The News: Technology & Health

Hoy os traigo una noticia sobre los efectos del uso inadecuado o excesivo de la tecnología en nuestra salud. El tema del día son los mensajes vía WhatsApp (texting). ¿Crees que el texto exagera? ¿Cómo es tu relación con la tecnología?

 

Si quieres aprender vocabulario, intenta buscar los sinónimos para las palabras o expresiones propuestos al final de la entrada.

 

Para enterarte de más noticias interesantes en inglés, visita http://www.thelocal.es/

 

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Serial texter suffers first case of 'WhatsAppitis'

Spaniards are Europe's most enthusiastic text-messagers but overzealous activity could be hazardous to their health. Photo: Twin Design/Shutterstock.com

Prestigious medical journal 'The Lancet' has recorded a diagnosis of 'WhatsAppitis" in the case of a pregnant woman in Granada who arrived at hospital with sore wrists after over-using the mobile phone text message service.

Spanish people are Europe's heaviest users of services like WhatsApp but the thumb-numbing habit could have unanticipated health consequences.

Inés M. Fernandez-Guerrero recorded the case in the March 22 edition of The Lancet.
"A 34-year-old emergency medicine physician, 27 weeks pregnant, presented with bilateral wrist pain with sudden onset upon waking up one morning. She had no history of trauma and had not engaged in any excessive physical activity in the previous days," she wrote.

Fernandez-Guerrero, of General University Hospital in Granada went on to note, "The patient ... responded to messages that had been sent to her on her smartphone via WhatsApp instant messaging service. She held her mobile phone, that weighed 130g, for at least 6h. During this time she made continuous movements with both thumbs to send messages."

She added: "The diagnosis for the bilateral wrist pain was WhatsAppitis. The treatment consisted of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and complete abstinence from using the phone to send messages."

WhatsApp may have entered the Spanish lexicon, with the verb 'wasapear' (meaning 'to send a WhatsApp message') being given the thumbs-up by notable language foundations.
But doctors warn that too much of a good thing could be painful -- as they discovered in the past with 'Nintendinitis'.

"Tenosynovitis caused by texting with mobile phones could well be an emerging disease. Physicians need to be mindful of these new disorders," Fernandez-Guerrero concluded.

Steve Tallantyre (news@thelocal.es)
Published: 26 Mar 2014

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Time to work! Find in the text the hidden synonyms for these words or expressions:

1. Woman expecting a baby

2. Hurting

3. Most frequent

4. Start

5. Short thick digit of the human hand

6. Practice of not doing something which is wanted or enjoyable

7. Vocabulary

8. Getting approved

9. Aware

10. Illnesses 

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KEY

1. Pregnant

2. Sore

3. Heaviest

4. Onset

5. Thumb

6. Abstinence

7. Lexicon

8. Being given the thumbs-up

9. Mindful

10. Disorders

The News: Dubbing

Para aquellos de vosotros que tenéis espíritu inquieto y os gusta tener opinión propia, aquí tenéis una noticia real sobre el doblaje en el cine (dubbing). ¿Cuál es tu opinión al respecto?

 

Si queréis estar al tanto de la actualidad en inglés, no dejéis de visitar http://www.thelocal.es/

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 'Ban dubbing! Spaniards will have to get used to it'

 

Manuel — the clumsy Spanish waiter in British comedy series Fawlty Towers — was turned into an Italian in the Spanish-dubbed version of the show. Photo: YouTube

Film director Carlos Saura is one of several high-profile figures who think it's a "mistake" for foreign films and series not to be shown in their original language and instead to be dubbed into Spanish. 

 

What do Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone all have in common? Well, apart from being Hollywood greats, all three have the same voice in the Spanish-dubbed movies they star in.

Ricardo Solans, a legendary Spanish dubbing actor who has also given his voice to Micky Rourke, Charlie Chaplin and many others, is one of 30,000 voice-over artists in Spain.

Controversial MP Tony Cantó, the former actor who made headlines last week for baring all in an upcoming gay-themed drama, told Spain’s parliament it’s time to ditch dubbing:
“Do we want to hear Brando, Pacino or Meryl Streep in their own language?
“Let’s put an end to dubbing, it will be good for the film industry in our country.”


Cantó sees dubbing as an unnecessary financial burden for Spain’s ailing film business, arguing that “more and more Spaniards want to watch films in their original language”.

Film director Carlos Saura, famed for his 1980s Flamenco film trilogy, thinks the all-powerful Motion Picture Association of America is preventing the ban from happening. “Jack Valenti (MPAA President) threatened to boycott Spanish exports like shoes if the dubbing ban went ahead,” Saura told Spanish TV channel La Sexta.

Saura has long been concerned that Spaniards are falling out of love with their home-grown cinema because when hearing American films dubbed into Spanish they immediately assume both industries have the same budget at their disposal.

“Dubbing should be completely banned and Spaniards should just get used to it,” he claims.
But Spain’s Cinema Federation argues audiences would drop by 35 percent if all films were kept in their original language.

The number of cinemas in Spain has already dropped to 841 in 2012 from 1,223 a decade earlier, according to culture ministry figures.

Enrique González-Macho, President of Spain’s Film Academy, thinks the dubbing ban would “sink Spanish cinema”, arguing that “if people thought it that important to watch movies in their original language, they would, but they don’t”.

Spain’s film industry is already embroiled in a “cultural war” with the government, having seen state funding drop by 12.4 percent from the previous year.

Add the 30,000 voice-actors who would have to join the dole queue if dubbing into Spanish was deemed unnecessary, and it seems even less likely to happen.

And amid all this scandal, perhaps the strangest thing of all is that no mention whatsoever has been made by key political and cultural figures about the benefits of being exposed to another language through film.

Alex Dunham (alex.dunham@thelocal.com) 

Published: 28 Mar 2014

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Now it's your turn! Read the text again and find out the English equivalents for these words or expressions. You can check your answers in the key provided. Enjoy!

1. Numerous

2. Get rid of.

3. Load, weight.

4. Ill

5. Well-known

6. Menaced, intimidated

7. Worried

8. Monetary limit to spend

9. Decrease

10. Unemployment line

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KEY

1. Several

2. Ditch

3. Burden

4. Ailing

5. Famed

6. Threatened

7. Concerned

8. Budget

9. Drop

10. Dole queue

Game time! - Hangman

Aprender inglés no tiene por qué ser aburrido. Pincha en la imagen y échate una partida al ahorcado al mismo tiempo que aprendes vocabulario.

Combining relative clauses **WITH KEY!!**

¡Vamos a poner a trabajar esas cabecitas! ¿Cómo podremos combinar varias oraciones utilizando un pronombre relativo? ¿Qué nos sobra? ¿Qué nos falta? ¿Podremos omitir el pronombre? Pon esa magnífica cabeza a trabajar, y si das con más soluciones que las propuestas, no dudes en compartirlas.

Relative Pronouns con luisthree

En uno de mis ciberpaseos por Youtube me encontré con un canal interesantísimo en el que el autor explica de una forma muy sencilla y con ejemplos diversos puntos gramaticales. Dicho autor se hace llamar luisthree y es profesor de inglés. Agradeciéndole de antemano su labor, os traigo sus explicaciones sobre los pronombres relativos más comunes: