Essential Functions of a Project Manager Essay

The Essential Functions of a Project Manager A project manager (PM) is a facilitator. The ideal project manager does whatever it takes to ensure that the members of the project team can do their work. This means working with management to ensure they provide the resources and support required as well as dealing with team issues that are negatively impacting a team’s productivity. The project manager must possess a combination of skills including the ability to ask penetrating questions, identify unstated assumptions, and resolve personnel conflicts along with more systematic management skills. This person is responsible for initiating, planning, executing, controlling and closing a project. The actions of a project manager should be almost unnoticeable and when a project is moving along smoothly people are sometimes tempted to question the need for a project manager. However, when you take the skilled project manager out of the mix, the project is much more likely to miss deadlines and exceed budgets. The project manager is the one who is responsible for making decisions in such a way that risk is controlled and uncertainty minimized. Every decision made by the project manager should ideally be directly benefit the project. A successful PM must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources (people, equipment, material), time (task duration, dependencies, critical path), money (costs, contingencies, profits), and most importantly, scope (project size, goals, profit). All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success. The Scope element of a project is the most important and it is the first and last task for a successful project manager. First and foremost you have to manage the project scope. The project scope is the definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish and the budget (of time and money) that has been created to achieve these objectives. It is absolutely imperative that any change to the scope of the project have a matching change in budget, either time or resources. If the project scope is to build a building to house three widgets with a budget of $100,000 the project manager is expected to do that. However, if the scope is changed to a building for four widgets, the project manager must obtain an appropriate change in budgeted resources. If the budget is not adjusted, the smart project manager will avoid the change in scope. Usually, scope changes occur in the form of â€Å"scope creep†. Scope creep is the piling up of small changes that by themselves are manageable, but in aggregate are significant. It is necessary to make sure any requested change, no matter how small, is accompanied by approval for a change in budget or schedule or both. A PM cannot effectively manage the resources, time and money in a project unless you actively manage the project scope. When the project scope is clearly identified and associated to the timeline and budget, the PM can begin to manage the project resources. These include the people, equipment, and material needed to complete the project. A successful PM must effectively manage the Resources assigned to the project. This includes the labor hours of the designers, the builders, the testers and the inspectors on the project team. It also includes managing any labor subcontracts. However, managing project resources frequently involves more than people management. The project manager must also manage the equipment used for the project and the material needed by the people and equipment assigned to the project. Managing the people resources means having the right people, with the right skills and the proper tools, in the right quantity at the right time. It also means ensuring that they know what needs to be done, when, and how. And it means motivating them to take ownership in the project too. Managing direct employees normally means managing the senior person in each group of employees assigned to your project. These employees also have a line manager to whom they report and from whom the usually take technical direction. In a matrix management situation, like a project team, the PM’s job is to provide project direction to them. Managing labor subcontracts usually means managing the team lead for the subcontracted workers, who in turn manages the workers. The equipment a PM has to manage as part of the project depends on the nature of the project. A project to construct a frozen food warehouse would need earth moving equipment, cranes, and cement trucks. For a project to release a new version of a computer game, the equipment would include computers, test equipment, and duplication and packaging machinery. The project management key for equipment is much like for people resources. They have to make sure workers have the right equipment in the right place at the right time and that it has the supplies it needs to operate properly. Most projects involve the purchase of material. For a frozen food arehouse, this would be freezers, the building HVAC machinery and the material handling equipment. For a project to release a music CD by a hot new artist, it would include the CD blanks, artwork for the jewel case, and press releases to be sent to deejays. The project management issue with supplies is to make sure the right supplies arrive at the right time. All the skill in managing resources won’t help, however, unless the PM can stick to the project schedule. Time management is critical in successful project management. Time management is a critically important skill for any successful project manager. Project managers who succeed in meeting their project schedule have a good chance of staying within their project budget. The most common cause of blown project budgets is lack of schedule management. Fortunately there is a lot of software on the market today to help manage project schedule or timeline. Any project can be broken down into a number of tasks that have to be performed. To prepare the project schedule, the project manager has to figure out what the tasks are, how long they will take, what resources they require, and in what order they should be done. Each of these elements has a direct bearing on the schedule. If a task is omitted, the project won’t be completed. If the length of time or the amount of resources required for the task is underestimated, the schedule will be missed. The schedule can also be blown if a mistake in the sequencing of the tasks is made. The PM needs to build the project schedule by listing, in order, all the tasks that need to be completed. Assign duration to each task. Allocate the required resources. Determine predecessors (what tasks must be completed before) and successors (tasks that can’t start until after) each task. The difficulty in managing a project schedule is that there are seldom enough resources and enough time to complete the tasks sequentially. Therefore, tasks have to be overlapped so several happen at the same time. Project management software greatly simplifies the task of creating and managing the project schedule by handling the iterations in the schedule logic. When all tasks have been listed, resourced, and sequenced, it is noticeable that some tasks have a little flexibility in their required start and finish date. This is called float. A line through all the tasks with zero float is called the critical path. All tasks on this path, and there can be multiple, parallel paths, must be completed on time if the project is to be completed on time. The Project Manager’s key time management task is to manage the critical path. Be aware, that items can be added to or removed from the critical path as circumstances change during the execution of the project. Installation of security cameras may not be on the critical path, but if the shipment is delayed, it may become part of the critical path. Conversely, pouring the concrete foundation may be on the critical path, but if the project manager obtains an addition crew and the pour is completed early it could come off the critical path (or reduce the length of the critical path). Regardless of how well you manage the schedule and the resources, there is one more critical element called managing the budget. Often a PM is evaluated on his or her ability to complete a project within Budget. If the project resources and project schedule is managed effectively, this should not be a problem. It is, however, a task that requires the project manager’s careful attention. Each project task will have a cost whether it is the cost of the labor hours of a computer programmer or the purchase price of a cubic yard of concrete. In preparing the project budget, each of these costs is estimated and then totaled. Some of these estimates will be more accurate than others. A company knows what it will charge each of its projects for different classifications of labor. Commodities like concrete are priced in a very competitive market so prices are fairly predictable. Other estimates are less accurate. For instance, the cost of a conveyor system with higher performance specifications that normal can be estimated to be more expensive, but it is hard to determine whether it will be 10% more or 15% more. For an expensive item, that can be a significant amount. When the estimated cost of an item is uncertain, the project budget often includes a design allowance. This is money that is set-aside in the budget â€Å"just in case† the actual cost of the item is wildly different than the estimate. Unusual weather or problems with suppliers are always a possibility on large projects. Companies usually include a contingency amount in the project budget to cover these kinds of things. So a project budget is composed of the estimated cost, plus the contingency and design allowance, plus any profit. The project manager’s job is to keep the actual cost at or below the estimated cost, to use as little of the design allowance and contingency as possible, and to maximize the profit the company earns on the project. To maximize the chances of meeting the project udget, the PM must meet the project schedule. The most common cause of blown budgets is blown schedules. Meeting the project schedule won’t guarantee the project budget is met, but it significantly increases the chances. And above all, management of the project scope is detrimental. PM should not allow the project scope to â€Å"creep† upward without getting budget and/or schedule adjustments to match. Successful project management is an art and a science that takes practice. The ideas presented above can give a basic understanding of project management, but consider it is only the beginning. In order to have a successful career in project managements, it is necessary to talk to successful project managers, read, and practice to acquired experience and confidence.

Multiple Directorship

Issue of multiple directorships has recently came to public concern. It becomes more and more common that directors in listed companies retaining multiple directorships and even some legislators are involved. This situation is popular in Hong Kong and Singapore, however, many directors in United States are usually involved in one company only. There are serval problems in exercising multiple directorships to listed companies. First, director may not meet his function diligently. With regard to the Non-statutory Guidelines on Directors Duties Principle 4 , a director of a company must exercise the care, skill and diligence that would be exercised by a reasonable person with the knowledge, skill and experience reasonably expected of a director in his position. It doubts that one can dedicate enough time to read documents and attend meetings for each company if he has multiple directorships. If he made any decisions that harm the company given that he did not read sufficient information and understnad the situation of the company, he is not act due care and skill as a director. The Guidelines Principle 11 also sated that a director of a company must take all reasonable steps to ensure that proper books of account are kept so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and explain its transactions. As many companies follow similar accounting schedules, most common are setting year-end date as 30 April or 31 December, during the end of the accounting period, they have to review all the financail statements of the listed companies they directed in order to ensure there are no fraud. It doubts that they can review all the financail statements if he has directored over 20 listed companies. If there are frauds and mistakes in financial statements, it would affect the investors and shareholders who rely on the annual reports of the companies to make investment decisions. Furthemore, directors may have conflicts of interests when he exercises multi corporate directorships. As more director roles will increase opportunity of represetning compainces which are related. In Bristol and West Building Society v Mothew (1998), the court explained that one of the fiduciary duties of directors is not to allow any conflict between their duties as directors and their personal interests. If the contract in which he has a personal interest adverse to that of company is voidable by the company and the profits made may be recovered by the company. In Transvaal Lands Co v New Belgium (Transvaal) Land and Development Co (1914) UK, defendant had a benefical inrerest in a company which sold shares to the company which he was a director, H took part in the decision to make the purchase. So, if the director of one company has business or transactions to other company that he has directorship, it will have higher chance for conflict of interests or transferring benefits between companies. Regarding to the legislators being multiple corporate directors, now seven legislators have hold total of 63 paid board positions. According to Cheung (2012), it will be difficult for the legislators to deal with livelihood issues if the they keep in touch with and work for the corporations. If legislators are the companies' directors, public will have a perception that they spoke for the buiness sectors rather than citizen. Moreover, it may prevent the functioning of Legislative Council (Legco), according to the editoiral of ming pao (2011), at least five Legco members have omitted to register such interests. Although these are not serious omissions, we can see that some legislators are not serious about registering their interests and have neglected that they have not followed the guidelines. It is important for them to disclose all their intersts including shareholdings, paid directorships, property and election donations of their directorships. By now the listed companies in Hong Kong need to have at least a third of independent directors who do not have business relationship with the company and do not manage the operation of the company. Before, companies are required to have at least three independent directors, but no restrictions on the ratio. It is believed that this new rule is to match the international practices such as United States and UK and protect shareholders’ interest. This new listing rules will make it difficult to find independent directors because not so much people are interested in the low remuneration role. It may indicate that some firms need to cut the size of the board. In conclusion, one especially a legislator should not take up too many directorships in order to advoid conflict of interest and act due deligent. The legislaors cannot avoid disclosing their interest to Legco. It is suggested that Legco should amend its Guidelines on Registration of Interests to require legislators not only register the remunerated directorships but also unmunerated so as to protect the shareholders and the companys’ interest.

