Interesting LINKS for multilingual minds_ WEBSITES • Europa Languages Portal: This website is your point of entry to information about languages from the European Union. http://europa.eu/languages/en/home • Languages in the EU: http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/languages/index_en.htm. These are the 23 official EU languages (i.e. the ones used for EU business). On this site you can hear speech samples recorded by EU interpreters. • European Language Portfolio: http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/?L=E&M=/main_pages/introduction.html. What is the European Language Portfolio? • Do You Speak American?: http://www.pbs.org/speak/. PBS (American public television network) portal on varieties of English across America. Excellent place to start exploring nexus between English and globalization. • BBC Voices: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/. An interesting place to explore varieties of English from across the UK. • The Speech Accent Archive (George Mason University, United States): http://accent.gmu.edu/. “Everyone who speaks a language, speaks it with an accent. A particular accent essentially reflects a person's linguistic background. When people listen to someone speak with a different accent from their own, they notice the difference, and they may even make certain biased social judgments about the speaker. The Speech Accent Archive demonstrates that accents are systematic rather than merely mistaken speech.” • Omniglot: www.omniglot.com/aboutus. This site contains details of most alphabets and other writing systems currently in use, as well as quite a few ancient and invented ones. It also includes information about some of the languages written with those writing systems, multilingual texts, tips on learning languages, a book store, some useful phrases in many different languages, and a ever-growing collection of links to language-related resources. • Ethnologue_Languages of the World: http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=eng • Paul McFedries is a writer with more than 40 books to his credit. His most recent book is Word Spy: The Word Lover's Guide to Modern Culture, published in February by Broadway Books. McFedries loves all words (his company name is Logophilia Limited; logophilia means "the love of words"), but he particularly enjoys tracking down new words, especially those with some traction in the culture but that aren't yet in any dictionary. He posts the results of these lexical hunts on his popular website: www.WordSpy.com • A fascinating website dedicated to de-mystifying buzzwords: www.BuzzWhack.com. • NetLingo is an award-winning dictionary of Internet terms that contains thousands of words and definitions that describe the online world of business, technology and communication: www.NetLingo.com • Stop the North American Union website: http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/. This is a good example of the kind of extreme rhetoric being used by some people who believe Spanish and Spanish speakers are a dangerous threat to the English language in general and American identity in particular. VIDEOS • The Importance of Being Bilingual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpRZVYZsWdU • American linguist Walt Wolfram briefly discusses language diversity in the US with PBS’s Robert MacNeil: http://www.pbs.org/cgiregistry/ mediaplayer/videoplayer.cgi?playeraddress=videoplayer.cgi&media=%2Fspeak%2Fdiversi tya36.rm%2C%2Fspeak%2Fdiversitya220.rm%2C%2Fspeak%2Fdiversitya36.wmv%2C%2Fspeak %2Fdiversitya220.wmv&title=diversitya&playertemplate=%2Fspeak%2Fplayers%2Fvideo.html&de scription=Walt%20Wolfram%20discusses%20language%20diversity%20with%20Robert%20MacN eil&widescreen=true • Interesting interview with Dr. Illan Stavans (Amherst College, USA) on Spanglish: http://pbs-newshour.virage.com/cgi-bin/visearch?user=pbsnewshour& squery=%2BClipID%3A6+%2BVideoAsset%3Apbsnh102303. • McDonalds ‘McWorld’ commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8h7J1XIc0E. • Deep Thoughts? McDonalds, Eating in a ‘McWorld’: “In three and a half months traveling around the globe I ate a lot of good food, and I saw a lot of McDonald's. And that got me thinking. What is real fast food? Could the quick culinary delights from around the world ever be introduced to the American fast food repertoire?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xoUWlTUO1U. • Future Internet Governance = Multilingualism?: Globally, the Internet is structured on a system that does not recognize national boundaries or linguistic boundaries... