ENGLISH FOR MINORS STUDENTS. MODULE II, OCI



Ester Arenga Gruppo A 15/05/07



TASK 02. Ethnographic Report: Spending a day as your double


Introduction:

These are my observations about some hours during which I put myself into “my double’s shoes” , the Nigerian Hafsat Abiola. I will write like her.

She was born in Nigeria where she lived until the age of 15, then she moved to USA where she graduated at Harvard University. Her English can be considered American English, even if her spoken language is different: for example vowels like /i:/ and /I/ are both pronounced [i] /u:/ and /U/ are also pronounced [u] (mum instead of mom) THIS EXAMPLE DOES NOT ILLUSTRATE AMERICAN VOWEL , INSTEAD IT ILLUSTRATES THE BRITISH ENGLISH HERITAGE OF HAFSAT) , /a:/ and /ae/ are both pronounced [a] and consonant like the final morpheme [g] is not obligatory deleted after [ŋ] except in the –ing forms, which she uses even when English people usually use simple present.
I DISAGREE WITH YOUR EXAMPLES OF VOWEL REDUCTION – TOO COMPLICATED TO EXPLAIN HERE, WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT.


Finally her speech is not linear and follows her emotions and sometimes repeats the same concepts.


Firstly I will write her 8 maxims, the 8 Italian and Counter-ones and then all that “Hafsat” has thought during this period of time living in my family.


Her 8 maxims can be considered a contradiction because of the different places she lived in.


  1. If you are men and older than me, I have to respect you more than other people.

  2. My parents gave me an important name. I believed in my capacities and I have to continue their action.

  3. My parents fight in order to obtain more opportunities for my country. I will continue to fight by using different weapons.

  4. Old people have to be respected: I cannot use the same language I usually use with my contemporaries. They have a lot of things to teach me thank to their experience of life.

  5. We have to do concrete things in order to obtain results. We have people that have reasons, and people that produce results. The people that have reasons will have reasons why they could not produce results - then the people that produce results simply produce results.

  6. If I am unfaithful I have to be refused by the community in which I live: I would not respect my husband and my family, I have to be punished. Other men cannot look at me.

  7. Women has the right to be considered not inferior: they can decide about their life and to say their opinion. This is the first step in order to obtain democracy.

  8. I have to have children. It will be the most important thing I can obtain.



My 8 Italian maxims are:

  1. My family is the most important thing I have. I have to ask their opinion about everything I want to do.

  2. If my friends do something I don’t like, I have to do it in order to avoid to be refused or be mocked.

  3. Women have to stay at home, to grow up their children and to cook delicious things to their husbands.

  4. I have to be friendly and happy with everyone.

  5. I cannot contradict my teacher or boss or someone who is higher than me in the social scale.

  6. I can speak in a loud voice and throw waste everywhere.

  7. I can jump the queue if I have something more important to do

  8. I don’t have to study or commit myself to do something good in my life because someone will provide to find me a job or to help me.


My 8 counter maxims are:

  1. I have to be independent and to decide on my own about my life.

  2. If my friend decide to do something I don’t like I have to decide about myself even if they will refuse me

  3. I can work and stay out like my husband (or the future one)

  4. I can be lonely and angry whenever you want.

  5. I can say my idea even if I am talking with my teacher, my boss etc.

  6. I have to speak in a low tone of voice if I am in places where is obliged and throw rubbish in the dustbin.

  7. I have to respect the queue even if I have something important to do.

  8. I have to study in order to find a good job and do something good in my life without the help of someone else.



I’m Hafsat Abiola and I have to spend a day in an Italian family. Their daughter, Ester, is abroad and I stay in her bedroom that I share with her sister. Ester’s family think that I’m her.

It is 16.30.I hear somebody opening the hall door. The mum greets me and is going into the kitchen. She is asking me about her husband.

The woman tells that she is tired and that she has worked hard all the day. I answer “You are a woman, you don’t have to work”. She looks at me and is smiling. She says: “We aren’t in the 1800th century or in Africa. And than with my salary I buy you everything you need!!!”.

Then the door again. It is the husband. He has done the shopping. He bought milk and bread. I think that it is strange, because usually women do it.

He greets the mum and makes a witty remark about her tired face. She is getting angry and answering that she works hard while he doesn’t do something so difficult. He stays all the day in front of a writing desk. Then she gives a smack on his shoulder. I tell her that she has to respect him.

The mum asks me why and I answer that is because he is a man and is older than she. She laughs at my words and says that I always defend the man. He comes and gives me a pinch.

What a lovely gesture! Men usually aren’t so kind. I think that he usually do it with her daughter and that they have a good relationship.

I turn back into Ester’s room. Everywhere are coloured puppies and photos. It’s a very nice bedroom. In front of the door there is a notice board full of Ester and her sister’s photos. I think that the reason is that she likes to appear and to show to her friends that came in her room that she has done a lot of things and has a lot of friends like any other Italian girl.

In some of them she is with a fair hair boy: I think he is her boyfriend. But in a second photo she appears with a girl and another boy who hugs her: it is so strange. Why she hugs all these boys? She cannot do it! She can’t be so friendly with so many boys!

