El punt AVUI- THE ENGLISH HOUR

Bored stiff with your English study time ...  
Put aside any dull homework... Try this:  

El punt AVUI- 
THE ENGLISH HOUR - FIVE SELECTIONS

A) Our finest hour with Matthew TreeHosted by British writer Matthew Tree, this roundtable debate airs every Thursday. Every week Matthew is joined by different guests, including Liz Castro, Patricia Gabancho and Martin Kirby, among others, who will discuss the most important events of the week.

B)  Going native with Neil StokesA good level of English has become a must for everyone, including Catalans. Each Monday, Neil Stokes talks to a different public figure, including artists, sports people, politicians and actors, for whom English is an everyday reality. 

C)  Small talk with Nicole MillarForeign residents are also the focus every Friday, when Catalonia Today’s Nicole Millar talks to people from a variety of countries and walks of life about their experiences of adapting to life in Catalonia. 

 D)   Catalan connections with Marcela Topor

Every Wednesday, Catalonia Today editor Marcela Topor interviews well-known foreign residents in Catalonia. From writers and musicians to entrepreneurs and officials, the interviews provide a unique perspective on living and working in Catalonia.

   

English Hour                    

             Four  choices:  

Our finest hour with Matthew Tree

http://www.elpuntavui.tv/programes/english-hour/our-finest-hour-with-matthew-tree.html

26/02/2015                           (18.00-18.53)               

         http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=120715444

             With Carmen Amorós, Josep Lluís Gonzàlez & Barbara Leonard.

17/09/2015                            (18.14-18.55) 

                       http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=139603070

             With Patrícia Gabancho, Steven Andrew & Simon Harris (author of 'Catalonia is not Spain').

07/05/2015                         (17.38-18.55)

                        http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=127169811             

With Bernat Puigtovella, Monika Zgustova & Edwin Winkels.

03/12/2015                          (18.14-18.55)      

                  http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=147744450

With John English (Documentary maker), Liz Castro (Publisher, speaker for Catalan grassroots movement) & Martin Capdevila (Canadian-Catalan sports announcer for FEDH).

               Five choices_- 

Going native with  Neil Stokes  

(mostly 20-minute programmes)

21/09/2015                         (18.28-18.50)            

            Albert Riera

 Communicator from the  farm social-programme cooperative  La Fageda.

http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=139954571

16/11/2015                         (18.31-19.01)  

                      archeologist - Eudald Carbonell.           

http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=145891540

05/10/2015                         (18.26-18.54)           

            Vicent Partal, Vilaweb editor.           

http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=141433272

16/02/2015                  (18.34-18.54)          

  Dídac Lee -

Digital entrepreneur with Taiwan origins-Board member for FCBarcelona 

   http://www.didaclee.es

http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=119778012

15/12/2014                         (18.31-18.52)           

            Alfred Bosch 

Historian, writer and ERC potitician                 

       http://www.elpuntavui.tv/video.html?view=video&video_id=114578511

            Five choices_  Nicole Millar 

(Click on the underlined link)

(mostly 30-minute programmes)

13/11/2015 Small talk with Nicole Millar (18.29-18.59)

            Gagandeep Singh, spokesman for the Sikh community in BCN.

23/10/2015 Small talk with Nicole Millar (18.25-18.55)

             Jutta Lange, specialist in natural cosmetics.

                        

30/10/2015 Small talk with Nicole Millar (18.28-18.58)

            Ousman Umar, from Ghana  - ONG http://nascoict.org/news/

05/06/2015 Small talk with Nicole Millar (18.24-18.55)    20-minute programme

            Shin Lim - magician, Singaporean living in Massachusssets   http://shinlimmagic.com/

18/12/2015 Small talk with Nicole Millar (18.28-18.54)

            Matthew McDaid. Singer from Northern Ireand

04/12/2015 Small talk with Nicole Millar (18.26-18.55)

             Ian Pugh,  from Wales.  Wealth manger in  Blevins Franks.

Check one of my choices & 

Make your  three choices_ for ...

 Marcella Topor  

 20 minutes till  15 Septembre 2015, 

then 30 minute programme

17/06/2015 L'Hora d'Anglès - English Hour (18.22-18.56)

            Els Amics de les Arts

08/07/2015 Catalan connections with Marcela Topor (17.24-17.57)

            Halldor Mar.

07/10/2015 Catalan connections with Marcela Topor (18.26-18.56)

            Rachel Hurd-Wood, protagonista 'Segon Origen'.

23/12/2015 Catalan connections with Marcela Topor (18.23-18.54)

            Núria Farregut blogger gastronòmica.

