MISERABLE

Miserable não significa miserável no sentido de sovina, pão-duro. Esse transmite a idéia de muito triste, infeliz, arrasado. O mesmo se aplica ao substantivo misery, que além de miséria, pobreza extrema, costuma ser muito empregado com o significado de infelicidade, sofrimento, agonia ou aflição.

Jay has been feeling miserable since his girlfriend dumped him for another guy.
Jay está se sentindo arrasado desde que a sua namorada o trocou por outro cara.

Para dizer miserável no sentido de sovina, pão-duro ou mão-de-vaca, podemos usar as palavras; stingy, miser, ou ainda adjetivos mais coloquiais como; cheapskate, tightwad ou pennypincher. Se o contexto for muito pobre uma sugestão é dizer extremely poor. A palavra miserável é ainda empregada em português com o significado de maldito, desgraçado, que pode ser damned ou bloody (Inglaterra).

Don’t expect to get a nice birthday present for Nick. You know how stingy he is!
Não espere ganhar um bom presente de aniversário de Nick. Você sabe como ele é pão-duro!
Don’t count on Jeff to help us buy a new DVD-player. You know he is a cheapskate!
Não conte com o Jeff para nos ajudar a comprar um novo DVD. Vocês sabem como ele é um mão-de-vaca!
Cheryl was shocked to see so many extremely poor people in the streets of Calcutta.
Cheryl ficou chocada ao ver tantas pessoas miseráveis nas ruas de Calcutta.

I don’t ever want to see you again. You a damned liar! Sheila shouted at her boyfriend.
Nunca quero vê-lo de novo. Seu mentiroso maldito! Sheila gritou para o namorado.

MEDIC

Talvez você já tenha assistido a algum filme de guerra em que, durante a batalha, um ou mais soldados gritam desesperadamente a palavra medic. Ao conferir a legenda deve também ter percebido que muitas vezes a tradução surge como ‘’médico’’. Na verdade o substantivo medic é empregado em contexto militar nos EUA para referir-se ao profissional capacitado ao atendimento de emergência, os primeiros socorros, que é a necessidade premente em guerras. Já na Inglaterra, o substantivo medic pode ser empregado informalmente como sinônimo de doctor ou até para referir-se a ‘’estudante de medicina’’.


Medics worked under difficult conditions during the Vietnam War.
Os oficiais médicos trabalhavam sob condições difíceis durante a guerra do Vietnam.

Jake gave up being a medic when he saw the horrors of war.
Jake desistiu de ser um oficial médico quando viu os horrores da guerra.

Como dizer médico? È claro que você já conhece a palavra doctor. Outra opção é physician. Se estiver se referindo ao adjetivo, medical é a palavra apropriada.

Sam could never be a doctor. He goes weak in the knees when he sees blood.
Sam nunca poderia ser médico. Ele fica de pernas bambas quando vê sangue.

Harry decided to follow on his father’s foot steps and is studying to be a physician.
Harry decidiu seguir o pai e está estudando ser médico.

MASCARA

È claro que você sabe que o substantivo máscara não tem nada haver com ‘’máscara’’. Mas você sabia que o verdadeiro significado é ‘’rimel’’, o cosmético usado pelas mulheres para realçar os cílios? Confira:

I think you’ve put much makeup on your face. Why don’t you take off some of the mascara?

Acho que você colocou maquiagem demais no rosto. Por que não tira um pouco do rímel?

Some women are obsessed with their looks and will not leave home before they have made themselves up with base, blush and mascara.

Algumas mulheres são obcecadas com aparência e não saem de casa se não estiverem maquiadas com base, ruge e rímel.

Legend

LEGEND é mais um falso cognato clássico que possui um grande potencial de causar confusão. O substantivo legend ‘’lenda’’. Confira:

Willie Nelson is considered a living legend in country music history.
Willie Nelson é considerado uma lenda viva na história da música country.

Para dizer legenda de filmes use o termo subtitles. Se estiver se referindo a legenda de ilustração o termo apropriado é caption.

