This is definitely the strongest French accent I've ever heard when a Frenchman speaks English…
It makes my ears hurt!
The New Yorker cartoons
7 years ago
Showing posts with label English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label English. Show all posts
3/03/2009
2/06/2009
The longest English Words
This video might be a good idea if you're looking for a video to transcribe…
Please check out the Wikipedia entry on the matter.
Please check out the Wikipedia entry on the matter.
4/08/2008
"This joke was lethal: no one could read it… and live."
In reference to what Mr Noiret told us on Monday about the World's Funniest Joke, I'd like to show you the Monty Python's Funniest Joke in the World:
"This joke was lethal: no one could read it… and live."
4/02/2008
MacBook Air gets pwned!
Remember the commercial announcing the brand-new MacBook Air?
(The music playing is "New Soul" by Yael Naïm.)
Check out this parody:
Pwned!
Wikipedia:
And a glimpse on prehistoric times:
Next year, I bet we'll get something even thinner: the MacBook Helium:
(The music playing is "New Soul" by Yael Naïm.)
Check out this parody:
Pwned!
Wikipedia:
The MacBook Air, why the hell not?Etymology
The word "pwn" may have arisen and spread as a common typo of the word "own," since the 'p' and 'o' keys are adjacent on a standard English keyboard. [1][2] Alternatively, the word pwnage may have been created as a portmanteau of the words "pure" and "ownage," "perfect" and "ownage," or "powerful" and "ownage." Similarly, "pwn" may have derived from "powerfully owned," such as "you just got powerfully owned!" (shortened to "you just got pwned!").
Pronunciation
Given the recent development of the word and its primary use in written form only, there is no single accepted pronunciation of pwn. However, "own", "pawn", "poon" and "pone" are frequently used, and "pwen" is also considered an acceptable pronunciation.[3]
And a glimpse on prehistoric times:
Next year, I bet we'll get something even thinner: the MacBook Helium:
1/31/2008
Impressions on my exams: second and last part
As I promised, here follows the rest of my glimpse on my January exams.
My third exam was Grammaire normative néerlandaise, that is to say an exam on the whole book De regels van het Nederlands that we had been working on for a year and a half. This exam took place on Saturday 12 January, on the really same day as the first year students. (In fact, since I was in charge of establishing the timetables for the exams, I thought it would be more convenient for Mrs Hendrix to come just once for both years. Moreover, it was most suitable for us as to the sequence and spacing of of exams.) Second-year students were asked to enter the lecture room in the first place — one of the few advantages of being older — and then the first-year students. Once everyone was seated, we could stard. First, there was a series of fill-in questions that were quite easy, even if I had second thoughts about it after the exam. Second, twenty MCQs, some of which were written in a sadistic manner. I was confident about 75% of the answers, though. After the exam, while I was discussing my answers with fellow students, I realized that I had made big mistakes, but not too much. On the whole, I thought I would get 15.
As a special treat, Mrs Hendrix told me via e-mail that I got 16/20 for this exam. Quite rejoicing!
Two days and a half later (or three, for some people who had chosen to take the exam on Wednesday), it was time to go and see Mrs Leijnse to be tested orally on the course Histoire de la littérature néerlandaise II. Like in June, I was wearing my black suit, with a black shirt and a black tie. Just two students preceeded me that day, but there was already a ten-minute delay… Anyway, the moment finally came when I received three sheets with a question each of them. I went to the English literature seminar in order to write down the outline of the answer I would give once I would be in front of her. Normally, I should have had just 20 minutes to prepare that, but since Anne-Sophie (who was just before me) was apparently talking and talking, in the end I got more than 25 minutes — which allowed me to write detailed answers, and even to get bored because I didn't know what to write.
Mrs Leijnse eventually came to ask me to go to her office. I sat down and I started answering my questions:
The last exam was a written one. It was to last for 5 hours! In fact, it was a twofold exam, the first part being a one-hour closed book exam on Charles Barber's book The History of the English language (very interesting by the way) which we were assigned to read and understand thouroughly in order to answer relatively short questions about it. (We had received a sheet with a list of questions, some of which would be asked at the exam, in order to have guidelines in our reading.) The second part was a four-hour open book exam on Pr. Vandelanotte's course notes about clause complex vs. clause simplex, STR (speech or thought representation, his area of expertise and PhD thesis subject – or I should say: "free indirect speech or thought representation"), and verbal processes.
I had to study the course in less than three days, which was quite a kerfuffle. Understanding the theory about chapters 1 and 3 was quite easy, since I had already go the idea behind the theory during the lectures. But as to chapter 2, I have to admit that I had hardly understood anything when Pr. Vandelanotte discussed it in class. At that time, I was more concerned about the fact that one can be so fascinated by such an abstract matter… But I guess it must be like that for any academic study. (You tell me, Professor.)
I worked very hard on that chapter and I managed to get the point of the four false assumptions about STR, even though I had difficulty finding good criteria to make the difference between free indirect speech (FIST) and distancing indirect speech (DIST). Basically, it had something to do with the degree of intervention of the narrator and the use of pronouns, but I didn't know how I'd explain that on my exam sheets… But since it was an open-book exam, I felt a little bit more comfortable and confident.
