Tuesday 30 September 2014

Language and Literature Blog #3

The interview below is a hypothetical interview between competent interviewer Nader Al Ramahi and main vocalist of the acclaimed American rock band One Republic.

Announcer: Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to tonight's show starring Nader Al Ramahi!! Tonight we are joined by vocalist Ryan Tedder of the leading American rock band One Republic for a 5 minute interview about how Ryan became the man he is today.

Nader: Welcome to the show Ryan, it's a great pleasure to host such an imperative, honorable, and revolutionary man such as yourself.

Ryan: Haha, Thank you so much for having me here!

Nader: So, Ryan you've been the lead vocalist of One Republic since 2002, and you've acquired great success in these past years, and not only that you've managed to become one of the most, if not the most influential singer of our generation. What's your secret?? and what message would you send out to all those people wanting to pursue singing as a life-long career.

Ryan: Well, let me begin by saying this, when someone mentions the word "hard work" most people give it a little consideration and then forget about it the next day and just carry on with their ordinary lives, however whats the fun in that?! Being able to wake up everyday and practice the thing i love the most in life actually makes living on this abhorrent planet worth living. The only possible way that someone can achieve their dream is by HARD WORK! and hard work doesn't only mean to keep practicing what you do to become exceptional at something, hard work also includes the courage to get back up and to keep pursuing your dreams after life knocks you over and when an ignorant person who has nothing better to do hates on you or says something disturbing just take their statement as advice (and not as a discouragement). The will to keep moving forward no matter what stands against you, the desire to succeed, the extensive sacrifices you have to make, and hard work are the crucial keys a person needs to open the door to personal prosperity which lies at the end of a jagged road in which every person willing to go after their dream has to cross.

Nader: That was a very inspiring speech Ryan! and i hope these young aspired singers will grasp whatever advice they found useful in your deep and meaningful speech that you took the time and emotion in conveying it to people from all over the world.

Ryan: It was nothing really, i just don't want to see people face the same problems as me when i was growing up as a kid, it was really hurtful being discouraged, disheartened, and dismayed even by my own family members. I remember once as a teenager my exams were coming up in about 2 weeks time but i was too busy practicing my singing lessons for tryouts hosted by Sony Entertainment Records and the winner gets a full 5 year contract with the record company, but my parents did not approve in what i was doing and did not believe in me. In the end i could not attend the tryouts because my mom sent the record company an email stating that i could not attend due to health-related issues.

Nader: I'm so sorry that you had to face such adversities at such a young age, and i can only imagine how you must have felt like when you saw your life-long dream just slip away from your finger tips knowing that you could have came in first at the tryouts; however i think that this helped shape you as a person and assisted in making you the man you are today. Thank you so much for being here Ryan! I really enjoyed your influential speech and i'm pretty sure everyone listening to this would find this inspiring as well. I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming tour which will take place in South America.


Tuesday 16 September 2014

Language and Literature Blog #2

"Mother Tongue" is an essay written by Chinese writer Amy Tan, In this essay Amy Tan writes about her passion towards language and the way it can evoke emotions, visual images, and complex ideas however she also writes about the discrimination towards people who speak "broken" English compared to "Standard" English.

 In my opinion i believe that Amy Tan is trying to give the readers a cryptic definition of Language which is that language is a measure of how educated someone is. Tan gives the readers the impression that her mother is uneducated woman who does not comprehend the English language and that some people might treat her mother poorly such as when Tan states that her mother finishes writing her stock portfolio but she never received a check that she was supposed to receive  so Amy's mother wanted tan to call the stockbroker and act like her because her mother knew in her her head what she wanted to say but didn't know how to convey them into comprehensible sentences and she also wanted people to treat her seriously and respectfully but with her "broken" English Amy's mother knew that this wouldn't happen unless her daughter would speak instead of her.

I really enjoyed reading this essay, because Tan explains in many examples her struggles as a kid, how shes dealt with her mother, and how her use of proper English helped her mother in many ways especially since they were in an English speaking country and finally her hidden definition of language which runs throughout the whole essay that i stated in paragraph 2.

Saturday 6 September 2014

Language and Literature Blog #1

Nader Al Ramahi
9/7/2014
Language and Culture Blog

My life began innocently enough in a contemporary city called Abu Dhabi, in my opinion the early years of my life were by far the most important, they helped shape my personality and led me to becoming the person i am today. In these early years my dad did not have a stable job so relocation was something frequent, although my childhood years were rough and i never got the contingency to make close friends it was a vital part in shaping my personality. 


As a young boy constantly moving from one place to another i like to believe i have a decent understanding of language and culture and how language can have a considerable influence on culture. As for my definition of culture it is a set of ideas, arts, customs, and other manifestations in a distinct community and the most reliable way people in a certain community can communicate these sets and manifestations is through the use of language which is why i believe that language is culture's backbone and most imperative aspect. One example of how language can profoundly influence culture is that in Arab countries (more specifically Jordan) pauses between words are not too common while in Japan they can give a contradictory sense to the spoken words by the meaning of pauses.