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Translations
Added Entries for Translators: Why
Are There So Few?
If you have ever searched a library catalog for translated works through the name of the translator, you may well have wondered why there is an entry for the name in some cases but not in others. For example, a recent translation of selected poems by Pablo Neruda was cataloged with an added entry for the translator, Margaret Sayers Peden49. Yet the same translator has no access point on a record for Isabel Allende's Eva Luna.50 The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the cataloging rule that brings about such results, where a translator is considered an access point on one catalog record but not on another. The data examined comprised all translations from Spanish and Portuguese with the publication date of 1990 cataloged at the Library of Congress. Of the 139 records that made up this set, 34 did not name a translator in the item itself, and were therefore excluded. The cataloging rule is found in Chapter 21 of the Anglo-American cataloging rules51, now in its second revised edition. This rule is applied as written at the Library of Congress, a principal source of cataloging for many American libraries. It is based on the main entry for a work. Its first part is very straightforward, stating simply that for translated works entered under title or a corporate heading, an added entry for the translator is always made. The records examined offered only two examples in this category, both works produced under editorial direction, entered under title or uniform title. The majority of the records, however, were for belles-lettres (with some additional assorted works principally in the humanities), works that are likely to be of personal authorship. For translated works that are entered under the heading for a personal author, one must follow the second part of the cataloging rule, which is more complex. It provides for a access through the heading for a translator in five specific cases:
The first category, verse translations, provides an explanation of the Peden example above: access to the heading for the translator is provided in the record for the Neruda work because it is in verse. The 1990 imprints offered a total of five examples in this category, or a bit less that 5%, the highest percentage in any category of translations in the sample set. The second, fourth, and fifth categories of the rule were not represented by any records in the set examined. The fourth category, that of works which present the translator as the author, is objective and straight-forward but likely to be encountered only rarely. The second and fifth categories are worthy of some examination because they are not so clear-cut. The second covers a translation that is «important in its own right»52. The interpretation of what constitutes such a translation is left to the judgment of catalogers: it may a translation from an obscure original language; a translation of a work previously not readily accessible to scholars; a translation in which the translator is judged to have made a significant original contribution; a translation of a work considered valuable for research purposes; or it may be all or none of the above. The fifth category of the rule, that of main entry that may not be accessible to readers, also depends to some extent on the cataloger's interpretation: which headings are really difficult to find? The rule provides some guidance in this instance by indicating that this may be case with oriental and medieval works, but it is not limited to these works. The final category of the rule to be mentioned is the third, works previously translated into the same language. The four examples from the set of records that fell into this category included an edition of Don Quijote and a new translation of Emilia Pardo Bazán's Pazos de Ulloa. Popular or significant literary, philosophical, or historical works for which there is not a definitive translation are the types of translations most likely to be covered by this category. It should be noted that the cataloging rule makes no mention of the translator him/herself. A prestigious translator is treated in exactly the same way as an unknown translator because the rule is dependent on the other factors noted above. Nearly 10% of the sample set of records studied (10 out of
105) provided access points for the translator not explained by the
translations cataloging rule.
Diane Capetz NEWS ITEMS
Languages Through Interactive
Video Disks
The interactive videodisk is changing the way foreign languages are taught at the University of Pennsylvania. Combined with a computer in a project called «Cinema», videodisks of foreign films are helping students learn two neglected language skills-listening and looking. «Cinema» lets students control a film as they watch it on the computer screen. They can run it a different speeds, freeze frames, and replay scenes. When they need help understanding the language or the action, students can use a mouse to get a translation, for example, or other information. «'Cinema' enables students to have a combination of attractive visual and linguistic information that stimulates the acquisition of vocabulary», says Horst S. Daemmrich, professor of German and comparative literature. «Because the spoken language gives you the language of native speakers, it goes quite fast. Students become quite proficient in hearing a rapidly spoken language sequence». «Clearly, the students are delighted with it. They can relate a very great deal to this combination of good movie and action sequence with the language. It enhances their ability in the classroom. It is a marvelous way to facilitate language instruction». Although just a few instructors are now using «Cinema», interest in the program is growing, as professors in foreign languages-and in other disciplines as well -see its advantages over «unenhanced» films and videotapes. About a dozen faculty members have a «tangential interest» in the project, according to its director. John R. Abercrombie, assistant dean for computing in the humanities. He predicts that half of those will find a way to adapt «Cinema» for their courses. The University of Pennsylvania is one of about a dozen institutions experimenting with videodisk technology to teach foreign languages, according to Mr. Abercrombie who is also director of the Center for Computer Analysis of Texts. Other institutions with projects of one kind or another include Brigham Young University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Minnesota. «Cinema» films run in a «window» that covers the top three-quarters of the computer screen, although the student can reduce the size of the window and move it around. A second window, divided into two sections, covers the bottom quarter of the screen and hides any English subtitles. On the lower left is an «annotation section», which may include a summary of the action on the screen, a transcript of a difficult conversation, or a professor's comments. On the lower right is a «list box», an index to additional resources. Using a mouse, the student can call up any of these resources, which appear in yet another window. «Cinema» films, usually 110 minutes long, are divided into 40 or 50 sections. «A section can be as small as a sentence or as large as a scene break. It depends on what you want to convey to the students», says Todd Kraft, a graduate student in mathematics and communications, who prepares videodisks for «Cinema». «We segment some movies to short clips, so students see 5 to 10 minutes and are on their way». Preparing a videodisk takes about 40 hours, although some difficult films may take twice that long, says Mr. Abercombie. Graduate language students write material for the annotation section. A native speaker-usually a foreign student-reviews each disk before it is used in class. «Each year things are added to the disks, which increases their value», says Mr. Abercrombie. «An interactive videodisk is never done. It is continually revised and tailored. You get to the place where it is OK to view in one class, and someone may want to tailor it for another class. It has its own life». «Cinema» runs on an IBM PS/2 computer with a color monitor connected to a videodisk player and a speaker. Unlike many multimedia programs, which use both a computer monitor and a video screen, «Cinema» uses only one screen. With the film on a separate video screen, says Mr. Abercrombie, the English subtitles could not be hidden, and students would have to shift their eyes back and forth in «monitor ping-pong». Students view films in twos and threes at special
«Cinema» workstations around the campus. Right now there are five
stations, and plans are in the works to add 10 more before the end of the year.
