Danish girl talks about England, Ireland, Scotland... oh yes, and Canada.

I was surfing on the internet and I came across this incredible channel on YouTube. It’s Victoria Flamel’s channel, I’m talking about. She is a youtuber from Denmark. She makes videos “to make people laugh” (her words, not mine!).

Anyways… I’ve just chosen some nice videos of hers to share with you.

I hope you enjoy them just as much as I did (just as much as I DO).

Have fun! All videos are great!

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

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Five Fascinating Facts about Samuel Beckett.

The life of Samuel Beckett, told through five pieces of literary and biographical trivia

1.   The ominous date of his birth amused him. Born on Good Friday, 13 April, 1906, Samuel Barclay Beckett enjoyed the irony of being born on a date ripe with religious connotations – not least because, as well as being Good Friday, it was a date ripe with different, superstitious associations: Friday the 13th.

2.   He worked as James Joyce’s amanuensis – until the two writers fell out. A young Beckett spent several years in Paris helping Joyce to write his final novel, Finnegans Wake (Joyce was nearly blind towards the end of his life, and needed help with the actual writing down of the book). Their friendship and working relationship came to an end, however, when Beckett rejected the advances of Joyce’s daughter, Lucia, who was smitten with the young writer.

3.   Samuel Beckett drove a young André the Giant to school. In 1953, Beckett built a farm to the north of Paris, with the help of a farmer named Boris Rousimoff. Rousimoff’s son was unusually large for his age, and Beckett – who owned a big truck – offered to drive the young André (who would later become a famous wrestler) to school every day. The two of them bonded over cricket – reportedly, the only thing they talked about during the school run. Which leads us nicely on to the fourth of our Samuel Beckett facts…

4.   He was a talented cricketer. When asked if he was English Beckett replied, ‘Au contraire'; he was in fact a curious mixture of Irish, English, and French (that is, he was born in Ireland to Irish parents, and wrote in both English and French and later lived in France). He would write many of his novels and plays in French first, and then translate them into English himself. For instance, Waiting for Godot (1953), his most famous play, was originally En attendant Godot (1949). His curious mixture of ‘Englishness’ and Irishness is nicely exemplified by his love of cricket, that most English of sports, though he played for an Irish side. His Wisden profile records that he played two first-class games against Northamptonshire for the University of Dublin in 1925-26. He is the only Nobel Literature laureate to have played first-class cricket (though Conan Doyle, another literary great albeit one who never got the Nobel Prize, was also a pretty good cricketer).

5.   In 1938, he was stabbed on the streets of Paris and nearly died. After he rejected the solicitations of a pimp who went by the name of Prudent, the man attacked Beckett with a knife. The wound was serious – Beckett ended up with a perforated lung – but he later dropped the charges against Prudent, partly because he liked the man’s response when Beckett asked him why he had stabbed him: ‘Je ne sais pas, Monsieur. Je m’excuse’ (i.e. ‘I do not know, sir. I’m sorry’). Beckett found such an answer fascinating and it arguably feeds into the later existential flavour of his work, which probes the seeming purposelessness of existence. Why are we here? What’s the point in living? What is the purpose of anything? This is exemplified in Waiting for Godot, where neither Vladimir nor Estragon appears to know quite why they are waiting for the titular character (who – spoiler alert! – never arrives, leading to the amusing graffiti once daubed on the wall of a theatre toilet: ‘BACK SOON – GODOT’).

Beckett was lucky to survive the knife attack. Thankfully for him, and for the literary world, he did survive and lived for a further 51 years, dying in December 1989, having been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 20 years earlier. Had he lived to see his next birthday in 1990, he would have turned 84 on, of all days, Friday the 13th – the ominous date on which he had arrived in the world. This date, 13 April 1990, was also another Good Friday – a fact which would probably have amused him.

If you enjoyed these Samuel Beckett facts, more information is available in this post by Kenneth Hickey, In Search of Samuel Beckett.

http://interestingliterature.com/2015/04/13/five-fascinating-facts-about-samuel-beckett/ 

Some facts and pictures about James Joyce.

If you have seen the first picture and I do like Irish literature, you must be waiting for more, right?

So, here’s another very interesting picture (and comments as well).

On March 14^th 1887, Sylvia Beach, owner of the Paris-based bookstore Shakespeare and Company Bookshop, was born in Baltimore. Beach moved to Paris at the age of 14, when her father, a Presbyterian minister, was sent to France.

She fell in love with the city. In 1919, she opened her bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, which became a gathering place for American writers in Paris in the 1920s, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

Beach was a strong supporter of writer James Joyce, who lived in Paris from 1920 to 1940. The Irish writer had achieved fame with his 1915 novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and had started publishing his masterwork Ulysses in serial form in an American magazine called the Little Review. However, the serialization was halted in December 1920, after the U.S. Post Office brought a charge of obscenity against Joyce's work. Beach published the book herself in July 1922. It wasn't until 1933 that a U.S. judge permitted Ulysses to be distributed in the U.S.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

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Some facts and pictures about James Joyce.

