"Certified Instructors"

tangotime said:
Again -- I can only state what in the u.k. is an established method of speech-- Always -- but always-- people ask -- " What are your qualifications ? "-- NOT -- are you you certified - that would imply to someone english-- Sanity !!--- semantics ?-- no-- we have certified accountants and other professions use that designation in their titles-- the ballroom world-- to my knowledge has always used qual as its terminology-- Infact on all my prof . papers it says-- " This person ( my name ) has qualified as--- so on and so forth-- hence the term . Personally-- i dont mind what designation you give me--just trying to clarify.
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So... you have no certifications?
 
tangotime, a lot of the time when we talk about "certfied" instructors in the US, we mean people who have passed a professional exam like the ISTD associate/member/fellow or the IDTA or the US Terpsichore or even DVIDA (a new system in the US started by Wayne Eng of Dance Vision).
 
Laura

I understand perfectly well its usage -- i worked in the chain school system in all capacities ( f / a and a/ m ) for over 30 yrs-- that does not mean to say it is correct in the ballroom world-- after all -- the rest of the world took our system -- and we thank you for that--- but please -- do not change what we have had in place for over 100 yrs !! -- the english have done the same damage to latin american -- maybe I am a purest--- but i do not want to see what i have been involved in for nearly 70 yrs diluted any more than it already is . sorry - - but thats the way i feel about it -- let me pose you this question-- how would you feel if someone changed a long standing terminology in the american standard ?-- think i know the answer-- i am having enough problems in the u.k. right now with them trying to anglicise salsa -- see-- i do fight for both sides
 
kat

Outlined this another post--65 is given as a pass -- 85-- commended and 95 highly comm. ( istd standards ) when i examine --those marks are pretty much all examiners guide lines .
 
tangotime said:
let me pose you this question-- how would you feel if someone changed a long standing terminology in the american standard ?-- think i know the answer--
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I do it all the time, as have my coaches. Outside of a context where there's allegiance to a single american style syllabus, clarifying meaning is more important than keeping to the private language of that syllabus - as a result, american style figures often end up described by the more widely shared language of international standard - "open impetus", or allusion to it "hover cross thingy".

To get back to the topic though, what worries me is the difference between public language and private langauge. It's okay for something like the ISTD technique manual to define a private langauge and give special meaning to words, because that is field-specific writing - all technical fields do this. So for example "the end of the step" has a very specific meaning, which the layman might not accurately guess - but that's okay, because the book is not written for laymen, but for those who have background in it's language.

But where an organization interfaces with the general public, it's important to use ordinary dictionary meanings of words. The word "certified" contains in its definition the idea that what is being offered is the opinion of someone offering the certification. "qualified as or qualified by" has a similar sense. But just "qualified" on it's own or "Qualified" when capitalized is private language - it's no longer using the word in the way the general public would.
 
cert

I take your point up to a certain position-- my references are levelled at conversations between dancers -- and -- i am well aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat !! -- we ( pro,s ) are well aware that when people walk into dance schools-- their first question is not about qual. or cert. -- that question generally arises when people within the dance world are making enquiries-- the " certification " context-- is always attached to chain school descriptions-- and we know the reason why--dont we ?-- I guess we will have to agree to disagree. As Churchill said " Two countries only divided by a common language "
 
saludas

To answer your question-- I have 4 cerificates that state quite clearly that I am QUALIFIED at the given level at which I was last examined .
 
tangotime said:
let me pose you this question-- how would you feel if someone changed a long standing terminology in the american standard?
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Is there any long standing terminology in American style? Because I would be very happy if there were such a beast that people would actually try to change. Every studio I've gone to seems to have its own terminology. :)
 
tangotime said:
I take your point up to a certain position-- my references are levelled at conversations between dancers -- and -- i am well aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat !! -- we ( pro,s ) are well aware that when people walk into dance schools-- their first question is not about qual. or cert. -- that question generally arises when people within the dance world are making enquiries-- the " certification " context-- is always attached to chain school descriptions-- and we know the reason why--dont we ?-- I guess we will have to agree to disagree. As Churchill said " Two countries only divided by a common language "
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Actually, I am discussing Int'l. Are you certified - at what level - in the Imperial Society?
 
saludas

Was with the imp. many many moons ago -- also was fellow and exam. with a leading u.s. soc.-- currently am affiliated with 2 of the old established soc. in the u.k -- again as a dual fellow in both. I guess being in the states ( you are in the states ? ) you may not know this -but we have several equally prestigous soc. other than ISTD-- the reason they became popular in the states was this-- they were the only ones to send examiners to the states in the sixties --in fact -- I had several of my staff take assoc . exams with them . And -- as a matter of fact-- as I said in another post-- i will be lecturing to one of them in american style smooth-- this should be something to behold !! 400 english pro,s doing twinkles !!!! ( dont laugh )-- am hoping they will adopt it into their system-- dont see pro / am happening
 
tangotime said:
Was with the imp. many many moons ago -- also was fellow and exam. with a leading u.s. soc.-- currently am affiliated with 2 of the old established soc. in the u.k -- again as a dual fellow in both. I guess being in the states ( you are in the states ? ) you may not know this -but we have several equally prestigous soc. other than ISTD-- the reason they became popular in the states was this-- they were the only ones to send examiners to the states in the sixties --in fact -- I had several of my staff take assoc . exams with them . And -- as a matter of fact-- as I said in another post-- i will be lecturing to one of them in american style smooth-- this should be something to behold !! 400 english pro,s doing twinkles !!!! ( dont laugh )-- am hoping they will adopt it into their system-- dont see pro / am happening
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Which societies are you a dual fellow with in the UK, then?
 
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