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2vP6wYjZW8. • EPKTV Europocket meets EU Commissioner for Multilingualism, Leonard Orban: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhcIeQ1nWyk • Euroscola Day at the European Parliament: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8xdrxdnJOU. Greg and Chris presenting their school in front of students from all over Europe. • Campaign for Early Foreign Language Education starring American and International students of the University of Michigan (Final project for Linguistics 370): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL65LF46ZwY • Democratic Party Primary Debate: “Should English be Designated the Official Language of the US?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmngww_Go-Q&feature=related • CNN_Should English be declared the Official Language in the United States? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_dMr5haTbM&feature=related • An English-only America? Isolate or Assimilate? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBiZtU4FLEQ&feature=related • America Becomes Bilingual Spanish-English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-4KmI38dFc&feature=related • The U.S. is quickly becoming a bilingual nation Spanish/English. This short video shows why: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Olz9sLlZ0E • Por que Inglés? Debate on why other immigrants are getting ahead of Spanish speaking immigrants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fqh47nW_iGM • Critique of lax US immigration policy: “Americans Go to Mexico” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6rN6QRHHXc&feature=related • Third segment of "Celebrate Heritage, Celebrate Unity." This is the history of how bilingual education programs developed in the San Francisco Unified School District. The pivotal case went to the US Supreme Court: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXhQrJ37gFE • EUROENGLISH? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R15v1wcFhU&feature=related low graphics version | feedback | help You are in: UK Front Page World UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales UK Politics Business Sci/Tech Health Education Entertainment Talking Point In Depth AudioVideo Thursday, 21 December, 2000, 17:02 GMT RIP RP A more informal monarch? The fuss over the Queen's slow departure from "RP" - received pronunciation - is more to do with informality than accent. Received pronunciation is all about jaw muscle power and tongue control. The speaker must contort his or, in the Queen's case, her mouth into un-natural positions so that the required vowels sounds can be produced. The wrong "try-zers" Prolonged speech using received pronunciation can amount to a lengthy and potentially painful gym work-out for the tongue. Goodbye RP As the Queen has loosened her tongue her use of the jaw-busting "eyi" vowel sound has diminished "Rain" and not "Raeiyn" now falls upon the "Plaeiyn Princess "Aeyin" is now simply Most people can easily produce the vowels needed to turn the perfectly ordinary words such as "trousers" or "pound" into their RP equivalents ("try-zers" and "pined"). But to do so requires the speaker to choose the words they are about to use with care, think about what they mean and then put Search BBC News Online Advanced search options BBC RADIO NEWS BBC ONE TV NEWS WORLD NEWS SUMMARY BBC NEWS 24 BULLETIN PROGRAMMES GUIDE See also: 20 Dec 00 | Sci/Tech 'er Royal 'ighness 20 Dec 00 | Sci/Tech Queen's speech 'less posh' 08 Dec 00 | Education Student slang leaves parents dazed 18 Dec 98 | UK It's the w**d on the s****t Internet links: Commercial organisations offering speech and pronunciations services University of Leeds School of Education - On teaching of English Pronunciation The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top UK stories now: Postcode lottery in GP services Leanne killer jailed for life Tories attack Brixton some effort into the act Princess Anne of speaking them. But as the Royle - as opposed to the Royal - family might say: Few people can be "a***ed" to do this. And why should anybody run the risk of ending up with a face full of muscles, so long as they can be understood? 