English for Vietnamese 4

So I continue my English for Vietnamese. Why for Vietnamese? I might as well title my articles under the caption “English for Chinese”, the latter variant would be even better for me because I am sure that one can teach the target language only in case a teacher (instructor, trainer) has at least a slight idea of his students’ mother tongue. I have learned enough of Chinese grammar to able to teach either Russian or English to Chinese but I cannot boast of any knowledge in Vietnamese.
However, I believe that my lack of knowledge in that field can be recompensed by some interpretation.

I think that much depends on interpretation and that method of direct teaching of English without any reference to one’s mother tongue which is widely being implemented in Russia via various British schools has many drawbacks. If a teacher does not resort to any comparisons and search of good Russian analogues while teaching English to Russians then all this process may lose its efficiency and finally become a real waste of time and money. And similarly while teaching English to Vietnamese without any reference to the Vietnamese language.

Well, surely a teacher can stuff his students’ brains with lots of cut and dry phrases and labels like “indefinite and continuous” but he will hardly be able to develop his students’ linguistic flair and ability to use adequate grammar structures in certain situations independently.

So the last resort that can save such a situation is a good interpretation, usage of various opposed patterns with detailed explanation of these patterns under certain conditions in a given situation.

Besides, much depends on our common sense and mutual understanding of GENERAL HUMAN LOGICAL notions.

People all over the world understand perfectly well the difference between PROCESS and RESULT. Actually they are interwoven with each other and there is a dialectic unity between PROCESS and RESULT, any process will grow into a result which may be perceived as a final result but it can also be assessed as an intermediate result which demands further constant and continuous process.

I can perorate on this topic for a long time but for didactic purposes we should limit ourselves to some short speech examples which oppose PROCESS to RESULT.

I my previous article I mentioned the importance of such short words as STILL, YET, ALREADY.
STILL refers to verbs with ING, YET and ALREADY are connected with have+v+ed.
To put it simpler, STILL means PROCESS, YET and ALREADY mean result or no result (yet).

In the Chinese language, for example, usage of these short words would be quite sufficient to express any action because the Chinese language has no special forms for verbs, probably, the Vietnamese language either.

As far as I remember, in order to show PROCESS the Vietnamese language uses the word DANG, so the phrase WHAT ARE THEY DOING? will be equivalent to HO DANG LAM GI?

Unlike Chinese or Vietnamese the English language rules demand that you should add ING ending to the verb in order to show the PROCESS.

In traditional grammar books this ING in the Present Continuous tense is often interpreted as PROCESS taking place at the moment of speech specified by the word “now”. Sometimes it is true, sometimes not quite.

Imagine such a situation – one om students asks me:
“Have you checked our compositions yet?” (Have we got any result?) RESULT?
Our managing staff managed sometimes to stuff my small classroom with almost 20 students and it really was a challenge to check all of them very quickly, so I answer:
“Not yet. I am STILL checkING these compositions”.

What do I show by this “I am still checking them”? At this proper moment of speech I am not checking anything at all, I left all their compositions at home to be checked later. However I am still in the process of checking them, I have not done my job yet, I have not checked all these compositions, I have not broken this process yet, I have not got a final result. (Negative result)

In case I have done it I will answer in a different way. For didactic purpose I may change our short exchange in this way as a possible variant:
(Students) : Are you still checking our compositions?
(Instructor) No, I am not. I have already checked them. (New important result) (Positive)

The students might as well ask me in a different way:

(Students) : Have you checked our compositions yet?
(Instructor) Yes, I have. I have already checked them. (New important result) (Positive)

So when you combine two grammar structures or speech patterns into a speech exchange you may call it “an interactive model”. One can change the order of these patterns but the meaning of this exchange is opposition of PROCESS (ING) and RESULT (ED).

So you can see how many variants you have for yourself while training this interactive model:

1) “Have you checked our compositions yet?”
“Not yet. I am still checking them.”

