[PRCo] Re: Answer to Fred III's post on bilingual drivers

[Herb Brannon]

Reading is much easier than listening to it. It is spoken usually with a fast timbre and I many times have to say, "despacio, por favor", or, "slow, please". I need to think a minute before I recite a sentence in Spanish to make sure I have the words in the correct order or at least close to the correct order so I will be understood. I guess I come close to being correct, everyone gets on the right bus, goes down the right street and seems happy with my method of speaking. Of interest was what a co-operator in Orlando at Central Florida Regional Transit Authority, who was a young lady from Puerto Rico, said to me. She said, "I know it is not polite for me to speak in Spanish so much, but I can tell by your expressions that you understand what I am saying."  
   
  Many of the words are similar to English therefore making it easier than one would suppose. Also, both Spanish and English have many root words from Latin. Many Spanish tech terms are the same as English, as there are no Spanish equivalents. Speaking of the "H" sound, in Spanish the letter "J" is normally pronounced like the English 'H".As for first names, its hard to say how they were made up. Maybe some unknown bunch of people, after world trade began, sat down in kind a "pre United Nations" meeting, way back in the Year One and decided which names would match up in the international community. Unknown how 'they' arrived at what words mean what but we must remember it all started when each ethnic group was isolated from the others. The language developed within each region and as trade on the planet began they had to figure out who was saying what so all that saffron, rice, wheat, corn, cotton, silk, gun powder, etc, etc could get traded and a profit made. We are on the
 tail end of all this so everything is pretty much "put together" for us. Just go with the flow and don't worry about how it all got started............do we really need to know how it all got started?
   
  Of course, as it is said, "practice makes perfect" or at least better than most, if not perfect. If I'm sitting on station-report at work and Jose Ramos is also sitting there and I want to ask him a question I will ask in Spanish. He will answer if I was correct or will get a funny look on his face if I was incorrect in the recital. I can then get the correct way to say it from him. Same goes with another non-workplace buddy of mine, also named Jose. If I'm at his place the television is usually on a Spanish language channel. If I get lost in listening to the fast paced talk, he catches me up. His English is not so hot either so when he's at my place I catch him up when he gets lost. He learns and I learn. That word, "learn" is the key. Anyone who refuses to continue with their "education" needs their ass kicked, especially in today's world.  Education is not just a 12, 16, 18, or 20 year experience. It is actually a never ending process. 
   
  That's how it goes.........listen to it, use it, try speaking and understanding it and sooner or later you know it.
   
  Then, what with World War 2, the British Empire, and the American Empire English is the "World Language". I have been in England, Greece, Denmark, Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia and the place I had the hardest time understanding anyone was London, England. In the other countries it seemed that everyone knew English. Even in Saudi Arabia signs are in both Arabic and English and most of the people there know some English do to the American influence over the past fifty or so years.
   
  Hey, I also heard the bell..............time for recess.
  
Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
  Do you feel you are fluent, Herb? Can you use it the same as 
English? Can you read a Spanish newspaper at the same speed as an 
English paper and understand it? I am not trying to be 
insulting ... I just recognize certain things where you have arrived 
with a language ... and I never have. One of those is the ability 
to make puns in a second language or to rapidly understand them.

I appreciate the need for languages but for me they have always been 
a struggle. I have profound admiration for those who can speak more 
than one tongue.

Perhaps if I were to be placed in a situation where I had to learn 
one such as being forced to live in a remote Mexican or Puerto Rican 
or German town for a year, where it would be impossible to use English.

By the way, I recognized a strong resemblance between "Si, la pluma 
es con Enrique", and French as well as Latin which I have studied. 
I could easily fill in the blanks when I see it. But hearing it is 
totally different. I find it intriguing how languages evolve over 
time as man migrates over the land. Si in Spanish and Oui in French 
for yes have strong similarities. Even closer, la pluma in Spanish 
and la plume (also feminine) in French. With is con in Spanish, con 
in Italian, wasn't it cum in Latin but how in the dickens did it 
become avec in French????

It makes sense to me that I open a window here, and in Germany I can 
point to the same object and call it "das Fenster" or in French "la 
fenêtre. It makes sense because it is something tangible that I 
can point to and point a tag on it with a name.

With some of our last or surnames, I can even understand the 
connections. Mine is Schneider. The German verb "schneiden" 
translates "to cut". A Schneider in Germany is a tailor. Often 
the British anglicized the German Schneider to Taylor or Tailor. 
That makes a lot of sense to me ... or at least I can follow a line 
of logic. More so than the other Irish side of my family with the 
British tended to Anglicize from McGowan to Smith simply because it 
was so common. Maybe that in itself is logical?

But I truly become confused by who decided that Henry and Enrico and 
Enrique are the same. Is it simply that there is no H sound in 
certain languages and there is in others? In French, Henry is 
spelled that way but pronounced something like On-ray. And why does 
my middle name William become Guillermo or something similar thereto 
in Romance languages ... what the heck is the connection. Are 
Frederick, Frederich, and Fredrico that similar in all languages or 
did I just get lucky enough to pick the right ones. And how about 
Herbert? What is it in other languages and does it make sense? And 
Richard? And Kenneth? And James? And does Boris translate into 
English?

Of course this all leads to why do we translate someone's name? 
Isn't it a little rude? Like translating or Anglicizing a city 
because we don't want to pronounce it correctly?

How many people did I stir up this time?

Ah, time to go for the Indian lunch. You're all saved by the bell.

On Dec 8, 2007, at 8:26 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:

> I was able to really send "shock waves", albeit good shock waves, 
> through some Hispanic drivers a few years ago when I lived in 
> Austin, TX and worked for Capital Metro. We were all sitting in the 
> operators lounge, playing some silly game which required that 
> scores be kept for each player. I was the only "Anglo" in the 
> group. Bear in mind, however, all these guys were my good work 
> buddies. They would switch from English to Spanish, and back and 
> forth. At one point, one guy told a joke, in Spanish. When the 
> punch line came I laughed along with them. (The punch line was, 
> "And look, Henry has the pen.") So, thinking quickly, I figured I 
> better say the punch line to prove that I understood what was said, 
> and not just laughing along with them. So I said, "Si, la pluma es 
> con Enrique", or Yes, the pen is with Henry. I never saw four chins 
> drop to the floor so fast and such a look of surprise come over 
> four people at the same time. It was really priceless...........I 
> wish I would have had a camera to record the moment. At that time 
> I then knew that those years of taking Spanish were really worth 
> it. ;-)
>
>
> Herb Brannon
>
>






Herb Brannon