reflections as english students involved in a research project

10HUMAN SCIENCES FACULTY - FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA - 2008 - N° 10

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS HUMANASDEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS

matices

The PROFILE Journal Editorial Committee is pleased to invite you to submit papers for issue 11. The journal is mainly interested in sharing the results of classroom research projects undertaken by primary and secondary school teachers as well as adult teachers while taking part in the Professional Develop-ment Programmes carried out by the Foreign Languages Department at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. It also includes articles written by teacher educators and guest teachers willing to disseminate innovations and research findings.For more information, please contact us: Melba Libia Cárdenas B. Editor Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras - Universidad Nacional de Colombia Ciudad Universitaria. Carrera 30 No. 45-03, Bogotá, Colombia Phone: 57(1) 3165000 Ext. 16780 Fax: 57(1) 3165000 Ext. 16780/16773 E-mail: [email protected] website: http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/cms.php?id=565#Revista1

We wish to invite the academic community to submit articles for the next number of Matices, virtual journal of the Foreign Languages Department of the National University of Colombia, Bogotá.Matices Virtual Journal is focused on the publication of articles related to the field of languages from the didactic perspective, pedagogy, research on language and culture, and translation. In this first number, texts in these languages will be published: Spanish, German, French or English.

For further information write to:[email protected]

La revista estudiantil de filología e idiomas Anonyma los invita a participar en los comités editoriales de todos los idiomas y a participar en la elaboración de la revista Nº 6.

Tema: MuerteSecciones: académica, literaria, traducción, reseña o libreFormato: Máximo 5 páginas, Arial 12 a espacio sencilloEnvíe sus escritos, propuestas y sugerencias al correo [email protected] o contáctenos y participe como miembro del grupo y adquiera experiencia editorial.

&LENGUAS CULTURAS

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WINDS OFCHANGE

When things start to change, there are times that it is very difficult to adapt. Many people have panic because they are accustomed to how their life has been until now. The changes will produce disorder and anxiety, and that attitude is what causes these changes to worsen things. Any change we make in our life depends on the attitude that we have towards it and the chance to accept it for what it is.

You may surely have a myriad of reasons to change things in your life. It is normal to be afraid; you have doubts about how everything is going to be developed, how you could be affected in that change, if you have facilities in your activities or if you are actually prepared to it. The changes can affect both your private and professional life, but whatever it is, a lot depends on you to make things go well.

The key to face change and to have satisfactory results is to make the transitions, little by little, getting adjusted from how things used to be before to what they are now. This is not always easy to do, especially when changes are enormous, but if you are convinced that things will have a good end, that you have people that can help to deal with these changes, change will be less abrupt. And even if change is for worse, do everything possible to ensure that it develops gradually and thus be able to face it and be part of that change.

Many times a change is the best thing that can happen in our lives. Allow changes to happen and you can see where you are now and where to lead to in order achieve your goals. There are people who are unable to initiate changes unless thee are imposed; in other words, they conform to what they have, good or bad, out of fear or apathy.

Change is sometimes unavoidable, and you can not stop it. The best for you is taking a positive attitude to its arrival and be prepared to accept it or change it as far as you can. Being opened to changes is also to be opened to a better life or at least a varied one.

EVENTSHead of the Human Sciences FacultyProfessor Fabian Sanabria

Academic Vice-DeanProfessor Sergio Bolaños

Head of the Foreign Languages DepartmentProfessor Melba Libia Cárdenas Beltrán

Editorial Coordination

Director and EditorProfessor Maria Claudia Nieto Cruz

StaffCamilo Morales NeisaCarlos Alberto DíazPedro Torres Reyes

Proofreading EnglishProfessor Patricia SimonsonLiterature Department - Universidad Nacional

WritersCarlos Alberto DíazCamilo Morales NeisaAngélica CarranzaLina Parra Ante Leonardo Antonio PardoYeison Navarro G.Julio OrtizNubia Ortega RodriguezPedro Torres ReyesMauricio Steven Rincón “El Santo”Edgar Milton

Design: Pedro Emilio TorresPicture page 4:Julián HernándezCover Design: Diana Ospina

Printed by:Gráficas Ducal

Mission: to be a channel of communication among the members that make up the academic comunity of the Foreign Languages Department.

Vision: to grow as a publication, as individuals, as a gorup, and as members of the academic community

We are very pleased to present you this tenth edition, made with very hard, rewarding efforts. After almost a year we finally give you the result of the contribu-tions of members of our academic community.

Lenguas y CulturasReflections in a research projectCarta a una alucinaciónThe chinese StereotypeWhat is Philology?L’ espace du poeteJugendsehnsuchtPropuesta de virtualización de Capital LetterFarsi, or the Persian LanguageThe aims of education and some strategiesEvents

[2][3][4][5][7][9][10][11][12][13][14]

RECENT

EVENTSUPCOMING

REVISTA PROFILELANZAMIENTO DE SUS NÚMEROS 9 Y 10Conferencias:The Virtual Forum as an Alternative Way to Enhance Foreign Language Learning. (Dra. Amparo Clavijo O., Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas).Unveiling Students Understanding of Autonomy: Puzzling Out a Path to Learning Beyond the EFL classroom. (J. Aleida Ariza Ariza, Universidad Pedagógica y tecnológica de Colombia).

SEGUNDO ENCUENTRO REGIONAL Y PRIMERO NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL DE

ESPAÑOL COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA (ELE) Docencia e Investigación en ELE Este evento tomó lugar el 21 y 22 de Agosto de 2008, organizado por la Red Académica para el Desarrollo del Español como Lengua Extranjera (EnRedELE) y la Asociación Colombiana de Universidades (ASCUN). Para mayor información, visitar la página web del evento:http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/lenguas/enredele/

CICLO DE CHARLAS

“LENGUA PERSA, LITERATURA Y CULTURA DE IRÁN”El departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras tuvo el gusto de darle la bienvenida al Doctor iraní Ahmad Matindoost quien gracias a un convenio con la embajada de Irán se desempeña como docente de la lengua Farsi o Persa en el programa ALEX de la UN. El doctor Ahmad realizó en el salon oval del edificio de posgrados de ciencias humanas tres conferencias en donde abordó: la civilización y cultura de Iran, la lengua persa y su literatura y la historia de Irán y sus monumentos. Todo ello con el fin de incentivar a los estudiantes a que aprendan a la lengua Farsi y de esta manera tener un mejor acceso al mundo globalizado.

43rd Asocopi’s Annual ConferenceFrom October 9 to 12, 2008, the ELT community in Colombia celebrated the 43rd version of the ASOCOPI Annual Conference, certainly the most important academic event in the area of ELT in Colombia. This year the Conference took place at the UPTC (Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia) in the historic city of Tunja. The cold weather, characteristic of Tunja, was no deterrent for the more than 700 attendees who gathered for four days in order to discuss and analyze the issue of ELT materials which, in a country like Colombia, presents serious challenges for the vast majority of teachers of English who either work at remote locations with no easy access to technology or at places where resources and money are very limited.

ENCUENTRO NACIONAL UNIVERSIDADES FORMADORAS DE LICENCIADOS EN LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS 2008LA EDUCACIÓN DEL PROFESOR DE LENGUAS DE NUESTRO TIEMPOUniversidad del Valle, Santiago de Cali, Marzo 13, 14 y 15 de 2008Este encuentro que se ha venido realizando desde el año 2003 en diferentes ciudades del país, es la iniciativa de un grupo de universidades públicas interesadas en generar escenarios para compartir experiencias entre educadores, investigadores, practicantes y estudiantes de los programas de lenguas extranjeras en el país. La temática de este año, La educación del profesor de lenguas en nuestro tiempo, busca compartir, discutir, reflexionar y hacer propuestas sobre aspectos fundamentales de la formación de nuevos docentes de lenguas y la actualización y desarrollo profesional de los docentes en ejercicio.

5th PROFILE SymposiumDecember 6, 2008Innovations and applications in the classroom

• Using technology in English language teaching• Evaluation and assessment• Classroom management and agreements in the English class

Venue: Edificio Rogelio Salmona (Posgrados de Ciencias Humanas)Universidad Nacional de Colombia. BogotáFurther information: [email protected]. 3165000 Ext. 16780 / 16764

12th NATIONAL ELT CONFERENCE The association between Universities in Bogotá, a group of British publishers, the Centro Colombo Americano, ASOCOPI and the British Council are organising the 2009 version of the NATIONAL ELT CONFERENCE with the theme: “Perspectives in Bilingualism: Current views and trends”.The Conference will be held in Bogotá , Colombia , from 23 to 25 April 2009 at Universidad de La Salle, Sede Chapinero. This event seeks to be a forum for researchers, teacher educators, academic coordinators, practitioners and decision makers, to share a critical and constructive assessment of current research and practice on the teaching of English.

Call for Proposals. Due Date: 30 November, 2008.

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Carlos Alberto Dí[email protected]

En el transcurso de nuestra vida personal, estudiantil o profesional, y dependiendo de las circunstancias, de alguna u otra manera terminamos conociendo poco o mucho de una segunda lengua. Algunos la aprenden por cumplir con un requisito obligatorio en el colegio o en la universidad, otros porque desean viajar al exterior, otros con el objetivo de obtener un mejor nivel laboral, otros solo porque les gusta estudiar lenguas, etc. Y es aquí en donde hacemos contacto con ese maravilloso mundo de los idiomas que no se limita simplemente en conocer como hablan aquellos que se encuentran en lugares lejanos sino también otras formas de pensar y representar todo lo que gira a nuestro alrededor. Sin quererlo nos sumergimos en lugares, creencias y formas de ver el mundo que son el producto de innumerables sucesos en el recorrido de la historia y que hasta el momento no conocíamos; empezamos a comprender el por qué de las distintas maneras de escribir y de hablar, además de las distintas tonalidades y ritmos que hacen parte de algunas lenguas.

Encontramos además que el aprendizaje exhaustivo de una lengua extranjera o diferente a la nuestra, es decir, no solamente estudiando su gramática sino también su literatura, su historia, etc., sin duda alguna nos permite conocer y acercarnos a otra cultura, pero no podemos asegurar que conocer una cultura diferente a la nuestra represente necesariamente conocer otra lengua. Nuestro país por ejemplo tiene una gran diversidad de lenguas; la mayoría de ellas son indígenas, pero también posee una gran diversidad de culturas con formas de expresión, costumbres y comportamientos sociales que varían de una región a otra y las cuales están regidas en su mayoría por una sola lengua (el español). Y qué decir de la capital, Bogotá, en donde la constante migración de familias venidas de otras regiones hace sentir las diferencias culturales de un barrio a otro y de casa en casa sin importar que se hable la misma lengua; en este caso estaríamos hablando solamente de la convivencia entre varios dialectos o regionalismos. Ahora pues, esto nos lleva a cuestionar-nos sobre la existencia de muchas más culturas que lenguas, es decir que estos dos componentes no tienen una relación directamente proporcional.