The exam took place and the first part was really easy: I had read the book two times in detail, making notes and studying them. After that, we had one hour for lunch (a good sandwich filled with a thick layer of "filet américain" is the best way to feed me in such circumstances). After that, we started what appeared to me to be the most difficult exam of my life. It would be too long to tell everything in detail, so I give you now just a couple of impressions. The first question was outrageously more simple than I thought: there were many clauses simplex (hence no need for analysis) and the few in the category "clause complex" were not as complicated as in the syllabus, except for one that was outrageously difficult, with a lot of subordinated clauses and everything. I read the second question, but my brain sent me a signal like those "ERROR 404" messages… I moved on to the last question. I filled boxes with the appropriate verbal processes and participants plus circumstances (if any) quite quickly, then I wrote a short text about the conclusions I could draw from such an analysis of verbal processes. That done, I had about two hours left to answer the second question, consisting in making the difference between types of reported speech in two given excerpts. However, I can't tell you a lot, for it's like a giant black hole in my memory. On the moment, I managed to fetch several arguments in the syllabus in favour of my analysis, but I don't know how I managed to do it right…
I was quite disappointed after my exam: I felt that my answers weren't really good and lacked precision… Nevertheless, I got 18 out of 20 for this exam. And I don't know how such a thing is possible. I'm looking forward to seeing my exam!
In conclusion, these two weeks (and a half) of exams was really exhausting, but my efforts were rewarded. Let's hope I can still work like that in June!
My third exam was Grammaire normative néerlandaise, that is to say an exam on the whole book De regels van het Nederlands that we had been working on for a year and a half. This exam took place on Saturday 12 January, on the really same day as the first year students. (In fact, since I was in charge of establishing the timetables for the exams, I thought it would be more convenient for Mrs Hendrix to come just once for both years. Moreover, it was most suitable for us as to the sequence and spacing of of exams.) Second-year students were asked to enter the lecture room in the first place — one of the few advantages of being older — and then the first-year students. Once everyone was seated, we could stard. First, there was a series of fill-in questions that were quite easy, even if I had second thoughts about it after the exam. Second, twenty MCQs, some of which were written in a sadistic manner. I was confident about 75% of the answers, though. After the exam, while I was discussing my answers with fellow students, I realized that I had made big mistakes, but not too much. On the whole, I thought I would get 15.
As a special treat, Mrs Hendrix told me via e-mail that I got 16/20 for this exam. Quite rejoicing!
Two days and a half later (or three, for some people who had chosen to take the exam on Wednesday), it was time to go and see Mrs Leijnse to be tested orally on the course Histoire de la littérature néerlandaise II. Like in June, I was wearing my black suit, with a black shirt and a black tie. Just two students preceeded me that day, but there was already a ten-minute delay… Anyway, the moment finally came when I received three sheets with a question each of them. I went to the English literature seminar in order to write down the outline of the answer I would give once I would be in front of her. Normally, I should have had just 20 minutes to prepare that, but since Anne-Sophie (who was just before me) was apparently talking and talking, in the end I got more than 25 minutes — which allowed me to write detailed answers, and even to get bored because I didn't know what to write.
Mrs Leijnse eventually came to ask me to go to her office. I sat down and I started answering my questions:
- [On the basis of a fragment from the epistolary novel Julia by Reijnvis Feith] Who wrote this text? What are the features? To which kind of writings does this belong?
- [On the basis of a sheet with three poems by Van Schaick] Who wrote those poems? Who influenced him? What are the features of his style and the genre of poetry he wrote? What does it tell us about colonialism?
- [On the basis of a poem by Guido Gezelle] Who wrote this poem? What are the characteristics of this poem? // Make a short survey of the "taalkwestie" in Belgium at the beginning of the 19th century.
The last exam was a written one. It was to last for 5 hours! In fact, it was a twofold exam, the first part being a one-hour closed book exam on Charles Barber's book The History of the English language (very interesting by the way) which we were assigned to read and understand thouroughly in order to answer relatively short questions about it. (We had received a sheet with a list of questions, some of which would be asked at the exam, in order to have guidelines in our reading.) The second part was a four-hour open book exam on Pr. Vandelanotte's course notes about clause complex vs. clause simplex, STR (speech or thought representation, his area of expertise and PhD thesis subject – or I should say: "free indirect speech or thought representation"), and verbal processes.
I had to study the course in less than three days, which was quite a kerfuffle. Understanding the theory about chapters 1 and 3 was quite easy, since I had already go the idea behind the theory during the lectures. But as to chapter 2, I have to admit that I had hardly understood anything when Pr. Vandelanotte discussed it in class. At that time, I was more concerned about the fact that one can be so fascinated by such an abstract matter… But I guess it must be like that for any academic study. (You tell me, Professor.)
I worked very hard on that chapter and I managed to get the point of the four false assumptions about STR, even though I had difficulty finding good criteria to make the difference between free indirect speech (FIST) and distancing indirect speech (DIST). Basically, it had something to do with the degree of intervention of the narrator and the use of pronouns, but I didn't know how I'd explain that on my exam sheets… But since it was an open-book exam, I felt a little bit more comfortable and confident.
