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Showing posts from May, 2018

Amer-English? Hybrid English may need its own category in academic essay writing

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One of my favorite films of the past couple decades was "Spanglish", a 2004 comedy starring Adam Sandler, Tea Leoni and Amiee Garcia, which touches on the hilarious but often uncomfortable topic of knowing a little of one language and incorporating it into one's native language. In this case, Spanish and English, but why not Italian and Spanish? Itanish? Well, I've been in London since October, having arrived two weeks late to start my grad course at King's College. When I got here, I certainly knew what a lift (elevator) was, but I didn't know that nail polish is called nail varnish; that to sort means to sort out; that when one is asked, 'You all right?' here, it doesn't mean someone is worried we're about to pass out, but it's a standard greeting. When I got here, I was a bit worried about whether I'd understand my lecturers, whom I called professors back then - before I realized they are called tutors - and whether I'd be u...