10 - Is English language changing?

An image is worth a thousand words

9 - La defensa de mi madre por la lengua castellana o - how you should meet my mother -

Mi querida madre, española de pura cepa y con estudios superiores, pero a punto de cumplir 70 años, mira con actitud de indiferencia este comic y añade: ¡pero si no se entiende nada, hija!.

Esta viñeta debería provocar especialmente una cierta sonrisa a las nuevas generaciones, puesto que intenta resaltar hasta qué punto en estos últimos años hemos incluido con la mayor normalidad cientos de palabras inglesas en nuestros vocablo español, hasta tal punto que las metemos con calzador en nuestra conversación. Quizá para aparentar que nos hemos subido al tren de la globalización o simplemente porque es lo que se estila en este siglo XXI.

Mi madre, que ha sido en su vida ejemplo a seguir en muchas cosas, ya sea por desconocimiento de la lengua inglesa o porque es una mujer que se aferra a las tradiciones de su propio país, no ha dudado en elegir siempre la versión española, poniendo ese sello castellano tan propio que ha marcado mi tierna infancia y juventud.

De este modo, en mi casa, se sirve un buen bocata de jamón pero no un sandwich de jamón y queso. Mi hermano siempre ha traído a casa algún que otro amigo un poco estrafalario, pero ¿qué es eso de que son unos frikis? Mi padre siempre ha sido puntual a las reuniones de trabajo, pero nunca ha mencionado haber asistido a ningún meeting. Todavía recuerdo la cara de mi madre cuando descubrió mi piercing, puesto que para ella más de dos pendientes en el cuerpo es multitud. Aquel grandioso día en el que le quitaron los brackets a mi hermana, después de cinco años compartiendo piso con tan odioso aparato dental. La primera vez que mi abuela acertó a escribir su primer SMS, aunque acabara enviando el mensaje a la persona equivocada. Esas celebraciones familiares de verano que terminaban con un fresquito smoothie, porque los batidos siempre fueron tradición en casa Merino.

Y ya en la adolescencia esa larga espera de quien sería mi primer noviete en el hall de mi casa a la expectativa de que yo apareciera con mi nuevo look de pelo liso, que acompañado de un blazer y los jeans de moda, realmente consiguieron ese efecto cool tan esperado de top-model.

¡Tantos y tantos buenos momentos de mi vida enmarcados por esas castizas palabras!

Realmente, ¡bravo por mi madre!, puesto que se ha ganado un puesto entre los más venerables miembros de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española, haciendo que ese proceso de “anglo-invasión” no perjudicara nuestra paz ni comunicación familiar. 

Aunque desafortunadamente, mi madre ni siquiera recibirá un whatsapp de una amiga que le diga que tiene una hija tan fashion que se dedica a escribir frikadas sobre ella, ni nunca llegará a saber que fue mencionada en un post de este blog…

8 - Part two. This word called love

Dutch
Gezelligheid The warmth of being with loved ones.
Geborgenheid The feeling of safety that comes from being with loved ones.

Greek
Erwtas To fall in love with someone. It is the first very strong feeling you have for someone.
Agape It is a feeling of love that comes after experience with your beloved person.

Hungarian
Szeretet It means love but I with a much more deeper and wider meaning than in English

Urdu
Ishq It roughly approximates to love, but actually is a feeling that transcends love. More spiritual.

And last but not least, a funny one:

Japanese
Bakku-shan A beautiful woman looked from behind, not from the front.

7 - Part one. What is it with this word called love?

Love is probably one of the most popular, and manipulated word in Western songs, poems, movies and books- but, do we truly know the meaning?  It is much easier to talk about heartaches and breakups than about positive love. Why is that? Because it is more complicated to communicate and put into words the positive feelings that other people arouse in us. When it comes to criticizing, hating, showing up our anger, our left side of the brain becomes terribly active and we turn into the poets and rappers of the new era! However, does "the cat got our tongues" if it is love what we want to express?

True or false, something I learnt from my Linguistics class at college is that a culture is somehow shaped by the richness of its vocabulary. There aren't many  words to describe snow in Spanish as it might snow only once or twice per year. However, the Eskimo language has around 50 words to describe it.

How many words does the English language have to describe love? Interesting...

