Academic Vocabulary: Academic Words - Olsen Amy E. 2012

Chapter 9. Foreign Languages

Welcome Additions

More foreign words and phrases come into common English usage each year. Because English has always borrowed words from other languages, people aren't always aware that a word originated in another place. For example, banana and zombie are African words, cookie and yacht come from the Dutch, and yogurt from Turkish. Other words may still sound foreign, but they are used every day when speaking English.

Imagine eating dinner alfresco on a pleasant evening. While you are enjoying the view from the patio, your waiter comes to tell you about the soup du jour and other daily specials. After you take a sip of the delicious French onion soup you ordered, you sit back and enjoy the hon mot your companion credits to Mark Twain: "I am opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position." You laugh at the witty remark and then ask, "Who needs to be a millionaire?" You know you are living la dolce vita as you take pleasure in your excellent meal, good company, and lovely atmosphere. When your dessert arrives, the waiter lights a match, applies it to the banana flambe, and shouts, "Voila!" The alcohol ignites, and the flames create a magnificent finale to your evening. Possibly without even being aware of it, you have just spent an evening filled with foreign phrases.

Foreign words also appear frequently in the media. The Latin phrase carpe diem was an important message in the 1989 Oscar-winning film Dead Poet’s Society. The film is about a strict boys' school where an English professor tries to teach his students to live life to the fullest. Carpe diem also appears on numerous calendars and motivational posters. To seize the day is a message we often forget in today's hectic world.

The term doppelganger comes from German for a ghostly double, and the concept has been explored in short stories by writers such as Edgar Allan Poe in "William Wilson" and by Robert Louis Stevenson in "Markheim." Writers have also claimed to have seen their doppelgangers. The English poet Shelly saw his shortly before he drowned in Italy, while the German poet Goethe claimed to have seen his riding down a road. Even a single word can have an impact in a story, such as nada as used in "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" by Ernest Hemingway. Nothing can certainly come to mean something.

It isn't necessarily a faux pas to not understand every foreign word or phrase currently in use, but to avoid possibly embarrassing moments, the wise person will want to le^ at least a few of these phrases. The multicultural Zeitgeist of the twenty-first century asks all of us to grow along with the language.

Predicting

For each set, write the definition on the line next to the word to which it belongs. If you are unsure, return to the reading on page 56, and underline any context clues you find. After you've made your predictions, check your answers against the Word List on page 61. Place a checkmark in the box next to each word whose definition you missed. These are the words you'll want to study closely.

Set One

There it is!

a witty remark

out-of-doors

the good life

as served on a particular day

□ 1. alfresco (line 10) ...

□ 2. dujour (line 12) ...

□ 3. hon mot (line 13) ...

□ 4. la dolce vita (line 16) ...

□ 5. voila (line 18) ...

Set Two

nothing

the spirit of the time

seize the day

a mistake

a ghostly double or counterpart

□ 6. carpe diem (line 21) ...

□ 7. doppelganger (line 29) ...

□ 8. nada (line 36) ...

□ 9. faux pas (line 38) ...

□ 10. Zeitgeist (line 40) ...

Self-Tests

1 Match each word with its synonym in Set One and its antonym in Set Two.

Synonyms

Set One

1. carpe diem

a. mood

2. doppelganger

b. mistake

3. bon mot

c. grab the chance

4. Zeitgeist 

d. double

5. faux pas 

e. witticism

Antonyms

Set Two

6. alfresco 

f. old

7. nada 

g. Darn!

8.la dolce vita

h. indoors

9. voila  

i. everything

10.dujour

j. dreariness

2 Finish the sentences using the vocabulary words. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

bon mot

carpe diem

nada voila

alfresco

faux pas

dolce vita

zeitgeist

doppelganger

du jour

1. The special ... at the cafeteria was kidney pie; I decided to pass.

2. As we sat on the porch of our cabin overlooking the lake, we thought this was the ... .

3. Shortly before her death, Queen Elizabeth I is reported to have seen her ...lying on a bed.

4. My cousin is the expert at the ...; she always knows the right thing to say to make people laugh.

5. After a busy semester, I was looking forward to doing ... for a week.

6. Sometimes I get so involved in everything I need to get done that I forget to ... .

7. I think that having toilet paper stuck to one's shoe all night would be considered a(n) ... at most parties.

8. In the 1920s, the ... seemed to be to party as much as possible in order to forget World War I.

9. The play will be performed ... to enhance the play's forest setting.

10. I kept trying, and, ..., my story was finally accepted for publication.

Identify the two vocabulary words represented in the photographs.

