Welcome back guys and girls!
How was everybody's break? Went skiing? Any body went tanning perhaps if you were
lucky to go somewhere faraway! And yes while all of your were off on your relaxing
break, the magazine crew worked hard to prepare for you the best welcome back
magazine we could possibly have to offer!
To start off your month on a sweet note, our first article is here to show you the calendar
for the following month and yes ladies and gentlemen, the night you've all been waiting
for has finally been scheduled to the 19th of March! In case any of you have absolutely no
clue what I'm talking about I'm referring to the Easter Ball! You will find all the details
on page 5.
Followed by on page 7 like every month the new faces of school! As well as the ones
leaving us.
Don't forget you girls to check out page 9 for all the new styles introduced by you!
Guys, keep track of the sports tournaments going on, on page 11!
All of you are probably wondering why this winter has been one of the coldest you've
experimented, thus check out the environmental rubric with title page ''Global warming
Vs. Climate change'' on page 13.
Page 15 has always been dedicated for appealing articles and the one chosen for this
month's issue is ''Language borrowing- is English taking over the world?''. Intriguing
right? Go check it out!
To conclude our magazine for this month, we made to your dispositions word games,
Sudoku and many other fun games on page 17! We also organized a treasure hunt all
around school and it is all explained on page 19!
Ready, set, go!
I wish you all a wonderful March and a good welcome back!
Your editor in chef
By being part of an international school it makes it almost impossible to not be bilingual.
We carried out a survey around school and came up with the following results;
47% speak 3 or more languages, 49% speak 2 languages and 4% only one.
Also from these results, we found out that the 47% and the 49% both have English
spoken fluently as one of their languages. However what we did find interesting is by
being in an international school, those 4% either are fluent English speakers learning
another language or the other way around. Therefore we could say that 100% of the
kids in this school speak English or are still learners making them connected to English
in some way. This is the perfect example to show how English has become a necessity
and present in everyday lives around the world.
Have you ever noticed how in a language other then English you use English words?
Those words are called 'loanwords' (1). A perfect example is how in the French culture
the French do not have an exact word that corresponds to 'shopping'. Hence the French
use it all the time in their everyday life! On a globular scale we are referring actually to
'language borrowing' (3). Ideal examples are the one of magazines. Look at the magazine
(2) of a German issue of 'Cosmo Girl'. I'm sure a lot of you girls read magazines. Haven't
you notice when you go to a store and you search for your magazine and pass in front of
the international press how a lot of words on non-English magazines actually have
English words? I bet you have become so used to it that you don't even question it.
However some of you may have fallen in the trap of buying a magazine that you thought
would be half in English possibly while you were traveling and ended up with a
completely foreign magazine!
Now if we observe the Cosmo Girl magazine, how many of you can more or less
understand what it's about? A lot of you that's for sure! Look at all those English words!
They are everywhere. Why use English words on a German magazine? Is it because they
do not have those words in German? Or is it due to the fact that English is more
fashionable or due to the fact that it is the most spoken language?
Observe the use of simple words such as 'win' or 'look'. Those words do exist in German.
Win= Sieg
Look= Sehen
Thus, why don't they use them? Why replace them with English words?
From recent researches made by Yale students, they have deduced that the reason for
loanwords was simple. It is for trendy, more fashionable reasons and it seems to attract
more the younger generation as well as a wider range of consumers.
For instance by taking a simple example of an English man learning Spanish is more
likely to pick a magazine that has 2 languages on it, in this case Spanish and English,then
one that has only one language. Bilingual magazines make it more attractive to the
learner. Understanding titles gives you a head start to what you are about to read.
Even in countries that have a different alphabet, different letters such as China and
Japan. You can still find the purpose out of the magazine's covers 4 and 5.
Direct your attention to the titles, notice how they are written in English and especially
on the Japanese magazine. If you know a bit about Japanese you would understand
where I'm getting at. Let me explain. The Japanese alphabet has 3 alphabets. One is
called 'kanji' and is the most ancient one with the most characters and the one that
resembles Chinese most too. The other two alphabets are recent alphabets to help
foreigners learn Japanese. One of those alphabets is called 'Hiragana'. Hiragana consists
of characters that represent Japanese sounds. This facilitates foreigners in writing
Japanese since each Kanji characters has a special meaning while Hiragana only
represents sounds. The last alphabet is called 'Katakana'. What is really interesting
about Katakana is how it was made for foreign word sounds.
This is where I was getting at. Since they even have an alphabet to replace English
words, why do they still use English words on their magazine covers? We can conclude it
is for trendier purpose as well as for it to be more international.
