Freedom's Voyage to America (by Martín Gómez)

Forum 5: Do we live in democracy?

An interesting discussion took place in our last L&C III class. Unluckily, we didn’t have time enough to deepen into it. The question, a relevant one now that elections are on their way, was the following:

Is ours a real democracy? To what extent?   

I imagine you’ve got lots of things to say, so I’m eager to read your comments. 

Hispania and Britan: From 7th cent. BC till 5th cent. AD (by Cecilia Acosta)

After reading some pages of the bibliography provided by the teachers of “Language and Culture IV” and “Expresión Oral y Escrita de la Lengua Española”, I came to the conclusion that although both subjects deal with different topics, the events analyzed in the last three classes took place during the same years in different geographical locations. That is why my intention is to establish some connections that might be useful to consider by the reader.

As discussed in “Exp. Oral & Esc. de la L. Española”, the origins of the Spanish language begin more or less in the 3rd cent. BC in the Iberian Peninsula, with a mixture of different dialects brought by diverse cultures. Some of these cultures were: the “Celts,” who invaded Hispania in the 7th cent. BC, and came principally from the south of Germany; the “Iberians,” coming from the centre of the Mediterranean; the “Tartessians,” from Africa; the “Phoenicians,” founders of Carthage, Greece; and the “Lingurians,” from Italy.

By the 2nd cent. BC, the Romans invaded Hispania. And as the teacher very well said, “An ideological power is imposed through language.” This imposition of the Latin language by the Romans was also a topic discussed in “L&C IV,” when debating the importance of language as a fundamental component of any culture. The Roman domination started declining and ended in the 5th cent. AC, because of difficulties in communication between Rome and the conquered land. This was mainly due to the amount of invasions Hispania suffered during these years.

Later on, in “Exp. Oral & Esc. de la L. Española”, we kept on talking about the Barbaric Invasions in the year 409 AC. Another topic discussed in both subjects was that at that time, one could call “barbaric” everything that did not belong to the Roman culture. One example of this is illustrated in “De Bello Gallico” (Caesar, Caius Julius c. 50 BC) when referring to the Celts during the 1st Roman Invasion.

In “L&C IV,” we started talking about the Roman Invasions of Britain, in the 1st cent. BC. The Fist Invasion was carried out in the year 55 BC and the Second Invasion in the year 54 BC, both commanded by Julius Caesar; and the Third Invasion, in 43 AC., commanded by the Emperor Claudius.

So, as a short conclusion it is possible to say that History is a process of interconnected events, and the bond I could establish was more or less the following:                 

•   From the 7th till the 3rd centuries BC, different cultures left traces of languages they had used while their establishment and before being invaded by other groups in the Iberian Peninsula.
  
•   In the 2nd cent. the Romans invaded Hispania, forcing the inhabitants to adapt the Latin language –the establishment of the language was completed, of course, many centuries later, but with a mixture of the previous ones, though.
  
•  During the 1st cent. BC, the Romans invaded Britain, and continued with several attacks till the 1st cent. AC.
  
•  Finally, in the 4th cent. AC, the Romans were compelled to abandon Britain due to a great crisis.
  
•  In the 5th century AC. the Romans left the territory of Hispania, due to another important crisis.
  

Recommended links and sources

Here are some links meant to assist you in your class and everyday needs. If you know of any other source of interest, please let me know and I will add it.

DICTIONARIES

The Free Dictionary 

Very complete dictionary, thesarus and enciclopedia, with pronunciation examples and access to other sources. 

Wordweb Dictionary

Fast downloadable dictionary to use on your PC without being online.

Word Reference 

Great English-Spanish dictionary, excellent tool for writers or translators, with plenty of forums where you can consult or discuss meaning with colleagues. 

The Phrase Finder 

Meaning and origin of English idioms and Phrases. 

Word Navigator 

Utterly original tool; whenever you feel you know a word but you just keep a vague idea of its spelling or pronunciation, you can use this great tool to find it. 

Real Academia Española

Not a great Spanish dictionary, but one of the few ones that allow free access.

Online Etimology Dictionary 

Good tool to check for the origin of English words. 

Urban Dictionary

Fantastic tool (however asystematic) for those reading or using slang and colloquial English. 

LIBRARIES

Internet Archive 

The greatest online library, with access to textual and audiovisual material in the public domain from different libraries around the world. 

Project Gutenberg 

Well-known collection of e-books in the public domain. 

Library of Congress 

Digital collection from the American Library of Congress. 

Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes 

One of the few good collections of digital books in Spanish. 

Sometimes, there is a painting… (by Romina Goncalves)

A friend told me about her honeymoon in Cuba, the way she loved Celia Cruz and her project about re-decorating her flat. A paintig was the resulting idea of all that chatting. It is curious the way inspiration comes to you. It is like a simple and unespected idea that surprizes you. From that moment onwards, the idea possessed my mind.

The first problem was to search for material. I knew the painting was going to be about Cuba. The question was what material and how to deal with it. We can find lots of things on the Net.