You Don't Need Permission to Dance

 “Music should be an essential part of every analysis” - Carl Jung

The world came to an unexpected halt (figuratively) in 2020 and first half of 2021 when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped all societies across the globe. Uncertain and tragic times were encountered by individuals across all countries of the world. Although there was a lot of unspeakable pain felt by so many people, one constant in many lives kept up spirits, calmed anxious hearts, and connected people together: the universal transcendence of music.

Research has shown that music can lift moods, improve blood flow, and lower levels of stress-related hormones. What a lucky world we live in to have a diverse selection of different music genres which can evoke special memories and increase endorphin levels to amp up our positive emotions. One particular group of universally admired musicians continue to masterfully intertwine a myriad of genres into their music, from hip hop to R&B, pop to rock. This group – more specifically a septet – hails all the way from South Korea and you may have heard of them by the names of Bangtan Sonyeondan (방탄소년단), Bulletproof Boy Scouts, Bangtan Boys, Beyond the Scene, and probably most popular of all monikers… BTS!

And without further ado, I would love to share a fun fact about myself: I am one of millions around the world who is BTS ARMY, a global fandom that is beautifully diverse, compassionate, and driven to promote positive change in our societies through words and actions. The rise of BTS' success is not a random fluke but can instead be attributed to hard work, unwavering determination, and genuine love for the art of music. BTS made their debut in the music scene on June 13^th, 2013 as a hip hop inspired idol group and is comprised of 7 talented members: 3 rappers (RM/Kim Namjoon, Suga/Min Yoongi, J-Hope/Jung Hoseok) and 4 vocalists (Jin/Kim Seokjin, Jimin/Park Jimin, V/Kim Taehyung, and Jungkook/Jeon Jungkook).

BTS introduced a trilogy of stand-alone English songs in 2020 and 2021 which truly personified positivity and healing in a nutshell during an extremely traumatic time for many. These songs were released in succession and include the vibrant ballad Dynamite (released August 20, 2020), the Grammy-nominated Butter (released May 21, 2021), and the uplifting Permission to Dance (released July 9, 2021). However, the popularity and admiration of BTS is obviously not solely based or anchored with these admired English songs. Instead, it's important to rewind and look back on the rich and comprehensive discography in their native Korean language starting from 2013 to provide a glimpse of the culmination of all their successes and achievements as of 2022. The beauty of music is that it transcends language and everyone is entitled to their own interpretation for how it impacts their own self and emotions. BTS uniquely embodies an empowering driving force through their music (whether in Korean, English, or even Japanese) to spread positivity and healing, acknowledge societal influences, and promote inclusion among different communities.

Poetry in Motion

Our lives are akin to chapters of a unique story where every end leads to a new beginning. An element that adds to BTS' success as passionate musicians is their role as lucid storytellers, where the story comes to life through their harmonious voices, meaningful words, and prevalent symbolism most commonly observed in their cinematic-quality music videos. Since debut, the extensive ballads in BTS' discography weave together the delicate threads of life to form the most truthful patchwork reflecting the trials and tribulations of turbulent growth from youth to adulthood.

As humans, many – if not all of us – find purpose in life when we live to love and love to live. BTS song lyrics can best be described as poetry in motion when it comes to love and heartbreak, the yin and yang within our hearts. In particular, the Love Yourself series of three albums exemplifies love in progressive form: 承 Her (falling in love), 轉 Tear (falling out of love/breaking up), and 結 Answer (epiphany about self love).

The lyricism in Outro: Her (2017) masterfully illustrates the use of metaphors and wordplay to exemplify the beginning stages of love.*

RM: Did you figure out that I'm a book after I met you? Or did you turn my page?

