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Hey, boys and girls, great news, brought to you by the Foreign Languages Department! French Is Fun—Book 1, Fourth Edition has come out. This exciting book will help you attain basic communicative skills and get you ready for that vacation on the French Riviera that you’ve always dreamt of.

Of course, if your dreams are more modest (like surprising your French Facebook or Twitter friends with some French expressions) or utilitarian (you just need to review and reinforce what you know, so that you may fulfill that pesky foreign-language academic requirement), French Is Fun, Book 1 is there for you.

New Features in the Fourth Edition:

• Layout and design make lessons easier to navigate.
• Updated vocabulary and language reflects changes in usage in the 21st century.
• Added emphasis on conversational skills with several oral exercises in each lesson
• Updated Pages Culturelles (culture section) with new maps and information.
• An Internet activity in each lesson, La Chasse au trésor (Treasure Hunt), that gets students involved in a lively and interesting research.
• A comprehensive glossary of grammatical terms

• A consistent program sequence and clearly focused content topic in each lesson.
• A deductive learning approach guides students into making their own discoveries and draw their own conclusions.
• Lively drawings that introduce the vocabulary without the need for English.
• Entertaining narratives or playlets that feature new structural elements and vocabulary.

Many foreign language students do well with grammar and vocabulary, but then they fail to apply those same concepts to genuine communication; for instance, they may not know what to say if you happen to see them in the hallway, and ask them ¿Cómo estás hoy? (How are you today?)<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

So, in addition to grammar and vocabulary instruction, make students participate in talk time every day in your class. Encourage them to use the studied words and grammar to talk about themselves, their daily activities, problems, and plans. Make this an informal daily routine.

To do so, create a list of questions with topics that will engage your students. Think of their needs, experiences, maturity, and limits. Topics that may interest students in an intermediate-level class:

• What bothers you?

What are you afraid of?

What is a tradition or ritual that your family has? (Serious or silly)

What city would you like to visit one day?

What’s new at school?

Which is your hardest class? Why?

Why is everyone so tired today?

Who is your favorite relative?

What’s your favorite TV show?

What will you be doing in 20 years?

Your chat time can start with a greeting and a question on a board that will be your main topic. However, you need to be flexible too. For instance, you had a topic in mind but your class seems to be worried about an upcoming math exam, so let students talk about that, or come up with questions related to their problem or concern.

Also, a good way to make them talk about their experiences is by answering the main question of the day yourself first. In that way, they may be more eager to share with you. For example, if the question is about siblings, tell them some funny story about your sister or brother.

Now, how do you grade your students on their talk time? Create a reward system. Give them points for every time they speak. Make it clear that class participation will be part of their grades.<

Almost everyone is aware of the Spanish and Caribbean influence in contemporary American music, but many are still unaware of Brazil’s contributions. Brazil’s rich musical tradition derives from the profound interaction of cultures that started when Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered the country in 1550.

The Portuguese contributed the tonal system, various other medieval European modes, and the Moorish scales. In addition, they brought string, brass, and wind instruments. Their fondness for lyrical melancholic ballads and complex syncopated rhythms meshed well with the music culture of the Africans brought to Brazil. The Amerindian influence is comparatively less, but is still present, mainly through the use of various percussion instruments. Later on, immigrants from Asia, Europe, and the Middle East continued to add to this musical mosaic.

Brazilian popular music arrived to the United States a long time ago, long before the “British Invasion.” The older generations will certainly remember Carmen Miranda, the singer/actress famous for her elaborate headdresses. But it was really tenor-sax player Stan Getz who helped mainstream Brazilian music with his two records Jazz Samba, whose track —Desafinado— won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance of 1963 and Getz/Gilberto, which won Grammys for Best Album and Best Single (it beat The Beatles’ A Hard Day's Night).

To me, Brazilian music has a very seductive quality that is yet hard to explain. I remember listening to it for hours as a young kid, long before I could understand the language. Is it the combination of language and melodies, moodiness and rhythm? Listen to this song and maybe you’ll understand what I mean.

In recent years, student enrollment in Italian courses seems to have gradually increased. Why study Italian?, you may ask yourself. Well, there are several reasons, depending on your interests.

