates.

But here’s my question:

How exactly are your classes benefiting youthat justifies the high cost and your faiththat you will learn to speak Spanish by at-tending them?

You wouldn’t expect to learn to speak fluentlyby using a textbook. So is it rational to expectthe same outcome from your classes?

Whose responsibility is it anyway?

Right, I suppose I see what you’re say-ing. You mean that there’s more to learn-ing Spanish than just following atextbook...whether you’re learning byyourselfor from a teacher. You’re sayingthat you need to direct your own learning,and the only way ofdoing that is by actu-ally using the language out in the realworld – reading, speaking, whatever –and that a language class is not the rightplace to do that.

Exactly! And now we’re getting into an areathat is often misunderstood, and yet gets tothe core of what I think it means to learn alanguage successfully or not.

Look, you can learn a language bit by bit overtime, enjoy the process, have it as a hobby,and that’s absolutely fine.

But I think what you really want is somethingdifferent – and do tell me if I’m wrong.

I think what you really want is to learn tospeak Spanish. Not just a passing appreci-ation or general understanding of the lan-guage. You want to be able to use it for realpurposes and with real people. And you wantto do it quickly – you don’t want to still be abeginner one year from now.

For you to learn Spanish well, you need totake responsibility for the process yourself.You need to direct your own learning, explorethe language by yourself, at your own speed,noticing things that interest you along theway.



You need to read, learn, listen, speak, all thetime noticing what your strengths and weak-nesses are and taking steps to fix them as yougo.

I’m sure your teacher is great. But she’s nosubstitute for you.

Abdicating responsibility for learning

This is quite difficult to say, but it needs to besaid.

The biggest danger in taking language classesis that you’re abdicating responsibility foryour learning. . . whether you know it or not.

Earlier, I mentioned the “pay a professional”trap.

Well, here it is, right here.

With many things in life you can “pay a pro-fessional” for a solution to your problems(lawyers, cosmetic surgeons, interior design-ers) . There’s therefore a huge temptation forus language learners to think: “Time to getserious, I’ll pay a professional to teach meSpanish for once and for all!”, especially if it’ssomething we haven’t done before or knowhow to do ourselves.

How you learn languages

What’s the “language learning solution?”

As I said earlier, our common sense tells usthat first we need to study the language, andthis will then translate into an ability to speakit.

But it’s not that simple. Your proficiency in alanguage is a result of practical knowledgeacquired as a result of the experience of using



it, not of being taught how it works in theory.

Again, languages cannot be taught. They canonly be learnt.

Einstein understood this, which is why hesaid: “I never teach my students, only createthe conditions in which they can learn.”

This is the fundamental difference betweenteaching and learning.

It doesn’t matter one bit what istaught, only what is learnt.

So go! Attend your class, read your textbook.Learn about the language.

But you will never know how meaningful anyof what you learn is until you’ve gone outthere, tried it out for yourself and seen if yousink or swim.

And in order to establish all of this, you needto be putting yourself out there and speakingSpanish a lot. Not once or twice. Not fromtime to time, or whenever the opportunityarises.

A lot. And it’s this necessity to be spendinglarge amounts of time in the company of nat-ive speakers that is exceedingly difficult forthe language class environment to replicateby itself.

What is a truly great teacher?

OK, Olly. I see what you’re saying. Butthere must be good teachers out there.How do you know ifyou’ve found one?

Well, here is the challenge that faces languageteachers the world over – the challenge ateacher needs to overcome if they are to beconsidered truly great.

A great teacher needs to create the conditionsin which learners can learn for themselves.

A great teacher needs to encourage the stu-dent to behave in ways that they would nototherwise. And it’s got little to do with teach-ing.

A great teacher often needs to resistthe temptation to actually teach.

That’s what Einstein knew.

I believe that what you really need from ateacher is not their “teaching” but their abilityto help you reflect on your own learning,what’s been working for you and what hasn’t,and how you can improve faster than youcurrently are.

If your teacher is great, she would discuss in-teresting elements of the Spanish languagewith you, help you solve problems, or answerquestions that you bring to the table.

Most valuably, she would pay close attentionto your use of Spanish, and help guide youtowards noticing new features of the lan-guage that you might not have been aware of.

At the same time she would probably act as acounsellor of sorts – reminding you that thevarious language anxieties that you have arenot as catastrophic as they may seem, andwhat is far more important is your ability topress on with your study in spite of your di-fficulties.

She would have far more characteristics of a“coach” than a “teacher”.

And this relationship between “coach” andstudent is probably more intimate and close-knit than with a traditional teacher-student



relationship, which is more about the impart-ing of knowledge than the creating of condi-tions for learning.

More progressive teachers might argue thatthey can help the learner by creating thoseconditions for learning during the lesson. Infact, this approach is the foundation of mod-ern communicative language teaching meth-odology.

Except that it’s a delusion.

A couple of hours per week in a classroomwith nine other students is simply not a cred-ible language learning solution, however en-lightened the teacher.

Learning should not be seen as what happensin the lesson, but what happens outside.Therefore lessons should be focused on im-proving what the student can do during thetime she is not in class.

Have you found a teacher that can do this?

A teacher that has the skills and the presenceof mind to implement it in practice?

I hope you have.

But I think it’s unlikely.

At the heart of my argument is that what isrequired to effectively teach a student tospeak a foreign language well is the ability tohelp them understand the true nature ofthe task ahead of them.

It is not going through the motions of teach-ing with a textbook, handing out grammar ex-ercises, and other “quick wins” that might fitthe traditional image of “teaching” but do littleto actually improve students’ competencein the language.

Teachers need to help students understandtheir own weaknesses and how to addressthem by themselves outside of class. . . and tobe there to coach them through it all.

If your teacher fits the above description, theyare worth their weight in gold.

If not, you might want to consider whetheryour hard-earned money really is best spentin this way.

And this is the major decision you have tomake.

Language learning success is yours forthe taking!

Language classes can certainly help, and youwill undoubtedly learn something in the pro-cess.

But you can get most of the benefit of classesby yourself, at home, with a simple textbookand a smattering of motivation.

By making language classes your primarylanguage learning strategy, your biggest riskis abdicating responsibility for your ownlearning, and in-so-doing fail to learn the biglessons that come from self-directed, inde-pendent learning.

The ultimate question for you, as a passion-ate, aspiring language learner, even if you canjustify the cost of lessons, is: Am I reallyjustified in placing the success of my lan-guage learning ambitions in the hands of an-other?

