Category: General Languages

Posted on

Montserrat Caballé: an Extremely Brief Profile of an Operatic Powerhouse

A black-and-white photograph of Montserrat Caballé, circa 1969.

Cada generación tiene sus mitos, y en el mundo de la ópera … hablar de Montserrat Caballé … es hablar de una auténtica leyenda.

Every generation has its myths, and in the world of opera … to speak of Montserrat Caballé … is to speak of a true legend. [1, translated from Spanish by me]

With a rafter-shaking voice, Caballé was one of a small handful of opera singers whose fame extended out beyond the world of opera into the public sphere. Born in Barcelona in 1933, she broke out in 1965 at Carnegie Hall to wide-ranging operatic acclaim. [1]

Continue Reading
Posted on

Chatting with Miriam

A picture of Miriam smiling. She is in front of a railing, overlooking a city, underneath a high grey sky.

I interviewed Miriam, a Russian tutor here at Reed. You can visit her drop-in tutoring hours on Thursdays from 6-8 PM in the Language Lab.

Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Miriam, otherwise known as Masha (in Russian); that name was given to me on my first day at Reed. I’m a senior Russian major, and I’m the Russian House HA (I’ve lived in the Russian house for three years (including this year)). I came in as a linguistics major, but I switched to Russian when I fell in love with it.

Continue reading
Posted on

Learning Latin with Jesse!

Today we’re chatting with Jesse, resident Latin tutor extraordinaire! From graffiti and translation to declensions and puns, Jesse describes the Latin tutor life at Reed. 

H: Could you say a few things about yourself (major, interests, etc.) and how long you’ve been studying your language? 

J: I am a Comp Lit major, and a Latin minor. I have been taking Latin since I started at Reed, and I love learning other languages. It’s so enjoyable to learn how a language works. I guess I should mention I’m from Philadelphia. I took French in high school, which is actually part of the reason I ended up taking Latin here; I’d never taken Latin before Reed, it wasn’t offered at my high school. My OWL recommended it to me as the intersection between history, English, and literature.

H: You said you enjoy learning other languages; are there any in particular you have in mind? 

J: I’ve studied Italian, which I will be forever mournful is not taught at Reed. 

H: How did you start to learn your language? 

J: First semester Latin at Reed was very technical,  and very different from learning any other language. I had never learned a language with declensions or Subject – Object – Verb order before, and I really began to enjoy it. It was a little bit of a puzzle. 

H: What resources would you recommend to students? 

J: I have two sets of recommendations: 1) Reed is a lot of grammar and fast — I would say use Anki for digital flashcards,  and Logeion, which is an online compilation of 7 Latin dictionaries.  2) Reading adapted Latin texts at an appropriate level. I understand why there’s not as much of that when taking Latin as compared to other language courses here; that’s the difference between teaching ancient & modern at Reed. But I would say it’s very beneficial.  

H: Do you have a favourite work in your language? 

J: I was actually dreading this question. For my all-time favorite, I would say Ovid’s Metamorphoses —  it’s confusing, it’s violent, it’s hard to make good sense of, it’s very difficult all around. Maybe that’s why I like it so much. But I suppose the work that I enjoyed the most was Catullus 63; it’s a tender poem, and different from a lot of his other works. 

H: What’s something you find interesting about your language? It could be a favorite word, grammar concept, or anything else.

J: I found Latin graffiti in Pompeii very interesting, and they teach some of it in Latin 101. Looking at the graffiti for the first time is like going from reading only Shakespeare to jumping on Twitter — you can actually see Latin as emerging from individuals, and not as just a dead construct or a set of rules. As for a favorite word, I guess I’ll say quaecumque; it means whichever, but it sounds ridiculous, and I guess that’s enough for me.

(Many good Latin jokes were exchanged)

H: What has your experience been like as a tutor? 

