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Weekend Words February 10th (Increasing cultural understanding)
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February 10, 2008 02:18 PM PST

Hello everybody. For my weekend words today I wanted to talk about using short newspaper, magazine or Internet articles to help develop language and also how, at the same time to understand more about a country's culture as well as language. Also how to "think in pictures" to help make the text interesting and to retain vocabulary. If you find interesting articles like the one I have chosen, then language and culture start to merge together a bit more. These are not just words on paper or on a screen, but they make you think of situations and events in the past, at present or in the future.

I read somewhere that to learn a language well, we need to:

1. Understand the structure (grammar) of a language and have a good vocabulary.
2. Have the chance to communicate in a language with people who speak it well (Better still, those who speak it as a mother tongue)
3. Understand some of the culture of the country (or countries) where the language is spoken

No small task!

Having said that, all of us are learning new things all our lives and learning another language should add to the enjoyment of learning in a positive way. Always be pleased with what you know already - but keep learning as and when you can.

Today, let's analyse a text that is about English culture. It's about Pub signs. Many Public houses and hotels (where the word "pub" comes from) name the building and hang painted signs outside. It's a long-standing tradition in my country.

I've copied a short piece of a bigger article to discuss. The full text is here:
http://www.britainexpress.com/History/culture/pub-names.htm#bio

So, I'll read the text first

British Pub Signs - a short history
By Elaine Saunders

Everyone loves an “Olde Worlde” pub with its oak beams, horse brasses and roaring log fires. Nevertheless, no matter how old the pub itself, the name on the sign outside is probably the most historic thing about the place.

The idea of the pub sign came to Britain at the time of the Roman invasion. Wine bars in ancient Rome hung bunches of vine leaves outside as trading signs but when the Romans came here, they found precious few vines in the inhospitable climate. Instead, they hung up bushes to mark out the inns and the names Bush or Bull & Bush still survive.........(text continues...)

This text is full of cultural references:

"Olde Worlde" is a way of describing old things as the pronunciation has a feel of times gone by when people spoke with more endings to the words

Pub sign
Oak beams
Horse brasses
Wine bar

And some good short phrases like:
"roaring log fires"
"precious few"
"vine leaves"
"at the time of the Roman Invasion"
"inhospitable climate"
"mark out"

Take some time to get a "feel" for what is being said in the text. The author wants to make it interesting and make you, as a reader think in pictures as well as words.

So, rather than reading through a full article that is difficult to read and becoming frustrated with it. Chose a small part of the text - say, the introduction and read it fully, taking it apart like a puzzle and then putting it back together again. This way you can practice all four skills:

Reading
Listening and Speaking (as you read out the text)
Writing (write about it in your own words and use the new vocabulary you learn)

Finally, use a dictionary to check the meaning of words or phrases you can't guess well - more to confirm your thoughts after you have made a good attempt to guess it.

See you next time