• Italy is one of the top five economies in the world. An estimated 7,500 American companies do business with Italy and many have offices there.
  
• Knowing Italian is greatly beneficial in career fields like culinary arts, interior design, fashion, graphic design, furniture design, machine tool manufacturing, robotics, electromechanical machinery, shipbuilding, space engineering, construction machinery, and transportation equipment.
  
• Italy's cultural influence spans from antiquity through the present.
  
• Italian literature boasts some of the world's most famous writers and thinkers, from Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Machiavelli, to Verga, Pirandello, Ungaretti, and Gadda, to name a few. Knowing Italian allows you to understand, appreciate, and analyze this treasury of human expression.<?xml:namespace prefix = o />

• Books' organization allows teachers to follow any sequence suitable to the needs of students and the objectives of the course.
• Chapters are organized around related grammatical topics.
• Concise and clear explanations of grammar are followed by examples.
• Exercises are set in functional realistic contexts to provide meaningful practice.
• Many of the exercises are personalized to stimulate original student response and meaningful assimilation of concepts.
• Open-ended exercises provide students with the opportunity to express their personal opinions in Italian, within the scope of the concept under study.
• Italian-English Vocabulary is included.
• Appendixes contain model verb tables and rules of Italian punctuation, syllabication, and pronunciation.

<?xml:namespace prefix = o />Learning a foreign language has obvious practical reasons, like increasing native-language ability, improving chances of entering college or graduate school, and improving employment potential. But to me—and this is what really interests me about the process—foreign-language learning promotes better understanding of oneself and one’s culture. Think of it as a study in cultural contrasts.

Take, for example, how different languages show various levels of formality during oral communication. Contemporary English, at least in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />United States, shows little evidence of formality. “Sir” or “Ma’am” is still used and there are certain phrases like “May I help you?” that still imply formality. One can show deference in the way one says someone’s name; for instance, by choosing either “Mr. Jones,” “Norman,” “Norm,” or “Jones.” But in general, one would address a relative, a friend, and an employer, with the same parts of speech.

On the other hand, all Romance languages, many Germanic languages, and some Slavic languages have formal and informal “you” pronouns. For instance, Spanish has the informal tú along with the formal usted, while German has du and Sie, respectively. These pronouns are used according to the social position and age (among other factors) of the subject being addressed and require different verb conjugations and possessive forms. To use them under the wrong circumstances would be inappropriate and could even suggest disrespect.

But in some Asian languages—like Japanese—different words actually have different levels of formality associated with them, and you’re supposed to use them depending on whom you’re talking to and whether that person is higher or lower in social status or hierarchy. The grammar is basically the same, but there are a number of words (particularly the specific forms of the verb) that are only used according to the person being addressed.

There are roughly six levels of formality in Japanese:

Blunt: Usually used only by men in very informal situations. It’s used a lot in movies, particularly coming from tough-guy characters.

Plain: anybody can use plain language, but it’s only appropriate for relaxed situations with people you know well. This level is particularly common with young people.

Casual: closer to polite than plain Japanese, but with some changes to make it flow a little more smoothly when you’re talking.

Polite: This is the level taught in most Japanese classes. It’s not too stiff and can be used in most situations where a lot of formality isn’t called for.

Humble: used when you’re referring to yourself while talking to someone of superior status, or whom you’re “at the service of,” such as a business client.

Honorific: used when talking to the same type of social superior, but when you’re talking about them.

Exactly when to use each of these types of speech depends on enough things to make you go mental: your social standing relative to the people you’re talking to, your age relative to them, your position in an organization relative to them, your grade in school relative to them, if they’re a client of your company, whether you’re related, (and in what way), and more. This explains why there are several ways of saying “I,” and “you.”

I

Watakushi (male or female; extremely formal)

Watashi (male or female; relatively polite)

Boku (used only by men; generally younger men)

Ore (men only; not so polite, has a bit of a tough image)

Atashi (used only by women; slightly less formal than watashi)

You

Anata (polite, but used only with people your familiar with)

Anta (a short version of anata; not polite at all)

Omae (informal, can be used between close friends)

Temee (blunt, and potentially insulting, if used in the wrong situation)

Kisama (very blunt, and potentially even more insulting, if used in the wrong situation)

Japanese culture, as reflected by the language, seems very rigid. Every human interaction — verbal communication included — is always shaped by one’s status or position in the social hierarchy. I wonder if we could ever get used to such a concept in our culture.