1953: Coronation year and not a schwa in sight. Most people in the UK speak English - albeit, increasingly, a hybrid of American and Austrialian dialects - with what language experts call a schwa. This means that the tongue is allowed to loll in the middle of the mouth all the time, doing the minimum amount of work, while the jaw remains slack. Essentially the schwa-afflicted person has embraced the modern ethos of lounging about and avoiding effort of any sort unless it is strictly essential. In many cases their entire speaking apparatus has gone floppy. None of this has much to do with accent - still less social class. It is more to do with lack of rigour and laid-back "do easy" approach to life. Defined vowels John Flood, Academic Principal at Churchill House School of English in Bournemouth, specialises in teaching standard English to foreigners. He says foreigners like the crisp vowel sounds of the Edinburgh Scottish accent. They have no idea that it sounds "posh" to many in the UK, and care even less. drugs scheme Straw defends arms sales change IVF mix-up heads for court Police shoot man on the M6 New challenge excites Venables Judge urges life sentence shake-up Links to more UK stories are at the foot of the page. But English spoken in this way requires a lot of mouth movement - and thus a lot of clearly defined vowels - which makes it easier to understand. "I have never met an English teacher with a cutglass '50s accent. I doubt if anyone from abroad trying to learn the language would be able to understand much of what their teachers are saying," says Mr Flood. Received pronunciation as far as much of the rest of the world is concerned, would sound much more like Miss Jean Brodie, than the young Queen Elizabeth. Lazy Mr Flood says pronunciation comes second place to simply being understood. "People talk a lot of rubbish about language," he says. "It is one of those subjects like football where everyone thinks they know everything about it when they don't." The Queen is not getting less posh. Still less is she trying to ape the style and manners of the lower social classes. She is merely in tune with the times, becoming more informal or, to put another way, she's getting lazy. E-mail this story to a friend Links to more UK stories low graphics version | feedback | help You are in: Sci/Tech Front Page World UK UK Politics Business Sci/Tech Health Education Entertainment Talking Point In Depth AudioVideo The BBC's Julian Siddle "The Queen's vowel sounds had become more similar to those of the female BBC presenters" real 28k Examples of the queen's speech throughout the years real 56k Wednesday, 20 December, 2000, 19:06 GMT Queen's speech 'less posh' The Queen's English is drifting down the social hierarchy, scientists in Australia say. After trawling through archives of Her Majesty's annual Christmas messages since 1952, they conclude that the royal accent is becoming less "posh". The Queen is not likely to start dropping her aitches Paul Foulkes, York University The experts, based at Sydney's Macquarie University, believe the vowel sounds of Queen Elizabeth II have been influenced by subjects who are younger or of lower social standing. As a result, they say, the Queen's accent is moving towards the standard accent of southern England, away from the cut-glass "upper-crust" accent of the 1950s. Lead researcher Jonathan Harrington told BBC News Online: "In the last 40 or so years, there have been dramatic changes to the social class structure in Britain and to a certain extent this is reflected in pronunciation. "It demonstrates that the monarchy, at least as far as the spoken accent is concerned, isn't isolated from the rest of the community." "Hed" to "Had" Search BBC News Online Advanced search options BBC RADIO NEWS BBC ONE TV NEWS WORLD NEWS SUMMARY BBC NEWS 24 BULLETIN PROGRAMMES GUIDE See also: 08 Dec 00 | Education Student slang leaves parents dazed 06 Dec 00 | UK Leicester's legacy to the world? Internet links: Estuary English Macquarie University Paul Foulkes Cockney Online The British Monarchy The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Sci/Tech stories now: Astronomy's next big thing Ancient rock points to life's origin Mobile spam on the rise Giant telescope project gets boost New hope for Aids vaccine Replace your mouse with your eye The researchers base their conclusions on an acoustic analysis of vowel sounds from archive recordings of the Queen's annual Christmas message. They compared recordings from the 1950s and the 1980s with the standard accent of southern Britain, as spoken by female BBC broadcasters. Writing in the scientific journal Nature, the team say the Queen's pronunciation of vowel sounds has slowly shifted over the years "towards one that is characteristic of speakers who are younger and/or lower in the social hierarchy". In the Queen's Christmas broadcasts of the 1950s, for example, the word "had" almost rhymed with "bed". But 30 years later "had" migrated halfway to the standard southern English pronunciation, which rhymes with "bad". Blurring of accents The researchers say the Queen's English is part of a nationwide trend