Oh wow! I so enjoyed reading this! I have always felt that “Knowledge should be shared.” As you brought out in this post (loved the example of the C scale ), the foundation of everything is already there. Artists/Creators simply build on that foundation, wrapping it in their own authentic packaging.
In fact, an example is the book I wrote for Spanish Business Professionals, You Can Do it! El último empujón a tu inglés.
Back in 2006, when I moved to Spain and began combing the dictionary, for patterns that might help my Spanish clients make sense of this crazy language called English, I put what I found into a format that could at last give them a ‘foundation’ to work from. They were then able to master the pronunciation of the language without trying to copy and sound like someone else. * (N.B. Pronunciation and Accent are not the same! Trying to copy an accent will not make a person a confident speaker and will counteract the quality of authenticity, so needed in today’s business world.)
They at last had their C scale!
Did I invent the patterns? No. That would be like saying Edison invented electricity. The electricity was there all the time. Edison simply put it into a format that gave us the lightbulb.
By providing Spanish executives with their ‘C scale’ - the foundational patterns in the language that, unlike their own, is not phonetic - they were now able to produce their own ‘symphonies’ in the form of International Presentations and Meetings, expressing themselves in English with confidence and clarity, while also being able to understand native speakers with varying accents. *
Works like magic. :-)
As you so beautifully brought out, George Kao:
‘Everything begins with the foundation provided by someone who came before us.’
Oh wow! I so enjoyed reading this! I have always felt that “Knowledge should be shared.” As you brought out in this post (loved the example of the C scale ), the foundation of everything is already there. Artists/Creators simply build on that foundation, wrapping it in their own authentic packaging.
In fact, an example is the book I wrote for Spanish Business Professionals, You Can Do it! El último empujón a tu inglés.
Back in 2006, when I moved to Spain and began combing the dictionary, for patterns that might help my Spanish clients make sense of this crazy language called English, I put what I found into a format that could at last give them a ‘foundation’ to work from. They were then able to master the pronunciation of the language without trying to copy and sound like someone else. * (N.B. Pronunciation and Accent are not the same! Trying to copy an accent will not make a person a confident speaker and will counteract the quality of authenticity, so needed in today’s business world.)
They at last had their C scale!
Did I invent the patterns? No. That would be like saying Edison invented electricity. The electricity was there all the time. Edison simply put it into a format that gave us the lightbulb.
By providing Spanish executives with their ‘C scale’ - the foundational patterns in the language that, unlike their own, is not phonetic - they were now able to produce their own ‘symphonies’ in the form of International Presentations and Meetings, expressing themselves in English with confidence and clarity, while also being able to understand native speakers with varying accents. *
Works like magic. :-)
As you so beautifully brought out, George Kao:
‘Everything begins with the foundation provided by someone who came before us.’
How could we put a copyright on that?
Great example from your own work, Heléna! Gracias :)
Thanks so much for this framing, George. It widened my lens!
Thanks for reading!!🙏🏼 Longer than my usual posts. Thanks (?) to Ai 😆