Tuesday, January 28, 2020

How to tame a wild tounge Essay Example for Free

How to tame a wild tounge Essay In the essay, â€Å"How to Tame a wild Tongue,† Gloria Anzaldua the author, states the importance of maintaining one’s native tongue. She believes that people should speak whenever or however they please given that it does not harm anyone. Anzaldua does not want to escape her Mexican ways such as speaking Spanish. It is a vital part of her life because she communicates with her family members speaking a variety of Spanish dialects. Since she has no other way to show her Mexican ways, it is key that she speaks Spanish to maintain her Mexican pride. People take pride in the languages that they speak and its not right for others to tell them they are not allowed to express themselves in those foreign languages. On the other hand, it is important that to speak English in order to communicate with her classmates, teachers, and anyone around her. English is fast becoming the dominant means by which the world is able to communicate. It is being referred to as the global language as it is seen as a common means for interaction between different countries. This new phenomena can be seen in a positive light because the use of English as a common language brings efficiency and greater understanding. Nevertheless there some people who believe that this fact has changed and that now it is more important to learn Spanish and Mandarin than the English language. Anzaldua dealt with this issue on a consistent basis in her school life. Though she was not told to lose her Spanish ways, she felt that speaking English would not allow her to express herself. Especially in the American culture, it was necessary for her to learn English to communicate with her peers. Furthermore, the English language is the number one lingua franca no other comes close. At the moment about 1. 113 million people speak Chinese as their mother tongue, whereas about 372 million speak English. Following this criterion Chinese must be the world’s global tongue; and yet analysts considered English to be the global language of the century. Imagine if China’s economy takes flight in the coming few years, enabling the country to replace the United States as the greatest economical power, there would be a possibility that China could take over in the next couple decades. In fact, reports have shown that the number of Chinese learners is increasing dramatically. Chinese learners in Africa, for example, have increased to 8,000 in the year 2005. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation published the statistic in a 2005 report. The report also says that â€Å"in Sudan alone, Chinese learners have amounted to 450, and many have come to China to learn on Chinese government scholarships, according to Peter Nyot Kok, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Sudan. † According to the U. S. Bureau of the Census, ten years ago about one in seven people in this country spoke a language other than English at home. Since then the proportion of immigrants in the population has grown and grown. Ever-wider swaths of Florida, California, and the Southwest are heavily Spanish speaking. Hispanic people make up 30 percent of the population of New York City, and a television station there that is affiliated with a Spanish-language network has been known to draw a larger daily audience than at least one of the citys English-language network affiliates. According to the census, from 1980 to 1990 the number of Spanish-speakers in the United States grew by 50 percent. Statistically, more people in the world speak Mandarin than English, but Mandarin is not spoken much outside Asia. A global language is a language spoken internationally. A global language is not only a majority people spoken, but also use in international organization or international event. It’s a well-known fact that there is huge demand for English speaking professionals in China who can facilitate international business. There is also acute demand for English teachers who can make the Chinese students better equipped for modern-day business and life. Chinese has more native speakers, however, it also has simplistic grammar, and it lacks articles, prepositions, verb conjugation and tense, singularity and plurality of nouns making it less effective than English at expressing complex meanings. It is also tonal, which limits the speakers use of tone for emotional and conceptual expression. Furthermore most Westerners find the Chinese writing system difficult to grasp. So from emerging trends, it seems evident that Chinese is not more popular than English as a global language. English is widespread largely due to the fact that it is used so heavily in television, film and music. Hollywoods global spread has contributed strongly to the international popularity of English. It is also the predominant language on the Internet. Web pages in other languages often tend to have an English translation. The British Empire and the dominant nature of American popular culture have contributed overall to the spread of English across the planet. Because of this many young Hispanics have favored adopting the English language into their culture. In South East Asia, as a result of English becoming a kind of global currency, there is a large turn towards acquiring language skills not in any language but most specifically in English. As the world becomes more â€Å"globalized† or as corners of the planet open up for trade relations with other countries and tourism booms, the need for English increases. Hotels, shops and schools have a desperate desire to sell their services and make a living. People’s ability to survive is strongly linked to their ability to communicate in English. Consequently native languages become redundant and even endangered. People focus on learning English over learning other languages and also in many cases need to use their individual languages to a lesser degree. In fact more Asians speak English than anyone else. One of them is that it facilitates the exchange of information from one part of the world the other with ease. It is through the existence of a global language like English that peace and trade has been enhanced between dissimilar countries. It has also facilitated the mobility of people both in their physical terms and also electronically. Sufficient statistics indicate that most trade is done electronically and this is greatly facilitated by English as a global language. Finally, there are economic advantages connected with a global language. Crystal claims that the â€Å"more a community is linguistically mixed; the less it can rely on individuals to ensure communication between different groups† (Crystal 2003:11). Consequently linguistically mixed communities, as well as the global community, are spending large sums of money on translations and interpretations in order to reach its citizens. A global language known and spoken by everybody would undoubtedly lower these costs, and the spared money could be used in other important areas instead, for example in humanitarian aid. In fact, during the last decades the need of interpretation and translation in international organizations has progressively has been decreasing thanks to the expansion of English. Many international organizations find it necessary that all people involved speak English, since the translation expenses would be too high. According to Crystal â€Å"half the budget of an international organization could easily get swallowed up in translation costs if there was a lack of a common language† (Crystal 2003: 12). Mutual intelligibility, great career opportunities and reduced administrative costs are some of the advantages a global language would give. We are in need of an international language for communication, politics, trade and security, but at the same time we are worried about language death, the advantages native speakers will have and all the disadvantages non-native speakers will face. English is growing, it is a strong language, and its future seems bright. My opinion is that if there will ever be an official international language English is the best option. It is a strong, well-developed language with millions of speakers. Even if a global language might be important, different languages are of importance for their culture and for the development of their native speakers. Anzaldua wants to maintain her heritage by speaking her language constantly. She is in fear that speaking English will lead to the death of her heritage, but the integration of her heritage with English will only allow her to have communication with more people around her. Languages make the world more interesting and more alive.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Alexs Restaurant, an ethnography Essay -- Personal Narrative Waitress

