The End of : Lost In Translation . tear, tear!!

  This interesting book came to an end a little too soon . The concluding chapter is called "the new world" and the only reason the author calls it that way is because this is where she has finally succeeded in her fight to learn not only the language but a whole different culture. Eva Hoffman, after winning a scholarship, went on to study at Rice University in Texas then she transfered to Harvard University for her masters in literature. One of my favorite parts of the book is when she writes "I love words insofar as they correspond to the world, insofar as they give it to me in a heightened form. The more words I have, the more distinct, precise my perceptions become...sometimes, when I find a new expression, I roll it in the tongue, as if shaping it in my mouth gave birth to a new shape in the world... Nothing fully exists until it is articulated... I grasped a new piece of experience; it is mine". (page 29)
    At the end everything makes sense for her, she no longer has to think in polish in order to create sentences in English. Moreover, she has learned the "harsh-sounding language" of which she was so against. I have to say that  the chapter "the new world" was a little confusing just because there are parts where she talks to herself . I think it is her conscience because she is trying to be part of her new life but her past life keeps her from doing it. so she fights against that other person. But I need some explaining since I am also learning the language.
    The book is so good and sometimes it even makes one cry. It made me cry for the choice of words that she uses to express how language  helps her into becoming who she really is. The girl who loves playing the piano knows that here, language is the war she has to fight in order to assimilate and not feel as if she doesn't belong. Being an education major and having come from a different culture/language sometimes I think that I am not ready for teaching because of the language. However, that question has been answered as I finished reading the book.
  Also, she explains that she no longer thinks in Polish whereas I think that not forgetting where we come from is something to keep with us and not forget. I still think in spanish because I just cannot help it. Am I wrong?

The house also includes a small "Patio" in the back.

The word "PATIO" refers to a space or place in the backyard of any house that has it. It can be used to play, relax or dine. Its a word borrowed from the spanish language. However, patio in spanish means a little more than just its denotation in english, a  patio in spanish countries is a large backyard complete with all types of trees, flowers, there is usually a hamac or two for nappind during those long hot days.. I chose this word because when i hear the english speaker pronounce it, they say it [paetio] inserting a "r" sound where the "t" sound is. Also because my sister would make me help her sweep our patio when i was about twelve years old. it would get full of dry leaves from all the trees that my father had planted there. A patio doesn't have to be cemented like most patios in the United States are. Its a word that any american knows regardless of having a house  or its origins for that matter.

Summary of the book.. option #1

     Lost in Transaltion : A life in a new language  by Eva Hoffman, tells the story of young Ewa Wydra and her journey from Poland to a new country and a new language. Ewa later changed her name to Eva Hoffman.the book is divided in three parts: Paradise, Exile and The new world. According to the author, her family had to move to Vancouver, Canada in 1959 a place of which she din't know anything about but her family was looking for freedom after having endured World War 2. They were a jewish family. In the story, Ewa feels as if she is being janked out the place and country where she is so happy to be taken to one that only her parents know little of. Hoffman says that once in her new country she hates everything about it, the clothes girls wear, the way they sound, and the city, She finds no connection with the words that she new in Poland when she translates a word to polish, according to her they loose their meaning. The author says that in order to learn she has to practice and practice at home the sounds of the words. for example she has a lot of problems pronouncing the sounds for "th" or the simple letter "a" . According to her one should put the tongue between the teeth to do the sound of "th" however little words such as "cat" or "tap" give her the "most trouble", she says.

 This is a fascinating book to read because for some of us who have had to migrate to a new country, new language, gives us the courage to continue and to never give up . It emphasizes that learning a new language is about practice and practice regardless of how hard one might find it. It connects to my own experience in learning English because i also went through the process of learning a new language different than my own. Although her story of coming to a new country is different than mine, I think that the process of learning has to be the same because the word sounds are different and therefore need to be practiced. I also felt frustrated with many words that thought were never going to be articulated by my vocal organs

MaI neIm Is!!!!

  For the Linguists, there wont be a problem pronouncing my name for it's such an easy name : Carlos
We start by saying the sound of the C which in this case  is the onset -V, velar, stop, with a rhyme of a low back vowel followed by the +V, alveolar, liquid  r "kar" then is the voiced, alveolar liquid with a rhyme of a mid back vowel and the voiceless, alveolar fricative  s  "los".. It looks like this [Karlos]
  Now, for the non-linguists, this is how they should go about it : start by placing the back of your tongue on the back top of the mouth   then release the air (this is called a stop) and place the front tip of the tongue behind the top front row of teeth  "Karrrrr"  followed by the sound "los" 

The chosen book

 The book i have chosen to read is Lost in Translation: A life in a new language, by Eva Hoffman. I chose this book because for some reason i think is gonna relate to my own experience in a new country with a new language. Apparently, the book is divided in parts as opposed to others that are divided in chapters . So far I'm in part one which is called Paradise. I don't know how to summarize this incredible and delightful book. The characters in the book are a family of four, the mother, the father and two daughters, the year is 1959 Post-war Cracow,Poland. One of the main characters is telling the  story, she is also the oldest of the family.Her name is Ewa. The author takes you to places that seem to be so enchanted, even when a war has just happened, there are rivers, waterfall country side and people enjoying life. As far as the books name goes, am yet to get "lost in translation" however, there are many words that are written in polish which the character explains such as pani (madame), ciocia (auntie), tesknota (nostalgia).

One thing for sure i have to say, i am in love with this book so far. I had heard about it before but never thought i would be reading it. I want to devour it, if only i had the time.   

REFLECTION

         As a spanish native speaker, one of my wishes was to learn english because i was fascinated by how it sounded when i would see north americans visiting my country Honduras. I thought that english was a language that was hard to master. I came to the United States not knowing that "hi" is another form of saying "hello" nor that how are you doing? is same as saying how are you?. Fortunately, an american family took me under their wings and helped me through my process of learning a language different than my own.
At first, i remembered having to touch the objects or by signs in order to get my message across of what i wanted to say. Words such as :down there, out there, down here, over here and so on were very difficult and i thought that i would never be able to use them in sentences. I never went to school to learn english in the United States, the people who i lived with were very patient and helped me just learn to speak they told me that later i would start writing words out of mere casualty and thats how it happened, all of the sudden i begun writing sentences and i could not have been prouder of me for that accomplishment. So i moved from the State of Kansas were they speak with a kind of southern accent to the city of New york were immediately people knew that i spoke with an accent but it wasnt the spanish accent that many of us have when learning english. It was funny because i would be told all the time if i was from another state rather than another country. I guess is the way some things are called different name for instance in Kansas they call any soda "pop" whereas here in new york city is just soda. I can not say that i speak english as well as i do spanish i think in ach case the learning process will never end but i can say that i feel very confident about the way i speak my second language. Certainly, there is so much truth about the article by Deutcher because even in my country which is probably smaller than any state of the United States, people speak diferent in the south and have different names for things. Its not so hard to understand that language does shape the way we think and act as well.

i have no idea how this thing works!!!!!!!

isnt  it amazing how some of us try very hard to understand something that others find so simple ?