The exam took place and the first part was really easy: I had read the book two times in detail, making notes and studying them. After that, we had one hour for lunch (a good sandwich filled with a thick layer of "filet américain" is the best way to feed me in such circumstances). After that, we started what appeared to me to be the most difficult exam of my life. It would be too long to tell everything in detail, so I give you now just a couple of impressions. The first question was outrageously more simple than I thought: there were many clauses simplex (hence no need for analysis) and the few in the category "clause complex" were not as complicated as in the syllabus, except for one that was outrageously difficult, with a lot of subordinated clauses and everything. I read the second question, but my brain sent me a signal like those "ERROR 404" messages… I moved on to the last question. I filled boxes with the appropriate verbal processes and participants plus circumstances (if any) quite quickly, then I wrote a short text about the conclusions I could draw from such an analysis of verbal processes. That done, I had about two hours left to answer the second question, consisting in making the difference between types of reported speech in two given excerpts. However, I can't tell you a lot, for it's like a giant black hole in my memory. On the moment, I managed to fetch several arguments in the syllabus in favour of my analysis, but I don't know how I managed to do it right…
I was quite disappointed after my exam: I felt that my answers weren't really good and lacked precision… Nevertheless, I got 18 out of 20 for this exam. And I don't know how such a thing is possible. I'm looking forward to seeing my exam!
In conclusion, these two weeks (and a half) of exams was really exhausting, but my efforts were rewarded. Let's hope I can still work like that in June!
1/30/2008
"The Force is strong with you, young Skywalker. But you aren't a Jedi yet." (Darth Vader, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Today we got our results for the January exams, and as it is customary for me to reveal them once and for all (it's more economical than repeating them all the time), here they are:
This means that I got rid of three courses. There are no less than 8 other courses to take an exam for at the end of the year. That'll be a right kerfuffle.
Now some comments about those exams, as I promised three weeks ago. Today I deal with the first two, and the other three will be discussed tomorrow.
First of all, we had to take a kind of intermediate test in German, consisting of a conversation with our teacher, Mr Bertrand. During the test, we had to provide good forms of declined adjectives, plural of nouns, their genders, forms of verbs, etc. We also had to answer basic questions and tell something about a topic discussed in the workbook. All this was supposed to take just 20 minutes, just like a regular oral exam, but Mr Bertrand was so enthousiastic about talking with me that I talked with him during 35 minutes more or less.
The following exam, Histoire des littératures et des civilisations anglophones was to take place on 8 January, that's to say three days later. (Exceptionally, our German test had to take place on 4 January or 21 January due to schedule problems.) Before I started studying my course notes, during the two weeks of "holiday", I had already leart and worked on the paraphrases that we came across with Pr. Delabastita. It took me a considerable amount of time to type everything, but in that way I had already made a first approach to the fragments. So I read, re-read, re-re-read the course notes: that's my way of studying. At the same time, I made an outline of the authors and their works, plus their dates of birth and death. After three day's study, I started becoming crazy: I wanted to stop studying, but I couldn't: I felt the urge to study, even if I couldn't assimilate more.
That's maybe why I appeared in front of Pr. Delabastita in a less relaxed state than usual. He asked me: "How are you Simon?" and I answered: "Of course I am", because what I heard was: "Are you Simon?". I admit I have some audition problems when I'm anxious. I picked one of the many exam sheets and I prepared my answers in the nearby classroom. My questions were:
Tomorrow, I'll talk about Dutch normative grammar, Dutch history and literature, and English linguistics.
A rejoicing announcement: the Star Wars exhibition will come to Tour & Taxis, in Brussels, between 16 February and 1 June 2008. This exciting exhibition was first held in London, then in other famous places such as New York (Brooklin), Lisbon and Paris. I certainly will go and see it — and that will be the third time: I first saw it in London in 2001, then in Paris in 2005. Fortunately, the layout and the artifacts from the saga were quite different in both exhibitions, and we can expect it will again be the case in Brussels. Anyway, I envoy seeing those splendid costumes and miniature spacecraft and other silly things that only Star Wars freaks would worship.
- Linguistique anglaise II………………………………………………………………… 18
- Histoire des littératures et des civilisations anglophones II…………….. 16
- Histoire des littératures et des civilisations néerlandophones II……… 18
This means that I got rid of three courses. There are no less than 8 other courses to take an exam for at the end of the year. That'll be a right kerfuffle.
Now some comments about those exams, as I promised three weeks ago. Today I deal with the first two, and the other three will be discussed tomorrow.
First of all, we had to take a kind of intermediate test in German, consisting of a conversation with our teacher, Mr Bertrand. During the test, we had to provide good forms of declined adjectives, plural of nouns, their genders, forms of verbs, etc. We also had to answer basic questions and tell something about a topic discussed in the workbook. All this was supposed to take just 20 minutes, just like a regular oral exam, but Mr Bertrand was so enthousiastic about talking with me that I talked with him during 35 minutes more or less.
