LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  Language is not about a prescriptive or descriptive approach to it. It goes far beyond that. If descriptive grammar simply tells you about it, the prescriptive approach judges it. I am not taking sides when I point out grammar, syntax, vocabulary, or phonetics errors. Deep down, I could not care less. But language is all about communication, not about being right or wrong. It deals with how to convey ideas briefly, clearly, and easily.  Transgressions against the established rules usually create confusion and misunderstandings.  As an example, of late I have been listening to Spanish politicians mishandling their language and creating havoc in the minds of the average citizen. Listening to them, it is clear they are educationally half-baked, tending to use bizarre syntax, making up strange neologisms, misquoting proverbs, and changing ready-made idiomatic expressions in a helter-skelter way. No wonder Spain is in a state of educational, intellectual, and emotional turmo...

  The Internet is chockfull of well-meaning people -I would like to think-, mostly natives, who insist on telling readers what in English or Spanish is "informal" or "formal". They disregard the complexities of language, society, and culture. But these self-appointed, latter-day language gurus love to pontificate about what they consider appropriate. "If you want to sound more like a native, don´t say how are you , say hija ." To pass off as a native speaker, don´t say, mister Smith  , say, Mac, or you ." They insist that using "madam" when addressing a woman is old fashioned and stilted. According to them, the word "sir" came into disuse decades ago, and nowadays "I´m good" has definitely replaced "I am well." Again, it is all a question of age, education mores, context, and social standing. This a thin line that foreign students cannot tread without perhaps falling into the abyss of bad manners and thus reject...

"Give a leg up" Google translates into Spanish as "dar una pierna arriba" which is a good word-for-word translation but off the mark. WordReference gives us "levantar, aupar, dar ventaja" which come closer but still off the mark again, considering that the definition is: "To give someone an advantage over others" which brings to mind the Spanish equivalent of "dar trato de favor, trato discriminatorio a favor de alguien."  Collins, always on cloud nine, says it is "a preferential treatment."  — “Quieren saber si la Junta de Castilla y León dio trato de favor a la Caja Rural de Zamora.” El Mundo, 24/08/1994. Esp. — “Wesleyan University… is ending legacy admissions, which give a leg up to the children of alumni.” New York Times, July 19, 2023. US. Why point this out? Just to make students of either language aware of how dictionaries treat phraseology. In my dictionary I am attempting to remedy this problem.     

A self-appointed phonetician on Instagram, a few weeks ago,  endeavored to teach Spanish speakers the sound of /th/ as in think, thigh, or thwart. He pointed out that this sound does not exist in Spanish. The phonetician, obviously, does not differentiate  casar and cazar , serrar and cerrar, coser and cocer.  I do, along with many others. My point is that when comparing languages, we must be true to the two of them. The sound of /th/ in think does exist in Spanish in cazar . True enough that the point of articulation is a bit different: the English sound is interdental and the Spanish sound is dental. And here, once again, I must paraphrase Ortega y Gasset: The horizon of our language is not the horizon of language. And once again I must warn you: beware of unqualified native speakers pontificating on the language they speak. 

As society and language change, in the nests of yesteryear there are no birds this year, as Don Quijote told us. And, horrors, now we find ourselves loaded with plenty of phraseology, in English and Spanish, that we can no longer use due to the changes in the outlook society has on certain subjects which were ok in the past but have become, willy-nilly, taboo as of now. Take, for instance, "a Chinese fire drill", a taboo expression that could offend Asians. In Spanish, people of color could also find offense in "merienda de negros", not to mention "tener la negra" which, although not a racial slur, could be misunderstood. Expressions like "I love the movies more than a fat kid likes cake" would not be appropriate today, just as "le gusta leer más que a un tonto un lápiz", which refers to "tontos", like "el tonto del pueblo" or village idiot. And I understand that "to call a spade a spade" is looked down upo...

I have read only one title by Milan Kundera (1929-2023), in Spanish. I have heard a lot about him but he never excited my curiosity much. Don´t ask me why. He has just passed away and although his literary figure has been mentioned, not much ink has been spilt over his literary production. He wrote in Czech until he moved to France in 1975 and immersed himself in the language and culture of his adopted country, to the point of switching languages.  La lenteur , Slowness , was his first French-language work, published in 1995, at the age of 66. This may sort of prove that it´s never too late to master a language and master it to the point of being able to write it well. Kundera wanted to be considered a French-language writer. He joins the club made up of Conrad, Nabokov, Koestler, Sabatini, and so many others, who chose the language they wanted to write in.    

  In composing my bilingual phraseological dictionary, I often find my resolution and firmness of purpose faltering.  After over four years of daily toiling, even in poor health and while dealing with technical issues and hospital visits, I sometimes conclude that I am wasting my time. But as a dedicated lexicographer, I approach my trade with utmost seriousness, meticulously checking and double-checking every idiom I encounter.  A bilingual dictionary must offer exact equivalents in both languages, and paraphrasing is not acceptable. A case in point today has led me to compare two phrases, in English and Spanish, that are never seen together in bilingual dictionaries: "A (según) mi leal saber y entender" and "according to my lights." In both cases, we suggest that there´s the possibility of our being mistaken in our acts or opinions. Both phrases convey the idea that there´s a recognition of the potential for error in our actions or opinions.  Examples in both lang...