APRIL, A FIGMENT OF OUR IMAGINATION

April, that cruelest month, mixing memory and desire, is ready to depart this year. Today it is gasping for its last breath before going the way of all calendar months. And this may sound very lyrical and all, as Holden Caulfield would say, but it is a delusion, a figment of our imagination, as are most of our inventions, including words. What´s in a "word"? April does not exist; we have invented it, as we have invented words whose meanings are elusive and hard to capture, like happiness, perfection, freedom, democracy, and God itself. And yet, when we utter those words we think we know what we are saying, and the recipient thinks he understands what you are saying... but, alas! is it so?  This thought leaves me pensive and sad, this last day of April 2023. 

BACK TO THE SPANISH PASSIVE VOICE

 

I know full well I am fighting a losing battle against the windmills of the Spanish passive voice. I fear it is taking over and that little can be done to remedy its encroachment into the language. I was vexed once again to read in Todo Literatura (April 24, 2023), written by a certain José Antonio Sierra, and in his article about this year´s Premio Cervantes, Rafael Cadenas, the following gems:

"El premio Miguel de Cervantes es otorgado por el Ministerio de Cultura..."

"... demuestra el poder transformador de la palabra cuando la lengua es llevada al límite."

"Los candidatos pueden ser presentados..."

"Su amplia obra de ensayo es considerada..."

What on earth is wrong with the new writers? Why are they so set in changing Spanish grammar and style? What´s wrong with:

"El Ministerio de Cultura otorga el premio Miguel de Cervantes."

"... demuestra el poder transformador de la palabra cuando se lleva la lengua al límite."

"Pueden presentar a los candidates..."

"Su amplia obra de ensayo se considera..."

HARINA

 

Meterse en harina Roll up one´s sleeves, go into the matter, get down to work, get down to brass tacks, get down to it

Antes de meternos en harina y trabajar duro, bebamos una cerveza Before we roll up our sleeves and work hard, let´s have a beer

— “Y que, por último, puesto manos a la obra, metido en harina, lo que había que hacer…” El Mundo, 15/12/1996. Esp.

Ser harina de otro costal Be a horse of a different color, a different kettle of fish, a different ball game

Ah, bueno, eso ya es harina de otro costal Oh, well, now that´s a horse of a different color

— “Pero dejemos esto que es harina de otro costal.” La Hora, 1/3/1997. Guat.

MADRID MARATHON AND LANGUAGES

On Sunday, April 23, 35,000 runners took to the streets of Madrid on a beautiful spring day. Being clever of sorts, I watched the event on tv which allows one to follow the runners and watch splendid views of the capital of Spain, from many different angles. The winner was a runner from the Congo, Geoffrey Kosuro, as expected. When he crossed the finish line, a youthful reporter jumped in to "interview" the champion. He started with a winning question: "You like Madrid?" not considering that the sportsman, a professional, had not come to Madrid to visit., but to run and make money. Then Mr. Kosuro mumbled some sounds in what was meant to be English but which sounded like Bambara or Swahili. The reporter was insistent and asked: "You come to Madrid nest (he did say nest) year?" Then the Champ answered in this gibberish not even his mother would understand and to which the youthful reporter thanked profusely. I was nonplussed but said nothing, even to myself. Whose fault is it? Not the reporter´s or Mr. Kosuru´s fault but their English teachers, damn them! 

DOUBTS ABOUT LEARNING LANGUAGES

For 95 percent of the world's population, the sole advantage of learning foreign languages is that it might keep their brains nimble and sharp.  95 percent of the population of the globe is monolingual, with scanty knowledge of their own language. They make do with a limited vocabulary simply because they have no need for more as their daily activities only require simple sentences which are repetitious. For them, acquiring a second language is an unnecessary effort that has no end in itself. However, possibly, trying to master a second language, even in a limited scope, might activate their brains and keep away the phantom of "old timer´s disease", also known as Alzheimer´s disease. Other than that, there´s no valuable purpose in pursuing language studies. Delfín dixit!