J: It’s really nice, actually. I’ve really enjoyed helping students. I’m also  the department assistant, so I get to feel nostalgia for being in the classroom again. When I took Latin 111, I really thought I would be trapped in the forest of the Latin textbook forever—no light, no way out, about to die—but now I’m out, so I can look back on it fondly.

H: What current class are you enjoying the most? 

J: Right now, I would say Russian 370, Literary Translation with Ivan Sokolov  — it’s an amazing class. The works that we study are just fascinating. We’re looking at a lot of interesting theorists and works, and we get to work on our own projects. 

H: That sounds wonderful. I just wanted to mention that you’ve been very helpful for me as well as other students in finding Latin resources, and I’ve really enjoyed talking to you.

If you would like to talk to Jesse in person, swing by the Language Lab any old Wednesday from 6-8 pm when he’s tutoring Latin.

Posted on

Daniel Hahn’s “If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation” and My Profit On’t

My personal favorite jacket for the book; would you say these people are about to “kiss by th’book”?

Surprising as it may sound for someone who is in the ongoing process of learning 4 different languages (yes, I’m counting my native English) and “plays o’ th’ viol-de-gamboys” (that’s Twelfth Night for you), I’ve always been daunted by the prospect of learning individual characteristics of a language that I’m not currently studying. I’ve had to memorize the trees before I can even start looking at the forest. So when I saw the latest addition to my local library’s catalogue, Daniel Hahn’s If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation, I was intrigued and yet daunted. We’re old buds, the Bard and I, and I wanted to hear him speak in other tongues; but how was I supposed to appreciate the travails of translating Shakespeare into Turkish? One curious look later, and I was standing next to the bookstand reading about how to treat Mark Antony’s prophecy that the spirit of Caesar will “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war” (Julius Caesar 3.1. 280), when the nearest equivalent to the exclamation “havoc” in Portuguese is devastaçao, a word with an inconveniently large syllable count for a twelve-syllable sentence.

As a native Portuguese speaker and professional translator, Hahn may appreciate Antony’s use of matança in that particular translation, but he doesn’t know most of the featured languages, so he has to rely mostly on his colleagues from around the world and linguistic detective work such as noticing visual and vocal patterns in the translated text to understand and enjoy the translations. Since Hahn isn’t telling one story, each chapter is relatively stand-alone, only connected by how they bring up some of the literary, linguistic, and social components that make Shakespeare, well, Shakespeare. Each section has a certain topic, such as verse, alliteration, metaphor, rhyme, or humor, and each topic is allocated several examples from distinct languages. Hahn shares corresponding anecdotes, translation histories, and personal opinions on relevant topics in his field such as ‘fidelity’, ‘“literal” translation’, and of course, what kind of process translation really is.

In particular, I feel like his analogy of translation (itself a borrowed analogy), as a body that renews millions of cells over so and so many years’ time while remaining the same creature, is one that cuts to the quick of debates over the goal of translating creative literature. An instruction manual may be appropriately reduced to simply informing about a subject, but a play may involve poetry or prose, comedy or tragedy, songs and music, and a bevy of spoken and embodied devices that may shun even giving information at all for the sake of an effect. Honoring the writer/playwright involves recognizing what choices were made to achieve that effect and recreating them in the target language. And sometimes, in the case of works in Early Modern English, the target language is Modern English!

But I can’t cover all of the points Hahn makes, so I highly recommend you read his book and learn a little more about translation, especially if you enjoy Shakespeare’s plays or sonnets. Even if you find the Bard hard to understand or enjoy, I would still say check it out. Hahn’s writing is really approachable, and he doesn’t usually expect the reader to know the entire scene, play, or stanza that he covers, just as he doesn’t expect you to recognize all of the languages at play. Whether you go through the whole book front to cover or flip to a random chapter like I did, I’m sure you can delight in multicultural, multilingual Shakespeare.

Posted on

Meet Reed!

