THE SARPONGLISH: May 2011

Monday, May 9, 2011

Comment: PREFACE: My Favorite English Bullets!

Author: sarponglish.blogspot.com/

Date:2011-05-09 14:30:37

Monday, May 9, 2011 My Favorite English Bullets!
Teaching English As A Foreign Language To The Akans Of Ghana, A Case Study.

A Book Coming Soon To A Shelve Near You!

PREFACE

You will find in these pages, some common English errors committed by the Akans of Ghana, as a result of the specifics of the language one interference. This study is very interesting because the subject selected is barely literate in the English language, but has assumed the airs of an English scholar on a very popular Ghanaian website called Ghanaweb.com. Being an Akan myself gives me a sympathetic understanding of the grammatical dilemmas that the mother tongue poses as we wade through the uncharted English terrain.

This is an occasion I could not resist. Mr. Sarpong has written several libelious comments about me on Ghanaweb simply because he disagrees with me politically. Here is also someone who demonstrates an unquenchable need to impress others as a scholar, simply because he has contempt for the political opinions of his adversaries, and wishes to condemn them, as he ever so often does, as "illiterate idiots!" His problem is that even though he is constantly trying to play on spelling and grammatical mistakes to undermine very sound political arguments, he does so with a barrage of grammatical errors of his own.

What I have found amazing is the fact that he even continues to repeat mistakes that have been corrected several times over! And here is someone who will die to write correctly in order to impress. The fact that he keeps making such mistakes, even though he would rather not make himself such a laughing-stock in a struggle he himself has provoked, explains the power of the language one interfernce in both learning and teaching of English as a foreign language.

I started following the subject on Wednesday, 11 11 2009, and whenever I get the time I try to record some mistakes, publicly challenge and compel him to write correctly. His writings have improved tremendously, but the basic mistakes persist. This study seeks to record and classify such recurrent errors, trace their roots to the source of the language one interference, and help the student to overcome these very specific problems.

I invite the public to send by way of comments, any "Sarpongnese" bullet they encounter on Ghanaweb.com. Thank you very much for your co-operation. The results of this study shall be made freely available after we have been able to "harvest" at leat, one thousand "bullets" from Mr. Justice Sarpong of Houston, Texas.

My Favorite English Bullets!

Teaching English As A Foreign Language To The Akans Of Ghana, A Case Study.

A Book Coming Soon To A Shelve Near You!

PREFACE

You will find in these pages, some common English errors committed by the Akans of Ghana, as a result of the specifics of the language one interference. This study is very interesting because the subject selected is barely literate in the English language, but has assumed the airs of an English scholar on a very popular Ghanaian website called Ghanaweb.com. Being an Akan myself gives me a sympathetic understanding of the grammatical dilemmas that the mother tongue poses as we wade through the uncharted English terrain.

This is an occasion I could not resist. Mr. Sarpong has written several libelious comments about me on Ghanaweb simply because he disagrees with me politically. Here is also someone who demonstrates an unquenchable need to impress others as a scholar, simply because he has contempt for the political opinions of his adversaries, and wishes to condemn them, as he ever so often does, as "illiterate idiots!" His problem is that even though he is constantly trying to play on spelling and grammatical mistakes to undermine very sound political arguments, he does so with a barrage of grammatical errors of his own.

What I have found amazing is the fact that he even continues to repeat mistakes that have been corrected several times over! And here is someone who will die to write correctly in order to impress. The fact that he keeps making such mistakes, even though he would rather not make himself such a laughing-stock in a struggle he himself has provoked, explains the power of the language one interfernce in both learning and teaching of English as a foreign language.

I started following the subject on Wednesday, 11 11 200, and whenever I get the time I try to record some mistakes, publicly challenge and compel him to write correctly. His writings have improved tremendously, but the basic mistakes persist. This study seeks to record and classify such recurrent errors, trace their roots to the source of the language one interference, and help the student to overcome these very specific problems.

I invite the public to send by way of comments, any "Sarpongnese" bullet they encounter on Ghanaweb.com. Thank you very much for your co-operation. The results of this study shall be made freely available after we have been able to "harvest" at leat, one thousand "bullets" from Mr. Justice Sarpong of Houston, Texas.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Comment: FOCUS ON ISSUES OF NATIONAL PRIORITY!!!

Author: sarponglish.blogspot.com/

Date: 2011-05-06 17:13:38

Comment to: President Mills, Don't Forget Little Sam

OFFICE OF THE ODIKRO.
a companion of the black star,

To: Whom This May Concern

Subject: YOU ARE AN ILLITERATE, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!

You claim you have an MBA with a "selective"* in economics, yet there has not been a single article written which remotely resembles economics or how we can develop this country! *[Sarpong must have heard of the word "elective" in a conversation but confused it with a "selective" in trying to pull a fast one on us!] All we see is a wanton display of energetic stupidity and disgusting illiteracy!

You are clearly raising a red herring which will not do you any good. You have written too much nonsense in a rather short article. Our national priorities today include exposing imperialist puppets like Akufo-Addo who is secretly waiting in the wings to spring up US Africa Command bases all over the place to control our oil and that of the entire Gulf of Guinea!

This is more serious than anything you can write about President Mills and his son!

Also, I told you that it seems each time you write stupid things about the President, you issue too much bullets! This is a pity because you spend most part of your time correcting the English of contributors in the forums of Ghanaweb. I keep telling you to put an end to that since you are no better, but to no avail. You need to know that English is not our national language so allow people to write without you making corrections including spell-checks all the time!

It is so annoying to see a semi-illiterate like you calling people you disagree with as "illiterate idiots"! And it is only for this reason that I have decided to point out your own bullets to you!

NOW THE FOLLOWING ARE BULLETS!

*1"As a political junkie who [absorb] and [keep] political events in perspective,"

should rather read:

"As a political junkie who ABSORBS and KEEPS political events in perspective,"

*2 "I know President Mills [like] to portray himself as a man of God"

Should rather read:

"I know President Mills LIKES to portray himself as a man of God"

*3 "A man who [care] less about his own blood cannot be a caring President"

Should rather read:

"A man who CARES less about his own blood cannot be a caring President"

BULLETS BEYOND REPAIRS:

*4. President Mills is flummoxing Ghanaians to believe

*5. "Though your polymorphous from a University Lecturer to President"

*6. "he challenge from Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings who picked her forms accompanied by two of her children will anneal you"

Sincerely,

Jacobus Eliza Johannes Capiteinne, Ph.D., Editor-In-Chief,
THE SARPONGLISH

Blog: /sarponglish.blogspot.com/

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