Varities of English other than Angelo-American!

English as a language has developed enormously throughout the history and it has been influenced and changed in many ways to become the language it is today. In the following text I will present, together with two of my fellow students at Sandvika High School, Hong Kong, South African and Jamaican English. We will look at some of the resemblances and inequalities of the languages compared to the language in the Angelo-American core areas, like USA, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia.

Hong Kong English:

Hong Kong English is a form of the English language which is quite similar to the British English which is spoken in one of the core English areas. The similarities we find between the two are spelling, pronunciation and vocabularies. They resemblance each other, but there need not to be considerable difference before it is called a dialect. However we also find several dissimilarities as well as likenesses. In Hong Kong they have people they call returnees, a word that might be mixed with refugees. The only difference is that returnees are people from Hong Kong that have been abroad to learn English and then return, which causes the language to be influenced not just by British English, but also by Australian and Canadian English. As well as Australian and Canadian influence the language has some of its vocabulary from India and Malaysia, with words like: chop, shroff, nullah and godown, for example. Still the leading difference is probably the accent among the Cantonese people, who are native Honkongers. Many people pronounce some of the words differently from British, Australian and Canadian English. For example they say: "three" as "free", "shree" or even "fee". They also confuse the endings of words that end with d,g and b and they say t,k and p instead. For example: "bad" as "bat". Also they confuse Tr and Ch which often makes "train" sound like "chain" as an example. I believe they confuse many English sounds, because they in their native language don't have the same sounds at all.

South African English:

South African English is a non-rhotic language with additions from Afrikaans (working class). Non-rothic means that the speaker only pronounces rhotic consonants if they are followed by a vowel.The Dutch were the first to settle in South Africa, but the English were soon to follow. This is the reason why their language is influenced by both Dutch and English. South African English is influenced more by English than American due to the invasion by Great Britain in the 1800s. This is clearly shown in the South African English vocabulary. The Dutch have influenced how South African English is pronunced. South Africa has 11 different official languages. English, Indian, Dutch, Afrikaans, Zulu etc. Especially the different African languages have influenced the South African English. Here is an example “The old lady has been tuning me grief all avie, coz I bust her tjor going yooees with the okes in Bez Valley"The two main phonological indicators of South African English are the behavior of the vowels in kit and bath. The kit vowel tends to be "split" so that there is a clear allophonic variation between the close, front [ɪ] and a somewhat more central [ɪ̈]. The bath vowel is characteristically open and back in the General and Broad varieties of SAE. (Source)

Jamaican English:

Jamaica is located in the Caribbean. More specifically it is an island located south of Cuba; which is right underneath the port of Miami, USA. Once known as Santiago, a Spanish possession, it was later to be called Jamaica after British colonies took over the island. Today it is still remains as a Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Jamaican English is influenced mostly by British English, but still uses a lot of American English words both in handwriting and in everyday colloquial spoken English. The Jamaican English vocabulary contains British words, like “sleeping policeman” which means “speed bump”, as we call it. According to Wikipedia, when asking a Jamaican if he or she can pronounce a word or sentence in Jamaican English, that person would reply that it is more natural to let him speak in Irish English. The reason for this, again according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, would be that this form of English comes more natural to the Jamaican rather than pronouncing it in what we would call a Jamaican English accent.(Source) As it is hard to explain how the Jamaicans speak English, this link is an example of how most Jamaicans would sound. The clip is a interview of the world famous song artist Jean Paul, who is known to both sing and rap in English with his Jamaican accent.

Here are the links to my classmates blogs:

Kristoffer

Mike

Gran Torino

I believe looking at the cover of the movie Gran Torino; you get the impression of a very serious film, maybe even boring as well. In fact that's not right at all. Clint Eastwood, who's playing the main character in Gran Torino, as the old veteran from the war in Korea, is playing his role as a genius. There are a lot of good actors and probably others suited for this part, but not many could have done this particular role as well as Eastwood did it.

The story starts when Walt Kowalski’s (Clint Eastwood) wife dies and we get to see the ceremony and the dinner afterwards. Already from the start we get to see that Mr. Kowalski is a lonely man, he's in sorrow and he would very much be left alone. However what Kowalski were about to notice was that he was getting some new neighbors, whose Hmong people, which is a people from the mountains. In this part of the movie I really feel that we get the idea of which challenges immigrants meet when they move to a new place. From Mr. Kowalski they receive nothing more than despite and it actually shows how prejudice and intolerable people in general can be towards each other, even though they don't even know one another.

Walt Kowalski is presented as an old war vet from Korea, what many would characterize as a stereotype of old American hotheads. In addition to being a war vet Walt also used to work at the old Ford factory, building cars including the 1972 Ford Gran Torino, which he became a proud owner of. However one night the boy next-door tried to steal his precious diamond and afterwards got caught. This lead to a lot of anger from Mr. Kowalski, but they agreed that Thao, the neighbor’s son would work for Walt to pay for his actions. After a while when Thao has worked for him quite a while, Kowalski starts to see that the boy actually is a decent boy despite his bad behavior earlier. If you ask me, this is probably the biggest turning point in the movie, not just because he starts to become nicer, but because Walt finally starts to accept another people with a different racial background, and also he becomes soft when he lets Thao become a part of his life.

Further on Walt and Thao becomes great friends and the neighbors are getting along perfect, except for a group of Hmong boys that controls most of the Hmong people in the area. Throughout the movie Walt tries his best to protect Thao from the gang and he tries to clear out the gang when he goes out to reform his neighborhood. In the movie I feel that they have drawn a clear line between the black people, the Hmong people and the Americans in the neighborhood. Also in the movie we get to hear the old grandma from the Hmong's house say that she wishes Kowalski would move since all the other Americans have disappeared from the streets in the area. I believe this really shows how people are shown in stereotypes in movies from Hollywood.

I really liked the film. I thought it was both funny and serious and really enjoyed Clint Eastwood in the part as Walt Kowalski. He is truly a good actor, with that little extra spark. I don't think he's the type of actor to play many different parts, but I believe that he chooses the parts that he's really suited for and it seems to me that he's playing himself all along. A great movie which I recommend.

I have posted a link to the tralier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Z2n534q1Q

"Illusions" by Richard Bach

I have recently started on my book in International English. I've chosen to read a book by the famous author Richard Bach, who probably is most known for his book: "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", called Illusions. Earlier I have read his first book, which I found pleasant and exciting to read. Richard writes in a way that makes you think a lot, and you really need to reflect upon the things he writes, because they usually have a double meaning. I really felt his first book appealed to me and it made sense in my life. Therefore I wanted to read his sequel which is, as well, a book of life, to become greater and the meaning of living.

I have now read five chapters in the book: Illusions. Some parts where the author jumps in between dreams and real life I was a bit confused, but by experience I know that Richard Bach's books are much more appealing and clear the second time you read it. So far we have been introduced to a man called Richard, which I believe is because the author really writes about his own life, except he has woven his own story into a fictional story. Also we have met a man called Donald Shimoda, also known as Don. Don is presented as a wiser man than Richard himself and he's elevated as a sort of messiah to him.

The book is really about how to develop yourself, how to exceed your own expectations and how you may use the people around you as teachers to get the knowledge you need and to get self-realization. These things are really the underline of the book and the story is more of a metaphor to express the real message that the author wants to deliver. This is probably why Richard Bach's books are so popular. Since the theme of his books, at least the two I am almost finished with, are self-realization and how to exceed you, everyone can identify themselves with his books and really understand them differently. So far I have mixed feelings about the book, I was as I said earlier a bit confused by some aspects at this point, but I really feel that I get the main point and I am looking forward to reading more of the book.