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I learned Italian grammar from organic chemistry

30/10/2015

 
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When I ventured tentatively into the challenge of teaching language classes to adults – after many years teaching science, mostly to boys in secondary schools – I found that one major difference between the two species of students was that adults were not afraid to share their perceived, and often unfounded, inadequacies.

My first adult class was with a group of colleagues who wanted to learn Italian. We met faithfully every Wednesday evening in a rather dimly lit room, to plough through the basic vocabulary required to meet, greet and order drinks, eventually moving on to grammar.

A conversation I had with one of my very first students, a Physics and Chemistry teacher, has stayed with me. She declared that she hadn’t a clue when it came to Italian verbs. “But you can explain Organic Chemistry!” I replied, somewhat frustrated by her self-deprecation.

For me, learning verb tables is very similar to learning nomenclature and structural formulae in hydrocarbons, alcohols and carboxylic acids. As a language student, I would sit for hours memorising pages of verbs from my old, pocket-sized edition of Harrap Italian Verbs, first published in 1990 – my lifeline in those days. On each page there's a new verb, allowing me to take them one at a time and memorise the tenses: present, passato prossimo, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive. Other verbs then follow suit. Wonderful! This task might seem tedious, but I’ve always loved the highly structured, sheer logic of Italian grammar.

Take, for example, verb table number 138 – the verb parlare, in the present tense. This is a regular Italian verb and many others follow the same structure; to learn it is, effectively, to learn dozens and dozens.

Here is the verb stem:
Parl

You then add the ending appropriate to the person:
Parl -o                        I speak
Parl -i                          You speak
Parl -iamo                 We speak

Then, to go into, say, the imperfect tense, you simply take the same stem and add an alternative set of endings:
Parl -avo                    I was speaking
Parl -avi                     You were speaking
Parl -avamo              We were speaking
 
Now, look at the alkanes – hydrocarbons (compounds containing Carbon and Hydrogen only) with Carbon atoms joined by single covalent bonds. These are the compounds burned in fuel tanks in cars, trains and aircraft; in the case of the large molecular mass versions, they are used as petroleum jelly to support medication, or as candlewax.

You have the “verb” stem:
-ane

Then you have the prefixes, which simply depend on the number of Carbon atoms:
Meth -ane                  One Carbon atom
Eth -ane                     Two Carbon atoms
Prop -ane                  Three Carbon atoms

If you then add in one Oxygen atom and one Hydrogen atom, arranged in the right way, the compound becomes an alcohol. The “verb” stem for these compounds becomes:
-ol

Then, adding the prefixes:
Meth -anol                 One Carbon atom
Eth -anol                    Two Carbon atoms
Prop -anol                Three Carbon atoms

Isn’t a chemical formula so like a verb? The similarities between Italian grammar and organic chemistry are striking, and both will appeal to anyone with a mind that enjoys orderliness and rarely-broken rules in learning. Many seemingly unrelated subjects are more alike than we realise, and we must surely be constantly and unconsciously transferring skills acquired in learning one thing to a later pursuit of another.

Of course, many would argue that the rote learning of grammar is a dry and demotivating way to learn a second language, especially for children. Plenty of teachers would advocate a less structured approach, based on dialogues, scenarios, or learning in chunks – all of which can be great fun. My approach was simply a matter of personal preference. The Frankfurt International School's guide to learning English as a second language outlines many other learning styles people can use.

​My point is that to all those who would love to learn a second language but don’t think they can, I would say don’t give up. Find out your particular learning style, whether it's listening, writing, reading, repetition or even singing, and have a go.​

Endangered languages: I admire Catalan for its determination to survive

1/10/2015

 
The possibility of the eventual extinction of languages now deemed to be old, dying or obsolete is something that has often worried me. In spite of my obvious passion for translation I would lament the loss of subtlety of meaning in literature, the rhyming sentences and rhythmic phrases in poetry that would surely disappear if only ever to be read in languages other than the original.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of languages today, but many are under threat. UNESCO identifies four levels of risk: vulnerable, definitely endangered, severely endangered and critically endangered. The number of languages appearing on this list, even just in Europe, is alarming. If regional dialects are included it is even higher. Yiddish and Romani, for example, are listed as definitely endangered, while West Flemish is listed as vulnerable, despite the fact that all three are still spoken in more than ten countries. In the UK, Cornish is listed as critically endangered and Welsh as vulnerable.

One language which might easily have found its way onto that list - but happily hasn’t - is Catalan. Having recently returned from a visit to the Pyrenees, I was fortunate enough to hear this language spoken by passers-by when walking in the mountains. Catalan is not a lost or dying language, nor is it merely a dialect of French or Spanish, as some people mistakenly believe. It is very much alive, in spite of the best efforts of those who have tried to extinguish it.

Dating back to the 9th century in the Pyrenees, and once extensively spoken in the Mediterranean part of Europe, the Catalan language has suffered multiple attacks. It was banned on two occasions: once in the 18th century when Northern Catalonia became part of France, and later in the 20th century under the Franco dictatorship between 1939 and 1975. In spite of this, there are those who have tenaciously held on.

Catalonia now forms a triangular-shaped area in north-eastern Spain. The autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, spends money on education and media to promote the language, and schoolchildren have most of their lessons in Catalan. The community is admirably bilingual, while the population of neighbouring Andorra is trilingual, with Spanish, French and Catalan being spoken. Catalan is also the national and official language of Andorra.

As a language, Catalan has flavours of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, but there are differences in lexis, grammar and pronunciation with all of these. For historical reasons, there is also a French Catalan, and a Spanish Catalan, with marked differences between the two. There are a few similarities between English and the Catalan spoken in Spain, but barely any between English and French Catalan. In Barcelona, for example, the word for curtain is “cortina”, while the French Catalan word is “rideu”. However, on both sides of the Pyrenees the word for cauliflower is “col i flor”.

I admire Catalan for its tenacity, and hope its chequered history will inspire others fighting for the survival of their language.

    Author

    I am a French-to-English and Italian-to-English translator. This blog is inspired by my experiences translating and my passion for science, languages, education and fundraising for charities.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

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