Brands

If a Portuguese speaker asks you where the "Hoddy Hockey" is what would you say? What if they told you that your "Hay Ba's" looked good. Maybe some "Hevlo" to make your lips brighter. No clue of what I'm talking about? Well, let's just say that Brand names are just like people's - their pronunciation depends on where your from. So just because a Brand is English or French don't expect people to pronounce them as a Native English Speaker would. For some reason this simple point is often overlooked and a world of confusion may ensue.
Homework: Part #1: What three brands are mentioned in the Article?
Part #2: Can you name three other Brands that are often mispronounced?
Next: Similar sounding words,

Autocide part 2

As we mentioned in the last post there is an inherent danger in 'inventing new words', based on our own politics or bias. Nevertheless, I will go against my own advice and suggest a new word to describe a daily violence that happens everywhere, everyday. The violence I'm referring to is the daily massacre that happens on the streets, where automobiles kill over a million people annually: pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and other drivers - not to mention the uncounted number of animals that become "Road Kill". Currently, drivers who are involved in such incidents are deemed to be innocent if there is no clear evidence of culpability and so we say they were in accidents. Those that are guilty of causing 'an accident' can be charged with various driver related crimes such as: reckless driving, driving under the influence (DUI), street racing, and vehicular manslaughter to mention a few. So what term do we use for a criminal act committed while driving a vehicle that caused death, but doesn't easily fit into one of these specific categories? For example, what criminal charge should a driver that sees a pedestrian crossing an intersection but refuses to slow down (expecting the pedestrian to get out of the way) be given, if he/she ends up mowing them down?
Is that reckless driving?, vehicular manslaughter? It seems that these terms fail to capture the true devastation that was known to be possible but ignored by the driver. Maybe we need a new word to describe such a crime. Autocide.

Autocide part 1

A few years ago the Bush Administration decided to invent a new word `homicide bomber´, to replace suicide bomber. This attempt to create a new word that more accurately reflects the act itself, they said, was necessary in order for the general populous to truly comprehend that particular heinous act of terrorism. As far as I know, this practice has officially ceased (i.e., the communiques released by the government no longer use their own constructed term, homicide bomber). But whether the Bush writers continue using this term or not is rather pointless anyways because the fact of the matter is that it never caught on. No one I know ever used it, and few media outlets ever really tried to use it. The reason why I believe it never caught on is simple, the term homicide bomber is purely politically motivated (right-wing) and thus was unable to supplant the existing term suicide bomber, which was created out of the need to describe a new act during World War II, in American editorials. Suicide Bombing(ers) had been accepted by all political stripes to describe particular acts of violence until 2002, in the wake of the 911 attacks.

This is Not "Omitable"

Often students omit prepositions, "S's", determiners and other constructions that to Native speakers are basic. The question that has always fascinated me is "why do students, especially those that have had years of English study, often continue to omit words and/or letters?" I don't really have an explanation as to why this happens but I do have a few examples of how confusing it can be when it does.

Recently, an English Language student said in reference to a book: "I missed one." I interpreted this statement as he having lost a book. However, after much confusion and conversation, I realized that he had omitted a word. He failed to to say this. "I missed this one." I re-interpreted this statement as he was in need of a book. In fact he was. He had forgotten his textbook at home and was asking me, as best he could, if could borrow a specific book from me.

The point of this story is that even when an English Learner misspeaks, s/he can be much better understood if they include all the necessary grammar elements in their speech.´

Homework: Why do some learners continually have problems with omission?
Next Post: Autocide

Beating Around the Bush

Recently, I heard a great misinterpretation of the beloved idiom "beating around the bush". A student used an example to explain what he thought it meant. The following example, although humourous on many levels, is also educational and serves to illustrate just how easily an English learner can suddenly create confusion, unintentionally, because of a small mistake in interpretation, accent, tone etc. The story goes as follows:
One time our friend we'll call Rafael had a bad case of stomach trouble. It was so bad that he didn't know which side had to come out first #1 or #2. His dilemma was whether to use the urinal or public toilet (enough said). He asked me whether his ordeal could be expressed idiomatically as "beating around the bush." Rafael reasoned that he had to make a decision between one of the two processes but didn't want to disappoint the other one. So somehow he had to placate one of the two needed functions and by so doing delaying its turn. Ultimately, Rafael chose to "hold it". So the act of trying to "trick" his colon into "thinking" it's needs weren't so urgent (i.e., wait until getting home) satisfied, in essence, the spirit of the idiom.
Well in a very humourous way, I would even tend to agree...haha.

