Talk about English - Politics and language pt1 | Текст песни

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• Talk about English
• Politics and language pt1

Jackie: Hello, welcome to Talk About English…

Callum: Coming to you live from the BBC World Service.

Jackie: I'm Jackie Dalton.

Callum: I'm Callum Robertson. In the programme today, we continue our look at
politics and language:

Jackie: Why the Madagascan government wants its people learning English as
well as French and Malagasy.

Education Ministry Man
If you know English, then you have access to more information and having a lot of
information is going to help you choose better.

Callum: And your stories, poems and songs about journeys that were important to
you.

Journey song

Jackie: That's all coming up in Talk About English.

Callum: Joining us today is English learner, Barbara Menegazzi. Hello, can you
tell us a bit about yourself?

Barbara: (responds)

COMPETITION TIME!

Jackie: It certainly is! First, let's find out about the winner of last week's
competition on slang. The question was: "What are Callum and my
favourite slang words?" And "Give us a sentence using them."

Callum: And the winner is Tanuja Ghosh, who writes: Jackie's favourite word is
'malarky', Callum's is 'pants'.

Jackie: Do you know what these two words mean Barbara?

Barbara: (responds)

Jackie: So what were the two sentences that Tanuja gave us?

Callum: - What the President is saying, in justification of his wrong economic
policies is all malarkey.

- If you ask me, this much-hyped modern art exhibition is actually a
load of old pants.

Jackie: So what do you make of those sentences?

Callum: (responds)

Jackie: 'Much-hyped' was a nice phrase too.

Callum: (explain meaning)

Jackie: So well done Tanuja, a prize is on its way in the post. We also have a
runner up I believe?

Callum: Yes, we decided to include this one just because she's introduced a rather
interesting expression in the sentence which we can talk about. This is
from Gwendoline Partsch. She wrote:
- The first half was pants but I stayed until the end and it was actually a
great film.
- I’m snookered by a lot of malarkey.

Jackie: Snookered! What does that mean and does it make sense in this context?

Callum: (explains)

Jackie: Well, now it's time for this week's competition question. Because we'll
be talking about journeys later on in the programme, the question is:

Callum: Who said 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?' And
you might find a clue through the 'Moving Words' link on the right hand
side of the webcast page.

Jackie: Send your answers to talkaboutenglish@bbc.co.uk Barbara, have you
heard that expression before? Perhaps you have a version in Spanish?

Barbara: (responds, mentions 'One step at a time'.)

Callum: Continuing our look at language and politics, we've got a rather
interesting story from Madagascar this week.

Jackie: Yes, the official language there is Malagasy and French is the second
language. But the President there has announced that this isn't enough, he
now wants the nation speaking English as well!

Callum: We're going to hear a report from our correspondent in Madagascar,
Jonny Hogg.

Jackie: As you listen to the first part of the report, try to answer this question:

Callum: Why might it be difficult for people in Madagascar to learn English?

Jonny
You may be surprised, but if the president of Madagascar is to achieve his dream of
getting the Malagasy people to learn English, then this theme tune could become rather
popular. English for Teachers is a radio programme aimed at improving the standards of
English teaching in a country where, because of its poverty and size, passing on
information can be extremely difficult.

Jackie: Did you get the answer? Jonny mentioned 'poverty' and 'size'. Because
people are quite poor and the country is large, it can be difficult to pass
on information and so difficult to get everyone speaking English – which
must be especially hard when the Malagasy already have their own
language and French to contend with. Isn't it asking a bit much to expect
people to have good English as well?

Callum: Let's hear from Jean Malazamana. He is a presenter of the radio
programme we heard earlier and also works with the Ministry for
Education. As you listen to him, answer this question:

Jackie: Why does he think it will be good for the Malagasy to learn English?
Listen out for two reasons.

Jean
First of all, there's this aspect of choice. If you know English then you have access to
more information and having a lot of information is going to help you choose better.
That's one thing. When you travel also, it gives you a lot of freedom. People who can't
speak English, they have a hard time when they travel.

Callum: Did you get those two reasons? The first one Jean mentioned was choice.
He said if you understand English you have access to more information,
which means you can make better choices.

Jackie: And the other thing he said was it makes travelling easier. He said often
when you travel you have 'a hard time' (things are difficult) if you don't
speak English. We're going to hear now from two people in Madagascar
about their views on learning English. What are some of the reasons they
give?

Learners
Learner 1: I want to learn this language because it is the most spoken language in
the world and it is an interesting language.
Learner 2: I decided to learn English because I think I need it and I like it. I'm a
waitress so I prefer to learn English because English is much used by
international people.

Callum: Well, the first person said he wanted to learn English because it's widely
spoken and interesting.

Jackie: And the second said she was a waitress and she thought she needed it
and liked it. Barbara, what motivated you to learn English?

All: (discuss)


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