Something that has always struck me is that Americans love their jobs, love popcorn, love their grandma, love their wives, love their jeans and love travelling to Miami. Isn´t it really complicated to understand them? It looks like they understand by context the level of “likeness” that “love” entails, but to the international community this can be very very tricky. Really, I don´t want my boyfriend to compare me with popcorn. And I don’t want him to love his grandma as he loves me.

I must admit I have always found myself at a loss when trying to express my feelings towards a native English speaker. Sometimes to say I love you is too much, but sometimes it is not enough. Mostly, because Spanish (from Spain, not South America) doesn´t overuse that word at all, which makes it more powerful when it is finally said. Me encantan los vaqueros, me gustan las palomitas, quiero a mi mujer y le tengo cariño a mi abuela. “I love you, my friend”, has caused me too much unnecessary trouble, because what I really meant was “te tengo cariño y te aprecio”. Where is the boarder, then?

At this point I might well agree with what Robert A. Johnson wrote in his book: “Of all the Western languages, English may be the most lacking when it comes to feeling”.

International love is not easy, despite what Pit-bull might have said, but still I´m totally up for it! :)

Let´s finish this with another short compilation of untranslatable words, this time related to love and feelings (See next post)

6 - Part two: Untranslatable words.

 

German
Feierabend. That is a term for the free time after a working day AND the end of the working hours.

Greek
Παιδεία (pedia) Means education, but including being a good person, respectful to other people, to nature, to everything, showing love, good social manners . It also includes good academic education.

Italian
Cazzimma. It is the act to make a perfidy against something that is very important to the other.

German
Fernweh. It´s a composition of the words "distance" and "pain" which describes the desire of constantly wanting to travel the world and go far away from home as if it would hurt not being able to leave from home.

Dutch
Utwaaien. To take a walk outside to clear your head.

Turkish
Delikanli. Young and kind people. Living life with honesty and respect for all others, with justice.

Russian
Мировоззрение ([Mirovozzrenie]) World view, something like philosophy

Portuguese
Cafuné. Caressing your lover´s hair or tenderly running your fingers through the hair.

Saudade. It is a state of melancholy

Chinese
加油 jiayou. When used as verb, means add fuel or oil. We use it in an extended way. Sometimes we comfort or courage people when they are disappointed or sad or losing faith in something using this word as the meaning of "don't give up" "C‘mon, mate, you can do it, give it your best shot" "put more effort into it".

Rumanian
Barosan. Adjective. Cool and popular guy with luxurious cars, clothes and belongings, attractive to all women.

Hungarian
Elmosolyodik. Smile. Not only smiling but also the process when you burst into a smile.

French
Dépaysement. In unfamiliar surrounding. Not being in your country or your comfort zone.

Dutch
Natafelen. To keep sitting at the table and socialise after a meal.

Spanish
Friolero. Adjective. Sensitive to cold weather.

5 - Part one: Untranslatable words. Lost in translation.

Those who can fluently communicate in two or three languages may better understand this sentence.

At University my Spanish classmates and myself had a tendency to mix our native language with English words in our conversations. It turned out to be quite natural to keep switching when we thought our idea would be better expressed and understood in English. This is actually something very common to bilingual people speaking in informal interactions. There is even  a technical term for it: code switching.

Fluent communication, and a rapid understanding of the message, is crucial to all species. Being aware that the language we want to use lacks a word for the idea we have in mind can be quite frustrating for the speaker. Thus, we are constantly seeking for the best way to articulate what we want to say, even if that includes borrowing from other languages.

Let's take the word "background", for example. It is a common word that I frequently use when filling out school applications. However, when attempting to translate it to a Spanish student, I oftern find myself struggling: bagaje, historial, conocimientos adquiridos, experiencia....- I would definitely use a whole sentence to make him/her understand what he is required to say/write. Spanish doesn´t seem to have a word that accurately expresses just what the English word "background" does.

My fellow translators would agree that our field has been undervalued in recent years. Very few individuals who speak two languages are able to master the science of translation. Expressing a feeling, an idea or a grammatical entity in a language which doesn´t have an equivalent for it is a real challenge that not many are prepared for. Remember that a good translation is that which maintains the essence of the initial meaning.