Do you think that language classes are awaste of money? Or do they have a place inyour learning strategy?

Olly Richards, originally from the UK now lives inCairo, Egypt. He speaks 8 languages and runs the "IWill Teach You A Language" blog where he teachespeople the strategies they need to learn anotherlanguage.

Parrot Time is always looking for guestwriters, so if you are interested in writingfor us or donating something you havewritten for your own blog, please contactus at [email protected].

We look forward to your contributions!

http://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com

http://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com

mailto:[email protected]

CChhaattttiinngg iinn

LLaanngguuaaggeess

OOnnlliinnee

PPaarrtt 22::

VVooiiccee CChhaattss

ast issue, I wrote about howtext chats can be utilized on

the internet to help languagelearners interact with each otherfor practise. Whilecommunicating in real-timethrough typing can really helpimprove you capabilities, theone thing this can not help is theverbal component. Language is,after all, meant to be spoken andheard. While a text chat canbuild your confidence withbeing able to compose sentencesand carry on a conversation, itdoes nothing for your speakingand listening skills. For that,you need a voice chat.

Chatting in Languages Online - Voice Chats


Simply put, a voice chatuses a setup like a text chat,with a server that handles theinteractions and client pro-grams that each person hason their own computer toconnect to the server. Whenconnected, people can talk toeach other, utilizing a micro-phone and possibly head-phones. There are specificheadsets, which are a com-bination of microphone andheadphones, designed for thisactivity.

Team SpeakThere are a number of pro-grams to use for this. The onethat I am most familiar withfor using on a website isTeam Speak. It is free for usewith non-profit groups. Once

installed on a website server,those wanting to practise canjoin it and talk to others alsocurrently joined. Multipleareas, also called channels,can be created for specificreasons, like focusing on cer-tain languages. All for free!

What an amazing tool tohave available! You can ima-gine that language loverswould have dozens if nothundreds of these set up allover the internet and be us-ing them around the clock.How could they not?

Well, the reality is that nomatter how much a personstudies and practises a lan-guage, there is always a fearof how they will sound whenthey attempt to speak it. Theyworry about their pronunci-

ation as well as their accents.Listening is also a concern,because while they may un-derstand what they see inwriting, they probably havenot developed their compre-hension skills as much foraudio. This leads to the oddparadox of many people talk-ing about voice chats andwanting them created, yetthen being fearful to usethem. Even those that arebold enough to try are at-tempting to convince othersto join will usually findthemselves met with manyexcuses, ranging from theever popular “I do not have amicrophone” to the blunt “Ido not like voice chats”.

Young girl using a voice chatto talk to someone online



Fear of SpeakingThis fear is not limited tovoice chats. Learners will of-ten also love to have a re-source in which they canhear the vocabulary they arestudying pronounced, but willrarely ever want to makesuch recordings themselvesfor others to use. Some willrecord themselves for a lar-ger, singular text, but not formultiple words.

In UniLang, we created asection called “Sondios delMundo”. Here, people recor-ded themselves in their nativelanguages reading a specifictranslated paragraph. Thiswas to help people hear theway a language sounded.Over the years, we were ableto build this up to a large col-lection, with a few dozen re-cordings. Considering thatthere were a several thousandmembers, though, thereshould have been a lot moreadditions. At the time, it wasrather unique, but now, withthe rise of YouTube and othersites having audio compon-ents, it seems a bit outdated.

SkypeWhile many may have fearedusing Team Speak or record-ing themselves for others tohear, another piece of soft-ware rose to widespread us-age and snuck into usageamong polyglots, seeminglywithout the same amount oftrepidation.

Skype is a program thatdiffers in a few major waysfrom Team Speak. First, thereis no server to be set up. Youdownload the software andcreate and account. This al-lows you to talk to anyoneelse around the world that isalso on Skype. It is also notadvertised as being a voicechat system, but instead, asa way of placing calls to fam-ily and friends.

Conventional phonesused to be limited to a seriesof wires connecting housesthroughout cities and coun-tries. The cost of makingthese calls would increase for

longer distances, making itvery impractical to use themas a means of talking tosomeone in another country.I used to talk to people inItaly this way at a rate ofaround $65 an hour. Phonebills easily rose into the thou-sands.

Then the internetchanged that. After peoplecould talk to people usingemail and text chats, thetechnology eventually im-prove to the point that highquality audio could be sentthrough the same computernetworks. When this becamefast enough to appear in-stant, a replacement forphone lines was born. Thisnew technology was called“Voice Over Internet Pro-tocol”, or VOIP.

Skype utilizes this VOIP,allowing two people with acomputer to talk instantly toanyone around the world forfree (well, at the cost of theirinternet bill) . Even if the re-

Team Speak client, showing thevarious "rooms" a person can jointo talk in



ceiver did not have a phone,the Skype call could be sentto a standard phone connec-tion.

The appeal of this to amuch larger populationquickly made Skype a globalphenomenon. It was thenthat the people started usingit to practise their languageskills.

A drawback to this ap-proach is that Skype is reallydesigned as a way for twopeople to connect, and so themeans that to set up a singlechannel for others to use isvery limited. While a groupmight be created, getting ac-cess to it might not alwayswork, at least in my experi-ence. Unless a person withcertain permission is not inthe channel, anyone who hasnot already joined can not doso without help from anotherperson.

A Skype group still suffersfrom the same issues as aTeam Speak server, in thatpeople will be shy about talk-ing. People also need to cre-ate a global Skype account touse it, while Team Speakmerely needs a person toknow the address of the serv-er and any password the

owner may have placed on it.For those who are truly

daring, however, Skype doeshave video capabilities aswell, so anyone with a com-puter camera (called a “cam”)can broadcast their lovelyfaces, and whatever else theywant, to someone along withtheir voices. Some will lovethis while some will find iteven more intimidating thanspeaking.

Text and VoiceBoth Team Speak and Skyperecognize that people may notalways want to speak, so bothsystems have limited textcapabilities. Both systemshave basic profile capabilities,so people can give detailsabout themselves, includingpictures.

Last WordWhen using the internet as alanguage learning tool, avoice chat system is probablythe most powerful resourcesfor interactive speaking andlistening. However, it can alsobe one of the most difficult tofully utilize for the reasons Imentioned. Nevertheless, Iencourage you to take ad-vantage of these systemswhenever you get a chance,as they can help you improveyour new language incredibly!And don’t be afraid to speak.That is the reason you arelearning the language, is itnot? PT

A Skype window showing a conversation being typed along with people speaking

Benny Lewis created a musical video with other polyglots about using Skype

Why English Is Different Than Any Other Language


hen I first started learning English as a child, my motivation was always linked to want-ing to have a tool that would enable me to communicate and make friends with peoplefrom other countries. Back then, I didn’t realise that this goal was completely different

from the goals I would set myself for all the other foreign languages I would learn as an adult.