Behavioural yourself Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Behavioural yourself - Essay Example Economic institution is one of the most dominating one among all the social institutions, and is related to man’s career and financial stability, gains and achievements. It is financial institution that not only keeps man engaged and busy in something productive, but also earns pelf, prestige and popularity for him. But it is not so easy to win all these triumphs in life. An individual has to work hard with determination and concentration to achieve his goals in life. Both determination and concentration look for motivational effects in order to continue performing all the tasks during financial activities. Hence, motivation plays pivotal role in man’s life and career. Thus, it is the most important thing to find out what motivation is and how an individual attains it. Moreover, how its works in individuals’ career and whether the standard of obtaining motivation is one and the same in all individuals or it varies from person to person. The term motivation has been defined by different theorists differently. â€Å"Motivation is†, Kreitner views, â€Å"the psychological process that gives behaviour purpose and direction.† (1995). In other words, motivation is the main factor behind performing something purposeful towards some specific direction. â€Å"It is an inner drive†, Higgins states, â€Å"to satisfy an unsatisfied need.† (1994). Motivation is an urge that supports man during the course of fulfilment of some tasks individually and collectively. Motivational factors are extremely significant not only for the employees during their job in a corporate firm, so that they can be proved more and more productive for the organization and work place, but also it is important for the companies and organizations for the enhancement of their sales volume and creativity as well. It is the leadership of an organization that provides a staff-motivating atmosphere within an organizational structure ; it

Transmission Lines Easements and Personal Property Research Paper

Transmission Lines Easements and Personal Property - Research Paper Example As early as in 1625, Hugo Grotius has defined eminent domain as â€Å"The property under question is under the eminent domain of the government or state so that the government or anybody who functions for such a state may employ or even destroy or alienate such property, not only in the event of an extreme situation but also for the needs of public purpose or utility, to which ends those who have made civil society must have presumed to have meant that private purpose or ends should give away. However, it is to be noted that the government or state must be liable to make good the loss to the owner’s of the property which has been taken by the government.† Both federal and state governments have the privilege to take away the private property for public use with payment of just compensation to affected landowners. The Fifth Amendment to the American Constitution sets the tone for these seizures, and this power is widely known as eminent domain. In the historical decision in Kelo v. City of New London , U.S Supreme Court held that seizing the private property of land owners for economic development was entitled as a public use within the context of the Fifth Amendment. The above decision by U.S government has enlarged the both the federal and state government’s authority of eminent domain to unmatched areas. In Berman v Parker, in 1954, the U.S Supreme Court decided unanimously that the Fifth Amendment authorized governments to seize the private properties not for public use but for the public purpose. (scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com). U.S Supreme Court held in Kelo v. City of New London1, that the employment of eminent domain to convey rights of a land from one private owner to another one for the furtherance of the economic development. The appeal to U.S Supreme Court happened from the fact of censure by New London, Connecticut of privately owned real estate so that it could be employed as part of a widespread redevelopment scheme. In a 5- 4 decision, U.S Supreme Court held that general advantages a community savored from economic development qualified such redevelopment schemes as an allowable â€Å" public usage† under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The Supreme Court verdict in Kelo was widely condemned by American general public and the politicians. American public is of the view that decision in Kelo is a gross infringement of property rights. They also allege that the Taking Clause of the Fifth Amendment was against general public’s interest as it would be beneficial to giant business houses at the loss of local communities and individual land owners. Further, some critics allege that Kelo decision has removed the constitution protection offered by Federal government to individual property rights and placed the issue back to the state governments to fix on if any protection remains on any state-level. In the above case , the Supreme Court deliberated whether the â€Å" public use  " requirement of the Fifth Amendment is satisfied in city’s decision to attach the private properties exclusively for the purpose of economic development. The City of New London, Connecticut wished to enlarge for the stated objectives of â€Å"revitalizing a distressed city by economically including its waterfront and downtown areas by taking over Kelo, which involved 90 acres of land owned by private owners. As per City, the development would foster in excess of 1000 jobs and an increase in taxes and other income. From the willing sellers, the City

Qualities that describe a successful student Essay

Qualities that describe a successful student - Essay Example Two of the most important qualities a student should possess are curiosity and self-motivation. Students who are most successful in college are students who are curious and ready to learn about new things. There are many ways in which curiosity is an essential quality for students. To begin with, curiosity enables students to become interested in subjects they might not have considered before. This quality drives a desire to learn that makes the university process seem less like work and more like an adventure. Curiosity can also help students overcome feelings of resistance against required courses that perhaps don’t fall within their normal interest range. There are always classes that are part of a required curriculum that don’t necessarily appeal to the student, such as math classes for English majors or English classes for scientists. Curiosity can change the focus into discovering ways in which this course material might be applied to the major field of study or the promise of future courses may entice the student to complete the undesired course in order t o reach more desirable units. All the curiosity in the world will not help the student much, though, if they do not also possess the quality of self-motivation. High school classes begin to place responsibility for coursework upon the shoulders of the student as a means of preparing them for college, but this does not mean the work gets finished. High school students also usually have parents to push them to finish their work, but college students are expected to keep up with their work on their own. Self-motivation drives the student to complete their work on time and to keep track of their classes on their own. Also, since college doesn’t include mandatory attendance, it takes a self-motivated individual to ensure they get to class each day instead of sleeping in or hanging out with friends. While there are many qualities that students will need to make a

Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Coursework Example This legislation ensures that there is no discrimination against any person on the grounds of disability. Every institution has a policy that prohibits a person in power or organization from discriminating against another person due to their age, gender, and their abilities. However this does not mean that they should not seek for quality when looking for any person to fill a particular position. Data protection act 1998 is an act in the United Kingdom which defines data processing laws on people. This is the main law that protects data in the UK. The act was created to protect people from any violation of their funder metal rights and freedoms. The particular right that is mentioned here is the right to privacy with respect to processing data which is personal. This act in practice, gives a way for individuals to have control over their personal information. The act however does not apply to domestic use an example being personal diary. Any person who holds any personal data with any other purpose is obliged to comply with the act. The act also wants every individual and company to have their personal information kept for themselves. A professional code of conduct standardizes and defines different expectations that people in occupations, professional companies and organization have. The conduct also makes guides to the behavior of employees in relation to clients, fellow employees, and the competitors. The main purpose of the code is to; The ETD is directive from the Europe counsel to protect the health and safety of workers. The purpose of the maximum working hours is to ensure that no worker works past the number of hours that he/she is considered to be safe for him. Doctors have been covered by this deal to improve the conditions under which they work. The maximum number of hours that every health professional

Summary of the signs of shopping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary of the signs of shopping - Essay Example In addition, Morton expresses how shopping involves the procurement of stuff such as household equipments and apparels. Often, many people will bargain, convincing the mall owners that they are their daily customers. This opens up the ability of promotions and subversion to both the customer and the owner. If the customer does not like how he or she is being treated, they have a right to complain to the owner for change of behavior by, for example, workers. The owner therefore has to apologize to the customer and promise dual change of treatment and behavior because he or she does not want to lose customers thus going down of the business. Shopping is irresistible for a wide majority of the populace in the contemporary society. Some cannot live without shopping in their daily lives especially women and their daughters, that is like their daily routine but communication has made work easier now days. No walking long distances to the shopping malls, time is being saved too if one has a busy and tight schedule. Phone calls are made to the shopping stores to order for shopping or mails to be sent to websites and customers can shop