Each station
Ms. McMahon says instructors also look for «interesting samples of speech within the film-different accents or nice variety of linguistic interaction». She adds: «A film also has to be interesting, so students will sit and look at it and listen». «Cinema» gets mixed reviews from some faculty members who have been experimenting with it. Stephen G. Nichols, a professor of Romance languages, acknowledges that «language learning has to take advantage of new technology. This generation of students is oriented to visual media». «The technology represented by the 'Cinema' project has the advantage of presenting to students material in an entertaining form that they can interact with. It takes the passivity out of using instructional films». Beverly T. Watkins Largest Latin American Collections
in the U.S. According to Volume count
Bill Jackson IV Festival Iberoamericano de
teatro de Cádiz
From October 18-27, 1991, this sixth annual theatre festival took place in the theatres and in the streets of Cádiz. Evenings were devoted to theatre at the rate of at least two performances per night; daytime activities included a rich repast including talks by such distinguished theatre personnel as Rubén Yáñez (Uruguay), an ongoing project on the role of women in theatre, discussion sessions with directors and actors on the mornings following the performances, and meeting with the directors of journals specializing in Latin American or Hispanic theatre. In addition to the conventional theatre performances spectators were treated to delightful puppets and marionettes, story telling, and lively music, often lasting into the wee hours. Other street theatre was scheduled in Cádiz on the two weekends of the festival into parks, plazas and other public sites. One of the highlights of the week was a visit to the nearby Moorish «pueblo blanco» of Vejer de la Frontera to enjoy wonderful street performances provided by the Teatro Taller de Colombia, Diquis Tiquis (Costa Rica) and other groups, capped by an extended parade through the narrow, winding and delightful streets of the town. The objective of this festival which is directed by Juan Margallo and sponsored by multiple agencies, including the Ministry of Culture, the City of Cádiz, Iberia Airlines and others, is to showcase Iberoamerican theatre and to promote better understanding between the represented cultures and groups. The quality of the festival this year, according to participants from previous years, suffered by comparison. Nevertheless, there were moments of passion and pathos even when counterbalanced by moments of disappointment. Many performances this year could be characterized as «teatro de imagen», in which the written text was either non-existent or of little importance, others characterized as «teatro de palabra», with special attention to the text as drama, and others which managed to combine the best of both. The obra unipersonal is noteworthy at such festivals because it provides economy and high visibility at the same time. The performances of greater interest this year included two
large scale productions, one by Boi Voador (Brazil) and the other by the Centro
de Investigación y Divulgación Teatral (Paraguay). The young and
dynamic Brazilian group from Sao Paulo brought
Corpo de Baile, a highly visual work
based on texts adapted from the homonymous work by Joao Guimaraes Rosa, which
incorporated spectacular lighting and scenic design and the use of wheels in
varying sizes that served as a venue for fascinating acrobatics and corporal
effects. The Paraguayans brought
Yo el supremo, adapted by Augusto Roa
Bastos from his own novel, a complex staging of a complex piece with a powerful
message of oppression. Although the
There were several unfortunate events. CELCIT-Producciones was responsible for two plays from Venzuela -Chocrón's Simón and Caburjas' El Americano ilustrado, both of which received severe criticism. The 1983 production -of Simón which I saw in Caracas was better played; in this one Simón Bolívar seemed too puerile before his transformation and his mentor Simón Rodríguez was both sycophantic and blustery. The Cabrujas play which he also directed was poorly conceived and executed and may regrettably represent the tendencies of a man who has turned his career to television. Teatro de la Frontera (Mexico) brought Contrabando, a new play by Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda dealing with drug traffic along the US-Mexican border. While the topic was timely, the conception was monochromatic and melodramatic with too many loose ends. Some of the public was able to suffer through a brief production of a Spanish group named Azufre y Cristo in which an actor and actress led us through the anguish and suffering of all mankind with high symbolism and no intelligible language. The two musical performances were both disappointing. The Spanish group Silbo-Quimera staged Romanceros with incoherent staging and frankly prejudicial imagery. The Cuban group Teatro Caribeño entertained with El león y la joya based on episodes from Nobel-laureate Wole Soyinka but the work soon became repetitious and monotonous. On the positive side of the ledger was ¡Ah, Machos!, a delightful and amusing parody of Latin machismo that showed with poignancy the masculine masquerades which barely cover come deep-seated insecurities, the contribution of four men from the Teatro Circular de Montevideo. From among the unipersonal works one could most appreciate Inda Ledesma, an Argentine actress in a piece she called Andar por la gente, a collection of classical poems from Neruda, Lorca, Guillén and others which she wove with beautiful transitions into an evening of almost magical proportions. Other groups and productions were included in the festival but this participant was not able to see all of them because of conflicting times and schedules. On the eve of 1992, what statement does this Iberoamerican theatre festival, in which no Portuguese group was included, make? It is of course dangerous to generalize on the basis of so few plays, or to extrapolate on some principle of representativeness, but I feel obligated to try. On the one hand, the groups exercised their craft with conviction, and the quality of acting was surprisingly high. In the unsatisfying productions the quality of the direction seemed to be more at fault. On the other hand, the festival as a whole seemed less cohesive than other such festivals, perhaps because it lacked an underlying esthetic principle to provide guidance in the selection of the participating groups. Given the «hype» that will accompany all such events in 1992, it will be interesting to follow its trajectory next year. George Woodyard El erotismo en la cultura
hispánica
El 8 y 9 de noviembre de 1991, se celebró en la Universidad de Dijon (Francia), un Coloquio Internacional sobre «El Erotismo y la Imagen del Cuerpo en la Cultura Hispánica del Siglo XX». Las ponencias variadas y sugerentes abarcaron aspectos diversos de las manifestaciones del erotismo desde la pintura (Dalí, Picasso), hasta el cine (el mito de Sara Montiel, Buñuel), pasando por la literatura: novela, cuento y poesía, con una atención especial prestada a la emergencia de una literatura erótica escrita por mujeres (Paloma Díaz Mas, Alicia de Lourdes Ortiz y Ana Rossetti). Mandar los pedidos de las Actas: Hispanística XX, Université de Bourgogne, 2 Boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, Francia. También acaba de publicarse en la misma Universidad un volumen sobre la obra del Premio Nobel 1989, Camilo José Cela, titulado: Camilo José Cela: nuevos enfoques críticos. Pedidos a la misma dirección. Joseph Chrzanowski Bipunctuationalism
¡Now!