2) Are you still checking our compositions?
No, I am not. I have already checked them.

3) Have you checked our compositions yet?
Yes, I have. I have already checked them.

There may be other variants like a negative question:
So you haven’t checked them?
Why, I have. I have checked them.

and other variants but the opposition is the same.

So the main meaning of the present continuous (process) is not always NOW, but also very often it is subjectively and psychologically assessed by the speaker as UNINTERRUPTED AND NOT FINISHED PROCESS which is still taking place. When we finish this process we say “We have done it”. Actually this or that process can be interrupted many many times but we perceive as not finished.
For instance, I might say: This year my friend is skiing in the Alps. It might be that at this particular moment my friend broke his leg while skiing and is laid up in some hospital in Switzerland but for me he is “still skiing” because I do not know any new negative or positive results.

Another example:
Have you read my book?
Not yet, I am still reading it.

I probably left this book at home and now I am doing something else but I have not finished reading it and so I say “I am still reading it”.

As soon as you finis this process you use present perfect for informing other people of a new and significant fact, for example;

Have you read my book yet?
Yes, I have. I have already read your book.

So I really interrupted this process and have a new result.

According to the English grammar usage the further questions specifying any details about your result should be done not via present perfect but via past indefinite which is not typical for other languages like French, German or Italian but specific for English usage.

So when I specify details, for example, the time of your finishing reading, I should ask:

When did you read this book?

Specification of a place also implies usage of past simple:

Are you still looking for your keys?
No, I have already found them (new significant result).

In French, Italian and German it would be possible to specify details via present perfect again like “Where you have found them” but not in English because they use their present perfect only for underlining the new and important information but specification of details demands past indefinite:

Where did you find them? (your keys)

So that kind of interpretation and further training for consolidation of these facts can help any student to use proper English and tailor these patterns to their own purpose reflecting their real life facts:

Reception
Are you still copying our passports?
No, I have already copied them.

Or:
Have you copied our passports yet?
Not yet, I am still copying them.

You can imagine any situation. My example is probably not good because this copying process is actually very short and it cannot be extended for a long time but who knows? Sometimes the paper may be jammed or the cartridge does not give printing of good quality and you can say that you still busy with that process until the final result : I have copied the documents.

To be continued in my next article with new examples Instructor/ Trainer Alexander

ENGLISH FOR VIETNAMESE 3

So referring to my previous article I maintain that the best way to master a language is by juxtaposing or rather by opposing different grammar structures in meaningful short speech exchanges or very short dialogues simulating a real life situation.

The traditional “step by step” learning implies that you should single out a certain separate grammar structure and focus all your attention and efforts on this particular fact by making a lot of substitution drills and other exercises in order to achieve automatic skills and habits in identification and reproduction of this particular speech pattern in your practice.

I am sorry, I am not quite right, actually there are some textbooks which really carry these opposition exercises.

What I mean to say that these oppositions are not exactly adequate sometimes and their interpretation is either traditionally obsolete or not correct at all. Besides, these opposition drills may be very dull and do not encourage students to use their own imagination and independent ability to make up their own speech exchanges which could be interesting for them in their content, not only in its form.

Step by step method is also very useful, I cannot deny that, but combination of different steps in your own independent and motivated speech may be more efficient for students’ learning process.

I have already published my article on Modeling Dialogues, so I will not dwell on it now but rather continue the previous article theme on juxtaposition and opposition of different grammar facts in short speech exchanges which can be close to real life situations.

Do you agree that your motivation for learning a language may be really enhanced by using adequate speech patterns in your real life situations?

Unfortunately I cannot speak the Vietnamese language and so I am unable to give a very good equivalent in your language, my Chinese is much better but it does not matter either because everyone will probably agree that English will also do for typical life situations irrespective of our own preferences to express everything in our mother tongues.

My native language is Russian but in an international environment I’d rather prefer to use English if I meet someone with adequate understanding of the standard patterns and common expressions.