The following exam, Histoire des littératures et des civilisations anglophones was to take place on 8 January, that's to say three days later. (Exceptionally, our German test had to take place on 4 January or 21 January due to schedule problems.) Before I started studying my course notes, during the two weeks of "holiday", I had already leart and worked on the paraphrases that we came across with Pr. Delabastita. It took me a considerable amount of time to type everything, but in that way I had already made a first approach to the fragments. So I read, re-read, re-re-read the course notes: that's my way of studying. At the same time, I made an outline of the authors and their works, plus their dates of birth and death. After three day's study, I started becoming crazy: I wanted to stop studying, but I couldn't: I felt the urge to study, even if I couldn't assimilate more.
That's maybe why I appeared in front of Pr. Delabastita in a less relaxed state than usual. He asked me: "How are you Simon?" and I answered: "Of course I am", because what I heard was: "Are you Simon?". I admit I have some audition problems when I'm anxious. I picked one of the many exam sheets and I prepared my answers in the nearby classroom. My questions were:
- Identify this fragment and discuss it. [Fowles, The French Lieutenant's Woman, beginning of chapter 55.]
- What are the origins, characteristics, most important authors, etc. of the gothic genre.
Tomorrow, I'll talk about Dutch normative grammar, Dutch history and literature, and English linguistics.
A rejoicing announcement: the Star Wars exhibition will come to Tour & Taxis, in Brussels, between 16 February and 1 June 2008. This exciting exhibition was first held in London, then in other famous places such as New York (Brooklin), Lisbon and Paris. I certainly will go and see it — and that will be the third time: I first saw it in London in 2001, then in Paris in 2005. Fortunately, the layout and the artifacts from the saga were quite different in both exhibitions, and we can expect it will again be the case in Brussels. Anyway, I envoy seeing those splendid costumes and miniature spacecraft and other silly things that only Star Wars freaks would worship.
12/28/2007
Christmas Week: "Little Britain"
I know that the Little Britain series had a special two-parts episode made for Christmas, called Little Britain Abroad, with characters traveling to exotic places, such as the Belgian Ardennes (a couple spending their honeymoon in a caravan) or Spain or Disneyworld (Lou and Andy were to go there, but their plane crashed on a desert island…). Unfortunately, the censors of YouTube apparently didn't like the fact that people shared funny stuff, and the episode is now only available through several fragments. The good news is that my account hasn't been suspended (yet!) and I have a scene that has something to do with Christmas. Enjoy!
I look a pillock!
I look a pillock!
11/30/2007
I'm fed up!
We have a lot of work. Too much work. I thought I would be able to study for my English Proficiency test, but something else came up: I had to write the summary of an article about linguistic landscapes for the Algemene taalwetenschap course… And as it was written in English, I had to translate it into Dutch… Nice! Thank you so much! So there it is:
Quite boring, don't you think?Samenvatting:
“Linguistic Landscape and Minority Languages”
Auteurs: J. CENOZ & Durk GORTER1. InleidingMeertaligheid kan geanalyseerd worden vanuit het perspectief van het taallandschap (alle talige elementen die men op straat kan vinden, en die een informatieve of symbolische functie hebben). Dit artikel gaat over het verband tussen taallandschap en de sociolinguïstische context. Dit is een vergelijking tussen het gebruik van verschillende talen in het taallandschap van een winkelstraat in Donostia (San Sebastian, in Baskenland) en dat van zo’n straat in Ljouwert-Leeuwarden (Friesland, in Nederland).2. Achtergrond over de taalgroepen
1. Friesland:Ongeveer 94% van de bevolking begrijpt het Fries, 74% kan het spreken, 65% kunnen het lezen en 17% kunnen het lezen. De neiging is dat jongeren steeds meer het Nederlands als moedertaal verwerven. Het gebruik van het Fries (officiële taal) is beperkt tot de familie, het werk en de dorpen, maar het werd minder gebruikt in formele contexten (media, wetten…).
2. Baskenland:Dit gebied ten noorden van Spanje heeft een bevolking van drie miljoen mensen, waaronder 91% zijn Spanjaarden. 22% zijn tweetalig, de rest spreekt alleen Frans of Spaans. In de bestudeerde stad (Donostia) zijn er meer tweetalige mensen: 33%. Het Baskisch is een officiële taal en wordt gepromoot in scholen, maar toch gebruiken slechts 11,9% van de bevolking het Baskisch meer dan het Spaans.
3. Gebruik van het Engels in beide taalgebieden:Er worden lessen Engels gegeven in scholen. In Friesland scoort de kennis van het Engels zeer hoog: 70%. Integendeel is die kennis minder goed in Baskenland.3. Onderzoeksvragen
1. Wat is het relatief gebruik van de verschillende talen in…– Baskenland (Baskisch, Spaans en Engels)?2. Hoe zien de twee- en meertalige tekens eruit?
– Friesland (Fries, Nederlands en Engels)?4. Methodologie– Studie van de corpus van het taallandschap in slechts een straat in Baskenland en een straat in Friesland; elke is 600 meter lang. In totaal werden 975 foto’s genomen, maar 207 verschillende eenheden werden genomen, 104 in Donostia (Baskenland) en 103 in Ljouwert (Friesland).
– De codificatie van de foto’s was moeilijk, dus werd er beslist om een gebouw als “één eenheid van analyse” te nemen. De auteurs namen ook foto’s van piepkleine teksten. Willekeurigheid speelt toch een kleine rol in de codering, maar dit is niet opmerkelijk.