Daniel is glad he can now watch programs in English without having to read the subtitles.
Daniel está contente porque agora pode assistir a programas em inglês sem precisar ler as legendas.

The caption below the picture read: Snow and the Seven Dwarfs.
A legenda abaixo da figura dizia: Branca de neve e os sete anões.

Harmonica/Lamp

HARMONICA

A palavra harmonica é empregada para referir-se à ‘’gaita-de-boca’’ (ou, simplesmente gaita). Observe que, embora alguns dicionários listem ‘’harmônica’’ como sinônimo de palavra ‘’gaita’’, ela raramente é usada com esse sentido. O termo mouth organ, mais coloquial, também significa gaita. (já que estamos falando de gaita, a tradicional gaita escocesa, ou gaita de foles , chama-se baggipe.


I didn’t know you played the harmonica. Where did you learn how to do that?
Não sabia que você tocava gaita. Onde aprendeu a fazer isto?

Como dizer harmônica? Podemos empregar as palavras accordion, ou até concertina, instrumento similar a harmônica, mas um pouco menor, popularmente conhecido no Brasil por sanfona.

We hardly ever see people play cellos and concertinas these days.
Quase não se vê pessoas tocando violoncelos e sanfonas hoje em dia.

LAMP

O substantivo lamp não significa, exatamente, lâmpada. Pode ser empregado com os significados de ‘’iluminaria’’, ‘’abajur’’ ou até ‘’lampião’’,.

It’s look dark to read here. Don’t you have a desk lamp?
Está escuro demais para ler aqui. Você não tem uma iluminaria de mesa?

Para dizer lâmpada use light bulb, ou simplesmente bulb.

We need to change the bathroom bulb, honey. It’s just burnt out.
Precisamos trocar a lâmpada do banheiro, querido. Acabou de queimar.

Dent / Gratuity

DENT

O que dent e ‘’dente’’ tem em comum? Apenas a semelhança na grafia. O vocábulo dent pode ser empregado como verbo para designar a ação de ‘’amassar lataria, carro etc.’’, ou como substantivo, para referir-se à ''parte amassada da lataria de um carro, lata etc.’’. confira:

Peters’ car was badly dented after crash.
O carro do Peter ficou bastante amassado com a batida.

Have you seen the dent in the passenger door of your car?
Você viu o amassado na porta do passageiro do seu carro?

GRATUITY

Se pensou em ‘’gratuidade’’ esqueça! O substantivo é uma maneira formal de se dizer ‘’gorjeta’’. Lembre-se de que ''tip'' é muito mais coloquial e usual nesse contesto.

I believe gratuity is not included.
Acredito que a gorjeta não esteja inclusa.

Para dizer gratuito use a expressão ‘’free of charge’’.

Admittance of women to the night club is free of charge.
A entrada de mulheres naquela boate é gratuita.

Parking in shopping centers is not always free of charge.
Estacionar em shopping center nem sempre é gratuito.

Deception

Talvez você fique decepcionado, mas deception não significa ‘’decepção’’. Alguns dos sentidos possíveis desse substantivo são ‘’fraude’’, ‘’engano’’, ‘’farsa, ’’embuste’’, subterfúgio’’, ‘’ilusão’’.

Bill tried to cover up the truth with lies and deception.
Bill tentou encobrir a verdade com mentiras e subterfúgios.

Para dizer decepção empregue os substantivo disappointment ou letdown, este último derivado do phrasal verb to let down (decepcionar).

After some bitter disappointments, Mary decided to stay away from men for a while.
Após algumas decepções amargas, Mary decidiu ficar distante dos homens por algum tempo.

what we thought would be a great movie turned out to be a big letdown.
O que nós achávamos que seria um ótimo filme se revelou uma grande decepção.

Alms/Convict

Alms


Esse substantivo deve ser empregado apenas para se referir a ‘’esmola’’ ou ‘’donativos’’.

Susan was impressed at the number of beggars asking for alms on the street of Calcutta.
Susan ficou impressionada com o número de mendigos pedindo esmola nas ruas de Calcutá.