MITAD

 

 A la mitad By half

Córtale  a la mitad Cut it by half

Tenemos que reducir gastos a la mitad We have to cut expenses by half

Cara mitad Better half

Mi cara mitad está en casa, haciendo la cena My better half is home, fixing supper

Cortar (partir) por la mitad Cut in half

Corta el queso por la mitad Cut the cheese in half

La mitad vale más que el todo The half is better than the whole

Conténtate con la mitad porque la mitad vale más que el todo Be happy with half becauyse the half is better than the whole

Partir alguien por la mitad Screw someone up

La decisión de Pedro de no colaborar me ha partido por la mitad Peter´s decision not to collaborate has screwed me up

Partir (cortar) la mitad Split (cut) in half

Partamos la cuenta por la mitad Let´s split the bill in half

I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD

Unwittingly, a kind Instagram fellow-user has reminded me of my youth and my studies in English Lit, and the poetry I used to memorize. Those who learn poetry by heart belong to bygone times, to "days that are no more", but I am a pigheaded, stubborn old teacher, and insist on recommending language students to commit poetry to memory. Sooner than later this habit will stand them in good stead. William Wordsworth has a poem I have known by heart for over a century. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud:

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

TRANSLATING KAFKA AND OTHERS

In 1921, Edwin and Willa Muir, Scottish poets of good standing, went to Prague and then Germany, Austria, and Italy, and then back to England where they decided to become professional translators. They were lucky with a first effort and chose to tackle Franz Kafka next, who had died in 1924 leaving behind an unfinished novel, Das Schloss, The Castle. They introduced Kafka to the English-speaking world in translation, their translation. J.M. Koetzee (2003 Nobel Prize in Literature) in His Stranger Shores (2001) deals with the art of translating, by means of Kafka, in the Chapter "Translating Kafka". His analysis is of great interest and picks holes in the Muirs´rendering of Kafka into English well-worth reading and studying by all would-be translators. Particularly a paragraph stands out: "... although the Muirs mastery of German -particularly Willa´s- was astonishing, given the fact that they were more or less self-taught, and although Edwin in particular had read widely in contemporary German and Austrian writing, neither had a systematic grounding in German literature, so their ability to pick up literary references was rather haphazard. Finally, there were areas of German and Austrian life, each with its own vocabulary, that they knew only sketchily" (My emphasis.) This serves notice to translators: it is not enough to know the language you are translating from, but a good grounding in the original literature and culture is a must. 

CBS MYSTERY RADIO THEATER

I must bring to your attention, you language learners, that there are countless tools on the Internet to practice your listening and understanding skills. Today I will deal with a tool good for English-language learners. Of late, I have fallen into the habit of listening every night, in bed, in the dark, to CBS Mystery Radio Theater, Dragnet, Old-Time Radio, and others of the same ilk. They reproduce old programs of the 40s, 50s, and 60s with superb acting, normally featuring actors of high standing. Many of the programs are hosted by E.G. Marshall, the most famous movie actor of all time. You have no idea how entertaining and well-written these episodes are. The scriptwriters are out of this world, believe me. Give this tool a try and let me know.       

LEARNING AND USING STRANGE WORDS

 In my quest for adding new words to my vocabulary, I find that the definitions given by dictionaries are not enough to grasp the meaning. I have the upper hand because I can rely on bilingual dictionaries also, which might help elucidate the idea the word is trying to convey. Take the word figment which, according to The Random House Webster´s Unabridged Dictionary is: "a mere product of mental invention; a fantastic notion: The noises in the attic were just a figment of his imagination." Can I then say "What you are saying is a figment"? Collins explains: "A fantastic notion, invention, or fabrication: a figment of the imagination." Webster´s New Worl Dictionary defines it as: "To make, device, something merely imagined or made up  in the mind." Can I say that your story is a figment?

Elizabeth McCracken published a book in 2008 entitled: An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: a Memoir. And Shells Walter, also in 2008, published: Figments of My Imagination: Collection of Poems. Victoria Alexander tells us: "You are a figment of my imagination" in her book Believe, 2007. And so on and so forth. It is then a collocation: a figment of one´s fantasy, idea, and imagination. 

