Ebaby! Blog

Although there’s been some press about how inhospitable to tourists Beijing will be during the Olympics, this video, in complete saccharine madness, argues otherwise.

Since we’re taking a trip to Beijing in about a month, it was cool to see all the sites in this video (Apparently all the singers are famous people too. Did you see Jackie Chan?). But I also laughed at several parts, just because the song is so long and there are so many huge smiles in it and there are, like, several beautiful women telling me their doors are always open…it just got kind of silly.

But when I looked at the comments, everyone was taking the video totally seriously!

When I pointed out what I thought was one of the funniest quotes to Jewel, our resident Mandarin speaker, she was able to explain why I thought the video was funny even though it’s not supposed to be. Here’s the line:

The flowing enchantment and charms are filled with youthful spirit and vitality.

Apparently, that’s relatively normal speech in China. While in recent decades the English style has become as concise as possible, Chinese writers (and weird promotional video makers) embrace flowery language.

This gives me even more reason to learn Mandarin. When I first started writing I was drawn to the flowery style. Now I like being economical with words, but it took some getting used to. Maybe I find my way back to the sinuous delights of language wrought with sonorous hues, or something like that.

But anyway, I suppose the tendency to be over the top with language might help explain this highly exuberant video. I can’t wait to get over there and see the enthusiasm first hand. I want to learn the “Beijing welcomes you” part and sing it to people when they ask how I like the city.

While it’s taking a fair amount of time, many educators are coming around to the idea that students can learn valuable skills from each other while interacting online, even in social networks.

The Economic Times reports that according to a new 6-month study by the University of Minnesota that watched the online behavior of students from 13 high schools in the Midwest, social network users were found to learn lessons in technology, creativity and “being open to new or diverse views and communication skills.”

How about that? Sharing ideas can encourage learning.

A student-empowerment movement is happening. Learners are becoming more reliant on their peers and less reliant on their teachers to disseminate information. Sure it’s valuable to have an English language teacher help correct grammatical mistakes, but it can be just as helpful when a friend shares that the most important phrase he learned on a recent budget trip to New York was “Where can I get some pizza?”

Teachers are an important educational resource but students often do a better job sharing real-world experiences. What sounds more engaging - memorizing how to ask directions or listening to a friend tell the story of how she misunderstood a bus driver and instead of riding to San Diego, she ended up in Las Vegas? A little bit of context goes a long way.

A couple of weeks ago John participated in a discussion about language and globalization on The New York Times Freakonomics blog.

We were really happy to be asked because a trend seems to be developing. A couple of weeks earlier, The Oregonian picked up our election stats and quoted several of our members in a story. Now John has been quoted as an expert on language and globalization. Not only is English, baby! a recourse for students of English, but it’s increasingly becoming a source of information about global issues for the English speaking world.

John was in very good company in this discussion, alongside a UN interpreter, a linguistics professor and published author. Plus John and I are Freakonomics fans, so it was extra cool to get to work with Stephen Dubner, Steven Levitt and their team.

I was surprised to read an article titled “Switch to Espanol” in the Washington Post yesterday that claimed it might be “time for our political leaders to turn off the English-language TV and encourage good citizens to learn Spanish.”

Joe Mathews, the author, says that all 3 presidential candidates and the governor of California are wrong for believing that English should be the official language of the U.S. Why? Because the quality of Spanish local news is higher than English local news in Los Angeles.

Joe is obviously missing the point. Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Schwarzenegger all agree that it’s necessary for the residents of our country to learn English so that our country functions in a more efficient and unified manner. For us to tackle our immigration issues, English must be the official language and we must do everything we can to support those who are learning it. The better non-native English speakers living in the U.S. are at speaking the language, the more they can contribute not only to our country, but to the well-being of their own families.

I’m all for trying to improve the quality of local news content. And the next language I learn will be Spanish. But we absolutely cannot confuse that topic with one much more important and pressing for us as a nation - helping people assimilate into our country, culture, and language.