Graham Davies

Be my guest!

More examples of pseudo-phonetic or punning transcriptions can be found in the late John Pepper’s series of books dedicated to the Ulster dialect. He used to write an entertaining column in the Belfast Telegraph, in which he picked up on some of the amusing features of local speech. In Ulster – and in Ireland as a whole – people of all social classes have a natural way with words; their speech is full of humour and they are quick with a repartee that will cut anyone down to size. Here are few examples from John Pepper’s books: - I leff a note for the braidman to lave four snowtaps an’ a corn square. (Conveying information about a note left for the baker.) - That fella’s not only futless he’s legless forby. (A comment on the state of intoxication of a man in a bar.) - Hayeawlwiye? (Do you have everything with you?) - She’s just an oul girn. (She complains a lot.) See this page by Dick Alexander for examples of Ulster humour: http://www.postcardsforyou.com/ulster.html e.g. - "If he died with that face, nobody would wash him." - "That woman would start a fight in an empty house." As for actors, have you seen the film Divorcing Jack? It’s set in Belfast – with a script that is at least as rude and as impenetrable as that of The Commitments, which is set in Dublin. But why did they choose Robert Lindsey to play one of the leading roles? His accent slips all the time. There are dozens of Northern Irish actors who could have got it right. I guess it's all about money... How about Gervais Phinn’s book The other side of the Dale? He was the after-dinner speaker at a conference I attended in York. It’s probably the most entertaining after-dinner speech I have ever heard, but I think the Japanese guests at my table were totally confused by his rendering of rural Yorkshire dialects! Finally, the poetry of Robbie Burns may be worth mentioning – although it can be classified as Scots rather than English. Most English people know the phrase Auld Lang Syne but haven’t a clue what it means (Old Times Long Ago) and that it derives from one of Burns’ poems.

Andrew writes: I remember Afferbeck Lauder's Let stalk Strine and Fraffly well spoken very well. I still have copies on my shelves. I paid a tribute to Afferbeck Lauder's humour in my keynote paper at the WorldCALL 1998 conference, University of Melbourne. You'll find a couple of references and examples in the paper, which was entitled "True creativity often starts where language ends". It's on the Web at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/worldgd1.htm Here's the relevant extract:

Kerry wries: I know the Aston degree course - and some of the staff - very well. I have visited Aston several times. I taught German on the BA in Applied Language Studies course at Ealing College from the 1970s to the 1990s. After Ealing College merged with other institutions in the early 1990s and finally became a university (Thames Valley) languages went downhill and the languages degree courses folded. It was a great shame, as the practical orientation of the Applied Language Studies course prepared the students well for a career and we could chalk up several success stories of graduates getting good jobs as translators and interpreters in Brussels.

Kerry, I guess you know that I also I contribute a lot to Linguanet - it's a lively forum: http://www.mailbase.org.uk/lists/linguanet-forum

I've just had some serious dental work done today - by a young female Brazilian dental surgeon with a perfect command of English...

Robert O' Dowd has created two websites full of information on videoconferencing and telecollaboration: Videoconferencing: http://www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/videoc.html Telecollaboration: http://www3.unileon.es/personal/wwdfmrod/collab Videoconferencing is obviously of interest to language teachers and language learners. See Section 14 of Module 1.5 at the ICT4LT website: http://www.ict4lt.org

Dear globalpeace It depends on where you are based. Are you in the UK? If so, look at the website of the Teacher Training Agency: http://www.tta.gov.uk Click on "In training" and then "Qualifying to teach". This will take you to a downloadable document that tells you all about it.

It sounds more authentic in Redneck: I had it translated by the Dialectizer: http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/

The CCF (Combined Cadet Force) day in “If” reminded me very much of the field days we had at my posh grammar school in Kent in the 1950s. We didn't kill the padre but I did manage to hit a prefect in the backside with a piece of wadding from a blank cartridge fired at close quarters from a 303 Lee Enfield. He was an absolute pig and thoroughly deserved it. "If" was frighteningly close to reality... I vote for "Goodbye Mr Chips" (the Robert Donat version), "Dead Poets Society", "The Scent of a Woman" and "The Guinea Pig".

