'A Language Without Limits'

According to the formal investigation and new of Deena Kamel, 'A Language Without Limits', published by the Toronto Star, 'times change, and with them, language'. Thats real, language is always changing and the purpose of this text is to inform us and take note about that, showing the example of that happen (or is happening in Canada: Cultural Syncretism.

As the text said 'all around the GTA, if you listen carefully, you'll hear English increasingly with flavours from foreign languages'. The problem was that Hinglish, Chinglish and Arabizi were taking place in Canada as a result of the mixture of the different cultures as the Chinese, Hindi and Arabic (Cultural Syncretism). What is the problem with that? Someones as Jack Chambers, professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Toronto established that is somethin good, 'they think it is a sign of incompetence when it is really a sign of resiliency and creativity' as we can see in the case of Pepsi and Coke that they made creative slogan to attrack the attention of people in India. But also there are a lot of people, mainly the young people, who thought that is a huge problem, ' it is disliked by some native  English speakers, but not by language experts'.

During the text its easy to recognize the serious tone that the author use to communicate what is happening to people that wants to be informated, because as I said before, people was concerned about this; 'people sometimes find it embarassing'. Globalization seems to be the main fact that affect English, helped with the Social Networks that make easier to share this language variation; 'Hinglish, a lively hybrid spread quickly by the Internet and satellite channels, is the language of globalization'.

As we move in the text, we can see another great question that the author try to make in a hind way: do people from other countries or other cultures would learn English or make English there first language? And the question was given by the Indean writter, Raja Rao; 'We cannot write like the English. We should not. We cannot write only as Indians. Our method of expresion therefore has to be a dialect which will some day...' In other words, people can´t say no to their origins or culture, because culture says who you are, its your identity, so Indian people will be always Indian, as I will be always a Chilean.

Finally i will like repeat that langauge is in a constant change, and the text say it clearly. English (the Universal Language) will be always changing and getting more derivatives, because 'the English language has a heard start over lots of other languages', and will remain for long time.

Internet, the new way of communication!

During the last 3 years, our society have change in a considerable way. Nowadays the world is use to be call as a modern and technology world. The social networks and media, have been the main fact of the constant use of internet. Many studies have show that 21st century boys spend more time in internet than outside, but, this is good or bad? 
First of all, we have to know what is the difference about 'Social Network' and 'Social Media'.

• Social Media: Is a place where you can get information (blog)
• Social Network: Is where you can share information (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc)

Someones says that the long use of Internet (Social Networks mainly) are good for develop in a better way the communcative skills or the way to communicate with different people and friends. But the other hand said that internet is harmful to health because it produces cancer. Also they explain that facilitates the harassment via internet, because you show all your information, pictures, etc to all person who have access to your profile in the case of Facebook, and in the case of Twitter all person can 'follow you' and see all what you 'tweet' and see your information.


In my opinion Internet is a great tool, but we must know how to use it. Social Media and Social Networks, are very usefull, but we must be aware about who have access to all our information, because you never know you is behind that screen.

Mispronunciations of Sofia Vergara.

Sofia Vergara is known worldwide because this important role in the famous TV show 'Modern Family'. This sexy colombian girl interprets Glory in the show, and its characterized for speaking English with a lot of mispronunciations, and sometimes by using English and Spanish  at the same time


. Here I leave you the video.

In the video you can see the many mispronunciations that 'Glory' made. Why that happens? Because the 'Language Variations'. Sofia Vergara is a latin woman, and the accent that she have is characteristic of people that leave near the line of Ecuador. Also you have to add that we is speaking English (Second Language) and to express herself he use his First Language (Spanish) to finish sentences. Good or not, that is what characterize the paper of Glory in this successfull show.

Language Variations

Is really easy to recognize, when some persons is speaking, from where they from, because in the way they speak. For example they are many social groups that change or create their own language to communicate each others, breaking the rules of the typical language. For example Ebonics have change words from the 'normal English' to create a way to communicate each others. As I said before in other entry, language is constantly changing. Other example is something very common in Chile: 'Spanglish'. People use to try to speak with English words, but they mix them with Spanish words, creating a new words or using different language in the same sentences: ' Estoy muy canzado de trabajar, hay que tomar un break, no?'.