There are some photos in which she wears a bikini and stays on the beach. It’s full of other men: there are neither the fair hair boy nor that of the second photo. I think that all these men can watches at her or the other girls. She should wrap herself up.

Then I open her wardrobe. There are a lot of dresses. I’m taking a skirt. It is shorter than those I usually wear. There are also some T-shirt: are all coloured but some of them have a large neck. I hope she usually wears them with a scarf.

The mum enters in the room. “Why are you looking at your clothes? Do you go out with Fabrizio this evening?”. I think that Fabrizio is Ester’s fair hair boyfriend.

I answer : “No. I’m just looking at my clothes. I think that this T-shirt is too much low necked.”. The mum: “ But you bought it last Saturday! You are a bit strange! It’s so nice!!”. I can’t understand why she thinks so. My clothes are usually long and wide. They aren’t so low-necked. She is taking the T-shirt and says that it’s not so low-necked. I don’t have to became a nun. Maybe, she thinks that wide and long clothes make me appear ridiculous and my friends and boyfriend would mock me. Another Italian features.

I asked her about Ester’s name, or well about my name.

She doesn’t understand, so I ask her what does the name means and If she gave me it for a particular reason. She is answering: “You know that it’s your grandmother’s name. I don’t know what it means.”

I say that she have to know, because she gave me the name and it had to have a meaning for her and the man.

She is getting irritated. She says that she wanted to give me another name, but her husband’s tradition wanted that daughters or sons have to receive their grandparents’ name. Ester’s sister has her dad’s mother name and I have my mum’s mother one. “You are lucky” she says “If you were born man, your name would be Fioravante”. I don’t understand. The name have to be important, have to have an important meaning. This is not a good reasons to give names!

The door again. The sister come in into the room. “What’s happen?” she says. She wear military clothes. I ask her: “Why do you seem a soldier?”. She says: “Ester, are you ok? I work in the army. I have to wear the uniform.” “But you can’t do it. You are a woman!” I say. The mum and the sister look at me. The sister says: “Have you take drugs?”. They seem worried. They tell me that a woman can work like men and If she wants, also work in the army.

I think that is because they want to feel independent. I think that they have the right to say what they think, but not work in the army. They have to stay at home.

Now the man comes into the room, too. The sister asks him if he has bought cereals for her. He says that he forgot to do it. The sister became angry. She uses the same language she usually uses with her contemporaries. She says that she wrote on a piece of paper that she needed cereals. The man smiles. He says that he will buy them.

I say: “You have to go out and buy them, not dad” .The young girl became furious. She says: “Ester what do you want today, are you crazy???”

The mum looks at me. The father continues smiling. They want to know what I have. They say I’m strange. The mum wants to know if I’ve become sexist from one day to another. “You seem to live in another world today!!”. She says that if I want to became an housewife I only have to marry a rich man because nowadays it’s impossible to live if the woman doesn’t work. I don’t agree with her. She seems to not understand. She decides to go in the kitchen, but she seems worried. I remain in the bedroom. It’s about 19.20.



Conclusion:

Vivere nei panni di un’altra persona condividendo valori che non sono propriamente i miei è stato abbastanza difficile.

I valori che ogni persona possiede costituiscono un substrato di esperienze accumulate nel corso degli anni, sia in ambito privato che pubblico e quindi, per quanto uno cerchi di apprendere il più possibile sulla vita di una persona, in questo caso il mio doppio, la nigeriana Hafsat Abiola, risulta alquanto impossibile svestirsi del proprio io ed immedesimarsi in quello di una persona di lingua anglofona. Credo infatti che, pur provando a rifiutare quelle che possono essere delle massime stereotipate degli Italiani, che in realtà condivido solo in minima parte, sia sempre presente in fondo ad ogni gesto un qualcosa che mi riporti alle mie radici.

Forse il motivo è dato dal fatto che non sono riuscita al 100% a far miei valori o massime di Hafsat, finendo con l’imitare un po’ ciò che lei avrebbe detto se fosse stata realmente a casa mia con la mia famiglia, senza però pensare fino in fondo le cose che dicevo riguardo ad esempio alla superiorità del sesso maschile sul sesso femminile o sul fatto che le donne dovessero restare a casa e non lavorare, pur essendo comunque questo un valore ancora abbastanza forte in alcune zone dell’Italia, soprattutto meridionale, dove la donna è ancora vista come la “regina della casa”.

La cosa che mi ha sorpreso di più è il fatto di aver suscitato delle reazioni all’interno della mia famiglia: mentre mio padre ha considerato il tutto una sorta di scherzo, conoscendo abbastanza bene la mia natura un po’ giocherellona, mia madre e soprattutto mia sorella hanno dapprima ritenuto che fosse una sorta di messa in scena, ma poi hanno iniziato ad arrabbiarsi e preoccuparsi sul serio del fatto che non condividessi valori che in fondo mi hanno trasmesso in prima persona.

Credo che ciò sia dovuto al fatto che io abbia introdotto dei punti di vista differenti da quelli di solito da me condivisi con la mia famiglia e quindi posso considerare i valori di Hafsat, anche se non totalmente veri in quanto ricavati da informazioni relative alla sua cultura e alla sua vita, come espressione appunto di una cultura differente dalla mia, i cui valori e modo di essere possono apparire completamente diversi da quelli ad esempio del mondo occidentale.

