On Monday 6 April, 2020, a week before Easter, the NSM community conducted an international workshop online (devoted to both NSM and Minimal English) organised and hosted by Cliff Goddard in Brisbane. One of those registered for the workshop was Maria Giulia Marini from Italy’s Fondazione ISTUD, based in Milan. A researcher in medical humanities and Editor-in-Chief of the online Chronicles of Narrative Medicine, Professor Marini is a strong believer in the power of Minimal English as a global tool of effective communication, most importantly, from her point of view, in health care. She addressed our semantic workshop last week with an “SOS” (as she called it) from Italy, urging us to develop some accessible messages in Minimal English for the time of the coronavirus – messages she will be able to distribute through her networks in Italy and France, and that could also be promoted globally.
In response, Anna Wierzbicka has written (with considerable input from Cliff Goddard and other colleagues) the text below: “Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus”. She would like these “essential messages” to reach many people in many countries.
It seems evident that in the present crisis effective communication is of the essence. There is of course no shortage of information in the public arena, but it is often formulated in a language that is not accessible to everyone; in particular, for many culturally and educationally disadvantaged sections of the population, messages in “Minimal Languages” (accessible and cross-translatable) could be particularly useful. And not only practical messages but messages helping people psychologically and spiritually – a point strongly emphasized by Professor Marini in her appeal to us.
Other Minimal Language versions of these “essential messages” are in preparation. They will be available for download as they come to hand. All versions may be freely redistributed, with proper acknowledgement of the source (https://nsm-approach.net/archives/category/illustrations/coronavirus).
Coronavirus (Minimal English) (Anna Wierzbicka; updated 19 May 2020)
Coronavirus (Minimal Italian) (translated from the original ME version by Gian Marco Farese)
Coronavirus (Minimal Italian) (translated from the updated ME version by Gian Marco Farese; 21 May 2020)
Coronavirus (Minimal Polish) (translated from the original ME version by Zuzanna Bułat-Silva)
Coronavirus (Minimal Polish) (translated from the updated ME version by Zuzanna Bułat-Silva; 23 May 2020)
Coronavirus (Minimal Spanish) (translated from the original ME version by María Auxiliadora Barrios-Rodríguez)
Coronavirus (Minimal Spanish) (translated from the updated ME version by María Auxiliadora Barrios-Rodríguez; 2 June 2020)
External links:
Coronavirus Messages in Australian Aboriginal Languages (hosted by the Alice Springs Baptist Church)
Published in the Russian Journal of Linguistics as Seven Essential Messages for the Time of the Coronavirus
SEVEN ESSENTIAL MESSAGES FOR THE TIME OF THE CORONAVIRUS (15/4/2020)
Essential message 1
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
Very bad things are happening to many people now.
Very bad things are happening to many people’s bodies because of the coronavirus,
many people are dying because of this.
More people can die if I do some things now as I have always done. I don’t want this.
Because of this it will be good if I can be at home all the time.
If I have to be not at home for some time, I will think like this all the time:I don’t want to be near other people; I don’t want to be so near someone that I can touch them.
I don’t want to be so near someone that I can breathe some of the same air.
Essential message 2
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
Very bad things are happening to many people now.
Many people feel something very very bad.
I can do some good things for some of these people; I want to do something good for them.
I want to know what I can do; I want to think about it today; I want to do something today.
Essential message 3
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
During this time many people can’t be with other people as before.
They can’t speak to other people like before; many people feel something very bad because of this.
I know some of these people. I want these people to know that I am thinking about them.
I want them to know that I don’t want bad things to happen to them.
I want to do something because of this.
Perhaps I can write to them, perhaps I can ring them, something like this.
I want to do something today.
Essential message 4
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
Very bad things can happen to me during this time, not like at other times.
At the same time, I can do some very good things during this time, not like at other times.
I can do many things “good for the soul”, not like at other times.
I can read books, I listen to music, write something every day about this day, things like that.
If I pray, I can pray more; if I don’t pray, I can do something like it.
I want to do these things. I want to do these things today.
Essential message 5
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
I don’t want to think about it like this:“Very bad things are happening now, nothing good can happen because of this”.
I want to think like this:
I can do some very good things during this time, not like at other times.
If I do these things, after this bad time I can be not as I was before:
I can know some people better, I can love some people more.
I want this.
Essential message 6
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
I can’t live during this time as I lived before.
At the same time, I can think about many things more, not as before.
I can think more about things like this:Why do I live on earth? What do I live for? How can I live if I want to live well?
If I know that I will die soon, what do I want to do before I die?If I think about these things more now, after this bad time I can live not as I lived before.
I can then live in another way, I can live better.
I want this.
Essential message 7
It is good for all of us if we think like this every day now:
This time is not like other times.
We can’t live during this time as we lived before.
At the same time, we can think about some things more now, not as before.
We can think about things like this:“We all live with other people, none of us is like an island.
How can we live well with other people?”If we think about these things more now, after this bad time we can live with other people
not like before; we can live better.
We want this.