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Louisiana Creole is sometimes confused with Cajun French, the dialect spoken by the descendants of immigrants from the French colony of Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia). In reality, they are quite different, mainly because Louisiana Creole was heavily influenced by Spanish and various Native-American and African dialects.

Here’s some basic vocabulary to show you how French and Louisiana Creole differ:

Subject Pronouns

Numbers

Included are the French numbers for comparison.

Greetings

If you wish to learn more about Louisiana Creole visit http://www.nsula.edu/creole; and if you want to start learning it right away, visit http://learnlouisianacreole.wordpress.com.

When hearing the term Romance Languages, most people think of Spanish, Italian, and French. When asked for another example, some may remember Portuguese. Most forget about Romanian. I know little about it, myself, so I put together some information about the lesser-known member of this influential language family.

The Romans conquered the Dacians, the early inhabitants of what is now Romania, in 106 BC and immediately started the process of romanization. This marks the birth of the Proto-Romanian language. In 271 A.D., the Goths and other groups forced the Romans out of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Dacia.

Romanian was probably among the first languages to break from Latin. Because of its relative geographical isolation, it received little influence from the other Romance languages. Between the 7th and 10th centuries, when the area came under the influence of the

Compared with the other Romance languages, Romanian is closest to Italian; the two showing limited degrees of asymmetrical mutual understanding. (Romanians seem to understand Italian more easily than the other way around.) Even though Romanian has obvious grammatical and vocabulary similarities with Spanish, French, and Portuguese, it is not mutually understandable with them to a practical extent. Romanian speakers will usually need some formal study of basic grammar and vocabulary before being able to understand even simple sentences in those languages (and vice-versa).

But enough theory. If you're curious about how Romanian sounds, check out this song by singer

I read Simon Winchester’s new book, The Man Who Loved China, because I had read another good book by him, The Professor and the Madman (on the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary). I had also seen Mr. Winchester speak at The New York Public Library about his book on the eruption of a volcano in Indonesia: Krakatoa. Thus, I was confident that I would not be bored, even by a book about a Cambridge don.


Who Loved China? His name was Joseph Needham. He was a British biochemist at Cambridge University. Although he was married, he had a number of open affairs with other women. His love for one of these women, Gwei-djen, a fellow scientist at Cambridge, led to his love of Chinese culture. Because of her, he studied the Chinese language and history. He was surprised to learn about all the scientific discoveries in China hundreds and thousands of years before the West discovered them. He decided to research and write about these accomplishments for Western readers.

Needham’s Main Accomplishment. Joseph Needham (below) will always be known for his seven-volume work of scholarship, Science and Civilization in China. Using a team of Chinese and British researchers, he typed (using two fingers) thousands of pages of manuscript on such topics as Chinese mathematics, astronomy, roads, walls, bridges, boats, religious beliefs, and the arts. The book includes a chart of 250 Chinese inventions and discoveries with dates first mentioned, all before comparable dates in the West. Examples include the abacus, astronomical clock drive, air conditioning fan, algorithm for extraction of square and cube roots, antimalaria drugs, asbestos woven into cloth, and axial rudder (and this just covers the A's). Needham died before all the volumes had been published, but his colleagues continued working so that this publishing feat was completed.

Is Winchester’s Book Compelling? There are suspenseful sections of the book, especially about Needham traveling around China during World War II. His main source of transportation—a truck—kept breaking down, resulting in periods of rest while the driver tried to fix the vehicle. Needham used these stops to interview scientists and craftsmen and investigate ancient Chinese structures, such as the Great Wall. He is amazed by the ingenuity of the Chinese people he met.

Needham and his companions were not always safe in China because of Japanese bombing raids and nearby Japanese troop incursions. Although Needham was an official British representative to the Nationalist Chinese government and to Chinese scientists during the war, he not so secretly favored the Chinese Communists under Mao in their civil war against the Nationalists. When the Communists later came to power in 1949, Needham was overjoyed.

