Archive Page 2
leaving on a…carseat
After work, hour 1: pack car.
Hour 2: drive.
Hour 3: drive.
Hour 4: drive.
Hour 5: …yep, drive.
Hour 6: hotel sleepage.
…
Day after work: drive. Arrive home.
Next 7 hours: drive. Arrive Gallatin, TN.
I’m beginning to dislike the word “drive.”
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Tags: driving
No more French classes, s’il vous plait—an op-ed article by Jim Motter in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Jim Motter is preparing to send his son to a high school that will offer only French, Spanish, and Latin (Johns Creek High). His son wants to attend either Georgia Tech for engineering or UGA for their Honors program. For Tech’s International Plan, since his son wants to go to Germany, he argues that his son needs four years of high school German and laments not only that J.C. High will not offer German, but also that they will offer French. Today I will argue against his points.
He begins by stating that three languages is not enough. Not enough? Has Mr Motter visited most public high schools? You are lucky to get three. He does not offer to pay more taxes to support any more teachers for more languages, either. You cannot have it both ways.
Next, the three choices are “outdated.” Spanish, French, and Latin “have been offered for the past 50 or more years,” and “[m]uch has changed in the world.” You think? Latin is not spoken anywhere, as far as I am aware. So maybe it is a little outdated. But he argues not against Latin, but against French. Say what? French is out of style, so we shouldn’t teach it anymore? He mentions that Latin is an important part of a “classical” education, so I assume he wants his son to be proficient in astronomy, alchemy, rhetoric, logic, and algebra as well. Oh, and German.
He continues to say that, of the three languages this new high school will offer, Spanish has “economic and cultural value.” Ok, economic value. Sure, that is a point in a language’s favor, and we could all use a little more Spanish. But cultural value? Why would this businessman place value on a culture for the culture’s sake? He jumps between the classical education and cultural value and the economic value of learning a language. I’m not sure where he comes down on which is more important, because if he were to evaluate languages based on all three, surely French would not fare so poorly.
The International Plan at Georgia Tech would enable my son to study engineering in Germany for a full year, but unless something changes, and soon, my son will be denied this opportunity. This door will be closed in his face only because his new high school is set to offer French and not German.
I would like to now direct your attention to GA Tech College of Engineering’s international page, where you find a description of the International Plan. Please also see a list of French engineering schools by region and note that French engineers are highly regarded the world over. To connect these two: you can study French, which Mr Motter describes as “increasingly irrelevant,” and study abroad at some of the best engineering schools in the world. Tech’s website even lists first its Georgia Tech Lorraine in Metz, France. However, even if you study zero foreign languages at the high school level, you “become proficient” at your language while at Georgia Tech. It would be easier with prior experience, but from the description, it seems that Tech is prepared to teach their students the language skills they need to study abroad.
Further, Mr Motter believes that French is not a good language for business because the only organization his son would be able to work for is the International Olympic Committee. Quoi? Germany is strong economically, a point I do not dispute. Strongest in Europe. Only country to have a trade surplus with China. However, say in the future Mr Motter’s son changes his mind about his career. If he speaks only German, he has three choices for the German-speaking area: Germany, Austria, Switzerland. If he speaks French, he can do business in France, Switzerland, North Africa, Caribbean islands…the list goes on. Maybe Mr Motter’s son should re-evaluate his decision to consider only German!
For virtually all other young Georgians, the study of the French language is a waste of time. Worse yet, it is a poor use of taxpayer resources as it represents a substantial investment with virtually no payback. Today, as in my day, a student’s selection of French is likely more based on “entertainment” or “novelty” than any genuine intent to base a career upon it.
This poor man has such a wrong-headed attitude about languages that I cannot think of the right word to use for such a situation. He thinks that Latin is useful, but take a step back and think about why Latin is useful. It is the foundation of much of English, although English has taken many forms over the centuries. So, however, is French; French and English also regularly trade words and expressions and influence each other. Why else? Literature? Does Mr Motter want his son to be able to read Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Juvenal in original? How is that going to help him in engineering or the UGA Honors college? I do not deny the “cultural value” of reading original poetry, but I would not discount French poetry and literature. In this case, Latin and French seem to me to be in the same category. Furthermore, why would he not include French in a “classical” education? Chosen language of kings and aristocracy everywhere historically? Lingua franca, if you will. What about culture? Does he want his son to learn about Roman culture? German? Chinese? How are those cultures any more or less fascinating than French? Why does one culture “become” more important to study and another less?
Finally, Mr Motter seems to miss the point of learning a foreign language. Businesspeople everywhere are interested in you if you can dedicate yourself to learning another language, no matter what language it is. Able to speak three languages and change myself, I have been told repeatedly how important it is to show that you can learn any other language; when I worked in the hiring department of human resources in a German company, I was told that a foreign language, any language, gained applicants major points. Most importantly, there were few applicants for management positions who did not speak French. (Maybe my experience there merely proves Mr Motter’s point that French is outdated? I disagree; it says to me that French is considered part of a classical German education.) Anyway, that first step also makes it easier to learn subsequent languages. Learning any language also broadens your horizons and helps you to start thinking about the world from a different perspective.
To conclude, I can give Mr Motter a recent personal example about French and business. My boss asked me to find out about an organization to which several international nuclear companies belong. I visited the websites of French, Canadian, German, British, Finnish, Swedish, Spanish, Belgian companies; the list continues, but those are all I can remember. The French company was the only one not to provide an English page. Arrogant, perhaps. But because I can read French, I was able to relate to my boss the information he needed. French is not dead in the business world, as Mr Motter seems to assume.