towards a blurring of accents that once distinguished different social classes. The standard accent of England - modern, received pronunciation - has been subtly influenced by the Cockney accent, for example, leading to some people dropping the "l" from milk. And Estuary English has a glottal stop, dropping the "t", as in "a li'le bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'". Jonathan Harrington is quick to point out that although the Queen no longer speaks the Queen's English of the 1950s, researchers have found no trace of Cockney influences over the years. Royal stereotypes And Paul Foulkes, a linguistics expert at York University, UK, says that although younger Device could detect overdose drugs Wireless internet arrives in China Links to more Sci/ Tech stories are at the foot of the page. members of the Royal Family, such as Prince William, have been heard to use glottal stops, this does not extend to the Queen. He told BBC News Online: "If you look at the way Spitting Image and other professional mimics might stereotype the Queen's speech with words like House pronounced as 'Hice', that is something she would be likely to change to reduce the distance between herself and other people. "But she is not likely to start dropping her aitches or using glottal stops." So for the time being at least, the House of Windsor is unlikely to become the 'Ouse of Windsor'. E-mail this story to a friend Links to more Sci/Tech stories ^^ Back to top News Front Page | World | UK | UK Politics | Business | Sci/Tech | Health | Education | Entertainment | Talking Point | In Depth | AudioVideo ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To BBC Sport>> | To BBC Weather>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy Special Offer: Subscribe to the Monitor and get 32 issues RISK-FREE! World USA Commentary Work & Money Learning Living Sci/Tech A & E Travel Books The Home Forum Home | About Us/Help | Archive | Subscribe | Feedback | Text Edition | Multimedia | Patchwork Nation | Search: World>Africa from the August 30, 2005 edition SO TO SPEAK: The Rev. Richard Diroma studies English so he can talk with English-speaking UN peacekeepers in Congo who help to protect his flock. ABRAHAM MCLAUGHLIN To more Africans, English is hip - and can even save lives French is becoming passé as US influence grows and English is seen as the language of opportunity. By Abraham McLaughlin | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor BUNIA, CONGO – For a wiry young priest named Richard Diroma, learning English may be a matter of life and death. Photos Blogs Editorial In Pictures Crisis of Rice The Philippines comes face to face with its rice problem. With militias lurking on the town's outskirts, the Rev. Diroma yearns to speak directly to English-speaking UN peacekeepers aiming to protect him and his flock. So, on a recent rain-drenched afternoon he's sitting in a dim classroom conjugating verbs. And he's not alone. Reporters on the Job The Monitor gives the story behind the story. Get all the Monitor's headlines by e-mail. Subscribe for free. E-mail this story Write a letter to the Editor Printer-friendly version Permission to reprint/republish del.icio.us [ What's this? ] digg [ What's this? ] Here in the heart of Africa, where France's language, culture, and philosophy have dominated since francophone Belgians began colonizing in the 1870s, French is becoming passé. Bunia's hipsters greet each other with, "Hello," not "Bonjour." English classes are filling up. The reasons are many - and emblematic of similar shifts across Africa. English is seen as the language of business and global opportunity. It also connects anglophones with US largess, which is growing because of the war on terrorism - and sometimes allows them to vent anger at France. Many people "are not yet paying attention to this, but it's going to be one of the most important changes in Africa in coming years," says Mamadou Diouf, who teaches African history at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Consider: • Traditionally French-speaking Rwanda has made English its top official language, in part because of lingering animosity toward France over what Rwanda's leaders see as French complicity in the 1994 genocide. Most-viewed Stories (for 04/26/2008) With Syria 'reactor' video, U.S. sends a warning (04/25/2008) Iraqis see red as U.S. opens world's biggest embassy (04/24/2008) Real estate's new hidden market (04/23/2008) Superdelegates' superdilemma (04/24/2008) High oil prices put focus on Strategic Petroleum Reserve (04/24/2008) Monitor Services l Subscribe l Treeless Edition l Give a gift subscription l Free