The ultimate international language

When I was 11 years old, I began to take my language learning seriously. At that point, myunderstanding of the world was that there were other people in other countries who spokeother languages, and that the most straightforward way to connect with those people was tolearn English – the ultimate international language.

I started attending a language school two evenings per week. It was around that time (mid 90s)that the internet started to make more of an appearance. One of the things we did in our Eng-lish classes was using IRC (if you’re old enough, you’ll know what I mean) to chat to peoplefrom other countries. In English. Of course we chatted in English – this was an implicit rulethat nobody even had to explain.

This was one of the things that confirmed my understanding of English as a language thatdidn’t belong to anyone. English was floating in a void and filled every corner of this world atthe same time. It didn’t matter what country you were from and what language you spoke athome – you had English so you could talk to anyone and everyone.

My first encounter with another foreign language

It wasn’t until I was 15 that I came to realise that I could actually learn one of those ‘other’languages spoken by the people I had so far only communicated in English with.

As I started college, I had to choose another foreign language that I was going to learn (this wascompulsory at my school) . I asked myself the following questions to help me choose my secondforeign language:

• Which language do I like the sound of the most in foreign films and music?• Which culture do I find the most intriguing in terms of film, literature, food and history?• Which country would I like to visit, get to know its people and be able to communicate withthem in a language other than English?

And that’s how I picked French.

WWhhyy EEnngg ll ii sshh II ss DDii ffffeerreenntt

TThhaann AAnnyy OOtthheerr LLaanngguuaaggeebbyy AAggnniieesszzkkaa KKaarrcchh

Why English Is Different Than Any Other Language


I did exactly the same thing with the next two foreign languages I took up later on - Spanishand German. With languages such as Swedish and Arabic, later in my adult life, my questionswere slightly different but still in the same vein:

• Which language do I know absolutely nothing about?• Which language would provide me with a sufficient level of challenge and a feeling ofaccomplishment once I’ve reached a basic level of fluency and comprehension?

• Which language is spoken in countries whose cultures I find fascinating?

Choosing English versus choosing another language

As you can see, my choice of my second and subsequent foreign languages was very consciousand deliberate. I based it on a very specific set of criteria.

The point I’m trying to make here is that this wasn’t the case with English at all.

When I first started learning English, I wasn’t necessarily interested in getting to know British,American or Australian people. If they happened to be among the ‘international’ people Iwanted to connect with, that’s fine. However, learning about the culture, food or customs of theEnglish-speaking world was initially never my priority. Even when I went to study in the UK asan international student, the main appeal for me was to meet ‘international’ people (British in-cluded), rather than just English/British people.

Why does this matter?

It matters if you’re a language learner or a lan-guage teacher. Understanding your own or yourstudents’ motivation for learning a language isone of the main factors that determineyour/their chances of success.

If you’re learning English as a foreign language,it may well be that you’re motivated by the pro-spect of reading American literature in the ori-ginal or watching Hollywood films withoutsubtitles. It may be that you’re really interestedin British politics or how English is used byspeakers in the former British colonies.

However, you should also bear in mind that your motivation might simply be about ‘needing to’learn English – either because that’s what you need for your job, because you’re going to studyabroad, or because you want to travel the world without having to learn the languages of thecountries you want to visit.

What’s your motivation for learning a language?

Does my theory of motivation ring true for you? If you’re a non-native English speaker, whatwas your primary motivation when learning English? What about the other languages you canspeak – what pushed you towards them? Join the discussion in the 5-Minute Language Face-book group. PT

Agnieszka Karch is the creator of5-Minute Language, a website with languagelearning tips and resources.

http://www.5minutelanguage.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/5-Minute-Language-a-language-learners-community/653310421447403

https://www.facebook.com/pages/5-Minute-Language-a-language-learners-community/653310421447403

The Digital Language Collective


Competition. It drives people to do better.In sports, we want to beat the other team. Inbusiness, we want more people buying ourproducts or services. Online, we want morepeople visiting our web sites and blogs. Com-petition makes everyone else your opponent.

Most people consider competition to be a goodthing, because it makes us work harder andpushes us to be better. However, it can alsohave a negative effect, for we try to hide ourstrategies from others and push them out ofthe arena so that only we are seen. We end upisolated and paranoid.

This negative aspect can be most detrimentalto people that are still trying to learn how todo something. In the case of a shared experi-ence, such as learning languages, we some-times need to set aside the competitiveideology and work together to help each other.

Sharing Knowledge

Some people create and build things to helpothers, with their end goal being somethingthat benefits others, rather than just them-selves. In languages, we almost naturallyneed this, because the more people that wecan get speaking other languages, the morepeople we have to potentially talk to.

People that write blogs about languages andlearning them are taking what they havelearned and giving it to others. That is a gen-erous action, and not one done easily, forbuilding a blog, or any website, takes a lotmore effort than most people are willing togive. It is far more than just writing about

what you know; you need to learn softwareand marketing techniques, engage in inter-active feedback, worry about copyright prac-tices, and a bunch of other little technicalthings that make a blog successful. Even ig-noring competition, you still need to make agood product for it to be useful to others.

I started my own blog, View From the Town,blog several months ago, and am still learningso many things about how to make it better. Ihave been fortunate to have Brian Powers,who runs the Languages Around the Globeblog, as a friend and advisor. We have spentcountless hours talking about blogging, ad-vertising, languages, and community issues,and I have learned so much.

One day, while talking, we struck upon theidea of creating a group on Facebook whereother bloggers and website owners could cometogether. Rather than hiding what they knew,they would be able to share their experienceand expertise with others. After asking somepeople if they would be interested in such agroup (from which we got several excited re-sponses), we created The Digital LanguageCollective.

The activity and number of people joining wasamazing! Instantly, we met many people wenever knew before and heard about theirfantastic projects. So many new blogs andwriters! Immediate topics were people an-nouncing their blogs and what platforms theyused for them, policies for guest posts, whatmonetization practices (if any) was best, andusing Twitter as a promotional tool.

