Sofia Vergara is a Colombian actress and comedian, very well known for her role at Modern Family as Gloria, we can clearly see the mispronunciations of Gloria in the show, this is because of the English Variations, Sofia Vergara as I said is Colombian, therefor she has Spanish as her main language, and English as a second language, so every time she speaks she makes some mispronunciations or changes the words into Spanish words making it confusing for the people who don't know some Spanish.
When we as a class saw the video there were some mispronunciations that we didn't understand but only in English, when she finished some sentences in Spanish or mixed a bit of both, we could understand just fine because we know both Spanish and English, but as we can see in this video, they are having a lot of problem understanding Gloria, creating some issues due to the communication.
Sometimes we can easily identify people who are not native speakers in English because of this mispronunciations. We can see at the end of the video when Gloria yells at them because they were probably making fun of her accent, so she tells them that they try to speak in another language, this making fun of the accents or the English Variations may cause some people to be embarrassed when using them.
The text "A Language Without Limits" refers to the variations that the English language has, its the language globalization, some sort of syncretism in both languages, using English Language and Hindi/Chinese/Arab language to make Hinglish, Chinglish and Arabizi. The author mentions that this "code switching" is liked by language experts, they say "It is perfectly normal and linguistically fascinating..". Instead of being incomplete or just a "copy" of the English Language, experts mention that this language is really a sign of resiliency and creativity.
Maybe the author tries to somehow motivate people who uses this variations by making them read this and letting them know how good and creative, and how it will be used on the future because of using other dominant languages like Hindi or Chinese, this way he tries to get the attention of people with interests in English Variations or people who maybe already use this variations, as he mentions, some people find it embarrassing.
By using a formal language the author tries to inform us and somehow persuade us of the use of the globalization of the language, in this case the English variations, and using not only native English speakers opinions but also experts on language such as Jack Chambers, a professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Toronto, and to mention, that the expert is the one that somehow is approving the use of this language.
Source: Kamel, Deena. 2008. "A Language without Limits."
Toronto Star. 19 August 2008
"Teenagers Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing" and "How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer"
1.-What are the opinions expressed by the researchers in texts 2 and 3?
In "Teenagers internet socializing not a bad thing", the researcher talks about how it is good for teenagers to use the current internet and technology, that teenagers will learn the right method to use them and in the future will be able to use the devices in a more advanced way. In "How using Facebook could raise your risk of cancer", by Tamar Lewin, he talks about how kids use it all day, spend the hole day on the internet, specially Facebook, and do not communicate with their parents enough. Kids are isolated, and will have a risk to die because of spending too much time on it. "Blood clot victim, Chris Staniforth, 20, died after spending up to 12 hours at a time playing on his Xbox." 2.-What are the differences in the ways the researchers view community?
One of them views the learning process that we acquire by the technology and the other one the health damages that this technology brings. 3.-What kinds of distinctions do the researchers make (or not make) in relation to communication?
Lewin says that the online communication or messages are almost the same as face to face, he also mentions that with online communication you are able to communicate at all time, while face to face you have to be there. The other text says that if you don't communicate face to face you may have serious health problems, "increased isolation could alter the way genes work and upset immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries."
1. What's the role of Social Media?
Improve in this case the product thanks to the possibility for everyone to share their opinions. 2. What's the role of people?
Rate, share opinions to improve the product. 3. What's the role of fans?
Make it more popular, more people will be interested. 4. What's the benefit of Social Media to people and/or organizations?
It is a simple and easy way to communicate what they would want, how they would like it more, etc. 5. What online community do know you it's based on this system?
The most known, FaceBook and YouTube. 6. Is Social Media the same as a Social Network?
No, Social Media is a way to share information with a audience, everyone is able to do this with an Internet connection.
But Social Network, is where a group of people with common interests, or like-minds, communicate and build relationships through the community.
1. What is the issue with identity on the Internet?
When you access Internet pages and you communicate with someone you don't really know, you cant know for sure who he really is. Many cases of Pedophile are because of the Internet, people access pages were they lie about their age, they have a fake identity and no one knows. 2. Can you be anyone you want on the Internet?
Yes, in social networks or communities you just Sign Up with a name and age, there is no way of knowing the truth, although some pages like YouTube now ask for a phone number so they can send a verification code stopping the multiple accounts for each people. 3. Can you be identified by your use of language?
When you talk, depending from where you are people will know, if you are from Latin America and speak English they will probably know, or the Russian English accent. The thing is that when you are writing, there is no way to identify from where is the person you are talking to.
"A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common: Rhode Island's Japanese community; the scientific community." Oxford Dictionary
"The people with common interests living in a particular area" Merrian-Webster
"A group of people that share the same customs, interests, laws or traditions, and language" Course Companion
Communities are created by people to produce knowledge, authority, and language. In each community you may have certain types of language, for example, probably when you talk to your parents or to your school teacher it will be a very different way to communicate compared when you are talking to a friend.