Cuando salimos a la calle a cumplir con nuestras responsabilidades diarias, observamos a nuestros semejantes, y de vez en cuando nos encontramos con aquellos que tienen una forma de ser, de pensar, de actuar y de expresarse de manera un poco distinta. Entonces, llegaríamos a creer, que dichas personas son el producto de otras culturas, las cuales tienen algún parentesco con la nuestra ya que utilizan la misma lengua. Por ejemplo, la sociedad venezolana y colombiana hablan la misma lengua, pero ¿podríamos decir que tienen la misma cultura? Por consiguiente, si hay diferencias culturales entre aquellos que hablan una misma lengua, ¿cuantas más habrá entre aquellos que hablan lenguas distintas? Las diferencias culturales y lingüísticas entre hablantes de una

lengua y otra pueden llegar a ser enormes; cada pueblo o cultura es heredero de conocimientos, experiencias y situaciones de la vida cotidi-ana que no siempre se parecen a aquellas de los pueblos hablantes de otra lengua y por lo tanto habrá una desigualdad en cuanto a las formas de representar la realidad, y aun entre aquellos que hablan una misma lengua, en donde las diferencias culturales crearían dialectos. Ahora, cuando encontramos variaciones de reglas gramaticales de una lengua con relación a otra, nos atreveríamos a decir, que son el resultado histórico-cultural de las diferentes maneras de pensar, de crear y de ver el mundo, las cuales se fueron dando a su vez, gracias a situaciones y experiencias durante el transcurso del tiempo, ya que, posiblemente desde la antigüedad cada civilización inventó cosas diferentes, lingüísti-camente tomó otros caminos para representar lo que pensaba e imaginaba, descubrió, nombró y explicó un fenómeno que puede ser insignificante pero sobre el cual las otras civilizaciones a lo mejor no se dieron cuenta que existía, etc. A medida que apreciamos las diferentes formas de pensar y representar el mundo también nos preguntamos el por qué de la complejidad de determinada lengua para representar cierta idea o cierto pensamiento, pero hay que ver que este fenómeno puede ser dado entre tantas otras razones por la necesidad que tiene dicha lengua de ser un sistema claro que busca que sus representaciones sean lo menos ambiguas posibles. Por ejemplo, si en español decimos: Él tomó su saco, por contexto sabemos a quien realmente pertenecía el saco, mientras que en inglés es necesario que haya una aclaración de quién es el dueño del saco sin necesidad de recurrir al contexto. He took -his- her- your sack. Este fenómeno de la complejidad para representar ideas o pensamientos también varía según los diferentes niveles que existe en cuanto a la concordancia entre los actos lingüísticos de algunas lenguas y la realidad que ellas designan, puesto que a veces las palabras pueden tener muchos significados, muchos sentidos, muchos empleos de forma metafórica y además se utilizan según el contexto. Por ejemplo: En español la palabra “sobremesa” al ser traducida literalmente podría dar cuenta de algún objeto que se pone sobre una mesa, pero la verdad es que ella representa una realidad completamente diferente. Entonces, es posible que haya culturas cuya lengua sea muy, más o menos o poco modelada sobre la realidad.

En cierta medida, sería posible decir que la lengua nos permite clasifi-car las distintas culturas o formas de pensar, las cuales van desde culturas con lenguas distintas, hasta simples grupos de individuos hablantes de una misma lengua. La relación entre cultura y lengua debe ser abordada de lo particular a lo general, del individuo a la sociedad y de la sociedad a la civilización; entre más diferencias culturales haya entre individuos de una misma sociedad, así también más diferencias dialectales habrá, ya que éstos hablan la misma lengua, y entre más diferencias culturales haya entre distintas regiones del mundo que durante largo tiempo no tuvieron algún contacto o relación, más diferencias lingüísticas habrá, y tan enormes que ya no son dialectales sino de lengua.

Y CULTURASLENGUAS

CULTURE

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PEDAGOGY

THREE AIMS OF EDUCATION AND SOME STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE THEM

Angélica CarranzaDocente [email protected]

What are the aims of education and what strategies can be carried out to achieve these aims in a class with university students?Trying to give an answer to this question is not an easy task. Taking into account all the implications in meaning that the word “ education “ has, it could be said that it is important first, to specify which type of educa-tion we are talking about. Teaching University students is not the same than teaching adults or children. Whereas adult students know what they are in the classroom for and most of the times children enjoy their classes, university students are not always aware of the importance of their learning process in the English class. Our concern now is the type of education concerning these students since, given the fact that they are not always conscious about their education process, teaching them could be one of the most difficult jobs for a Teacher. Education has always been, throughout history, an important aspect in people´s lives. It has always been in direct relation with individuals´ background and culture. This is why, in these times in which the “global-ization” phenomenon is demanding from people a high level of intellec-tual preparation, our students cannot be the exception and must have the tools to face today´s world. We know that teaching university students is not just to fill them up with basic knowledge, but to teach them how to grow by themselves in the personal and intellectual field as well. For this aim, it is important for them to be aware of the importance of their educa-tion. To start with, it is relevant to set that there are three important aims of education which allow students to grow both, in the intellectual and in the personal field. Exploiting students’ abilities and taking into account their multiple intelligences are some ways to respect what they are as individu-als and make them feel they are different from everybody else in the world; this helps to build up self confidence, for them to face the world the easiest way. Taking into account every single student´s abilities, it is important to start constructing students’ personality in both, the academic and the personal aspect, and for this, discipline takes an important part since it allows increasing students’ interests in their own learning process. Providing students with the tools they need to cope up with daily life and their working field in the future is also an important aim of education since it helps them to reinforce all the processes they may go through. So, exploiting, forming and giving tools are some of the most important aims of education for students to be successful. But what can be done to achieve the objectives that these three aims of education state? What can be done in the class to reach these aims? We as teachers must implement strategies in the class to reach the aims of education. Although planning strategies to reach these goals may be hard work and time consuming, it is important for us to know that we play a definitive role in our students’ formation process; this is why we have to be the models our students must follow. Increasing students self-

confidence is a strategy we could implement for students to exploit their own abilities. For this, it is relevant when designing the lesson plans to take into account some activities that can make them feel secure and conscious about their achievements. We also must, for this purpose, take into account activities that can help develop multiple intelligences in students. Every single class must be of great importance to the students in the way that we have to visualize it as a tool that will contribute to build up students’ personality and self-awareness on their learning process. Every single class makes part of a formation process that will lead students towards success. At this point, students should consider the class useful and should be conscious about its importance as well. For this purpose it is important to include in the lesson plans activities and situations that can lead students to reflect on their position in the world and their own lives; in other words, to develop their critical thinking for them to know how to solve problems in ordinary life. Asking students questions about current situations in the world within the context of a class is a clear example of this. Raising students’ interests in the importance of every stage of their learning process by teaching them on values is one important tool we can give them to start forming their personality and building up their knowl-edge; for this, every single class must also include an activity which could lead them to recognize that every single leap they take in their lives means to undertake responsibilities. Discussing about daily life situations in the real world within the context of the class could work as a strategy to reach some aims of education. Having in mind the fact that not all the students are the same in terms of personality leads us to think that we, as teachers, cannot teach all the students the same way. To exploit each student´s personality and abilities which is one of the aims of education, it is necessary to plan strategies that can help us involve all the students of the class. It is also necessary to captivate all students´ attention in the class but we must have in mind that not all the students respond to stimuli the same way; it is because of this, that we must find the proper ways to do it in such a way that they can take advantage of the class and know that wasting time is something that could make them fail in life. Every single action carried out in the class can remain in the student´s mind for ever; this is why all the strategies which are implemented in class to achieve the aims of education, must be carefully chosen and applied so that students can really benefit themselves from their learning processes and can set bases to succeed in life. These strategies I have been talking about throughout the text can be used with all types of students. We can use critical thinking questions in our classes as a tool to achieve success with children, adults and univer-sity students as well. We can also, take into account students’ personali-ties even if they are small kids, and of course to have in mind that they all don´t have the same type of intelligence so we need to be creative to teach the way everybody enjoys the class.

LANGUAGES AND






LANGUAGES

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RESEARCH

INVOLVED IN A RESEARCH PROJECTLina M. Parra Ante Leonardo Antonio PardoYeison Navarro G.

English Language StudentsResearch Group e-mail: [email protected]

After just three semesters at the university it was quite surprising for us to be invited to take part in a research group called “Pedagogía de la autonomía y desarrollo del pensamiento”, led by the teacher, Maria Elena Perdomo, who is currently developing a project entitled “Strengthening of Thinking Skills in English Reading Comprehension, addressed to blind students in district schools in Bogotá”.

We have closely participated in the field work and the experience has been inspiring and constructive because we have had the opportunity to know the students’ feelings and conceptions about learning the foreign language.

Following the Ministry of Education policies, they are part of “integra-tive classrooms”. It means that those students share classes with learners who are able to see. We found out that blind students are really eager to learn. However, in terms of the English language classes their experience has sometimes been frustrating because in classrooms with forty students they do not get all the attention they really require, moreover, there is not much appropriate material to supply their special educational needs. Thus, this problem not only affects the learning process of the English language, but also the development of competences at interpretative, argumentative and propositional levels.

One of the aims of this research is to contribute to solve this problem by designing a self-access book, which will contain seven units. Each unit strengthens the English reading comprehension and fosters the use of a thinking skill based on authentic texts written by children who are native English speakers. Besides, every unit has warming up activities which include explanations about communicative functions and vocabu-lary selected according to the topic of the unit. Students are encouraged to perform self-assessment and self-correction oriented to improve their self-regulation skills. All these strategies contribute to strengthen autonomy in a continuous way. The book can be used inside or outside the classroom. The teacher’s help depends on the students’ needs and their level of independence.

The material will be transcribed to the Braille system and available in a software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), especially designed for blind people. It is important to highlight that this pedagogical resource will be also useful for blind or not blind learners because it will have a printed version for sighted students.

Currently, we have surveyed eight district schools located in Bosa, Kennedy, Usme, Suba, Tunjuelito, San Cristóbal and Ciudad Bolivar, and we have established the number of students with blindness and low vision. The results are the following:

To conclude, we feel that it is fundamental to share with our academic community the progress within this project, not only because it is an invaluable contribution towards concrete solutions for helping these students to strengthen their autonomy when learning English, but also because it is an example of what, we as students, can do for our academic progress. Most of the time we are studying different subjects but at the same time we are able to be agents of knowledge and active participants in the society development nowadays. Sincerely, we expect other teachers to feel motivated to develop these kinds of research projects and involve more language students in their investigations, bearing in mind the growth of our Foreign Languages Department community.

Locality School Blind Students Students with Low Vision

Bosa Carlos Albán Holguín 1 3Kennedy OEA 4 6Usme Gran Yomasa 1 3Suba Gerardo Paredes 1 2Tunjuelito Rufino José Cuervo 2 2Tunjuelito José María Córdoba 7 4San Cristóbal José Felix Restrepo 9 6Ciudad Bolívar Rodrigo Lara Bonilla 3 2

Pedro Torres [email protected]

We have now the oportunity of learning a new language in our univer-sity: FARSI, thanks to an agreement between the Foreign Languages Department and the Embassy of Iran. Many of us didn’t know that this language existed. We thought that it was Arabic or Turkish, but we were wrong. Here you have a short historical reference of this interesting language.

Farsi, also known as Persian Language, is the most widely spoken member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages. It is the language of Iran (formerly Persia) and is also widely spoken in Afghanistan and, in an archaic form, in Tajikistan and the Pamir Mountain region.

Persian is spoken today primarily in Iran and Afghanistan, but was historically a more widely understood language in an area ranging from the Middle East to India. There are significant populations of speakers in other Persian Gulf countries (Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates), as well as large communities in the USA.

The total number of speakers is high: over 40 million Farsi speakers (about 50% of Iran's population); over 7 million Dari Persian speakers in Afghanistan (25% of the population); and about 2 million Dari Persian speakers in Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, Farsi is spoken almost everywhere and close to 60 % of Afghanistan's total population speak Farsi or Dari. The map above covers Herat and the nothern parts of Afghanistan where the majority of people speak Farsi.

Three phases may be distinguished in the development of Iranian languages: Old, Middle, and Modern. Old Iranian is represented by Avestan and Old Persian. Avestan, probably spoken in the northeast of

ancient Persia, is the language of the Avesta, the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism. Except for this scriptural use, Avestan died out centuries before the advent of Islam. Old Persian is recorded in the southwest in cuneiform inscriptions of the Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty (circa 550-330 BC), notably Darius I and Xerxes I. Old Persian and Avestan have close affinity with Sanskrit, and, like Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, are highly inflected languages.