The Digital Language Collective


But the discussion was more than technicalissues. Members now had a new resource inthe form of others they could find guestposters, promoters, and reviewers. Peoplewith web sites and products had a list ofpeople that could help them advance theircreations and bloggers had new material theycould write about. I even got a new topic for ablog post in this article!

The group is not incredibly large, with justunder 100 members at the time of this writ-

ing, and will never be very large, since it isaimed at people that are writing and creatinglanguage advice and resources. Sadly, wenever seem to have enough of those, but thisgroup will hopefully inspire others to starttheir own.

If you run a language blog, have a languagewebsite, or have created language software,please think about joining us on Facebook.United we rise! PT

Be sure to visit the Digital Language Collective on Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/digi lang

Also check out the DLC Website to see the various projects its members are involved in at

http: //www.digi lang.org

https://www.facebook.com/groups/digilang

http://www.digilang.org

At the Cinema - Viva La Libertà


ou don’t need to understandthe world of Italian politics toappreciate the film Viva La

Libertà (Long Live Freedom). En-rico Oliveri is an experiencedpolitician, working as a senatorand party leader of the center-left.Things are not going well, as hisparty is in decline and will prob-ably be defeated in the upcomingelections, and so the memberswant to drop him.

Enrico starts suffering from de-pression and exhaustion, andfinally decides to leave for a while,with only a letter to his trustedfriend and advisor, Andrea Bottini,of what he has done.

He takes refuge in Paris,France, at the home of his oncelover, Danielle. She is now marriedto a famous film director and has adaughter, Hélène.

Bottini tells the other membersof the party and the media thatEnrico is just away for health reas-ons, and there is nothing wrong,but he is unsure if Enrico will re-turn, so he comes up with a des-perate plan. He tracks downEnrico’s twin brother, who is awriter, philosopher, and self-med-icated former mental health carepatient. The plan is to presentOliveri as Enrico, at least until En-rico returns.

This actually goes much betterthan planned. First, it turns outthat the brothers used to foolpeople all the time as children,

pretending to be the other, soOliveri easily plays the part.However, while Enrico is verysomber and sad, Oliveri is verycharming, outgoing, and philo-sophical. He is also very unpre-dictable, and tends to wanderaway from important meetings, re-citing poetry, and dancing withimportant political figures. He alsolikes to start humming a particulartune at odd times.

Meanwhile, Enrico is findinghimself becoming revitalized whilein hiding as he becomes more in-volved in Danielle’s life and herfriends. He bonds with Hélène andwatches his brother portrayinghim back home in Italy.

Enrico and Oliveri are playedby the same actor, Toni Servillo,which works wonderfully as he isable to show both the brothers asbeing completely unique while stillhaving similar aspects. We wonderwhat happened that made the twopersonalities diverge so completely.

While the backdrop of the filmis the political scene, most of thatis done in an abstract enough way

VViivvaa LLaa LLiibbeerrttàà ((LLoonngg LLiivvee FFrreeeeddoomm))

Viva La Libertà94 minComedy / Drama1 4 February 201 3 (I taly)

Country: I talyLanguage: I tal ian / French /German

“The irony is notlost on the factthat it takes a“mad man” toshow how crazythe situation hasbecome.

Oliveri and Bottini, meeting for the first time

At the Cinema - Viva La Libertà


to not only be applicable to politics in othercountries but it also doesn’t detract from thecharm and real message of the film.

Oliveri, in his straightforward while philo-sophical way, manages to make the people seethat the political system itself, as well as thepeople, are to be blamed for the situation, forthey thrive on catastrophes and conflict.Everything is bound up in fear of the otherparty, in losing position, and in losing faith.His message isn’t so much about rising up todefeat an enemy (the opposing parties) but insimply not being bound up in fear.

The irony is not lost on the fact that ittakes a “mad man” to show how crazy thesituation has become.

His speeches and easy manner, takingquestions from reporters and turning theminto insightful and sometimes cryptic mono-logues, inspire not only his party and itsmembers, but even Bottini. In one touchingscene, Bottini even confesses to Oliveri thathe would vote for him, and that he actuallyfears Enrico’s return.

But the charade can only go on for solong. Oliveri receives a call from Enrico,thanking him, after which he disappears fromthe beach house where he is staying with En-rico’s wife. Meanwhile, Enrico says his good-byes to Danielle’s family and says it is time hereturns. While Bottini searches frantically forOliveri, we see both brothers as they are trav-elling, presumably back to where they belong.

After spending the night in his car after anexhausting hunt for the lost brother, Bottinireturns to the offices, only to find the Senatorcalmly sitting in office. He is unsure what tothink now, since the party is set to win theelection. Can it continue on this path withEnrico back in place?

As he leaves the office, he looks back andsees Enrico smiling. Then the Senator startshumming a certain tune. . .

Critics of the film say it does not go farenough with the political message or with thehumour of having a mentally unstable man incharge. I actually liked the softer tone it set,since I can easily see political preaching andslap-stick comedies any time I want.

For me, the film was more uplifting, tellingus that we create so much of our own prob-lems by giving into fear and being concernedwith what everyone else thinks. Both brothersseem to gain from the experience, eventhough we never see the two of them reallyinteract with each other.

For those who want the language aspect ofthe film, it is done in both Italian and French,taking place in both Italy and France. There issome mild nudity as well, so if that offendsyou, just close your eyes at the appropriateplaces.

I enjoyed Viva La Libertà immensely for itshumour and heart, and I would definitely en-courage anyone to see it, if for no other reas-on then to see the superb dual performanceby Servillo. PT

Oliveri, giving a speech to a huge crowdOliveri talking to the press after his "return"

Enrico and Danielle, reunited after many years

Plate 5 from Richard Barron's "Viewin India, chiefly among theNeelgherry Hills"

Languages in Peril

TThhee TTrriibbeess ooff tthhee

TTaammiill--KKaannnnaaddaa

n southern India is anarea called the NilgiriHills, or the BlueMountains. It lies in theTamil Nadu region, at ajunction of Karnatakaand Kerala and is hometo many indigenoustribes which have beenthere for thousands ofyears. Now, some ofthem are in danger ofdying out, and withthem, their languages.Three of those areBadaga, Kota, and Toda.

Languages in Peril - The Tribes of the Tamil-Kannada


The major languages ofthe region belong to theTamil-Kannada branch,which includes Tamil, Kan-nada and Malayalam. Thosethree are recognized amongthe official languages of India,as well as being officially re-cognized as classical lan-guages by the Government ofIndia. Our three are not sofortunate, although they areprobably as old.