04/02/2015 Catalan connections with Marcela Topor (18.31-18.54)

            Miquel Calçada

28/10/2015 Catalan connections with Marcela Topor (18.21-18.57)

            Monika Zgustova, writer and translator.

21/10/2015 Catalan connections with Marcela Topor (18.26-18.56)

            Xavier Kaye, artist,  for Untitled BCN. English-Catalan http://www.untitledbcn.com/

Business card etiquette - Do not waive at the Cultural aspectes

There are guidelines 

for making a positive and lasting impression 

when giving and receiving business cards.


Unlike in North America  where the business card has little meaning other than a convenient form of capturing essential personal details, in other parts of the world the business card has very different meanings.

General Business Card Etiquette Tips

• Business cards are an internationally recognised means of presenting personal contact details, so ensure you have a plentiful supply.
• When travelling abroad for business it is advisable to have one side of your business card translated into the appropriate language.
• Good business etiquette requires you present the card so the recipient's language is face up.
• Make a point of studying any business card, commenting on it and clarifying information before putting it away.

 For this seawaves card

21,95 €

The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air—until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. 

   “‘My God, this is terrible,’ the wave says. ‘Look what’s going to happen to me!’ 

   “Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to 

him, ‘Why do you look so sad?’ 

   “The first wave says, ‘You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves 

are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?’ 

   “The second wave says, ‘No, you don’t understand. 

You’re not a wave, 

you’re part of the ocean.’” 

               (From M. Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie)

Everybody knows waves mean..... many things. As the saying goes: "You pays y'r money and you takes the chances."

Now Do this test When my country ruled the waves: 

What your Business Card Etiquette says about you! from Mark Jeffries

    1. Business Card Etiquette in ............

• Have one side of your business card translated into local language printed in gold ink since gold is an auspicious colour. 
• Your business card should include your title. If your company is the oldest or largest in your country, that fact should be highlighted on your card. 
• Hold the card in both hands when offering it.
• Never write on someone's card unless so directed.

    2. Business Card Etiquette in ............

• If you have a university degree or any honour, put it on your business card. 
• Always use the right hand to give and receive business cards. 
• Business cards need not be translated into the native language as English is widely spoken within the business community.

    3. Business Card Etiquette in ............

• Business cards are exchanged with great ceremony. 
• Invest in quality cards.
• Make sure your business card includes your title. The locals place emphasis on status and hierarchy.
• Business cards are always received with two hands but can be given with only one.

    4. Business Card Etiquette in ............

• Business card etiquette is relaxed in the country and involves little ceremony.
• It is not considered bad etiquette to keep cards in a pocket.
• Business cards should be kept clean and presentable.
• Do not feel obliged to hand out a business card to everyone you meet as it is not expected.

Answer KEY:
Do not waive the rules,
Do not cheat....
see the end of our post

Linguistic crossroads. Some meanings are best avoided:

• The name Coca-Cola in China was first rendered as Ke-kou-ke-la. Unfortunately, the Coke company did not discover until after thousands of signs had been printed that the phrase means "bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax" 
• In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan "Come alive with the Pepsi Generation" came out as "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead." 
• Microsoft had to think twice about bringing its Bing search engine here because in Chinese, the most common definitions of the character pronounced “bing” are “disease,” “defect” and “virus” — rather inauspicious for a computer product. 
• Peugeot (Biao zhi) sounds enough like the Chinese slang for “whore”

======
KEY    When my country ruled the waves: 

1-China    2-India   3- Japan  and 4-UK

Thunderbolt Kid -memoires

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid – Bill Bryson 

                                                                            audio -@ amazon 

One day when I was not quite six years old I was in the basement, just poking around, seeing if there was anything sharp or combustible that I hadn’t come across before, and hanging behind the furnace I found a woolen jersey of rare fineness. I slipped it on. 

It was many, many sizes too large for me-the sleeves all but touched the floor if I didn’t repeatedly push them back-but it was the handsomest article of attire I had ever seen. It was made of a lustrous oiled wool, deep bottle green in color, and was extremely warm and heavy, rather scratchy, and slightly moth-holed but still exceptionally splendid. Across the chest, in a satin material, now much faded, was a golden thunderbolt.

Interestingly, no one knew where it came from. My father thought that it might be an old college football or ice hockey jersey, dating from sometime before the First World War. But how it got into our house he had no idea. He guessed that the previous owners had hung it there and forgotten it when they moved. But I knew better. 

