I went to my university yesterday for first time. Yeah, I know, this is the second year studying at this open university and I didn't go last year not one day a part of the examination days. I don't have to go as they are not proper classes, but help and guidance. Though, it is very nice to go, especially so you keep a schedule and you achieve knowledge on some time basis.So I went. I have to say that, again, Renfe, Spanish train operator, made me wait almost an hour. I was with a school mate. I met her last year when I went to the first exam. It was great to catch up and, since the uni is so far away, we had time and time to talk about everything. So, we missed the first lesson but I had class for three of my four subjects. The other one, there is no class actually. [The one we had missed was the first half and we had the second half later on, so it was fine.] I am not going to bore you with what I study (or at least not know, since I have no clue of what I study, actually! LOL).
That is going to seem silly but one of my subjects is Catalan and the other is English. Taking into account that I study Spanish, it is actually funny! But the thing is that I took those two so I would have it easier to pass the course. With Catalan, I was wrong. It is actually quite of a thing. But English... well, as far as I have seen, there won't be much problem.
So my teacher. She is Swiss or Swedish. I didn't quite get it cuz she said something like "Back in Swiss..." which I was surprised of. Perhaps it is a kind of slang or she just pronounced Sweden so fast that I understood it wrong.
Anyway. The thing is that we got engaged in a conversation (I was the only pupil) and she was trying to convince me of things that I was totally sure of. Or things that I just don't like. Also, she said that my pronunciation of the word 'come' is wrong. I pronounce it more like with the 'o' of 'omelet' and she said that I should pronounce it like if I was saying 'cum'. Yeah, I know that some, perhaps most, of people say [kΛm] but, also, most of people say [mΛm] but you can't say [mom] is wrong cuz there are some loads of British who say it like that (have you seen "Calendar Girls"?). So this bothered me a bit. I know my pronunciation is horrible with this annoying Spanish accent (you lucky you read [with mistakes] me). Though, I don't like when people excludes some part of people because they don't speak standard. I am proud of my SEV (Spanish English Vernacular), if I can call it like that. The thing is that she said, also, that I should choose between American accent or the British one. First of all, I am not having a spoken test. So, I don't really care. Second, she had some American pronunciations and some British ones. How does she dare telling me that, then?
But one thing that bothered me a lot was the fact that she said Spanish Philology. Well, most of my friends don't use or even know the word philology (check second last entry). I've seen that some London universities call a similar degree to what I do as 'Spanish Studies'. Yeah, it is alright, since it is in the UK and speaking in English. But we were both also users of Spanish language and we could call it properly. My degree title will be on "Filología Hispánica". OK, it translates to Spanish and to Hispanic. Well, that's not really accurate. When we talk of Spanish whatever, we mean that of Spain. Yeah, you can understand also of part of South America, too, but, knowing the words, why not using them? So, since she was using 'philology', which no one uses, why didn't she used 'Hispanic', which no one uses either, if they are the real translations? I don't only study the language and the literature of Spain. I also study those things of the rest of Spanish speaking territories (including the US, of course).
The worse of everything, is that she told me that she had never heard the word 'Hispanic'. Well, dear, perhaps you didn't hear the word talking about philology, but, hey, how many times have we heard the word 'hispano' in a US movie?
In high school, we used to learn what is called 'false friend' like 'exit', which seems that is the Catalan word 'èxit', that translates for 'success'.
Also, we, non-English-mother-tongue-ers, use words that are very similar in our language even if it isn't common.
Anyway, "it is late and it wants to rain". Hope you understood what I just explained.
That is going to seem silly but one of my subjects is Catalan and the other is English. Taking into account that I study Spanish, it is actually funny! But the thing is that I took those two so I would have it easier to pass the course. With Catalan, I was wrong. It is actually quite of a thing. But English... well, as far as I have seen, there won't be much problem.
So my teacher. She is Swiss or Swedish. I didn't quite get it cuz she said something like "Back in Swiss..." which I was surprised of. Perhaps it is a kind of slang or she just pronounced Sweden so fast that I understood it wrong.
Anyway. The thing is that we got engaged in a conversation (I was the only pupil) and she was trying to convince me of things that I was totally sure of. Or things that I just don't like. Also, she said that my pronunciation of the word 'come' is wrong. I pronounce it more like with the 'o' of 'omelet' and she said that I should pronounce it like if I was saying 'cum'. Yeah, I know that some, perhaps most, of people say [kΛm] but, also, most of people say [mΛm] but you can't say [mom] is wrong cuz there are some loads of British who say it like that (have you seen "Calendar Girls"?). So this bothered me a bit. I know my pronunciation is horrible with this annoying Spanish accent (you lucky you read [with mistakes] me). Though, I don't like when people excludes some part of people because they don't speak standard. I am proud of my SEV (Spanish English Vernacular), if I can call it like that. The thing is that she said, also, that I should choose between American accent or the British one. First of all, I am not having a spoken test. So, I don't really care. Second, she had some American pronunciations and some British ones. How does she dare telling me that, then?
But one thing that bothered me a lot was the fact that she said Spanish Philology. Well, most of my friends don't use or even know the word philology (check second last entry). I've seen that some London universities call a similar degree to what I do as 'Spanish Studies'. Yeah, it is alright, since it is in the UK and speaking in English. But we were both also users of Spanish language and we could call it properly. My degree title will be on "Filología Hispánica". OK, it translates to Spanish and to Hispanic. Well, that's not really accurate. When we talk of Spanish whatever, we mean that of Spain. Yeah, you can understand also of part of South America, too, but, knowing the words, why not using them? So, since she was using 'philology', which no one uses, why didn't she used 'Hispanic', which no one uses either, if they are the real translations? I don't only study the language and the literature of Spain. I also study those things of the rest of Spanish speaking territories (including the US, of course).
The worse of everything, is that she told me that she had never heard the word 'Hispanic'. Well, dear, perhaps you didn't hear the word talking about philology, but, hey, how many times have we heard the word 'hispano' in a US movie?
In high school, we used to learn what is called 'false friend' like 'exit', which seems that is the Catalan word 'èxit', that translates for 'success'.
Also, we, non-English-mother-tongue-ers, use words that are very similar in our language even if it isn't common.
Anyway, "it is late and it wants to rain". Hope you understood what I just explained.
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