Lessons to Be Learned. The book helps readers understand better why the Chinese even today look down at people of other cultures. They distain any criticism of their society by foreigners, believing themselves to be superior and wondering why these foreigners think they have the right to tell them how to run their country. I am talking about President George W. Bush telling Chinese leaders to allow freedom of religion in China. I am talking about Westerners calling for freedom or autonomy for Tibet. And I am talking about Amnesty International calling for the freedom of political dissidents jailed or under house arrest in China.

As for the question “Can One Love China Too Much?” I would say that Needham overdid it. He was blindly in love and was thus blind to Communist China’s faults. Most of the talented scientists and others he had encountered in China in the 1940s and 1950s had disappeared by the time he visited China again in the 1960s. They were probably victims of the Cultural Revolution of that decade.

In 1952, Needham was part of an international group of “experts” investigating alleged U.S. atrocities in the Korean War, including biological warfare. Needham and other members of this group agreed with the Chinese and North Korean claims of American misdeeds. Simon Winchester concludes, however, that the Chinese planted evidence of bacterial bombs and that the United States never dropped such weapons on North Korea. He claims that Needham was duped by the Communists.

Connection to the Olympics. The subject of China’s early accomplishments in science is topical, in a way. The opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics showed a staging of some of these accomplishments: the printing press, gunpowder, and the compass. Perhaps you saw it?

No, this is not going to be a tirade against languages other than English. Being a native Spanish speaker myself, I’m not against any foreign language (with the exception of Klingon and Esperanto). I actually enjoy learning them.

It’s only that in the last couple of years “foreign languages” have morphed into “world languages,” not unlike “used cars” have become “certified pre-owned vehicles.” Most schools, universities, and publishing companies don’t have foreign language departments anymore, but world languages departments. Apparently, the word “foreign” has become politically incorrect too. (Not to say that I give any credence to political correctness.)

A long time ago, I spent a summer studying Italian literature at the Università degli Studi d’Urbino. English, German, and Spanish language courses—among others—were part of the Facoltà di lingue straniere (Department of Foreign Languages), mainly because it was no secret that Italian was the predominant language in the country. I don’t recall any foreigners or immigrants being emotionally damaged by that. In fact, one of the most popular places to learn Italian was the Università per Stranieri di Perugia (University for Foreigners in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Perugia). Somehow, people seemed to be cool with that.

This moral imperative of “not offending” that we currently experience seems to reflect a sense of pessimism regarding people’s emotional resilience. Let’s face it: with famine, wars, and natural disasters, if your worst grievance at the end of the day is having been offended, then your life is hardly a Greek tragedy. Just toughen up a little.

Eventually, we too will have a World Languages Department. No big deal. It’s encouraging though, that the Università per Stranieri di Perugia hasn’t changed its name, nor are there plans to do so.

My boys and I have just come across renowned illustrator Raúl Cólon’s first fully authored picture book, Orson Blasts Off! (published in 2004), which is a real flight of the imagination. It’s about a boy who can see no end to boredom when his computer breaks down… until his jack-in-the-box called Weasel points to what is going on outside: it’s snowing, even though it’s July. Then Orson embarks on his adventures with great gusto: the North Pole, a desert island and even the stars.

The story is told through the dialogue between Orson and Weasel – indeed, it would make a good interactive read-aloud, as it’s really a script: but the wonderful illustrations add in the background as well as the wit and irony, so young readers/listeners will have to engage their imaginations too. It definitely provokes lots of comments and conversation – it’s not one to choose for a quick bedtime story, until it’s well established in the family repertoire!

My children love books which blur the edges between the “real” world and imaginary adventures: two which they have wanted read to them over and over again are Jo’s Storm by Caroline Pitcher, illustrated by Jackie Morris and Cloud Nine by Norman Silver, illustrated by Jan Ormerod, which are both out of print now and need to be sought out second hand… I can see that Orson Blasts Off! will be joining them on their bit of the bookshelf.

These books all star boys; there must be picture books out there which take girls off on amazing flights of the imagination too: any suggestions, anyone?