I have been collecting some pictures and documents related to this Irish genius. I am obviously talking about James Joyce, an Irish author who wrote Ulysses. Do I have to say more?

On June 27^th 1928, Sylvia Beach hosted a dinner party in order that F. Scott Fitzgerald, who "worshipped James Joyce, but was afraid to approach him," might do so. In her Shakespeare and Company Bookshop memoir, Beach delicately avoids describing what happened, although she perhaps suggests an explanation...

"Poor Scott was earning so much from his books that he and Zelda had to drink a great deal of champagne in Montmartre in an effort to get rid of it." According to Herbert Gorman, another guest and Joyce's first biographer, Fitzgerald sank down on one knee before Joyce, kissed his hand, and declared: "How does it feel to be a great genius, Sir? I am so excited at seeing you, Sir, that I could weep." As the evening progressed, Fitzgerald "enlarged upon Nora Joyce's beauty, and, finally, darted through an open window to the stone balcony outside, jumped on to the eighteen-inch-wide parapet and threatened to fling himself to the cobbled thoroughfare below unless Nora declared that she loved him."

Source: http://www.todayinliterature.com/today.asp?Search_Date=06/27/2014

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Did you spot a typo?

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The Long and Difficult Publication History of James Joyce’s Dubliners

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of author James Joyce’s Dubliners. His collection of short stories depicting the everyday trials and tribulations of the residents of his hometown was released with minimal fanfare in June 1914, but—given the immense literary importance of his subsequent works like A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and the groundbreaking 1922 Modernist masterpiece Ulysses—has since risen in significance.

But Dubliners didn’t just appear out of nowhere. In fact, its author—and its would-be publishers—endured a painful nine-year-long struggle before the book made it to print. The story of how Dubliners finally came to be printed is a fascinating tale of artistic frustration and persistence despite years of dismissal.

A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR AS A TEACHER

In late 1904, Joyce was living abroad in self-imposed exile—partially for political reasons, and partially because he eloped with his wife, Nora—when he published three short stories (“The Sisters,” “Eveline,” and “After the Race”) in a weekly publication called The Irish Homestead.The author thought that he might publish a collection of stories in a book the following year, and wrote nine more stories for it; while he was trying to make a living teaching English at aBerlitz Language School in Trieste (now a part of Italy) in 1905, Joyce sent the collection to noted London publisher Grant Richards for consideration.

Richards eventually accepted the book in early 1906, and in February, Joyce sent along a new story called "Two Gallants" for the book. The publisher quickly drew up a contract for the eager—and financially strapped—writer-in-exile to sign in March of that year. And that’s when the trouble began.

A  BIG “BLOODY” PROBLEM

Richards didn’t bother to read “Two Gallants”

Irish Literature: Oscar Wilde.

“I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.”

-- The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

SOTAQUES EM INGLÊS: IRLANDÊS.

Sobre a postagem: Escrita em língua portuguesa com exemplos em língua inglesa.

Tempo estimado para a leitura: 15 minutos.

Para continuar com a série de postagens sobre os sotaques na língua inglesa. Temos hoje uma pequena matéria sobre o SOTAQUE IRLANDÊS. Para os que perderam a primeira, cliquem aqui SOTAQUES EM INGLÊS: ESCOCÊS.

Antes de falar sobre a forma de se falar inglês na Irlanda, vamos conhecer um pouco mais esse país.

Capital: Dublin.

Área: 70 273 km² (120.º)

População: 4 581 269 hab. (121.º)

Estatuto: República parlamentarista.

Idiomas: Inglês e Irlandês (Gaélico).

Moeda: Euro.

FERIADOS

1 de janeiro      New Year's Day   (Ano Novo)

17 de março     St. Patrick's Day  (Dia de São Patrício)

16 de junho      Bloomsday      

Festa móvel     Good Friday        (Sexta-feira Santa)

Festa móvel     Easter Monday    (Segunda-feira de Páscoa)

25 de dezembro        Christmas Day  (Natal)

26 de dezembro        St. Stephen's Day    (Dia de Santo Estevão)

Leiam mais em: Wikipédia.

Parece que virou moda, os brasileiros estão cada vez mais procurando a Irlanda como destino para estudar. Existem várias explicações para isso e uma delas poderia estar relacionada ao fato de o país permitir que alunos trabalhem pelo menos 20 horas com o visto de estudante.

