Play Explores Humor, Complexity of Learning English
2023-03-13
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Anyone who has learned a foreign language knows how uncomfortable the experience can be.
2But learning a new language is also enjoyable, meaningful and humorous.
3The play "English" explores those ideas and more.
4The comedy is about four Iranian students in an upper-level English class preparing to take the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language.
5The play is set in Iran over the course of one term.
6The students are all adults with different English abilities and different reasons for taking the class.
7Elham is hoping to go to medical school in Australia but must first pass the TOEFL.
8She has already failed the test five times and sometimes seems to hate English.
9Goli is the youngest of the group.
10Of all the students, she is the most excited about learning the language.
11Roya wants to learn English so she can communicate with her grandchildren who live in Canada.
12And Omid is already very good at English.
13It is unclear why he wants to be in the class.
14The teacher, Marjan, lived in Britain for several years.
15But she is worried about losing her fluency.
16"English" was first released in New York City in 2022.
17It began showing in Washington, D.C., in January.
18It finishes its run in the nation's capital on March 12.
19"English" recently won the Obie Award for Best New Play.
20The Obie awards honor theater that is off-Broadway.
21Sanaz Toossi, an Iranian-American, wrote the play.
22In a press release, she said that giving up a native language to move someplace else "can be an immensely painful experience for so many people..."
23"I wanted to capture that, but I also wanted to honor how funny, textured, and sometimes contradictory Iranians (and all of us) can be."
24The students in the class play word games, listen to English-language songs, and watch American romantic comedies.
25Marjan has banned the use of Farsi in the class.
26But the rule is often broken.
27The play is entirely in English.
28But through changing their voices, the characters show that they are "speaking" Farsi. When the students speak English, they do so in a strong Persian accent.
29Their sentences are often simple, because they are learning and speaking a foreign language.
30Words are spoken incorrectly.
31But when the characters speak English in a perfect American accent, that means to the audience that they are speaking Farsi.
32When the characters speak Farsi, also called Persian, they can communicate much more clearly and can better express themselves.
33The play explores how one's personality can change or even be lost when speaking a foreign language.
34It also deals with how speaking a different language can make a person question their sense of identity.
35Elham, who is a proud person, feels shame when she speaks English.
36When speaking English, Elham says she feels "like idiot" ("Like an idiot," Marjan, the teacher, corrects her).
37Marjan says she feels more like herself when she speaks English.
38But Roya does not feel like she can have an honest discussion with her son in English.
39Tara Grammy is the actor who plays Elham.
40She was born in Iran and raised in Canada.
41Unlike the character Elham, Grammy enjoys learning languages.
42She speaks both English and Farsi fluently and also knows some German and French.
43Grammy told VOA, "Different parts of us come out in different languages when you're multilingual."
44She said that English, which she is most skilled in, is the language of her intellect. Farsi is her language of love, she said.
45"When I see a baby or I see a dog or something I speak to them in Persian," Grammy said.
46In the play, Goli says she likes English because it is like rice-you can make it however you would like.
47It is much different than Farsi, which she says always tries to sound like poetry.
48Grammy agrees. "English is simple, it's to the point. It's accessible, it's universal. Whereas Persian is absolutely poetry. It's ancient. It's complex," she said.
49"You could learn English from reading a book," she added.
50"But I feel like Persian you have to learn from people, because it's so layered and ... just one phrase could mean 10 different things."
51Grammy thinks personality is not lost when speaking different languages.
52Instead, she said, "the more languages you know the more access you have to expressing different sides of yourself."
53I'm Dan Novak.
1Anyone who has learned a foreign language knows how uncomfortable the experience can be. But learning a new language is also enjoyable, meaningful and humorous. 2The play "English" explores those ideas and more. The comedy is about four Iranian students in an upper-level English class preparing to take the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language. The play is set in Iran over the course of one term. 3The students are all adults with different English abilities and different reasons for taking the class. 4Elham is hoping to go to medical school in Australia but must first pass the TOEFL. She has already failed the test five times and sometimes seems to hate English. 5Goli is the youngest of the group. Of all the students, she is the most excited about learning the language. Roya wants to learn English so she can communicate with her grandchildren who live in Canada. And Omid is already very good at English. It is unclear why he wants to be in the class. 6The teacher, Marjan, lived in Britain for several years. But she is worried about losing her fluency. 7"English" was first released in New York City in 2022. It began showing in Washington, D.C., in January. It finishes its run in the nation's capital on March 12. 8"English" recently won the Obie Award for Best New Play. The Obie awards honor theater that is off-Broadway. 9Sanaz Toossi, an Iranian-American, wrote the play. In a press release, she said that giving up a native language to move someplace else "can be an immensely painful experience for so many people..." 10"I wanted to capture that, but I also wanted to honor how funny, textured, and sometimes contradictory Iranians (and all of us) can be." 11The students in the class play word games, listen to English-language songs, and watch American romantic comedies. Marjan has banned the use of Farsi in the class. But the rule is often broken. 12The play is entirely in English. But through changing their voices, the characters show that they are "speaking" Farsi. When the students speak English, they do so in a strong Persian accent. Their sentences are often simple, because they are learning and speaking a foreign language. Words are spoken incorrectly. 13But when the characters speak English in a perfect American accent, that means to the audience that they are speaking Farsi. When the characters speak Farsi, also called Persian, they can communicate much more clearly and can better express themselves. 14The play explores how one's personality can change or even be lost when speaking a foreign language. It also deals with how speaking a different language can make a person question their sense of identity. 15Elham, who is a proud person, feels shame when she speaks English. When speaking English, Elham says she feels "like idiot" ("Like an idiot," Marjan, the teacher, corrects her). 16Marjan says she feels more like herself when she speaks English. But Roya does not feel like she can have an honest discussion with her son in English. 17Tara Grammy is the actor who plays Elham. She was born in Iran and raised in Canada. Unlike the character Elham, Grammy enjoys learning languages. She speaks both English and Farsi fluently and also knows some German and French. 18Grammy told VOA, "Different parts of us come out in different languages when you're multilingual." She said that English, which she is most skilled in, is the language of her intellect. Farsi is her language of love, she said. 19"When I see a baby or I see a dog or something I speak to them in Persian," Grammy said. 20In the play, Goli says she likes English because it is like rice-you can make it however you would like. It is much different than Farsi, which she says always tries to sound like poetry. 21Grammy agrees. "English is simple, it's to the point. It's accessible, it's universal. Whereas Persian is absolutely poetry. It's ancient. It's complex," she said. 22"You could learn English from reading a book," she added. "But I feel like Persian you have to learn from people, because it's so layered and ... just one phrase could mean 10 different things." 23Grammy thinks personality is not lost when speaking different languages. Instead, she said, "the more languages you know the more access you have to expressing different sides of yourself." 24I'm Dan Novak. 25Dan Novak wrote this story for VOA Learning English. 26___________________________________________________________________ 27Words in This Story 28uncomfortable - adj. causing a feeling of being embarrassed or uneasy 29fluent - adj. able to speak a language easily and very well 30comedy- n. a play, movie, television program, novel, etc., that is meant to make people laugh 31immense - adj. very great in size or amount 32texture - n. the various parts of a song, poem, movie, etc., and the way they fit together 33contradictory - adj. involving or having information that disagrees with other information 34shame - n. a feeling of guilt, regret, or sadness that you have because you know you have done something wrong 35idiot - n. a very stupid or foolish person 36accessible - adj. easy to appreciate or understand 37layered - n. a covering piece of material or a part that lies over or under another