EU individual paragraph

Brainstorming:

• what topic was news to me?
• European Year of Citizens: individuals in the center, make EU less complex
• since 1983: every year different topic
• funding, laws have been amended

Original Paragraph:

Aspect of the EU that interests me from this week’s class

While most of the terms that were raised in class seemed familiar to me, I have never heard of the “European Year” before.  In class we found out that 2013 is the “European Year of Citizens” but I still did not know what this means. After doing some research on the Internet later at home, I came across an interesting article on the European Year and its purpose. Every year since 1983 the EU calls attention to a certain topic in order to raise awareness and make people ponder. In previous years, various projects in connection with the European Year have been financially supported by the EU and in some cases laws have been amended. Especially this year’s theme, celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty, is interesting for all of us as it is the “European Year of Citizens”, which means that the main focus is on how the EU affects the lives of us individuals.  The goals of this year will be to make the EU look less complicated and gigantic as well as to point out the advantages of being a part of it.  


Feedback I:  

In general, the people in my group mentioned that some parts of my text seem to be unnecessary and a bit long-winded (e.g. I don’t have to point out whereI did my research on the Internet). Also one of the sentences seems to be a bit too long and can be shortened easily in order to make it easier for readers to understand what I want to express. Another improvement would be to subisdise the phrase "what this means" with "what this meant" or even only with "what this was" as it would be better to use the past tense.

Regarding to the topic sentence, Laura, Tiana and Harald were pleased with it as they thought it is a good idea to begin with a personal experience and then get further into it. 

Version 2: 

Aspect of the EU that interests me from this week’s class

While most of the terms that were raised in class seemed familiar to me, I have never heard of the “European Year” before.  In class we found out that 2013 is the “European Year of Citizens” but I still did not know what this was. After doing some research on the Internet, I came across an interesting article on the European Year and its purpose. Every year since 1983 the EU calls attention to a certain topic in order to raise awareness and make people ponder. In previous years, various projects in connection with the European Year have been financially supported by the EU and in some cases laws have been amended. Especially this year’s theme, celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty, is interesting for all of us as it is the “European Year of Citizens”. This means that the main focus is on how the EU affects the lives of us individuals.  The goals of this year will be to make the EU look less complicated and gigantic as well as to point out the advantages of being a part of it. 

Feedback 2:
The people reading my paragraph seemed to be pleased with my work. Since I described my own experiences and how I found out more about the European Year I did not use a lot of high-register vocabulary but the others thought it is fine like this. However, what I definitely need to correct is the "especially" as it should not be at the beginning of a sentence. Also making a stronger connection between the 5^th and the 6^th sentence will improve my paragraph as the theme-rheme-structure is not obvious.

Final Version: 

Aspect of the EU that interests me from this week’s class

While most of the terms that were raised in class seemed familiar to me, I have never heard of the “European Year” before.  In class we found out that 2013 is the “European Year of Citizens” but I still did not know what this was. After doing some research on the Internet, I came across an interesting article on the European Year and its purpose. Every year since 1983 the EU calls attention to a certain topic in order to raise awareness and make people ponder. In previous years, various projects in connection with the European Year’s theme have been financially supported by the EU and in some cases laws have been amended. This year’s theme, celebrating the 20^th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty, is particularly important for all of us as it is the “European Year of Citizens”. This means that the main focus is on how the EU affects the lives of us individuals.  The further goals of this year will be to make the EU look less complicated and gigantic as well as to point out the advantages of being a part of it. 

Possible Topics for an Academic Paper

· 1.) Roma in the EU – A comparison between Belgium and France

Many European countries have problems with integrating Roma. While most countries deport them, Belgium sets a good example and offers Roma families cheap flats and their children free tuition. Also in France the “Roma issue” is of topical interest since every year thousands of Roma are expelled from the country. This has also caused a conflict between the EU and France as it is seen as an inhumane act and violates the human rights.

    2.) Women’s rights in the EU – Why do some countries allow women to wear a headscarf and some don’t?

 I’m sure you’ve all heard of the strict headscarf ban in French schools and public and other public institutions. However, in some other countries, like Great Britain, Muslim women are allowed to wear a veil at court. In my academic paper I’d like to write more about why different countries decide to ban headscarves and veils in public institutions and whether the EU can influence on this decision or not.

