Our first real project that we jumped into here at our site was an English Conversation Club. It's been a great way to meet some new friends, to share the English language with our community, and ironically, for me to work on improving my Spanish.
At the first meeting, we decided to talk about names in English. This sometimes seems like a silly exercise in language courses and clubs. "My name is Rapunzel, but in Spanish it's gonna be NACHO!!!" But try having MY name. It's hard enough for people to say in English. It's that silly IR in the middle. How do you say that in any other language besides English? So in Ecuador, my name is Kristi or, if you're really special, Kitty. Even Isaac isn't "EYE-zack"--he's "ee-SOCK."
At the meeting, we decided to talk about names in the United States. We started by going around the room and asked everyone to say their name and we'd talk about an appropriate English/US alternative.
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| Language-learning materials. Also, a COLORING PAGE!!! Drawing and photograph by Kirstie Bickford. |
At the first meeting, we decided to talk about names in English. This sometimes seems like a silly exercise in language courses and clubs. "My name is Rapunzel, but in Spanish it's gonna be NACHO!!!" But try having MY name. It's hard enough for people to say in English. It's that silly IR in the middle. How do you say that in any other language besides English? So in Ecuador, my name is Kristi or, if you're really special, Kitty. Even Isaac isn't "EYE-zack"--he's "ee-SOCK."
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| This is a kitty, not Kitty. His name is Caboose (his Ecuadorian name is still pending...) Photograph by Kirstie Bickford. |
At the meeting, we decided to talk about names in the United States. We started by going around the room and asked everyone to say their name and we'd talk about an appropriate English/US alternative.
Predictably, in this highly catholic, Latin American community, half of the girls were named either Maria or Rosa. Well, Mary or Rose if you really want to pick a different name. Of course there was at least one Daniel and a César. Then we had a Monica, a Kevin, a Byron. What could we do with a group of Andreas, Alexes, and Cynthias? There wasn't even a Pablo, only its English equivalent: Paul. There isn't a Jose, but there's a Joe. The most far-out things got were last names: Jefferson, Robinson, and Edison. We even had an Elvis!
So we talked about pronunciation instead. But here's what I learned that day: these kids' names are more American than mine.
..kirstie..
Call me Ishmael
ReplyDeleteHuh, I actually didn't remember their names at all. The interesting thing is that the names in Ecuador are SPELLED the same as the American names, but they are pronounced with a Spanish accent, so it's actually the opposite of the case in Oaxaca.
ReplyDeleteI am "BAR-bara, que BAR-bara"
ReplyDeleteHa ha, that's great Aunt Barb!
ReplyDeleteThere's two kids with interesting last names in one of my classes. One of them is Fausto and the other is Satan... Should I be worried?