Health Administarion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Health Administarion - Essay Example When the information is released publicly and available for scrutiny by various people, it improves the quality of the health care organization even more due to the lack of secrecy. It also enables trust to be built between the public and the health care organization staff which is necessary health care service deliveries (Green and Bowie, 34). With public release of such sensitive information, there is a likelihood of the privacy of the organization’s privacy being breached. This is especially so when the quality measurement data released is done so electronically due to the hacking into the systems once there results are made available to the general public. Privacy is important and especially concerning health records and hence breach is very risky (Green and Bowie, 108). The other risk is that the reception of the data may be the opposite of the expectation. If the quality measurement report is too superb and opposite of what is the reality in most health care organizations, the report may be jeered and the trust between the organization and the public ends up widening, hence the quality ends up dwindling even

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 20

Philosophy - Essay Example Propositions are most securely knowable and most vulnerable to doubt are based on the idea that doubting, understanding, asserting, denying, willing, refusing, imagining, and seeming to perceive. That proof for body does not involve the inspection of entities in an inner arena, although it is a reflective exercise laying out various possibilities and probabilities, arriving slowly at the conclusion that bodies exist even though they may not be as they seem. Descartes argues that any of the three main truths in the Meditations â€Å"I exist, God exists, bodies exist† is reached by the inspection of entities; certainly they are not modeled on retinal images. These truths are the result of careful analysis of ideas and, in the case of the cogito, of the activity of trying to doubt that a person exists. There really is no account in the Meditations of perception of bodies, no analysis of knowledge of physical objects, of scientific knowledge. When Descartes wanted to discover the nature of some object, event, or activity, such as light, vision, or the mechanism of the body, he resorted to observation and experiment--at least, to what he took to be observation, as with the examination of the eyes of buffs. By his doubt, Descartes does not mean to reject permanently all of his former beliefs. Some of them may well be true. Descartes wants to rediscover them, in the sense of showing that they follow logically from basic, indubitable propositions. The main purpose of the doubt is to find these indubitable propositions, so that Descartes can use them as "foundations" upon which to rebuild his knowledge. The doubt is a way of rethinking everything from the beginning, so as to achieve the certainty that Descartes is seeking. One standard interpretation of Descartess notion of clarity and distinctness sees it as being inspired by mathematics. The truth of the substance theory is based on the correctness of a particular

Chili’s Bar Essay Example for Free

Chili’s Bar Essay In the decision making process, it helps to look at all the information. This SWOT is comparing Chili’s restaurant to two of its competitors, Ruby Tuesday’s and Applebee’s. Company History Chili’s restaurants are part of the company, Brinker International Corporation. Chili’s Bar Grill is a casual dining restaurant that was founded in 1975 and has expanded to include 1,200 restaurants located domestically and internationally. There menu consists of fresh and healthy American dishes and limited amount of southwestern style Mexican dishes. In the last 30 years, Chili’s has created an identifiable, recognizable brand name, just think of the commercials. Chili’s Strengths Chili’s is the one of the largest full service restaurant chains with over 1,200 stores, second only to Applebee’s which has about 1,900 stores. Their competitor Ruby Tuesday has less than 900 stores with many of those franchises. Chili’s is part of Brinker Intl. , which is world’s second largest casual dining restaurant operator, the first being Darden restaurants. This allows them to offer affordable prices, because they can negotiate product rates for all of their stores, unlike a smaller company. They have also expanded their company to include Chili’s Too, Small Town Chili’s, and offer catering services. They update their menu one to two times a year, unlike Ruby Tuesday’s which updates their menu every three to four months. Chili’s has a popular menu that keeps people coming back, so they tweak it a bit to keep up with trends, but keep their core items. At this time they serve the same menu in every store, which allows for consistency throughout the company. They have a very broad market with a recognizable brand name and they focus on customer satisfaction. The restaurant business can be very competitive, but they have unusually high management retention and that may be in part to extremely competitive starting salaries and excellent benefit packages. Their competitor, Ruby Tuesday, has franchised many of its stores, creating varied salaries, salary caps, and benefits, when going from a franchise to a corporate store, which can make it difficult to retain managers. When Chili’s is looking for hourly employees, it offers several opportunities to them. They can apply and interview online, receive benefits and have the opportunity to grow with the company. Their hourly employee turnover rate is also lower than the industry average. Chili’s Weaknesses Even though the Chili’s brand is recognizable, it doesn’t appeal to the upper class. The casual dining concept, no matter how different, is still the same. They receive much of their food frozen, unlike Ruby Tuesday which receives all of their meat and produce fresh, making some items not the best of quality. During the busy times, servers are pressured to decrease their table turn time, the time from when a guest sits at the table until they leave and the table is ready for another guest, which can make it difficult to build a rapport with their guests, but at the same time they want their PPA (per person average) to be higher. Many of their restaurants are focused around the bar, which segregates some consumers that do not want to be in that environment. It also makes their seating area than some of their competitors. Chili’s Opportunities There are several things Chili’s can do to remain competitive in the casual dining industry. They can continue to expand internationally, beyond the 20 countries they are already in. Their competitors have yet to exceed that with Ruby Tuesday’s being in about twelve countries and Applebee’s is in almost twenty. They have a very well known brand which will allow them to continue expansion at a rapid rate with the backing of their parent company, Brinker Intl. They are launching a program to try international cuisines at some of their foreign locations. If consumers react positively this could be a great growth opportunity, if it is not taken to, it could be a threat to their international stores if they continue it. They can enlarge their restaurants or configure different models, based on the demographics of the area, to include more seating for guests and not just the bar area. They can continue to expand their brand recognition apparel and glassware. Chili’s Threats The largest threat to the Chili’s brand is the competition of casual dining restaurants, which are easy to duplicate. Applebee’s and Ruby Tuesday’s both had higher 1-year sales growths, with 10% and 17. %, respectively, compared to Chili’s at 6. 1%. Chili’s saturated some U. S. markets and has no where else to expand in those areas. They need to keep up with current trends and eating habits, because they change often, to stay current with the market. Summary Chili’s has managed to saturate the US and foreign markets better than its competitors. Their sales are higher and they retain their employees longer. They need to look at a few things like following eating trends and standing out from the competition a bit more, but they are a highly competitive company that keeps people coming back.

Charles the Great: Should Charlemagne be called great?