My university provides education for the many Latino groups in New York City, so it is not surprising that surprising things happen when these Latino groups get together. Take, for instance, the introduction of Spanish punctuation into the English language. For its own reasons, Spanish grammar insists that sentences that end with a question mark or an exclamation point should also begin with the same punctuation, only inverted. Perhaps it is because the Spanish language demands that a level of passion and feeling be injected into its expression. Thus the reader knows at the beginning of the sentence that the outcome will be a question or a passionate exclamation. This is not done in English, French, German or any of the Oriental languages, although one suspects somehow that Italian manages, in speech at least, to approximate the Spanish inflection. I found it extremely rewarding recently to see a student flier at Brooklyn College with the headline «Latinos Unidos ¡Now!» Not only was the headline bilingual, it was bipunctuational. Readers of the flier knew because of the «¡» that the Latinos were most serious about their agenda in a Latino sort of way. I think that we Latinos should add the campaign for bipunctuationalism to the fight for bilingualism. Not only does it make a dramatic statement about the need for pluralism in the United States, it demonstrates more easily than use of two languages that our Latino culture can enrich the ordinary discourse of non-Latin America. Think, for instance, of the advantage it would give
Other nationalities could also profit from Spanish punctuation. Scores of Eastern European merchants would be easier to understand with «¿So you want I should get it for you wholesale?» It would also be easier for the rest of the world to understand the Oriental languages that depend upon word order for meaning. International economics would be improved. Negotiators with the Japanese on trade agreements would appreciate knowing whether its «¿Sayonara?» or «¡Sayonara!» Perhaps much of the tragedy of war could be avoided if the troops knew whether the general was saying «¿Retreat?» or «¡Retreat!» I really believe that bipunctuationalism is a wave of the future. The vitality of North American society has always rested upon its ability to absorb new, fresh ideas from its diverse population. The symbolic victory of introducing Spanish punctuation into the common English language of the United States could open the door for important successes on other fronts as well. So let us add «Bipunctuationalism ¡Now!» to our arsenal of worthwhile causes to make Latinos Unidos known and included. Antonio Stevens-Arroyo Scholarships from Government's
Intelligence Budget
When the Soviet Union challenged U.S. technolgical prowess with the launching of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, America responded by pumping more money into the study of science and mathematics. Today, the dawning of a new, more multicultural world order has spawned a similar anxiety within the intelligence community: the fear that America's mostly monolingual society does not have enough people versed in other languages or customs to protect the nation from the foreign threats. The result is a $150 million government-created trust fund that is being touted as a largest initiative in higher education since the National Defense Education Act of 1958. This month, President Bush signed the National Security Education Act of 1991, which aims to improve the country's poor track record in foreign studies and enlarge the pool of Americans fit to work in government intelligence programs. The measure provides scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students to learn languages and to study abroad in countries deemed to be potentially crucial allies or enemies. It also bestows grants to universities to improve their international programs. The funds will be directed at students who study areas like the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, but those interested in countries more popularly studied, like Italy, Spain and France, will not be ruled out, said Senator David L. Boren, D-Okla., who heads the Senate Select Committe on Intelligence. The act originated in Boren's committee, which noted that fewer than one-forth of American colleges and universities require students to take foreign language courses to graduate, and that only 7.8 percent of all college students are enrolled in foreign language courses. The act more than triples the amount for scholarships for undergraduates to study abroad, increases by 40 percent the amount for graduate fellowhips for the study of foreign languages and marks the first program devoted solely to providing grants to colleges and universities to create or improve foreign language and area studies programs. This fiscal year, $35 million is to be split equally among undergraduate students, graduate students and colleges. After the first year, the program is expected to pay for itself, using the interest earned on the trust fund. The money for the fund comes from the government's intelligence budget. Graduate fellows will be required to work for a government agency or teach for one to three years for every year the fellowhip is provided. Undergraduates who receive the scholarships do not have to make future commitments. The act will be administered by the Defense Intelligence College with guidelines and criteria for the distribution of funds set by a Board of Trustees led by the secretary of defense. San Francisco Chronicle
AWARDS & HONORS
Albert R. Lopes Honored in New
Mexico
On November 15, 1991, Dr. Albert R. Lopes, Emeritus Professor, University of New Mexico, was presented the Humanities Award by the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities for his pioneer work in Portuguese in this country as well as his contributions to teaching. The following tribute, delivered by Nasario García, one of Dr. Lopes' former students and the first recipient of an M.A. in Portuguese at the University of New Mexico in 1964, underscores how one teacher can touch the lives of so many students. A long time ago, yesterday, in fact, or so it seems, after
