“Learning English” should be
the new book of our Dummies’ Collection
By José Fernando Castro-Aguirre
This short and basic paper
is only one advice for learning the English like an old and very necessary code
for understanding the world around us and “the real ways of development”.
José Fernando Castro-Aguirre[1]
Since I was a very little kid in the Elementary
School, I watched American series, movies and soup operas on television. I did
not understand why my favorite hero over the earth surface was named “Captain
Planet” by his creators. I did not understand why the mouths of the actors of “Wonder
Woman”, “The A-Team” [2]or
“MacGyver” moved as the mouths of the cartoons… the movements and the voices
were very different in a same time line. Many years later, I did not understand
why the translation of “Home Alone” was so different of its original English
meaning. The “Thundercats” were with me on Saturdays at noon and I learned some
things about war, untrue powers and abilities, conspiracy and strategy… but not
about English pronunciation because those human monsters with anatomy of cats
were mentioned by me with the help of a mixture of “Spanglish” words: “Los
Tondercats”. Then, the English classes about pronunciation were in the hands of
my very Colombian friends until I started to listen to British and American
songs carefully and I had a great idea - “I should be more time with my mom
(she worked as an English teacher in a High School of my town and knew a lot
about the grammar) and with those singers of native English spoken countries” –
and, obviously, I had a lot of questions about the correct forms of English.
Spanish is the first language learned by us if we do
not have deep roots in another country with English words in its atmosphere. It
was a trouble for me because “the science is written in English”[3]
and I knew few things about both concepts: “science” and “English” (for
example, I knew that “blue jean azul” was a mistake told by my father when we
spoke about clothes). The goal was to understand new topics and a new code, and
for solving that consequence of my destiny: “I should not have been born in a
country colonized by Spain”.[4]
I think now that the situations in the past about the English
basic knowledge for understanding better the real “developed” world were
obstacles. Those obstacles want to be demolished by new politicians and
educative public proposals in the country. First, the teachers ought to support
the flag and then, the students ought to support it. The way for being a
citizen of the global village is written in English language.
If I had known that “SHITHEAD” was the correct form of
“gilipollas” in English, I had not bought this t-shirt thinking that its colors
and style could give me a touch of “SUPER HERO”. WTF.
The information is the new treasure for the human race
and that information is written in a lot of codes. The English is just a code
with a simple structure for all. Its mathematical grammar is a real example of
science and its consonant sounds for speaking it are a great proof for our
attention when we are listening to it. The vowels are less in the sentences
when we are learning English, but sure the brain development is increasing when
we read and understand every word.
Some kinds of food could be eaten without problems of
comprehension about their origin if we had studied the English like second
language since our childhood[5].
For example, in my town many people eat “Baby Beef” because a good proposal of
meat is written in a page of a menu in a restaurant (good because the lunch or
the dinner are written in English and the picture next to those words is very “delicious”…
I am talking about the importance of graphic design), but I do not know if
those people understand that they are eating a young cow or if the chef does
not understand that. So, another language is synonymous of sophistication (and
I am not speaking about “quechua” because that word is synonymous of “country
in ways of development”… of “village”, but not of “global village”).
If you want to learn a new language, you should want
to learn a new culture around it because the language is a part of the cultural
structure of a country, a state or a specific region of the world. When I was
studying for my first international test (CELPE-Bras), I understood that the
most important dictionary for increasing the number of words in another
language is not in a library, on the desk or in our hands… it is in the heads
and in the hearts of the people that could teach us them (it is a matter of
interaction with the people), in the walls with expressions written by
messengers with words in their painters fingers, in the trips with every
situation and experience, in the sentences with the power of reminding us the
importance of dreaming, in the arts (pictures, music, movies)… actually, the
context is the most important element for learning and remembering every new
word.
The “recent” idea about global village is showing us
the importance of the English as a universal language through the social
networks, for example, because Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, My Space… can be
heard almost without mistakes of pronunciation in the conversations of people
“in” (ways of development) and their translation could be taken as a
“colombianada” and as the first step for being out of specific social groups.
Therefore, the “nick” and the “password” are an almost symbolic language for
being into the new “real world”.
If a lot of parents had known that “LADY” is the correct
form of “dama” in English, maybe this name had not been the most popular in
some groups of age in my very Hispanic country with smart modifications in its
structure for helping us with the pronunciation.
I ought to tell that the English should not be the
main code for the arts because they are also forms of language. So, I felt
sadness when I watched an important movie for the Oscar Academy Awards this
year: Hugo (The Inventor). That movie was made with people almost French and
places almost Parisians... almost because the atmosphere was full of a British
accent and the “rues” of consonants. Then, I thought… is the global village one way for getting more and better information
or for having more dead languages? I wanted to hear the name of the
principal actor like the poet… in French.
The languages always have been doubts without solutions
in my head and I think that the history, the customs and the culture ought to
be written with the proper words of every place. They are the first step for
knowing more.
[1] I still
have to do my editorial note.
[2] “The” could be translated
like “Los” in Spanish, but “A-Team” does not mean “Magníficos”.
[3] I was starting to understand the
dentistry when I understood that sentence.
[4] With an own dramatic accent.
[5] Attention: English like
“second language”, not like “subject”.
Corrected by Mauricio Andrés Robledo Robledo
Veterinarian, Ecologyst and Philosopher
Georgia Tech
English Teacher