Homework: Can you think of any double meanings that can be construed from this story?
Next: This is not "Omitable"

What?

What, as we all know, is one of the big 5 questions that English Speakers use to navigate through life. What English learners don't always realize is that 'what' is probably the most complicated of these 5 questions. What can be used in at least 15 different ways:

1. interrogation; (What is this?)
2. repetition; (What did you say?)
3. act like who (What do you think I am)
4. exclamation; (What is that!!!!)
5. introduction; (What, no Breakfast?)
6. direction; (You know what?)
7. tag question; British (a clever play, what)
8. act as that or which (no money but what he inherited)
9. observation; (what I see...)
10. acts as why (what for?)
11. punishment; (Got what he deserved)
12. genre of literature (whatnot)
13. inquiry; (What's happening?)
14. needed tools and (what it takes)
15. true states. (what's what?)

Source:
Websters Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary

Homework: Write a paragraph using 3 different forms of what
Next: Beating Around the Bush

Social Pants

I would like to to comment on what appears to be the universal tendency of making literal translations from one's Native Language to their second or other spoken language(s). A humourous example of this phenomenon occurred a while ago with a student who is highly fluent in English. She wanted to describe clothing that is NOT formal and NOT day-to-day like joggers or jeans. In Portuguese, this type of dress is used socially so she simply said "Social Pants." Of course, my reaction was inappropriate. I automatically laughed at her mistake not because of her miscue but because my mind thought of what the opposite term might be called, 'anti~social pants'. After explaining this she laughed too and we spent some time imagining what 'anti-social pants' might look like. But I digress.
This literalism was yet another example of hoe English by its very nature complicates trivial matters. I explained to her that "social ants" probably fell into one of several categories, for example: 'Casual Wear', 'Business Casual' or 'Evening Wear' (this last category being applicable exclusively to women's fashions). I'm sure that my breakdown, like most classification systems, is not 100% correct for everyone. And ultimately, that is the point. English Learners should avoid absolutes like "Social Pants" because they can lead to serious communication difficulties.

Homework: Send a picture of 'Anti-Social Pants' to mail@torontoenglishconsulting.com
Next Post: What?

Drive vs. Ride

Because car culture is so ubiquitous, it is important for English learners to try understand the difference that exists between the meaning of certain words they may think are interchangeable, when it comes to 'auto talk'. A classic example is the mis-use of the words "drive and ride".
The confusion might stem from an illogical deduction.
For example: If it's true that a person can ride a motorcycle, bicycle or a horse, than implicitly they are orientating their steed (inanimate or animate), they must therefore be driving it.
Similarly, if one is in a sitting position in a car or bus, why is s/he not 'riding' in the vehicle when their passengers are?
The complication, of course, does not end here. On a train, the operator conducts, a boat is captained, and on a rocket commanded. Would it not be easier if all these operations were described by one verb? The simple answer is yes. But if that were the case English would lose one of it's great characteristics, its ability to describe, sometimes adnauseam, what others may think of as mundane and unworthy of such attention.

Home Work: What other verbs can you think of that describe orientation of a craft or vehicle?
Next Post: Social Pants

Gen X, Y, Baby Boomers?

When one leaves North America, we are suddenly confronted with the realization that no matter how hard we try, or want to believe, the world does not revolve around us. I was again reminded of this after writing a recent Blog without considering the cultural baggage associated with particular words. I was shocked to learn that some demographic descriptors were not easily comprehensible by Non-Native English Speakers in Canada and the U.S.A. Specifically, words to do with generations like: Baby Boomer's, Generation X, Generation Y.
Simply, Baby Boomers are the generation that is either in their 50's or early 60's;
Generation X'ers are the generation in their early 30's into their late 40's roughly;
and Generation Y's are in their late teens through their late 20's.
Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generation for a more detailed explanation.
The key point to grasp is that each generation has been ascribed a set values and beliefs that give a stereotypical profile of individuals belonging to these groups.