having served in the U.S. Army, I appeared on the campus at the University of
New Mexico, eager and anxious to tackle a new venture in my life. I had an
appointment with Dr. William J. Parish, Professor of Business, who had been
assigned to be my advisor. Little did I know that my enthusiasm would be
shattered in short order. His first words, seemingly cold and heartless, were
straight and to the point: «Young
Having just been discharged from the Army, I was accustomed to listening, taking orders, and not asking questions. Besides, what questions could I have asked? I left Dr. Parish's office, what was then Yatoka Hall, today a duck pond, symbolic perhaps, not distraught, buy angry. As I went out the door there was a row of freshmen waiting their turn; I looked at them and simultaneously kicked the dirt. I muttered under my breath, «I'll show you, Dr. Parish». Thanks to my father and mother, I had always been taught never to yield to anyone or anything without some kind of an effort. Five years later during commencement at Johnson Gymnasium, as I went through the line to receive my Master's in Portuguese, Dr. Parish, then Dean of the Graduate School, was passing out diplomas. As he saw me, somewhat startled, although we had become good friends while I spent two years in University College, he looked up at me and said in a loud voice: «What in the hell are you doing there?» I smiled and thought, as I walked away smugly, «I taught you, didn't I?» My story, your story, and countless others can no doubt be duplicated, but they can only be repeated if someone cares and takes an interest in you. The person responsible for the academic success of hundreds of students across this country today, especially mine, from BAs, MAs, to Ph.D.s, is without a doubt Dr. Albert R. Lopes, whom we are honoring here tonight. I first met Dr. Lopes in 1957 in my Beginning Spanish class. I subsequently studied Portuguese, Italian, and French with him, not to mention the fact that whatever good English I speak and write today is mostly because of him. At the risk of embarrassing him, although I vowed not to be modest as I prepared by remarks, Dr. Albert R. Lopes in my estimation, and that of others who have known him for the past 30 years, was the consummate teacher, perhaps an anachronism in 1991. Let me tell you why he was looked upon as an outstanding teacher and a first-class human being in and outside the classroom. First, to say that he was a natural born teacher might sound a bit trite. Nevertheless, he knew how to teach, what to teach, when to ask questions, and when to listen to his students. For Dr. Lopes the classroom was his point of departure for everything education stood for, his reason for being, while his students became the shepards and beneficiaries of knowledge. Today some of us recall fondly with a kind of seeming drudgery the translating of The Death of a Salesman into Portuguese, or memorizing dialogues such as «Você fala português? Ainda n*o, mas estou aprendendo a falar». In retrospect, he did it his way, the old-fashioned way, as Barney Smith would say, but Dr. Lopes's methods worked because we learned. He was a demanding teacher, but he was also hardworking, caring, and never once asked more of you than he could deliver himself. In the end he was not only eminently successful but extremely popular as a teacher. Time and again he was chosen by his students as the outstanding teacher at the University of New Mexico, where he taught from 1939-68, but he also knew when to praise you, and when to scold you. When he harangued you, it was done with compassion and purpose; when he praised you, he made sure it did not go to your head. This magical balance is a gift very few of us possess. In the end, when Dr. Lopes spoke, you listened. Whatever qualities teachers are blessed with, simply are not born or made manifest only in the classroom; they transcend this pedagogical arena. Teachers, we come to find out, are not always egocentrics or pinheads; rather, they are ordinarily people just like you and me. How many times have we listened to some of Dr. Lopes corny jokes on play on words like «Upon my word» or «Once a knight is enough». Little did he know that the word knight (for night) would come back to haunt him years later. In 1967, Dr. Lopes was honored by the Portuguese government for his contributions to the Portuguese language in this country; this recognition did not come as a surprise to any of us who had been his students. The recognition was well-placed and deserved. He was awarded the «Knight Commander, the Order of Prince Henry the Navigator», one of Portugual's most prestigious honors bestowed upon a private citizen. A more propitious way with which to close another chapter on a long and illustrious teaching career could not have been dreamt up even by a fairy let along a teaching muse. Dr. Lopes, many of us, especially yours truly, are exceedingly grateful to you for the inspiration and confidence you instilled in us as we aimed for our education pursuits and endeavors. For this and much, much more, I should like personally to thank you tonight on this very special and festive occasion. Finally, I should like to extend my warmest and sincerest congratulations for the honor you are about to receive for your unselfish contributions to teaching and the undivided devotion you accorded your students. The legacy you left behind at the University of New Mexico is intact, remains unchallenged, and will always be recalled fondly by me and the rest of your former students and staunch supporters and admirers, some of whom are here tonight. May I say, «Muito obrigado por tudo!» Nasario García NECLAS Award to
Bell-Villada
Gene H. Bell-Villada, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., received the New England Council of Latin American Studies Best Book Award, 1991 for his García Márquez: The Man and his Work (University of North Carolina Press, 1990). The NECLAS Prize Committee recognized this book as readable, interesting and accessible, and detailed their praise.