I studied at Hamburg University. My landlady spoke a variety of German that was closer to Platt than High German. Yes, it sounds more like Dutch or Vlaams. Regarding language and gender, I’ve told this story before: When I was working on a project in Hungary in the early 1990s a Californian feminist was touring the country giving lectures on sexism in language. She gave a lecture at the college where I was teaching, pointing out the necessity for avoiding words like “actress” and always writing “he/she”. He lecture went down like a lead balloon. The Hungarians were puzzled, as they don’t distinguish between “he” and “she” in their language. The have one word for “he and “she”, and gender is not indicated unless it is essential for avoiding ambiguity. Finnish is very similar – and they have a very high proportion of female members of parliament.

I have posted the following contribution as a reaction to Andrew Moore's contribution to a discussion on English Varieties of the British Isles. Andrew writes: Much of the discussion that has been going on in the English section is relevant to Modern Foreign Languages too. Here is what I wrote:

I always adopted a descriptive approach when teaching German. German, like English, has a wide range of dialects. The dialects that diverge most from the accepted standard form - are which non-locals find most difficult to understand - are spoken in the areas most likely to be visited by tourists: Bavaria, the Black Forest, Austria, Switzerland. Many learners of German who visit these areas are therefore disappointed when attempting to use the language that they have learned at school, because it has not prepared them for the strange sounds and words that they hear. I introduced a module entitled "Varieties of German" on a humanities degree course on which I taught at an HE college in the 1980s. It included historical varieties, different text types (literary, propaganda, advertising, etc) and regional dialects. The module was one of several that offered an alternative to the traditional literature-based modules that were on offer. It was very popular. Not all students of language - including their mother tongue - are interested in literature. But in in the 1960s, when I entered university, there were very few courses that were not based on literature. A friend of mine entered university round about the same time as I did in order to study Russian. He is probably the most gifted linguist that I have ever met – an amazing polyglot - but he failed his first-year Russian literature exams miserably and was advised to leave the course. Later on in life he studied at a college that offered language courses that were skills-oriented and included options such as politics, economics and ICT. He passed his finals with flying colours. The native Russian external examiner who attended his oral examination wanted to give him a mark of 100% on the grounds that he could not fault my friend's Russian. "This man would make a good spy", he said. In fact, he did make a good spy, but it was a rather boring job with GCHQ. It was only later, after the Cold War came to an end, that my friend was able to use his Russian in a way that he enjoyed, working for a firm of export consultants, travelling to Russia and meeting people.

The roots of our language were covered in the first part of the excellent ITV series "The Adventure of English", written and presented by Melvyn Bragg. The book accompanying the series was published by Hodder & Stoughton late last year: ISBN 0 340 82991 5. There was a BBC TV series in the 1980s called “The Story of English”, covering similar ground, also with an accompanying book by McCrum R., Cran W. & MacNeil R., published in 1986 by BBC Publications (Faber & Faber), ISBN 0 571 13828 4. Amazon has a few copies left. I have both books on my bedside bookshelf – fascinating reading. I don't know if video versions are available for sale. I recorded most of both series for home viewing and I watch them over and over again. A good deal of what you hear (and read) today in the Northern English dialects can be traced back to the language spoken in the Danelaw - as opposed to the area of our island that was under West Saxon rule. Many words in the area of the Danelaw derive from the Viking language: v. street names in York that end in "gate" (from the Viking word for "street") and the unique pronunciation of the "r" sound in Geordie, which is close to the modern Danish "r". See the Geordie Dictionary at http://www.thenortheast.fsnet.co.uk/GeordieDictionary.htm and other links at this website produced by David Simpson. A Danish friend of mine told me he was planning a shopping trip to Newcastle, and the topic of the Geordie dialect came up in the course of our ensuing conversation. He was a bit sceptical when I said that some words and phrases in Geordie and Danish were pronounced almost identically, so I suggested that he put it to the test by going into a pub and ordering a Newcastle Brown in Danish, phrasing it thus: "Give me a Brown". He tried it and was amazed when the barman gave him what he ordered without batting an eyelid. My wife and stayed overnight in Alnwick (Northumbria) on the way to Scotland a couple of years ago. I was very hard-pushed to understand the local dialect but my wife, who is from Belfast, found quite a few overlaps with her regional dialect/language (Ulster Scots or Ullans), e.g. "bairn", "kirk": http://www.ullans.com/

We have fewer hang-ups now than we did 50-60 years ago - and, yes, my memory does go back that far . I recall the radio broadcaster Wilfred Pickles, a Yorkshireman by birth, provoking a storm of protests from listeners when his (almost) RP accent as required by the BBC at the time slipped. He is best known as a host of the show "Have a Go" and in performances as a character actor, e.g. in "Billy xxxx", where his delightful Yorkshire accent was a sine qua non of the role. Listen to Wilfred's watered-down accent as a newscaster and his "real" accent in "Have a Go" at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/wired/listening.shtml - a nice collection of sound clips! Harold Wilson's regional accent came back when he got into power in the 1960s: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/mullan.htm - another useful Web page!