Charles the Great: Should Charlemagne be called great? Charlemagne has from his time of rule between the years 768 to 814 left a marked and undeniable impression upon the historical world, encouraging global and timeless debate as to whether he warrants his image as the Father of a Continent.  [1]  Throughout the duration of my project I intend to explore the concept of Charlemagne as a great man by looking at the historiography surrounding him, considering his actions and seeing whether they justify his magnificent reputation. This question has attracted much scholarly debate both during and since the time of Charlemagne and I hope to display how the historians have interpreted Charlemagnes title, and whether their opinions have changed as time has progressed and their research has developed. I will consider three main areas of his reign which have in my opinion instigated the most discussion. The first will be his constant involvement in warfare and the achievements and failures he attained and endured as a result. The second will look at the disintegration  [2]  theory, calling into question the capability and effectiveness of Charlemagnes government and administration, and consequently his ability as a ruler. The final area of deliberation will question the significance of the imperial title, and how he came to acquire such a prestigious title, encompassing his policies of education and reformation. I will attempt to find historians that both agree and disagree with all themes. In addition to these main points that I hope to also observe Charlemagnes involvement with finance and legislation, including his relationship with the church, all of which I hope will provide me with enough evidence from historians by which I can determine whether Charlemagnes reputation ca n be defended or not. The German historian, Franà §ois-Louis Ganshof who was writing in the late twentieth- century, is very explicit in his opinion that Charlemagnes kingdom and rule decomposed shortly after 800, mostly as a result of the inadequacies of his army. According to him it was Charlemagnes death which actually helped to save his reputation from disgrace, as he suggests that had he lived any longer the defeats he would have endured would have been especially damaging.  [3]  There are many scholars who directly oppose this line of thought however, particularly Donald Bullough who was writing around the same time as Ganshof and professed that by the time of his death in 814 Charlemagne was the most powerful Christian ruler in the world  [4]  These differences of opinion felt around the same time demonstrate how varied the debate is upon Charlemagne and whether he truly deserved his magnificent title, which has survived and been upheld throughout the ages. The Frankish kingdom under Charlemagne was, indeed, very powerful, and by 814 Charlemagne had many over-sea territories under his firm control. This however was not always the case, and throughout his 40 year reign, Charlemagne was confronted with much unrest. Roger Collins, writing in 1998 tells us that Charless Saxon wars were the most protracted and most bitterly fought of the numerous campaigns of his reign, having begun in 772 and continuing until 804, with repercussions still being felt thereafter.  [5]  There is no general consensus to be found which agrees that he Charlemagne was wholly successful or not in the different areas of his rule, but I hope to see whether time, situation or perhaps agenda of the historians are valuable enough evidence for the continued debate as to whether Charlemagne was a great man. The reputation of kings and leaders is often measured in terms of the amount of land gained throughout a reign or time in power. In terms of Charlemagne, this again opens up new avenues of great historical debate. Was the expansion of territory during his reign extensive enough to justify his repute as the most powerful Christian ruler in the world? Many historians disagree that it was, and R. Schieffer confirms that after years of apparently unstoppable rise, the limits of Carolingian power suddenly became apparent  [6]  around the time of the year 800. Alongside Schieffer, reasons for this opinion centred upon Charlemagnes inability to expand his territories significantly into Spain or into the eastern empire. For example, The Royal Frankish Annals, described as the most unassuming work of history written during this age  [7]  , tells us in 782 that Charlemagnes army were killed almost to a man when the Saxons, persuaded by Widukindà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ rebelled as usual.  [8]à ‚  This does not suggest a successful army led by a great warrior king. In addition debate on this topic has been largely focussed around the substantial lacking of a competent and willing army, as H. Fichtenau suggests, The poorer people complained that they were compelled to render almost continuous military service until they were completely impoverished.  [9]  This also informs us that Charlemagnes subjects were coerced into fighting for their king, possibly questioning his reputation at the time and skill as a military leader. In this sense, it is easy to argue that Charlemagne does not deserve the brilliant reputation that he has been remembered for. Fichtenau continues in suggesting that Charlemagne cared very little about his people to make them do continuous military service which may be a reason why he could not easily raise an army. Is this the attitude of a great leader, in response to the terms of the treatment of Charlemagnes service men? T. Reuter completely disagrees with Fichtenau suggesting that warriors were well looked after, bene fiting from gifts of food, clothing, gold, and silver, horses and arms  [10]  . This reveals a competent leader aware of the people serving under his name and rewarding them justly. Charlemagne managed to conqueror a substantial amount of Italy and hold on to what he had when faced with attempted invasion, in particular against the Saracens and troublesome Saxons. Einhard recorded that Ganshof, whose view upon Charlemagne is often critical, even records that; outstanding achievements, which can scarcely be matched by modern men.  [11]  Certainly the achievements that Charlemagne enjoyed in wartime are abetting as a part of his great remembrance. There is certainly much to suggest that Charlemagne did deserve his reputation in relation to his triumphs on the battlefield. His acquirement of the Avar treasure in 791 and the invasion and subjugation of the land of Bavaria to his rule where remarkable high points in his reign of warfare; Becher goes on to tell us that with Bavaria, Charlemagne acquired a new and apparently powerful neighbour,  [12]  which would assist him in advancing his reputation across the continent. Bullough is in cohorts with Becher on this opinion as he claims that Charles reputation and prestige among his neighbours had clearly not diminished as advancing years forced him to leave the command of armies in battle to others.  [13]  Agreeing with this view is Collins who adds in his work, which offers an essentially political account of the major developments of Charles reign  [14]  , that Charless naval activities in his final period are particularly notable, and saw the Carolingian Empire turned into a major maritime power.  [15]  In my opinion, Charlemagne did well to defend his kingdom successfully and expand to cushion his existing borders. Ganshof shows that he was a well renowned man and admired by other kings from neighbouring territories. I believe that Charlemagne not only managed to maintain his inherited lands, which is a great achievement in itself considering the vastness of the kingdom, but managed to build and gain land and respect, with which comes great reputation. His role in warfare suggests that he was a great and distinguished military leader and it would appear that his victories and skill in battle is one of the few topics where the historians generally agree that it enhanced his reputation amongst his peers and beyond. The argument of the decomposition  [16]  theory, chiefly driven by Ganshofs, has also encouraged much contest between historians, both historically and modern. Charlemagnes final years, chiefly following the Imperial Coronation of 800, are characterised by Ganshof as being dominated by a process of disintegration. It is my view that this idea holds a certain truth to it, demonstrated particularly in the aftermath of Charlemagne receiving the imperial title, but only to a certain extent. There were arguably some areas of his rule that experienced some level of limitations post-800, particularly his administrative apparatus, his military successes and also his Imperial Programme. Ganshof sets the parameter for this issue, although he does also indicate that there was a Balance Sheet,  [17]  implying that he did not believe that there was either uniform failure or success. He does often mention, however, that any successes Charles managed to achieve, mainly concerning his foreig n and internal policies, were in his mind, notably disappointing,  [18]  holding an overall picture of failure. Opposing this idea, King states that the Emperor had coped perfectly satisfactorily in his last years,  [19]  supported by Collins who adds that he believes that Ganshofs judgement seems mistaken.  [20]   Charlemagnes government is one of the most disputed aspects within his reign. Many historians agree that the way in which he orchestrated his government was poor, including Matthew Innes who declares that the lack of attention to the nuts and bolts of administration and to the mechanisms by which Charlemagne was able to govern à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is striking  [21]  . His point is furthered in saying that some historians have gone so far to claim that the Carolingians lacked any clearly defined concept of the state  [22]  . In the last years of Charlemagnes reign for example, the Carolingian state had symptoms of bad government  [23]  . The idea argued by Ganshof that the last reigning years suffered decomposition would surely suggest that Charlemagne does not deserve his great reputation. Ganshof states that Charlemagnes achievements in the last years fell short of those envisaged in 802  [24]  We know that during 801-814 for example there are instances of malfunctioning of public services  [25]  of which the capitularies year after year denounce the same abuses  [26]  . The capitularies created under Charlemagne often had to be re-issued, and we may infer from this that perhaps he did not have the authority which would ensure his requests were carried out. Fichtenau maintains that it cannot be denied that Charles the great failed to solve this problem  [27]  . Donald Bullough is in agreement with this point as he does not feel confident that either Charles or his close advisers had developed a clear and consistent attitude to the empire in the east.  [28]  Davis who was writing in the late 1920s confirms that the capitularies and his commissions produced the merest ripples on the surface of the deep waters of customary law.  [29]  His work predominantly focuses on the belief that the very name by which [Charlemagne] is best known is the product of French invention  [30]  with a view to link themselves with greatness, rather than a result of Charlemagnes prominence. The majority of the criticism directed at Charlemagnes government foc uses around the years after 800, however Charlemagne managed to achieve great things such as managing to make his subjects take an oath of fidelity taken in the name of the emperor  [31]  which Ganshof describes as new and imperial  [32]  . Perhaps even more importantly he created a new codification of law which insisted upon creating a written record of laws for the first time. Therefore it is evident that the government serving under Charlemagne did manage to do great and commendable things. It was from the government that Charlemagne managed to patronize the arts, and scholarship and learning. Although there were negatives within the government, I believe the achievements far outweigh them. The Imperial Coronation is a major event in Charlemagnes rule and yet another area which has induced forcible disagreement amongst historians since its occasion in 800. The main argument is centred on the significance of the title in relation to the rest of his rule, and calls into question his role as protector of the Church among other factors. With the imperialization of Charlemagne  [33]  in 800, many historians have questioned whether Charlemagne changed the way he ruled after his coronation. The areas on this question chiefly explored throughout history are multi faceted, but I have identified three main parts to examine. These include changes that were implemented in the government, if any, Charlemagnes personal outlook on the title, and his role as protector of the Church. It is interesting to see how much, or indeed, how little, these three constituents changed after the Imperial coronation of 25th December, 800. We can identify certain techniques that Charlemagne employed in order to carry out his will. In 802 he called a council at Aachen and dispatched his missi in order to examine the religious and moral state of affairs throughout the kingdom. Wilson described his government as a strong, centralised government [with] internal stability  [34]  , which leads us to believe that he was powerful enough to impose any changes effectively upon his dominions. Historians have claimed in their work that there were also changes to the content and style of capitularies after 800. The most famous and extensive of capitularies were the Admonitio Generalis, 789, the Herstal of 799, and capitulary produced at Aachen in 802, dubbed as the Programmatic Capitulary by Ganshof. Historian King tells us how each of these capitularies are released following much unrest in Charlemagnes kingdom, and that most of the rulings are concerned with canon law, monastic life and the like.  [35]  It is to be noted however, that these things are indeed recurrent theme[s with] the problems dealt with in 802 or 789 or 779  [36]  and the ideas are simply repeated over time. Collins informs us that the Admonitio Generalis we can see Charlemagne explicitly claiming responsibility for the moral and spiritual welfare of his realm  [37]  . The content was greatly influenced by a range of councils dating back from the fourth to sixth centuries, and therefore much of it was repetition of ideas and wishes from over the years. Although this is true, Collins admits that the concluding regulationsrepresent new injunctions  [38]  and have not been taken from any earlier documents. Nevertheless no dramatic change in content can be seen. King adds that the previously sought goals in the capitularies had not been altered: order, justice, piety, peace, concord, each conceived in Christian terms, each expressive of Gods will.  [39]  Despite this, we are told that these issues were sought the more determinedly  [40]  by Charlemagne after 800. In opposition to King and Collins, Ganshof argues that in face there was a significant change to the content and style of the capitularies after 800, and also the way in which Charlemagne thought perceived them. He interprets the 802 capitulary issued from Aachen as a bid to create a Christian republic on earth under Charlemagnes authority. He puts particular emphasis on the way it is written, and how some passages are in first person which he claimed was unusual. The parts in first person may be interpreted as issues which Charlemagne held most dear to him, and Ganshof argues that this is due to the Emperor being driven by Imperial responsibility.  [41]  The introduction of the capitulary refers to Charlemagnes intentions of sending out missi, to spread the word of god and encourage people to obey him, and Ganshof uses this as evidence of an Imperial programme of rule. The oath of fidelity is a particularly significant feature of the Programmatic Capitulary, the counterpart to t he Emperors recognition of his own enhanced obligations before God.  [42]  Two years after his coronation, it appears that Charlemagne imposed a greater insistence on the strict enforcement of the established laws  [43]  , and possibly the most significant detail is that the oath was to be taken in the name of the Emperor, not the King. Ganshof implied that a distinction is being made between the Imperial and former royal title. He adds that the language used to draw out the oath in the capitulary is explicitly more spiritual, and this distinguishes it from other oaths sworn in the 890s with Charlemagne as king. I believe that the debate to Ganshofs argument rests in the suggestion that perhaps the sixty-year-old Emperor  [44]  was simply becoming increasingly more aware of his old age. Charlemagne greatly desired salvation and in order to ensure this he knew his responsibility to his people and their beliefs was an important constituent which would seal his fate. Perhaps Charlemagnes focus in his capitularies came more from the anxieties of an old man for awareness of passing years  [45]  , and not as a direct result of his Imperial Coronation, as Ganshof has suggested. Perhaps Charlemagne perceived the Imperial title as a way to enforce other wishes more firmly as Wallace-Hadrill claims that the imperial title meant little or nothing to him outside Rome.  [46]  For example, with his newly acquired status he was able to claim that there were religious dimensions to his military campaigns, which would encourage more people to serve him. Davis tells how Charlemagne; did not go out of his way to seek the Imperial dignity, but accepted it as a responsibility which could not be refused; he employed it, not as a stepping-stone to further aggrandisement, but to legalise power already acquired, to allay the purposeless strife of race against race within his existing dominions, to evoke the consciousness of spiritual brotherhood which afterwards proved so mighty a factor in European development.  [47]   Wallace Hadrill confirms that Charlemagne was fight[ing] for the faith  [48]  , and not solely because of his newly adorned title. In addition, this supremacy enabled him to crown his son Louis, which he hoped would secure his legacy after his death. I believe that the greatest significance of the Imperial coronation lies in the debate as to whether Charlemagnes attitude towards the Church changed after 800. In my personal opinion, there is much evidence from many of the historians which suggests that it did, but still there lies a counter argument. I believe that following the coronation in Rome Charlemagne recognised his responsibilities to God and pursued them with a driving passion  [49]  , and his ambition to create a truly Christian society  [50]  was substantially magnified. There is much evidence to suggest that this is exactly what Charlemagne thought God required of him, and the fact that he was crowned on Christs birthday is appropriate to this. It adds to the belief that Charlemagne saw himself as Christs representative upon earth, and because of this, saw himself as Gods worker among men. The Paderborn Epic  [51]  also may hold evidence to this claim, as the poem refers to Charlemagne as an instrument of St. Peter. The oath of fidelity, released with the capitulary of 802, has been said to have been re-phrased to give it a more religious character and was the counterpart to the Emperors recognition of his own enhanced obligations before God.  [52]   After 800, Charlemagne became worthy of the highest secular dignity that existed under God, and we know that he also continuously claimed responsibility forthe spiritual welfare of his realm.  [53]  Was this however completely owing to the coronation or due to his awareness of an approaching death as an old man? There are continuous implications suggesting that Charles had a terrible awareness that Gods judgment will be conditioned by the conduct of his subjects  [54]  and in his remaining months he spent his time in prayer and alms-giving and spent some of his last hours in correcting books.  [55]  Perhaps therefore this priority of religion had more to do with his hopes for personal redemption and salvation from God, and to attain this, he knew he had to do Gods bidding, and spread the word of Christianity for a Christian republic on Earth. Also toward the end of his reign we know he arranged for the distribution of the treasures and silveramong the twenty-one metropoli tan churches that now existed in his empirefor the good of his soul.  [56]  Nevertheless, it remains certain that Charlemagne was concerned with the problems of the Church and thought it was his duty to protect with his whole mind.  [57]  It is evident that his struggles with Saxony were primarily due to their resistance of Christianity, in preference of paganism. It remains uncertain as to whether his increased Christian mission in his last years were more due to the coronation, and his recognition of being the protector of the church, or simply due to his hopes for salvation after death. Becher however tell us that in gaining the Imperial title, Charlemagne achieved his goal of standing at the head of the Christian world.  [58]   Charlemagne is presented as a king of well-rounded ability and his patronage of the arts compliments his government and religious advances particularly well. The capturing of the Avar treasure meant there was a greater disposable income and as a result of the influx of income patronage of the arts, encouraging scholarship and learning amongst his people, soars in his period. Fichtenau and Wallace-Hadrill suggest there was no significant push in the development of the arts for the first few years in Charlemagnes sovereignty. Rosamond McKitterick continues to say that the patronage of learning could be regarded as one of the obligations of royalty,  [59]  perhaps suggesting that it was not something newly enforced by Charlemagne. On the other hand, she then suggests that his patronage was designed to promote his royal power as a Christian king and to consolidate the faith  [60]  which is shown by the creation of the two schools; the peripatetic school, which Charlemagne travell ed with, and the Hofschule, his court school. Most of the courts activities revolved around religion and the Hofschule even created a new addition to the gospels.  [61]  In addition, Charlemagne began to commission paintings such as the Al Fresco which still survives today in the chapel in Frankia. It overlooks the vault and illustrates Christ sitting in majesty. This represents to us a recurring theme that the arts tended to reflect; Charlemagnes comparison to Christ. Charlemagne however seemed to show a genuine interest in the developments of the arts as he was very interested in music and what was sung in his chapel.  [62]  Charlemagne used his patronage of the arts to improve the image in which other people saw him and successively improve his reputation. Einhard, a dedicated scholar who served both under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious claimed that the Kingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ was a very intelligent man.  [63]  Rosamond McKitterick suggests that it was a period of remark able efflorescence of culture initiated by Charlemagne  [64]  which is shown by the influx of poetry, art, and books produced during his reign. This can allow us to understand more clearly why the scholars in Charlemagnes era were eager to help the king; scholars from all around the globe sought to help him, including Alcuin of York and Paul the Deacon from Italy. The ability to summon such great men from other kingdoms suggests the reputation that preceded Charlemagne. His devotion to scholarly texts, prayer and almsgiving shows the depths of Charlemagnes faith and his desire and motivation to improve his subjects lives. Personally I think that this is an invaluable insight into the character of the king, as we are able to see how driven and determined Charlemagne was to both better the lives of his people, but also his personal reflection of what his duties meant to him. Charlemagnes attention to the arts tended to be quite extravagant and we may infer that he looked upon the subject as a form of propaganda. It suggests that he was very astute in his decision-making of what to commission in order to improve his reputation. It is clear to see that Charlemagne reputes himself with great integrity and achievement and his accomplishments were of great merit. The viewpoints regarding Charlemagnes claim to greatness are of great variation. Finding the distinction between a myth and a truly remarkable man has been difficult to determine throughout the scope of work available to me. Many historians, including Richard Winston who was writ