BadagaBadaga is one of the southernDravidian languages and isspoken by around 400,000people in the Nilgiri Hills. Itwas once considered a dialectof Kannada, and while it hasmany similarities with itsKannada language neigh-bours, it is now recognized asan independent language.The word Badaga itself refersto both the language and thepeople that speak it. They aresplit into almost 440 separatevillages, called hattis, andthey have inhabited the landfor thousands of years, goingback at least as far as 8000BC.

As far as it is known,Badaga has not had a writingsystem for most of its exist-ence. Over the past century, afew different methods forwriting Badaga were created,using a mix of the Latin andKannada alphabets, with theearliest of these dates back to1890. More recently, Anand-han Raju created a new al-phabet, this one based onTamil, in 2009. and the mostrecent was published in 2009by Anandhan Raju.

As was common withmany indigenous people, theBadagas were visited by mis-sionaries, attempting to con-

vert them. During theMauryan Empire (322 – 185BCE), Buddhist monks cameto Nilgiris to spreadBuddhism among the Bada-gas, although they probablyfailed to have much of an im-pact. However, the variousmissionary attempts did allowfor the languages to be wellstudied, leading to severalEnglish-Bagada dictionariesbeing published.

A Badaga king namedKalaraja was ruling thepeople in 1116 AD, but hewas killed during a war withthe Kannada speakingHoysala empire (1026 -1343), bringing the Badagas

under the rule of King Vish-nuvarthana. It later cameunder the rule of the Vijay-anagar empire (1336 - 1646),then the British.

Now, not all of this in-formation is without somedebate. There are some thatclaim the Badaga people arenot actually natives of the re-gion, but rather migrated tothere from central and east-ern Europe. According to thisidea, they arrived in southernIndia then moved into theNilgiris Hills when they wereunder the Vijayanagara Em-pire, and the people had toadopt the dialect of Kannada.They did not accept the writ-

Map of Nilgiris district,Tamil Nadu, India



ing system, however, which iswhy they did not have onewhen later people foundthem. This initial group wasprobably very small, onlyaround 30 people, but a later,larger group migrated as welllater.

There is no real evidenceto confirm this theory,however, while there areclues to validate the idea thatthey have been there sinceancient times. First, accord-ing to philology (the study oflanguage in written historicalsources) , beginning lan-guages didn’t have scriptsand only develop scripts lateron, supporting the idea thatthe language is very old. Also,before the Badagas convertedto Hinduism, they were

nature worships, like ancientGreeks and Egyptians, againsupporting the idea that theyhave been around for muchlonger. Even now, worship-ping stones is a central as-pect of their lives in theNilgiris.

While their origins mightbe in question, it doesn’t ap-pear their future is. Whilethere is no oppressing forcetrying to wipe out the lan-guage or the people, the Bad-agas as a people are indecline, and are thus on theendangered list.

KotaThe second language found inthe region is Kota. The peopleof the Kota tribe have a muchsmaller population than the

Badagas, with only around900 native speakers still liv-ing. This number wasn’tmuch larger in the 1800s,with just 1 ,100 speakers. Al-though Kota is closely relatedto neighbouring Toda, it wasidentified as an independentDravidian language by RobertCaldwell in the 1870s andprobably broke off from thecommon south Dravidianlanguages a few thousandyears ago. The Kota tribe be-came isolated, allowing forthe language some uniquecharacteristics.

Similar to the Badagas,there are a few theories aboutthe Kota people’s origins. It isbelieved that their ancestorsarrived in the region a fewcenturies ago, when the Bad-

Badaga caste of Nilgiri Hills, from "Castes and Tribes of Southern India" (1909)



agas were already there.They did not remain isolated forever, as

they eventually established a relationshipwith the Todas people, leading to the tradingof buffalo milk, hides, and meat. They also setup trade with local Kurumba and Irula tribes,who were farmers and hunters. This went onfor a long time, until the British moved induring the start of the 19th century.

After that, missionaries, anthropologists,and linguists, from both India and westerncountries, spent a huge amount of timestudying the tribal groups. One of these was aGerman missionary, F. Metz, who speculatedthat, according to some of their traditions, theKota people came from what is nowKarnataka in south west India.

The Kotas have for the last 150 years beena small group, no larger than 1 ,500 individu-als spread over seven villages. They haveworked in many trades as everything from

potters, agri-culturalist, andleather workersto carpenters,and blacksmiths. Afterthe British ar-rived, they usedsome of theeducationalopportunitiesgiven to them toimprove theirsocio-economicstatus, and arethus no longerso dependenton their tradi-tional trades.

Unlike theBadaga whoadoptedHinduism long ago, the Kota believed in non-anthropomorphic (which means they weren’tgiven human characteristics) male deities anda female deity. Some Hindu deities have beenadded since the 1940s, and have had Tamilstyle temples built for them as well as havinggroups of priests assigned to keep the Kotapeople in favour with them.

Today, most Kota children study in Tamilat schools and are bilingual in both Kota andTamil, yet the language is still becoming lesspopular, so it is listed as “critically en-dangered”.

TodaI have already mentioned the third language,Toda, and the people’s interaction with theKota tribe. As of 2001 , there was an estimated1600 native Toda speakers, living on the Nil-giri plateau. They have existed there with theother Kota and Kuruba tribes in a peacefulcommunity until the 18th century, afterwhich they fell under the heavy scrutiny ofmissionaries and anthropologist, along withthe rest.

The Toda people probably migrated to thearea at about the same time as the Kota, butthey also isolated themselves for centuries.The language has a disproportionately highnumber of syntactic and morphological ruleswhich are not found in other south Dravidian

Unlike the Badaga and Kota, whoadopted Hinduism to varyingextents, the Toda people have areligion which mainly centersaround the buffalo.

Photograph of two Toda men and awoman, taken by an unknown

photographer from the Madras Schoolof Arts circa 1871-72

Kota women wearing their traditional dress and ornaments



languages.The Toda people not only

live rather isolated from othertribes, but even separatethemselves from each other,living in settlements of threeto seven small thatchedhouses, built in the shape ofhalf-barrels and spread outon the slopes of the plateau.Toda temples are similarlybuilt in a circular pit while islined with stones.

Unlike the Badaga andKota, who adopted Hinduismto varying extents, the Todapeople have a religion whichmainly centers around thebuffalo. Sacred places are as-sociated with dairy templesand buffalo herds, and theyhave traditions and rituals tomatch them. For example,

the Toda religion forbidspeople from walking acrossbridges, as rivers must becrossed on foot or by swim-ming. No shoes may be worn.

