While
doing some research for another EDSL course, I came across the results of a 2016
census. I thought the data was presented in a very fun way. Here is the link:
play around, and enjoy!
The results kept me thinking about the concept of “mother tongue,” one that for a long time I thought to be simple and straightforward. Today, as an immigrant in very multicultural country and a current student in Second Language Education, however, the concept seems less and less simple and straightforward. I looked through our Van Herk textbook for reference, but this term is unfortunately not defined in it. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as “The first language that you learn when you are a baby, rather than a language learned at school or as an adult.” It appears indeed that “mother tongue” is used as a synonym of “first language,” the language of the “native speaker.” This brings two big questions to mind:
This is a response to the post “Men Explain Things to Me”, which I found most interesting, mainly because it made me think deeply about the air time situation in our classroom.
Besides factors afore-mentioned such as men/women air-time distribution, I am still curious to delve into how our cultural background and agency as individuals can influence the way we decide (or not) to make use of the available air-time. Also, I am still in the process of reflecting upon different strategies that can help re-distribute air time utilized in class.
Overall, 52 percent of all the world’s languages are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people each (Coulmas 2005: 150 as cited in Van Herk, 2012). One of those languages happens to be Abenaki. Abenaki used to have several regional dialects. It is a branch of the Eastern Algonquin language group along with Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Malecite and Micmac who all speak distinct dialects of Eastern Algonquin (Wiseman, 2001, p.79). The Abenakis covered a vast amount of territory back in the day.
Wôbanakik covered a significant portion of what would become America during the years of the Moose (approximately 10 000 – 6500 Winters Ago) (Wiseman, 2001, p.26). Wôbanakik’s territory was significantly reduced by 1500 AD due to many circumstances relating to colonial invasion (Wiseman, 2001, p.70)
“Your accent carries the story of who you are.” Mari Matsuda
1996
On a recent trip to the city with my family, we headed into Footlocker. The store was jam packed with tourists, awesome, because English was the language of majority in the store.
My son goes off by himself and my daughter and I continue
shopping and talking.
Then I noticed this guy staring at my daughter and I. He maneuvers his stroller to get closer to
us. I try not to make eye contact. He is obviously heading right towards us and
listening to our conversation.
It’s human nature to want to fit in. When in another country and I am a visitor and I come with respect for their land, their customs and their language (when in Rome!) Greeted by the locals I was readily accepted as one of them. Because I look like a local. But getting the scowl when I say I don’t speak their language. With the language barrier I had to represent who I was by doing the hand over mouth saying “woo – woo – woo” Only when I use a racist action and just short of doing the tomahawk chop made popular by a certain sports team, do they understand who I am.
The local women says,“It’s too bad, because you look like us”. These words were never spoken to me on this side of the border. I was finally not fish out of water. My heart beams because I finally fit in, unfortunately it’s a thousand miles away from my home. The home of seven generations before me. Where the government tried to assimilate us and take away my language and force me to speak theirs.
The scene: a Japanese exchange student studying abroad in some unnamed country goes to a live performance of a band that plays a song called “You Gotta Stay”. However, the student mishears this song title as “Ryuugakusei”, meaning “exchange student”. The rest of the song plays out similarly, with the English lyrics being a rather unoriginal love song but the Japanese interpretation being the story of a Japanese exchange student acclimatizing to life abroad. For instance, from the chorus:
“You gotta stay” – “Ryuugakusei” (Exchange student) “Hey, I need you here, babe” – “Heya nijuu hei bei” (The room is 20m2) “It’s better never talkin’ ‘cause it’s no good” – “Beddo ni neru toki kutsu nugu” (Take off your shoes when you sleep in bed) “You gotta stay” – “Ryuugakusei” (Exchange student) “Hey, I need you here, babe” – “Heya nijuu hei bei” (The room is 20m2) “I messed up, should’ve known last time I met ya!” – “Miso shiru nomitai wa meccha” (I really want to drink miso soup)
While mishearing lyrics has long been a fun feature listening to music in one’s own language (think Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “there’s a bad moon on the rise” infamously being mistaken for “there’s a bathroom on the right”), this song is an interesting example of how listening to music, particularly that in a language that perhaps not fluently understood by the listener, can result in some amusingly different messages. In the video linked above, the guest artist playing the exchange student is a relatively new figure on the Japanese music scene named Okazaki Taiiku. In other songs, such as one called “Natural Lips”, he slurs and manipulates his Japanese words in a way that makes them sound something like English (complete with English style ‘-r’ sounds that are notoriously difficult for Japanese speakers), but ultimately, the song becomes almost impossible to understand without reading the subtitles simultaneously, as the title card at the beginning warns. For further context, the band behind “Ryuugakusei” is a Canadian-Japanese hybrid outfit called Monkey Majik which features two brothers from Ottawa who originally came to Japan to teach English and hit mainstream success as a band there in 2006. Their songs are typically a mix of English and Japanese, though not in this way.
Japanese music is well known for including English in its lyrics, this thought to be the result of English’s status as the current dominant world language. However, while English is a core subject for all school students starting from age 12, many people are reluctant to use their English in part due to a lack of focus on communication skills in these lessons. As a result, the English in music is often unintelligible or inserted at random, perhaps for the “cool” factor rather than any sort of communicative purpose. As a result, in my opinion, this English is rarely listened to or considered by the average listener. Okazaki Taiiku instead encourages active listening by overusing ‘r’ sounds and employing English-like pronunciation of both Japanese and English, the latter being something that many Japanese English learners shy away from out of embarrassment but perhaps might be encouraged by musicians like this normalizing playing around with mouth shapes and tongue placement. On a similar note, English singers showing Japanese listeners that English lyrics don’t have to be gibberish or beyond understanding could be a helpful nudge to get people trying to listen more actively to the music they consume or to perhaps seek out more music to practice their listening on.
During my time teaching, some of my students were reluctant to listen to Western music because of the language barrier, so songs like this may help listeners to see that the divide between Japanese and English is not as strict or insurmountable as they might think. Playing around with language and pronunciation is something that I think many of us could stand to do in our learning journeys to take some of the edge off, so I hope that educators will make use of media like this to spur learners into equating trial and error with fun.
Two traits that all humans share, no matter where on earth they live, are language and music. We are all equals in that regard and it can be stated, as a matter of fact, that music is universal.
By learning a folk tune from the most remote corner of the world and singing the words and music, you are given access into that world, a world you may never have known otherwise.
Today, orbiting 10 billion miles from earth, the Voyager space probe contains a most precious cargo hurtling through the universe, a 90-minute mixtape of music from every part of the globe. It includes such music as Mozart, Peruvian panpipes, Bulgarian chants and Indian raga vocals, amongst many other recordings. If extraterrestrials want to get to know us earthlings, it will be through our music.
