San Francisco

Guess what? I am traveling to Frisco tomorrow Tuesday. I have been away from the States close to a year and I am looking forward to visit this city. I'll keep my eyes peeled and I'll cock my ears. Of course, I suffer from travelphobia, like Sigmund Freud, so I'll have to brace up and grin and bear it! I'll keep in touch from there. Oh, yes, keep an eye out for El Cultural, El Mundo, next Thursday, in Madrid, which will carry an interview about my recent Diccionario sohez.

Freedom of Language Act

I am a -firm- believer in "freedom of language" which is the shirttail cousin of Freedom of Speech. This freedom affords us the liberty (catch the play on words?) of expressing our convictions, ideas, attitudes... any old way, without regard to formal rules that restrict our language liberty. The old rules of grammar and spelling attack the basic principle of our freedom of language, which is protected, believe it or not, by the Constitution, First Amendment, under Freedom of Speech.
The U.S. Embassy in Madrid sends me -at my request- an electronic Newsletter "Zoom in on the USA, a monthly publication of the USA Mission", put together to help those interested in the US and the English language. Unfortunately I always detect spelling mistakes -not typos- and grammatical and syntactical "faux pas". And as I am very naïve -and a bit foolish- I have pointed this out to them, to those who write it. To no avail, 'cause I guess that the composers have entrenched themselves behind the proposed "Freedom of Language Act", draft in the works by Congress to protect the ignorant, which -I am told- says: "Any government official is free to write the English language in any form and maner (sic) that his/her education, or lack of it, dictates. Thus spelling idiosyncracies, grammatical and syntactical deviations will not constitutte (sic) a transgression. No member of the Government or fereign (sic) service will ever be called to order for using broken English..." And so on and so forth.
If I were a pedant I would say: "O tempora, o mores!"
The Social Security Administration is elated by the news of the proposed Act as they are cut from the same cloth.
But perhaps this Freedom of Language Act -which is my idea and intended as a mild joke- may not be necessary: Common Law protects, aids and abets the new usage and peculiarities of expression.
This may be just a question of age, but I regret the new (?) language liberties and long for the old times... Oh, I believe in yesterday...
(NB. Let me add, just in case, that the Government of Spain is considering a "Real Decreto de Libertad del Idioma" to protect everybody.)

Unialphabet and Bilingual Dictionaries

In checking words in bilingual dictionaries, English-Spanish and Spanish-English, for example, I have always opened the wrong part, the wrong language. It is true that usually I handle three or four dictionaries at the same time. I though this was perhaps my bad luck as it is a fifty-fifty proposition. But ther is no order or system: some have English first, others Spanish first, English second.
I decided to solve the problem and took the bull by the horns -toreador style- and as there is no reason for dividing a dictionary in two parts, I invented -if we can call it that- the Unialphabet system of classification. Why not one dictionary blending blending both languages and using one alphabet? Instead of two different dictionaries in one volume. This way we just open the bilingual wordbook and go straight to the term we want to check. No problems, no mistakes, no wasting of time.
So far I have used this system in two of my dictionaries: "A Spanish and English Dictionary of Idioms" and "The New Dictionary of Current Sayings and Proverbs, Spanish and English", where Dr. John Simpson, Editor in Chief of the Oxford English Dictionary says in his Foreword: "I shall be interested to see what success the present editor has with his unialphabetical system. As far as I am aware, it is an innovation in bilingual paroemology (as pedants call proverb study). Any system which forces information on us in a new way is worthy of consideration. Advances in knowledge come from breaking the traditional bounds and seeing links where they have not been recognized before."

QUICK!!!

Quick, we must make New year's resolutions. The New Year is just around the corner! Plans, resolutions, resolves, determinations, are the motor of our future and we cannot do without them... The first one I'm thinking about is: to stop being a procrastinator. But I've been one for so long it's going to take a lot of effort and might on my part to get rid of this worm that destroys the mind. And: I won't lose my temper. I won't feel sad. I won't despair. I won't think about all the mistakes I've made, and the foolish things I've done in my life. And I'll try to enjoy every moment of the year ahead. A tall order indeed!
Happy New Year, y'all!

Diccionario sohez

For those who are fond of trivia: Larousse published in 2000 my Gran diccionario del argot: el sohez. In 2002 McGraw-Hill published the US edition with the title McGraw-Hill diccionario del argot: el sohez. And now Ediciones del Serbal will publish in February 2007 the new, updated and corrected edition of Diccionario sohez. This definitive edition of Spanish slang has over 9000 entries and 23000 citations from both sides of the Atlantic (from books, newspapers and magazines). The lexicographical presentation of this new edition is an improvement on the previous ones. I am very proud of it.