The Persian language has been written with a number of different scripts, including Old Persian Cuneiform, Pahlavi, Aramaic, and Avestan. After the Islamic conquest of the Persian Sassanian Empire in 642 AD, Arabic became the language of government, culture and especially religion.

Modern Persian appeared during the 9th century. It is written in a version of the Arabic script and is full of words of Arabic origin. There are also two methods of writing Persian with the Latin alphabet. Under Mongolian and Turkish rulers, Persian was adopted as the language of government in Turkey, central Asia and India, where it was used for centuries, and until after 1900 in Kashmir.

There are a number of closely-related varieties of Persian, including: • Persian (یسراف), is spoken by about 40 million people, mainly in central and south central Iran. There are a further 2 million speakers in many other countries including Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, the UAE and the USA. • Dari (ىرد) is spoken by about 7 million people in Afghanistan and Pakistan. • Tajiki (ىكيجات) is spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine by about 4.4 million people. Persian, Farsi or Parsi?The official language of Iran is sometimes called Farsi in English and other languages. This is a correct transliteration of the native name of the language, however many, including the ISO and the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, prefer the name Persian for the language. Some speakers use the older local name: Parsi (یسراپ). Iran or Persia?Until 1935, the official name of the country currently known as Iran was Persia, though the Persian people have called their country Iran since the Sassanid period (226 - 651 AD).

PERSIAN LANGUAGE

WORLD

REFLECTIONS AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS FARSI, OR THE






Mariana Garavito [email protected]

¿Sabes?

Últimamente he escrito mucho, más de lo que he escrito en mucho tiempo. He escrito muchas cartas, las entrego, las guardo, las pienso, las borro, nado entre ellas por este gusto tan mío de escribir para otros, este gusto tan simple de acariciar con la palabra, de arrullar con la narración, de cercarse con la fuerza de las ideas, pero ya temo entregarlas, pues a la larga esas cartas perecen augurios de la desgracia. A veces creo que en vez de sangre tengo letras danzarinas entre el fluir rojo, no puedo evitar escribir, necesito comunicarme, necesito darme a entender, tal vez simplemente quiera estar más cerca, tal vez quiero dejar de callar… Escribo, escribo porque siento que tal vez en aquel mismo susurro que compartimos esa noche, llegarán estas palabras a tu mente. Escribo porque solo así puedo sostener la fantasía de que me rodeas con tus brazos y mis manos ya no están frías… generalmente son cálidas, a la luz del sol mantengo mi temperatura corporal, pero en la madrugada de ayer, en el frío típico del preludio del alba, rodeada por el silencio urbano, la oscuridad herida por la luz de la lámpara de argón y el visceral deseo de no sentir nada cuando estaba llena de emociones contradictorias… dejé que mis manos se enfriaran al tiempo que gritaba en silencio como una suerte de Eco. Pero entonces tú me sentiste, tú escuchaste mi grito y entonces yo simplemente te sentí tan cerca… alucinando tu presencia impresente. Y así entre letras entrecruzadas, en el tejido dinámico de una conver-sación, el aura oscura de mí ser se espantó por tu calidez, mi melancolía degradante perdió fuerza como lo hacen los espíritus malvados cuando no se cree en ellos. Así fue como quise quererte y que me quisieras a tu vez, entonces quise embrujarte para que no te perdieras en la nada infinita

de la red, quise cristalizar el momento en un recuerdo infinito y perpetuo, capturar tu esencia junto a la mía, como retener el sabor majestuoso de un jugo recién hecho… y entonces la atormentada necesidad de estrellarte me golpeo de frente. El hormigueo en mis manos por el deseo de tocarte, para constatar que existes, que vives en realidad y que no eres un artilugio de mi imaginación para soportar el vacío solitario. Sí, mi palma escocía por querer apoyar mi mano contra tu pecho y sentir en tu corazón la cadencia del efecto de mis palabras… sentir tu latido y tu respiración, seguir su curso… y te quise tan cerca, que al cerrar los ojos pudiese adivinar tu presencia con tu silencio, con tu olor; con el compartir el oxigeno de una habitación… Pero solo tenía tus palabras, aquel consuelo absurdo y me partía en dos un dolor que nacía del corazón, el dolor agridulce de quien extraña, de quien anhela… y sentía como desde mi alma se formaba un tejido vivo de afecto hacia el tuyo, que me arrastraba a ti. Renegaba de mi soledad cuando ella me había traído a las costas de tu existencia, dos soledades encontradas para derrotarse pero sin poder tocarse… dos soledades que se acompañaban en una madrugada sin tiempo. Y en la noche te extrañé, esperando secretamente que vinieses a mí a oscuras y me abrazases por la espalda mientras que mi cuello sentía tu respiración, al tiempo que mi cuerpo se amoldaba al tuyo y con cansancio me rendía a un sueño confiado a ti y contra ti…Es extraño como puede uno sentirse acoplado con un extraño, es extraño como un extraño se hace de repente entrañable.

Gracias por compartir tu soledad conmigo…Con extraño y dulce afecto:

Yo

ALUCINACIÓN

LITERATURE

411

RESEARCH

PROPUESTA DE

DE CAPITAL LETTER Nubia Ortega Rodrí[email protected]

Construir conocimiento es uno de las labores humanas más complejas y a un mismo tiempo, más sencillas. Todos los días se construye conocimiento a través de las vivencias diarias. Preparar una taza de café con o sin leche, ver un programa de televisión, compartir las cosas de diario vivir y hasta consentir a la mascota de la casa, son experiencias que brindan un aporte a la edificación del edificio del saber. De todo se aprende. Pero actualmente, se le presta mayor atención a un ámbito cada vez más fuerte en el desarrollo de la humanidad y es, el de la tecnología. El ser humano ha pasado por un sin fin de procesos de experimentación -prueba y error- para llegar a implementar herramientas que le faciliten la vida. Y si lo ha hecho en aras de poder viajar por el mundo ya sea en avión, barco o tren, ¿por qué no podría hacerlo por mejorar la forma en la que se aprende y de ese modo hacer más eficiente ese ansiado desarrollo tecnológico? Se trata de un círculo de eterno retorno, en palabras de los Vedas. Es necesario disponer de la materia prima, que en este caso es el mejoramiento de procesos cognitivos, para poder llegar a tener el fruto de su uso mediante la construcción del conocimiento, es decir, lograr contribuir con nuevas ideas al flujo incesante de información que se constituye en el basamento de toda interacción reflexiva.

Uno de los más grandes focos de ese intercambio de ideas, es la Universidad. Es el lugar donde por fin (y felizmente para un buen número de pupilos), se hace posible la expresión libre y confiada de los pensamientos, que aunque en apariencia sean descabellados, pueden llegar a convertirse en hitos de referencia y un faro de luz para otros. En la Universidad, no sólo se va a clase, se comparte, se discute. La Univer-sidad por su constitución, es de una u otra forma, una ciudad dentro de la ciudad. Lo que se ve afuera de ella, se ve dentro de ella y los medios de comunicación no son la excepción.

Revistas, periódicos, radio y plataformas virtuales, también hacen parte de esta institución educativa, ya que necesitan ir a la par de la sociedad que le permite subsistir.

Estos medios garantizan a los individuos pertenecientes a este grupo social, la participación a todo nivel. Aunque no todos permiten la interac-ción entre informantes informados. Este es el caso de las revistas, que aunque en ocasiones disponen de una columna para las opiniones de los lectores, tienen dificultades para poder seguir una corriente de interac-ción constante mediante el seguimiento a un tópico en particular.

Un caso opuesto es el de plataformas virtuales, como las comunidades virtuales de aprendizaje. Para citar un ejemplo, hablaremos del Black-board. (Plataforma virtual de apoyo para las clases que dispone de aplica-ciones, como foros de discusión, cartelera de anuncios, tabla de conteni-dos, materiales del curso, evaluación en línea, Chat, por nombrar algunas). El Blackboard es una plataforma muy útil, que al contar con tantas aplicaciones que permiten un elevado nivel de interacción, aparen-taría ser una de las herramientas más usadas en la consecución de la construcción del conocimiento, por parte de estudiantes y docentes, pero la realidad es que dada la obligatoriedad de su uso, el nivel de interacción entre docentes y estudiantes y entre estos mismos, es muy bajo.

El propósito de este artículo, es el de contar una idea en la que se pretende hacer una propuesta que amalgame la utilidad de una publicación tradicional (papel y tinta), como una revista, en este caso la revista Capital Letter del Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y ciertas aplicaciones que le otorguen al libertad da estudiantes y docentes, de escribir y discutir los artículos con toda libertad, gracias al simple interés que aquellos puedan tener en relación con un tema específico.

Otras publicaciones de tipo tradicional han puesto su esfuerzo en crear versiones digitales que pretenden tener un mayor rango de alcance, pero en realidad su oferta no ofrece un verdadero aporte. Se leen de igual forma como las de tinta y papel. La única diferencia consiste en que la lectura se hace en la pantalla de un computador.

El aporte que la revista Capital Letter desea hacer a la Universidad, es el ser un factor decisivo en la labor diaria de la enseñanza y así mismo del aprendizaje. Debido a que la revista acoge artículos en varios idiomas, a gusto del autor, y además goza de variedad en los temas tratados, puede pensarse en esta como un instrumento para el mejora-miento de habilidades básicas, no sólo en las lenguas extranjeras, sino también en la propia: La lectura y la escritura. Estas dos habilidades han sido bastante menospreciadas en escuelas y colegios ocasionando ralentización en los procesos individuales de aprendizaje. ¿Por qué no emplear un medio libre para construir conocimiento con gusto?

La conjugación de tradición y tecnología puede vencer los miedos y las barreras en aras de la expresión individual. Si por ejemplo, los estudi-antes se ven tan abocados al uso de la Internet con el cúmulo de aplica-ciones virtuales que la constituyen (comunidades virtuales, blogs, correo electrónico, buscadores, descargas de música, foros de discusión, páginas propias con información personal, videos colgados pro los mismos usuarios, etc.) ¿por qué no tener un medio propio, que como bien reza el dicho, mata dos pájaros de un sólo tiro, ya que otorga un espacio libre de expresión e interacción a estudiantes y profesores y a un mismo tiempo, construye conocimiento de forma espontánea?

10

CARTA A UNA VIRTUALIZACIÓN

Imangen: Julián Hernandez






JUGENDSEHNSUCHTCatalina Vasquez [email protected]

Wie kleine Mäuse kommen die Wirklichkeiten plötzlich von allen Ecken heraus.Aber wie viele Stunden müssen wir hier stehen?Fasst uns an!,Nur so werden wir wirklich sein.Die Folter, das Weinen, und die Klage wollen uns in herbstliche Bettücher einwickeln…Aber wirklich zu sein ist unsere Jugendsehnsucht.Die Furcht wird sich auflösen…

ANHELO DE JUVENTUD

Como ratoncillos por entre las esquinas,Salen de pronto las realidades.Pero, ¿cuánto tiempo tenemos que estar aquí parados?- ¡Tóquennos! Solo así podremos ser reales.La tortura, el llanto y el quejidoNos quieren envolver en sábanas otoñales.Ser reales es lo que queremos,Nuestro anhelo de juventud.El temor se disolverá.

POETRY

105

CULTURES

STEREOTYPEJulio [email protected]

Nowadays, it is commonplace to notice a sort of confusion between our fellow citizens regarding the knowledge of Eastern cultures. Not only language but culture seems to be unknown. Everything that looks Eastern, whether it be a thing, a script or even a person, is understood and referred by “chino” in what I call “the Chinese stereotype”. The idea of this brief article is to improve our knowledge of Eastern cultures, taking into account the language. That is the point that really matters to us as philologists.