My bilingual dictionaries did not help a bit. 

FERNANDO SÁNCHEZ DRAGÓ

Fernando Sánchez Dragó (1936-2023) invited me several times to his Telemadrid "Las Noches Blancas" program to talk about lexicography and my dictionaries. He was the perfect television and literary host. He read thoroughly the books he would talk about and researched the authors. A cursory peep at YouTube will show the hundreds of interviews he made during his TV career.  He was also a prolific writer and a controversial persona. He favored me with a Prologue to my Gramática inglesa (Anaya, 2015), as well as with his friendship. He died yesterday and with him disappeared a controversial, prolific, and outspoken person. Somehow -don´t ask me why- I feel I must mention his passing in this Blog.    

THE GUARDIAN US

My daughter Laura, a teacher in San Francisco, has urged me today to read The Guardian US; she is partial to it. I did and she is right. A good newspaper. I have read several of its articles and pieces of news and one, especially, caught my eye: Alex Needham´s "Notoriously Cruel: Should we cancel Picasso?" I enjoyed the piece but cannot judge it because I am no art critic. But something drew my attention, something that, I bet, no one has noticed. It´s a small detail, but very tale-telling. It appears in the line: "We have the vampire, the Andalucían macho..." Notice? It is not "Andalucian" but "Andalucían" which cannot be a typo at all.  It should be "Andalusian", of course. Also, the word "macho", included in English dictionaries, echoes Spanish men, and Spanish culture. Mr. Needham did not write "macho andaluz", no, he wrote "Andalucían macho"... and added a written accent (´) to his misspelt word. Stereotypes die hard, if ever, and any man from Spain will always be a "macho man", whatever that may mean, even if men are losing the feminist battle here, and rightly so. 

AVOID THE PASSIVE VOICE IN SPANISH

Years ago my daughter Lorraine gifted me a copy of Strunk & White´s The Elements of Style which I still have and use. In section 14, Use of the active voice we read: "The active voice is usually more vigorous than the passive." In Spanish, the passive voice has been shunned for centuries until now. My guess is that those who study English and see the use of the passive voice by inept writers, tend to import it into Spanish, which does not need it, composing awkward sentences like: "El ladrón fue detenido por la policía" instead of "la policía detuvo al ladrón." Everybody in Spain (at least in Spain) has jumped into the bandwagon of the passive voice, especially the media, and mostly television. They might say: "El aceite es vendido a un precio más alto que hace un año" instead of "el aceite se vende a un precio más alto..." 

If you are studying Spanish, please avoid the passive voice. Do yourself that favor. 

DOMINAR IDIOMAS

 

Aprender un idioma es como sacar agua del mar con un cesto o hacer de Sísifo, laborar y empeñarse en conseguir un imposible. Dominar un idioma es una quimera. Aún así hay que hacer el esfuerzo y debemos intentarlo porque sabemos que el futuro está en manos de aquellos que, al convertirse en eternos y recalcitrantes estudiantes de la lengua, pueden expresarse mejor, comunicar mejor, convencer mejor y comprender mejor que los demás, siempre. Las cosas no vienen dadas. Y esto se aplica al político, al humanista, al vendedor, al filósofo, al biólogo, al amante, al médico. No se escapa nadie. Y tampoco se escapa ningún idioma. Y esto se aplica a una lengua foránea y a la nuestra propia, ojo. 

DICCIONARIO REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA

 

A good point about the DRAE is that it comprises ALL the Academies from ALL Spanish-speaking countries, thus assuring cohesiveness in matters dealing with the language. Lexicographers from every country where Spanish is spoken, including the Philippines and the USA,, agree on definitions and words to be included. If you have a question about a word and its meaning, go to the DRAE, the final authority, accepted where the Language is spoken. 

I have been manhandled by the Real Academia which has ghosted me on many occasions, but I must bow to the feat of getting so many countries together on matters of language. Bravo!