Dal punto di vista educativo credo che questa esperienza sia servita solo in parte. E’ vero che i valori da me portati all’interno della mia famiglia fossero espressione di una mentalità e un mondo completamente diverso dal mio, ma nello stesso tempo sono espressione di un paese che pur appartenendo all’elenco di quelli in cui la lingua inglese è abbastanza parlata, non sono totalmente utili all’apprendimento della lingua inglese. Questo perché ciò che io ho imparato in questo caso sono valori e aspetti culturali della Nigeria: se avessi ad esempio scelto un personaggio noto o sconosciuto proveniente da uno dei paesi riconducibile all’ ”inner circle”, forse avrei appreso qualcosa in più sulla lingua e il mondo anglofoni propriamente detti.

CONTESTO IL TERMINE “lingua e mondo anglofoni propriamente detti.” COME ABBIAMO VISTO, IL NUMERO DI PARLANTI DELL'OUTER CIRCLE ORMAI SUPERA QUELLI DELL'INNER CIRCLE E LA DIFFERENZA AUMENTA RAPIDAMENTE. INOLTRE, COME FUTURA MEDIATRICE INTERCULTUALE, DOVRAI INTERFACCIARE (PERDONA L'ESPRESSIONE) CON I PARLANTI DELL'EXPANDING CIRCLE, I QUALI SONO ANCORA PIU' NUMEROSI E PIU' IN ESPANSIONE. PERTANTO CIO' CHE VA DETTO “propriamente” PARLANDO, SARA' SEMPRE DI MENO I MODI DI ESPRIMERSI CHE HAI IMPARATO A SCUOLA.  GIA' OGGI LA NOZIONE DI “INGLESE propriamente detto” NON E' SEMPRE QUELLA DELLA REGINA, LO SUPERA IN MOLTI CONTESTI QUELLO AMERICANO E, IN CONTESTI LOCALI, QUELLO AUSTRALIANO O QUELLO INDIANO O.... INSOMMA, IN FUTURO LA NOZIONE DI “INGLESE propriamente detto” NON SARA' INEQUIVOCABILMENTE NESSUNA DELLE VARIETA' DELL'INNER CIRCLE. QUEL GIORNO, DOVRAI SAPERTI INTERFACCIARE CON PERSONE COME HAFSAT MOLTO DI PIU' DI QUANTO NON FAI CON UN INGLESE CHE PORTA L'OMBRELLO E IL CAPELLO.

OVVIAMENTE TUTTO CIO' NON SIGNIFICA CHE TU DEVI ABBANDONARE I VALORI CHE TI SONO PROPRI, PER CARITA'. PER INTERFACCIARE CON LE POPOLAZIONI ANGLOFONI DEL FUTURO, IN PARTICOLARE QUELLE CHE LA PENSANO COME HAFSAT, IN AFRICA COME IN ORIENTE, NON DOVRAI CREDERE NEI LORO VALORI AL PUNTO DI LASCIARE CHE A CASA TUA REGNI L'UOMO, ECC.   MA DEVI SAPER ENTRARE NELLA LORO MENTALITA'.  NON A PAROLE, MA AFFETTIVAMENTE. VOLITIVAMENTE. QUESTO ESERCIZIO TI FA CAPIRE QUESTI DUE LIVELLI DI COMPRENSIONE.


E’ vero che il mio personaggio parla una lingua ,che pur possedendo ancora tratti caratteristici dell’inglese nigeriano, può essere considerato, almeno a mio avviso, una varietà di Americano, ma il conoscere il modo in cui Hafsat parla mi ha portato alla consapevolezza che esistono diverse varietà d’inglese ma allo stesso tempo i valori del mio personaggio possono essere ricondotti al mondo nigeriano e non a quello anglofono.

Concludendo, ciò, il linguaggio di Hafsat, pur essendo una varietà d’inglese è espressione di un “will to be” nigeriano, che mostra si un aspetto del mondo “inglese”, ma nello stesso tempo di una realtà che sarebbe stata ancora più comprensibile se avessi provato a parlare nella sua lingua natia, lo Yoruba.
NON E' DETTO. NON CONOSCO LA BIOGRAFIA DI HAFSAT MA NON ESCLUDO CHE LEI PARLASSE ANCHE L'INGLESE NIGERIANO DEI CETI DOMINANTI A CASA, IN UNA SITUAZIONE DI DIGLOSSIA.

Insomma, tale metodo è utile a comprendere i valori dell’altra persona e a farli propri in modo da stabilire un’empatia, ma tutto ciò a prescindere dalla lingua in cui è stato affrontato: se avessi forse fatto un lavoro simile in italiano, forse avrei ottenuto gli stessi risultati. E’ appunto per questo che credo che sia servito non del tutto all’apprendimento dell’inglese.


VEDI IL MIO COMMENTO A QUESTO PROPOSITO IN FONDO ALLA RELAZIONE DI SILVIA EVANGELISTA.