Home Work: Describe the qualities that each of these generations have.
Next Post: Drive vs. Ride

By the Numbers

“Catch 22; the $64,000 Question; six of one or half dozen of another; a baker’s dozen; 3:11” are examples of expressions that contain specific number values. These values have either a historical or (pop)cultural significance that should be understood in order to grasp their intended meaning. Because the usage of these expressions is so widespread in English, the number value must be said correctly or the listener will probably misunderstand you. They may think you are joking or even worse, ignorant. Sometimes, we can discern the meaning of these special numbers through deductive reasoning. For example, “six of one or half dozen of another” seems to suggest, on its own, that the speaker believes that 6 of one thing, is the same as, 6 of another. In other words, there is NO difference between the two variables that are being discussed.
Unfortunately, this type of reductive logic cannot be applied to all expressions. Catch 22, could have been Catch XX, or whatever else. The number #22 in this case has no significance, it appears that this number was the 5^th choice, seeing that 18, 11, 17 and 14 were all considered before 22 but were all rejected for a variety of reasons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_22

Homework: What do the five number values in the above expressions mean?

Next Post: What is a Baby Boomer, Gen X’er and Gen Y’er ?

Obama - A Friend or Foe of English?

Obamamania is sweeping the globe and with it, for those who believe that the English language should be communicated with care,”a sigh of collective breath we relief." I for one am not so sure. The incidence of mixed metaphors, like the one above, uttered by President-Elect Obama will surely pale in comparison to the wonderful Bushisms we've grown used to over the last eight years. Bushisms are routinely used to point out: grammatical and idiomatic errors, tautologies, metaphor confusion, hanging sentences, problems with subject-verb agreement, conditional miscues, illogical sentence construction and misunderstanding of word meanings, just to name a few.
Obama's command of English will prove to be less helpful for those wanting to learn English than Bush's "unmastery" of the language.
I make this argument based on the time-tested mantra 'you learn from (your/others) mistakes' and since Obama makes so few and Bush so many of them it goes to follow that English Learners, especially those who are at a Basic or Intermediary Level, would be better off reviewing Bush's linguistic misfeasance's instead of trying to decipher Obama's intellectually driven verbiage.
Do you agree or disagree?
Homework: re-write the expression "a sigh of collective breath we relief," properly.

Focus on your Pronunciation

English is an unforgiving language, at times the smallest mistake can completely change the general meaning of a phrase. Many ESL learners know first hand just how precise we must be when speaking. The slightest slip of the tongue can change the pronunciation of beach to bitch; sheet to shit; slot to slut; and piece to piss. Common mistakes such as these are very well known but for me, the ultimate pronunciation faux pas is related to the word focus. Focus, properly said, would be 'FO-KES' (phonetically written). Unfortunately, some students do not stress these sounds properly and focus becomes 'FEK-ES', which is exactly the same as saying "Fuck us".
Obviously this is highly problematic especially if you are trying to motivate a group of people and you say repeatedly: "YOU MUST FOCUS; FOCUS MORE; FOCUS HARDER." Although comical, such a grandiose mistake could really hurt your message.
So the obvious problem is pronunciation "O" becomes "E". What is the other problem? And can you give an example of the second problem?

I needz zleep

Often times students substitute the letter s with z. In colloquial English Zed or Zee has gained prominence in it's substitutionary role of the letter S. Famous bands like Boyz to Men have capitalized on this tendency that many native speakers have. It's fun to play with words, when you know the difference between them, but for Learners of English who may be unaware of these nuances, this fun can quickly become embarrassing. Key words that are commonly 'ZEDed', include: 1. sleep = zleep; 2. seat = zeat; 3. sit becomes zit and so on.

Why An Year?

There is a particularly strange fossilized English error that many native Portuguese speakers commit, the explanation of which depends on your perspective of the world. For simplicity's sake we'll call these two view points - nature and nurture. The error in question is the disproportionate number of times the article an is used before the word year.
The 'nurturites' believe this is a direct function (fault) of the over generalized rule:
y sometimes acts as a i (therefore, if this is true, logically, an must be used before words that start with y). The blame for this vulgarity is squarely placed on the shoulders of some under- qualified English teachers in their Native country. This explanation at first glance seems quite simple and straightforward, however, upon further scrutiny, some inconsistencies begin to appear when we test this hypotheses against other words that begin with y such as: yacht, yellow and yarn. Although some students continue to misuse an with words such as the ones above, the incidence is noticeably lower as compared to the number of times an year is said.
So what is it with the word year that seems to trigger the usage of the inappropriate article an instead of the correct a?
The "naturites" say they have the answer. To them it's a simple matter of transposing. The word for year in Portuguese is ano (the first two letters are phonetically equivalent to English), clearly it follows that people will think of the word ano when they want to say the English equivalent year. So, if you belong to this school of thought, when prefacing the word year the Native Portuguese speaker will instinctively choose an over a. Again, this reaction is more muted when prefacing other y-first words like: yard, yogurt, or Yankee.
Both arguments have merit and like any good argument create new questions to ponder such as: if this is true for Native Portuguese speakers could it also be valid for Native Spanish speakers?

