English Language Teaching - Three Terms

Hola lectores...! Hola amigos...! Hola mi gente !

Language, a medium humans use to communicate, to share and to engage in social activities and individual development, in terms of academics and multifaceted learning. Specifically when an individual tries to learn language in a natural way, the process begins with listening and imitation of accents. English Language Teaching is one of the key topics in the arena of teaching and learning process. In the 21st century, language as well as communication skill is a must have to be globally active.

India contains diversity in terms of languages. There are 22 regional languages currently in active status. (Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_with_official_status_in_India)

In this blog, three interesting terms Bilingualism, Trilingualism and Multilingualism are given with examples...

* Bilingualism

Ability to communicate in two languages with fluency.

Nowadays many government exam authorities give options to go bilingual. Candidates can appear in the exam with their regional language or in English language. Moreover, we can find many bilingual examples from science, mathematics and geography text book, in which lot many words and terms are given in two languages.

સ્થિર વિદ્યુત બળ

Electrostatic force

-------------------------------

દોલન (હિંચકાની ગતિ, ઘડિયાળના લોલકની ગતિ)

Oscillation (velocity of swings and pendulums)

----------------------------

ભારતીય ઉપખંડ

Indian subcontinent

---------------------------

Bio Diversity

જૈવ વિવિધતા

------------------

Tropical Rainforest

ઉષ્ણકટિબંધીય વરસાદી જંગલો

-------------------------------------------

Brain Drain

બુદ્ધિધનનું બહિર્ગમન

---------------------------

Diameter

વ્યાસ

----------------

Radius

ત્રિજ્યા

------------------

Arithmetic Progression

સમાંતર શ્રેણી

------------------------

na dis jamais je t'aime (French)

never say i love you (Film Befikre)

------------------------------------------------

Silence! the Court is in Session

शांतता ! कोर्ट चालू आहे

(Play by Viajy Tendulkar)

---------------

વિવેકબુદ્ધિથી ભ્રષ્ટ થયેલાઓનું સો પ્રકારે પતન થાય છે.

विवेकभ्रष्टानां भवति विनिपात शतमुखः। 

------------------------

* Trilingualism Ability to communicate with fluency in three languages.

Hindi news channels, Gujarati TV shows and English movies create perfect rendition in multilingual skill. For me, train journeys have been tremendously helpful in observing diversity of languages in various railway stations. In railway station, you may have listened to the announcement. The instructions and other information is conveyed in three languages. Many cautionary signboards and posters are also found in more than two languages. 

May I have your attention please !

कृपया ध्यान दीजिए

कृपया लक्ष ध्या !

-----------------------------

Only for handicapped

सिर्फ विकलांगों के लिए (Hindi)

केवळ अपंगांसाठी (Marathi)

---------------------------------

पिण्यांचा पाणी (Marathi)

Drinking Water

પીવાનું પાણી

-------------------

किराने का सामान यहां उपलब्ध होगा

किराणा येथे मिळतील (Marathi)

Groceries available here

---------------

* Multilingualism - Ability to communicate in three or more languages.

Many conferences and seminars are conducted for larger and global audiences, such as UNESCO, WHO and various other summits and meets are organized in multilingual mode. Foreign officials wear headphones with facility of multilingual translation. In India, tourism authorities give the feature of audio tour. Traveler has to wear headphones and track selector and follow the numbers placed at various corners of the monument. Many historical monuments such as Red Fort, Taj Mahal, Ajanta Ellora Caves, Jantar Mantar of Rajasthan and Delhi, Salt Mount or Dandi Kutir, Gandhinagar have the facility of audio touring guidance. Here are some examples of birthday greetings in various languages.

Happy Birthday (English)

जन्मदिन मुबारक हो (Hindi)

Joyeux anniversaire (French)

जन्मदिनस्य शुभाषयाः (Sanskrit)

feliz cumpleaños (Spanish)

------------------------------------------------------

These three terms contain lot many examples from various fields, and the list here may get longer, but in order to understand the concept clearly, these examples will be sufficient.

Thank You!

References

"Bilingualism and Multilingualism ." New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. . Encyclopedia.com. 11 Aug. 2020 <https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/bilingualism-and-multilingualism>.

https://medium.com/linguistics-3c-winter-2018/languages-diversity-makes-our-world-better-364877c7e99

20th Century English Literature - General Characteristics

Hello Readers!

History repeats itself and time records the events through its lenses of zeitgeist. The historical sense leads one to study the succeeding ages. One has to have historical sense even to understand the simple words and images of literature. Metaphorical way of writing always makes a reader curious to know more about the age and its culture. Here we shall see a remarkable age of literature: Modern Age or 20th Century Literature.

20th Century was much of the upheavals of the time. With the hammer of critical thought and rationale, the age happened to find newer means of social and literary concerns than the previous age. All, that had been sharply practiced in the Victorian Age, was turned topsy-turvy in the Modern Age. Didacticism and staunch Victorian practices were losing the ground. The impact of World Wars was much more than a mere scar to the age but a wakening slap for social reformations. Life was to start in an extremist levels of modernity and then it had to come down towards postmodernist days. The roots of such fervour lied in the rebelliousness of people. The thought of "make it new" itself evidently establishes the disgusts and boredom of the rigidity of Victorian thought. A change, which historians might have recorded, in cultural practices, intelligence of people, critical ability to think was aptly found in this age.

