The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi Education Correspondent
My Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary says ‘‘to upholster’’ is to provide something, e.g an armchair with padding, springs or fabric covering. This means repairing, doesn’t it?
We must check our English Language to ensure that there are or not any repairs needed. If any, we need to repair it. This is important, extremely important, for both students who want to write examinations and indeed adults going about their lives and jobs in everyday life.
How do we upholster our communication skills? This is the whole essence of these extraordinary English learning tips and guidelines. This series of English Language upholstery exercises will, believe me, elevate your level of communication! So, welcome to raising personal English standards!
In the last few articles I gave you examples of errors in speech and writing we make every day. This week I have a few more for you . . . a few at a time is more effective, I always say. I have been doing this for a very long time. I am doing this still and compiling a book specifically for Common Errors.
Most of us have repeated those errors so often we now think they are correct. I must admit I often get frustrated when supposedly and seemingly intelligent adults lie dead and buried in their ‘‘favourite’’ common errors, particularly teachers. If they are English teachers I cannot help being academically furious . . . because I ask myself, “For Christ’s sake, what are they doing in an English language classroom?”
This week allow me to focus on mother-tongue interference and the spark of Figures of Speech.
Every conscious and competent English language teacher knows about the problem of mother-tongue interference. What you say in Shona or Ndebele cannot always be translated directly into English and make sense. And when you communicate in direct translation you may think you are communicating, meanwhile you are attracting ridicule and embarrassment.
You cannot say, “It’s far for eyes, ears hear” and claim to be communicating sense in English. Yet in Shona that is a perfect idiomatic expression, ‘‘Kure kwemeso, nzeve dzinonzwa.” Or “What forgets is the axe, the tree stump does not forget.” In Shona that is a wise saying: ‘‘Chinokanganwa idemo, chitsiga hachikanganwe.’’ Prince William or Harry will never understand, ‘‘Witch, bewitch far away so that you may find someone to bury you.’’
Let alone their father or grandmother, the Queen of England. Instead you may be arrested at Heathrow Airport or deported back home before ‘‘bewitching’’ any one in England.
Chinua Achebe or Ngugi wa Thiongo would find sense in some of these jokes or proverbs, but clearly not the former British Premier, Theresa May or the new, is it Boris Johnson… not even Donald Trump. ‘‘They can go to hell . . . ’’ you may say, ‘‘. . . who cares?’’
And I agree with you, but not when you want them, something from them or from their country. Funny? It is not funny when we speak nonsense to people we want something from.
It may be marks you want from a marker, love from a date over whom you have a crash, or travel/study visa from a foreign embassy. Or imagine you are speaking to people you want to vote for you for a political position or special job in the community.
Another area you need to check is the flavour of your language. Do you speak the obvious, literal word and expression (denotatively) all the time or you up, spice, your command of English language through figurative speech? This is very important to ensure effective communication. This way you make your listeners or readers enjoy your language. Poor communicators torture their audiences with verbal drab and nonsense. A well chosen figure of speech or metaphor adds flavour to your communication style and even one intelligently chosen is like a rose in a desert.
Look at the following:
Speaker 1: The lady thinks a great deal of herself.
Speaker 2. The lady is full of airs and graces
Speaker 1. Mr Mtisi is ruled by his wife.
Speaker 2. Mr Mtisi is hen-pecked/ under petticoat government.
Speaker 1. There are no alternatives in the arrangement.
Speaker 2. It is make or break.
Speaker 1. Change the rules if people become difficult to govern.
Speaker 2. Move the goalposts if people become difficult to govern.
Speaker 1. His rival for the vacant parliamentary seat admitted defeat, gave up and withdrew from the by-election.
Speaker 2. His rival for the vacant parliamentary seat threw in the sponge / towel and withdrew from the by-election.
Speaker: 1. He bit an opponent’s ear in the game. That was not good sportsmanship.
Speaker 2. He bit an opponent’s ear in the game. That was not cricket.
Speaker 1. The airport and stadium are useless, unwanted and burdensome possessions.
Speaker 2. The airport and stadium are white elephants.
Speaker 1. Mrs Morris overworks by working night and day.
Speaker 2. Mrs Morris burns the candle at both ends.
Speaker 1. Come on sweetheart; be honest and frank.
Speaker 2. Come on sweetheart; throw your cards on the table.
Speaker 1. His idea is of no consequence.
Speaker 2. His idea is neither here nor there.
Speaker 1. Garikai is a person with good qualities, but has rough or unrefined exterior.
- Garikai is a rough diamond.
Speaker 1. He was approaching the matter in an indirect or roundabout way.
Speaker 2. He was beating about the bush.
Speaker 1. I am tired of making plans in my imagination.
Speaker 2. I am tired of building castles in the air.
Speaker 1. We fought for quite a while but it is time to make peace and smooth over our differences.
Speaker 2. We fought for quite a while, but it is time to bury the hatchet.
Speaker 1. The headmaster speaks strongly but acts mildly.
Speaker 2. The headmaster’s bark is worse than his bite.
You don’t need to learn all the figures of speech in the English language. However, the more you know the more flexible you will be in their use and you can rest assured you have in your language bag a powerful flavouring.
Who speaks more impressively do you think, Speaker 1 or 2? Certainly Speaker 2, does he or she not? Brilliant speakers and writers use Figures of Speech to create images or mind-pictures to express themselves visually, imaginatively and powerfully.
If your language is all denotative (use of the obvious straight word and expression) please think again. You can borrow some of my figures of speech above and start practicing using them now. Raise your standard of English. You will never regret these lessons. So long as you do not do overdo it, please be warned!
This is time to upholster your English language. I hope you are enjoying the fun. If learning is not joyful . . . if it is not fun, it becomes a burden. And burdens do not readily deliver learning outcomes. Enjoy, don’t endure learning!
