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Shaman
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Posts: 446
Location: Hammertown
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 Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 1:04 am Post subject: Pet Expressions |
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Have any of you found your students adopting your own particular idiomatic "style"?
When asked "How are you?" by colleagues, I often respond jokingly:
"Tickety boo." or "Any better,...a./ I'd be twins. b./ it would be a sin."
Now my students are using them. Anyone else with similar situations?
Shaman |
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yaramaz
Joined: 05 Mar 2003
Posts: 2384
Location: Not where I was before
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 6:32 am Post subject: |
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| Regrattably, I have a posse of teenaged Turks parrotting my declarations of 'Whoa hang on a sec, y'all/guys!' and 'Chill out!' |
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denise
Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 3419
Location: finally home-ish
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:16 am Post subject: |
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Or worse--who has started picking up their students' expressions?
If you stay in one place long enough, will you inevitably start making the same mistakes and using the same language as the local English students? Will everything all of a sudden be "so-so"?
During my stay in the beautiful Czech Republic, I found myself using the Czenglish expression "in the nature"--as in, "I spent my weekend on the cottage in the nature." Sounds so much more vivid and nature-esque than "in the countryside." I remember the first time I accidentally let it slip--a friend of mine just laughed his ass off at me.
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yaramaz
Joined: 05 Mar 2003
Posts: 2384
Location: Not where I was before
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:36 am Post subject: |
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'I like (insert noun) too much!'
'You say me true?'
'I wait you here.'
'I will come five minutes later' or 'Five years later, I go to the Ankara'
'How are you?' 'Thank you!'
'Yes please!' (said when someone calls your name)
Also, I am losing my ability to use articles (except those before proper names-- the MaryAnne, the Mustafa, the Istanbul-- one of the bizarre twists of Turklish), and find myself over-using the present continuous tense. |
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dmb
Joined: 12 Feb 2003
Posts: 8397
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I am understanding you Yaramaz |
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Slim Pickens
Joined: 25 Nov 2003
Posts: 299
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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X
Last edited by Slim Pickens on Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Shaman
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Posts: 446
Location: Hammertown
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| Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2004 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| denise wrote: |
| Or worse--who has started picking up their students' expressions? |
Not so much expressions as mannerisms. Monkey see, monkey do. 
After Japan, I caught myself bowing to someone who held the door for me before entering a convenience store. The clerk was amused. 
From Paris, I picked up this little sound "PFFFT" (ie. shrugging shoulders "what can you do?")
Shaman |
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Ben Round de Bloc
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
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| Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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Not so much expressions as mannerisms.
- Shaman |
Along similar lines, when I go back to the States for my 2-week visit once a year, I have to make a conscious effort not to use the gestures that I've learned to use here. There are so many common gestures in the Yucatecan culture that are used in coordination with spoken words or as substitutes for words.
People here can carry on an entire simple "conversation" across a noisy 4-lane boulevard using gestures without having to say/hear a word:
- I haven't seen you for a long time. What are you doing?
- I'm waiting for the bus.
- Where are you going?
- To school. Call me at home tomorrow.
- Okay. What time?
- About 4:00 p.m. If I'm not there, call me on my cell phone.
- Okay. Talk to you then.
- Here comes my bus. Seriously, call me tomorrow.
- I will. I promise. Bye.
- Bye.
Most of my students are incredibly good at charades due to their gesturing skills. Names of songs or movies in English that a person would think nearly impossible to act out and guess, they can get most of them in about 30 seconds.
Besides, as loud and noisy as this culture is, I figure gestures are an indispensable part of communication much of the time.  |
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Teacher in Rome
Joined: 09 Jul 2003
Posts: 1286
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| Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Besides, as loud and noisy as this culture is, I figure gestures are an indispensable part of communication much of the time |
Same here! |
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Shaman
Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Posts: 446
Location: Hammertown
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| Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 11:57 am Post subject: |
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And a quick segue into body language. Has anyone used hand gestures that were deemed acceptable in one's home country, only to find that they held a different connotation in another culture? Eg. the inverted "peace" sign in the British Isles - didn't happen to me, thankfully.
Shaman |
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