Historical Aspects of the age

1. World War I (1914 - 1918) WW II (1939 - 1945)

The combatant nations of these wars were majorly considered as “centre of the world”. But the imperialistic temperaments led them to a blindness which, then never recovered to see the disastrous consequences of these two World Wars. History evidently puts a remark on the nuclear attacks upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would be now easy to assume that how the common people might have suffered and what the societal changes had gone through.

2. Industrial Revolution.

Though it took place in 19th century but the echoes of this revolution reflected in the 20th century. Society witnessed a drastic change in class demarcation. Those who were landowners, those who had plenty of room to invest their excessive amount of money, became factory owners and those who were hardworking and enthusiastic became the workers of these factories. Assembly line brought a smiling curve in the economy of Europe and United States, but on the parallel, it killed the craftsmanship of individual. Machination became prominent centre and skillful people submerged in the periphery. This led to unemployment and then somehow created anarchy among the masses. Rich became more rich and poor became more poor. The three "M" are worth considering here. M for Muscle power, M for Mind power and M for Money power. Senselessness sprouted through the seeds of excessive materialistic lifestyle. The money mindedness is reflected in Arthur Miller's play "All My Sons". Colonial aspects are also found in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

3. Spiritual/Religious Questioning

The modern age also brought dilemma and confusion in the belief system of people. It seemed that money became more mightier than the divine; which was thought in the previous Victorian age. Some isms also found in reference of asking about spirituality that is Existentialism. To quote few lines. . .

To some, the voice of Darwin in The Descent of Man sounded more credible and more authoritative that the voice of God in the book of Genesis. (The Setting - A. C. Ward)

More scientific temperaments were being established and convincingly the constructive arguments also gave some wind to the thought. Victorian orthodoxy was losing a ground. The horrific war experience made people think about one another and live life with spiritual thought.

Literary Characteristics

Literature rightly mirrored the changes of society in it's texts. Nations were looking for the classics and masterpieces of authors which found much acceptance in the modern age than the previous age.  In the early stage of the century the practice of depicting mythical narratives in newer ways was still in in continuation. Ulysses by James Joyce is an example of it. Writings about futuristic events were much celebrated. 1984 by George Orwell and Animal Farm stand at the doorstep of the modern age which welcomes the reader to the newer aspects like monotony in human life, bureaucratic mindset of controlling people, and continuous surveillance. The metaphor of animals is rightly used by Orwell... All animals are equal but some are more equal. Canons of literature were steadily changing from the stereotypes to something newer ones. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and H. G. Wells' The Time Machine drew the futuristic caricature which was much ahead of their time. Lost generation which emerged a class of society in the 20th century also found it's voice in works of Gustav Flaubert. Gothic element, which was already much celebrated by the publication of Frankenstein, also resurrected in the 20th century. Edgar Allan Poe penned much of the darkest of the human psyche and viciousness in his short stories like Black Cat. The audience was still demanding some more entertaining literature which resulted in the creation of devilish fiction like Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. T. S. Eliot also marked its timeless presence by the penning his wide ranging poem The Waste Land. It majorly talked about sexual perversion and spiritual degradation. D. H. Lawrence's books were banned due to extremity of sexuality. Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne set a question of individual free choice. Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway oiled to the motivational thought for upcoming generation. The undercurrents of human nature like Oedipus and Electra complexes find the narration in pen of Eugenie O'Neill's play Mourning Becomes Electra. Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse made an evident contribution in the psychological movement called Stream of Consciousness. 

Furthering the genre of poetry, Robert Frost, John Masefield, Rupert Brook, W. B. Yeats, T. S. Eliot made noteworthy contribution to literature.

The later part of the age came up with many artistic movements such as Surrealism, Dadaism, Imagism, Vorticism, Cubism, Expressionism, Individualism etc.

In a nutshell, 20th century was an age of social unrest, progression as well as regression, freedom as well as captivity in terms of machination. The age carried the time, the time which recorded much larger portion of the events and zeitgeist of modernity. No other age in the history of English literature carried this much diversity in thought and in its texts.

References;

Ward, Alfred Charles. Twentieth-Century English Literature: 1901-1960. 1966.

Long, William J. English Literature. AITBS India, 2015.

Thank You.

Copyright Free Music and Tracks

Hello Readers !

Many of you might be uploading content online by blogging, making videos for YouTube and making podcasts. In order to make your content attractive and user-friendly, you may need some additional help like putting graphics or background music. There are many software and apps available online. In this post, five websites are here to help you! Royalty free and copyright free sounds and tracks will make your video livelier.

Here are some curated links which provide royalty free music.

https://www.bensound.com
https://mixkit.co/free-stock-music/
https://www.purple-planet.com/
https://freemusicarchive.org/
https://www.free-stock-music.com/

Visit the websites for more details.

Thank You!