Toda legend tells how thegoddess Teikirshy and herbrother first created the sac-red buffalo, then the firstToda man. Similar to theChristian story, the first Todawoman was created from theright rib of the first Todaman.

Some Toda pasture landwas during the end of 20thcentury to outsiders and thegovernment, threatening theculture and the buffalo herds.To counteract this, UNSECOhas intervened, and the Todalands are now a part of TheNilgiri Biosphere Reserve. The

people and language remaincritically endangered,however.

ConclusionOften, indigenous languagesdie because they are op-pressed by an occupyingforce and forbidden, or thenative speakers start switch-ing to a more dominant lan-guage. While these threelanguages are certainly feel-ing some pressure from out-side forces, it seems they aresimple dwindling in popula-tion, as tribes are likely to doin the modern age. Even withthe efforts of UNESCO, thelanguages of these people arelikely to be completely gonewithin the next few decades.PT

Toda people in front of their hut in the Nilgiri Hills

Book Look


A farmer on a rice plantation in ChiangMai, Thailand, shows some a handfulof stalks he has gathered. Rice is thestaple food of most Asian countriesand an important part of the diet inmany western countries as well .

Words in Your Mouth - Rice


he etymology of rice israther clear, but its ori-

gins are a little grainy.

The Britannica definitionof rice is “an edible starchycereal grain and the annualgrass that produces it.” Itsscientific name is oryzasativa, family Poaceae, orGramineae. However, I amsure that neither explanationis needed for this seeminglyglobally eaten food. I amequally sure that most if notall our readers have had riceat some point in their lives,either as a separate side dishor as part of another dish.

Approximately one-half ofthe world’s population, in-cluding practically all of Eastand Southeast Asia, has riceas its primary staple-food. Itwas first cultivated in Indiaover four thousand years ago.It is grown in flooded fields,called “paddies”, along riversof tropical and temperate re-gions. It grows to a height of4 feet (1 .2 m), and has long,flattened leaves. From theseplants, brown and white rice

is harvested, depending onwhich part of the plant it istaken.

Because of its ancient ori-gins, the etymology is fairlystandard. The Latin word forrice is “oryza” or “oriza”,which comes come from theGreek “όρυζα”. From these,many other language familieshave gotten their basis for“rice”.

Among the Italic lan-guages, we have Catalan (ar-ròs) , French (riz) , and Italian(riso) .

The Slavic languages arealso very similar, with Polish(ryŜ) , Russian (рис [ris]) , andBulgarian (ориз [oriz]) .

Then Germanic lan-guages, along with the Eng-lish “rice”, have Dutch (rijst) ,German (Reis) , and Yiddish( [rayz] ) .

Even the Celtic languagesfall in with this heritage withthe Irish (rís) , the Welsh (re-is) , and others.

WWoorrddss iinn YYoouurr MMoouutthh

RRiiccee

A bowl of fried rice, pickles, and shallots (a type of onion)

זַײר



However, this is only theway in which the word foundits way into the “western” re-gions. It can be traced backeven further into the Arabic

[ruzz] . From here, somelanguages, like Spanish (ar-roz) and Portuguese (arroz)seemed to have adopted itdirectly from the Arabic, evenincluding the article ( =“ar-ruzz”) .

Going even further back,we can find its roots in theSanskrit word “vrihi-s”. Yet,this historically refers towheat, barley, and rice. In In-dia, the word for rice, “arici”,which came from Malaysia, isused in many languages ofthe region. It is not yet un-derstood why some regionsadopted one word over theother, but it is speculated thethe reason is closely relatedto which cultures adoptedwheat as a staple, instead ofrice.

SlangWhile there are many foods

that incorporate rice, such asPilau, Paëlla Valenciana, andRisotto, I cannot think ofmany ways in which refer-ences to rice have entered in-to English slang. Since it isn’tviewed as much as a staple inWestern countries as it is inthe East, it has also not af-fected our views and ideas asmuch.

There is one slang idiom

in English, “like white onrice”, which means “veryclosely”. It would be used like“She was so afraid, she stuckto him like white on rice”.

Perhaps unsurprising, wedo have idioms involving ricecoming from Asian countries,where rice is a primary stapleof the diet.

The first comes from Ja-panese: 冷や飯を食う（ひやめしをくう） (hiyameshi o kuu)which is translated as “eatingcold rice”. This can meansomeone who is less fortu-nate or someone who hasdone something stupid andnow has to deal with theconsequences of their ac-tions. The second usage issimilar to the English “in thedoghouse”.

The other idiom comesfrom Chinese: 生米煮成熟饭( )which means “the rice iscooked”. The meaning behindit is “what is done cannot beundone”, or that it is too lateto change things, like whenrice is cooked, you can’t un-cook it.

A dish of sushi (raw fish and rice wrapped together) and sashimi, (a delicacyconsisting of very fresh raw fish sliced into thin pieces) in a Japanese restaurant

Paella, a traditional dish of Spain, containing shrimp, fish and rice

زر

زرلأ



HistoricThe linguistic references inancient texts have been usedto try to pinpoint the veryfirst cultivation of rice. Inseveral regional languages,the word for rice and food, orfor rice and agriculture, aresynonymous. But this is notthe case in other parts of theworld. Looking at religiouswritings, many references aremade to rice in both Hinduand Buddhist scriptures, andboth religions use rice as amajor offering to the gods.However, in Jewish scrip-tures, there are no corres-ponding early references torice. Nor are there any refer-ences in early Egyptian re-cords.

ConclusionThe actual origins of rice hasbeen debated for a long time,

but the rice plant is so oldhistorically that the exacttime and place of its first truecultivation may never beknown. It is certain, though,that the domestication of riceis one of the most important

developments in history, for ithas fed more people over along period of time than hasany other crop, and will con-tinue to do so in the future.PT

Tiered rice fields in Yen Bai, Vietnam



Other pictures related to rice

Indonesian meal of grilled chicken, white rice, and cucumbers; A worker sprays herbicidesand pesticides on a rice field in Surname; Rice being cooked in an electric rice cooker; Cansof traditional rice wine, called sake, stacked in Itsukushima Japan; Bags of organic rice onsale in a market in Thailand; Mexican dish of rice, tacos, beans, and salsa.