Irrespective of our native languages we all have the common human logic and our life experience in operating with some general categories like PROCESS, FINAL RESULT, HABITUAL ACTIVITIES, WISHFUL THINKING OF THE FUTURE, PROMISE, PLANNING, INTENTIONS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS, SPECIFICATION OF DETAILS and so on.

If we have the common knowledge of these categories then we will understand that any grammar book is based on these categories rather than on dull labels like PRESENT CONTINUOUS, PRESENT PERFECT, FUTURE INDEFINITE and all that stuff.

By the way all these grammar labels very often do not reflect the true nature of things, for example, I can agree that any future is really indefinite because an expression like “I will do it” rather represents PROMISE and modality than any indicative mood tense with its face value but the label PRESENT INDEFINITE really embarrasses me because any present is quite definite and in this case we’d better name it HABITUAL as opposed to the PROCESS usually referred to as CONTINUOUS.

This way or other, as a Russian saying goes – “One cannot throw away any line or any word in a song” – if a song has been sung in a traditional way for many years you cannot change it arbitrarily, otherwise you will be called “an impostor”.

On the other hand, there are many people now who remake old songs and they sound very funny and innovative.

We can also remake any old grammar and tailor it to our own interests. If such a remake can help us expedite and improve our learning process, why not?

How?

Very simple. We can use the old grammar labels but interpret them in a different way, filling them with a new content regarded from different angles. We can also oppose different structures to each other, different speech patterns.

I have written several articles in Russian on “Speech Patterns and Interactive Models” where I oppose some traditional grammar tenses like present continuous, present perfect, present indefinite, past indefinite, future indefinite and other tenses in an arbitrary and mixed way which depends on real life facts and can be changed according to your own preference.

I am sure that there should be no monopoly in Methodology and what really matters for any learning process is EFFICIENCY.

If new interpretation of traditional grammar facts helps students acquire any foreign language better and more efficiently – then go ahead!

In my next article I will dwell again upon the opposition of UNINTERRUPTED PROCESS (ING) against NEW IMPORTANT RESULT. Traditionally this is the opposition of PRESENT CONTINUOUS against PRESENT PERFECT. They will be accompanied by such words as STILL, YET, ALREADY.

To be continued Instructor/ Trainer Alexander Khodovets

English for the Vietnamese 2

HO DANG LAM GI? TAMEN ZAI GAN SHENME? WHAT ARE THEY DOING?

I am trying to fulfill my promise I gave to that girl at the reception desk in Vietnam’s Nha Trang hotel Tropicana, namely, to explain how we should learn another language.

To begin with, I am sure that it’s impossible to explain anything while teaching if you do not have any idea about the language your students use as their mother tongue.

What I mean is that if you teach English to the Chinese you should know at least a little of the Chinese structures, if you teach Russian to the Vietnamese you also should know a little of the Vietnamese structures.

Otherwise you will never reach anything.

What is essential in teaching a foreign language?

Any instructor or a trainer should be able to combine exactly a form and its meaning in at least two languages – the target language and the native language of the students.

Sometimes it is useful to combine three languages if your students previously studied it. The more, the better. However not too much, we should not overdo the things.

The grammatical words I combined in the headline are the equivalents – the Vietnamese DANG, the Chinese ZAI and the English ING.

Why?

Because now we are considering only one fact in the English grammar concerning the PROCESS.

When grammarians interpret this PROCESS with ING, they always try to emphasize that something is happening now, at the moment of speech.

Do you really believe in that?

What is really that “NOW”?

Well, for instance, I say that “I am taking a course in Vietnamese this week”, what do I mean by using the “ING”? Do I mean any “now”? And what is my “now”?

When I ask someone a question like “Are you still reading my book?”, do I mean that this someone is holding my book exactly now? May be that someone put that book away for a while and now is doing something else? However the process of reading has not been finished yet?