A good teacher is a joy forever

It's sad to say, but most teachers have no dedication and go into the classroom as if they were entering a lion's cage. They dislike or even hate their students and seldom prepare the class. A truly sorry situation. But there are many exceptions, naturally, and I know of one dedicated and loving teacher: Laura Lynne, and I want to mention her here in thankfulness for what she has taught me along the way, and in so many ways. Teaching is not only delivered in the classroom, and not always comes from one's elders. So, thank you very much indeed.

Lorraine C. Ladish

I have followed her writing career for years and admire her quest for perfection, writing and offering books that truly touch, reach and help people. That is no small feat. It seems she receives letters and e-mails from her readers thanking her for her help. My readers never write to me. But when people take the trouble to let a writer know how thankful they are, that certainly means something, especially from Spaniards who are more given to criticize and blame than praise. And her novels are very intriguing, different and a joy to read. I thought I would let you know.

Fernando Arrabal

Fernando Arrabal was just named "Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur" in Paris. And I am very, very happy about it because it says a lot about the standing of France and Arrabal, both. Great country and great writer. Also because we correspond now and started doing so years ago when I was teaching at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. and he was almost a nobody (although he was mentioned by Martin Esslin in his "The Theater of the Absurd", a must). Congratulations Monsieur Arrabal... happy to hear about it.

Experts and know-it-alls

One feature I just love about the character of Spaniards is that they know about everything, no matter what. You name it: language, literature, science, law, the US., Outer Mongolia... so much so that one seldom hears "I don't know". Everybody knows, more and better... This is, of course, a far cry from the attitude adopted by Americans who are willing to admit their ignorance and are ready to learn. Sometimes -often- the so-called expert is not qualified with a solid background, but that is irrelevant here. But I am not complaining -I try not to be a complainer or a blamer- quite the contrary, it's wonderful and a blessing to have so many walking encyclopedias around. No need to visit libraries, which is a waste of time... (here). There are experts galore. Amando de Miguel is one such and comes to mind because not only does he speak English "perfectly" (whatever that means), he also pontificates about language although he says he teaches sociology. I envy these people because, in my case, I know less and less as I grow older and the time will come -soon, I am afraid- when I will be sure of nothing at all.

Books, Reading and hard Facts

Reading a book per week is quite a feat, as most people never ever get to do that, whatever they might say to the contrary. So, here come the facts: One book per week makes 52 books per year. In 10 years 520... In 20 years 1,040 ONLY... That means that if we read 1 novel per week -and that's a lot of reading, let me tell you- in 20 years we can only boast of 1,040 titles read, and understood, let us hope. And we must keep up with the great works of literature of all time; the books that must be read by all educated people: titles by Cervantes, Cicero, Tolstoy, Plato, Baroja, Molière, Shakespeare, Dante, Goethe... So, how many can we actually read in a lifetime? And read we must, or else we run the risk of living in the dark, in the night of ignorance. My conclusion is that we cannot spend our time diddling around and reading useless books produced by dubious writers and must recourse instead to what we know can teach us something. And as Jorge Santayana said in Three Philosphical Poets: "The only purpose in possessing great works of literature lies in what they can help us to become". (I am quoting from memory.) We should reflect on this.

Might be of interest

I was just musing that this address might be of interest:
www.ed-serbal.es/relacionados.asp?cadena=Delfín Carbonell Basset
That's all for today.

The Words we Need

Instead of giving us the words we need, bilingual dictionaries include words we don't know in either language, and thus we will never use, or obsolete vocabulary belonging to an era gone (and lost forever) like "trébedes", trivets, "ordenancista", martinet, and such... Of course this is because the team of compilers copy old dictionaries or, worse still, they think the value of a wordbook rests on its thickness -the fatter, the better-, but, of course, this is not so. And the team does not address itself to solving problems like "tutear", "amiguismo"... but include a word in English, but not in Spanish and so on. The most modern dictionaries put in irrelevant information alien to a book of this nature, like the history of certain customs (Halloween, boxing day) which properly belong elsewhere. I'll go into this again in a few days.

Children and questions

Children are for ever asking questions... And then one day, they start giving answers to parents' questions... Hm. Of course, of course....

My workplace

I am a team of one. I compile my dictionaries wherever and whenever I can. The world is my workplace. Here I am at Atocha train station in Madrid, holding one of my books.

On Language and Culture: October 2006

On Language and Culture: October 2006
Did you know that the Velázquez Sp. and Eng. dictionary was originally published in 1852? And it's still being sold... And the Martinez Amador, first published in 1925 is still in bookstores... Ditto for the Cuyás and Williams... They are all basically worthless now. So beware of bilingual dictionaries!! Make sure you find the first date of publication before putting your money on the counter.

On Language and Culture

Well, I guess I am hooked, finally... and have decided to launch my ideas on the internet. Ideas about language and culture, English and Spanish. We'll see... Veremos. Todo se andará.