Alex's Restaurant, an ethnography The Wiseguys (scene one): *These four old guys (definitely into their late sixties, early seventies) sell cars at one of the dealerships on the boulevard. I would bet fifty dollars that they all work for Cadillac. They come in once a week, on Friday afternoons. They love me. They like to give me a hard time, ask why I don’t love them anymore, when I’m going to run away with them, etc, etc. They are caricatures of car salesmen but are obviously unaware of this. They hold court in Eat Well like it’s 1965 at the Sands, talking in loud voices and telling stories about one another to each other. (â€Å"This guy here, one time he says to me, ‘Paulie’†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) It has been suggested to me that perhaps these old guys are, in fact, aware of their stereotypical niche and of the roles that they assume by coming to have lunch in the restaurant. This is certainly possible and is something that hadn’t occurred to me, so natural and seemingly without irony is their behavior. For the younger generation(s), irony is something that is nearly always acknowledged, either articulated (the perennial gesture of finger-quotation-marks) or thinly disguised as humor. For older people, however, participation in ironic or staged situations need not necessarily be acknowledged. Most of their boisterous comments--well, nearly all--are addressed to my chest. Ordinarily I would comment on this; put a stop to it at once. Ordinarily, that is, if I wasn’t at work. As a self-defined feminist, I am outspoken and assertive when I feel that I am being demeaned or stereotyped. At work, however, I find myself confronted with strange challenges. I am forced to walk a line between power and respect. I am not at liberty to chastise or even... ... had become stifling, claustrophobic, and to be able to bring my perspectives as a student to bear on it was a (surprisingly great) relief. From a feminist perspective, this is a rich area for study. I would like to further explore the subject, to study the relationship between the server and the served†¦as â€Å"the relationship between the waiter and diner is problematic because of the blatant purchase of human service that is involved† (Finklestein, p. 56). This is true, and is further complicated by gender expectations and prejudices. True, attitudes towards these public-private taboos are changing, but there is much to be learned as we continue to adapt. Sources: Dining Out, by Joanne Finklestein, NYU Press, 1989, Chapters 1-4 Woman, Culture and Society, by Michelle Rosaldo, Stanford Press, 1974, pp.17-42. Updated by Jeff Tobin on January 23, 2001