– 16 variabelen werden gebruikt, bv. het soort teken, (het aantal) talen op het teken, top-down tekens vs. bottom-up tekens, enz.
– Beide straten zijn commerciële straten waar de meeste winkels zijn klein (73% in Ljouwert; 78% in Donostia) en dus behoren niet tot een internationale winkelketen.
– Een categorie houdt rekening met graffiti en (niet-)commerciële posters.5. Resultaten
1. Welke zijn de gebruikte talen?a) Aantal talen– Ljouwert: 64% eentalige tekens, 36% tweetalig en 8% drie of meerb) Soort talen
– Donostia: 45% eentalige tekens, 37% tweetalig en 19% drie of meer → minder scherpe verschillen
In beide taalgebieden is er een niet-dominante taal (Baskisch of Fries) en een dominante taal (Spaans of Nederlands) en het Engels als internationale taal.– Niet-dominante taal:• Fries: slechts 3% op z’n eentje, 2% op Fries-Nederlandse tekens en geen op meertalige tekens → Het is een bewijs van de kleine plaats van de geschreven taal in de maatschappij, want het Fries is meestal een gesproken taal.⇒ Grote verschillen tussen de twee steden
• Baskisch: 12% eentalig, 50% tweetalig (alle combinaties van het Fries met een/twee andere taal/talen → Het Baskisch is wel minder gesproken, maar belangrijker als geschreven taal.
– Dominante taal:• Nederlands: aanwezig op 97% van de tekens, waarvan 53% eentalig → Nederlands is de dominante taal in de taallandschap van Ljouwert⇒ Kleinere verschillen
• Spaans: meest courante taal in Donostia (82% van alle tekens, waarvan 36% eentalige tekens)– Engels: klein percentage voor eentalige tekens, maar meer in combinatie met andere talen (37% in Ljouwert en 28% in Donostia).Conclusie: Nederlands en Spaans zijn de dominante talen en dit is weerspiegeld door het taallandschap. Baskisch is een minderheidstaal, maar is toch redelijk aanwezig; dit is niet het geval van het Fries. Engels is belangrijker dan andere vreemde talen.2. Wat zijn de eigenschappen van twee- en meertalige tekens?
a) Eerste taal op het teken– Ljouwert: meestal Nederlands (77%), dan Engels (20%), dan Fries (2%)b) Grootte van de tekst van de taal
– Donostia: meestal Spaans (67%), dan Baskisch (28%), dan Engels (5%)
→ Groot verschil qua de niet-dominante taal en het Engels– Ljouwert: in de meeste gevallen (47%) is de dominante taal groter geschreven ⇔ 3% voor het Friesc) Lettertype
– Donostia: in 58% van de helft van de gevallen is het Spaans groter geschreven, maar toch 14% voor het Baskisch– Ljouwert: de meeste tekens (94%) dragen verschillende lettertypesd) Kwantiteit van informatie
– Donostia: tamelijk gewoon (22%) om dezelfde lettertype te gebruiken– Ljouwert: meer informatie in het Nederlands (72%), weinig complete herhalingen (6%)e) Vertalingen
– Donostia: meer complete herhalingen (15%)– Ljouwert: meestal weinig vertalingen (89%) en wat ambiguïteit (11%: het Fries lijkt op het Nederlands), wegens een “hetzij-hetzij”-beleid (de teksten verschijnen of in het Nederlands of in het Fries), maar als niet alle mensen het Fries kunnen lezen, de meeste documenten zijn in het Nederlands geschreven.
– Donostia: meer vertalingen (66%) wegens het beleid van de toegankelijkheid van alle documenten in beide talen.6. Conclusie– Orde van dominantie van de talen in het taallandschap:• Ljouwert: Nederlands – Engels – Fries– Overeenkomsten tussen de twee steden:
• Donostia: Spaans – Baskisch – Engels• Dominante taal is meer aanwezig qua lettertypegrootte– Verschillen tussen de twee steden:
• Dominante taal komt als eerste op meertalige tekens
• Dominante taal geeft meer informatie• Gebruik van de niet-dominante taal op tekens (meer in het Baskisch wegens taalbeschermingsbeleid)– Spreiding van het Engels:
• Vertalingen meestal in Donostia, heel weinig in Ljouwert
• Meer in het Baskisch geschreven tekens dan in het Fries
→ Bewijs van het verschil tussen de taalbeleiden en het werkelijke effect daarvan in Baskenland.• Engels als communicatietaal en als prestigieuze en moderne taal– Taallandschap heet een informatieve en symbolische functie:
• Gebruik van Engels is prominenter in Ljouwert dan in Donostia, maar daar is het toch niet marginaal (28%)
→ Misschien toont het dat het Frans geleidelijk vervangen door het Engels is in zuidelijke steden.• Informatief: het weerspiegelt de relatieve macht van de verschillende landen
• Symbolisch: het gebruik van een taal om het identiteitsgevoel te benadrukken.
10/27/2007
Trip to Ghent
Yesterday all of the Bac2 students went on an excursion to Ghent.
The date was most suitable: the trade union of the SNCB/NMBS had decided to go on spontaneous one-hour strikes throughout the whole day… Nice.