To start with, Asia is divided into more than 52 countries in different regions like middle, central, southern, northern and the Far East and is joined to Europe by a single landmass known as Eurasia. I am just going to take into account the corresponding area of China, Korea and Japan known as the Far East. Apologies to the other numerous and fascinating countries of the region, but this article is just going to address those languages and cultures that are easily mistaken and are part of this controversy.

LANGUAGE To provide some insight on the matter, let’s review some characteristics of these three cultures and their languages. To start with, China has more than 3000 000 000 inhabitants, who speak 7 different dialects (Wu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Min, Xiang, Hakka and Gan) all of which come from the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. Their writing system is known as ( 漢字 ) “hanzi” or “Chinese writing”. Hanzi originated in China approximately 4000 years ago and over 50,000 varieties of hanzi have been used and catalogued. Currently, Chinese writing uses about 6000 of these charac-ters. Grammatically speaking, it is a disyllabic, tonal, with an SVO (subject, verb, object) structure.

As for Korea (also known as Hanguk), it is inhabited by more than 78 million people and is divided into north and south because of the Korean War back in 1953. Its language is called (한국어) “hangukgo” which means “language of the people of Korea” and their writing system is known as (한글) “Hangeul”. After it was seen that people did not learn Chinese ideograms (朝鮮) “Hancha”, around 1446 the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong the Great, entrusted a group of scholars with the job of developing a not-

so-complex and easy-to-learn writing system. As a result “hangeul” was devised. The Korean language is a phonemic, syllabic, isolating, agglutinative SOV-order language.

The Japanese language (日本語 ) “nihongo” is spoken by more than 127 million people around the world. It has three different writing systems (漢字, カタカナ, ひらがな) “Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana”. Kanji is the writing system brought from China; modern Japanese is written with a combination of Kanji, hiragana and katakana. Kanji is used to express the basic meaning of words, whether they be nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. Hiragana is written after kanji to modify its basic meaning and make it conform to Japanese grammatical rules. Katakana is mainly used to write words that were originally foreign but have been incorporated into the Japanese language. Such words are called (外来語) “garaigo”, which literally means “words from abroad”. Both Hiragana and katakana were formed from Kanji ideograms to make the learning of writing and reading easy. Japanese is a polysyllabic, atonal language, with quite a complex word formation and an SOV order.

DIFFERENT LINGUISTIC FAMILIES

Unlike other linguistic families of the world, most Asian languages seem to have confusing roots perhaps because of the constant migratory flows that have taken place since modern man has walked on earth. Thus, the linguistic classi-fication of Far Eastern languages has been problematic since there is no agreement over their origins. Specifically speak-ing, Korean and Japanese do not seem to fall into a known linguistic family despite the fact that many researchers have catalogued them in the Altaic family which is comprised of 3 different groups: Turkic, Mongol and Manchu-tugus.

Recently, it was thought that Japanese came from Korea due to the syntactic resemblance. However, it has been shown that the differences lie simply in “loanwords” or borrowings from Korean into Japanese; if they diverged from each other in the past, this may well have occurred as long as 5000 years ago. This in itself makes the reconstruc-tion of a possible language tree extremely difficult. Other theories just pull Korean language back into the Altaic group for dubious anthropological reasons, while Japanese is put aside in what they called Japonic families, which is not such a clear theory ,that does not specify the relation between the other supposed languages that nowadays are considered standard Japanese dialects (Ryukukan families).

RE(EL-)TURNAnònimo

If you want me to end (or to end me)Do it but please quite softlyTear my limbs one by one but slowlyEat my soul tough please,Do not forget to enjoy it

Bite my chest with your lipsShoot my heart by your kissDrain my blood through your eyesSuck my life piece by piece

Nevertheless…Take care of letting me see your faceStare straight into me, And hide behind your grown hair(as always)

Let me enjoy the pleasure Of the cruelty glare of your eyesBuried beneath your mild skin

And pupils lost in widen skies

Then… When there’s nothing left of meBlow my ashes from your hand And squander me awayWith that last kissFrom your distant mouth

THE CHINESE






69

POETRY

MAIN As noted above, only Japanese and Korean share some grammati-cal structures which are to be more clearly grounded as new research is done. On the contrary, there is no specific Chinese linguistic connection, except by some loanwords; however there are some resemblances regarding the writing system that are to be made between these three languages.

Due to the lack of a writing system to express ideas in the Koryo peninsula (Korea) and the Yamato (Japan or Nihon) archipelago as well, Senjimon, a Chinese textbook for studying kanji, was introduced around the third century to the ancient nation of Kudara (east Korea). Kanji, hancha, or hanzi as the Chinese writing system is known in Japan, Korea and China respectively, was devised in China around the 14th century B.C. Sporadically, these ideograms spread to the neighboring Korean peninsula only to be introduced later on in Japan by a man named Wani who also brought volumes of the analects of Confucius. Once in Japan, Hanzi underwent a transforma-tion in meaning and strokes to adapt it to the Yamato Kotoba, “language of the people of Yamato”, as Japan was originally named, and evolved into a different set of ideograms that nowadays number 35000, though only 2000 to 4000 are used.

WHAT ABOUT HISTORY?

To some extent, these languages have considerable influence on each other. Not only has geographical proximity played an important role; war, trade, religious beliefs are important as well. As a result, these three nations have been in touch for more than 1800 years providing enough background to tighten economical, religious, cultural and linguistic relations.

Thanks to a long tradition of wars and invasions that shaped geographic and linguistic boundaries, the history has been mingled too. The most recent incident involving these three nations dates back to the first half of the 20th century when the Japanese empire spread throughout southern Asia, taking possession of a vast territory in China, part of Korea and some other countries. After the atomic bomb, the Japanese empire was defeated and the imperial troops were driven back to Japan. After the Japanese withdrawal, some influences were noted in Korean and Chinese languages as the Japanese pushed them to learn their native tongue. For instance, Hanzi took some Kanji, referring to new terms brought from western countries and vice versa.

Presently, due to trade and politics regarding the North Korean situation, communication has been enhanced and talks between these countries have taken place. Moreover, the migratory flows increased during 1970 and 2000. However, there is a growing feeling of

rejection going both ways between China and Japan not only for political reasons but because of the irresponsible and excessive economic growth of China which is turning the Far Eastern region into the most polluted zone of the earth. Likewise, Chinese people are still offended by the fact that during WW II, Japan murdered more than 2 million Chinese people for xenophobic reasons. Furthermore, the Korean and Japanese still have serious problems with border issues related to an island named “Tock to” located between the two countries surrounded by the Japan Sea, both sides arguing property rights.

NO MORE CHINESE STEREOTYPES

In short, this brief article depicts the situation in Far East Asia, not only taking into account the language but historical issues that are more grounded in philological studies. As the globalization process goes on, we will be forced to speak about new factors regarding the integration of these countries, as well as other parts of the world.

I hope all this information is enough to shape a new vision of the Far Eastern culture. There are a lot of things to be done and new research on the topic will provide more and clearer data. These lines were written to enlighten and encourage not only students but our fellow citizens to inquire more about oriental cultures and once and for all stop calling everyone that comes from Asia “chino” or “china” knowing that we could be showing our ignorance on the matter and be offending someone.

Mauricio Steven Rincón Álvarez “El Santo”[email protected]

Señora:

Tal vez se le haga un poco extraño las tintas frescas de este papel, al que transformé en una carta sin fecha ni lugar, porque, quiero engañar a mi corazón con la posibilidad de una nueva facultad de sufrir o reír, pero hoy, doy el primer paso para que los infortunios de la razón no afecten mi corazón, por lo tanto, le pido a mis dedos la tinta roja de esta vieja máquina de escribir una disculpa…

DISCÚLPAME

Discúlpame, por soñar acariciando tu piel en las tardes de tus labios.Disculpa, al entregarte mi corazón, dándote un beso poquito a poco.Discúlpame, al darte sonrisas sin pedirle permiso a tus ojos.Disculpa, por no abrazarte lo suficiente y cuidar tu alma eterna-mente.Discúlpame, si te nombro la musa de mis noches sin luna llena.Disculpa, por tentar a tu compasión y decidas aceptar una mirada fija de este bufón.Discúlpame, si decido derramar una lágrima de felicidad porque te encontré.Disculpa, al bautizarte mi ángel, con el agua bendita del desierto de la soledad.Discúlpame, por querer entregarte mis miedos y superarlos con tu compañía.Disculpa, si intento tomarte de las manos perdonando la impaciencia de mis dedos.Discúlpame, al proporcionarte un detalle, sólo quiero enamorarte.Disculpa mi sinceridad, al mencionarte la belleza de tu corazón, sin negarte la gratitud de tocarlo con mis palabras de bohemio y trovador.Pero ante todo quiero darte las gracias, porque sin ti no tendría de quien disculparme.

GRACIAS

DISCÚLPAMEEdgar Milton Santa [email protected]

TA






As we have seen until now philology is a science, but if look at the etymology of the word we will find that its definitions goes beyond its scientific character. Philology means fond or enthusiasm for the word or erudition (Echaide and Correa, 1987: 16) and this is related to a definition greater than a simple science because, in addition to including its own methods, this science studies aspects of the language different to its nature, its structure and its expressive resources. For its close relation with literature, philology expands its field of action towards arts and all knowledge depending on written texts, which is a common standard in multiple disciplines and field of study.

Another issue related to the topic is the study of the language, the study of the faculty that allows us the internalization and particular use of the verbal communication. According to Chomsky (1985) we should conceive the study of the language as a certain state of the mind-brain… as a state of a differentiable faculty of the mind –the linguistic faculty- with its properties, structure and specific organization. We can realize in this way that the psychic/neurolinguistic aspects of our studies are proper to philology, and besides knowing about the structure, history, culture and other elements related to the language we study, it is equally impor-tant to know the biological and intellectual mechanisms that enable humans to use the faculty of language.

On the other hand, philology studies languages through the texts of a particular community, and these texts use one of the most important and ancient technologies related to language and communication: writing. “We find it difficult to consider writing to be a technology as we commonly assume printing and the computer to be. Yet writing (and especially alphabetic writing) is a technology, calling for the use of tools and other equipment: styli or brushes or pens, carefully prepared surfaces such as paper, animal skins, strips of wood, as well as inks or paints, and much more.” (Ong, 1982). We can see that philology uses technology

since its very beginning, and thanks to that it has been possible to carry out studies of languages that, despite lacking native speakers, make presence through the technology inherited from ancient cultures by writings, images and pictograms.

As a conclusion, we could say that philology is the science that studies the language in all its aspects, but focused on a specific language or group of familiar languages. However, it should be taken into account that philology is not just a science that describes the structure of a language; its relation to literature and other forms of human expression make of it an art, and its field of action is not limited to its scientific character. Philology is the study of languages within the boundaries of a particular one, and its evolution and transformation will keep active during the existence of language, that as every living independent being, will keep growing and transforming for all the time we allow it, and surely for much more time after us.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CHOMSKY, Noam (1985) El conocimiento del lenguaje. Madrid: Alianza Editorial

ECHAIDE, Ana; CORREA, Pedro (1978) Filología Hispánica I. España: Universidad de Navarra.

GUZMAN, Antonio; TEJADA, Paloma (2000) ¿Cómo estudiar filología? Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

ONG, J. Walter (1982) Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen. Disponible en http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/relg/ong.html

___________ (1972) Diccionario Enciclopédico Quillet, Tomo cuarto. Argentina: Editorial Argentina Arístides Quillet.. ____________ (1999) Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language. Florida: Trident Press International

87

LANGUAGE

WHAT IS

ABOUT?