In light of the immense amount of scholarship generated by this author, to even attempt to write about a figure as towering as Gabriel García Márquez takes a person of considerable courage and stamina. But Gene Bell-Villada brings more than fine scholarship, admirable style and a consummate knowledge of contemporary fiction and criticism to bear in this text. What is palpable in his book is the sense of utter bedazzlement» at García Márquez's genius to which he confesses in the introduction, and the reader quickly picks up on his genuine love for his subject. The background Bell-Villada provides on Colombian geography, politics, and society, the many personal vignettes of the author's life as well as the masterful analysis of his works makes this book particularly useful to readers unfamiliar with Latin America and its own brand of reality. It is a tale well told. The Haitian-born professor grew up in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Venezuela and received his Ph.D from Harvard University. His award-winning book after 15 months is now in its second edition. In 1990, he published a novel, The Carlos Chadwick Mystery: A Novel of College Life and Political Terror. (Amador Publisher). Rebecca Catz Received Portuguese
Award
On November 26, 1991, Rebecca Catz received a prize of 1,500,000 Escudos from the Comissao para a Comemoracao dos Descobrimentos Portugueses for the best book published in 1989 on the subject of the Portuguese discoveries. The book in question is The Travels of Mendes Pinto, which she edited and translated for the University of Chicago Press, the same book for which she had previously received an award from the Translation Center of Columbia University. A brief ceremony was held at the meeting of the III Congresso da Associacao Portuguesa de Escritores, in Lisbon, where the award was presented by Vasco Graca Moura, Comisário Geral of the Comissao. RECENT RELEASES
Portuguese Placement and
Proficiency Test Now Available
The Four-Skills Brazilian Portuguese Placement Test and the Four-Skills Brazilian Portuguese Proficiency Test are now ready for use in your language program. The placement test, much like the Advanced Placement tests produced by the Educational Testing Service, is used to place a student into a typical four-year Portuguese program at the university level. Many students who take this test have some prior knowledge of Portuguese and wish to enter a Portuguese language program at a level determined by an evaluative measure, The proficiency test, based on the tasks described by the ACTFL guidelines, is an evaluative instrument for students exiting a postsecondary language program. Typically these students are seniors or beginning graduate students. ALCANCE-Brazilian Portuguese Development Project at the University of Texas developed the Placement and Proficiency tests over the last three years. The Department of Education funded the testing project to write evaluative language competency instruments for nationwide use. They have been field tested and analyzed for statistical validity and are now available upon request and free of charge to your institution. ALCANCE will grade the tests and return the results within a reasonable amount of time. Info: Elizabeth Jackson, Institute of Latin America Studies, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 (512) 471-5551. Exhibit to Focus on Latin American
Women
The United Nations Women's Program (UNIFEM) granted US $10,000 to the Inter-American Quincentennial Fund for the project, «The Hidden Dimension: 500 Years of Women's History in Latin American and the Caribbean». The Inter-American Fund is a non-profit foundation which is involved in promoting cooperation between the countries of the Americas for the Quincentennial. The goal of «The Hidden Dimension» project is to enhance public understanding of the contributions of Latin American and Caribbean women to their societies through a poster exhibit and supplementary materials which interpret the evolving roles of women over the past five hundred years. Exhibit materials will be developed utilizing the new historical research which reveals that Latin American women played more active roles in all aspects of public and private life than previously assumed. All exhibit components (posters, guides and video) will be produced in both English and Spanish. The project will be administered by the Inter-American Quincentennial Fund with the assistance of an advisory group of recognized historians, writers and exhibition specialists. The completed exhibit will be easily transportable and affordable for smaller museums, cultural centers and libraries throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. Newsletter Symposium of 20th Century Spanish
Teatro at the College of
Wooster
The Department of Spanish of The College of Wooster
announces a symposium, «De lo particular a lo universal: el teatro
español del siglo XX y su contexto» to be held Thursday through
Saturday, April 15-17, 1993 on the College of Wooster campus. Papers (in
Spanish or English) should treat any aspect of 20th century Spanish theater
within the general context of modern Spanish or European theater, a particular
literary generation or the work of a particular author, and are not to exceed
20 minutes reading time (10-11) pages. Professors Francisco Ruiz Ramón
(Vanderbilt University) and Patricia W. O'Connor (University of Cincinnati)
will deliver keynote addresses. Abstracts (not to exceed 300 words all due by
November 1, 1992 or completed papers) should be sent to John P. Gabriele,
Symposium Director,
John P. Gabriele Bulletin Free to Spanish
Teachers
Da que Hablar, a bulletin of news articles with photographs and other authentic materials, is a regular publication of the Education Office of the Spanish Embassy, designed for use in Spanish language classes. Recent issues have contained snippets of newsworthy events, the MidEast Peace Conference in Madrid, the Winter Olympics, Expo '92, and the Judge Clarence Thomas hearings. Selections of Carmen Martín Gaite, Ernesto Sábato and Federico García Lorca, and Mario Vargas Llosa were published. Informative articles on important cities in Spain, Salamanca, Barcelona and Sevilla, familiarize students with the special nature and contribution of each city to the history and culture of Spain. Regular features, Movies and Television, Cooking and Gardening, and Riddles and Puzzles add to the diversity of this bulletin. All of these categories are supplemented with an assortment of individual and classroom activities to reinforce vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing and speaking skills brought out in the articles. Although most of the content of Da que Hablar is geared for more advanced levels of Spanish, the beginner classes are not overlooked. One example from the September 1991 issue is an activity that exercises the present and imperfect tenses in which students create their own sentences prompted by information given in the drawings. The bulletin is available free of charge to any Spanish teacher requesting in writing to be put on the mailing list. Info: Consejería de Educación, Embajada de España, 1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 1050, Washington, DC 20036. Dianne M. Bono New Series on Latin American