Convict

O substantivo convict quer dizer ‘’réu condenado; presidiário’’. Confira:

The convicts that escaped the federal penitentiary have all been tracked down.
Os presidiários que fugiram da penitenciária federal já foram todos encontrados.

Se quiser dizer convicto uso o adjetivo ‘’convinced’’.

I´am convinced I have made the right decision.
Estou convencido de ter tomado a decisão correta.

Falsos Amigos ''Actual"

Hoje vou começar a dar dicas sobre falsos cognatos. Aquelas palavrinhas que possuem grafias semelhante ou até idênticas as do nosso idioma, mas com significados diferentes. Pra quem quiser se aprofundar, uma dica é o livro Falsos Cognatos de José Roberto A. Igreja, do qual utilizarei alguns exemplos.

Portanto, cuidado! Looks can be deceiving! ‘‘as aparências enganam’’.

ACTUAL

Esse é um caso clássico de falso cognato, muito confundido com a palavra ‘atual’. Entretanto, seu significado é ‘’real’’ ‘’verdadeiro’’. Veja os exemplos:

The students didn’t fully understand the text until the teacher explained to them the actual meaning of the words in it.

Os alunos não entenderam completamente o texto até que o professor explicou a eles o verdadeiro significado de algumas palavras.

Para dizer atual use ‘’current’, ou então ‘’present’’

Dennis is not happy with his present job.

Até mais!

Why do we need a global language?