Camilo Morales [email protected]

Since I started to study this major program, when I am asked about my studies, I always delay the answer, because I know this answer often leads to the question: and, what is philology? To this new question I delay more the answer, first due to my own ignorance about the topic, and second because I feel an appropriate answer would take long. When I know that the question is only a formality and a quick answer is required I simply say languages, an answer that does not say much, although it is not wrong anyway. When I perceive that the inquirer has deeper interest in the topic, I mention that philology is the thoughtful study of languages. However, when that does not satisfies curiosity, I declare that philology studies languages, not only in their practical matters (how to use them) but the utter complex of an intricate net of culture, thought and society.

Nevertheless, after each time in which the mentioned questions reappeared, an inner vacuity make me notice that I have never answer this question to myself, and perhaps I do not have the answer clearer than those asking about it. For this reason I pretend to give to those interested (starting by myself) a simple answer to a question that I have face more than once, without reaching a neither definite nor satisfactory answer.

In the first place I want to comment on a definition found in the Quillet dictionary (1972), which says that philology is a science that studies the language and literature of a community or group of commu-nities through written texts. If we analyze this definition in the context of our major in the Universidad Nacional we realize that, in fact, the students of our program study the language and literature of their language (English, French, German), and it is mostly done through written texts. What this definition lacks is the social, cultural and pedagogical component that we learn when studying a “licenciatura”.

On the other hand, if we stick to the dictionary definition, we would be constraining philology to the study of the language, and in this way its definition may be incomplete. Therefore, I would like to complement this definition by expanding on what I found in the Webster’s’ dictionary (1999): Philology is “The scientific study of written records, in order to set up accurate texts and determine their meaning, often in terms of linguistics and cultural history.” It is clear that philology is not only dedicated to the study of the language; it also integrates dimensions of the language that surpass the study of the mere form, transcending to deeper aspects in relation to the use and characteristics of the language, its users, and the contexts in which it develops.

According to Guzmán and Tejada (2000) philology is the study of the language of a specific community, and in consequence, of its literature. In relation to this definition, another discussion about the topic arises: Is it possible to study philology in general? The question may seem unnec-essary but this science is not commonly studied on the whole, but in some of its different specializations. For this reason it is not common to find a major only in philology; as it happens in our university, we can study classical, English, German or French philology. Philology in general would study all languages of all cultures; however, since it is difficult to find someone who develops these studies in such a ubiqui-tous way as would be necessary, it is better to study philology in each of the languages, or groups of languages, in which we are interested. Nevertheless, the more languages we study, the better philology studies we can carry out.

PHILOLOGY






69

POETRY

MAIN As noted above, only Japanese and Korean share some grammati-cal structures which are to be more clearly grounded as new research is done. On the contrary, there is no specific Chinese linguistic connection, except by some loanwords; however there are some resemblances regarding the writing system that are to be made between these three languages.

Due to the lack of a writing system to express ideas in the Koryo peninsula (Korea) and the Yamato (Japan or Nihon) archipelago as well, Senjimon, a Chinese textbook for studying kanji, was introduced around the third century to the ancient nation of Kudara (east Korea). Kanji, hancha, or hanzi as the Chinese writing system is known in Japan, Korea and China respectively, was devised in China around the 14th century B.C. Sporadically, these ideograms spread to the neighboring Korean peninsula only to be introduced later on in Japan by a man named Wani who also brought volumes of the analects of Confucius. Once in Japan, Hanzi underwent a transforma-tion in meaning and strokes to adapt it to the Yamato Kotoba, “language of the people of Yamato”, as Japan was originally named, and evolved into a different set of ideograms that nowadays number 35000, though only 2000 to 4000 are used.

WHAT ABOUT HISTORY?

To some extent, these languages have considerable influence on each other. Not only has geographical proximity played an important role; war, trade, religious beliefs are important as well. As a result, these three nations have been in touch for more than 1800 years providing enough background to tighten economical, religious, cultural and linguistic relations.

Thanks to a long tradition of wars and invasions that shaped geographic and linguistic boundaries, the history has been mingled too. The most recent incident involving these three nations dates back to the first half of the 20th century when the Japanese empire spread throughout southern Asia, taking possession of a vast territory in China, part of Korea and some other countries. After the atomic bomb, the Japanese empire was defeated and the imperial troops were driven back to Japan. After the Japanese withdrawal, some influences were noted in Korean and Chinese languages as the Japanese pushed them to learn their native tongue. For instance, Hanzi took some Kanji, referring to new terms brought from western countries and vice versa.

Presently, due to trade and politics regarding the North Korean situation, communication has been enhanced and talks between these countries have taken place. Moreover, the migratory flows increased during 1970 and 2000. However, there is a growing feeling of

rejection going both ways between China and Japan not only for political reasons but because of the irresponsible and excessive economic growth of China which is turning the Far Eastern region into the most polluted zone of the earth. Likewise, Chinese people are still offended by the fact that during WW II, Japan murdered more than 2 million Chinese people for xenophobic reasons. Furthermore, the Korean and Japanese still have serious problems with border issues related to an island named “Tock to” located between the two countries surrounded by the Japan Sea, both sides arguing property rights.

NO MORE CHINESE STEREOTYPES

In short, this brief article depicts the situation in Far East Asia, not only taking into account the language but historical issues that are more grounded in philological studies. As the globalization process goes on, we will be forced to speak about new factors regarding the integration of these countries, as well as other parts of the world.

I hope all this information is enough to shape a new vision of the Far Eastern culture. There are a lot of things to be done and new research on the topic will provide more and clearer data. These lines were written to enlighten and encourage not only students but our fellow citizens to inquire more about oriental cultures and once and for all stop calling everyone that comes from Asia “chino” or “china” knowing that we could be showing our ignorance on the matter and be offending someone.

Mauricio Steven Rincón Álvarez “El Santo”[email protected]

Señora:

Tal vez se le haga un poco extraño las tintas frescas de este papel, al que transformé en una carta sin fecha ni lugar, porque, quiero engañar a mi corazón con la posibilidad de una nueva facultad de sufrir o reír, pero hoy, doy el primer paso para que los infortunios de la razón no afecten mi corazón, por lo tanto, le pido a mis dedos la tinta roja de esta vieja máquina de escribir una disculpa…

DISCÚLPAME

Discúlpame, por soñar acariciando tu piel en las tardes de tus labios.Disculpa, al entregarte mi corazón, dándote un beso poquito a poco.Discúlpame, al darte sonrisas sin pedirle permiso a tus ojos.Disculpa, por no abrazarte lo suficiente y cuidar tu alma eterna-mente.Discúlpame, si te nombro la musa de mis noches sin luna llena.Disculpa, por tentar a tu compasión y decidas aceptar una mirada fija de este bufón.Discúlpame, si decido derramar una lágrima de felicidad porque te encontré.Disculpa, al bautizarte mi ángel, con el agua bendita del desierto de la soledad.Discúlpame, por querer entregarte mis miedos y superarlos con tu compañía.Disculpa, si intento tomarte de las manos perdonando la impaciencia de mis dedos.Discúlpame, al proporcionarte un detalle, sólo quiero enamorarte.Disculpa mi sinceridad, al mencionarte la belleza de tu corazón, sin negarte la gratitud de tocarlo con mis palabras de bohemio y trovador.Pero ante todo quiero darte las gracias, porque sin ti no tendría de quien disculparme.

GRACIAS

DISCÚLPAMEEdgar Milton Santa [email protected]

TA






JUGENDSEHNSUCHTCatalina Vasquez [email protected]

Wie kleine Mäuse kommen die Wirklichkeiten plötzlich von allen Ecken heraus.Aber wie viele Stunden müssen wir hier stehen?Fasst uns an!,Nur so werden wir wirklich sein.Die Folter, das Weinen, und die Klage wollen uns in herbstliche Bettücher einwickeln…Aber wirklich zu sein ist unsere Jugendsehnsucht.Die Furcht wird sich auflösen…

ANHELO DE JUVENTUD

Como ratoncillos por entre las esquinas,Salen de pronto las realidades.Pero, ¿cuánto tiempo tenemos que estar aquí parados?- ¡Tóquennos! Solo así podremos ser reales.La tortura, el llanto y el quejidoNos quieren envolver en sábanas otoñales.Ser reales es lo que queremos,Nuestro anhelo de juventud.El temor se disolverá.

POETRY

105

CULTURES

STEREOTYPEJulio [email protected]

Nowadays, it is commonplace to notice a sort of confusion between our fellow citizens regarding the knowledge of Eastern cultures. Not only language but culture seems to be unknown. Everything that looks Eastern, whether it be a thing, a script or even a person, is understood and referred by “chino” in what I call “the Chinese stereotype”. The idea of this brief article is to improve our knowledge of Eastern cultures, taking into account the language. That is the point that really matters to us as philologists.

To start with, Asia is divided into more than 52 countries in different regions like middle, central, southern, northern and the Far East and is joined to Europe by a single landmass known as Eurasia. I am just going to take into account the corresponding area of China, Korea and Japan known as the Far East. Apologies to the other numerous and fascinating countries of the region, but this article is just going to address those languages and cultures that are easily mistaken and are part of this controversy.

LANGUAGE To provide some insight on the matter, let’s review some characteristics of these three cultures and their languages. To start with, China has more than 3000 000 000 inhabitants, who speak 7 different dialects (Wu, Mandarin, Cantonese, Min, Xiang, Hakka and Gan) all of which come from the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family. Their writing system is known as ( 漢字 ) “hanzi” or “Chinese writing”. Hanzi originated in China approximately 4000 years ago and over 50,000 varieties of hanzi have been used and catalogued. Currently, Chinese writing uses about 6000 of these charac-ters. Grammatically speaking, it is a disyllabic, tonal, with an SVO (subject, verb, object) structure.

As for Korea (also known as Hanguk), it is inhabited by more than 78 million people and is divided into north and south because of the Korean War back in 1953. Its language is called (한국어) “hangukgo” which means “language of the people of Korea” and their writing system is known as (한글) “Hangeul”. After it was seen that people did not learn Chinese ideograms (朝鮮) “Hancha”, around 1446 the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong the Great, entrusted a group of scholars with the job of developing a not-

so-complex and easy-to-learn writing system. As a result “hangeul” was devised. The Korean language is a phonemic, syllabic, isolating, agglutinative SOV-order language.

The Japanese language (日本語 ) “nihongo” is spoken by more than 127 million people around the world. It has three different writing systems (漢字, カタカナ, ひらがな) “Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana”. Kanji is the writing system brought from China; modern Japanese is written with a combination of Kanji, hiragana and katakana. Kanji is used to express the basic meaning of words, whether they be nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. Hiragana is written after kanji to modify its basic meaning and make it conform to Japanese grammatical rules. Katakana is mainly used to write words that were originally foreign but have been incorporated into the Japanese language. Such words are called (外来語) “garaigo”, which literally means “words from abroad”. Both Hiragana and katakana were formed from Kanji ideograms to make the learning of writing and reading easy. Japanese is a polysyllabic, atonal language, with quite a complex word formation and an SOV order.

DIFFERENT LINGUISTIC FAMILIES

Unlike other linguistic families of the world, most Asian languages seem to have confusing roots perhaps because of the constant migratory flows that have taken place since modern man has walked on earth. Thus, the linguistic classi-fication of Far Eastern languages has been problematic since there is no agreement over their origins. Specifically speak-ing, Korean and Japanese do not seem to fall into a known linguistic family despite the fact that many researchers have catalogued them in the Altaic family which is comprised of 3 different groups: Turkic, Mongol and Manchu-tugus.