So what is the essential meaning of this ING?

Sometimes “NOW”, but not necessarily.

If you learn an isolated structure, it will not be quite clear for you.

If you learn a structure in opposition to another structure, it will be more clear.

By the way, when we are acquiring our mother tongue, either Russian or Vietnamese, we always use oppositions in our meanings, that is natural.

Any PROCESS is opposed to RESULT.

So, if we organize our process in English to results, than it will be easier to understand it.

Instead of single separate phrases like “Are you still packing the bag?”, “Are you still reading my book?”, “Are you still checking my homework”, “Are you still writing your composition?” and the like, we can combine these questions with other structures expressing either result, or no result.

For example:

Are you still packing the bag?
Yes, I am.

This exchange means that the process has not been finished yet.

Or:
Are you still packing the bag?
No, I am not. I have already packed it.

What does it mean? It means that the process has been finished.

Or:
Have you packed our bag yet?
Not yet, I am still packing it.

What does it mean? It means that the process has not been finished yet.

So what is the main meaning of the English ING contrasted to the Vietnamese DANG? Does the English ING mean that the process is happening exactly NOW?

No, the main meaning is that the process has not been finished yet and this meaning can be clearly seen only in opposition to HAVE + V + ED.

This is just the best way to learn any language, when you learn it in oppositions.

If the girl (If I am not mistaken, her name is Thuiy) at the reception desk in Tropicana Hotel in Nha Trang city will read this article and understand in what patterns and how to train her English, she will surely succeed in mastering this language.

Anyway, I will continue my explanation and extend my methods in the next article.

To be continued in my next article English – Vietnamese 3.

Instructor/ Trainer Alexander Khodovets

English for the Vietnamese

My wife and I have just been to Vietnam in Nha Trang city where we were taking our holiday in Tropicana hotel, a very comfortable one with very friendly and nice personnel. The only problem for us was their insufficient knowledge neither of Russian, nor English. Their English was probably better than Russian but I’d rather prefer the other way round because the major part of their guests including us are from Russia. I cannot say that there was a complete communication gap between Russian tourists and the personnel of Vietnam because any lack of information could be compensated by gestures, intonation and evident situations but it would be better for all of us if the Russian people could speak either a little Vietnamese or English and the Vietnamese knew a little Russian or English.

I think that the Russian language is difficult for the Vietnamese but I am dead sure that the Vietnamese language with its six tones will be a real stumbling block for Russians if they try to learn a little Vietnamese. And not only the tones, the spelling is also very difficult.

As a compromise we both (both the Russians and the Vietnamese) should choose English as an international language.

I know perfectly well from my own experience that there are some objective and subjective problems on the road to better English because I have been teaching Aviation English to pilots and cabin attendants for more than 12 years and I have often heard them complaining that English is alien to them, English is strange to their ears and they cannot accept it pragmatically as a very useful common means of communication and so on.

I have to admit that we perceive things not only pragmatically but also emotionally. We have seen a lot of films about the Second World War and very often associated the German speech as something very unpleasant and even threatening, like a real scarecrow. The language itself has nothing to do with that but emotions are emotions, you cannot help it.

As for the Vietnamese people who could have also had their prejudice against English – I do not know. At any rate I have met only tolerant, calm, polite people in Vietnam who aspire towards better education which can help their economics.

There are also many people in Russia who aspire towards the same values.

So if we cast away any prejudices against any language and accept them only pragmatically as a very useful means of communication then we should improve our knowledge.

If we take such a decision that we definitely should learn at least one foreign language then we forget about any emotions and start looking for some useful methods and techniques which can help us to acquire a language.

There are many objective difficulties in this respect because languages have different structures and even different physiological features. One Vietnamese youngster at the reception desk in Tropicana was trying to master Russian sounds and asked me some questions how to pronounce this or that word but it was difficult because these Russian sounds were missing in the Vietnamese language. Sounds like hard SH or soft SH or Z and some other sounds were not perceived by him neither acoustically nor physiologically, so it demands training.