Literature in Translation
The Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe has created a new series, Latin American Literature in Translation. The Press is seeking manuscripts in this new series that are compatible with its primary commitment to writing by Hispanics in the United States. That is, we are seeking English translations of works either written in Spanish either by U.S. Hispanics or by authors of other nationalities whose subject content touches upon issues of concern to U.S. Hispanics. The Press had already published in English translation six novels, including Emilio Díaz Valcárcel, Schemes in the Month of March (original title, Figuraciones en el mes de marzo); Miguel Méndez, Pilgrims in Aztlán (Peregrinos de Aztlán); and Aristeo Brito, The Devil in Texas (El diablo en Texas), as well as poetry in English translation by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Rosario Castellanos. Info: David William Foster, Regents' Professor of Spanish, Department of Foreign Languages, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281-0202 (FAX: 602-965-0135). Manuscripts Invited for
Letras Peninsulares
Letras Peninsulares invites submissions for its Spring 1993 Monographic Issue, La otra cara del 27: la novela social española, 1923-1939. The journal invites manuscripts of 12-25 pages, in Spanish or English, prepared in accordance with 1985 MLA style, on any aspect of the social novel of the period from the Dictadura to the close of the Civil War. Especially welcome will be new theoretical approaches to this body of literature and to the writer in a social context, as well as studies of the marginalized and/or neglected writers of this period, critical challenges to the traditional Generation 1927 canon, and reconsiderations of the relationship of the writers and their works to the aesthetic precepts and praxis of the better known Generation of 1927. Info: Professor Victor Fuentes, Guest Editor, La otra cara del 27, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 or to Professor Mary Vasquez, Editor, Letras Peninsulares, Michigan State University, Department of Romance and Classical Languages, A-531 Wells Hall, East Lansing, MI 49924-1027. Submission deadline: August 1, 1992. FORTHCOMING EVENTS
1992 EVENTS
Comparative Literature Program at Louisiana State University, 19-21 June, «Intertextuality and Civilization in the Americas». Info: Bainard Cowan, Dept. of English, LSU, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. Send FAX 504-388-6447. The University of Maryland at College Park, 21 June-25 July, «The Encounter of Cultures in Brazil». Info: Saúl Sosnowski, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. (301) 314-9752. Conference on Computational Linguistics, 23-28 July. Info: A. Zampolli, Universita di Pisa, ILC, via della Faggiola 32, I-51600 Pisa, Italy; telephone +39.50.560481; Fax +39.50.589055. Internationalizing Foreign Language Education through Technology, 4-7 August, Nacoya Japan, Info: Marie Sheppard, Anderson Language Technology Center. University of Colorado at Boulder, Hellens 135, Campus Box 239, Boulder, CO 88309-0239. International Congress of Linguists, 9-14 August, Quebec City. Info: Departement de langues et linguistique, Université Laval, Quebec City, PQGIK 7P4, Canada. West Chester University Foreign Language
XVII International Congress, Latin American Studies Association, 24-26 September, Los Angeles, CA. Info: LASA, 946 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15266. Fax: (412) 624-7145. 42nd Annual Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, 8-10 October, Blacksburg, VA. Info: Justo C. Ulloa, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0225; (703) 231-5361; FAX (703) 231-7826. Southeast Regional TESOL, 8-10 October, Info: Jude Lupinetti, 340 Nichols Dr., Billoxi, MS 39530; (601) 374-1922. Foreign Language Association of North Carolina, 22-24 October, Greensboro. Info: Wayne Figart, 204 North 16th Street, Wilmington, NC 28401; (919) 763-4009. Indiana TESOL, 22-24 October. Info: Adele Tyson, ELS Language Center, 3200 Cold Spring Road, Indianapolis, IN 46222. 13th Annual Conference on Spanish in the United States and 2nd International Conference on Spanish in Contact with Other Languages, 22-24 October, 1992, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Abstract deadline: June 15, 1992. Info: Francisco Ocampo, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Minnesota, 34 Folwell Hall, 9 Pleasant St. S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455.; (612) 625-5822; fax: (612) 625-3549; focampo@vx.acs.umn.edu) Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers, 23-24 October, Appleton. Info: Patrick T. Raven, School District of Waukesha, 222 Maple Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186. Massachusettes Foreign Language Association, 30-31 October. Info: Helen M. Cummings, 17 Byme Road, Milton, MA 02187. Youngstown State University Foreign Language Conference, 30-31 October, Youngstown. Info: Foreign Languages, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH 44555; (216) 742-3461. Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers, 2 November, Denver. Info: Michael Nettleton, 4745 Osage Drive, Boulder, CO 80303-3904. Conference on Educational Exchange, 3-5 November, Berlin. Info: CIEE, 205 E. 42nd Street, New York City 10017; (212) 661-1414. Texas Foreign Language Association, 5-7 November, El Paso. Info: Cathy A. Champagne, TFLA Recording Secretary, 14135 Barrone, Cypress, TX 77429. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages with American Association of Teachers of Italian and American Association of Teachers of German, 20-22 November, Chicago/Rosemont. Info: ACTFL, 6 Executive Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701-6801; (914) 963-8830; FAX (914) 963-1275. Fair for Languages, Translation and International Communication, 26-29 November, Frankfurt. Info: Mainzor Ausstellungs GmbII, Alexander-Diehl-Strasse 12, D-6500 Mainz 26, Germmay. Modern Language Association of America, 27-30 December, New York. Info: Modern Language Association of America, 10 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003-6981. 1993 EVENTS