So far the Modern Foreign Languages section seems a bit dead. There are a number of burning issues relating to the teaching and learning of languages. Can we get things moving? The use of ICT is just one issue. A wide range of ICT topics are covered at the ICT4LT site, and you will find the heading "Discussion topic" scattered throughout the texts at the site: http://www.ict4lt.org I would welcome feedback on any of the ICT issues that are raised there. I have written a few articles that might spark off a few debates: 1997: "Lessons from the past, lessons for the future: 20 years of CALL". In Korsvold A-K. & Rüschoff B. (eds.) New technologies in language learning and teaching, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France. The full text (regularly updated) is on the Web at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/coegdd1.htm 1997: (with Yu Hong Wei) "Do grammar checkers work?". In Kohn J., Rüschoff B. & Wolff D. (eds.) New horizons in CALL: proceedings of EUROCALL 96, Dániel Berzsenyi College, Szombathely, Hungary. The full text is on the Web at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/euro96b.htm 2001: "Doing it on the Web", Language Learning Journal (ALL) 24: 34-35. Also at: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/DoingIt.htm 2002: "ICT and modern foreign languages: learning opportunities and training needs". An updated and abridged version of this article appears in Scottish Languages Review 8, June 2003, Scottish CILT: http://www.scilt.stir.ac.uk/SLR/index.htm 2003 "Computer Assisted Language Learning: Where are we now and where are we going?". Web article at the NESTA FutureLab site: http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/learn23.htm 2004 ICT and Modern Languages in the National Curriculum: some personal views: http://www.camsoftpartners.co.uk/ictmfl.htm Have a look too at the debate on the UK's National Literacy Strategy (NLS) in the English section of this Forum. The NLS has caused a bit of a rift between English and MFL teachers in the UK regarding approaches to teaching grammar and the metalanguage used in describing grammar. Reactions? I'll be in Austria from 12 March to 21 March, attending a planning meeting for the EUROCALL 2004 conference that will take place in Vienna in September, followed by a week's skiing in St Johann in Tirol - the snow looks great! I may log in from my hotel's Internet Corner if I can stay off the Glühwein and Schnaps. Website of EUROCALL 2004: http://www.e-lisa.at/eurocall/ St Johann in Tirol: http://www.st.johann.tirol.at The Hotel Park (my favourite Austrian hotel): http://www.park.at

I was born in June 1942, so I was only three when the war ended. I have vivid recollections about WWII - I am gifted with an excellent long-term memory. We lived in Kent near the fighter base at West Malling and I clearly recall my father taking me into the garden to watch a Spitfire engage with a V1 on its way to London. I recall barrage balloons, searchlights, air-raid warning and all-clear sirens, and sleeping in a shelter - a kind of metal construction that was erected in a ground-floor room in our house. I remember the victory celebrations on a patch of waste ground near our house. I was terrified of the huge bonfire bearing an effigy of Hitler - I thought they were burning a real man. My father told me that I could tell the difference in the sounds of the engines of British and German planes. I might also mention a book written by one of my relations in Canada about his World War II experiences. He was shot down in a Lancaster over Holland, hidden for a short time by a Dutch family, captured by the Germans and imprisoned, nearly died on the long march from East to West as the Russians approached - and survived. In 1983 he went back to Holland and tracked down the Dutch family who sheltered him. He also managed to correspond by letter with the German fighter pilot who shot down the Lancaster. He gives talks in schools all over British Columbia. See "Almost a Lifetime" by John McMahon, originally published by Oolichan Books and now published by Shamrock Publications, British Columbia: http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol2/no1/almost.html http://www.aviation-booklist.com/pows.html

Have a look at the multimedia website on Greek Myths (and Ancient Greek History) for kids: http://www.wingedsandals.com It's the result of a joint venture by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the University of Melbourne. A friend of mine at the University of Melbourne recommended it. It's brilliant! I know the Perseus site very well. Good, isn't it?