But I'm lookin' for love / I don't care if it's a fake me, if you hold me / You're my beginning and

my end

Suga: Make up to wake up today too / And dress up to mask on

J-Hope: But the moment I should shine the most, I take my mask off / Lost star, I'm laying down my burdens, enjoying the darkness

The powerful imagery evoked by the lyrics in Outro: Tear (2018) encapsulate the pain felt during a break up and ultimately falling out of love; the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning.*

RM: Goodbyes are, for me, a tear / Without even knowing, it blooms around the eyes / The words that I could not bring myself to say flow down / And lingering regret crawls over my face

Suga: There's no such thing as beautiful goodbyes, so just begin now / Ooh, take it easy, slowly carve out my heart / That's right, that's right, gently step on the shards that have shattered / So that regret, regret, such a thing will no longer be left

J-Hope: You're my beginning and my end, that is all / My meeting and my farewell / You were everything, step forward fear / It will be repeated, caused by you, tear tear

The pain of heartbreak can leave scars in the heart, but with times of pain there are also times of joy. Healing takes precious time and perhaps the most powerful feeling in life is encompassing yourself with true self-love and opening the heart to forgive, as harmonized in Answer: Love Myself (2018).*

Suga: The thick tree rings in your life / it's part of you, it's you / Now let's forgive ourselves / Our lives are long, trust yourself when in a maze / When winter passes, spring always comes

Jin, Jungkook: You've shown me I have reasons I should love myself / I'll answer with my breath, my path

V, Jungkook: The me of yesterday, the me of today, the me of tomorrow / With no exceptions, it's all me

Jimin: Why do you keep trying to hide under your mask? / Even all the scars from your mistakes make up your constellation

RM, J-Hope: It's just that loving myself / Doesn't require anyone else's permission

Permission to Dance

Fast forward to 2020 and beyond where BTS not only exponentially increased the amount of awards they won throughout the years since their debut in 2013 (WAY too many to list here) and became Grammy-nominated artists for the hit song “Butter”, but they continue to passionately fulfill their roles as philanthropists by participating in various campaigns such as the Grammy week MusiCares charity auction event and becoming sponsors for the UNICEF's global #ENDViolence campaign.

It is no wonder that trust and growing admiration has solidified between BTS and ARMY since they not only talk the talk but also walk the walk. The release of the three chart topping and uplifting English songs during the global pandemic may have garnered many new casual fans along the way, but for ARMY, the unrelenting challenges, hurdles, and barriers that were faced and surpassed by BTS to reach this level of success is never taken for granted.

Of particular mention is the permeating message of hope as well as inclusive choreography in the ballad “Permission to Dance”. In the teaser video, Suga reads a newspaper that proclaims “Purple Balloons Signal The End of Covid-19” and “2022 The Beginning of a New Era, Good Bye Covid-19”. Throughout the music video, purple balloons are in fact observed in almost every scene… one single purple balloon appears to make a symbolic cameo as it treks its way out of Jungkook's hands, into the sky above a group of young children and a postal worker, and finally following gleefully after two children running happily together. The prominent backdrop of the septet's gleeful chorus as they sing “I wanna dance, the music's got me going, ain't nothing that can stop how we move” says in bright yellow words THE WAIT IS OVER with three purple balloons floating in the painted sky.

During the last half of the music video, as adults and children start taking off their face masks and dance together to symbolize the end of the pandemic, BTS incorporates the signs for “enjoy”, “dance”, and “peace” into their joyful choreography while effortlessly displaying pure enjoyment and pleasure with their facial expressions as they dance the night away. The inclusion of international sign language has garnered a lot of praise among the deaf community and individuals with hearing loss and provides a sense of unity and encouragement for everyone interested to join the fun, such as participating in the YouTube Shorts dance challenge for “Permission to Dance” where all participants were encouraged to use the signs for “enjoy”, “dance”, and “peace” during a selected clip of the song but freestyle the dance to the beat of the heart.

Proof of Past, Present, and Future

True to the name, Bangtan quite literally means “resistant to bullets” and thus translates to “bulletproof”. BTS released the much anticipated anthology album titled “Proof” on June 10^th, 2022 which includes member selected (as well as fan favorite) throwback songs since debut and new releases of the title tracks “Yet to Come”, “For Youth”, and “Run BTS”. As BTS celebrates 9 years together as a band, this anthology is fitting as a celebration of it's own to commemorate all their achievements so far. RM, the band's eloquent leader, seemingly alluded to the title of the anthology during the highly successful Permission to Dance On Stage concert in November 2021 (SoFi Stadium in LA) while giving his speech: “You guys are the proof of our existence, our value, our breath, our love, our peace.” While anyone can listen to all the songs which comprise the anthology from beginning to end, it is highly recommended to dive deeper into the lyrics to better understand their stories and to develop further appreciation of the artistry and evolution of musical styles that are weaved into their music from the past, into the present, and forward to the future. While Chapter 1 has successfully concluded, the anticipation for the start of Chapter 2 is at an all time high.