זַײר

جنربجنرب

GERMANICWestern

Afrikaans: rysDutch: ri jstEnglish: riceFlemish: ri jstFrisian: rysGerman: ReisLimburgian: riesLuxembourgish: RäisSwiss German: RiisYiddish: [rayz]

NorthernDalecarlian: rís(-grjón) [rai:s(-griuo:n)]Danish: ris [ri :s]Faroese: rís(grýn) [rUi:s(grUin]Gutnish: rís(-griaun) [räi:s(-grau:n)]Icelandic: hrísgrjónJamtlandic: rís(-grjœn) [ri :s(-grö:n)]Norwegian: risSwedish: ris / risgryn

SLAVICWestern

Czech: rýžePolish: ryżSlovak: ryža

EasternByelorussian: рыс [rys]Russian: рис [ris]Ukrainian: рис [ris]

SouthernBulgarian: ориз [oriz]Croatian: riža / pirinačMacedonian: ориз [oriz]Serbian: пиринач [pirinač]Slovenian: riž

ITALICAsturian: arrozCaló: corpiche / arcopichóCatalan: arròsFrench: rizGalician: arrozItalian: risoJudeo-Spanish: arrosLadino: ri jeLatin: Oryza sativa / oryzaNeapolitan: risoOccitan: risPortuguese: arrozRomanian: orezRomansh: ris

Spanish: arrozValencian: arrosWallon: riz

ITALIAN DIALECTSBergamasco: risBolognese: rîsBresciano: rísCalabrese: risuFriulian: rîsLeonese: arrozLingala: losoLombardoOccidentale: risMantuan: risMudnés: risParmigiano: risPiemontese: risReggiano: risRomagnolo: rìsSardinian: rosuSardinianCampidanesu: arrosu / arrisuSardinianLogudoresu: rosuTriestino: risiVenetian: risoViestano: ris'Zeneize: riso

CELTICGoidelic

Irish: rísBrythonic

Breton: rizCornish: rysManx: reiseWelsh: reis

ALBANIANAlbanian: oriz

GREEKGreek: ρύζι [rízi]Old Greek: γέλως [gélōs] / όρυζα

[óryza]

INDO-IRANIANHindi: चावलKurdish Kurmanji: birinc / rizKurdish Sorani:Persian: [berenj]



זרוא

زر

زرOTHER INDO-EUROPEAN

Sanskrit: ताणडलु [tāṇaḍula]

INDIAN LANGUAGESBengali; Bangla: ভাতGujarati: ચોખાKonkani: भातMarathi: भातPunjabi: ਚਾਵਲ

ALTAICKorean: 쌀 [ssal] (raw) /

밥 [bap], 쌀밥[ssalbap] (cooked)

Mongolian: тутрага [tutraga] /цагаан будаа[tsagaan budaa]

TURKICAzeri (Latin Script):düyüTurkish: pirinç

INDEPENDENTBasque: arroz / irrisJapanese: 米 [kome] /

稲 [ine] (plant) /飯 [han], ご飯[gohan] (cooked)

FINNO-UGRICEstonian: ri isFinnish: ri isiHungarian: rizsSaami: risenat

CAUCASIANChechen: duga

MALAYO-POLYNESIANIndonesian: padi (seed), beras(harvested, uncooked), nasi (cooked)Malagasy: varyMalay: padi / beras / nasiTagalog: palay / bigas / kanin

POLYNESIANMāori: raihiSamoan: alaisaHawai` ian: laiki

MESO-PHILIPPINETagalog: palay

SEMITICArabic: [ruzz]Hebrew: [orez]

SINO-TIBETANChinese(simplified): 米 / 米 [mi3],

"cooked rice": 饭 /飯 [fan4]

KADAIThai: ข้าว [khao]

NATIVE AMERICANBlackfoot: issssi inainikimmCheyenne: he'éhesonoOjibwe: manoomin|an (WO) /

waabanoomin|ag (NO)

NIGER-KHORDOFANIANGbari: cewyiShona: mupungaSwahili: mcheleWollof: ceebZulu: i layisi

ANDEAN-EQUATORIALQuechua: arrus

TUPIGuarani: aro

OTHERMaasai: emuheleMokshan: ris

CREOLESHaitian Creole: diriPapiamentu: arosTok Pisin: rais

MON-KHMERVietnamese: cơm

CONSTRUCTEDCanis: risoEsperanto: rizoInterlingua: risLingua Franca Nova: ris

Where Are You?

49 Parrot Time | Issue #6 | June 2013

This capital city is the second-largest metropolitan area in South America. It is one of the threeLatin American “alpha cities” and has the third best quality of life of all the Latin American cit-ies. It is also one of the largest and most important capitals of the region, often referred to as the“Paris of South America”. Not surprisingly then, it is a top tourist destination, with itsEuropean-style architecture and rich cultural life.

The original name for the city came from the Spanish sailors that settled there, attributing theirarrival to a blessing from “the Holy Virgin Mary of the Good Winds”. The first city was not es-tablished until many years later, do to fighting with the native tribes. It was abandoned in 1542after more attacks, but a second settlement was built in 1580, and this became permanent. Thecity became an important port of trade and, after centuries of politics and fighting, was finallydeclared an open port in the 18th century. However, British forces moved into the region, at-tacked this is and other ports, and eventually capturing the city, after which it fell briefly underBritish rule. The British were eventually defeated and driven out by an army from Montevideo.

During the 19th century, this city was blockaded twice by naval forces, first the French (1838 -1840) and then by an Anglo-French expedition (1845 - 1848). These blockades failed to subduethe city, and the forces eventually stopped. As the wealth of the city increased, many improve-ments were made. Railroad development helped bring in more raw materials into factories. Im-migrants from Europe, particularly Italy and Spain, contributed to making this a multiculturalcity that ranked with the major European capitals.

IItt bbeeccaammee tthhee rreeggiioonnaall ccaappiittaall ooff rraaddiioo,, tteelleevviissiioonn,, cciinneemmaa,, aanndd tthheeaattrree aanndd iitt ggoott tthhee fifirrsstt uunnddeer-r-

ggrroouunndd ttrraaiinn ssyysstteemm iinn SSoouutthh AAmmeerriiccaa.. AAfftteerr aann aaggrreeeemmeenntt iinn 11999933,, tthhee ccoouunnttrryy’’ ss ccoonnssttiittuuttiioonn

wwaass aammeennddeedd ttoo ggiivvee tthhiiss cciittyy aauuttoonnoommyy aanndd iinn 11999966,, vvootteerrss eelleecctteedd tthheeiirr fifirrsstt mmaayyoorr..