sample issue l Search the Archives l Monitor Mall l Receive our free e-mail newsletters: Enter e-mail address Today's print issue Enlarge page one • In the former French colony of Ivory Coast, growing nationalist anger at France over the past year has spurred affection for English. Some disaffected youths chanted "USA is better" while ransacking French businesses in the capital last October. • In Senegal, also a former French colony, English is now common among the elite. Wealthy citizens are increasingly forsaking the Sorbonne in Paris for a US education. The president vows to help the US fight terror - and has received an aid influx. • In Djibouti, the longtime French military presence is being crowded by the growing US antiterror base, which is home to some 2,000 US troops. It adds up to a waning of once-considerable French power in Africa, says Peter Kagwanja of Crisis Group in Pretoria, South Africa: "Basically, the French empire is receding." Notebook: Africa Our correspondent takes you beyond the story. A motorcycle-eye view of eastern Congo Here in Bunia, though, English has more to do with economics - and health - than geopolitics. For a 30-something dad named John Kabaseke, learning English means money in his pocket. He's a translator for UN troops and gets paid about $300 a month - a virtual fortune in a region that's been wracked by conflict for a decade. (A 1998-2003 war in Congo involved troops from six African nations and left up to 4 million people dead.) "English is the language of business," Mr. Kabaseke says with a wide smile. "It's the language of the future." RICH CLABAUGH - STAFF The rise of English here is also connecting this far-eastern region of Congo to its English-speaking neighbors. Congo's capital, Kinshasa, is about 1,200 miles away. But Kampala, the capital of Englishspeaking Uganda, is only 200 miles. When a woman named Marie-Therese Djoza needed a good hospital, she journeyed to Kampala. But she spoke little English and couldn't find a translator. She could tell doctors about one ailment as she knew a few related English words. But she couldn't describe an eye problem. That's why she now sits next to Father Diroma in English class. Their professor at Bunia's Superior Pedagogical Institute, a smiley, rotund man named Philippe Ndjalo, preaches the value of English, including the attitudes it embodies. "In the philosophy of French there's not a lot of action," he says. For too long, Congolese have "spoken too much" and not done enough. He cites former President Mobutu Sese Seko as "a man with nice speeches" who did little. (One sign that the language divide isn't always so clear-cut is thatMobutu was backed by the US during his kleptocratic reign.) Yet even the school's head of language programs, French professor Philip Lokpari, says, "I would advise students to study English" before French, "because of the space English is taking up in the world." He adds that one silver lining in Bunia's conflicts is the arrival of English-speaking UN soldiers and aid workers. "It is opening us to the world," he says. But the French are putting up a fight over their future in Africa. In February, for instance, French President Jacques Chirac admonished South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki - the mediator in Ivory Coast's civil war - saying, "West Africa is West Africa. It has its own characteristics. You have to know it well." It was seen as a shot across the bow of the Englishspeaking Mr. Mbeki - that he shouldn't get too involved in the francophone realm. Also, at last month's G-8 summit, a French-backed program competed for some of the help-Africa limelight: It would tax European air travelers to create a fund to aid Africa. But for some aspiring anglophones, it's about more than just learning English and dropping French, Professor Diouf explains, or being anti-French and pro-American. It's about being pro-African. For native French speakers, learning English connects them to new parts of Africa. "I can establish a bridge with my fellow Africans who don't speak French," he says. "It's a way of carving out an African identity." Related Stories When it comes to French business, the accent is on English 08/11/05 The rise and fall of the world's languages 07/12/05 English as it's really spoken 06/15/04 Related Stories When it comes to French business, the accent is on English 08/11/05 The rise and fall of the world's languages 07/12/05 English as it's really spoken 06/15/04 E-mail Print Letter to the Editor Republish del.icio.us digg Get Monitor stories by e-mail: (Your e-mail address will be protected by csmonitor.com's tough privacy policy.) 