Happy 9^th anniversary to Bangtan Sonyeondan 방탄소년단 (a.k.a. BTS).

The message is loud and clear: We always have permission to dance.

*Verified English translations of Korean lyrics

Pronunciation Challenge: 7 English Words to Pronounce Correctly

No matter how skilled of a linguist you are, there may be times when you just can’t figure out the most appropriate way to pronounce a word, albeit some words seem to have been created out of thin air and placed into the dictionary as a legitimate, influential word used in our society. Is it Option A or Option B? Both sound reasonable when considering English spelling and pronunciation rules.

In my own experience, hearing a mispronounced word during English class as read by one of my fantastic, attentive students automatically makes me vocalize what the word should sound like. However, the words that are analyzed below required me to do some extra research on the proper pronunciation, and thanks to Dictionary.com, I can now confidently dictate the terms if asked.

ASK.  The typical pronunciation is [ask], but some people may pronounce this word [aks], as in: “Swing the axe to cut the wood.” This phenomenon is known in linguistics as metathesis, which refers to the switching of two continuing phoneme sounds. But is it wrong? Well, not necessarily. It was pronounced as [aks] by Chaucer when Middle English was spoken centuries ago, but the word became properly changed to [ask] due to English spelling standardization. And since we are no longer living in the past, we must adapt to the current spelling rules. Somewhat obvious I suppose...

MISCHIEVOUS.  Proper pronunciation is [mis-chuh-vuhs], while some people add another syllable to the word which becomes [mis-chee-vee-uhs].  The spelling mischievious was considered to be standard in the 16^th to 18^th centuries, but today it is regarded as non-standard.

GIF.  Have you seen this cute little word around in cyberspace? It actually stands for something more complex than it sounds: Graphics Interchange Format (thus, GIF). These are either animated or still bitmap images and are all the rage in today’s tech world.  There are two pronunciation options (no one will likely say G-I-F). Would you prefer [jif] or [gif]? The creator of this term encourages the pronunciation to be [jif], with a soft g, but both are legitimate to use. Choose wisely when talking to an expert GIFer or you risk being corrected.

HYPERBOLE.  My friend walks slower than a snail. If you ever watched a snail move, you’ll know that this statement is quite exaggerated to emphasize speed (or lack thereof). It’s a hyperbole! I think it’s the –bole part of the word that stumps people. There are three pronunciations that I’ve heard before: [hy-per-buh-lee], [hy-per-bowl-lee], and [hy-per-bowl]. One is more proper than the others: [hy-per-buh-lee]. But looking at English spelling rules, all might seem acceptable. An interesting idea behind uncertain English pronunciation is the confusion over which language rule to follow since English borrows from many other languages.

NICHE.  This word is used in many different contexts and thus changes in meaning accordingly. I have heard three pronunciations of this word used in conversations: [neesh], [neech], and [nich].  In fact, the ch still remains the [tsh] sound, unlike the word cache where it is pronounced [kash]. The preferred pronunciation in American English is [nich], while British English speakers prefer [neech]. The American English pronunciation was adapted from the French term.

SHERBET.  Now I can order one of my favorite desserts at an ice cream parlor with confidence without fear of being judged for incorrect pronunciation.  Sherbet is easy to eat, but not as easy to pronounce. I have heard this word pronounced in many flavorful ways: [shur-bert], [shur-bay], [shur-bit], and [shur-bet]. The syllable stress has been heard on sher- or –bet for each variation.  There should be no /r/ added to the second syllable as many English speakers are accused of doing, and the proper pronunciation is [shur-bit] or [shur-bet] with stress on the first syllable sher-.  