We asked Reed, our beloved Spanish tutor, a couple of questions about language acquisition, how he came to become a tutor and what kind of advice he would give for beginner students.

  1. When did your interest in your language start? 

My first language is Spanish! Both of my parents are from Argentina, and my mom is a Spanish teacher, so there was no way for me to get out of learning Spanish.

2. How did you decide to become a tutor?

I was a tutor in high school, and I really enjoyed getting to help other students. Additionally, I really enjoy a lot of the readings and movies watched for Spanish classes here, and it’s fun to get to talk about with other students.

3. What’s your favorite/heart-warming memory about either being a tutor or learning your language of interest? 

It’s always fun when you get to see a student have that ‘aha!’ moment, where everything suddenly clicks. Also to hear other people like your favorite authors or movies!

4. What advice would you give to folks who are just starting to learn the language you’re tutoring?

Spanish is a language made up of a lot of rules and grammar that we don’t have in English! That’s part of the fun. Focusing on grammar can be a bit taxing sometimes, but it’s such a representative way of how the language works and how people express themselves, it’s worth it in the end.

5. Favorite/fun fact about the language you’re tutoring?

Spanish has over 15 past tenses, future tenses that don’t exist in English, and a bunch of other ‘modes’ that make the language a lot more expressive than English. Also, it’s more compact. Verb can carry a lot of meaning beyond just the action that is being done. It can carry the tense, who is doing the action, and who is receiving the action

Reed tutors Spanish every Wednesday from 6-8pm! Come by to learn, do homework or simply chat 🙂

Posted on

Fall music must-listens!

Despite rising temperatures and rather sunny days, LangLabbies are still feeling the fall spirit approaching! In honor of our upcoming event we decided to share some of music recommendations that we believe would amplify your fall and help unwind from these academic routines

  1. Send the pain below (Chevelle)

A traditional post-grunge and alternative metal, anything rock has become the fall anthem with its gloomy undertones yet loud lyrics. “Send the pain below” is undoubtedly Chevelle’s most beloved song, so it’s a must to give it a try!

2. Ozin Gana (Moldanazar)

A soft, lyrical and bone-crushing melody that’s is the total opposite of most songs in this list but perhaps it’s exactly what we all need in this cold weather full of dark days. A perfect song for slow mornings or cozy nights with barely noticeable notes of Turkic vocals.

3. Прочь из моей головы (Сплин)

The anthem of post-modern Russian rock that dominated the late 2000s and became a cult classic for all listeners of post-Soviet countries. The uncertainty of one’s future mixed in with a strong sense of hope and full acceptance and embracement of the state of the country is what made “Прочь из моей головы” such a popular hit for most teenagers and young adults of the former-USSR.

4. CORALINE (Måneskin)

Do we even need an explanation? It’s Måneskin! Just go ahead and play it.

5. La llorona (Chavela Vargas)

La llorona is the most famous Hispanic folklore character. If you want to learn more about it (in Spanish!) come to our event on October 8th from 6-8pm! More details in the next blog post!

Posted on

Let’s Get Spooky!

Remember: Feed the lantern!

Are you terrified of the encroaching darkness? Or perhaps you find Fall Break a week too long to wait for fun?

Then come on down to the Language Lab for our Spooky Craft Night!
Join your fellow peers and LangLabbies in making paper lanterns (supplies provided) to decorate your room and maybe learn a little about other spooky traditions around the world. And of course, help yourself to some cozy snacks!

When? October 8, 6:00-8:00 pm
Where? Language Lab, Library LL1

Posted on

You, yes, you, can go abroad!

It’s no secret that immersion is one of the most helpful methods to learning a language, and what better way to immerse yourself in your target language than spending time abroad?

Though it might be scary to think about going to a country you’ve never been to before and that speaks a language you aren’t as familiar with, never fear! Reed has many opportunities (and information on so many more) to get out there, see the world, and learn.

Continue reading “You, yes, you, can go abroad!”