Oral Presentation: Using Jargon!

Last week we had to present in front of our class and perform a situation created by us where jargon was used. The idea was to show that regular people can't understand jargon at all. I worked with Mr. Macchiavello and Mr Oporto, and we decided to show an interview made after a warterpolo match. It was  supposed that their team had lost the national finals of waterpolo, and I had to interview them for the T.V.

By using words as drivers, wings, two-three, center forward, two four, and others, it seemed that our classmates couldn't understand what the waterpolo players were trying to say. Also, we had a great time watching others presentations, identifying their jargons and laughing about funny situations.

In my opinion, working in oral activities (including debates) is really good to understand the topics we are learning. I think the best way to learn is by the experience, specially if it's about something as common as language.

Some types of Jargon!

In one of my latest entries I talked about Jargon and Argot. In this one, I will present some of the specific jargons that we've learnt in our classes.

• Scientific Language: It refers to all the words used in medicine and health care. It includes a lot of strange words regular people doesn't know, such as illness' names and instruments' names. It's highly technical.
• Legal Language: It is the language used by lawyers and people related to legal processes. It must be precise and detailed, avoiding ambiguities, as a slight change in language may vary in the decision of a case.
• Sports Language: It is composed by different words used in sports, which commonly are used to explain the game, call the positions, and similar. In Rugby, for example, we can find words like Wing, Scrum, Line-out, Full Back, 2nd row, and a lot more.

This three are the most common jargons that we know, but there are a lot others. Technology, for example, also have a lot of specific words.

Video: Eleven Languages Speaker!

Many people in the world try to learn a second language to have better opportunities in the future, some will learn a third language, but do you imagine a man who speaks in 11 languages?

Now, to clear up what the video says, I'll answer some questions about this topic.

1. How many languages does Alex speak?

He speaks 11 languages, and he will probably learn more.

2. Does context help in the process of acquiring a new language?

Of course context helps, if you hear a language every day is much easier to learn it compared to someone who never hears it.

3. Are there any languages that have similar pronunciation?

According to Alex, Spanish pronunciation is similar to the greek's one. Also, Dutch and Afrikaans have some common sounds.

4. Which of the languages spoken by Alex seem more colloquial?

Afrikaans.

5. Is class a more important factor in language variation than geography?

Class can vary from formal to informal or slang, but geography completely changes to different languages, that's why geography is a more important factor.

6. Do you think, the ability of learning a language is innate or learned?

The ability is innate, but you must learn languages. In other words, you have the mental and physical faculties to use language, but you have to learn it first.

7. According to you, are some languages more or less difficult  to learn than others? Talk about your own experience.

I think that the difficulty of a language mainly depends on the languages you already know, because some languages with common roots can have similar structures. Also, some languages have more complex structures (Spanish, for example, has many verbs forms), while others have easier ones. In my own experience, I learnt a bit of Mandarin Chinese. I thought it will be almost impossible to learn it, but I found that it's not that complex at all.