What is Politically Correct Language?
Politically Correct Language is the language, ideas, policies, used to minimize social and institutional offense that may be gender, racial, cultural, etc.
Before the holidays we have the British Week in our school, in this week we have many activities such as:
TRIP TO VALPARAÍSO Visit the place where The Mackay School was originally located 150 years ago; take a guided tour through the cemetery where Peter Mackay is buried; walk through the winding streets of Valparaiso, and enjoy a delicious snack with your classmates and teachers! Take your camera and get ready to have an experience you will never forget!
PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION
Behold the best speeches by Mackay students on this year’s motion:
“The End Justifies the Means”
Who will become part of our Public Speaking HALL OF FAME?!
MIDDLE SCHOOL OPEN DAY
6th Grade: International Food Festival in English Speaking Countries
7th Grade: Victorian Theatre: Charles Dickens’ Classic Tales
LITERARY FAIR Get bedazzled and enlightened by attending the various workshops directed by teachers, where you will have the opportunity to discuss and enrich your knowledge on English literature! This time, we will be joined by students from St. Margaret’s who will share with us their thoughts on the subject.
HIDDEN BRITISH TRADITIONS The Mackay School’s OWN VERSION of … THE MACKAY STEEPLE !
CRICKET Ever wondered how to play this very British game? On Friday, you will have the chance to learn with an expert and play an actual cricket game using real equipment and rules in front of your friends and teachers!
As written on another post, we can identify the Jargon and Argot with this definition.
Jargon: Is the vocabulary peculiar to a particular profession or group. Argot: Is a specialized vocabulary particular to a class or group, especially one devised for private communication.
Types of Jargon: Scientific Language: Language used in medicine or health care, it is very technical and may have some abbreviations. Legal Language: Its a very detailed and precise, used by people who have some sort of relation with legal processes, such as a lawyer. Sports Language: Language used in sports to name the positions, explain the plays, etc.
List of items that you need to analyze a text: Theme: An idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature.
Topic: Reflects the overall idea of the text.
Main Idea: Reflects the specific idea of the text.
Source: Where it comes from.
Target Audience: Readers for this text.
Author's Purpose:
-Inform: When an author gives facts or true information.
-Persuade: When an author writes to try to get you to do something.
-Entertain: When an author writes stories that are fiction.
Genre: A category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content. -Fiction Genres: Drama, Poetry, Fantasy, Humor, Fable, Science Fiction, etc -Non-Fiction Genres: Essays, Biography, Speech, Autobiography.
Tone: The attitude of the writer.
Register: The way the text is written, Formal, or Informal.
Jargon: It is the vocabulary peculiar to a particular profession or group.
Argot: It is a specialized vocabulary peculiar to a class or group., especially one devised for private communication.
When we find ourselves talking with the group of people that belong to our work we are referring to Jargon, Jargon is formal and the words are known by all the members of this group. An example of this would be used in Medicine, doctors use Jargon to communicate topics about their work.
When we talk about Slang, we are referring to the one used also by a group but a group of persons who communicate in a informal way, this may be related to the age of the people that are communicating with slang or the social class.
2. Does context help in the process of acquiring a new language?
Yes, Alex explains that in his case, the easiest way to learn the language is by context, he says that he remembers better what he saw or listen to, instead of what he reads on a paper.
3. Are there any languages that have similar pronunciation?
Yes, Alex mentions that Dutch and Afrikaans had very similar words but different personalities, he mentions that Spanish and Greek are very similar.
4. Which of the languages spoken by Alex seem more colloquial?
Afrikaans
5. Is class a more important factor in language variation than geography?
No, class will only change the language to be consider in a formal or informal way, maybe jargon and slang, but the geography changes it to a completely different language.
6. Do you think, the ability of learning a language is innate or learned?
I believe that some people have a ability to learn languages in a faster way or in a better way, or maybe both. In Alex's case he talks about learning a language, and thanks to that language he will be able to learn another language that is similar to the one he just learned. But you need to repeat the words, understand how to use them and in which case, so language is learned.
7. According to you, are some languages more or less difficult to learn than others? Talk about your own experience.
I believe some languages are more difficult to learn than others, but this is because of what language you live with, your main language may be similar to others, so in that case you will be able to learn better these similar languages.
We had to debate in groups of three with the motion "eBooks vs Paper Books". I was with Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Oporto defending the paper books, against Mr. Barriga, Mr. Núñez, and Mr. Gré who were defending the eBooks.
It was a long debate and to defend the Paper Books we compared the damage to the eyes by staying on a screen a lot of time, we also talked about how there are special books that are collectors editions, and if everyone would use the eBook there would
not be such thing as a "special" book because all the books would be available by download.
And then we discussed about having access to the Internet to be able to download the book you want to read. Portability was not an issue, because when we are reading, we wont be reading more than 2 books at the time.