Internet Legislation :: essays research papers fc

With the recent popularity of the Internet many topics concerning it have hit main street media. One of these topics is legislation to control its certain aspects. Legislation is now one of the feuded discussions when it comes to the Internet, and through my report I hope to shed some light on this topic of conterversy. The Internet by definition is an international web of interconnected government, education, and business computer networks--in essence, a network of networks. A person at a computer terminal or personal computer with the proper software communicates across the Internet by placing data in an Internet Protocol (IP) packet--an electronic envelope--and "addressing" the packet to a particular destination on the Internet. Communications software on the intervening networks between the source and destination networks. And these collections of networks linking millions of servers (computers) together, where in essence one computer can access info from another. The Internet was first formed in the lats 60's by the military as a form of communication incase of nuclear attack. Just recently in 1984 is when it was first opened to the everyday consumer as a form of communication. After a few years of mild aknowledgement of its assistance, From a thousand or so networks in the mid- 1980s, the Internet has grown to an estimated 30,000 connected networks in 1994 with about 25 million people having access to it. it all of a sudden boomed with popularity with networks expanding at an exponential rate. And with the networks came multi billionaire business such as American Online. Along with information the Internet has links to other more unmoral forms of entertainment, on of these is pornography, "porn" of the past few years has taken up more than one half of the web pages on the Internet (about 4Â ¼ out of 10 web pages are porn) a number which has caused much dismay with users and nonusers alike. Those who support porn on the Internet say its with in there rights and everybody should have access to it. But parents are afraid that the Internet carries a large number of minor users who with almost no Internet experience can access porn. Only Legislation that currently exsists is We start with the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, a controversial piece of legislation signed into law by President Clinton on February 8, 1996, and now under legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union and others.

