next »

[monkeymind]

Student emailed me last night with his final exam (grad class, take home exam) and included only a message in Spanish. I do not speak Spanish. So, I put it through a translator...  here is the result: Merry Christmas and a very glad new anus!

He is the first person to wish me that...


Ever.

:o)

c i

Probably working on a computer without an easy way to use the ~ which would go over the n in the word for year.

I suppose. But if i type in Merry Christmas and a happy new year, it doesn't look like what he wrote minus the tilde...  But, what do I know? I don't speak Spanish and I didn't know this student did (if he does) either. Just struck me as odd and I wonder if he knows my colo-rectal surgeon...  ;-o

c i

This was amusing, so I asked a friend who's first language is Spanish about common typos. Here's his reply:

That's pretty easy to figure out:
 
Año = year
Ano = anus
 
Feliz = glad/happy
 
Muy Feliz Año Nuevo = Very Happy New Year
Muy Feliz Ano Nuevo = Very Happy New Anus

In either case, the student had your best interests in mind! :)

[merce]

[/quote]

I suppose. But if i type in Merry Christmas and a happy new year, it doesn't look like what he wrote minus the tilde...  But, what do I know? I don't speak Spanish and I didn't know this student did (if he does) either. Just struck me as odd and I wonder if he knows my colo-rectal surgeon...  ;-o

c i
[/quote]

Of course it won't turn out the same silly wabbit.

Languages simply don't work like that. If you know another foreign language you can have some fun looking at what happens with online translating. Type in a phrase in English. click translate to another language that you know. It's gibberish! It cracks me up. Then translate back into English and you'll see it doesn't even recognize its own translating.

I play this with my students. They are so stunned. They never believe me when I say you can't just translate word for word and except to make sense in the target language.

And of course asking someone how old they are and getting an answer regarding the number of a-holes they have always cracks me up. The kids usually remember after one or two such public mistakes that if they want to talk about years they really need to say "anyo" not "ano."

Haha, as much as I complain about having to teach intro classes it is kinda fun really.

[case_insensitive]

The amusement factor is half the fun in teaching, at times. :o)

[shortstory_guy]

Languages simply don't work like that...

I remember coming to this realization about six months into my French studies - it hit me like a thunderbolt at the time. Gee, you mean the sentence structure in a foreign language might be completely different than it is in English? Wow...

Of course, I shake my head and laugh about it now, but at the time it was a breakthrough for me.

[atalanta]

Student emailed me last night with his final exam (grad class, take home exam) and included only a message in Spanish. I do not speak Spanish. So, I put it through a translator...  here is the result: Merry Christmas and a very glad new anus!

Año = year
Ano = anus

Hmm.. this one got me thinking. Having worked with a lot of Spanish-speaking people, I've heard the old "ano nuevo" joke many times. In fact, it's hard to imagine a Spanish speaker who doesn't know it.

So, I don't think this was an innocent mistake!
I think your student is chuckling to himelf while flipping you the bird, so to speak.
As in, "Here's my final exam, and here's rippin' you a new one, Teach!"

Keep THAT in mind while you're grading his paper! ;-)

[august]

I received the following from a student whose thesis was riddled with spelling errors.  I thought it was a "ballsy" joke, but it was a genuine letter (not on purpose):

My Wonderful Committe,
I have most embaressing confession to make...I must have been asleep at the wheel late last night and early this morning while typing the title page and table of contents. There are horendous spelling errors by the dozons. I can't quite say why, but I can say that I am truely embaressed.

With your mercy, I will print off corrected copies of the title page and table of contents and have the copies to all of you by tomorrow. Unless there is an objection, I would like to delay another entire printing until the final printing, for both ecological and economic concerns.

The corresponding speelling errors throughout the text will also be corrected before the final prininting. In fact, the entire theis will under the scutiny of a meticulous gramatical reader.

Pleae forgive my grivences,
Thank you for your understanding,

[shortstory_guy]

Well. At least he thanked you.

[voxprincipalis]

Student emailed me last night with his final exam (grad class, take home exam) and included only a message in Spanish. I do not speak Spanish. So, I put it through a translator...  here is the result: Merry Christmas and a very glad new anus!

Año = year
Ano = anus

Hmm.. this one got me thinking. Having worked with a lot of Spanish-speaking people, I've heard the old "ano nuevo" joke many times. In fact, it's hard to imagine a Spanish speaker who doesn't know it.