Translation has played a central (though often unrecognized) role in human interaction for thousands of years. When monarchs or ambassadors met on the international stage, there would invariably be interpreters present. But there are limits to what can be done in this way. The more a community is linguistically mixed, the less it can rely on individuals to ensure communication between different groups. In communities where only two or three languages are in contact, bilingualism (or trilingualism) is a possible solution, for most young children can acquire more than one language with unselfconscious ease. But in communities where there are many languages in contact, as in much of Africa and South-east Asia, such a natural solution does not readily apply.
The problem has traditionally been solved by finding a language to act as a lingua franca, or ‘common language’. Sometimes, when communities begin to trade with each other, they communicate by adopting a simplied language, known as a pidgin, which combines elements of their different languages.7 Many such pidgin languages survive today in territories which formerly belonged to the European colonial nations, and act as lingua francas; for example, West African Pidgin English is used extensively between several ethnic groups along the West African coast. Sometimes an indigenous language emerges as a lingua franca – usually the language of the most powerful ethnic group in the area, as in the case of Mandarin Chinese. The other groups then learn this language with varying success, and thus become to some degree bilingual. But most often, a language is accepted from outside the community, such as English or French, because of the political, economic, or eligious influence of a foreign power.
The geographical extent to which a lingua franca can be used is entirely governed by political factors. Many lingua francas extend over quite small domains – between a few ethnic groups in one part of a single country, or linking the trading opulations of just a few countries, as in the West African case. By contrast, Latin was a lingua franca throughout the whole of the Roman Empire – at least, at the level of government (very few ‘ordinary’ people in the subjugated domains would have spoken much Latin). And in modern times Swahili, Arabic, Spanish, French, English, Hindi, Portuguese and several other languages have developed a major international role as a lingua franca, in limited areas of the world. The prospect that a lingua franca might be needed for the whole world is something which has emerged strongly only in the twentieth century, and since the 1950s in particular. The chief international forum for political communication – the United Nations – dates only from 1945. Since then, many international bodies have come into being, such as the World Bank (also 1945), UNESCO and UNICEF (both 1946), the World Health Organization (1948) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (1957). Never before have so many countries (around 190, in the case of some UN bodies) been represented in single meeting places. At a more restricted level, multinational regional or political groupings have come into being, such as the Commonwealth and the European Union. The pressure to adopt a single lingua franca, to facilitate communication in such contexts, is considerable, the alternative being expensive and impracticable multi-way translation facilities.Usually a small number of languages have been designated official languages for an organization’s activities: for example, the UN was established with five official languages – English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. There is now a widespread view that it makes sense to try to reduce the numbers of languages involved in world bodies, if only to cut down on the vast amount of interpretation/translation and clerical work required. Half the budget of an international organization can easily get swallowed up in translation costs. But trimming a translation budget is never easy, as obviously no country likes the thought of its language being given a reduced international standing. Language choice is always one of the most sensitive issues facing a planning committee. The common situation is one where a committee does not have to be involved – where all the participants at an international meeting automatically use a single language, as a utilitarian measure (a ‘working language’), because it is one which they have all come to learn for separate reasons. This situation seems to be slowly becoming a reality in meetings around the world, as general competence in English grows. The need for a global language is particularly appreciated by the international academic and business communities, and it is here that the adoption of a single lingua franca is most in evidence, both in lecture-rooms and board-rooms, as well as in thousands of individual contacts being made daily all over the globe. A conversation over the Internet (see chapter 4) between academic physicists in Sweden, Italy, and India is at present practicable only if a common language is available. A situation where a Japanese company director arranges to meet German and Saudi Arabian contacts in a Singapore hotel to plan a multi-national deal would not be impossible, if each plugged in to a 3-way translation support system, but it would be far more complicated than the alternative, which is for each to make use of the same language.
As these examples suggest, the growth in international contacts
has been largely the result of two separate developments. The physicists would not be talking so conveniently to each other at all without the technology of modern communication. And the business contacts would be unable to meet so easily in Singapore without the technology of air transportation. The availability of both these facilities in the twentieth century, more than anything else, provided the circumstances needed for a global language to grow.
People have, in short, become more mobile, both physically and electronically. Annual airline statistics show that steadily increasing numbers are finding the motivation as well as the means to transport themselves physically around the globe, and sales of faxes, modems, and personal computers show an even greater increase in those prepared to send their ideas in words and images electronically. It is now possible, using electronic mail, to copy a message to hundreds of locations all over the world virtually simultaneously. It is just as easy for me to send a message from my house in the small town of Holyhead, North Wales, to a friend in Washington as it is to get the same message to someone living just a few streets away from me. In fact, it is probably easier. That is why people so often talk, these days, of the ‘global village’. These trends would be taking place, presumably, if only a handful of countries were talking to each other. What has been so impressive about the developments which have taken place since the 1950s is that they have affected, to a greater or lesser extent, every country in the world, and that so many countries have come to be involved. There is no nation now which does not have some level of accessibility using telephone, radio, television, and air transport, though facilities such as fax, electronic mail and the Internet are much less widely available. The scale and recency of the development has to be appreciated. In 1945, the United Nations began life with 51 member states. By 1956 this had risen to 80 members. But the independence movements which began at that time led to a massive increase in the number of new nations during the next decade, and this process continued steadily into the 1990s, following the collapse of the USSR. There were 190 member states in 2002 – nearly four times as many as there were fty years ago. And the trend may not yet be over, given the growth of so many regional ationalistic movements worldwide. There are no precedents in human history for what happens to languages, in such circumstances of rapid change. There has never been a time when so many nations were needing to talk to each other so much. There has never been a time when so many people wished to travel to so many places. There has never been such a strain placed on the conventional resources of translating and interpreting. Never has the need for more widespread bilingualism been greater, to ease the burden placed on the professional few. And never has there been a more urgent need for a global language.

Crystal, David.English as a Global Language

What is a global language?

