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The Curious Role of English Language




If you wish to hear English spoken properly, you should go to Denmark

In a football report on television last week there appeared an unusual figure. He was talking about his team's success earlier that day, but adopted a modest, academic air: his characterization of his club's performance was disinterested, almost scholarly. In an area of discourse which is wonderfully free of such grammatical decoration as adverbs and the imperfect tense, he seemed capable of using both appropriately.

He was, of course, not English, but the French manager of Arsenal football club, Arsene Wenger. A few days earlier, a persuasive letter had appeared in one of London broadsheets which noted that if you wish to hear English spoken properly, you should go to Denmark.

How true. Many will recall the most famous speech ever given by a Dane but few know how it came to be written. In fact Shakespeare had a "mate" in Southwark, South London, whose uncle had killed his dad and then run off with his mum. When the great man asked his young friend what he was going to do about it, the latter replied: "Dunno really. Might just grin and bear it. Might nail the bastards to the floor." And so great Danish rhetoric was fashioned from those lapidary sentences.

Then, right on cue, the National Association for the Teaching of English came out with something called The Grammar Book. It argued that children should not be taught grammatical rules but should observe the patterns of language and how they change over time.

It is funny how those whom the late philosopher Ernest Gellner called narodniks (they were 19th century Russians who believed that the illiterate peasant was always right) always mention the split infinitive. It is 70 years since Sir Ernest Gowres, a leading authority on correct English, showed that "to boldly go" could be better than "to go boldly."

There is a fundamental problem with the narodnik view: all too often one has no idea what the peasants are talking about. And the peasants, when told of their inherent rightness, are naturally discontented when they fail to land jobs as judges or merchant bankers.

Britain, although this is not widely recognized, is the last home of the narodnik. Only in the UK are people encouraged to think that in language, as in many other areas, anything they do is perfectly all right. The English often sneer atthe way Americans express themselves. But listen! Listen to the clarity of the 12-second soundbite (piece of news), as a witness of a domestic fire in Newark describes how "the structure was subject to intense incendiary activity, but fire-fighters gained an entry and safely evacuated the residents." Listen to the weather forecast on a local station in Tennessee and hear the standard American accent and grammar. Not attractive, maybe, but you know what they are talking about, which is not always so in Britain.

In other countries the rules are even stricter. However, one has to face the fact that there is a strange global yearning for the English way. Children who are bilingual in English and another language will naturally talk English with each other because of the ease with which phrases can be fashioned and understood. It is the dream language of advertisers and sign-writers.

Where else but in England could one see a perfectly contented building bearing this notice: "These premises are alarmed "?Why is it that the language of obscene graffiti, not only in Birmingham, but also in Brussels or Belgrade is so often English?

Maybe the fact is that English has to be systematically corrupted to enable it to perform its curious global role.

James Morgan, BBC World Service

economics correspondent

Комментарии discourseзд. речь;

broadsheets = "quality" newspapers (cp. tabloids);

lapidary = brief, curt (лапидарный);

on cue = on time (кстати, вовремя);

inherent = with which they are born;

sneer at = зд. despise, mock at;

alarmed = equipped with an alarm system;

graffiti — надписи на стенах (ср. tagging — инициалы там же).

Задание

Найдите в тексте аллюзию (непрямую ссылку). Что имеет в виду автор? Какое произведение?

Найдите образец бюрократического разговорного стиля.

 

VI. Consecutive (Liaison) Interpreting

(interviews and talks)

NB! При переводе интервью, бесед и т.д. обратите внимание на быстроту реакции, особенности передачи разговорной речи и знание ситуационных клише.

Тема: Office Phraseology

Интервью с К.Черны,

генеральным директором компании «Ксерокс» по странам Центральной и Восточной Европы (ЦВЕ)

Q: Как известно, многие западные компании вкладывают нема лые средства в государства ЦВЕ. Участвует ли Ксерокс в этом про цессе? В какие именно страны вы сейчас инвестируете? Какие крупные проектынаходятся сейчас в работе?

A: More than 12 billion of foreign investment reached the region in 1997, mostly to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Hungary, for instance, received 1,113 USD per capita. Of course, Xerox is also investing heavily. We have been trading in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for many years.

Our two-year Project Exodus programme is gradually moving financial management out of Xerox's UK headquarters. The project has already been successfully implemented in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. Other countries willfollow.

Q: Уверены ли вы в правильности этого курса? Какова ваша мар кетинговая политика, как вы работаете с местными отделениями компании?

A: More than ever now I am convinced that this is the right course: we've extensively restructured local offices to equip them with the skills and tools to manage and control their own business. Customers and business both benefit.

We'realso, of course, a partner of international companies in these markets, and a leading vendor of efficient, global document management solutions (технологии обработки документов).

Q: Сейчас много говорится об «этике бизнеса», о «новой культу ре деловых отношений». Как это вписывается (to fit into) в вашу ка дровую политику, как вы осуществляете подготовку персонала?

A: Our top priority in Central and Eastern Europe, as elsewhere in Xerox, is a motivated and skilled workforce. The company philosophy is to hire locally wherever possible, right up to the country general manager. We've just completed one of our quarterly three-week courses — in Budapest — for 15 of the latest young recruits.

Well, privatisation and the encouragement of local business initiatives. I think,they have to come mainly from political reforms. But by investing heavily in people's development and training, we are doing our bit and contributing to "new business culture," emerging in CEE nations.

Тема: Office and Business Terms

Interview with Mr Vdovin,

Commercial Director of Terra Publishers, a major Russian Priming House

Q: There are heaps of books on your office desk. Do you have to read as part of your duties or is it your hobby?

А: Конечно, далеко не все, что мы выпускаем, я читаю — в про тивном случае для ознакомления с ситуацией на рынке приходи лось бы «проглатывать» 2,5 книги в день. Большую часть инфор мации мне рассказывают сами авторы, помогают коллеги.

Q: What takes up most of your time at work?

А: Основная часть моей работы — это занятие маркетингом и связями с общественностью (PR).Самое интересное — организа ция телевизионной программы «Книжная лавка», на это уходит больше всего сил и времени.

Q: What is your main incentive? Why did you choose to work here?

А: Ради самой работы. Она всегда интересна и захватывает (carries away). Я даже не могу припомнить, когда последний раз ездил по-настояшему в отпуск: отдыхать очень интересно, выби раясь на традиционные книжные ярмарки (fairs) — в Израиль или во Франкфурт, например.

Q: What's the most important part of managers' duties?

А: Самое важное для руководителя — знать проблему. Если ты ее знаешь, умеешь думать и анализировать, то ее решение находится достаточно просто.

Q: How do you hire new people? Do you believe that employees should be duly rewarded?

А: Самое главное — чтобы человек очень хорошо знал свое дело, особенно если он классный бухгалтер, грамотный редактор. По этому принципу мы и подбираем кадры. Ну и при этом сотрудни ки тоже должны получать достойное вознаграждение за свой труд.

Q: What's your most important professional achievement? What are you especially proud of?

А: Больше всего я горжусь тем, что нам удалось издать 86 томов энциклопедии Брокгауза и Эфрона. Это достаточно уникальное репринтное издание. Оно бросается в глаза читателю благодаря ка чественной печати, однако для нас оно особенно ценно потому, что там было затрачено очень много ручной (manual) работы — лю ди вручную трудились над переплетом (binding). Вряд ли кому-ни будь удастся сделать нечто подобное в будущем.

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