About twenty students took the train in Namur, others in Mons or Liège, etc. (Because they had already gone back home to avoid carrying their luggage (I mean by that: clothes to wash) all day long.)
I was leaving from Namur. In the train, some of us played that infernal card game called Uno—I like it a lot: I played endless parties with friends when I was younger. The train arrived in the station of Brussels North round 9 pm, then it didn't want to move, for the stations of Brussels Central and South were completely stuck.
By chance, the train to Ghent that we were supposed to take in Brussels South had just stopped on the other side of the platform! In that very train we met some of Prof. Delabastita and Prof. Vandelanotte, accompanied by his newly appointed assistant for the first-year grammar course, Ms Breban.
Then the train took a kind of detour round Brussels, and before you could say "Jack Robinson", we arrived in Ghent. In the relatively kitschy station hall, we met some other students that had come either by car or by other trains.
But the problem was that 4 students who took the train in Mons had suffered the effects of the strike in Brussels, too, and after about quarter of an hour, I was asked to stay in the hall with Mr. Romero and Mr. Van Mensel, just because I was able to get in touch with the delayed students… Anyway, it was a good opportunity for me to talk in English and mostly in Dutch with both assistants. Meanwhile, the group had gone to the museum and started to visit the exhibition, British Vision.
The four students from Mons finally arrived, then we walked to the museum and several minutes later we joined our fellow students, divided into two groups for the guided tour of the exhibitions.
Our guide showed us some of the greatest paintings that were exposed, great masterworks by famous British names such as William Blake, Francis Bacon, John Constable, James W.M. Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and many others. I wasn't particularily struck by those pieces of artwork, but it was still nice to see them "pour de vrai".
We got out of the Museum voor schone kunsten round 1.15 pm, then we took the bus to go to the North of the town, where we were free to do get some food. I bought a pack of chips in a typical frietkot: the chips were nice, but the packs weren't big at all… (But we're in Flanders, not in Morlanwelz.) And the fried cervelas was good, too. After that, some of us started interviewing people about their dialectattitudes: we were asked to do that as an exercise for Algemene taalwetenschap. Here are the questions (in Dutch):
When we were done with this museum, those who had already done all of their interviews for Dutch could leave us to go to the station. But as I didn't want to leave so early, I stayed with a group of more than a dozen of students, plus Mr Delabastita, Mr Vandelanotte and Mr Van Mensel. We stopped at a café and we all had a drink.
But it was already 8 pm, and we had to take a tram to go to the station. There, we found out that the 6.27 pm train was about 20 minutes late. But in total, it was more than 40 minutes late, for the Oostende-Eupen train arrived at 7.05… "What a kerfuffle!" We took that train, going to Brussels. There, we caught another (delayed) train to go to Namur. It arrived in 9.05, so that I managed to catch the 9.10 bus to go back to my student room.
What a day!
[EDITED ON 28 OCTOBER:]
I wrote a blog entry on germ@namur about this excursion. Please check it out!
The date was most suitable: the trade union of the SNCB/NMBS had decided to go on spontaneous one-hour strikes throughout the whole day… Nice.
About twenty students took the train in Namur, others in Mons or Liège, etc. (Because they had already gone back home to avoid carrying their luggage (I mean by that: clothes to wash) all day long.)
I was leaving from Namur. In the train, some of us played that infernal card game called Uno—I like it a lot: I played endless parties with friends when I was younger. The train arrived in the station of Brussels North round 9 pm, then it didn't want to move, for the stations of Brussels Central and South were completely stuck.
By chance, the train to Ghent that we were supposed to take in Brussels South had just stopped on the other side of the platform! In that very train we met some of Prof. Delabastita and Prof. Vandelanotte, accompanied by his newly appointed assistant for the first-year grammar course, Ms Breban.
Then the train took a kind of detour round Brussels, and before you could say "Jack Robinson", we arrived in Ghent. In the relatively kitschy station hall, we met some other students that had come either by car or by other trains.
But the problem was that 4 students who took the train in Mons had suffered the effects of the strike in Brussels, too, and after about quarter of an hour, I was asked to stay in the hall with Mr. Romero and Mr. Van Mensel, just because I was able to get in touch with the delayed students… Anyway, it was a good opportunity for me to talk in English and mostly in Dutch with both assistants. Meanwhile, the group had gone to the museum and started to visit the exhibition, British Vision.
The four students from Mons finally arrived, then we walked to the museum and several minutes later we joined our fellow students, divided into two groups for the guided tour of the exhibitions.
Our guide showed us some of the greatest paintings that were exposed, great masterworks by famous British names such as William Blake, Francis Bacon, John Constable, James W.M. Turner, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and many others. I wasn't particularily struck by those pieces of artwork, but it was still nice to see them "pour de vrai".
We got out of the Museum voor schone kunsten round 1.15 pm, then we took the bus to go to the North of the town, where we were free to do get some food. I bought a pack of chips in a typical frietkot: the chips were nice, but the packs weren't big at all… (But we're in Flanders, not in Morlanwelz.) And the fried cervelas was good, too. After that, some of us started interviewing people about their dialectattitudes: we were asked to do that as an exercise for Algemene taalwetenschap. Here are the questions (in Dutch):
1. Spreekt u dialect en/of Standaardnederlands en/of een tussenvorm (bv. tussentaal).After that, we walked towards the British Innovations exhibition at the Museum voor Industriële Archeologie en Textiel. It was quite interesting to go back to the past and see old machines and inventions, as well as ancient texts and objects coming directly from the industrial revolution.