MEME.  Doe, a deer, a female deer… Ray, a drop of golden sun… Me, a name, I call myself… Far, a long long way to run (and the song continues back to doe).  Wow, these lyrics bring me back to my childhood days. But now is the tech age where we have words like meme that bring up images of the hugely popular Grumpy Cat with subtitles such as “My blood type? B negative” and “The problem with some people is that… they are still alive.” But how do you tell your friend about the awesome new meme that you came across when surfing the web? Do you say [mee-mee] as in “It’s all about me!” or [mem], the French pronunciation? Maybe you shouldn’t say either or you will just receive strange looks, since the proper pronunciation is [meem].  If you are curious, the word meme comes from the Greek word mīmeîsthai which means “to imitate, copy”.

So… have you been pronouncing these words correctly all along?

The Need for Speed: The Trendy Evolution of Speed Reading and Language Acquisition

Well, I’ll be the first to admit that I have been swamped by my work life in the past-few-months-that-felt-like-a-decade phase… is it the Year of the Horse already? Happy Chinese New Year!  Papers to grade, students to entertain, documents to edit, and hooray for technology, emails upon emails to send… and read of course!  

While watching one of the early morning shows on ABC in early March (with half-open eyes and a wandering mind) and finishing the remains of my breakfast, a demo of a new app snapped me back into the present moment.  One bold colored word at a time flashed onto the TV screen, starting rather slow but gradually (no wait, rapidly!) getting quicker… and quicker. The show’s host was speaking in a stunned tone but her words couldn’t grasp the attention of my mind that was transfixed with the flash of words which, surprisingly, made sense when strung together. I was speed reading without knowing it; perhaps my one wish to be a faster reader has come true?

Enter the most recent delivery for the future (of sorts) of reading: Spritz. Cute name for an app, huh? The concept is simple enough: A smart phone (specifically sprouting from Samsung) pops up one word at a time in a central location and wills the viewer to acknowledge the word and comprehend the lexical meaning within milliseconds. Then, repeat. It has been suggested that readers comprehend words by focusing on a single, left-of-center letter in each word, categorized by two events: the eye seeks the “Optimal Recognition Point” (ORP) represented by a single letter and is followed by eye movement, known as a “saccade”. Why waste time moving your eyes from left to right when all the words can just appear in front of you?

Many wonders will surely be displayed with the use of this app. Who would not want to read twice, if not three or four times the amount of books as allowed during a limited time frame filled with work, obligations, and socialization? The freedom to choose the WPM on the app is also reasonable, as some speed readers still need to read “slowly” to savor their personalized imaginations. And perhaps most impressively, the technological advances of Spritz has brought increased awareness to the mystery of reading – both fast and slow paced.

Despite having an undeniable bright future, there are three realms that remain to be analyzed in order to further capture the strong potential of a speed reading app.

The first realm being: language structure. By the sound of it, the current app offers speed reading in English, one of the many phonic-based languages in the world. I suppose this makes sense as English is still predominantly known as the universal language. But what about character-based languages, such as Chinese, Korean, and Arabic? Would reading these characters in “flash attack” mode also follow the same hypothesis that the eyes do less work and ultimately results in more words absorbed? There are no phonetic letters in these characters that the reader can sound out, as the sounds are ingrained in the character itself. Also, will readers have similar comprehension of words they read in isolated versus shared environments? 

Reading quickly does not always entail quick comprehension. The second realm relates to language acquisition for L2 (second language) learners. From my experience of teaching English to Chinese students (albeit the beginning level), translation is three-fold: search the vocabulary bank in Chinese for the corresponding word that is seen or heard, visualize the meaning (concept) as the know it, and translate back to the English definition in words they comprehend. How can the concept of speed reading be integrated more effectively in language learning settings to increase vocabulary retention and contextual understanding? Can students use a reading app to improve reading skills offline (i.e. good old fashioned hard copy textbooks)? This brings up the paradigm of lexical learning (phonics based) and contextual learning (also known as the whole language approach). Although debates have flourished between these two acquisition methods, it seems that each compliments the other, to varying degrees. Especially regarding English Language Learners (ELL’s), some students are highly proficient in writing and reading, less so in speaking and listening. Alternately, some students are highly proficient in speaking and listening, and less so in reading and writing. 