On a side note, Mr Motter appears not to have considered sending his son to a different high school. I did the research for him, and Northview High School, at 10625 Parsons Road, Johns Creek, GA, 30097, offers German as well as other world languages. There is no end to the list of students who have been forced to go to different schools because one school did not offer the choices they wanted, and if his son is adamant about German, the choice is there for him.
Filed under: English, French | 1 Comment
Tags: French, ajc, german
july 4 part 1
Part 1: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, a multi-day event featuring three different themes. This year’s themes were Wales (everything about), Las Américas (featuring mostly music), and Giving Voice (the black American experience). Also in part 1 is margarita mayhem at Rio Grande near the Ballston (hurr) metro stop.
Isn’t that the longest Welsh word?
This girl was openly and hungrily staring at the couple next to her. She really wanted something they had. When I started discreetly trying to take a photo of her, she stared at me, but not for long. In the background are the Ashtons. Really good traditional Welsh music.
We met Stacey, a former colleague of Alan’s, at the festival.
The temporary tattoo I allowed to be put on my arm in exchange for this two-cd set. Also I had to sign up for emails from the Smithsonian Folklife. A good deal, no? Haven’t heard the music yet though.
Close up
Shelly (sp) with our new cds, Courtney, Joe, Alan
Nicolai (sp) and boyfriend, whose name escapes me.
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Tags: alan, folklife, smithsonian, wales
ps happy birthday
Happy birthday Charles! May you complete many more triathlons and look just as good as you did at Langley Pond.
Happy birthday also to Grandmama. Don’t have any pictures of you on this computer.
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Tags: charles, grandmama
happy independence day
Happy fourth! Conversation between me and Matthew:
Matthew: Happy Independence Day!
me: Thanks, you dirty limey.
Matthew: Give us our country back.
me: Just because you colonised it doesn’t make it your country.
Matthew: Says you and whose army?
me: [Something stupid and not funny at all]
Matthew: Well at least we have Hong Kong…oh wait we don’t even have that anymore!
This was a real talky conversation by the way, if it had been typed there would be less capitalisation.
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Tags: matthew
sarah palin: me first!
Sarah Palin quits as gov, first words out of my mouth: “Sarah Palin is Mark Sanford’s secret mistress.”
That’s right, you heard it here first. No matter what Andrew may say, it was me. Alan can confirm this. I called it!
Can Sarah Palin be remade into a Presidential candidate? What do you think?
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Tags: arwalke, GOP, mark sanford, sarah palin
Buffalo steak, green beans, yellow squash & onions, and lone half new potato
Beans and rice cooking
Beans and rice–done
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Tags: food
friday the 3rd
How fantastic is it that even though the 4th is on Saturday, the government says you have to take a holiday during the week? So I get tomorrow off. (It’s the government’s doing as far as I’m aware, feel free to correct me.)
Alan’s artsy neighbor told me about an annual folk festival on the National Mall all this weekend, so the plan is to check that out in the afternoon, with study, possible exercise, and relationship maintenance aka Matthew skype time on the big morning agenda. Then Saturday is the day of the famed fireworks and dinner party (chez Alan’s Afghani friend and friend’s French wife), where if I’m lucky I’ll get to speak a bit of French, although I’m hoping not to stick my foot in it by volunteering and then mentally freezing, frantically searching for the word for paté. (It’s pâté in case you wanted to know.)
Momentary insecurity…gone. Moving on: to Matthew–sweet poem. I found it when looking for the piece on Strunk, since part of it describes me very well: I violate the conciseness rule. This is why a blog is better for me than Twitter.
Really enjoyed hearing about Strunk and White, as read by Garrison Keillor, and re-reading it for myself. While I understand both sides of the argument over the English language, I lean toward the grammarians. As is abundantly evident, without rules, the language disintegrates. I agree that there must be freedom in a language to express thoughts in one’s own voice; however, if you want to break the rules, you should first know which rules you are breaking. You can’t build without a framework. If you don’t understand the rules, your writing ends up stupid.
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Tags: English, French, july 4th, matthew
dinner
Making this tonight. I just took pictures of it cooking, and I’m sure it will look different when it’s finished, so I’ll take more then.
Post run tonight: I are pain. Can’t tell yet if it’s the nasty sort of pain. I’ll keep myself updated, thanks for checking in with this instalment of I have no idea why I even blog anymore.
Filed under: English | 2 Comments
Tags: food, running
customer service much?
I recently ordered 10 books from 10 different people on Amazon. Consistent with past experience, I got a few different emails telling me my orders had shipped, and most of them have arrived. However, not all of the sellers sent an email saying they had shipped the books. I was particularly worried about one of them, since I gave my current address as the shipping address, and I’m only going to be here two more weeks. (I know genius right shut up. I’ve never had to wait more than a week for an order.)
So, I sent an email to the seller, asking if he had shipped the book, completely unaware that Amazon’s sellers are required to ship things within two days of the order. (Of course, how can you be sure something was shipped within two days of an order? Can that rule be enforced?) Since he hadn’t responded by the next day, I sent another email. Both emails were professionally polite but not necessarily friendly. He finally responded very rudely by telling me that he had shipped it and the information I was looking for was on Amazon and had been since the day the book was shipped, since Amazon has, according to him, an “arraignment” whereby he doesn’t get paid until the book ships, which I’m pretty sure is bull. No greeting, no closing.
How rude! However, I am lucky in that the other sellers have been pleasant. In fact, one guy found out that the book I ordered wasn’t exactly in “new” condition, so he tried to contact me, and when that didn’t work (email address typo, or maybe I managed to overlook the email, it happens), he contacted me through Amazon just to let me know he had reduced the price of the book AND upgraded my shipping for free. Talk about customer service! When I got the book, it was wrapped in paper and in bubble wrap inside the package. So, my faith in humanity? Restored.
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Tags: amazon, books
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