3.) Trade and import of live animals

As all the European countries are economically connected, they trade among themselves. One of these “goods” are often live animals, which have to endure a long and demanding journey, cooped up without any water or feed in trucks before they reach their final destination where they are slaughtered. I’ve always been interested in animal rights since I’m a rather health-conscious person and always want to know where my “Schnitzel” comes from.

4.) Development aid

The EU is one of the biggest and powerful organizations world-wide. With its power and money, the EU helps other countries in the Third World. However, the European development aid has also sparked off criticism as it is seen as inefficient and too slow. Some critics also claim that the EU only helps other countries in order to grow rich on it (for example buying the fishing rights of a country in Africa and overfishing its seas, lakes and rivers).

5.) The European Commission of Education and Culture and the Bologna Process

Another possible topic for my academic paper could be the European Commission of Education and Culture and how it influences our life at university. I’d like to concentrate myself especially on the Bologna Process and how it has changed Austrian universities.

La Malinche - The First Translator?

Hello everybody! 

In this post I want to tell you something about the first “real” translator in history and her important role in the conquest of America. My Spanish teacher told us the story of “La Malinche” and since we obviously are all interested in translation, I thought it would be a good idea to share this interesting story with you:

Malinche translating between the Spaniards and a native tribe

Malinche was born sometime around 1500 in a village at the Golf Coast of Mexico. Her parents were members of a noble family which ruled several villages. One day, her father died and soon her mother married again and gave birth to a boy. Her mother, who wanted her son to be the only heir, sold her daughter Malinche to slave traders from another tribe. Her mother, evil as she was, took the dead body of one of her female slaves and told her subjects that Malinche had died and showed them the corpse of her slave. It is not known exactly what happened to Malinche then, but it seems that she was sold and resold again and again. In the end, she came to a Mayan tribe. This tribe was conquered by the Spaniard Hernán Cortés, a famous colonizer and his men. As a sign of respect, the tribe gave Cortés, along with several precious objects like gold and silver, 20 female slaves. One of these slaves was (of course) Malinche.  After the slaves had been baptised, they were given to the soldiers as their mistresses but Cortés soon found out that Malinche had an extraordinary intelligence. Within some months she was able to speak Spanish perfectly. In addition, she could speak several languages that were spoken by the natives of Mexico. She also had a profound knowledge of the habits and traditions of these tribes, which was necessary as the Spaniards never had been in touch with the natives of Mexico before. Due to this, she became the personal intermediary of Cortés. As she was the only person who could speak both Spanish and the language of the natives, Cortés was completely reliant on her. 

Tenochtitlán

With her help as a translator, Cortés was also able to find other native tribes with which he forced up to conquer with them together Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. It had always been Cortés’ goal to conquer Tenochtitlán as this city was famous for its great treasures.  When he arrived there in the year 1520, he took, together with Malinche ,the Atztec ruler Moctezuma hostage. Strangely enough, the Aztecs didn’t react to this since they thought Cortés was a god as they had never seen a human with such a white skin before. After some months, however, the situation escalated and the Aztecs attacked the Spaniards and their women in “La Noche Triste”, the Dark Night. Cortés ordered several of his men to protect Malinche with their lives as he had fallen in love with her – and they had luck. La Noche Triste demandend thousands of lives, but Cortés and his beloved Malinche could survive. 

Two years later, after Cortés had finally been able to conquer Tenochtitlán and defeat the Aztecs, Malinche gave birth to their first child, Martín and she became the most powerful woman in Mexico. She also found her mother again, who feared to be punished by her for selling her as a child to slaves, but Malinche, who was a devoted Christian, forgave her.  Her relationship with Cortés, though, ended when she met Juan Xaramillo de Salvatierra, a high-ranking officer from Cortés’ troop. Soon they married and she gave birth to a daughter, María. (Unfortunately, it is unrecorded how Cortés reacted to this...). What happened to Malinche after that is unknown as she lived a rather simple live with her family.

 

Today, La Malinche is still an important, but controversial Mexican symbol. Many Mexicans worship her as the “Mother of Mexico” since she was the first woman to give birth to mestizos (most of the Mexican population are mestizos, with both European and Native Mexican descendants). Others, on the contrary, see her as a traitor who is responsible for the cruel conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. 

La Malinche - a controversy?