There must be more to gain from a speed reading app than literary pleasure. Despite the novelty and intrigue generated by a new technological add-on, the third realm deals with purpose. What is the purpose for reading at lightning speed? Is it a sign that some of us are getting so… lethargic (if I may) as to avoid eye strain in our momentary “saccade”? Is it just me, or is the flashing somewhat much to take in? Something about each word appearing and then “poofing” into thin air within a second (like the feisty rabbit pulled out of the magician’s top hat, except backwards) makes me a bit uneasy. I want to read that line again! Or as mentioned earlier, perhaps it will give busy bees more knowledge within the limited time frame? Maybe, just maybe it could be a way to determine our reading ability and learn to think quick. That seems to be the golden ticket to thriving in our society. 

I can sense this need for speed is gaining full steam in the area of reading, with great potential in the future for writing, listening, and even speaking. I can see elementary school students speed reading Dr. Suess’ “Green Eggs and Ham” on the bus, college-bound teenagers speed cramming for the GRE test in the house, and working professionals absorbing the data analysis before the important presentation in the office.  

If a speed reading app is able to offer more language options, encourage language learning students to expand their vocabulary comprehension, and define a more specific purpose for use, the possibilities will be limitless and effective for years to come.

Music to the Ears: Singing with a Speech Impediment

Another entertaining season of American Idol has come, and it has reappeared in the spotlight in full force.  Sure, it might have a little something to do with the awkward, usually explosive tension between the two judges Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj (likely leaving middle-man Keith Urban in a state of shock after each audition, but this is besides the point…). In fact, two contestants have made this quite a unique season to date.  Cuban-American Lazaro Arbos and Micah Johnson from Georgia have wowed the judges with their sultry voices, earning the highly-desired yellow ticket to move onto the next auditions in Hollywood.  Besides the golden voices that are worthy of generous praise, these two contestants have one other thing in common: speech impediments.

Lazaro Arbos is one of the millions of people who deal with stuttering, one of the most common speech impediments, otherwise known as speech disorders.  Stuttering is the involuntary repetition and lengthening of particular sounds, words, syllables, or phrases while speaking.  This impediment can be the result of developmental problems (beginning in childhood) or acquired in adulthood (due to a neurological disruption, such as head injury, tumor, or drug use).  Stuttering in younger individuals can be caused by nervousness, anxiety, or stress from a variety of events. 

Micah Johnson, however, suffers from a speech impediment caused by an unfortunate accident while getting his tonsils removed.  He indicated that one his nerves was affected in the vocal cords. This could be a devastating event for anyone, but Micah seems to appreciate the fact that he is still able to speak, nonetheless sing effortlessly, with the help of a speech therapist.

Here is the kicker. Speaking at normal pace with clear diction for individuals with speech impediments is incredibly difficult, but when the mode of verbal communication changes into singing, all words blend harmoniously together and can be understood with relative ease. 

So what could be attributing to this seemingly miraculous change in the singing voice? Here are a few ideas from The Stuttering Foundation:

•  It is possible that we use our vocal cords, lips, and tongue differently when we talk.  This may cause the physiological effects of stuttering and sensations of a linguistic “brain freeze”.

• There is much less time pressure and communicative pressure to deliver a specific message when singing.  

• The brain functions differently when we sing and when we talk. Again, the communicative factors come into play – stress and nervousness can overlap the thinking and speaking process, causing us to think quicker than words can be spoken.
  
  
• “Word retrieval” or the searching for words in our lexicon when we speak might contribute to some types of stuttering. When singing, we usually know the words by heart and rely on rhythm.

Having a speech impediment can make life challenging enough, but to throw yourself into the public spotlight takes respectable amounts of courage and self-confidence to fulfill lifelong dreams.  Singing is a sure way to brighten moods and in the case of Lazaro and Micah, singing is the obvious key to overcoming the struggles of daily communication through speech.