Sunday, January 12, 2020

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner

A Reflection on â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner† Rebeca Espirito Santo The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner â€Å"From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze Six miles from the earth, loosed from its dream of life I woke to black flack and the nightmare fighters When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. † Randall Jarrell â€Å"The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner†, by Randall Jarrell, is a surprisingly simple and brief poem; nevertheless it is extensive in content.Due to carefully chosen words, with great descriptive power and an appeal to symbolism, Jarrell skillfully accomplishes the task of providing readers with detailed images and feelings of the turret gunner’s situation, yet leaves plenty of space for the reader’s imagination, interpretation and critique. While reading this poem, one can be encouraged to question the image we have of our soldiers – those w ho have no fear – while not questioning their bravery. War can produce gruesome situations that can cause even the bravest men to face their fears.The poem’s incisiveness is demonstrated by the fact that if the reader doesn’t see the title, or if one isn’t familiar with what a ball turret is, it becomes very challenging to even know what the poem is about. Once the reader forms a clear image of a B-17 â€Å"Flying Fortress† or a B-24 â€Å"Liberator†, with it’s small Plexiglas ball turrets located in the bottom fuselage, it becomes extremely easy to visualize the soldier’s situation. From the first half of the second line – â€Å"And I hunched in its belly† – of the poem it is possible to picture how uncomfortable, lonely and vulnerable the gunner was in the bottom of the airplane.Then, in the second half of the same line – â€Å"till my wet fur froze† – one is able to envision the sold ier’s distress due to his nervous sweat and the cold, thin air. The gunner was in an extremely vulnerable position. Even if he was spared another gunner’s bullet at the end of the mission, he knew he was still not safe. In the case of a forced landing, he knew he would be sacrificed. On the third line – â€Å"Six miles from the earth, loosed from its dream of life† – one can observe his acknowledgment of this surreal reality.This leads the character to the understanding of not only his physical distance from earth, but also from earthly life and the odds against him going back to that life. He was already preparing himself for the worst and suppressing his hopes of survival. Through the distress of a single man, Jarrell is able to depict the fears of a lonely soldier in an extremely vulnerable position, and invites us into the heinous reality of war which forces us to question our impressions of soldiers having no fear yet not questioning their bra very.War can produce gruesome situations that can cause even the bravest men to face their fears, but it is how they deal with this fear that is the important part. Ball turret gunners were courageous warriors. They were fully aware of how susceptible to death they were, nevertheless, they would continue to fight time after time. WWII was a dreadful episode in human history that killed millions of people, and its bloodshed is described by the UN Charter as a scourge that â€Å"has brought untold sorrow to mankind†.Jarrell had served in the military himself, thus he knew – at least to some extent – what he was trying to address. The most fascinating aspect of this poem is the paradoxical relationship between its physical briefness and its vast evocative power. His words are so carefully chosen and descriptive that it grants the reader with greatly detailed images and feelings of the turret gunner’s situation and the broader issue that he represents. The us e of more words becomes unnecessary; hence, Jarrell masterfully proves that length isn’t as important as depth and power.This piece’s paradox and theme struck me. As already discussed, Jarrell’s capability to evoke so much with so little is quite amazing. It depicts an issue of my personal and academic interest. As a Political Science major with a background in International Relations, war and its causes, consequences and issues intrigues me. The grievance caused by war is something that affects me quite deeply. This poem shows a very personal, crucial moment in a soldier’s life.They truly believe they are going to war to fight for their nation with an ideology that has been forced into their head that they are willing to give up their lives for. At the end of the day, unfortunately, the gravity of these soldier’s personal sacrifices are often lost – converted to a statistic – among the many thousands of sacrifices that occur during w ar. This poem seemingly parallels this situation in that it is a small and relatively simple poem – lost in a sea of countless other poems – yet upon further investigation reveals something much more meaningful.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

5 Rules for Work in the Library

A lot of people believe that with the Internet pervading every nook and cranny of our lives the need in traditional libraries becomes less and less apparent; why waste your time going somewhere, looking for a physical book and copying information from it if you can get all the data you need without ever leaving your workplace? In reality, however, libraries are still an important part of our lives, especially when at college. And as you are going to use them anyway, you should take note of how to do it right. 1.  Learn What Your Library Has to Offer If it’s been a while since you’ve last been to a library, then you are probably in for a surprise. There may be differences according to your location, but over the last decade or so your average library turned from a place you went to borrow a book into a kind of multimedia center actively embracing new technologies. CDs and DVDs with video and audio recordings, maps, Internet access, seminars on various subjects, targeted reading groups – these are just a drop in an ocean of new possibilities waiting for you. 2. Use Electronic Catalogues to the Fullest Most modern libraries are equipped with electronic catalogues which make looking for the book you need so much easier. In addition to that, in more developed countries libraries often give you an opportunity of inter-library borrowing – which means that even if the book in question is not available here you may order it from another library. Failing that, you can always access the necessary book in electronic form. 3. Always Keep Track of What You’ve Borrowed You should take into account that overdue fees have grown quite dramatically over the last ten or so years. If you borrow multiple items and fail to return them on time it may cost you a pretty penny – so try to avoid doing it and learn how to get extensions. If there is an option to check your account online, use it – thus you will always get up-to-date information. 4. Keep Your Library Card Safe You take responsibility for everything that is attached to your library card even if you lose it and someone else uses it to borrow some items from your library. The best strategy here is to avoid losing it, of course, but if you do, you should immediately notify the library so that the card can be deactivated. 5. Use the Internet Vast majority of public libraries offer Internet connection in this or that form, sometimes free of charge (at least for certain periods of time), sometimes paid by time slots – ask a librarian in your local library if you want to know more. College libraries grant their students free Internet access, too. These simple tips can make your next trip to the library a much more interesting and useful experience – don’t be afraid to ask around for additional details if you are unclear on any particulars.