Also its important to mention, that this language variations, make more difficult the communication between different cultures, because people say that English is the 'Universal Language' (future maybe Chinesse), but if I want to communicate with a Indian person, it would be very difficult in some cases because the used of words that the Indean person may have. Another example is the Ebonics Language. The last class we worked with a rap song of Soulja Boy, which was very difficult to understand for me, because the used of words that i have never seen before when I study English. I only understand something of hating someone, but the used of rhyme and 'new English words for me' make it impossible to understand the complete song.

English is the 'Universal Language', but as I said before, language is in constant change, and if the different cultures keep changing and creating new words, what would happen? Do you thing that in future English would be the way of communicate with different cultures? What happens if these 'language variation' keep going?

Language and Cultural Context

Language changes? All people who speaks English speaks with same words, accent, intonation? Do you have the same 'key words' or 'codes' that a person from the South or North of Chile?...

Yes! Language is constantly changing because the different cultural contexts. English, isn't speak always the same way. English change depending the social and cultural context, for example a judge doesn´t speaks like a person from the ghetto, or and Indian person who speaks English, because, the use of words, the intonation, accent are different. That is the Language Variation, which I will refer in more detail in my next entry. Key words are also very important in language, for example, as I wrote in my last entry, the Legal language, language in sports and Medical language.

British Week and Winter Holidays

During the last week of the first term, the British week takes place. This week started with something that have been considered as a tradition during the last years: The Valparaiso Trip! In this trip, some students had the opportunity to visit Valparaiso, specifically Cerro Alegre, the place where our school was founded in 1857. Also during the week, different activities were conducted, like Criquet, Rolling Cheese, Plays, etc.

Unfortunately i wasn't at school during the British week and in winter holidays, because i was in the exchange at Scots College, New Zealand. During the trip  I made good relationships and take the advantege to improve my English, also was a good opportunity to live  in a home with different cultureand lifestyle (which I really like it). It was a great experience, I wish to return some day.

Reading Comprehension

While you are reading , you can identify, different elements that make a text unique and special. The main 3 are:

• Theme; the genereal idea that the text is about. Love, sadness surprise, etc.
• Topic; particular idea of the text. "Sadness of Tom, for losing his father".
• Main idea; is the  the message that the author want´s to give to the audience.

Also in a text, we can find a lot of other elements such as: source, audience, purpose, genre, tone, register, etc. that makes different one text with another.

Class Activity: 11 Language Speaker

1) How many languages does Alex speak?
 11 Language.


2) Does context help in the process of acquiring a new language?
Of course, be surrounded by a language is the perfect way to improve it or learn it.


3) Are there any languages that have similar pronunciation?
Yes, Greek and Italian are very similar to Spanish.


4) Which of the languages spoken by Alex seem more colloquial?
Spanish and Afrikaans.


5) Is class a more important factor in language variation than geography?
  Geography is more important, because determines the language and the accent and way of speaking. In the other side, Class, determines the register that people will use (slang, informal, formal, etc).


 6) Do you think, the ability of learning a language is innate or learned?
As Noam Chomsky said in the Universal Grammar Theory, "humans born with the desire to speak, but language is learned"


7) According to you, are some languages more or less difficult  to learn than others? Talk about your own experience.
Yes, some language are more difficult to learn because are much different, in comparison to Spanish, and other language are easier to learn them, because they are similar to Spanish, like Italian for example.

Slang & Jargon

When we communicate, we used to use words depending on the context. For example when doctors talk each others, they use a language that barely a common person will understand, or when people from a particular social group communicate, they use an specific type of language (words) that they understand.

The specific language used in things related to work is known as Jargon. . Those words are formals and have a great importance to develop in a good way things like the jobs. They are many types of Jargon, as:

• Sport language: codes, specific words related, etc.
• Scientific language: for example; ABG, in medicine, means arterial blood gas reading.
• Legal language: used by lawyers, in the court, in legal processes, etc.

There are also informal words, that are used by group of people (social groups), known as slang. Slang is commonly used in chats, secret conversations (codes), etc. For example the word "cool", that means great.