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World USA Commentary Work & Money Learning Living Sci/Tech A & E Travel Books The Home Forum Home | About Us/Help | Archive | Subscribe | Feedback | Text Edition | Multimedia | Patchwork Nation | Search: Learning from the June 15, 2004 edition STREET SMARTS: Englishlanguage students Javier Navarro and Claudino Luna listen closely as professor A.C. Kemp helps them to understand English slang. JOHN NORDELL - STAFF English as it's really spoken By Teresa Méndez | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – Slipping into class on a mild Thursday evening, Wadensky Bastien, who moved to Boston from Haiti 3-1/2 years ago, removes a rumpled piece of paper from his shoulder bag. It's cluttered with a week's worth of English phrases that he can't quite decipher. Glancing at the list, A.C. Kemp, who teaches the weekly class on American slang here at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, asks Mr. Bastien if he has any questions. l Photos l Blogs l Editorial In Pictures Crisis of Rice The Philippines comes face to face with its rice problem. "I have plenty," he replies brightly. Related stories 04/22/04 E-translators: the more you say, the better Get all the Monitor's headlines by e-mail. Subscribe for free. E-mail this story Write a letter to the Editor Printer-friendly version Permission to reprint/republish del.icio.us [ What's this? ] digg [ What's this? ] What does it mean to call someone a scrub? What does it mean to tell somebody off? A scrub, explains Ms. Kemp, is a person who is inferior. To tell somebody off is to scold or criticize. By the end of 10 weeks, Kemp's course will have delved into everything from words with double meanings to Boston colloquialisms. The term concludes with a frank exploration of profanity. Every imaginable combination of bad words is parsed, and then carefully arranged by degree of offensiveness. Slang and idioms are considered an informal part of the language - not necessarily the stuff of traditional courses in English as a Second Language (ESL). Yet many foreign students - even those who sat through years of English lessons - arrive here only to find themselves baffled by the funny phrases that pepper casual conversation, fill the pages of popular novels, and are bandied about on sitcoms and in movies. To ease their confusion, and in hopes of grasping some of the more nuanced - and nonsensical - elements of the language, students are flocking to classes in everyday expressions being offered at adult education schools and colleges across the country. CAMPAIGN '08 Patchwork Nation The American voter beyond red and blue COMMENTARY Readers respond to 'An End to Poverty' We asked for your feedback on a vision to end poverty for the last billion poor. More commentary Most-viewed Stories (for 04/26/2008) With Syria 'reactor' video, U.S. sends a warning (04/25/2008) Iraqis see red as U.S. opens world's biggest embassy (04/24/2008) Real estate's new hidden market (04/23/2008) Superdelegates' superdilemma (04/24/2008) High oil prices put focus on Strategic Petroleum Reserve (04/24/2008) Even conventional ESL courses are increasingly including slang and idioms in their curricula, together with supplemental texts like "The Slangman Guide to Street Speak." It was back in the early '70s, during a trip to Paris, that a 15-year-old "Slangman" - as David Burke has since dubbed himself - confronted his own acute need for a better grasp of idiom. While there, he unwittingly befriended a group of French teenagers selling something called "white fairy." After describing his new friends to the family he was staying with, they explained that "white fairy" was cocaine and advised young David to keep his distance. But when he first returned home, no one seemed interested in the dictionary that he had compiled - a careful translation of French slang into plain English. Today, however, Mr. Burke's line of guides - in four languages - is distributed by Berlitz. He has a regular radio segment on Voice of America that draws 90 million listeners. And the Slangman is slated to become a live-action character on an animated TV show being developed for a series devoted entirely to slang and idioms. "Where before I was considered the real bad boy of the ESL world," says Burke - who also wrote a guide to "Dirty English" - "now, every ESL teacher understands how important slang and idioms are." A course titled "Idioms and Slang" is the most popular elective this session at the Intensive English Program at California State University, Northridge, according to academic director Bessie Karras-Lazaris. Burke, however, insists