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.

Slang and Jargon: What are they?

Jargon is used in Medicine.

When we think in a group of words used by a single community of people we tend to think on Slang. However, we have to know how to establish differences between slang and jargon or specialist language. The main difference is their formality and usage. 


Jargon can be easily defined as a group of words from a determined group of people, usually related to their work (Medicine, construction, cooking, etc). This words are formal and have meanings known by all the people of a group, and are needed to develop their work.


In the other hand, Slang is also a group of words from a group of persons, but it's informal and it's more related to social differences (Age, social class, location, etc). Slang may be used by gangs or thieves to hide their communication, or in chats to write words shorter and faster. 


According to Dictionary.com


Jargon: The vocabulary, peculiar to a particular trade, profession, or group.
Slang: Very informal usage in vocabulary and idiom that is characteristically more metaphorical, playful, elliptical,vivid, and ephemeral than ordinary language.

Slang may difficult communication. 

Debate: eBooks vs Paper Books

A Paper Book.

In the last years a new way of reading appeared: The eBooks. Some devices as the Kindle or iPad born with the objective to change the way people bought and read books. In our class, we decided to discuss this topic in a debate.


I worked with Mr. Oporto and Mr. Kitzing and we were against eBooks, while the opposite team defended this type of books (Mr. Gré, Mr. Barriga and Mr. Núñez). Our arguments where based on the feelings that a paper book has (Not just letters, but an odor, color, texture, pages, etc), in their biodegradable material and in the vision problems a kindle may bring. While the other team focusses on the supposed cheapness of the Kindle, it's portability and it's easy way to get books.


Also, both teams exposed about prices. It's very difficult to define which is cheaper (paper books or ebooks), because it depends on each book's price. In some cases there are no big differences (for example, Harry Potter books have almost the same price in both versions in Amazon.com), while others may present huge differences in their prices.

Sony's eBook.

In my opinion, eBooks will probably grow in popularity, but paper books will never disappear. Also, the biggest concern about eBooks is their price: The electronic device costs over $100 US and virtual books aren't that cheap compared to paper ones. Also, you need internet connection, which is another problem in the distribution of this products. 


We can make a good comparison between books and music. Nowadays we have iTunes and other plataforms where we can buy and download music easily. However, people keeps buying CD's and Vinyls. This is because, a book or an album are not just music or letters, they are collectable objects!

Thoughts about "The Catcher in the Rye"

The Catcher in the Rye.

The Catcher in the Rye... What a revolutionary book. Well, in this entry I will be sharing some thoughts about an extract from "The Catcher in the Rye". Luckily, I had the chance to read this book last years, so I can easily put this extract in context and compare it with the story of Holden Caulfield.

J.D. Salinger's 

The Catcher in the Rye

(excerpt)

"Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead?"

Once I read this extract, different ideas come to my mind. The first thing that impressed me is the relaxed way of thinking that Caulfield has; He doesn't care about his body once he dies, he just want someone to throw it to a river or anywhere else. He says he doesn't want to end in a cemetery, nor wants flowers in his grave. At first, what Holden says seems to be very logic, I mean, do flowers do you any good when you are dead? No, they don't. But, if I go further, I don't think Holden says this because he is just a logic person, but also because he doesn't share most people values. By this I mean that, for example, he is not catholic, furthermore, he doesn't like them, so he doesn't give the importance to a cemetery that believers do. He is very rational, but he doesn't understand emotions very well. Also, his thought is very selfish, because when your familiars go and put some flowers in your grave, they remember you and pray for you. Another thing that may influence in Caulfield's anti-cemetery idea is the death of his young brother Allie. Caulfield, as a depressive young man, feels that nothing will bring his brother back. He could put tons of flowers in Allie's grave, but he will not return to life. This is something that, in my opinion, really affects the way he sees death.

The importance of this texts is that it shows us a different view about life and death. It expresses the way of thinking of a depressive, lonely and problematic young man that lived the troubles that the Cold War brought to the American society.

Analyzing an Image!

I have shown how to analyze texts, but in this entry I'll talk about Images and Pictures. Can we analyze them? Of course! To do so, we must go deep into the image. We can't just analyze what it shows, but the message that the image has hidden; that's what differentiates a Critical Thinker! To show this, I'll be analyzing the following image.

With a simple view, we see a man without his hands, and a child helping him to fasten his T-shirt. Also, both of them have black skin. But, as critical thinkers, we must go deeper. This image makes me imagine the child saying "We can do it". In my opinion, this image was made to motivate black people to solve their problems by themselves, because they can help each other and they can do things independently, without the help of anyone. Also, it deposits hope in the future generations of africans, because the child is helping the adult, not the other way round.