– Indien ja: waar, wanneer en met wie?
– Indien geen dialect, waarom niet?
2. Vindt u dialect
– mooier dan Standaardnederlands? Ja/Nee
– nuttiger dan Standaardnederlands? Ja/Nee
3. Mag, volgens u, dialect op de radio en de televisie?
– Waarom wel/niet?
– In welke programma's? Met of zonder ondertitels?
4. Kunt u twee typische uitdrukkingen (+ betekenis) in u dialect geven?
5. Waar komt u vandaan?
When we were done with this museum, those who had already done all of their interviews for Dutch could leave us to go to the station. But as I didn't want to leave so early, I stayed with a group of more than a dozen of students, plus Mr Delabastita, Mr Vandelanotte and Mr Van Mensel. We stopped at a café and we all had a drink.
But it was already 8 pm, and we had to take a tram to go to the station. There, we found out that the 6.27 pm train was about 20 minutes late. But in total, it was more than 40 minutes late, for the Oostende-Eupen train arrived at 7.05… "What a kerfuffle!" We took that train, going to Brussels. There, we caught another (delayed) train to go to Namur. It arrived in 9.05, so that I managed to catch the 9.10 bus to go back to my student room.
What a day!
[EDITED ON 28 OCTOBER:]
I wrote a blog entry on germ@namur about this excursion. Please check it out!
9/19/2007
Shame on Him! Octies: Mgr Léonard
In our enless series of famous combovers, I'd like to introduce you to bishop Mutien-Marie Léonard. I wish you didn't have to know him — for he's a jerk to me — but his hairstyle is just as ridiculous as he is.I totally loathe this conservative pillock whose views are even more catholic than the pope (to coin a phrase using the uncommon superlative form of a classifing adjective — that's a private joke). This guy came by past me as I was waiting for the mayor's speech last Saturday. While I was insulting him silently, I was looking carefully at his dispiseable head in order to confirm what I thought: he definitely has a combover. He combs his hair from the right back to the left.
He's an asshole, and he's got an asshole haircut. That is justice.
6/09/2007
My "Analysis of English Texts" Exam
Today the "Analyse de textes anglophones I" exam took place. Due a change of venue, we had to go to a lecture room in the Law Faculty. Some of us came in completely wet, due to a shower — it was pouring outside; I had arrived just before it started. The second-year studens were taking their exams at the same time, in the same lecture room, so that we were sit in such a way that we didn't have a fellow student in front of us.
The exam started at 9.00 a.m. when we all got the exam sheets. Our professor, Dirk Delabastita was helped by Ruth. Since this was an open-book exam, we had the syllabus, the theory, and the two books we had to read (i.e. Dracula by Bram Stoker) at our disposal.
The exam consisted in a reletively short list of questions, but we had to give fairly lengthy answers.
First question: recognizing fragments (i.e. give the title and the author), and situate the extract in the story. Thanks to the lay out and the lettertype of the fragments, it was quite (too) easy to find out where they came from, then to contextualize them briefly. I only fear I wrote too much.
Second question: we had to link these fragments to 6 different concepts that we came across in the theory. It wasn't so clear at first, but I think I managed to do it correctly, with a few sentences to explain my choice.
Third question: on basis of an extract from The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, we had to underline the lines where the technique of external or internal narration was used, and then briefly explain why we did so and where there is place for doubt.
Fourth question: writing an essay comparing It Happened So Quickly by Enid Blyton and The Story-Teller by Saki. Those two stories weren't that difficult; just finding what was relevant to compare in those two stories forced me to write a draft of my answer to the question — which had to have the shape of an essay.
All that took me roughly three hours, plus another 30 minutes to re-read carefully and to add here and there several words and to correct a few spelling mistakes. (And I realized later that I wrote "biaised" instead of "biased". Fool me.) And notice that we didn't get a single question about Dracula…
I was quite exhausted when I gave my exam to Ruth. And I was hungry. When I got out of the lecture room, I had a little talk with some friends, and then I walked to my dad's car. We drove back to the Carmel (where I live) to take some stuff (e.g. clothes, books) home. In fact, I had to go back to Aubel because I had to go and vote tomorrow. At least, I had a proper meal tonight! (Instead of an fryed sausage with a small quantity of rice…) I talked a lot with my parents and my brother, about the exams and many facts in the news, mostly everything that had something to do with the federal elections.
The exam started at 9.00 a.m. when we all got the exam sheets. Our professor, Dirk Delabastita was helped by Ruth. Since this was an open-book exam, we had the syllabus, the theory, and the two books we had to read (i.e. Dracula by Bram Stoker) at our disposal.
The exam consisted in a reletively short list of questions, but we had to give fairly lengthy answers.
First question: recognizing fragments (i.e. give the title and the author), and situate the extract in the story. Thanks to the lay out and the lettertype of the fragments, it was quite (too) easy to find out where they came from, then to contextualize them briefly. I only fear I wrote too much.