Being myself lost in translation so many times encouraged me to carry out a research on those words which seem untranslatable. Hence, I asked several of my international friends to choose a word in their native language and define it in English. The process was very fun and enriching, and the findings were a linguistic lesson to me.

I paid closer attention to the words related to feelings, but I'll leave that for another post.

4 - Outsourcing & managing multicultural teams.

A few months into my previous job, I was informed by the management that my entire team would be dissolved at some point and our positions would be outsourced to a team of Argentinians based in Argentina. At that juncture, I decided to quit and look for better opportunities as I was anxious about my future. Most of the other team members were sacked about a year later.

As per global trends, it can be seen that many companies outsource their teams to countries like China and India to reduce overall costs as salaries offered to employees in these counties are much lower than in the West. Managing them in another country is no hassle as a manager is sent over to directly monitor the new team and to aid them, thereby helping them to adhere to company goals and policies.

Although the idea of relocating to a different country to work seems daunting at first, I think it would be a wonderful experience and we should embrace change. The only concern that I would like to raise now is the fact that big multinationals that set up offices abroad expect team members to follow the exact ways and methods with which they function at the headquarters. The gist of my argument is that although relocating and working in a new country is thrilling, what we are witnessing in the recent times is also a cultural invasion masked by a business strategy.


The following video clip describes and sums up my thoughts.

As seen in the clip, the protagonist is sent to India to manage the customer service call centre that his company had established there. He assumes that his new team fails to reach their expected targets due to their lack of knowledge about American culture and therefore, are not able to empathize with the average American customer. 

As the movie progresses, it is revealed to the audience that the real problem was due to the manager's inability to motivate his team, his unawareness about Indian culture, the people and their thought process.

 

On how many occasions have we experienced the authority of our superiors at work when they imposed certain methods and strategies? This approach to dealing with employees and team members results in dissatisfaction and anxiety at both ends.

Considering the cultural context of this issue,  this becomes even more sensitive. When it comes to working with people from a different culture in their own country, it is extremely important to be aware of cultural differences, without which one may come across as an unapproachable authoritarian figure.

 

Cultural awareness in the business setting is most important and relevant now than ever, as several companies are outsourcing jobs to people across the globe. Companies must train their senior employees and managers to think from another person's perspective and adopt suitable strategies related to specific work environments.

3 - Broad strokes of reality.

I recently came across with the following image. What do you see?

 

Right. Most of us would agree that it is a face looking to the left.

 I believe in first impressions because they provide me with much information about a new place or person. Gestures, colours, words, looks, etiquette, smells, noises, atmosphere… ; all those carry a meaning and have an effect on my mind when I am trying to get to know something or someone new. They are like broad strokes that result in a final idea in my mind. That image I have created based on those impressions will be taken to heart as long as I don´t receive any evidence to the contrary . As an example of this I am aware that a book´s cover might be misleading at first glance, but I accept it at face value.

Now, take a closer look.



What if I say it is all about a word written in vertical?



Yeah, we are all liars.

Better said, reality is the liar, sometimes, and it enjoys playing a trick on all of us.

 

2 - Dali, stereotypes and other curiosities.

The fact that we came from different educational, national and cultural backgrounds therefore holding very disparate opinions actually meant a far more enriching experience for both of us. We spent many hours in that small room sharing tears and laughter, love and hate, words from the heart and white lies, and friendship. 













Once I was asked to stop talking because something amazing became suddenly apparent. A Dali painting was hanging in the room, right in front of our eyes yet we had never noticed or sensed it around us. It showed beautiful swans in an unwelcoming lake and forest, and a human figure turning his back onto them. The weird thing was that the reflection on the lake's waters was not of swans but of elephants! What none of us had realised until then is that sometimes we believe that we are sending others a clear cut impression of our true selves but what they themselves perceive is something entirely different in shape, colour and even identity. How impressive is that!

I applied this epiphany to the area of cultural awareness, how our whole cultural and educational upbringinging shapes our minds from the very beginning leading us to form stereotypes about natives from other countries. I am not a believer in fate and determinism so I hold the strong opinion that each one of us has the capacity to liberate ourselves from pre-determined classifications of judging any person standing before us. Are all Germans inflexible, all Spaniards loud and lazy, all Americans overweight, all Argentinian men flirtatious, all Swedish cold as ice? I agree that there is some truth in stereotypes which are generally based on actual experiences plus a common perception of that particular culture as a whole. We should never forget however that our world is filled with unique individuals that can't just be put as a single entity inside a jar under the exact same label.