A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. This might seem like stating the obvious, but it is not, for the notion of ‘special role’ has many facets. Such a role will be most evident in countries where large numbers of the people speak the language as a mother tongue – in the case of English, this would mean the USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, several Caribbean countries and a sprinkling of other territories. However, no language has ever been spoken by a mother-tongue majority in more than a few countries (Spanish leads, in this respect, in some twenty countries, chiefly in Latin America), so mother-tongue use by itself cannot give a language global status. To achieve such a status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the world. They must decide to give it a special place within their communities, even though they may have few (or no) mother-tongue speakers.
There are two main ways in which this can be done. Firstly, a language can be made the official language of a country, to be used as a medium of communication in such domains as government, the law courts, the media, and the educational system. To get on in these societies, it is essential to master the official language as early in life as possible. Such a language is often described as a second language’, because it is seen as a complement to a person’s mother tongue, or ‘first language’. The role of an official language is today best illustrated by English, which now has some kind of special status in over seventy countries, such as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore and Vanuatu. (A complete list is given at the end of chapter 2.) This is far more than the status achieved by any other language – though French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic are among those which have also developed a considerable official use. New political decisions on the matter continue to be made: for example, Rwanda gave English official status in 1996. Secondly, a language can be made a priority in a country’s foreign-language teaching, even though this language has no official status. It becomes the language which children are most likely to be taught when they arrive in school, and the one most available to adults who – for whatever reason – never learned it, or learned it badly, in their early educational years. Russian, for example, held privileged status for many years among the countries of the former Soviet Union. Mandarin Chinese continues to play an important role in South-east Asia. English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language – in over 100 countries, such as China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt and Brazil – and in most of these countries it is emerging as the chief foreign language to be encountered in schools, often displacing another language in the process. In 1996, for example, English replaced French as the chief foreign language in schools in Algeria (a former French colony). In reflecting on these observations, it is important to note that there are several ways in which a language can be official. It may be the sole official language of a country, or it may share this status with other languages. And it may have a ‘semi-official’ status, being used only in certain domains, or taking second place to other languages while still performing certain official roles. Many countries formally acknowledge a language’s status in their constitution (e.g. India); some make no special mention of it (e.g. Britain). In certain countries, the question of whether the special status should be legally recognized is a source of considerable controversy – notably, in the USA . Similarly, there is great variation in the reasons for choosing a particular language as a favoured foreign language: they include historical tradition, political expediency, and the desire for commercial, cultural or technological contact. Also, even when chosen, the ‘presence’ of the language can vary greatly, depending on the extent to which a government or foreign-aid agency is prepared to give adequate financial support to a language-teaching policy. In a well-supported environment, resources will be devoted
to helping people have access to the language and learn it, through the media, libraries, schools, and institutes of higher education. There will be an increase in the number and quality of teachers able to teach the language. Books, tapes, computers, telecommunication systems and all kinds of teaching materials will be increasingly available. In many countries, however, lack of government support, or a shortage of foreign aid, has hindered the achievement of language-teaching goals. Similarly, there is great variation in the reasons for choosing a particular language as a favoured foreign language: they in- clude historical tradition, political expediency, and the desire for commercial, cultural or technological contact. Also, even when chosen, the ‘presence’ of the language can vary greatly, depending on the extent to which a government or foreign-aid agency is prepared to give adequate financial support to a language-teaching
policy. In awell-supported environment, resources will be devoted to helping people have access to the language and learn it, through the media, libraries, schools, and institutes of higher education. There will be an increase in the number and quality of teachers able to teach the language. Books, tapes, computers, telecommunication systems and all kinds of teaching materials will be increasingly available. In many countries, however, lack of government support, or a shortage of foreign aid, has hindered the achievement of language-teaching goals.

Crystal, David. What is a Global Language. New York. 2003

Language, Learning and Teaching

_Learning A second language is a long and complex undertaking. Your whole person is affected as you struggle to reach beyond the confines of your first language and into a new language, a new culture, a new way of thinking, feeling and acting. Total commitment, total involvement, a total physical, intellectual and emotional response is necessary to successfully send and receive messages in a second language. Many variables are involved in the acquisition process. Language learning is not a set of easy steps that can be programmed in a quick do-it-yourself kit. So much is at stake that courses in foreign languages are often inadequate training grounds, in and of themselves, for the successful learning of a second solely within the confines of the classroom.

It may appear contradictory, then, that this book is about both learning and teaching. But some of the contradiction is removed if you look at teaching process as the facilitation of learning, in which you can teach a foreign language successfully if, among other things, you know something about that intricate web of variables that are spun together to affect how and why one learns or fails to learn a second language. Where does a teacher begin the quest for an understanding of principles of language learning and teaching?

Douglas, H Brown. Principles of Learning and Teaching. San Francisco. 2000.