“Is that all he said?”
Lost in Translation is a wonderful film in a million different ways, but one primary reason is because of how perfectly it encapsulates the importance of communication, and how difficult life can be when that is missing.
In the scene where Bill Murray is filming an advert for a brand of Japanese whiskey, the director gives a lengthy and detailed direction to Bill Murray, albeit in Japanese. After talking for a couple of minutes, the translator simply relays the message of "He wants you to turn, look in camera. O.K.?".
While also an example of mistranslation, it’s a scene that details why communication is so important. It shows the difference between expressing yourself (or someone else) properly and or simply saying the bare minimum. Whether it’s business or personal, communicating your thoughts, feelings and ideas in detailed ways is important to how humans talk to one and other.
That’s why it’s important to learn more than one language and when you learn, learn in a way that allows you to express who you are as an individual, something that is important in every language and every culture. It can help build friendships, improve cultural ties or even just help you with ordering a coffee.
There’s nothing like working as a journalist to help you understand why language is so important. It is a vital function for communicating your thoughts and expressing who you are as an individual. Knowing what words to use in a story, knowing what grammar suits the situation and having the vocabulary to properly communicate the story are all skills that are important to being a journalist, but also teaching.
Every lesson is catered to the individual student with a strong focus on developing language skills specifically. And since I come from the land of industrial revolution, heavy metal and Peaky Blinders (Birmingham in England for those who don’t know), whatever the student's interests, lessons will also be interesting and cover a wide range of topics to make absolutely sure students remain motivated and are able to progress through the language levels as quickly as possible.
Whether it’s at home, in company, in coffee shops and or by videoconference. I can offer general English classes, Cambridge exam preparation, interview practice classes and dynamic classes for anyone who wants to improve their English.
Meaning and detail can be lost in translation (get it?) so my aim is to provide lessons that suits the individual, whether it’s children, teenager, adult, business, personal or whatever, creating a specific lesson environment that encourages the student to push themselves to learn English in a way where they can express themselves.