The American Dream in Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman :: Death of a Salesman

The American Dream in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman is centered around one man trying to reach the American dream and taking his family along for the ride. The Loman's lives from beginning to end is a troubling story based on trying to become successful, or at least happy. Throughout their lives they encounter many problems and the end result is a tragic death caused by stupidity and the need to succeed. During his life Willy Loman caused his wife great pain by living a life not realizing what he could and couldn't do. Linda lived sad and pathetic days supporting Willy's unreachable goals. Being brought up in this world caused his children to lose their identity and put their futures in jeopardy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Willy lived everyday of his life trying to become successful, well-off salesman. His self-image that he portrayed to others was a lie and he was even able to deceive himself with it. He traveled around the country selling his merchandise and maybe when he was younger, he was able to sell a lot and everyone like him, but Willy was still stuck with this image in his head and it was the image he let everyone else know about. In truth, Willy was a senile salesman who was no longer able to work doing what he's done for a lifetime. When he reaches the point where he can no longer handle working, he doesn't realize it, he puts his life in danger as well a others just because he's pig-headed and doesn't understand that he has to give up on his dream. He complains about a lot of things that occur in everyday life, and usually he's the cause of the problems. When he has to pay for the repair bills on the fridge, he bitches a lot and bad mouths Charl ey for buying the one he should of bought. The car having to be repaired is only because he crashes it because he doesn't pay attention and/or is trying to commit suicide. Willy should have settled with what he had and made the best of things. He shouldn't have tied to compete with everyone and just made the best decision for him using intelligence and practicality. Many of Willy's problems were self-inflicted, the reason they were self-inflicted was because he wanted to live the American dream. If he had changed his standards or just have been content with his life, his life problems would have been limited in amount and proportion.

othello :: essays research papers

Othello   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this speech, Othello lets his mind take over all his self control. A usual cool tempered person Othello is inflicted with rage about the possibility of his wife sleeping with his lieutenant, Cassio. Iago has the ability to cloud the head of Othello with lies about the Desdemona and Cassio causing suffering and tragedy. A tragedy is a serious action or event that always turns out the worst way possible. Iago has setup Othello just enough for Othello to create his own disaster.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The literary devises that William Shakespeare uses in this play help us understand the many themes and symbols in the play. Alliteration is the repetition of the same starting letter to help the line have a smooth sound and good flow. In this play, it isn’t as used as much as some of the recent plays that we have read, but it can still be found. All the minor fights between Desdemona and Othello start a pattern that foreshadows the tragic ending of this story. â€Å"Tis destiny unshunnable, like death† (275). Foreshadowing are sometimes symbols or signs that usually predict events or overcomes in the story. The most prominent symbol is this play includes the image of the handkerchief. The handkerchief shows the love of Othello for Desdemona. Since she dropped and lost the handkerchief she no longer can understand the pain that Othello is enduring. The stress that Othello goes through because of the handkerchief tells of the faith and commitment of De sdemona. These literary devices help us interpret the play as it is meant to be understood.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Several lines in this speech suggest that Othello starts to blame himself. One in which is â€Å"Haply, for I am black/ And have not those soft parts of conversation/ That chamberers have, or for I am declined/ Into the vale of years† (263 – 266). He thinks because he is of a different color that his wife is no longer in love with him. This bring into the subject of interracial marriage. To this day many oppose the marriage of blacks and whites. Not knowing what to think at this point in the play, Othello conjure ups the idea that the being blacks has caused his wife, Desdemona, to cheat on him with a younger, fit soldier. Not knowing that this is false he asks his wife many times if this is true.

Importance and uses of contrastive linguistics Essay

Introduction: Contrastive Linguistics, roughly defined as a subdiscipline of linguistics which is concerned with the comparison of two or more (subsystems of) languages, has long been associated primarily with language teaching. Apart from this applied aspect, however, it also has a strong theoretical purpose, contributing to our understanding of language typology and language universals. The study of two languages in contrast, here called contrastive analysis, has been referred to by a variety of names, not all of which mean the same to all writers. One can find the following terms used: contrastive studies, contrastive language studies, contrastive linguistics, applied contrastive studies, contrastive description and others. contrastive analysis investigates the differences between pairs (or small sets) of languages against the background of similarities and with the purpose of providing input to applied disciplines such as foreign language teaching and translation studies. With its largely desc riptive focus contrastive linguistics provides an interface between theory and application. It makes use of theoretical findings and models of language description but is driven by the objective of applicability. Contrastive studies mostly deal with the comparison of languages that are ‘socio-culturally linked’, i.e. languages whose speech communities overlap in some way, typically through (natural or instructed) bilingualism . Much progress has been made in classifying the languages of the earth into genetic families, each having descent from a single precursor, and in tracing such developments through time. The result is called â€Å"comparative linguistics.† Of even greater importance for the future technology of thought is what might be called â€Å"contrastive linguistics.† This plots the outstanding differences among tongues – in grammar, logic, and general analysis of experience.A major influence on the development of the contrastive analysis approach has been the interest shown in it by language teachers and learners, and much CA has been undertaken with language teaching rather than translation in mind. One can prevent development of errors through a prior contrastive analysis and error analysis, leading to the development of appropriate teaching materials to  reinforce correct language learning. Relevance and uses of contrastive linguistics: The relevance of CL to translation: The emphasis of much of the work on CL on teaching and language learning raises questions about its relevance to translators. At a practical level, it is probably most useful in pointing out areas where direct translation of a term or phrase will not convey accurately in the second language the intended meaning of the first. At a global level, it leads the translator to look at broader issues such as whether the structure of the discourse for a given text-type is the same in both languages. Furthermore, although Contrastive Analysis is widely practised, there are a number of theoretical and practical problems in its application, all of which must affect judgements as to its usefulness in preparing or evaluating translations. There is some overlap between these problems, but they can nevertheless be related to specific difficulties of identifying a common ground for comparison, comparing descriptions of different languages, taking account of psycholinguistic and sociocultural factors, and taking account of extratextual and intertextual factors. Identifying a common ground for comparison All comparisons require that there be a common ground against which variation may be noted, a constant that underlies and makes possible the variables that are identified. Fonnal similarity is unreliable for several reasons. In the first place, a particular grammatical structure in one language may be a requirement while in another it may be one choice amongst several; in the second place, the choice represented by a grammatical structure in one language may have a different significance in that language from the choice represented by an apparently equivalent structure in another language .in the third place, in one language a particular structure may be unmarked while in another it may be marked. A pair of sentences might be semantically and/or pragmatically equivalent but have widely varying likelihoods of occurrence in the languages from which they are drawn. A simple example of all these points is that of the Portuguese expression â€Å"muito obrigado/a and the English expressio n much obliged. These  are syntactically and semantically comparable but have a different likelihood of occurrence, muito obrigado/a being the normal way of thanking in Portuguese and much obliged being a rare and more restricted usage than thanks a lot (and other related expressions) in English. Comparing descriptions of different languages Apart from the real but unavoidable problems arising out of comparisons of descriptions that utilize different linguistic models, there are problems that arise even between descriptions that utilize the same categories and theoretical framework.Understanding between and among disparate cultures has challenged mankind throughout history; and clearly, communication, intercultural communication, is a key element in achieving understanding. We believe a disciplined, linguistic approach to the study of intercultural communication, an approach that includes the building of linguistic corpora, research in contrastive rhetoric, and practical, real life application of the best practices learned, can provide valuable insights toward achieving understanding among cultures The relationship between contrastive analysis and translation The relationship between CL and translation is bidirectional. On the one hand, the translation of specific pieces of text may provide the data for CL On the other, CL may provide explanations of difficulties encountered in translation.The crucial factors here are what size of language sample has been chosen for translation, whether it is naturally occurring or fabricated for the purpose, and whether the translation is the analyst’s own. Though the focus of CL may continue to shift towards pragmatics and discourse analysis, its use in translation is not inevitable. It is however unlikely that it can be dispensed with completely either in the training of translators or in the assessment of translations, even in its more traditional lexico-grammatical manifestations; CL has arisen as a result of the needs of the language teaching profession and this project is no exception in that one of its major objectives is to provide teachers with assistance in the use of parallel concordancing in the classroom.It gives valuable evidence for translators on the transferability of certain collocations and colligations from one language to another. The f uture of CL’s use in translation may well lie in projects such as this, which are capable of providing with equal  facility explanations of past translating decisions and guidance as to prospective ones. As a useful learning tool: Knowledge and understanding of languages is increasingly important, and this course focuses on how such knowledge can be applied. It helps learners know more clearly and finding similarities and differences between them, thereby detecting errors, which bilingual learners often make, and how to fix. This assignment is based on contrastive linguistics. It uses many methods, especially contrastive method and surveys on grammatical aspect of these words. This study uses one-way transfer. We find a lot of two languages’ differences which may be make errors in structure and semantics. It is useful for bilingual learners to find mistakes which they can meet. Contrastive linguistic gives a comparative method to translate a learner’s thinking in an informed way. Giving structure to his/her intuitive relationship to the language. This bilingual approach in cl saves the students’ infinite time and labour. It has been proven that students learn faster and more effectively us ing it.Since it is our nature to compare, Contrastive Linguistics is the technique that clarifies our understanding of the language. For learners, similarities between languages cause no difficulties, while differences cause interference to learning. Through Contrastive Linguistics we can target and resolve the typical difficulties and Common Mistakes of our students. We can examine aspects that would not normally be noticed without such comparison. Bi-lingual comparative courses overlap in fruitful collaboration with other approaches. They clear away students’ deep-rooted mistakes and empower teachers with the answers to many of their students’ doubts. In Language Teaching: The change that has to take place in the language behavior of a foreign language student can be equated with the differences between the structure of the student’s native language and culture and that of the target language and culture. The task of the linguist is to identify these differences. The task of the writer of a foreign language teaching program is to develop materials which will be based on a statement of these differences; the task of the foreign language teacher is to be aware of these differences and to be prepared to teach them; the task of the student is to learn them. Importance of CL due to growing demand: There is a growing demand from both public and private sectors for professionals combining excellent language skills and sound linguistic theory and methodology. You study linguistic theory, description and methodology with a particular focus on corpus approaches and a strong multilingual component with high relevance for language professionals, especially in the field of foreign/second language learning, teaching (and testing), linguistics focusing on usage-based models and methods in language research and their applications, especially in multilingual contexts. It help students acquire the ability to read, write, speak, and understand world languages reach maximum capability with respect to communications, effective reasoning, and analytical thinking; to educate students for living and working in a competitive global society.. As the field of linguistics became more accepted as a discipline, other scholars from different fields began to incorporate language-related topics into thei r work. Contrative Linguistics found its way into sociology, anthropology, language arts, foreign language learning and teaching. It helps the translators to analyse the basic meaning and gist of the second language giving them an edge in interpretation jobs .