Recently, it was thought that Japanese came from Korea due to the syntactic resemblance. However, it has been shown that the differences lie simply in “loanwords” or borrowings from Korean into Japanese; if they diverged from each other in the past, this may well have occurred as long as 5000 years ago. This in itself makes the reconstruc-tion of a possible language tree extremely difficult. Other theories just pull Korean language back into the Altaic group for dubious anthropological reasons, while Japanese is put aside in what they called Japonic families, which is not such a clear theory ,that does not specify the relation between the other supposed languages that nowadays are considered standard Japanese dialects (Ryukukan families).

RE(EL-)TURNAnònimo

If you want me to end (or to end me)Do it but please quite softlyTear my limbs one by one but slowlyEat my soul tough please,Do not forget to enjoy it

Bite my chest with your lipsShoot my heart by your kissDrain my blood through your eyesSuck my life piece by piece

Nevertheless…Take care of letting me see your faceStare straight into me, And hide behind your grown hair(as always)

Let me enjoy the pleasure Of the cruelty glare of your eyesBuried beneath your mild skin

And pupils lost in widen skies

Then… When there’s nothing left of meBlow my ashes from your hand And squander me awayWith that last kissFrom your distant mouth

THE CHINESE






Mariana Garavito [email protected]

¿Sabes?

Últimamente he escrito mucho, más de lo que he escrito en mucho tiempo. He escrito muchas cartas, las entrego, las guardo, las pienso, las borro, nado entre ellas por este gusto tan mío de escribir para otros, este gusto tan simple de acariciar con la palabra, de arrullar con la narración, de cercarse con la fuerza de las ideas, pero ya temo entregarlas, pues a la larga esas cartas perecen augurios de la desgracia. A veces creo que en vez de sangre tengo letras danzarinas entre el fluir rojo, no puedo evitar escribir, necesito comunicarme, necesito darme a entender, tal vez simplemente quiera estar más cerca, tal vez quiero dejar de callar… Escribo, escribo porque siento que tal vez en aquel mismo susurro que compartimos esa noche, llegarán estas palabras a tu mente. Escribo porque solo así puedo sostener la fantasía de que me rodeas con tus brazos y mis manos ya no están frías… generalmente son cálidas, a la luz del sol mantengo mi temperatura corporal, pero en la madrugada de ayer, en el frío típico del preludio del alba, rodeada por el silencio urbano, la oscuridad herida por la luz de la lámpara de argón y el visceral deseo de no sentir nada cuando estaba llena de emociones contradictorias… dejé que mis manos se enfriaran al tiempo que gritaba en silencio como una suerte de Eco. Pero entonces tú me sentiste, tú escuchaste mi grito y entonces yo simplemente te sentí tan cerca… alucinando tu presencia impresente. Y así entre letras entrecruzadas, en el tejido dinámico de una conver-sación, el aura oscura de mí ser se espantó por tu calidez, mi melancolía degradante perdió fuerza como lo hacen los espíritus malvados cuando no se cree en ellos. Así fue como quise quererte y que me quisieras a tu vez, entonces quise embrujarte para que no te perdieras en la nada infinita

de la red, quise cristalizar el momento en un recuerdo infinito y perpetuo, capturar tu esencia junto a la mía, como retener el sabor majestuoso de un jugo recién hecho… y entonces la atormentada necesidad de estrellarte me golpeo de frente. El hormigueo en mis manos por el deseo de tocarte, para constatar que existes, que vives en realidad y que no eres un artilugio de mi imaginación para soportar el vacío solitario. Sí, mi palma escocía por querer apoyar mi mano contra tu pecho y sentir en tu corazón la cadencia del efecto de mis palabras… sentir tu latido y tu respiración, seguir su curso… y te quise tan cerca, que al cerrar los ojos pudiese adivinar tu presencia con tu silencio, con tu olor; con el compartir el oxigeno de una habitación… Pero solo tenía tus palabras, aquel consuelo absurdo y me partía en dos un dolor que nacía del corazón, el dolor agridulce de quien extraña, de quien anhela… y sentía como desde mi alma se formaba un tejido vivo de afecto hacia el tuyo, que me arrastraba a ti. Renegaba de mi soledad cuando ella me había traído a las costas de tu existencia, dos soledades encontradas para derrotarse pero sin poder tocarse… dos soledades que se acompañaban en una madrugada sin tiempo. Y en la noche te extrañé, esperando secretamente que vinieses a mí a oscuras y me abrazases por la espalda mientras que mi cuello sentía tu respiración, al tiempo que mi cuerpo se amoldaba al tuyo y con cansancio me rendía a un sueño confiado a ti y contra ti…Es extraño como puede uno sentirse acoplado con un extraño, es extraño como un extraño se hace de repente entrañable.

Gracias por compartir tu soledad conmigo…Con extraño y dulce afecto:

Yo

ALUCINACIÓN

LITERATURE

411

RESEARCH

PROPUESTA DE

DE CAPITAL LETTER Nubia Ortega Rodrí[email protected]

Construir conocimiento es uno de las labores humanas más complejas y a un mismo tiempo, más sencillas. Todos los días se construye conocimiento a través de las vivencias diarias. Preparar una taza de café con o sin leche, ver un programa de televisión, compartir las cosas de diario vivir y hasta consentir a la mascota de la casa, son experiencias que brindan un aporte a la edificación del edificio del saber. De todo se aprende. Pero actualmente, se le presta mayor atención a un ámbito cada vez más fuerte en el desarrollo de la humanidad y es, el de la tecnología. El ser humano ha pasado por un sin fin de procesos de experimentación -prueba y error- para llegar a implementar herramientas que le faciliten la vida. Y si lo ha hecho en aras de poder viajar por el mundo ya sea en avión, barco o tren, ¿por qué no podría hacerlo por mejorar la forma en la que se aprende y de ese modo hacer más eficiente ese ansiado desarrollo tecnológico? Se trata de un círculo de eterno retorno, en palabras de los Vedas. Es necesario disponer de la materia prima, que en este caso es el mejoramiento de procesos cognitivos, para poder llegar a tener el fruto de su uso mediante la construcción del conocimiento, es decir, lograr contribuir con nuevas ideas al flujo incesante de información que se constituye en el basamento de toda interacción reflexiva.

Uno de los más grandes focos de ese intercambio de ideas, es la Universidad. Es el lugar donde por fin (y felizmente para un buen número de pupilos), se hace posible la expresión libre y confiada de los pensamientos, que aunque en apariencia sean descabellados, pueden llegar a convertirse en hitos de referencia y un faro de luz para otros. En la Universidad, no sólo se va a clase, se comparte, se discute. La Univer-sidad por su constitución, es de una u otra forma, una ciudad dentro de la ciudad. Lo que se ve afuera de ella, se ve dentro de ella y los medios de comunicación no son la excepción.

Revistas, periódicos, radio y plataformas virtuales, también hacen parte de esta institución educativa, ya que necesitan ir a la par de la sociedad que le permite subsistir.

Estos medios garantizan a los individuos pertenecientes a este grupo social, la participación a todo nivel. Aunque no todos permiten la interac-ción entre informantes informados. Este es el caso de las revistas, que aunque en ocasiones disponen de una columna para las opiniones de los lectores, tienen dificultades para poder seguir una corriente de interac-ción constante mediante el seguimiento a un tópico en particular.

Un caso opuesto es el de plataformas virtuales, como las comunidades virtuales de aprendizaje. Para citar un ejemplo, hablaremos del Black-board. (Plataforma virtual de apoyo para las clases que dispone de aplica-ciones, como foros de discusión, cartelera de anuncios, tabla de conteni-dos, materiales del curso, evaluación en línea, Chat, por nombrar algunas). El Blackboard es una plataforma muy útil, que al contar con tantas aplicaciones que permiten un elevado nivel de interacción, aparen-taría ser una de las herramientas más usadas en la consecución de la construcción del conocimiento, por parte de estudiantes y docentes, pero la realidad es que dada la obligatoriedad de su uso, el nivel de interacción entre docentes y estudiantes y entre estos mismos, es muy bajo.

El propósito de este artículo, es el de contar una idea en la que se pretende hacer una propuesta que amalgame la utilidad de una publicación tradicional (papel y tinta), como una revista, en este caso la revista Capital Letter del Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y ciertas aplicaciones que le otorguen al libertad da estudiantes y docentes, de escribir y discutir los artículos con toda libertad, gracias al simple interés que aquellos puedan tener en relación con un tema específico.

Otras publicaciones de tipo tradicional han puesto su esfuerzo en crear versiones digitales que pretenden tener un mayor rango de alcance, pero en realidad su oferta no ofrece un verdadero aporte. Se leen de igual forma como las de tinta y papel. La única diferencia consiste en que la lectura se hace en la pantalla de un computador.

El aporte que la revista Capital Letter desea hacer a la Universidad, es el ser un factor decisivo en la labor diaria de la enseñanza y así mismo del aprendizaje. Debido a que la revista acoge artículos en varios idiomas, a gusto del autor, y además goza de variedad en los temas tratados, puede pensarse en esta como un instrumento para el mejora-miento de habilidades básicas, no sólo en las lenguas extranjeras, sino también en la propia: La lectura y la escritura. Estas dos habilidades han sido bastante menospreciadas en escuelas y colegios ocasionando ralentización en los procesos individuales de aprendizaje. ¿Por qué no emplear un medio libre para construir conocimiento con gusto?

La conjugación de tradición y tecnología puede vencer los miedos y las barreras en aras de la expresión individual. Si por ejemplo, los estudi-antes se ven tan abocados al uso de la Internet con el cúmulo de aplica-ciones virtuales que la constituyen (comunidades virtuales, blogs, correo electrónico, buscadores, descargas de música, foros de discusión, páginas propias con información personal, videos colgados pro los mismos usuarios, etc.) ¿por qué no tener un medio propio, que como bien reza el dicho, mata dos pájaros de un sólo tiro, ya que otorga un espacio libre de expresión e interacción a estudiantes y profesores y a un mismo tiempo, construye conocimiento de forma espontánea?

10

CARTA A UNA VIRTUALIZACIÓN

Imangen: Julián Hernandez






LANGUAGES

123

RESEARCH

INVOLVED IN A RESEARCH PROJECTLina M. Parra Ante Leonardo Antonio PardoYeison Navarro G.

English Language StudentsResearch Group e-mail: [email protected]

After just three semesters at the university it was quite surprising for us to be invited to take part in a research group called “Pedagogía de la autonomía y desarrollo del pensamiento”, led by the teacher, Maria Elena Perdomo, who is currently developing a project entitled “Strengthening of Thinking Skills in English Reading Comprehension, addressed to blind students in district schools in Bogotá”.

We have closely participated in the field work and the experience has been inspiring and constructive because we have had the opportunity to know the students’ feelings and conceptions about learning the foreign language.

Following the Ministry of Education policies, they are part of “integra-tive classrooms”. It means that those students share classes with learners who are able to see. We found out that blind students are really eager to learn. However, in terms of the English language classes their experience has sometimes been frustrating because in classrooms with forty students they do not get all the attention they really require, moreover, there is not much appropriate material to supply their special educational needs. Thus, this problem not only affects the learning process of the English language, but also the development of competences at interpretative, argumentative and propositional levels.

One of the aims of this research is to contribute to solve this problem by designing a self-access book, which will contain seven units. Each unit strengthens the English reading comprehension and fosters the use of a thinking skill based on authentic texts written by children who are native English speakers. Besides, every unit has warming up activities which include explanations about communicative functions and vocabu-lary selected according to the topic of the unit. Students are encouraged to perform self-assessment and self-correction oriented to improve their self-regulation skills. All these strategies contribute to strengthen autonomy in a continuous way. The book can be used inside or outside the classroom. The teacher’s help depends on the students’ needs and their level of independence.

