LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  BILINGUAL BICULTURAL   In the early fifties, as a young boy, I crossed the Atlantic aboard a TWA Super Constellation propeller airplane from Madrid. After many hours, we landed at Idlewild Airport in New York. A tallish, thin, blond young boy reached America and immediately felt at home. “This is home at last”, I said to myself, and thus started my love affair with this country. What was it about Idlewild, the Greyhound bus that took me to Pittsburgh, a nine-hour ride, the people around me… It was a feeling of contentedness, of a certain joy, of adventure and emotion. All seemed new, fresh, and different, so different from my adopted city of Madrid, where I have never truly felt at home to this day. I had my first Coke, my second Coke, my third Coke during that long trip through Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh, the Smokey City, as it was then called. I was better off than most because I spoke English and was able to understand and make myself understood to the astonishmen...

  Aprender un idioma y dominarlo bien, con soltura y a todos los niveles, incluso el propio no es cuestión baladí. Pero ya nos decía Spinoza que todo lo bueno es difícil de conseguir. De no ser así, todos seríamos políglotas. Pero, como siempre, muchos son los llamados y pocos los elegidos... simplemente porque unos hacen el esfuerzo y otros, la mayoría, no se molestan. Aprender un idioma bien, incluso el propio, es posible... y nos abre las puertas a nuevas maneras de pensar, de acceder a otras culturas, a otras aventuras educativas o espirituales. La inversión de tiempo vale la pena. Hagamos ese esfuerzo todos y dediquemos unos minutos cada día a mejorar y adquirir más francés, inglés, castellano, urdu... el idioma que sea. Saber dos idiomas redobla nuestras posibilidades. Hablar tres las triplica. ¿Vamos a intentarlo? Ánimo.

Perhaps you have noticed that I tend to stress the need to care for one´s native tongue. You may exclaim that it is silly because, after all, you are a native speaker of, say, English and have been speaking it since birth. That settles it! But, no, that does not settle anything. I cannot tell you how often in my classes I have been asked to translate a word into the speaker's language only to meet perplexity on the part of the student because she did not know that word in Spanish or English, in her own tongue. If we do not study our own language, we will never be able to acquire a second one well. This may seem puzzling but in my experience it is true. Never overestimate the level of knowledge of your own language and be humble. You will never go broke underestimating the span of your vocabulary, grammar, and even syntax in your native tongue. You have nothing to lose improving it while mastering a second one. Thank you for your attention.  

  To express our indifference about what someone does, thinks, or wants, we use the expression "I don´t give..." and here we can add a variety of words like a hoot , two shakes , a damn , a darn , a fuck , a shit , a toss ... instead of a simple "I don´t care." Why does language do that? To show different degrees of our indifference and reaction. There is a difference between " I don´t give a hoot " and " I don´t give a fuck ."  In Spanish for "no importar" we will add, for emphasis, " un rábano , pimiento , carajo , bledo , comino , ardite , cuerno , pepino , pito , una mierda , tres puñetas , tres cojones " There is a difference between " no me importa un pimiento " and " no me importa un carajo ."  All those tags add degrees of indifference, relationship with the speaker, emotional state, also variety, and glamour (?). 

  Si cometemos la locura, ingenuidad, de consultar diccionarios bilingües en internet, que hay muchos, nos reiremos un rato si sabemos algo de los dos idiomas, y si no, haremos el ridículo ante los demás. Busco la expresión castellana necesitar Dios y ayuda , y me dicen que en inglés es God and help . Como no es correcto, voy a Google y me responde igual: God and help , cuando la realidad es que la frase paralela, con el mismo significado, es need all the help one can get . “We are going to need all the help we can get to finish this report.” Vamos a necesitar Dios y ayuda para terminar este informe. “I, for one, am going to be needing all the help I can get to finish this book.” Pero, aunque necesito Dios y ayuda , me las voy a tener que arreglar solo. Lo bueno es que si usted, lector, tiene el libro en sus manos es porque, con ayuda o sin ella, he podido terminarlo. No obstante, y repito, cuidado con los traductores de internet, que mienten más que escriben.

  “… en la raíz de un buen lingüista se oculta siempre un actor bueno” nos comentaba Salvador de Madariaga. Y se decía que, desde lejos, cuando Fiorello LaGuardia, Alcalde de Nueva York, daba un discurso al aire libre, se sabía en qué idioma estaba hablando por los gestos y posturas que asumía. Los idiomas conllevan no sólo palabras, sino cultura, actitudes, gestos, costumbres, historia, sensibilidad y hasta maneras de pensar. Quizá por eso nos dice José María Eça de Quiros: “… el políglota no es nunca patriota. Con cada idioma ajeno que asimila se le introducen en el organismo moral modos ajenos de sentir. Su patriotismo desaparece diluido en extranjerismo.” ( Cartas de Fadrique Mendes , 1900.) Aprender un idioma diferente implica entrar en un mundo nuevo. Descubramos, pues, mundos nuevos. Hay poco que perder y mucho que descubrir. El esfuerzo vale la pena.

  Those of us who live in democracies often raise the banner of "freedom" against those unfortunate ones who live under dictatorships. But we forget that if we jaywalk, we get a fine. If we forget to file our tax returns, we will end up in jail. Do not exceed the speed limit because you´ll be ticketed. Do not park on the wrong side of the street because you´ll be tagged. All taxes must be paid, or else. I can go on endlessly. The conceit of evading "citizen responsibility" is always lurking in our minds... but we must beware because all that glitters (democratic freedoms) is not gold.  But we do have the ultimate freedom, the freedom that, if transgressed, will carry no penalties. The freedom of language: to destroy it, to misuse it, to torture it, to vilify it, to transgress it into oblivion... and nothing happens. Governments also have that freedom. They have the liberty to issue statements, laws, threats, proclamations with errors, faulty grammar, incomprehensibl...