Culture of Chinese Family Stereotype Essay

Taiwan, my mother country, though suffering under complicated identification obscurity, is still applying Chinese culture and values. We still commemorate Chinese New Year, QingMing Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and so forth. We still believe in Confucianism and Chinese ethic moral rules like â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" , †, to name but a few. In addition, we also share the similar diet culture, since our staple food mostly based on rice and noodles. There are surplus parallels between Taiwanese culture and those adopted in the mother China even though we’ve been separated geographically for centuries. Though Taiwan is politically independent from China, as a Chinese, I would still accept the perspective that I’m belonging to part of the Great Chinese Culture Region( ), as we can call it â€Å"Chinese Family†. Although modern technology and knowledge keep flourishing, people nowadays may think that western culture somehow influence people more, included religion believing , fast food culture, insight of democracy and freedom, western literature, and so on. However, as a Chinese, I can’t deny that Chinese culture did affect our daily living physically and mentally. Many values originated from the ancient people and philosophers, included those in ,,,, still maintain clear and essential in our mind , since we have been taught to follow the concept and the worship the good deeds those ancient sages and virtuous, like Confucius, Zhuangzi, Mencius, Yao and Shun( )†¦ have conducted. â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" , , †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ these values not only affect the way Chinese people think, but also become a sub consciousness which lead to the way we live. As we often emphasis the importance of studying, Chinese parents are willing to spent their whole life working hard so their children can accept better education because they believe the sayings, â€Å" †, â€Å" , †. In contrary, western families take less focus on their children’s academic performance; they would rather think that children should seek out their interest instead of obtaining all A grades at school. Furthermore, it would also affect how parents educate their children, and this educating concept would pass on by generations. And the phenomenon is just the same in Taiwan as that in Mainland. As most Chinese parents always believe and hope their children to be the best( , ), they usually devote more than western parents do, just to provide the best resources for their children. This may somehow spoil a child, too. As Chinese family often pass their fortune to their descendants, rather than considering parents’ fortune as their own, offspring of a wealthy family may no longer eager to achieve his own life goal and seek his own fortune. In contrary, western children usually gain their own fortune by their hand, on their own, which is considered more independent and responsible. There’s a real story of a business man. Because he’s so busy and so was his wife, they’ve decided to send their 13 years old son to New Zealand for a couple of months, and there was a friend named Marry, who could take care of their child. When the child met Marry, the first thing she said was, â€Å"Listen, my sweet heart, I’ll like to notice you that I’m here only to take care of your living, but doesn’t mean I should make you breakfast, do your laundries and dishes, you should do it all by yourself. You’re now 13, which is definitely able to start taking care of yourself. Parents aren’t responsible to look after your whole life; thus, you should be independent from now on. You live your life and I do mine own business, is that clear enough? † After 6 months, while the business man and his wife picked their son back from New Zealand, they’re totally stunned; their son had changed thoroughly mature. He began to make breakfast, woke up early himself and was able to schedule his own life, which he never did before. This dramatically change simply based on how western and eastern parents educate their children. As a result, it leads to the circumstance that western children are usually more independent. In addition, the value of women rights also maintain deeply in Chinese people’s mind, though we are now in a world advocating gender equality. Even nowadays, some people still believe the concept â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" , , †, but mostly the elders. Thanks to the revolution New Culture Movement ( ) brought to the Chinese society. People started to explore and accept new technology and knowledge, not only the perception of Democracy() and Science( ), but also the new century values. For instance, in the old days, women are forced to bound their feet from their young ages, so that their feet may look tiny and delicate, which ancient Chinese regarded as sexy and beauty. They even worshiped tiny feet as â€Å" †. This social usage only happened in the upper classes which higher status women did not need to deal with tuff tasks that rural area women did. On the other hand, it also lead to the phenomenon that women were having lower social position than men were. But after the New Culture Movement and other further revolutions, women gradually stopped to suffer from the pain bounding feet brought to them, and started to handle more housework; little by little, women’s social status had been raised. When it comes to the argument of women’s right and discrimination, it’s no doubt that Chinese ancient culture and concept have deeply influenced the way the majority behaves. Not only in Mainland, but also the whole Chinese cultural region, included Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and other South East Asian countries. Take Japan as an example, Japanese girls are well known for their virtuous behavior, while men are quite accustomed to chauvinism( ). This may be somewhat resulted from the old sayings originated from China; for instance, â€Å" , †, â€Å" †, and so on. However, women status obviously do rise in this century, modern parents may be more willing to give birth to a girl because they may think girls are sweeter than boys, ignoring the stereotype that having a boy is better than a girl. This stereotype is resulted from the traditional custom that boys are able to pass the family name, while girls no longer belongs to the family after they’re married. Plus, this is also a chief reason why ancient Chinese family sent a boy to school rather than a girl, cause only when a boy achieve high social status after , will the whole family gain benefits. Thus, brought out a novel which the feminine role have to disguise herself as a guy so as to be able to pursue education. We can see that phenomenon changes not only in giving birth to a baby, but also in education providing. In the old times, there were mostly boys that could access complete education instead of girls, but now, we may even discover that the numbers of girls are surprisingly higher than boys. Which some researches declaim that it’s because girls are innately more careful and thoughtful than boys are. The case is similar in industries and working places, more and more â€Å"Iron ladies† exist and keep on controlling the whole company, which may be more success than men. What’s more there’re even throngs of specific phrases for modern women, like â€Å" — †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †(which refers to women that haven’t married but are successful in their carriers), and so forth. There is an awkward circumstance that women in upper social status are mostly unmarried, and so as men within lower social status. This is due to two main reasons; first, women education is relatively emphasized than that in the past; second, traditional concept has that a woman should marry a man better than she is. As the result, a woman graduated from high school may marry a man finished college studying; woman finished college studying may marry a guy accomplished graduated school; woman accomplished graduated school marry a PHD guy; and a PHD woman may marry a professor; then who will a female professor marry? Obviously not a guy graduated from high school! This worrying case lead to a sad ending, which then somehow may strictly proofed the saying â€Å" †. However, to my opinion, I think this is a controversial issue because being married involves mostly on love itself, we shouldn’t blame it all to the Chinese cultural effects. But frankly speaking, we can’t ignore truth that these old sayings somehow match to the phenomena we’re now facing. Even though women are now capable enough to compare with men in industry fields, there still exist â€Å" †, which means however hard women try, the promotion rate and the salaries are relatively lower than that of men’s. This may also be an outcome of the Chinese stereotypes that men are more capable then women are when it comes to work. For conclusion, old Chinese concepts really influence modern society deeply in an unmeasurable degree. All in all, although ancient Chinese empires had faded into history, glorious kingdoms had turned into dust, brilliant philosophy of ancient saints only exist in books now, the influence they brought to this Chinese world still remain and just couldn’t be erased from our mind. Chinese culture and ancient concepts couldn’t be ignored. They’re now the biggest part of our life because they’re what we come from, and what foster us. It’s our soul, our mother characteristic. Also, they’re things that allow us to identify ourselves as a member of this huge â€Å"Chinese Family†. And because it’s uniqueness and specialties, we’re always able to find our loyalties. In this complex culture integrated world, finding a sense of belonging is really important, because it may make us feel comfortable and gleeful to be part of this big family. We can even say that, without Chinese culture, we can’t be who we are now. Cherish our culture and maintain it well so as to pass the Chinese spirit on and on is what our generation should do. Despite of focusing and arguing on whether I’m a Taiwanese or a Chinese, It’s more vital and meaningful to define myself as a member part of Chinese culture. I’m from Taiwan, and I’m a Chinese. I’m proud of my identity; I’m proud of this Chinese family I belong to. It’s where my mind and spirit mature, where my ancestor struggled for their lives and for the next generation, for us.