Southern Conference on Language Teaching with Foreign Language Association of Georgia, 11-13 February, Atlanta. Info: Rosalie Cheatham, Foreign Languages, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 South University, Little Rock, AR 72204. Illinois Joint Foreign Language Conference, 19-20 February, Bloomington. Info: Susan Leibowitz, Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, IL 60025; (312) 549-7517. Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 25-28 March, Des Moines. Info: Jody Thrush, Madison Area Technical College, 3550 Anderson Ave., Madison, WI 53704; (608) 2466573. Southwest Conference on Language Teaching with Arizona Foreign Language Association, 1-3 April, Tempe. Info: Jan Herrera, 10724 Tancred, Northglenn, CO 80234; (303) 452-1038; CompuSeve 70031, 2013; Internet 70031.2013 @ Compuserve.comm. American Association for Applied Linguistics, 9-12 April, Atlanta. Info: AAAL, PO Box 24083, Oklahoma City, OK 73124. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, 9-18 April, Atlanta. Info: TESOL, 1600 Cameron St., Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314; (703) 836-0774; FAX (703) 836-7864. Northeast Conference on the Teaching of
Foreign International Association of Applied Linguistics, 8-12 August, Amsterdam. Info: Johan Matter, Vrije Univesitat, Tacuteit der Letteren, Postbus 7161, NI 1007 MC Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Illinois Joint Foreign Language Conference, 21-24 October, Peoria. Info: Susan Leibowitz, Glenbrook South High School, Glenview, Il 60025; (312) 549-7517. Foreign Language Association of North Carolina, 22-24 October, Greensboro. Info: Fran Head, 1330 Fifth Street, NE #76, Hickory, NC 28601. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages with American Association of Teachers of German, 20-22 November, San Antonio. Info: ACTFL, 6 Executive Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701-6801; (914) 963-8830; FAX (914) 963-1275. Modern Language Association of America, 27-30 December, Toronto. Info:-Modern Language Association of America, 10 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003-6981. 1994 EVENTS
Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes, 28 March -1 April, Hamburg. Info: PIPLV Head Office, Seestrasse 247, CH-8038 Zurich, Switzerland. Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages with Missouri Foreign Language Association, 21-24 April, Kansas City. Info: Jody Thrush, Madison Area Technical College, 3550 Anderson Ave., Madison, WI 53074; (608) 246-6573. Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 7-10 April, New York. Info: North-east Conference, 200 Twin Oaks Terrace, Ste. 16, So. Burlingotn, VT 05403; (802) 863-9939. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages with American Association of Teachers of German, 18-20 November, Atlanta. Info: ACTFL, 6 Executive Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701-6801; (914) 963-8830; FAX (914) 963-1275. 1995 EVENTS
American Association of Teachers of German with Internationaler Deutschlehrerverband, 4-7 August, Stanford University. Info: AATG, 112 Haddontowne Court #104, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034; (609) 795-5553, FAX (609) 795-9398. American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages with American Association of Teachers of German, 18-20 November, Anaheim. Info: ACTFL, 6 Executive Plaza, Yonkers, NY 10701-6801; (914) 963-8830; FAX (914) 963-1275. Modern Language Association of America, 27-30 December, location to be announced. Info: Modern Language Association of America, 10 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003-6981. Gerard Ervin We Remember
Eunice Joiner Gates
On December 14, 1991, the noted Hispanist, Eunice Joiner Gates, died in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 93. She and her late husband, William Bryan Gates, were members of the first faculty of Texas Tech University when it opened in the fall of 1925. After she and her husband retired in 1963, Gates Hall on the University campus was named in their honor. Born to missionary parents in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, she spent her youth in the state of Rio Grande do Sul on the Argentine border. As a child she spoke Portuguese, Spanish, and English; it was not until early adolescence that she realized she was trilingual. She came to the United States to study at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, where in 1921 she completed the Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude; in 1924 she received her Master's degree in English. She began her graduate studies in Spanish during the summers of 1922 and 1923 at the University of Texas, and after her marriage in 1925 joined her husband on the first faculty at Texas Tech. During subsequent leaves of absence from Texas Tech she was able to complete a second Master's degree in Spanish at the University of Michigan and the Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1945 she was made a full professor at Texas Tech University. Professor Gates was an active scholar throughout her entire life. Her eclectic interest included signal studies on Luis de Góngora, Calderón de la Barca, Gil Vicente, Brazilian literature, and gaucho belles-lettres. On the occasion of her retirement the Cambridge University professor, Edward Wilson, wrote: «...her chief qualities seem to me to be her courage in tackling difficult material, her accurate scholarship and common sense. She believes in establishing facts -literary facts- which are useful to the critic, the historian on literature and the editor. In this way she has helped, and will continue to help, her fellow scholars». She was a corresponding member of the Hispanic Society of
America, and a member of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and
Portuguese, the Modern Language Association of America, and the American
Association of University Women.