Los hispanohablantes se quejan (su deporte favorito) de que el castellano ya no es lo que era. Nada es lo que era, afortunadamente. ¡Qué diría Cervantes si leyese un periódico de hoy! Yo mismo que soy un "criticón" me sonrojo con las barbaridades que escribimos en español. Pobrecito idioma.  Pero tenemos un consuelo por aquello de que mal de muchos, consuelo de todos. Y hoy, que ando un poco alicaído, he estado navegando la red y he leído en inglés: "... included the case of one women..." Y yo me digo, si estos nativos no saben la diferencia entre "woman" y "women", ¿cómo pueden carcajearse del extranjero? "... if we are suffering? Tell me how is the poor living?)"  Me llevo las manos a la cabeza: "The poor, the rich, the dead, the tall..." se refiere a muchos. Eso lo sabe cualquiera, excepto el nativo que ha escrito esto en un periódico de Sudáfrica. "Following a yearslong investigation into..." Mejor "a year-l...

  I have finally decided to take a few days´vacation on the beach, near Valencia, in Mare Nostrum, with its warm waters. We have rented an AirB&B house. First thing I noticed, everything (warnings, directions, etc.) were written in English. No Spanish, which is fine with me. Next day I noticed that all houses in this old part of the village were B&B... I mean all. And probably the customers came from the UK. But the Brits are not here, the streets are empty, and restaurants and bars, deserted. The result of the Covid pandemic.  Driving back from supper, all villages appeared as ghost towns. An eerie feeling overtook me.  This new way of life, of living, will also affect the English language in Spain. Why try and learn a language nobody speaks? Language schools and English-language teachers will have to figure out what to do.  Mare Nostrum will be the winner. It will recuperate a bit from years of maltreatment by tourists and locals. Every cloud has a silver l...

OF (se pronuncia “ov”, no como "f") De. The leg of the chair, la pata de la mesa. The hair of the dog, el pelo del perro. Of good family, de buena familia. He died of old age, murió de vejez. A dress of silk, un vestido de seda. The city of Philadelphia, la ciudad de Filadelfia. The Queen of England, la reina de Inglaterra. One of them, uno de ellos. She is tired of working, está cansada de trabajar. It was terrible of him, fue terrible de su parte. OFF (se pronuncia “of”) Fuera de, alejado de, de. Off duty, fuera de servicio.  Off course, fuera del rumbo.  A day off, un día libre. Off también es apagado, como on es encendido: The TV set is off but the radio is on, la televisión está apagada pero la radio está encendida.

Tendemos a confundir los términos "English" y "British". --"English" como adjetivo se refiere a los habitantes de Inglaterra. "English" como sustantivo se refiere también a la lengua hablada por los ingleses. "The English" significa los habitantes de Inglaterra en plural, distintos a los escoceses, galeses e irlandeses. --"British" se refiere a los habitantes de Gran Bretaña, Great Britain (Reino Unido o United Kingdom ). "British English" (inglés británico) se refiere a la modalidad del inglés hablada en ese reino. Un escocés es "British" pero no "English." Estos términos no son intercambiables. Tengámoslo en cuenta. 

(I dedicate this post to Alberto Cornejo Alcaraz.) A train is a means of transportation that can convey us to a new life, new experiences, new cities, exciting and different weather conditions, adventures, love, knowledge. A train is a means, not an end in itself altough is can be, in the sense that the ride can be enjoyable also: The rattling of the wheels, the whistling of the engine, the comfort of the seats, the countryside passing by. Let´s change the word "train" and replace it by "language." A new language is a means that can convey us to new experiences, meeting new people, the strange adventures of different literatures, weird ways of seeing reality, a passport to the meeting of true minds, friendship and adventure. Even romance and love. A different language is not an end in itself although it can be, in the sense that learning it can be enjoyable: the different sounds, the weird syntax, the funny idiomatic expressions, the shocking slang... I u...

Did you know that if you repeat a word several times, fast, it loses its meaning and becomes just a sound, a meaningless sound? Repeat "pasta"... pastapastapastapastapastapastapastapasta... until you reach a point where you are making sounds, just sounds and come to realize that language is sound, sound to which meaning is attached.  Think about this seemingly unimportant fact. Ponder on it. It will clarify your language study and your attitude towards it. If you want to learn English , remember it is sound. If you want to learn Spanish , remember it is sound.

Me he comprometido a hacer una traducción del inglés al castellano. Parecía fácil -a primera vista todas las traducciones parecen simples- pero la realidad me ha dado una bofetada de mucho cuidado. El original a traducir está plagado de acrónimos: " Common App and UC app " "Complete Info for CCO Questionnaire" "SAT and ACT tests" "NCAA Eligibility Center" "FERPA waiver" "send GPA verification to Cal Grant" "FAFSA and CSS Profile forms"         El traductor tiene que averiguar el significado de los acrónimos y luego traducirlos de la manera más clara posible. Esto requiere tiempo y paciencia.   FAFSA = Free Application for Federal Student Aid, aunque lo traduzcamos no va a a tener sentido para un chileno o guatemalteco. Se lo podemos explicar, claro, que ya sería otra cosa.  Posiblemente que el inglés tenga más acrónimos que ninguna otra lengua del mundo. Afortunadamente con "acronymfinder" p...