The material will be transcribed to the Braille system and available in a software called JAWS (Job Access With Speech), especially designed for blind people. It is important to highlight that this pedagogical resource will be also useful for blind or not blind learners because it will have a printed version for sighted students.

Currently, we have surveyed eight district schools located in Bosa, Kennedy, Usme, Suba, Tunjuelito, San Cristóbal and Ciudad Bolivar, and we have established the number of students with blindness and low vision. The results are the following:

To conclude, we feel that it is fundamental to share with our academic community the progress within this project, not only because it is an invaluable contribution towards concrete solutions for helping these students to strengthen their autonomy when learning English, but also because it is an example of what, we as students, can do for our academic progress. Most of the time we are studying different subjects but at the same time we are able to be agents of knowledge and active participants in the society development nowadays. Sincerely, we expect other teachers to feel motivated to develop these kinds of research projects and involve more language students in their investigations, bearing in mind the growth of our Foreign Languages Department community.

Locality School Blind Students Students with Low Vision

Bosa Carlos Albán Holguín 1 3Kennedy OEA 4 6Usme Gran Yomasa 1 3Suba Gerardo Paredes 1 2Tunjuelito Rufino José Cuervo 2 2Tunjuelito José María Córdoba 7 4San Cristóbal José Felix Restrepo 9 6Ciudad Bolívar Rodrigo Lara Bonilla 3 2

Pedro Torres [email protected]

We have now the oportunity of learning a new language in our univer-sity: FARSI, thanks to an agreement between the Foreign Languages Department and the Embassy of Iran. Many of us didn’t know that this language existed. We thought that it was Arabic or Turkish, but we were wrong. Here you have a short historical reference of this interesting language.

Farsi, also known as Persian Language, is the most widely spoken member of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages. It is the language of Iran (formerly Persia) and is also widely spoken in Afghanistan and, in an archaic form, in Tajikistan and the Pamir Mountain region.

Persian is spoken today primarily in Iran and Afghanistan, but was historically a more widely understood language in an area ranging from the Middle East to India. There are significant populations of speakers in other Persian Gulf countries (Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates), as well as large communities in the USA.

The total number of speakers is high: over 40 million Farsi speakers (about 50% of Iran's population); over 7 million Dari Persian speakers in Afghanistan (25% of the population); and about 2 million Dari Persian speakers in Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, Farsi is spoken almost everywhere and close to 60 % of Afghanistan's total population speak Farsi or Dari. The map above covers Herat and the nothern parts of Afghanistan where the majority of people speak Farsi.

Three phases may be distinguished in the development of Iranian languages: Old, Middle, and Modern. Old Iranian is represented by Avestan and Old Persian. Avestan, probably spoken in the northeast of

ancient Persia, is the language of the Avesta, the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism. Except for this scriptural use, Avestan died out centuries before the advent of Islam. Old Persian is recorded in the southwest in cuneiform inscriptions of the Persian kings of the Achaemenid dynasty (circa 550-330 BC), notably Darius I and Xerxes I. Old Persian and Avestan have close affinity with Sanskrit, and, like Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, are highly inflected languages.

The Persian language has been written with a number of different scripts, including Old Persian Cuneiform, Pahlavi, Aramaic, and Avestan. After the Islamic conquest of the Persian Sassanian Empire in 642 AD, Arabic became the language of government, culture and especially religion.

Modern Persian appeared during the 9th century. It is written in a version of the Arabic script and is full of words of Arabic origin. There are also two methods of writing Persian with the Latin alphabet. Under Mongolian and Turkish rulers, Persian was adopted as the language of government in Turkey, central Asia and India, where it was used for centuries, and until after 1900 in Kashmir.

There are a number of closely-related varieties of Persian, including: • Persian (یسراف), is spoken by about 40 million people, mainly in central and south central Iran. There are a further 2 million speakers in many other countries including Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, the UAE and the USA. • Dari (ىرد) is spoken by about 7 million people in Afghanistan and Pakistan. • Tajiki (ىكيجات) is spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine by about 4.4 million people. Persian, Farsi or Parsi?The official language of Iran is sometimes called Farsi in English and other languages. This is a correct transliteration of the native name of the language, however many, including the ISO and the Academy of Persian Language and Literature, prefer the name Persian for the language. Some speakers use the older local name: Parsi (یسراپ). Iran or Persia?Until 1935, the official name of the country currently known as Iran was Persia, though the Persian people have called their country Iran since the Sassanid period (226 - 651 AD).

PERSIAN LANGUAGE

WORLD

REFLECTIONS AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS FARSI, OR THE






Carlos Alberto Dí[email protected]

En el transcurso de nuestra vida personal, estudiantil o profesional, y dependiendo de las circunstancias, de alguna u otra manera terminamos conociendo poco o mucho de una segunda lengua. Algunos la aprenden por cumplir con un requisito obligatorio en el colegio o en la universidad, otros porque desean viajar al exterior, otros con el objetivo de obtener un mejor nivel laboral, otros solo porque les gusta estudiar lenguas, etc. Y es aquí en donde hacemos contacto con ese maravilloso mundo de los idiomas que no se limita simplemente en conocer como hablan aquellos que se encuentran en lugares lejanos sino también otras formas de pensar y representar todo lo que gira a nuestro alrededor. Sin quererlo nos sumergimos en lugares, creencias y formas de ver el mundo que son el producto de innumerables sucesos en el recorrido de la historia y que hasta el momento no conocíamos; empezamos a comprender el por qué de las distintas maneras de escribir y de hablar, además de las distintas tonalidades y ritmos que hacen parte de algunas lenguas.

Encontramos además que el aprendizaje exhaustivo de una lengua extranjera o diferente a la nuestra, es decir, no solamente estudiando su gramática sino también su literatura, su historia, etc., sin duda alguna nos permite conocer y acercarnos a otra cultura, pero no podemos asegurar que conocer una cultura diferente a la nuestra represente necesariamente conocer otra lengua. Nuestro país por ejemplo tiene una gran diversidad de lenguas; la mayoría de ellas son indígenas, pero también posee una gran diversidad de culturas con formas de expresión, costumbres y comportamientos sociales que varían de una región a otra y las cuales están regidas en su mayoría por una sola lengua (el español). Y qué decir de la capital, Bogotá, en donde la constante migración de familias venidas de otras regiones hace sentir las diferencias culturales de un barrio a otro y de casa en casa sin importar que se hable la misma lengua; en este caso estaríamos hablando solamente de la convivencia entre varios dialectos o regionalismos. Ahora pues, esto nos lleva a cuestionar-nos sobre la existencia de muchas más culturas que lenguas, es decir que estos dos componentes no tienen una relación directamente proporcional.

Cuando salimos a la calle a cumplir con nuestras responsabilidades diarias, observamos a nuestros semejantes, y de vez en cuando nos encontramos con aquellos que tienen una forma de ser, de pensar, de actuar y de expresarse de manera un poco distinta. Entonces, llegaríamos a creer, que dichas personas son el producto de otras culturas, las cuales tienen algún parentesco con la nuestra ya que utilizan la misma lengua. Por ejemplo, la sociedad venezolana y colombiana hablan la misma lengua, pero ¿podríamos decir que tienen la misma cultura? Por consiguiente, si hay diferencias culturales entre aquellos que hablan una misma lengua, ¿cuantas más habrá entre aquellos que hablan lenguas distintas? Las diferencias culturales y lingüísticas entre hablantes de una

lengua y otra pueden llegar a ser enormes; cada pueblo o cultura es heredero de conocimientos, experiencias y situaciones de la vida cotidi-ana que no siempre se parecen a aquellas de los pueblos hablantes de otra lengua y por lo tanto habrá una desigualdad en cuanto a las formas de representar la realidad, y aun entre aquellos que hablan una misma lengua, en donde las diferencias culturales crearían dialectos. Ahora, cuando encontramos variaciones de reglas gramaticales de una lengua con relación a otra, nos atreveríamos a decir, que son el resultado histórico-cultural de las diferentes maneras de pensar, de crear y de ver el mundo, las cuales se fueron dando a su vez, gracias a situaciones y experiencias durante el transcurso del tiempo, ya que, posiblemente desde la antigüedad cada civilización inventó cosas diferentes, lingüísti-camente tomó otros caminos para representar lo que pensaba e imaginaba, descubrió, nombró y explicó un fenómeno que puede ser insignificante pero sobre el cual las otras civilizaciones a lo mejor no se dieron cuenta que existía, etc. A medida que apreciamos las diferentes formas de pensar y representar el mundo también nos preguntamos el por qué de la complejidad de determinada lengua para representar cierta idea o cierto pensamiento, pero hay que ver que este fenómeno puede ser dado entre tantas otras razones por la necesidad que tiene dicha lengua de ser un sistema claro que busca que sus representaciones sean lo menos ambiguas posibles. Por ejemplo, si en español decimos: Él tomó su saco, por contexto sabemos a quien realmente pertenecía el saco, mientras que en inglés es necesario que haya una aclaración de quién es el dueño del saco sin necesidad de recurrir al contexto. He took -his- her- your sack. Este fenómeno de la complejidad para representar ideas o pensamientos también varía según los diferentes niveles que existe en cuanto a la concordancia entre los actos lingüísticos de algunas lenguas y la realidad que ellas designan, puesto que a veces las palabras pueden tener muchos significados, muchos sentidos, muchos empleos de forma metafórica y además se utilizan según el contexto. Por ejemplo: En español la palabra “sobremesa” al ser traducida literalmente podría dar cuenta de algún objeto que se pone sobre una mesa, pero la verdad es que ella representa una realidad completamente diferente. Entonces, es posible que haya culturas cuya lengua sea muy, más o menos o poco modelada sobre la realidad.

En cierta medida, sería posible decir que la lengua nos permite clasifi-car las distintas culturas o formas de pensar, las cuales van desde culturas con lenguas distintas, hasta simples grupos de individuos hablantes de una misma lengua. La relación entre cultura y lengua debe ser abordada de lo particular a lo general, del individuo a la sociedad y de la sociedad a la civilización; entre más diferencias culturales haya entre individuos de una misma sociedad, así también más diferencias dialectales habrá, ya que éstos hablan la misma lengua, y entre más diferencias culturales haya entre distintas regiones del mundo que durante largo tiempo no tuvieron algún contacto o relación, más diferencias lingüísticas habrá, y tan enormes que ya no son dialectales sino de lengua.