3 Connect the vocabulary words to the following items or situations. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

alfresco

bon mot

carpe diem

faux pas

du jour

la dolce vita

doppelganger

nada

voila

zeitgeist

1. a pocket without any lira, pesos, or francs ...

2. French onion soup on Wednesdays ...

3. greed in the 1980s ...

4. under the stars ...

5. "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being tall about." —Oscar Wilde ...

6. I found my keys! ...

7. asking a woman whether her child is her grandchild ...

8. When the woman he has admired all semester asks to borrow a pen, the man asks her out. ...

9. Robert Louis Stevenson's character Markheim meets his evil self. ...

10. a three-course lunch followed by a nap ...

Collocations

I couldn't stop myself from making a derogatory remark about Miranda's favorite football team once she had insulted my favorite team. (Chapter 8)

The outcome of the trial meant the success or failure of the company, so it was filled with expert testimony from peop!e involved in all aspects of the business. (Chapter 8)

I like to eat out on Fridays because the soup du jour is usually clam chowder—my favorite. (Chapter 9)

Word Pairs

Impromptu/Prepared: Impromptu (Chapter 8) means "not rehearsed; spontaneous." Prepared means "arranged; planned." 1 was forced to give an impromptu speech on ''The Importance of Saving Money" for my speech class. I do much better on the prepared speeches when l have time to research and practice what I want to say.

Interesting Etymotogies

Doppelganger (Chapter 9X comes from the German doppei, “double,” anl ganger, "goer or walker." The meaning of doppelganger is “a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person.’' There is a theory that a person's double is somewhere out there. There is also the belief that a per­son will die soon after seeing his or her doppelganger. Famous people from Gatherine the Great to Goethe have reported seejng their doppelganger. The doppelganger theme is popular in literature and film from Guy de Maupassant's short story “Lui'' to the film The Man with My Face.

Interactive Exercise

Write a sentence that provides an example for each word. Try to relate the example to your life or your community to better help you remember the word. For some of the words, your examples may need to be fictitious.

Examples:

dolce vita Most people in my town consider la dolce vita to be sailing on the lake on a sunny day.

doppelganger My husband and I met a hotel clerk who could have been the doppelganger for my sister-in-law. We both thought she looked and sounded just like Terri.

1. alfresco ...

2. carpe diem ...

3. doppelganger ...

4. faux pas ...

5. voila ...

6. bon mot ...

7. Zeitgeist ...

8. dolce vita ...

9. du jour ...

10. nada ...

Below are a few exercises to help you review the word parts you have been learning. Fill in the missing word part from the list, and circle the meaning of the word part found in each sentence. Try to complete the questions without returning to the Word Parts chapter, but if you get stuck, look back at Chapter 5.

Example: My daughter needs to learn that the proper place her trash is in the garbage can; she thinks it is all right to dispose of it on the floor of her room.

1. Darlene always makes a problem greater than it is; I get tired of the way she has to ...nify everything to make herself important.

2. For my brother, living the good life means a sixty-mile bike ride followed by a carton of chocolate ice cream, but for me la dolce...ta is a hike in the woods and a big bowl of chenies.

3. I was so impressed when the magician made the woman rise four feet into the air. I had never seen a person ...itate before.

4. I can't imagine a worse condition than living in a country where people don't have any free...s.

Words to Watch

Which words would you like to practice with a bit more? Pick 3-5 words to study, and list them below. Write the word and its definition, and compose your own sentence using the word correctly. This extra practice could be the final touch to learning a word.