Static Electricity Ball

If you try looking up "Static Electricity Ball" in a trusted Dictionary or website you may have a difficult time, as I found out, of actually encountering a satisfactory description of what it is. After being unable to explain what it was through my own words or through other resources our client simply said "I think I know what you mean." I was left wondering if indeed the iconic "Static Ball" of my youth still held any resonance with people today (especially GenYer's), or did I do a disservice to our city's beloved Science Centre in using 'the ball' as a symbol of the Centre.
The following day she arrived at the school with a Japanese tourist brochure that had a picture of a child, similar to the one above, doing pretty much the exact same thing. So I was left to ponder "without the smiling child with the static charged hair standing straight up, what would happen to the lonely Static Ball?" Obviously, it cannot stand alone like other great entertaining duos: Abbott and Costello; Laurel and Hardy; Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, they are a package deal. As the old Sinatra tune said ".......you can't have one without the other."

Photo courtesy of: http://www.stockphotofinder.com/stock-photos/h/hair_static.html

Superlatively Speaking

Never has the expression "it's not what you say, it's how you say it!" been so true. For Non-Native English Speakers we can add, 'and the Degree you say it". We have long known that learners from different backgrounds generally face different challenges when studying English, but for Portuguese Speakers the tendency to "superlatize" or exaggerate the weight of an action, description or emphasis is particularly acute. In a recent conversation I realized that this Luso-Brazilian inclination often migrates into English and is probably responsible for a fair number of misunderstanding when dealing with Native speakers.
The anecdote that I will share illustrates this point clearly.
A Native English Speaker was planning a trip to Brazil with his Brazilian contact. As part of the process the Canadian asked her if it were possible to ask a favour? To this request she replied "I am always making you the most favours". Naturally, the Canadian was put off by this response. After much discussion they realized that a communication breakdown had occurred. What she meant to say was, "I am always happy to do you a favour". The misuse of the the superlative the most was misinterpreted by the Native Speaker and caused some unneeded consternation for both parties. This experience has made them very conscious of how cultural influences can infiltrate language and create the most communication problems, superlatively speaking.

Should or Have to?

It was brought to my attention recently that a large number of Japanese English Language Learners often confuse the modals, should and have to. Having worked with many Japanese students for years now, I was initially skeptical about this generality since I had never noticed it before and always thought of myself as a keen observer of tendencies particular to certain groups of Learners. The individual who brought this point up is herself Japanese and admitted to often being confused as to how to use should and have to, properly. So we decided to conduct a quick unscientific survey and sequestered three other Japanese English Learners and asked them "what is the difference between should vs. have to?". And as Mama predicted, all three of them thought that should was used for certainty/necessity/obligation while have to was used for advice/opinion. I don't want to suggest that my 5 minutes of research should be taken as Law but maybe there is something to it. So, if a Japanese ESL student says to you: "I have to phone home since I should work overtime" don't misunderstand, your boss is not living with them. Now you know.

Creating New English Words

English is probably the only language that creates words and than often discards them just as quickly. A great example of this is the word "homicide bomber". It was created just after 9/11 and quickly lost traction. "Homicide Bomber" was created and disseminated by the US government to replace the word "suicide bomber", because it better explained the true nature of that act. Whether they were correct in their assertion or not is of course a matter of opinion. Nevertheless, it does provide an interesting case study for English Language Learners into a variety of topics, such as: the construction; changing meaning, and usage of words.

Why I came to Toronto

Today I heard the most honest explanation as to why an English Language Learner decided to come specifically to Toronto instead of other"English Speaking Cities". She said, quite matter-of-factly, that she picked the city because it was just 'big enough', had 'just enough' interesting places to see and it was cheaper. What a wonderfully nebulous endorsement. Quite apropos!! "Toronto the (just) Good (Enough)"

Introduction to Toronto English Consulting (TEC)

Toronto English Consulting (TEC) specializes in customizing programs for English as Second Language (ESL) international students who come to Toronto to better their English skills.
TEC will make all the necessary arrangements for students, from schooling, accommodation and transportation to activities, trips and entertainment. By being directly involved in the welfare of students our aim is to help provide a completely gratifying experience in Toronto.
This Blog will be used to post ESL specific content in the form of announcements, news items, anecdotes, insights and whatever else that will enable us to connect with English Language Learners from all over the world.