I asked very often my pilot students such questions – well, you are great patriots and you maintain that you love only your native mother tongue and you do not accept any other language, that’s all right, but imagine such a situation when a student either from India or from Vietnam will ask you to teach him or her your own native Russian language which you so sincerely adore then what will you do and how will you help them? Instead of a reply they only shrugged their shoulders because it is really a very difficult matter. Even if you know your mother tongue perfectly it does not mean you can teach a foreign student.

This is a matter of methods and techniques. I tried to explain to some Vietnamese girl at the reception desk how to master and improve her English using some typological features of the Vietnamese language and the English language but I will try to explain everything in detail in my next article.

To be continued Teacher/trainer Alexander Khodovets

АНАЛИЗ И БУКВАЛИЗМ

Самый эффективный способ изучения любого иностранного языка — это аналитический метод с буквальным переводом каждого смыслового звена на русский язык. При изучении языка нам не нужен «красивый» перевод, нам нужен дословный перевод.

Почему?

Великий и могучий английский язык, откровенно говоря, мне уже всю плешь проел, поэтому приведу пример из турецкого языка. Какая нам разница, что мы анализируем, главное все понять в системе.

Возьму для примера типологему на возможность или невозможность выполнения каких-либо действий при определенных условиях, проще говоря, условные предложения с союзом «если».
Отрицание в русском варианте выражено сочетанием «если не». Вот я прочитал фразу на турецком языке:

gelemeyeceksem гелемэйеджексэм

Что она означает? Беру турецкий грамматический справочник и начинаю анализировать все составляющие аффиксы данной фразы. Нахожу глагольный корень «gel», он означает «приходить». Продолжаю дальше делить фразу на грамматические составляющие и получаю вот такой результат деления:

gel – e – me – yecek – se – m

Определив значение каждого аффикса, делаю дословный перевод на русский:

приходить — мочь — нет — буду — если — я, поскольку именно в таком порядке строится турецкая фраза: гель — приходить, э — мочь, мэ — нет, йеджек — будущее время, сэ — если, м — окончание для «я».

Как будет звучать полноценный перевод этой фразы на русский язык? Конечно же, как «Если я не смогу прийти…».

Но для усвоения самой грамматической структуры турецкого языка мне нужен именно дословный перевод, чтобы следуя порядку расположения турецких аффиксов строить самостоятельно аналогичные фразы с другими глагольными корням.

Конечно, такой анализ мне нужен только в том случае, если я собираюсь выучить турецкий язык для полноценного общения с турками на их родном языке. Тогда я ставлю себе задачу на основе данной или другой грамматической модели натренировать ее использование до автоматизма с подстановкой разных глагольных корней, но сохранением буквальной формы этой модели, поскольку именно в таком виде ваши высказывания будут понятны туркам.

То же самое относительно других языков — если вы изучаете английский, то нужен дословный буквальный перевод с анализом всех составляющих и четким воспроизведением именно английского порядка слов до полного автоматизма.

Отметьте, кстати, важную роль глаголов для тренировки, подстановки, наполнения грамматической модели разными вариантами.

Почему я взял в качестве примера турецкий язык? Да потому что это уникальный язык в плане строгого построения предложений по одной и той же схеме. Только наращивай аффиксы в строгой последовательности и все пойдет как по математической формуле.

С другими языками такой номер не всегда проходит, они отнюдь не всегда напоминают математические формулы, у них очень много вариантов и исключений, которые надо запоминать.

Тем не менее, буквальный, дословный и формальный анализ, раскладывание всех элементов по полочкам необходимы при изучении любого языка.

Принцип «угадай-ка» здесь не годится.

Только анализ, детальный разбор предложений и буквализм.

Буквализм в положительном смысле этого слова.

Бывший преподаватель: А.П. Ходовец