that slang shouldn't be regarded merely as an elective; he sees it as essential to fluency. In perhaps a more formal recognition of the pervasiveness of "authentic" language in even the most proper academic Monitor Services l Subscribe l Treeless Edition l Give a gift subscription l Free sample issue l Search the Archives l Monitor Mall l Receive our free e-mail newsletters: Enter e-mail address Today's print issue Enlarge page one (About these ads) settings, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) - the premiere exam for foreign students planning to enter American universities - will soon include more slang and idiomatic expressions. Listening portions, to be released in 2005, will no longer filter out casual phrases that a professor might use in lectures. Inspired by a group of Brazilian busboys in her Intermediate English grammar class, Kemp first offered slang class at the Cambridge Center in 1996. "Apparently, if you work in the food industry, you are constantly exposed to profanity," she says. The busboys "would come in and ask me questions that were really awful - and they didn't know it." This is one of the most compelling reasons, says Burke, for teaching a foreign student slang. He points out that to avoid pitfalls, students must be able to recognize profanity and other colloquial forms - even if they don't use them. In a particularly dramatic example of why a working knowledge of slang is so important, Burke recounts the story of a Japanese student who, in 1992, was shot by the owner of a home he had mistakenly entered in Baton Rouge, La., because he didn't understand the command: "Freeze." Not all linguists love the idea of formalizing the study of idiom. "There's probably a place for incidental instruction of slang" in classes, says Ari Sherris, a research associate at the Center for Applied Linguistics. But he doesn't believe it needs to be a "central part of a curriculum for children or adults." And for the K-12 English language learners that he has studied, "slang pretty much takes care of itself." There is also the danger that "slang expressions that would otherwise have an early death might get an extended life" through instruction, says Jim Wallace, president of the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature. But Kemp's concerns are more immediate. Of her early classes with the Brazilian busboys, she recalls: "I was mortified answering their questions, and I would try to hedge around. But there was no way I could tell them what these things meant without being really explicit." Though she still blushes from time to time, she says, "I guess I got used to it." In Kemp's class, nothing is sacred. The students are free to ask anything - and they do. Her website www.slangcity.com offers many of the same definitions of sensitive terms that Kemp does in class - including body parts and sexual slang. A few native speakers might even find her translations of hip-hop lyrics useful. Not necessary for her Thursday night students, though. Sohrab Alavinia, a visiting scholar from Iran who is studying the philosophy of quantum mechanics at Harvard University, sports a walrus mustache and shares a love of hip-hop with Bastien, who hopes one day to earn his MBA from the University of Massachusetts. When Kemp mentions the word "shorty," Bastien instantly explains that in the parlance of hip-hop artist 50 Cent, a shorty is a beautiful girl. Or a girlfriend, adds Kemp. Some of the less edgy, slightly mustier idioms that Kemp covers may be of questionable value. For example, "Is the pope Catholic?" doesn't necessarily seem a fitting response to the question of whether students will be in class the next week. But as Kemp takes the final few minutes of her last class to pass out certificates of achievement, it becomes clear how far her students have come. Grinning, Bastien turns to her and offers as parting words an idiomatic expression to make any slang teacher proud. "Time flies so fast," he says. E-mail Print Letter to the Editor Republish del.icio.us digg Get Monitor stories by e-mail: (Your e-mail address will be protected by csmonitor.com's tough privacy policy.) Sponsored Links Apparel T-Shirts Design Online Booking Agency Grabow Entertainment Agency Business Resources Business Cards Free Business Cards Postcards Education Student Loans Financial Car Insurance Graphic Design Logo Design - LogoBee Home Remodeling Home Renovation Guide Real Estate International Shipping Mortgage Calculator Moving Moving Companies Real Estate Toronto Condos Speakers Bureau Motivational Speakers Travel Trip Atlas - Travel Guide Web Services Dedicated Servers SEO Web Hosting