Slightly off the topic perhaps, but I thought I might mention a book written by one of my relations in Canada about his World War II experiences. He was shot down in a Lancaster over Holland, hidden for a short time by a Dutch family, captured by the Germans and imprisoned, nearly died on the long march from East to West as the Russians approached - and survived. In 1983 he went back to Holland and tracked down the Dutch family who sheltered him. He also managed to correspond by letter with the German fighter pilot who shot down the Lancaster. He gives talks in schools all over British Columbia. See "Almost a Lifetime" by John McMahon, originally published by Oolichan Books and now published by Shamrock Publications, British Columbia: http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol2/no1/almost.html http://www.aviation-booklist.com/pows.html

Slightly off the topic perhaps, but I thought I might mention a book written by one of my relations in Canada about his World War II experiences. He was shot down in a Lancaster over Holland, hidden for a short time by a Dutch family, captured by the Germans and imprisoned, nearly died on the long march from East to West as the Russians approached - and survived. In 1983 he went back to Holland and tracked down the Dutch family who sheltered him. He also managed to correspond by letter with the German fighter pilot who shot down the Lancaster. He gives talks in schools all over British Columbia. See "Almost a Lifetime" by John McMahon, originally published by Oolichan Books and now published by Shamrock Publications, British Columbia: http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol2/no1/almost.html http://www.aviation-booklist.com/pows.html

True! Been there, done that, bought the teeshirt - in the 1960s as a language teacher presented with a shining new language lab. It made no significant difference to our teaching. There was a debate in another forum to which I subscribe headed "Death by PowerPoint". A lively discussion went on for several days. If you search the Web for the phrase "Death by PowerPoint" via Google, you'll find that it's affecting a growing proportion of the world's population - I found 2110 occurrences this evening.

If ICT is the answer, what is the question? Regarding my subject area, modern foreign languages, we've had technology thrown at us since the language lab appeared in the early 1960s. It soon became clear that the language lab was not the answer - no one had asked the right question - and most of the labs installed in schools have now disappeared. No wonder many language teachers are sceptical about new technologies. The ICT boom period in schools began in the early 1980s with the advent of the microcomputer, which supposedly opened up an exciting new range of learning opportunities. The computer was hailed by enthusiasts as the panacea, but after the initial period of euphoria many teachers became disappointed with what the computer appeared to offer. This is a fairly typical sequence of events whenever a new technology becomes available to teachers. Oppenheimer writes: (Oppenheimer 1997:45)Oppenheimer T. (1997) "The Computer Delusion", The Atlantic Monthly 280, 1 (July 1997): 45-62: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97jul/computer.htm

I've worked with colleagues in Italian universities. Most testing there is done by oral examination - as with research students in the UK. It makes sense, as an interview with a student quickly reveals what they understand about a topic. It also explains why Italians prefer to communicate by telephone rather than send emails or faxes. I have examined numerous MA, MPhil and PhD students. It is usually evident in the first 10 minutes if they really know what they are talking about. In modern foreign languages at all levels, we mainly examine skills, e.g. communicative competence. Factual knowledge is part of the language acquisition process, of course - you have to learn vocab, as walking around with a dictionary dangling from your forehead is a bit inconvenient. But in the end it's how you apply your knowledge that determines how well you perfom as a linguist - and I guess this is true of most subject areas. I'm a pub quiz addict, but I perform best when questions call upon my long-term memory, e.g. in pop music sections relating to hits of the 50s and 60s.

Indeed, yes! My CD collection contains a lot of early Pink Floyd stuff - late 60s and early 70s. Grumpy Old Men rule, OK? (BTW, I also have a large classical and jazz collection too. I have varied tastes.)

You are absolutely right! The National Curriculum is far too prescriptive. Since the Thatcher era teachers have not been trusted to do a good job using their professional judgement, imagination and initiative. And the present lot that are in power have not changed things. In fact, they are probably worse, the Curriculum Online initiative being a typical example of their control-freak mentality: http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk Teachers hate it! Documents relating to the National Literacy Strategy are a typical example of the products of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). It horrified teachers of modern languages when the early drafts of the documents appeared, as they were not only out of line with the terminology that teachers of modern languages use but also contained some glaring mistakes in describing English grammar. Most of the mistakes have now been corrected, but the debate on terminology bubbles on.