Becoming an Adolscent

Childhood to adolescences Eventually, everything has to change. Whether it is for the best or the worst is to be determined. In this short story Steven becomes more realistic about the nature of breaking up and he also learns to consider the feelings of others. Steven gains a deeper understanding of himself and figures out who he wants to become. In â€Å"breaking up† by Susan Beeby and Paul Lima, Steven experiences a transition from childhood to adolescences. Steven’s view of being in a relationship is not realistic because he does not know what commitment entails. He attended his girlfriend’s birthday party, where he made her a cake and gave her a special birthday gift. His girlfriend said â€Å"when he gave me a gold band for my birthday, I thought our relationship was solid. †(Beeby and Lima 1) Steven did not recognise the sentimental values a ring has for a girl. He did not think about the commitment he just made to her, resulting in a very immature choice. Steven is now seeing his ex-girlfriend not acting like she is upset or mad about him breaking up with her. She is not giving him the satisfaction that he craves for. Steven than proclaimed â€Å"and every time I saw her afterwards- laughing with her friends, but looking at me with icicle eyes- I almost gagged on what I said. †(Beeby and Lima 1) He is now taking more accountability for his actions. Steven is realizing he should have never made a commitment when he was not ready because it hurt him more in the end. He started out making immature decisions and he made progress through the story by taking more responsibility for the actions he chooses. In addition to that, Steven takes more steps to becoming more of an adult. Steven gets the opportunity to understand how to respect others feelings. His girlfriend was expressing how their relationship was not perfect. â€Å"the romance did have its weaknesses, Steven would sometimes break our date†(Beeby and Lima 1) said his girlfriend. Steven did not take into consideration that maybe his girlfriend was really looking forward to their date. He did not think about her feelings. More into the story, Steven’s girlfriend explained how he has changed. sometimes he brought me flowers and wrote me poems† (Beeby and Lima 1) his girlfriend expressed. He is now realizing he should respect his girlfriend’s feelings and he should make her feel special. By this time he is not just thinking about himself. Steven makes a transition from acting very immature to more mature, and is now actually treating his girlfriend with respect. With the ability to respect others, he f inds out who he wants to become. Steven has more of an understanding of himself. He is analyzing what he thinks a poet should do about love. love means commitment and real poets don’t commit themselves, not to no body. †(Beeby and Lima 1) Steven is relating himself to what a poet would do, not to what he thinks is best for himself. He also experiences a wide awakening of who he thought he was. Steven was questioning if he was really a poet. â€Å"but I should have known I wasn’t a poet because I was afraid of how far we could go on the name of poetry. †(Beeby and Lima 1) Steven made an adult decision realizing he was not a poet because he actually loved her. He finally understood that you can be your own version of a poet and do not have to follow all the guidelines of a poet. Steven takes a huge step from being a child to becoming an adult. He experienced the aftermath of a break up. Steven also now knows how to consider other people’s feelings not just his own. He realizes who he wants to become; Steven took some time to figure out his faults, but in the end it all worked out to better him. The only question is will he stay an adolescences or make his way back to becoming more of a child?

Advice: Times Essay

â€Å"No Michael no more baseball† my mother nagged. She had nagged on about this for the past month and a half. She really didn’t want me to play anymore I guess. But I didn’t listen to her because I felt that I was at my prime. So I played again but this time it was traveling season. So what that meant was we played all over the place. We was going to be champions, the all times greatest! I knew that we were going to make Plainfield proud. But things weren’t going so good when we had our second practice. The coaches had made us run around the whole field 5 times nonstop, so many people had thought about quitting. I had even thought about quitting myself. But I didn’t want to be known as a quitter. So what I did what practiced hard, I did all my laps before everybody until I had a â€Å"CRACK† than I just fell to the ground. At first I thought I had broken my leg until I moved it. I was in shock because I dint know what had happened. When the coach had came by I told him that I broke my knee. Then he said it wasn’t broke because I was able to move it. Then I left practice and went to the hospital The X-ray showed that I had fractured my knee. My mother was in shock but not about me she cared about the bill. Then she told me what she said a month ago about not playing baseball. But she was right, I should have listened to her. If I did maybe I wouldn’t have been in that predicament. Now today I’m left with a huge scar on my knee, two screws, and a limp walk. I mostly regret it because after the accident we went on the Disney cruise and I had to be in a wheel chair the whole time.

Public Law 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Public Law 3 - Essay Example However, the so called judicial power in re the HRA is not as ideal as it would seem with respect to existing primary legislations because even if the courts can declare it as incompatible with convention rights, it is at the pleasure of the Parliament to revoke, modify or alter that legislation. The judicial power to declare incompatibility with convention rights therefore does not subsume the power to strike down primary legislation (Wright 2001 p 15). The HRA, in effect, pits entities called public authorities vis-à  -vis convention rights, and determines if the former have committed acts that violate the convention rights of the latter. The impact of the HRA is that it compels local courts to take into consideration the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg concerning cases involving the HRA rather than the usual reliance on their own precedents. Previously, the courts were under no compulsion to religiously follow the ECPHR provisions. This is because the act of the state in entering into an international treaty cannot and does not affect a state’s domestic law. In fact the ECHR played only a secondary role in court decisions prior to the HRA. This court perspective was illustrated by Lord Denning when he remarked: â€Å"The Convention is drafted in a style very different from the way in which we are used to in legislation. It contains wide general statements of principle. They are apt to lead m uch difficulty in application because they give rise to much uncertainty. [†¦] So it is much better for us to stick to our statutes and principles, and only look to the Convention for guidance in case of doubt† (Faulks & Warnock 2008). The English courts however, did not totally discount the ECHR provisions prior to its incorporation into domestic law. In one of the cases, Lord Bridge remarked that â€Å"it is well settled that that, in construing any

Exemplification essay on Stereotypes of an American Male in a european

Exemplification on Stereotypes of an American Male in a european counrty - Essay Example Asian Americans are stereotyped as submissive, Math or business wizards, black Americans are either thugs or religious fanatics who are good in basketball and rapping, Latino Americans are lazy and dependent on social welfare, and white Americans are aggressive, loud-mouthed, condescending, violent individuals. Asian Americans are often depicted in the media as submissive. For instance, when speaking with other races, they do not look at them in the eye and tend to bow down. Asian Americans are also portrayed as Math wizards. They often wear large glasses and excel in Mathematics. They are frequently honor students and are severely grade-conscious. Furthermore, Asian Americans are described as businesspeople. They either have restaurants or pharmacies. Many of them become rich doing business. It can be seen that these stereotypes are generally positive compared to other ethnic American stereotypes. Black Americans are shown in the media as either thugs or religious fanatics. The young black male is often a criminal or juvenile delinquent. In TV shows, they are loud-mouthed and do not excel in their studies like Asian Americans. Sometimes, black males are also shown as religious zealots singing church hymns and attending religious services all the time. Black men are also stereotyped as good in basketball and rapping. People sometimes automatically assume that they have Michael Jordans genes running through each and every black man. These stereotypes are generally negative and focus too much on the sports abilities of black people. Latino Americans are frequently stereotyped as lazy. The media shows them as enjoying siestas and parties. It seems that all they do is have fun and that they cannot focus on being productive. The media also depicts Latinos as dependent on welfare. Again, this is a negative stereotype that entails their laziness and lack of motivation in their lives. Like

Bug, Inc. Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Bug, Inc. Paper - Essay Example e of Trademark law by registering the logo which is a ladybug wearing a set of headphones.(see Trademark Dilution Act or possibly the Anti-cyber squatting Consumer Protection Act 2000.) In case anyone would like to misuse this trade mark now on the internet or the offline world. Additionally, they can use the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, and succeed in the suit for saving their trademark if they can show that they have a registered trade mark ,legitimate interest and if the misuse is in bad faith. Jurisdictional issues are a big problem in intellectual property disputes and since Bug.Inc is a multinational they are advised to ensure that they register their trademark in at least two or three major jurisdictions beforehand. Finally if they have invented the software and the equipment they are advised to patent this technology at the earliest. Patents can be secured for a specified period and will need to be renewed beyond that. The patent Registration confers powers on the product inventor of exclusive use and sale .In case the patent is a modification of an earlier product or process, the permission of the original patent holder needs to be sought and recorded. If, because of the reworking done, the identity of the final product is lost, the new registration to be availed of, and with the original patent’s consideration, the new patent is secured. 2) The borderless nature of the Internet involves problems both for the resolution of disputes between private parties in courts of states and for law enforcement authorities of a state to impose and enforce its regulations. The rules determining jurisdiction use certain localisation factors based on where the actors are located, on where the activities are carried out and on where the activities take effect. The problem of applying these traditional localisation principles to an Internet transaction is that every country in the world may potentially assume jurisdiction since the Internet is