So, I don't think this was an innocent mistake!
I think your student is chuckling to himelf while flipping you the bird, so to speak.
As in, "Here's my final exam, and here's rippin' you a new one, Teach!"

Oh, in that case, you can reply:

"Dear Student: Thank you so much for your holiday wishes. May what you wished for me come back to you tenfold!"

VP

[case_insensitive]

Hmm.. this one got me thinking. Having worked with a lot of Spanish-speaking people, I've heard the old "ano nuevo" joke many times. In fact, it's hard to imagine a Spanish speaker who doesn't know it.

So, I don't think this was an innocent mistake!
I think your student is chuckling to himelf while flipping you the bird, so to speak.
As in, "Here's my final exam, and here's rippin' you a new one, Teach!"

Keep THAT in mind while you're grading his paper! ;-)

hmm... well, I don't know that he is a Spanish speaker but he is from a state that has lots of them.   

Oh, in that case, you can reply:

"Dear Student: Thank you so much for your holiday wishes. May what you wished for me come back to you tenfold!"

VP

HAHAhAhA!  It's too late to reply again, but I'm tempted.

[dolljepopp]

I've only adjuncted and only for a few years, but one stands out:

Professor dollje,

HOW DARE YOU GIVE ME A D!!!

She then went on to explain how good her work was, blah, blah, blah...

In truth, her work was fine.  Had she not missed so many classes, she would have had a B.  I resisted replying with "HOW DARE YOU MISS X% OF THE CLASSES!"

Instead, I referred to the syllabus, which had the school's absentee policy, plus my own, which was slightly more forgiving (simply to make my end-of-semester math easier), both of which were on the syllabus.  I also explained that my class attendance sheets had been turned in, as required, to my chair, so that if I didn't penalize students for poor attendance, my boss would call me infor an unpleasant conversation.  Finally I noted how I regularly made announcements aboutattendance in class, and that, in the week before the final drop date, I advised students as to their attendamce and the likely outcome some of them might expect at the end of the semester.

More than her tone merited, but sometimes rationally and calmly and politely explaining to someone precisely why they are being a complete idiot has its own reward...

[mandywoetzel]

Professor dollje,
HOW DARE YOU GIVE ME A D!!!

This appears to be a common expression among the youths today...  I have gotten this a couple of times (in person) from my students recently, and they were clearly saying it casually. I personally think it is terrble, but I don't think these students know this expression is disrespectful and unprofessional.

[skeletonsincloset]

From this evening:

Dear Professor Closet-

I know i just sent you an email about the paper, but i am really starting to
freak out about it.  i really really didnt do well on my rough draft and i just
worked really hard on it and everything and i thought it was a good paper
because i put so much effort into it.  i just dont know where to start in
correcting it.  it seems to me like i did the whole paper wrong and i am so
confused on how you want it to be.  i was looking at my grading sheet and there
were so many things wrong with it.  i dont know what you mean when you say i
should have a more academic view of domestic violence.  i also dont know what
you mean when you said i need more solid evidence and that my sources werent
informative because even though these were websites they were specialized in
domestic violence.  i also looked at the two websites on apa format and i am
extemely confused on that.  i havent taken "writing papers in psychology" yet
and so i have no idea how to use it because i have never used it before.  all i
know is that i cannot afford a bad grade on this paper.  i believe i have done
pretty well in your class.  i have recieved 2 Bs and an A on the tests and i do
well on my assignments and i dont want this paper to absolutley ruin all of
that.  i'm sorry if i've been rambling on and on in this email, i'm just
extremely concerned about this and i'm basically freaking out.  so if you could
please help me out it would mean the world to me.  thank you so much.



This from a student who has not been in class for the past week. The final paper is due on Thursday. I guess I have time between now and Thursday to teach her that "I" is generally capitalized, unless you are writing poetry. :(

[case_insensitive]

even case_insensitive, who eschews most capitalization, wouldn't email a professor without proper capitalization...

[vprof]

This is an unedited student email I recently got from one of the students in the "F" category after handing out the mid semester grades!!! I didn't reply and the student just stopped attending classes

"I will work as hard as possible in these next couple weeks in hopes of getting at least a C if I can not get at least a C in this class then there is no point of me attending anymore".

[amlithist]

"I will work as hard as possible in these next couple weeks in hopes of getting at least a C if I can not get at least a C in this class then there is no point of me attending anymore".

Dear Student,

FINALLY--Thank GOD!

Prof. AmLitHist