Where Are You?

Last month's answer: Shanghai, China

Can you name this location and country?

Book Look


The Berlitz Phrasebooks have beenaround for decades, and are often de-scribed as the “world's best phrasebooks.”I have a few dozen myself. These smallbooks are normally around 10 x 14.5cm(4” x 5.75”) in size, making them ideal fortucking into a small bag or pocket. Theyare also relatively cheap, costing around£3.50 ($7 USD) each, though they can of-ten be found at book sales or used book-stores for far less.

In the modern form, the books are dividedinto various sections, which are also col-our coded. The sections include “basic ex-pressions,” “hotel,” arrival,” “eating out,”“shopping,” “sightseeing,” “travellingaround,” “making friends,” and “doctor.”Each section contains various phrases,translations, and basic pronunciationguides. Besides phrases, word lists arealso included in most sections. For ex-ample, in the “doctor” section, a personcan find a list of body parts.

In most of these phrasebooks, a small dic-tionary is also included. Each also in-cludes a reference section for counting,time telling, and (in the US versions) achart for converting between imperial andmetric systems. Many also contain a fewpages of basic grammar.

I love these books because they are small,colourful, and packed with information.However, they are not perfect. One of thebiggest problems is the pronunciationguides. Since we all have learned differentways to represent sounds (and in manycases, a sound in one language may noteven properly exist in another) , trying to

representsounds byspelling istricky at best.The Interna-tional PhoneticAlphabet (IPA)was created tohelp this, but even for people studyinglanguages, it can be quite difficult to un-derstand. The Berlitz books do their bestto represent the pronunciations as closelyas they can to the native spelling (in mycase, English).

However, since the books also give a basicpronunciation guide for the letters anddiphthongs at the start, I have often comeacross discrepancies between the way thetwo sections describe the pronunciations.Sometimes, the descriptions are also justcompletely wrong. When I have discussedthis with others, their normal reaction issomething like, “those horrible pronunci-ation guides.”

Another problem is the “dictionary” manyof them promise. If you are looking for adictionary, pick up another book entirely(Berlitz also has a line of pocket diction-aries) . The dictionaries in these phrase-books are normally simply a compilationof the word lists found elsewhere in thebook. They are also only in the native lan-guage, which is fine if you want to figureout the word for something you know, butuseless if you read or hear something youdon't understand. Sometimes, there is avery small dictionary included (ifsomething of just over 100 words can becalled a dictionary), but it is so limited, it

Berlitz Phrasebooks

Language: multiple

I tem Rating:

BBooookk LLooookk

****

Book Look

Parrot Time | Issue #12 | November / December 2014 51

seems the publishers just stuck it in to adda few pages.

The last problem is inherent in mostphrasebooks: the lack of responses. One ofthe common visual jokes is for some losttraveller holding up his phrasebook andpainstakingly attempting to pronounce hissimple question to a native. After happilygetting it out and seeing his recipient nod-ding happily in understanding, his facequickly drops to total confusion as the nat-ive proceeds to answer him in a long, rapid-fire speech, using several gestures and fa-cial expressions. A phrasebook can onlygive a very limited idea of what might begiven in response. Just because you canask where the local restroom is doesn'tmean you will be able to understand thedirections.

It's this last point that makes many peopleentirely reject the idea of a phrasebook, ar-guing that they give you a false sense ofknowledge. Since their pronunciationsmight be off and their scope of responses isso limited, it would be better to take a crashcourse in a language before embarking on atrip into foreign territory.

However, since people don't always have thetime or opportunity to take a course, theBerlitz line of phrasebooks are still amongmy favourites. They are especially goodwhen you can't pick up an extensive bookon a language, and need to pick up just thebasics of a language to get by. PT

Credits


Letter From the EditorWriter: Erik Zidowecki

Images:Toniher: Tió de Nadal

Are You Wasting Your Money on Language Classes?Writer: Olly Richards

Images:Automatic_PWNage: Classroom (PDF title)

neo0031 : Two in the Classroom

Angelschatedral99: classroom couple

matsunaa: Anime Girl studying

sonamy_4evah: Anime Girl writing

Sources:• "Are you wasting your money on language classes?" Olly Richards, "I Wil l Teach You a Language"

<http: //www.iwil l teachyoualanguage.com/wasting-money-on-language-classes/>

Chatting in Languages Online - Voice ChatsWriter: Erik Zidowecki

Images:stylesr1 : headset and keyboard

hathuhoan_2008: girl at keyboard

len-k-a: Woman with headset

thegunacer: Teamspeak

Benny Lewis: Skype me maybe

kil lshot1 65: Skype

Why English Is Different Than Any Other LanguageWriter: Agnieszka Karch

Images:Mark Doliner: Globe

Berklee Valencia Campus: Classroom

The Digital Language CollectiveWriter: Erik Zidowecki

At The Cinema - Viva La LibertàWriter: Erik Zidowecki

Sources:• "Long Live Freedom" Internet Movie Database <http: //www.imdb.com/title/tt2523600/>

All images are copyright BiBi Fi lm, Rai Cinema, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Cultural i (MiBAC)

Credits


Languages in Peril - The Tribes of the Tamil-KannadaWriter: Lucil le Martin

Images:Coppercholride: Map of Nilgiris district

Petey: Richard Barron's 'View in India' (title); Badaga caste; Toda men & women; Kota women; Toda

people in front of their hut

Sources:• "Badaga language" Wikipedia <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badaga_language>

• "Badagas" Wikipedia <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badagas>

• "Badaga" Omniglot <http: //www.omniglot.com/writing/badaga.htm>

• "Kota language" Wikipedia <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kota_language>

• "Kotas" Wikipedia <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotas>

• "Toda language" Wikipedia <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_language>

• "Toda people" Wikipedia <http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toda_people>

Words in Your Mouth - RiceWriter: Erik Zidowecki

Images:Petey: Glass of milk; Young sheep; Dairy farm; Shelves of milk; Cup of coffee; Kitten drinking milk; Drop

of milk splashing; Sl ices of cheese; Ice-cream; Bars of milk chocolate

Where Are You?Writer: Sonja Krüger

Images:Petey: Mystery image

Book LookWriter: Erik Zidowecki

All images are Copyright - CC BY-SA (Creative Commons Share Alike) by their respective owners,

except for Petey, which is Public Domain (PD) or unless otherwise noted.

parrot time - issue 14 - march / april 2015

Documents