THE BATTALION PageSB
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1979
Foreign languages missing
he dog’s
Sunday.
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rt at tad
ingona
ring the
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do. The
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eek by
e knew
the party's over
Battalion photo by Lee Koy Leschper Jr.
Heat waves shimmer off the 10-foot pile of of hot coals and ashes remains for some time
ashes left from Friday’s Aggie Bonfire. A pile after the 60-foot stack of logs burned down.
Descriptions often untrue
iv. He
Menus lie, linguist says
to get
as possit
United Press International
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A linguis-
t e tics specialist says most restaurant
^ l inenus are liberally sprinkled with
•'ll Ascriptions that are irrelevant, mis-
fading or — occasionally — dow-
ight lies.
Take, for example, the word
iesh, ” which Ann D. Zwicky, a for
mer Ohio State University lecturer,
found was by far the most common
, n fyc" Jiective in a study of about 200 re-
white-d staurant menus.
can’t bea“ There were descriptions like
!$resh frozen.’ Sometimes you think
a wjudJibey are using ‘fresh’ to mean soine-
nrrMing really minimal like ‘not rot-
dugattlten, ” she says.^
readyonpTh en there’s “homemade,” which
irst states
or indiis!']
e,” hei
t powei
i to comp)
■oduce «p
moM
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when you read it on a restaurant
menu, almost certainly can t mean
the dish was made in somebody’s
home.
Zwicky, who with her husband
and friends collected menus in
varying price ranges from diverse re
gions of the United States and Cana
da, says many times French or
French-sounding words are used.
She says the “French” descriptions
were most widely used on menus in
places where few customers were
likely to understand the language.
“There’s a long association for En
glish-speaking people with French
as a language for food, a language for
fashion and high culture,” she says.
What’s more, Zwicky said, much
“French” on menus isn’t used accu
rately.
“Many words on a menu which we
accept as French aren’t French at all.
‘A la mode,’ for example, is a French
phrase which means ‘in the manner
of. ’ It has nothing to do with adding
ice cream to the slice of pie. ”
Menu puffery like “garden fresh
salad” instead of “salad” may be rela
tively harmless, but in some cases
menu descriptions are downright
lies.
“There is the butter problem,”
says Arnold Zwicky. “Butter and
buttered appear in descriptions Very
often when what is in fact used is
margarine.”
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Coffee or Tea
One Com Bread and Butter
WEDNESDAY
EVENING SPECIAL
Chicken Fried Steak
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United Press International
The lack of foreign language in
struction in American high schools is
a major deficit of the American edu
cational process, according to one
prominent educator.
“The neglect of foreign languages
in schools should concern every
one,” Joseph A. Coccia reports in the
Bulletin of the National Association
of Secondary School Principals.
Coccia, principal of Cranston
High West in Cranston, R.I., said
even President Carter has recog
nized that the United States is alone
among nations in its neglect of the
study of foreign languages in schools.
The president did what presidents
frequently do about problems — he
appointed a committee, the Pres
idential Commission on Foreign
Languages, to study the problem
and ways of reversing the trend.
Only 15 percent of all U.S. high
school students study a modern fore
ign language. Only two percent of
these stick with it to a third year.
All the rest are tongue-tied in any
situation where even minimal know
ledge of a second language might
help them understand a situation
better — even order a more palat
able meal when Confronted by a
menu in Spanish, German, French.
When colleges required foreign
languages from applicants, the col
lege-bound student enjoyed or suf
fered through two or four years of
foreign languages in high school.
They had to take it — whether they
found it delight or bitter medicine.
The problem started when col
leges abandoned and relaxed the lan
guage requirement. Only 10 percent
of the nation’s 33,000 academic in-
sttutions now demand previous
study of a second language.
This happened while English
gained usage around the world, mak
ing it a kind of universal language
and lessening the need for a second
language by Americans. But that’s
no excuse for what’s happened, says
Coccia.
Coccia claims all students can
learn a foreign language, not just the
college-bound. He said it is impor
tant to the nation and students who
may use the second language skill
making their livings.
The study of another language, he
said, should come in two types. The
first type would deal with students
wanting to major in language or
needing it in depth for further pro
fessional study.
The second type would be for
youths who do not need all the for
mality of a foreign language, the kind
necessary for one aiming for the di
plomatic corps, for example.
This would be something of a fami
ly and a fun model, Coccia said. The
approach should follow “a pattern
similar to the way we learned to
speak English at home before we en
tered school and started the speak
ing of English as a language — which
was the only language spoken at
home.”
Tn this model, let’s forget formal
homework assignments, let’s forget
textbooks, let’s forget structure.
“Let’s concentrate on learning
vocabulary and pronunciation, the
necessary ingredients for speaking
the language.
“Eventually this should lead to
writing it and total communication
— our goal for the mass of our stu
dents. ”
Coccia wants school boards and
high schools to recruit qualified
dynamic language teachers — inven
tive, ingenious ones.
He thinks it would be a good idea,
too, for schools to let students know
about careers where nice livings can
be made via skill with a foreign lan
guage.
Other elements in Coccia’s pre
scription:
—Colleges should reassess their
admission requirements in foreign
languages.
—The United States should prom
ote international exchanges of
teaching staff and students. Existing
programs of this type should be ex
panded and incentives made so
appealing that participation would
be irrestible. The business, interna
tional trade and finance communi
ties all have a vested interest in fore
ign language studies and should help
in contributing to the incentives
needed for such programs to be suc-
ceessful.
“As a nation,” Coccia said, “we
must accept the fact that we cannot
be an island unto ourselves if we are
to accept as basic the theory of inter
national cooperation.
“We are aware that we are an in
terdependent world and that global
concerns are gaining greater import
ance for people’s lives.
“The political challenges of our
times mandate the need for more
Americans to speak and read a fore
ign language.”
“Fluency in a foreign language,
beyond improving one’s job pros
pects in government or business,also
allows one to become versed in
another country’s history and cul
ture.
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HOUSE
779-7500
1803 Texas Ave.
For an enjoyable meal with family and friends
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THURSDAY EVENING SPECIAL
Italian Candle Light Spaghetti Dinner
SERVED WITH SPICED MEAT BALLS AND SAUCE
Parmesan Cheese - Tossed Green Salad
Choice of Salad Dressing - Hot Garlic Bread
Tea or Coffee
FRIDAY EVENING
SPECIAL
BREADED FISH
FILET w/TARTAR
SAUCE
Cole Slaw
Hush Puppies
Choice of one
vegetable
Roll or Corn Bread & Butter
Tea or Coffee
SATURDAY
NOON and EVENING
SPECIAL
Yankee Pot Roast
(Texas Style)
Tossed Salad
Mashed
Potato w/
gravy
Roll or Corn Bread & Butter
Tea or Coffee
■^■■(“Quality First’ iBHMi
SUNDAY SPECIAL
NOON and EVENING
ROAST TURKEY DINNER
Served with
Cranberry Sauce
Cornbread Dressing
Roll or Corn Bread - Butter -
Coffee or Tea
Giblet Gravy
And your choice of any
One vegetable
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