Second question: we had to link these fragments to 6 different concepts that we came across in the theory. It wasn't so clear at first, but I think I managed to do it correctly, with a few sentences to explain my choice.
Third question: on basis of an extract from The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, we had to underline the lines where the technique of external or internal narration was used, and then briefly explain why we did so and where there is place for doubt.
Fourth question: writing an essay comparing It Happened So Quickly by Enid Blyton and The Story-Teller by Saki. Those two stories weren't that difficult; just finding what was relevant to compare in those two stories forced me to write a draft of my answer to the question — which had to have the shape of an essay.
All that took me roughly three hours, plus another 30 minutes to re-read carefully and to add here and there several words and to correct a few spelling mistakes. (And I realized later that I wrote "biaised" instead of "biased". Fool me.) And notice that we didn't get a single question about Dracula…
I was quite exhausted when I gave my exam to Ruth. And I was hungry. When I got out of the lecture room, I had a little talk with some friends, and then I walked to my dad's car. We drove back to the Carmel (where I live) to take some stuff (e.g. clothes, books) home. In fact, I had to go back to Aubel because I had to go and vote tomorrow. At least, I had a proper meal tonight! (Instead of an fryed sausage with a small quantity of rice…) I talked a lot with my parents and my brother, about the exams and many facts in the news, mostly everything that had something to do with the federal elections.
4/09/2007
Happy Birthday, Mr Clarkson!!!
It's been more than five (!) days that I haven't post a video from Jeremy Clarkson. Oh dear! As it's his birthday today, I take profit of this occasion to show you what I consider as one of the most impressive cars ever: a Toyota pick-up. Watch all this till the end, and you'll be struck by awe.
Conclusion: this car is unkillable. Jeremy Clarkson's mania for killing car is defeated. At least, this car will be made into a monument…
The army should use those cars instead of tanks.
Conclusion: this car is unkillable. Jeremy Clarkson's mania for killing car is defeated. At least, this car will be made into a monument…
The army should use those cars instead of tanks.
3/26/2007
Supergran: My First English Series
Stand back Superman, Iceman, Spiderman, Batman and Robin too,
Don't wanna cause a ruckus with B A Barracus have I got a match for you,
She makes them look like a bunch of fairies, got more bottle than united dairies,
Hang about, look out for supergran.
In a miraculous way, I still own one episode of that series, and I occasionally watch it! Great memories! I watched it when I was 3 or so—of course in French version, but the opening titles were in English, and I had never understood them until now.
Here are the lyrics of the whole song—which was in the Top50 in 1984…:
Super Gran
Stand back Superman, Iceman, Spiderman, Batman Robin too,
Don't wanna cause a ruckus with B A Barracus have I got a match for you,
She makes them look like a bunch of fairies, got more bottle than united dairies,
Hang about, look out for supergran.
You can stick your heroes, your Robert De Niro's, Al Pacino too,
Lex Galone's just another phoney, couldn't lace her shoes,
After her they're all big girls' blouses, got more front than a row of houses,
Hang about, look out for Supergran.
Sup-Sup Supergran,
She's a serious granny,
Sup-sup Supergran,
a serious granny, she'll do the things that you never saw your granny do ...
is there nothing that she cannot do?
On your bike Wonderwoman, lets just say you had it coming, this one is for real,
Charlies angels pack it in before it gets embarrasing, this lady's solid steel,
She comes on strong like a Bengal lancer, she makes you all look like a bunch of chancers,
Hang about, look out for Supergran.
Sup-sup Supergran,
Hang about, look out for Supergran.
Sup-sup Supergran,
Sup-sup Supergran,
Sup-sup Supergran, To end.
Don't wanna cause a ruckus with B A Barracus have I got a match for you,
She makes them look like a bunch of fairies, got more bottle than united dairies,
Hang about, look out for supergran.
In a miraculous way, I still own one episode of that series, and I occasionally watch it! Great memories! I watched it when I was 3 or so—of course in French version, but the opening titles were in English, and I had never understood them until now.
Here are the lyrics of the whole song—which was in the Top50 in 1984…:
Super Gran
Stand back Superman, Iceman, Spiderman, Batman Robin too,
Don't wanna cause a ruckus with B A Barracus have I got a match for you,
She makes them look like a bunch of fairies, got more bottle than united dairies,
Hang about, look out for supergran.
You can stick your heroes, your Robert De Niro's, Al Pacino too,
Lex Galone's just another phoney, couldn't lace her shoes,
After her they're all big girls' blouses, got more front than a row of houses,
Hang about, look out for Supergran.
Sup-Sup Supergran,
She's a serious granny,
Sup-sup Supergran,
a serious granny, she'll do the things that you never saw your granny do ...
is there nothing that she cannot do?
On your bike Wonderwoman, lets just say you had it coming, this one is for real,
Charlies angels pack it in before it gets embarrasing, this lady's solid steel,
She comes on strong like a Bengal lancer, she makes you all look like a bunch of chancers,
Hang about, look out for Supergran.
Sup-sup Supergran,
Hang about, look out for Supergran.
Sup-sup Supergran,
Sup-sup Supergran,
Sup-sup Supergran, To end.
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