I am intrigued how much we expect our new foreign friends to conform to our particular stereotypes of their distinct backgrounds and cultures, how much space and opportunity we allow and offer them for their true, inner 'selves' to be revealed to us, to surprise us in its authentic uniqueness irrespective of what nationality they belong to.


Something else I also ponder, how much we expect and desire them to be just like us…but I'll leave that for another day.

1 - Spain is different!

Talking to him:

 

-        So, where are you from?

-       Brooklyn.

-       No, I mean, you must have an origin from another country… [he has dark skin]

-       Ah, you mean my nationality? Ethnicity? My parents are mostly Jamaican, my grandma´s father was a Dutchman, and some English in there, as well.

-       Ah, yes, sorry, we don´t use that terminology here…

-       Haha, Spaniards are funny!

 

Funny or not funny, whether you like it or not, we don´t talk about ethnicity. Spain is filled with native Spanish and we consider ourselves white -not Galician, Catalan or Canary Islands white- until Summer comes and we get a nice brownish color which vanishes again in winter. Still, we are not interested in colors, but in individuals whether they are red, black or yellow. Therefore, ethnicity is not small talk for us. Do not blame us for not being familiar with topics of ethnicity which has nothing to do with being open or not to the idea of immigration. We just haven´t got a clue of what you are talking about!

 “Spain is different”, and not only because the politicians of the 60´s communicated that motto. Come and visit us, and you will see for yourself why we are so proud of being different. Some would still say that we are stuck in the past, others that we are keeping our doors of globalization closed. I guess that has a name –jealousy-, because the sun helps us blossom and flourish every year in a delightful way.


Globalization has had an impact on us: Chinese stores, American pancakes, Irish pubs, French wine, Holi runs, Hookah bars, language exchange cafes… and we are truly happy for getting the flavor of different cultures in our own country. Despite what has been said, we like variety and experiencing new things, even if it is just to confirm that we still prefer ham and tortilla over any other delicious international meal. Young Spaniards have gotten on the train of this state-of art new world, but still, we have beautifully managed to maintain our purest Spanish traditions and customs. To us, there is a hidden pleasure in going back to Spain and finding that our ways of living, praying, partying and eating are just the same. Oh, home, sweet home!

 What is it what we feel so attracted to? Well, you better know some of our customs before the culture shock hits you when visiting our country for the short or long term.


Yes, we are emotional, although we don´t get carried away by our feelings. Giving two kisses on the cheeks is a friendly gesture and we usually maintain eye contact to show that we care for you by paying full attention. We are actors by nature, so it is not only what we are saying but how we move our hands, our eyebrows, make noises… let the show begin! Communication is crucial to us, and we prefer to make it work over a long (long) meal or tapas & beers gathering and covering small talk and deep topics. Just make sure you save the day if you are going out with a Spaniard and take into account that dinner is not served until 9sh.

  Do also think twice before asking us “how are you?” It is not a “fine, thank you” answer for us. We might well spend five minutes talking about our ups and downs of the day! And we expect you to do the same.

 If you want to make Spanish friends, well that is not difficult at all because we are very friendly and approachable… I mean, if you want to make good friends, try to understand us instead of forcing us to follow your ways. We are loyal out of care and love so we don´t need to follow a code of honor. Gossiping is very common, which makes us quite judgmental and unpredictable and suspicious to others, but at the same time we are very understanding of others' mistakes, and we forgive easily if you know how to make the right gesture to gain our trust back. We do believe in second chances.

 In Spain there is a feeling of lack of self-confidence and we are not good at selling the best image of ourselves, and we all know that there is no success without a good marketing campaign. We are not lazy but Spanish don´t give importance of work over family, friends and social life. But rather, working to live, not living for work.

Trust me, I don´t remember last time I had a nap, even though I´ve got two hours lunch break. But it is nice to have enough time to get away from the office, rest our minds and bodies out of the office, and enjoy our three course meals with our colleagues.

 This could be a never ending list, but just remember: Spain is different, so are the Spanish!