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PEDAGOGY

THREE AIMS OF EDUCATION AND SOME STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE THEM

Angélica CarranzaDocente [email protected]

What are the aims of education and what strategies can be carried out to achieve these aims in a class with university students?Trying to give an answer to this question is not an easy task. Taking into account all the implications in meaning that the word “ education “ has, it could be said that it is important first, to specify which type of educa-tion we are talking about. Teaching University students is not the same than teaching adults or children. Whereas adult students know what they are in the classroom for and most of the times children enjoy their classes, university students are not always aware of the importance of their learning process in the English class. Our concern now is the type of education concerning these students since, given the fact that they are not always conscious about their education process, teaching them could be one of the most difficult jobs for a Teacher. Education has always been, throughout history, an important aspect in people´s lives. It has always been in direct relation with individuals´ background and culture. This is why, in these times in which the “global-ization” phenomenon is demanding from people a high level of intellec-tual preparation, our students cannot be the exception and must have the tools to face today´s world. We know that teaching university students is not just to fill them up with basic knowledge, but to teach them how to grow by themselves in the personal and intellectual field as well. For this aim, it is important for them to be aware of the importance of their educa-tion. To start with, it is relevant to set that there are three important aims of education which allow students to grow both, in the intellectual and in the personal field. Exploiting students’ abilities and taking into account their multiple intelligences are some ways to respect what they are as individu-als and make them feel they are different from everybody else in the world; this helps to build up self confidence, for them to face the world the easiest way. Taking into account every single student´s abilities, it is important to start constructing students’ personality in both, the academic and the personal aspect, and for this, discipline takes an important part since it allows increasing students’ interests in their own learning process. Providing students with the tools they need to cope up with daily life and their working field in the future is also an important aim of education since it helps them to reinforce all the processes they may go through. So, exploiting, forming and giving tools are some of the most important aims of education for students to be successful. But what can be done to achieve the objectives that these three aims of education state? What can be done in the class to reach these aims? We as teachers must implement strategies in the class to reach the aims of education. Although planning strategies to reach these goals may be hard work and time consuming, it is important for us to know that we play a definitive role in our students’ formation process; this is why we have to be the models our students must follow. Increasing students self-

confidence is a strategy we could implement for students to exploit their own abilities. For this, it is relevant when designing the lesson plans to take into account some activities that can make them feel secure and conscious about their achievements. We also must, for this purpose, take into account activities that can help develop multiple intelligences in students. Every single class must be of great importance to the students in the way that we have to visualize it as a tool that will contribute to build up students’ personality and self-awareness on their learning process. Every single class makes part of a formation process that will lead students towards success. At this point, students should consider the class useful and should be conscious about its importance as well. For this purpose it is important to include in the lesson plans activities and situations that can lead students to reflect on their position in the world and their own lives; in other words, to develop their critical thinking for them to know how to solve problems in ordinary life. Asking students questions about current situations in the world within the context of a class is a clear example of this. Raising students’ interests in the importance of every stage of their learning process by teaching them on values is one important tool we can give them to start forming their personality and building up their knowl-edge; for this, every single class must also include an activity which could lead them to recognize that every single leap they take in their lives means to undertake responsibilities. Discussing about daily life situations in the real world within the context of the class could work as a strategy to reach some aims of education. Having in mind the fact that not all the students are the same in terms of personality leads us to think that we, as teachers, cannot teach all the students the same way. To exploit each student´s personality and abilities which is one of the aims of education, it is necessary to plan strategies that can help us involve all the students of the class. It is also necessary to captivate all students´ attention in the class but we must have in mind that not all the students respond to stimuli the same way; it is because of this, that we must find the proper ways to do it in such a way that they can take advantage of the class and know that wasting time is something that could make them fail in life. Every single action carried out in the class can remain in the student´s mind for ever; this is why all the strategies which are implemented in class to achieve the aims of education, must be carefully chosen and applied so that students can really benefit themselves from their learning processes and can set bases to succeed in life. These strategies I have been talking about throughout the text can be used with all types of students. We can use critical thinking questions in our classes as a tool to achieve success with children, adults and univer-sity students as well. We can also, take into account students’ personali-ties even if they are small kids, and of course to have in mind that they all don´t have the same type of intelligence so we need to be creative to teach the way everybody enjoys the class.

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WINDS OFCHANGE

When things start to change, there are times that it is very difficult to adapt. Many people have panic because they are accustomed to how their life has been until now. The changes will produce disorder and anxiety, and that attitude is what causes these changes to worsen things. Any change we make in our life depends on the attitude that we have towards it and the chance to accept it for what it is.

You may surely have a myriad of reasons to change things in your life. It is normal to be afraid; you have doubts about how everything is going to be developed, how you could be affected in that change, if you have facilities in your activities or if you are actually prepared to it. The changes can affect both your private and professional life, but whatever it is, a lot depends on you to make things go well.

The key to face change and to have satisfactory results is to make the transitions, little by little, getting adjusted from how things used to be before to what they are now. This is not always easy to do, especially when changes are enormous, but if you are convinced that things will have a good end, that you have people that can help to deal with these changes, change will be less abrupt. And even if change is for worse, do everything possible to ensure that it develops gradually and thus be able to face it and be part of that change.

Many times a change is the best thing that can happen in our lives. Allow changes to happen and you can see where you are now and where to lead to in order achieve your goals. There are people who are unable to initiate changes unless thee are imposed; in other words, they conform to what they have, good or bad, out of fear or apathy.

Change is sometimes unavoidable, and you can not stop it. The best for you is taking a positive attitude to its arrival and be prepared to accept it or change it as far as you can. Being opened to changes is also to be opened to a better life or at least a varied one.

EVENTSHead of the Human Sciences FacultyProfessor Fabian Sanabria

Academic Vice-DeanProfessor Sergio Bolaños

Head of the Foreign Languages DepartmentProfessor Melba Libia Cárdenas Beltrán

Editorial Coordination

Director and EditorProfessor Maria Claudia Nieto Cruz

StaffCamilo Morales NeisaCarlos Alberto DíazPedro Torres Reyes

Proofreading EnglishProfessor Patricia SimonsonLiterature Department - Universidad Nacional

WritersCarlos Alberto DíazCamilo Morales NeisaAngélica CarranzaLina Parra Ante Leonardo Antonio PardoYeison Navarro G.Julio OrtizNubia Ortega RodriguezPedro Torres ReyesMauricio Steven Rincón “El Santo”Edgar Milton

Design: Pedro Emilio TorresPicture page 4:Julián HernándezCover Design: Diana Ospina

Printed by:Gráficas Ducal

Mission: to be a channel of communication among the members that make up the academic comunity of the Foreign Languages Department.

Vision: to grow as a publication, as individuals, as a gorup, and as members of the academic community

We are very pleased to present you this tenth edition, made with very hard, rewarding efforts. After almost a year we finally give you the result of the contribu-tions of members of our academic community.

Lenguas y CulturasReflections in a research projectCarta a una alucinaciónThe chinese StereotypeWhat is Philology?L’ espace du poeteJugendsehnsuchtPropuesta de virtualización de Capital LetterFarsi, or the Persian LanguageThe aims of education and some strategiesEvents

[2][3][4][5][7][9][10][11][12][13][14]

RECENT

EVENTSUPCOMING

REVISTA PROFILELANZAMIENTO DE SUS NÚMEROS 9 Y 10Conferencias:The Virtual Forum as an Alternative Way to Enhance Foreign Language Learning. (Dra. Amparo Clavijo O., Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas).Unveiling Students Understanding of Autonomy: Puzzling Out a Path to Learning Beyond the EFL classroom. (J. Aleida Ariza Ariza, Universidad Pedagógica y tecnológica de Colombia).

SEGUNDO ENCUENTRO REGIONAL Y PRIMERO NACIONAL E INTERNACIONAL DE

ESPAÑOL COMO LENGUA EXTRANJERA (ELE) Docencia e Investigación en ELE Este evento tomó lugar el 21 y 22 de Agosto de 2008, organizado por la Red Académica para el Desarrollo del Español como Lengua Extranjera (EnRedELE) y la Asociación Colombiana de Universidades (ASCUN). Para mayor información, visitar la página web del evento:http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/lenguas/enredele/

CICLO DE CHARLAS

“LENGUA PERSA, LITERATURA Y CULTURA DE IRÁN”El departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras tuvo el gusto de darle la bienvenida al Doctor iraní Ahmad Matindoost quien gracias a un convenio con la embajada de Irán se desempeña como docente de la lengua Farsi o Persa en el programa ALEX de la UN. El doctor Ahmad realizó en el salon oval del edificio de posgrados de ciencias humanas tres conferencias en donde abordó: la civilización y cultura de Iran, la lengua persa y su literatura y la historia de Irán y sus monumentos. Todo ello con el fin de incentivar a los estudiantes a que aprendan a la lengua Farsi y de esta manera tener un mejor acceso al mundo globalizado.

43rd Asocopi’s Annual ConferenceFrom October 9 to 12, 2008, the ELT community in Colombia celebrated the 43rd version of the ASOCOPI Annual Conference, certainly the most important academic event in the area of ELT in Colombia. This year the Conference took place at the UPTC (Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia) in the historic city of Tunja. The cold weather, characteristic of Tunja, was no deterrent for the more than 700 attendees who gathered for four days in order to discuss and analyze the issue of ELT materials which, in a country like Colombia, presents serious challenges for the vast majority of teachers of English who either work at remote locations with no easy access to technology or at places where resources and money are very limited.

ENCUENTRO NACIONAL UNIVERSIDADES FORMADORAS DE LICENCIADOS EN LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS 2008LA EDUCACIÓN DEL PROFESOR DE LENGUAS DE NUESTRO TIEMPOUniversidad del Valle, Santiago de Cali, Marzo 13, 14 y 15 de 2008Este encuentro que se ha venido realizando desde el año 2003 en diferentes ciudades del país, es la iniciativa de un grupo de universidades públicas interesadas en generar escenarios para compartir experiencias entre educadores, investigadores, practicantes y estudiantes de los programas de lenguas extranjeras en el país. La temática de este año, La educación del profesor de lenguas en nuestro tiempo, busca compartir, discutir, reflexionar y hacer propuestas sobre aspectos fundamentales de la formación de nuevos docentes de lenguas y la actualización y desarrollo profesional de los docentes en ejercicio.

5th PROFILE SymposiumDecember 6, 2008Innovations and applications in the classroom

• Using technology in English language teaching• Evaluation and assessment• Classroom management and agreements in the English class

Venue: Edificio Rogelio Salmona (Posgrados de Ciencias Humanas)Universidad Nacional de Colombia. BogotáFurther information: [email protected]. 3165000 Ext. 16780 / 16764

12th NATIONAL ELT CONFERENCE The association between Universities in Bogotá, a group of British publishers, the Centro Colombo Americano, ASOCOPI and the British Council are organising the 2009 version of the NATIONAL ELT CONFERENCE with the theme: “Perspectives in Bilingualism: Current views and trends”.The Conference will be held in Bogotá , Colombia , from 23 to 25 April 2009 at Universidad de La Salle, Sede Chapinero. This event seeks to be a forum for researchers, teacher educators, academic coordinators, practitioners and decision makers, to share a critical and constructive assessment of current research and practice on the teaching of English.

Call for Proposals. Due Date: 30 November, 2008.

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BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA - 2008 - N° 10

FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS HUMANASDEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS

matices

The PROFILE Journal Editorial Committee is pleased to invite you to submit papers for issue 11. The journal is mainly interested in sharing the results of classroom research projects undertaken by primary and secondary school teachers as well as adult teachers while taking part in the Professional Develop-ment Programmes carried out by the Foreign Languages Department at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. It also includes articles written by teacher educators and guest teachers willing to disseminate innovations and research findings.For more information, please contact us: Melba Libia Cárdenas B. Editor Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras - Universidad Nacional de Colombia Ciudad Universitaria. Carrera 30 No. 45-03, Bogotá, Colombia Phone: 57(1) 3165000 Ext. 16780 Fax: 57(1) 3165000 Ext. 16780/16773 E-mail: [email protected] website: http://www.humanas.unal.edu.co/cms.php?id=565#Revista1

We wish to invite the academic community to submit articles for the next number of Matices, virtual journal of the Foreign Languages Department of the National University of Colombia, Bogotá.Matices Virtual Journal is focused on the publication of articles related to the field of languages from the didactic perspective, pedagogy, research on language and culture, and translation. In this first number, texts in these languages will be published: Spanish, German, French or English.

For further information write to:[email protected]

La revista estudiantil de filología e idiomas Anonyma los invita a participar en los comités editoriales de todos los idiomas y a participar en la elaboración de la revista Nº 6.

Tema: MuerteSecciones: académica, literaria, traducción, reseña o libreFormato: Máximo 5 páginas, Arial 12 a espacio sencilloEnvíe sus escritos, propuestas y sugerencias al correo [email protected] o contáctenos y participe como miembro del grupo y adquiera experiencia editorial.

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reflections as english students involved in a research project

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