It was, obviously, the Sacred Jersey of Zap, left to me by King Volton, my late natural father, who had brought me to Earth in a silver spaceship in Earth year 1951 (Electron year 21,000,047,002) shortly before our austere but architecturally exuberant planet exploded spectacularly in a billion pieces of pastel-colored debris. 

He had placed me with this innocuous family in the middle of America and hypnotized them into believing that I was a normal boy, so that I could perpetuate the Electron powers and creed. This jersey then was the foundation garment of my superpowers. 

It transformed me. It gave me colossal strength, rippling muscles, X-ray vision, the ability to fly and to walk upside down across ceilings, invisibility on demand, cowboy skills like lassoing and shooting guns out of people’s hands from a distance, a good voice for singing around campfires, and curious bluish-black hair with a teasing curl at the crown. It made me, in short, the kind of person that men want to be and women want to be with.

BONUS:

School Memories –

Also from “The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid”

 
Stepping into Greenwood was both the scariest and most exciting event of the first five years of my life. The front doors appeared to be about twenty times taller than normal doors, and everything inside was built to a similar imposing scale, including the teachers. Everything about it was intimidating and thrilling at once. 

            Greenwood had the world's finest gymnasium. It was upstairs at the back of the school, which gave it a nicely unexpected air. When you opened the door, you expected to find an ordinary classroom and instead you had - hey! whoa! - a gigantic cubic vault of polished wood. It was a space to savour: it had cathedral-sized windows, a ceiling that no ball could ever reach, acres of varnished wood that had been mellowed into a honeyed glow by decades of squeaky sneakers and gentle drops of childish perspiration, and smartly echoing acoustics that made every bouncing ball sound deftly handled and seriously athletic. When the weather was good and we were sent outdoors to play, the route to the playground took us on to a rickety metal fire escape that was unnervingly but grandly lofty. The view from the summit took in miles of rooftops and sunny countryside reaching practically to Missouri, or so it seemed... 

            They used to keep the school heated to roughly the temperature of the inside of a pottery kiln, so pupils and teachers alike existed in a state of permanent, helpless drowsiness. But at the same time the close warmth made everything deliciously cheery and cosy. Even Lumpy Kowalski's daily plop in his pants smelled oven-baked and kind of strangely lovely. (For six months of the year his pants actually steamed.) On the other hand if you carelessly leaned an elbow on them you could leave flesh behind... 

            The school day was largely taken up with putting on or taking off clothing. It was an exhaustingly tedious process. It took most of the morning to take off your outdoor wear and most of the afternoon to get it back on, assuming you could find any of it among the jumbled, shifting heap of garments that carpeted the cloakroom floor to a depth of about three feet. Changing time was always like a scene at a refugee camp, with at least three kids wandering around weeping copiously because they had only one boot or no mittens. Teachers were never to be seen at such moments. 

            Boots in those days had strange, uncooperative clasps that managed to pinch and lacerate at the same time, producing some really interesting injuries, especially when your hands were numb with cold. The manufacturers might as well have fashioned them out of razor blades.

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wr practice- So embarrassing! OMG, Patrick!

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WR_SAMPLE 89. So embarrassing! OMG, Patrick!

I was driving in a traffic jam because I spent an extra hour working in some urgent arrangements at the office, so I probably caught the worst of the rush hour, hectic “come-back-home” time for all the drivers of the city. Felt moody, working overtime today.

Moddy and worn-out! Besides it was Christmas eve and everybody wanted to reach home to have dinner with their families. And there I was, all alone in my old and rusty car, just trying to get to my parents house before they decided to start having dinner without me... again.

The cars were standing still in both directions. I looked over at the car that was level with me going in the opposite direction. My window was opened, so I could see clearly a red and fancy car that was at just four meters from mine and the man who was inside it.

As long as I was getting closer, I started to realize that the man’s face was so familiar to me. Wait a minute! That was Patrick, ain't it? Yes, I’m afraid so. He was my ex high school boyfriend.

Oh my God! What an awkward situation! I haven’t seen him since the day I split up with him (i reckon... ten years and 3 days!), and now he was just there, looking straight at me, and our cars were getting every time much closer.

I didn’t know where to hide or what to do, so I decided to face up the problem and try to be polite and -at least- say “hello”.

So that was what I did, and as soon as I did it, I realized that I’d made a terrible mistake. Because that man wasn’t Patrick!

Look-alike Patrick was a total stranger who now was looking at me with surprise and strangeness! Thanks God the traffic jam started to thin out quickly and I got the chance to drive away from there as fast as I could! Believe me... It was totally embarrassing!