HENKE2005U English - Free topic E: Editing English & Echoes of English

This course covers two fields in one semester: English text editing and the impact of English worldwide.

What these two topics have in common is the phenomenon of interference.

In our weekly four-hour seminars, we will look at two types of interference: (1) Danish-sounding features in English and how to tackle them, and (2) English features in Danish and how to define and measure them.

Regarding type 1, we will offer hands-on training in academic writing, proofreading and editing – with the purpose of turning you into competent proofreaders of English texts written by non-natives.

Regarding type 2, we will use text corpora to determine the types and frequencies of English features in spoken and written 21^st-century Danish – and, optionally, other languages studied or spoken by course participants.

Throughout the course, the two tracks will run in parallel, and academic texts written by student participants will be part of the material used for sophisticated proofreading and editing. We will improve your ability not only to find and correct typos, ill-formed sentences and (Danish) interference in your own texts, but also to sharpen your focus on the imperfections in English texts written by others. The ultimate idea is learning how to proofread and edit all sorts of Anglophone material, to the benefit of the reader.

The parallel track, the English echoes found in Danish and other ‘foreign’ languages, will be dealt with systematically by scrutinizing selected text types, including news and social media, for English influence at all levels. In this way, students may make important findings regarding the many ways that English impacts modern language and thinking – as demonstrated by the wealth of lexical Anglicisms along with grammatical and pragmatic interference (or inspiration).

During the course, students will be encouraged to contribute their findings to the Global Anglicism Database (GLAD): http://gladnetwork.org, presently charting the English echoes found in some twenty languages worldwide, including Danish.