Small Talk in Conversation Class

Today was icebreaker, get-to-know-you, warm up activity day. I sang the Head and Shoulders song with my younger kids, played an ESL version of Simon Says, and then got geared up for the high stakes action of my top level E class.

I should've known that the old "any questions" line was a bad idea. Titus (yes, I named him), a somewhat hyperactive and emotionally unstable sixth grader in my class jerked up his hand and blurted out, "What do you think about pornography?"

This is a mixed age class with second and third grade girls as well as older boys.

I never thought I'd actually use the line, "That's not an appropriate topic for conversation in this class." But I did.

Translation Alone Is Not Enough

From the KORAIL (Korea Railroad) website:

KORAIL wants to be a beautiful bridge that connects people's heart[s], and not just some iron-made transportation.

Translation is often not so much converting MEANING from one language to another as it is figuring out the PURPOSE of a given text and determining the best way to achieve that purpose in the target language. The translator here seems unaware that corny language doesn't do too well in English promotional materials.