Group 2

I was in group 2 in class today, and we won the competition, along with some extra points.

Highlighted Language Map

Pink=Italic
Aqua=Germanic
Yellow=Balto-Slavic
Green=Celtic

Podcast 9/14/10 Interpretation

The beginning segment of this podcast was themed around political communication. Although on the surface, the theme of the segment was the success of Iran’s leader through his communication, the true meaning was the need for language in the political world. They were talking about how leaders in the political world can be more successful if they learn to speak to people as they would to their neighbors, in their own language and dialect. The more language you know, the more people will want to understand and listen to you.

                The next segment was about global culture transforming and changing so that an entire group of people’s way of life may cease to exist. This means perhaps another dead language, another dead culture, another dead civilization. The changing world affects not only the Earth’s looks, but also the inhabitants on our planet, and our way of life. This is why the study of different endangered cultures is so important. If we don’t take the time now to study them, we’ll have to use past evidence to find out more, once they’re already gone.

                The third segment was about the attention that the current general public will pay to a foreign film. About 20-30 years ago, foreign movies like “Beautiful Life” were extremely popular and made millions in the box offices. Current trends show that movies that aren’t in English aren’t as popular anymore in the United States. This could be due to the different public mindset, the quality of the movies, the promotion level, and many other things. Foreign films are a great way to entertain and a great way to spread language through the world. The hope is that foreign films will make a comeback and help to further educate every human in the world.

                The final segment was a listener contribution, focusing on confusion when speaking a secondary language. The language Urdu uses the same word for “right,” as they do for “straight,” which can definitely cause problems when giving directions. The point of this segment was to show the differences and similarities in other languages, and what gets confusing. It seems to me like it would be very difficult to speak a language like Urdu, or live in a country that speaks it.

~Megan Greig 

How Did The 9/11 Attacks Effect Air Travel Internationally?

   The tragedy of 9/11 effected our country's structure in many ways. One of the areas most effected was the international air travel for Americans. Before September 11th, 2001, an American leaving the country for business or pleasure matters was not a very big deal. There was normally a metal detector and a bag check to go through, or something along those lines. But after the incidents on that day, security had to tighten up. Preparation for international air travel suddenly became a much more tedious and time-consuming process. There were certain restrictions that were given for carry-on bags, and any violators were pulled aside for individual inspection. Not to mention that more security tests were added to look for any hidden suspicious objects.

   But before someone can even think about boarding a plane to another country, they have to obtain a passport. This has always been a law that people have had to obey, but since September 11th, 2001, it's been a lot harder to get ahold of one. The first step is getting an application, from either your local post office, or the internet. With the application, proof of citizenship is required, along with things like financial records, and reason for needing the passport. You also need to submit two color passport photos, taken within the past six months of applying. After doing all of this, it can take up to a few months to be approved for a passport, and it costs anywhere from 40-60 dollars, depending on the person's age.

   Once a passport is finally obtained, in order to get on the flight on time, it's best to show up to the airport at least three hours early for all of the security obstacles that passengers are required to go through in order to board the plane. Much security was added after the attacks, to ensure nothing like that could ever happen again. Most passengers who have flights at around seven in the morning end up having to get to the airport by at least five, just to get there on time, let alone be early, which many people prefer to do, to ensure their preparation.

   Through this terrorism experience, our country's airport security has learned not to "judge a book by its cover," and check every citizen that comes through the gates of the airport, because terrorist attacks can come in all shapes and sizes. Anyone who looks even slightly suspicious is taken aside and inspected individually, in case of possession of a bomb, knife, poison, or any other kind of weapon.

   The week after the terrorist attacks, all planes, national and international, were grounded. No planes took flight for any destination until Tuesday, September 18th, and even then, very few planes were permitted to take off, with very few available spaces. This, in turn, lead to a very large amount of people going after those few seats for weeks after, until the normal number of seats was again offered on the average number of planes around the country.

   The costs of oil to power the planes has increased since 9/11 because the relations between the U.S. and areas where we get oil were strained. There were other places for our country to obtain oil, but the risks were much higher and the costs may well have been, too. For this reason, fewer planes were able to be fueled enough to fly internationally, so the number of international flights plummeted considerably.

   For many years after these attacks, Americans all over were afraid to board planes, always being conscious of what happened on that fateful day. This fear has decreased the amount of Americans boarding international planes each year. No matter how slight this decrease is, it is always something to consider. The cost of plane tickets has also increased, because fewer people are boarding planes, because of suspicion that incidents like these might occur again. The result of this is that people who are willing to trust airport security and board an international plane are having to pay more for that trust, and are having to go through much more of a hassle to get out of the country. "Fleeing on a whim" isn't really an option anymore.

   Even after all of the issues U.S. international air travel has gone through, there is still more to tell of in other areas across the globe. America's allies were also strongly effected, because they feared the same might happen to them at any time. For this reason, countries like Britain and Canada also went under similar security "makeovers" in their international airports, to ensure passengers' safety. Not only did allies have to take these precautions, but also the opposing forces in the middle east. Who's to say that we won't strike back? Because of this, the countries in the middle east knew that they had to bulk up on security as well if they didn't want a counter attack coming at them months after the damage had been done.

   One of the biggest changes that occoured after the attacks was that the U.S. did more to develop tracking technology when it came to planes. That way, if a plane was getting to close to a building or an area it wasn't supposed to be, the government would have the power to alert the officials on the plane and have then correct the error or land the plane. Eventually, technology was developed so that any plane in the United States territory could be seen by a satelite, from basically any computer in the country. There are a few sites that have this option, so that even the public can view what goes on above. An example of one of those sites can be found here: http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/briefing/ This kind of technology not onl makes it easier for the government to have more control over air traffic, but it also gave the citizens of the U.S. more comfort in the fact that they knew what was going on. Sometimes, that's the thing that can keep a contry from turning into complete chaos.

   Through this experience, there were a lot of things that were added to our society.We have new rules that take more time and effort to follow. We have new technology that helps to enforce those rules. And probably most importantly, we have citizens who might be a little more aware of patriotisim. Citizens who maybe care just a little bit more.

   There is much that changed in the U.S. after that terrible day in September. Some call it, "the day the world stopped turning." But in some ways, our country took action, and started something bigger than any of us could imagine. So in some ways, yes, our world "stopped turning." But in other ways, it just started turning faster and tougher than ever before.

All pictures are public domain; http://www.wikimedia.com/

Sources:

* Wysong, By James. "Eleven Lessons Learned from 9/11 - Travel - News - Msnbc.com." Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports, Politics, Travel, Science, Technology, Local, US & World News- Msnbc.com. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .








* Rentoul, By John. "9/11: They Say It Changed the World for Ever. But How?" Common Dreams

News & Views. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .







* "Air Traffic - NextGen Briefing." FAA: Home. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .







* 2013, By. "Travel Facts and Statistics

U.S. Travel Association." U.S. Travel Association. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .







* "How to Get a Passport

EHow.com." EHow

How To Do Just About Everything!

How To Videos & Articles. Web. 08 Sept. 2010. .* http://www.englandtravelguide.org/files/2009/07/airplane.jpg




~Megan Greig Taylor Hoch, and Katie Davis