What is also fascinating about foreign countries that use English (loanwords) is how
badly they interpret them! For instance a perfect example is on the magazine (4) where
the name of the magazine is 'Eyes cream'. It could possibly be word game, eyes cream =
ice cream. However it doesn't mean they fully understand what the meaning actually is
behind the word game. This could be due to the fact we are less sensible and less
reactant to our non-mother tongues. What I mean by this is for us we don't really
understand why the need of the word game and it actually even confuses us. This is the
difference with the foreign and in this case Japanese people. They see the Japanese
writing and read it to understand what the magazine is about then they may have at the
beginning or at the end checked out the title. In this case in English and they don't
question it, why 'eyes creams'? They simply acknowledge the fact there is English
writing but they don't doubt it any further.
Do the following exercise. Ask someone to say something not kind to you in your second
language and then repeat the same exercise again however asking the person to use
your mother tongue this time. Which one are you most reactive too? With which one do
you feel most personally affected?
From a survey carried out in the University of Oxford, 89% of the people feel most
offended when they are insulted in their mother tongue. This is due to how you grew up
with the language and how your parents taught you to not use bad words and not use
offensive words to others. Then suddenly you learn this new language and nobody tells
you what to say and teach you about taboo words. Because for instance to distinguish
and black and white man you would refer them by their color in your country while in
another to identify them by their color could be a major insult. Then suddenly you learn
this new language and nobody tells you what to say and not say and you don't realize
how sometimes the way you speak may hurt others. Then again we couldn't have
known.
We all know that English is spreading all over the world but to what extent is that a good
thing? Think about it for a second. If English spreads on a globular scale, some countries
will want to forget about their own language perhaps as it is less important and not
needed therefore a culture would be lost. No doubt we will gain from English spreading
globally, people will be able to express themselves all in one language, it will facilitate
traveling and avoid misunderstandings.
You may ask, well if this is the case then why do non-speaking countries want to learn
English if the result is losing their own culture? The answer is simple. Out of those
countries, most of them are LEDCs (less economically developed countries) who wants a
ticket out. They associate English with power and wealth therefore they think it is
crucial to learn it even if it involves losing their own.
For example, from personal experiences, I've lived in both China and Tokyo. When I
lived in Shanghai at the time, barely anybody in the streets could speak English apart
from a simple 'hello' and 'welcome' here and there and the cab drivers spoke English the
least! Imagine trying to make your way around town. It was quite impossible without
knowing a few Chinese words. I'm sure some of you have experienced it in some
countries although now it is becoming more rare.
A couple years later, I went back to Shanghai, after the Olympic games of Beijing and
Shanghai had been entirely transformed. Shanghai had been transformed especially due
to the 'Universal Exposition' that attracted people from every corner of the globe. The
government tried as much as they could to make Chinese people learn English. They also
built new hotels everywhere making the city unrecognizable. My first impression was
horrified by such a drastic change to one of my favorite cities. But after thinking it
through, I realized it probably was for the best of the development of the city. This made
me ask myself; to what extents is the welcoming of a culture into another a good thing?
It creates a melting pot which is what we seem to try to achieve however if it means; the
end of one culture and one being more powerful then another is it really a good thing?
Why should English be more powerful and dominant then other languages? Think about
elderly living in China who can't even recognize their own city. Where is their home
now? Where will be the beauty of traveling if all cultures end up identical?
English is seen everywhere, in songs lyrics, on magazines, on cloths, on signs etc… Don't
think of it as criticizing it; far from it. English becoming more and more dominant as a
language and a culture is a good thing for many LEDC. It is a tragedy however that we
should consider and we should find a way to keep old roots of cultures while welcoming
new ones.
There is this book that is read in school in year 12. This book does come in handy and is
very interesting to read even for leisure. I advice it to anybody who wishes to explore in
more details 'English'. More specifically I recommend chapter 5. It talks about English in
different cultures.
There are many good examples. A simple one is for instance Japanese have a milk brand
called 'Homo Milk'. If English is going to be imported into other culture it must be in the
right way at least. What is the point in learning a language if you can't even use it
properly?
The main problem for the English language itself however is how it is losing its meaning,
its roots and is turning into many different types instead of only one. People want to
name the different branches of English and create new names for it, a new language like
for example 'Ebonics'.
Your counter argument might be that even though we may be losing some cultures, we
are creating new ones. It is true but on the other hand we have to remember that it is
very important to know our roots in order to move forwards as human beings. New
cultures might not last as long as the cultures that we grew up that has been around for
generations.
If perhaps you are learning your own language but don't understand the use of it since it
isn't very spoken and might not help you in life it isn't a reason to stop learning it. Here
is something to think about… Everybody have a good month!