Harley D. Oberhelman Marta Rivas de Torres
Fue doña Marta Rivas de Torres dedicada esposa y ayudante a su culto marido, don Edelberto Torres. Don Edelberto se reconoce como distinguido investigador e insigne biógrafo de Rubén Darío y el guatemalteco Enrique Gómez Carrillo. Doña Marta le ayudó en mucho de sus trabajos y le acompañó en los viajes que le otorgaron muchos laureles literarios. Por eso al mundo literario le pena el anuncio del sentido fallecimiento de su compañera durante muchos años y la madre de los hijos de Torres Rivas. Me llegó hace poco la noticia de la hija Myrna E. Torres Rivas de la muerte de su madre. Como se ve, aunque en Costa Rica donde se instaló el matrimonio durante varios años, le colmó a ella en su deceso los honores que merece mi amiga querida, Marta Rivas de Torres (q.e.p.d.). La carta de Myrna reza así: Quiero, a través de esta misiva, darles la mala noticia de la muerte de mi madre, Marta Rivas de Torres, acaecida el jueves 25 de octubre a las 2 de la tarde. Mamá estaba muy enferma y con dolores intensos, desde el medio de julio de este año, pero no fue sino hasta finales de agosto, cuando el médico recomendó que la ingresáramos al hospital, pues supimos que su aparato digestivo estaba invadido de cáncer. Durante estos meses, fue cuidada con esmero y amor, nada le faltó. Estuvo rodeada de sus seres más queridos, mi hermano Edelberto, mi padre y yo así como recibía a diario la visita de los buenos amigos, ticos, nicas y chapines. Su hermana Gloria estuvo un mes a su lado. Hubo unos funerales magníficos, fue velada en la capilla El Recuerdo, al día siguiente hubo misa cantada en la Capilla de don Bosco y sus restos se incineraron de acuerdo a sus deseos. Mi padre estuvo presente en todos los actos. Para él ha sido un golpe muy duro, aunque ya se esperaba, y hasta el momento ha tomado su partida con estoicismo. Ojalá no entre en un estado depresivo. Evelyn Uhrhan Irving, Emerita Tracy David Terrell
The profession was most saddened to learn of the death, early the morning of December 2, 1991, of the internationally-renowned hispanist and linguist Tracy David Terrell, of multiple causes stemming from AIDS, at the home of his sister, Jane Terrell, in Austin, Texas, where he had been living intermittently since his retirement from the University of California at San Diego in December, 1989. Tracy had taught since the fall of 1985 at UCSD, where he held the rank of Professor of Linguistics and the job of director of all first-year language instruction. Prior to his appointment at UCSD, Tracy had taught at the University of California Irvine since 1970 in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He received his Ph.D. in 1970 from the University of Texas at Austin in Romance Linguistics and his B.A. from Marshall University (Huntington, West Virginia) in 1964. He was born in Huntington on June 23, 1943. He is survived by his parents, by his sister, and by her two daughters. Tracy Terrell is also survived by one of the most remarkable scholarly and professional records of any twentieth-century hispanist and linguist. By 1975, Tracy had begun to publish what would eventually turn out to be the first of several dozen studies to derive from the analysis of taped materials and others forming part of the on-going Estudio del Habla Culta de las Grandes Ciudades... sponsored by ALFAL (the Asociación de Lingüística y Filología de la América Latina), a task that he had initially undertaken at the prompting of his graduate professor Joseph H. Matluck. Tracy's work on the Estudio's Cuban tapes rapidly led him to an ever-expanding research commitment to the dialectology of the Hispanic Caribbean in general, as is witnessed by such publication titles as «Functional Constraints on the Deletion of Word-Final /s/ in Cuban Spanish», «La nasal implosiva y final en el español de Cuba», «La variación fonética de /r/ y /rr/ en el español cubano», «Sobre la aspiración y elisión de la /s/ implosiva y final en el español de Puerto Rico», «La marcación de pluralidad: Evidencia del español dominicano», and many others appearing in a wide variety of journals, anthologies, and other collections of papers. Extensive data-based work on phonetics and phonology soon brought Tracy Terrell into the forefront of theoretical linguistics and sociolinguistics; the numerous papers he wrote on natural generative phonology, on markedness theory, and on variation and variability are still required reading today, and his several coauthored textbooks from that period, including the 1979 Lingüística aplicada a la enseñanza del español a anglohablantes (with Maruxa Salgués de Cargill) and the 1982 Fonética y fonología españolas (with Richard Barrutia) continue to be used in our classrooms. All told, Tracy had published nearly 100 separate items by the time of his death. It is, however, as a pioneer, a theoretician, a promoter and
above all a leader in the 1980s' movements toward
contextualized/input-based/«natural» approaches to language
acquisition that we remember Tracy Terrell best. Starting in 1977 with the
publication of his widely-cited «A Natural Approach to Second Language
Acquisition and Learning» in the
Modern Language Journal, Tracy began to
speak and publish extensively on this topic, a scholarly activity that
culminated in 1983 with the appearance of his The Natural Approach: Language
Acquisition in the Classroom (with Stephen Krashen) and, subsequently, with his
best-selling textbook
Dos mundos, now in its second edition.
(French and German counterparts to
One of the many things that most impressed me about Tracy Terrell was the extent to which he insisted on remaining widely read and free of dogmatism. An example of this is the way he tan the first-year UCSD language programs, which he invited me to visit in the early spring of 1987. I was immediately struck by the programs' organizational format, which devoted three class hours per week to the sort of acquisitional activities one had become familiar with by reading Tracy's publications, but which also insisted on two class hours per week of what Tracy described as «grammar lecture plus writing practice», two monitor-development activities that Tracy justified by citing the emerging work of such Canadian scholars as Merrill Swain, whose Output Hypothesis would shortly add a new and partly revisionist dimension to our understanding of what constituted the language acquisition process. Suffice it to say that the half-dozen classes I visited -in several languages and of both the acquisition-oriented and the grammar lecture/writing practice genres- were uniformly impressive on all levels. It was late in the fall of 1987 that Tracy phoned me to let me know that he had been tested HIV-positive. With typical Terrellian professionalism, Tracy quickly learned all there was to know about AIDS, joined several support groups, made the rounds of all the appropriate doctors, and underwent a regimen of treatments and dietary supplements of various sorts. But of course the AIDS virus has a mind of its own, and on several occasions following his retirement, Tracy drew near to death, experiencing near-miraculous remissions after many had given up hope. The last month of his life, however, was spent in considerable pain, and to make matters worse he could no longer engage in the scholarship and the revision of his textbooks that had kept him active almost up until the end. Death came as a release. Twin memorial services were held in Austin and San Diego. With the death of Tracy David Terrell, our several professions have lost a brilliant scholar and indefatigable researcher who also found ample time to inform, enlighten, lead, and, yes, entertain us all. Like so very many of us, I feel infinitely privileged to have known Tracy. I miss him very much. Te queremos mucho, Tracy, y puedes estar seguro de que no nos olvidaremos de ti jamás. Tu vida ha sido un ejemplo a seguir en todos sus aspectos. Richard V. Teschner
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