Category: Cross Cultural Comments

Ms. Kalman’s creation:  And the Pursuit of Happiness !

And the Pursuit of Happiness … is of course, derived from the Constitution of the United States of America which guarantees citizens the rights to LIfe, Liberty … And the Pursuit of Happiness !

George … is of course, George Washington. Here’s his story as seen by Ms. Kalman!

Enjoy

And the Pursuit of Happiness !

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What sort of watch do you wear? Digital or analog? What sort of clocks do you live by? Numbers like this: 13:58 … or do you have an “old-fashioned” clock whose hands sweep by the seconds, minutes and hours?

James Caroll understands time. The proof is in the article he published Feb 14 in the Boston Globe.

Time’s face, time’s digits – The Boston Globe.

One of the finest peices of writing to be published in … recent history.

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The complete guide to expat life

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Are you a morning, daytime, evening or night person? What sort of bio-rhythm do you have? Are you so full of pep and energy that you wake up and manage all day long without a sigh or yawn? Or are you a time taking breakfast-in-bed person who then can stay up into the wee hours of the night?

There’s an expression in English that says

The early bird catches the worm.”

The same thought or idea exists in French in these words:

Le monde appartient à ceux qui se lèvent tôt.”

I don’t see any worms or birds in that one, but no matter: until the opening of the tunnel under the “English Channel” as the English call it and the “Manche” as the French do, the French and the English had been separated by that body of water. This, as you know,  hasn’t prevented mutual attraction, jealousy, respect nor conflict over the years. Not to mention migration!

Or … the French-American trans-Atlantic connections!

So, you ask, what do “reports and delays” have to do with all this? The answer lies in the word which shapes our lives: time. And the inter-human relationships called meetings, dates, and appointments!

The English word “delay” means “being late, or being put off until later” and is most often used as a verb like this:
“The flight to Chicago is delayed. EDT is now 1:58.”

The French word “délai” means a time frame or a period of time and can be used in the singular or in the plural:

Il faudrait compter sur un délai de 10 jours.”
“Les délais de livraison sont indéterminés.”

Put those on hold for a moment while we think of the French verb “reporter”:  this verb can generally be translated into English as “to postpone” or “to put off.” In English, the identically spelled verb  “to report” might designate signaling something, usually negative, suspicious or illegal to an authority.

Beware of and be wary of these look-alikes.These sentences, written with English words by native French speakers could confuse or even upset you:

“I must report the date.”
“Could we report our appointment?”
“Excuse me for reporting this.
“It’s only a delay.”

All of these really intend to mean “temporary cancellation.” What might be called a “rain check.”

“Please forgive me … but I’ve had a change in schedule and need to postpone the meeting we planned for next Tuesday. Could we plan it for the following week? Just let me know.”

The early bird may indeed catch the worm … but only if the weather’s right!

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Here’s a link to their online image gallery!

It’s fabulous … and if you can’t get there in person, this is a virtual visit. Enjoy.

Those of you in Savannah may be interested in doing a search on the site for Savannah …

You should find something originally published/produced in 1764.

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What’s a donut? or is it a doughnut? Both spellings exist and if you’d like to know much more about these sweet things, here a link to the article in Wikipedia. i was surprised to learn that they’re not only dunkin’ … but exist in culinary cultures all over the world. Often topped with with glazed sugar or colorful fruity, rich toppings.

Now the big question is this: Why are doughnuts in the news? Of course, if you’re in finance in the City, you’d know this right away but for the rest of us, it may bring a smile. Because it’s all in the shape … and I suppose in the airy weight. But essentially, traditional doughnuts look like … the letter “O” or in numerical terms … the zero (0) or nought.

Which is what this sentence from the International Herald Tribune this weekend taught us:

“From Wall Street to the City of London, so-called doughnuts are on the menu this season. While the carbohydrate-packed variety may damage their health, it is the wealth hit from the zero bonus – known colloquially as a doughnut – that investment bankers increasingly fear.”

Oh dear! Do I hear a sigh? About to cry? No need to fear. Just persevere. This is what a wise banker will advise.

Our languages are alive with metaphors, with images and if the single doughnut is all some will get with their coffee this year, they ought to be thankful for that but I suspect that …  next year some of them will get half a dozen bagels for breakfast …with poppy seeds, sesame or even just plain!

Keep smiling … and keep your eyes open. You’ll see metaphors by day, meteors by night.

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Every single language coaching session is unique. Year after year, I’ve been working with professionals who need, or who feel the need, to be more fluent in English.

Whether they need to improve their pronunciation so that it’s not too taxing for their listeners or whether they need to brush up on syntax and grammar or whether they need to improve their vocabularies, one thing is true: no two individuals are identical.

Language is just that: individual. When you look at others in your daily environment or in public, you’d be pretty surprised to see any two people look exactly alike, dressed exactly alike, walking and talking exactly alike … if you did, you’d think they were robots!

Most of us wear the same types of clothes from head to foot – yet with an infinity of styles, textures, materials, colours, shapes and sizes. Some neat, formal, fine, high fashion … some very original, others more casual, sometimes we wear unidentified “uniforms”: styles according to our jobs, our professions. Some fit … others don’t or are out of place for the occasion.

Your language is like the clothes you wear. It’s YOUR language. Your words, put together coherently … or casually, formally, young or not-so young, attractively, sexy or mysterious! Your style. Changing according to your mood, yet constant from one season to the next.

Your vocabulary is your wardrobe.

Your grammar is your style. Your pronunciation is how you appear to others.

Coaching you to be the best you can be in YOUR style … of English is what I do. So you’re … you at your best!

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Sometimes, we need a little crash course in accents….and vocabulary.Even if we don’t need to cross borders or go very far to discover that nowadays almost everyone speaks some sort of “English.”

I spent a few days at a professional event in London last week entitled Learning Technologies. There were two floors at Olympia 2. Roughly speaking, downstairs were the people providing coaching and training services and upstairs were the people promoting their technological know-how.

Many of the “products” have similar goals. They are like packagings for corportate content. As with shelf space, elearning has its visual limits defined by the space of a screen and the designers, graphic or instructional, promote their techniques for making the screens as attractive, efficient and as captivating as possible.

I met some very interesting people and discovered some valuable services. Among them, The RADA, (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) offers executive training. I’m firmly convinced that this would help more than one of my readers … and not just those in Europe!

As for instantaneous coaching … I thought that a company called Coaching On Call was quite innovative. Call a coach? Get your ideas clear!

Others offered short courses in cross-cultural training: getting to know how to do business around the globe: Russia, Japan, the USA … even the UK and … France. If you’re interested in knowing more, you know what to do.

BTW, before I forget, this letter was going to be about accents. London has so many! There’s the occasional British one, frequent Irish ones, not to mention Polish, Russian, Ukranian, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Italian and Korean plus some … Canadian, American and French.

All of which are now documented at the British Library’s exhibition called Evolving English...right next to where the Eurostar pulls in … at St. Pacras.

Enjoy it. There were mostly Britons at the Library. And there’s a wonderful bookstore there … as well…where English is spoken with a beautiful English accent.

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What exactly is the Savannah Book Festival?

The Savannah Book Festival is a fun, informative and entertaining three-day event in February that celebrates books and the written word. We bring in authors from around the country to Savannah, who then present their work to audiences of booklovers eager to hear what they have to say.

Here is a link to the site!

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