(Assistam esse vídeo sobre Como "Imitar" um sotaque Irlandês): 

Umas das coisas mais interessantes sobre a Irlanda é o sotaque de um irlandês ao falar inglês. Isso mesmo, muitos estudantes, e até professores, de inglês comentam algo relativo a esse sotaque: difícil de entender, bonito, poético, são apenas alguns dos muitos adjetivos relativos ao referido. Tal sotaque não é apenas complexo, mas também variado: tem NORTH DUBLIN ACCENT e o SOUTH DUBLIN ACCENT.

Falando de sotaque irlandês, recorro ao livro COMO ENTENDER O INGLÊS FALADO de Bem Parry Davies. Sobre esse sotaque, o autor faz uma breve descrição:

Em geral, o ritmo suave geral da Irlanda dá uma qualidade lírica e charmosa, reforçando a imagem de um povo romântico e poético. Você só precisa ouvir uma entrevista com a BANDA U2 ou com o ator COLIN FARRELL para entender por que é considerado um dos sotaques mais bonitos da língua inglesa. Mais uma vez, as diferenças principais são evidentes na pronuncia das vogais, por exemplo:

A pronúncia frequente de /ai/ como /ói/, que deixa “eyes” como /óiz/, e “right” como /wróit/.

I can’t lie. I like to buy my ties with my wife.

A falta do som “th”, que muitas vezes muda para “d” ou “t”, porém de uma forma bem maus charmosa do que o sotaque londrino (postagem futura).

Aqui, você lembrar do seu professor dizendo “você deve colocar a língua entre os dentes”. Pois é, os irlandeses normalmente pronunciam o “th” de forma sutil e sem “h” no começo das palavras tornando, por exemplo, os sons de “thought”, “thunder”, “thanks”, “there” em “tought”, “tunder”, “tanks” e “tere”.

VEJAMOS MAIS EXEMPLOS:

“think” fica parecido com “tink”, “three” com “tree”, “that” com “dat” e “then” com “den”:

The thing is, I’m throwing a party for three hundred people at the theatre on Thursday.

Leiam o texto de Tarsila Krüse, que coloquei no meu Facebook >> LINK<<.  

(Vejam essa entrevista com o autor, Colin Farrel.)

CLASS e NOW:

A palavra CLASS pode ser utilizada como substantivo “the Enslish class”. Podemos traduzir como “grupo”, “aula”, “classe” (social, econômica e até em relação aos locais em aeronaves: primeira classe (first class). Mas na Irlanda, CLASS pode virar adjetivo. Isso mesmo... Por lá é comum ouvir, CLASS significando “legal”, “massa”, “da hora”...; Serve como o “COOL” ou o “AWESOME” no inglês americano. Portanto, this t-shirt is CLASS é algo extremamente possível no inglês irlandês.

Muitas vezes a palavra NOW /náu/ não significa “agora”. Na Irlanda, essa palavra pode aparecer no final de frases, ou até mesmo no começo, mas sem agregar nenhum significado à frase. É claro que as pessoas também a utilizam como “agora”, mas muitas vezes, NOW é usada apenas de forma irrelevante:

É comum escutar por aí “Come’ere now” (Come here now), quando, na verdade, alguém quer apenas dizer “Come here”, ou então, “Ah now” ou “Listen now” quando se quer ter a atenção de alguém, mas que apenas as palavras “Ah” ou “Listen” já seriam mais que suficientes.

O interessante é que fazemos isso na cidade onde nasci, no Brasil. Lá, nós usamos frases do tipo: “O que foi, omi?”; “Já voltou, omi?”; “Vá lá, omi”. Sendo que esse “omi” não agrega nada e não atrapalha na conversação; dá até uma sonoridade.  Muitos dizem que falamos cantando. Talvez a explicação do “falar cantando” seja por causa desse extra “omi” nas frases.

Espero que tenham gostado dessa postagem. Se você tiver algo para acrescentar sobre o assunto, não deixe de entrar em contato através do blog.

See you guys!

Learning English from Cartoons: The Queen's Historic Handshake.

This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun relates to the historic handshake between the Queen and the former IRA commander, Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, now Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, in Belfast on Wednesday. The Daily Telegraph puts the handshake into context:

The Queen, once a prime target for the IRA, shook hands not once but twice with Martin McGuinness, a former commander of the terrorist group, in a gesture that meant every bit as much as the sovereign’s historic visit to Ireland last year.

Barely a decade ago, the idea of the monarch, the ultimate symbol of British rule in Ulster, even being in the same room as Mr McGuinness, arguably the most recognisable former member of the IRA, would have been unthinkable. Full story >>

THE CARTOON

In the cartoon, we see the Queen reaching out to shake McGuinness's hand over the bombed-out wreck of a car—a clear reference to The Troubles, in which IRA terrorist attacks claimed the lives of hundreds of victims. Note the 'History' numberplate on the car, another reminder of past events.

VOCABULARY

You shake hands with someone or give someone a handshake.

From: theenglishblog.