Most? How much is that?Times of IndiaWhen most people say "most", they mean 80-95 percent, no more and no less, a researcher in linguistics has found. Mira Ariel, professor at the Tel Aviv and more »
Linguistics
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Google News: Linguistics
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Most? How much is that? - Times of India
21 Nov 2009 | 2:51 am -
Knox a Fulbright leader - Galesburg Register-Mail
20 Nov 2009 | 8:29 pmKnox a Fulbright leaderGalesburg Register-MailMeanwhile, Day-O'Connell, a professor of music at Knox since 2004, will do musicology and linguistics research at the University of Edinburgh. Knox College makes good Fulbright showingChicago TribuneKnox Among Top Colleges for Fulbright Scholar Awards in 2009-10Knox Collegeall 17 news articles » -
USC professor creates an entire alien language for 'Avatar' - Los Angeles Times
20 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pmUSC professor creates an entire alien language for 'Avatar'Los Angeles TimesFrommer, a linguistics specialist, was brought in by "Avatar" writer-director James Cameron to create an entire functioning language for the tribe of and more » -
Three of a kind: Revealing language's universal essence - PhysOrg.com
20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amPhysOrg.comThree of a kind: Revealing language's universal essencePhysOrg.comis a significant contribution to comparative linguistics. “What I particularly liked is the three-way comparison,” says Mark Baker, a professor of and more » -
Dell Hymes, 82 Linguistics, anthropology scholar - Washington Post
19 Nov 2009 | 11:58 pmWashington PostDell Hymes, 82 Linguistics, anthropology scholarWashington PostDell Hymes, an influential scholar of linguistics and anthropology who helped pioneer the study of how people use language in their everyday
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ScienceDaily: Language Acquisition
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Active hearing process in mosquitoes
21 Nov 2009 | 2:00 amA mathematical model has explained some of the remarkable features of mosquito hearing. In particular, the male can hear the faintest beats of the female's wings and yet is not deafened by loud noises. -
Sounds can penetrate deep sleep and enhance associated memories upon waking
20 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pmThey were in a deep sleep, yet sounds, such as a teakettle whistle, somehow penetrated their slumber. The 25 sounds were reminders of earlier spatial learning, though the research participants were unaware of the sounds as they slept. Yet, upon waking, memory tests showed that spatial memories had changed. Deep sleep, then, is actually is a key time for memory processing, the study suggests. -
Bigger not necessarily better, when it comes to brains
18 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmTiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, say scientists. Animals with bigger brains are not necessarily more intelligent. This begs the important question: what are they for? -
Emulating Western lifestyles: Consumption and carbon footprints in less industrialized countries
16 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmIn recent decades, a new global middle class has exploded, with a total population exceeding one billion people. A new study explores the consumption attitudes of some of these members of the "new class." -
Right-handed chimpanzees provide clues to the origin of human language
16 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pmMost of the linguistic functions in humans are controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere. A new study of captive chimpanzees suggests that this "hemispheric lateralization" for language may have its evolutionary roots in the gestural communication of our common ancestors. A large majority of the chimpanzees in the study showed a significant bias towards right-handed gestures when communicating, which may reflect a similar dominance of the left hemisphere for communication in chimpanzees as that seen for language functions in humans.
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Google News: Language News
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Obama: Stupak Abortion Language Not Balanced - Christian Post
21 Nov 2009 | 1:40 pmCBS NewsObama: Stupak Abortion Language Not BalancedChristian PostPresident Obama in a rare interview appearance on Fox News this week said language used in the pro-life Stupak Take Action: Ask Senate to Include Pro-Life Language in Health-Care ReformCitizenLinkRep. Stupak on Abortion & Health CareRealClearPolitics (blog)National Right to Life blasts the Reid billPoliticoWashington Post -Media Matters for America -Human Events (blog)all 303 news articles » -
Hatch On The Senate's (Lack Of) Stupak [Robert Costa] - National Review Online (blog)
21 Nov 2009 | 1:38 pmChristian PostHatch On The Senate's (Lack Of) Stupak [Robert Costa]National Review Online (blog)It should be abundantly clear to each member of this body that the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed pro-life language exactly two weeks ago Senate Tries To Strike Balance On Abortion Language89.3 KPCCSpecial: Saturday Showdown for Life: No Protection of Life - No BillCatholic OnlineDoes Reid bill mandate abortion coverage in exchanges?Hot Air (blog)New York Times -PR Newswire (press release) -TPMDC (blog)all 57 news articles » -
Citizenship language scam exposed - Times Online
21 Nov 2009 | 1:02 pmTimes OnlineCitizenship language scam exposedTimes OnlineImmigrants who don't understand English have been able to buy language certificates that give them the right to settle in Britain. Colleges rig immigrants' English testsTimes Onlineall 2 news articles » -
Parti Quebecois debate language, immigration, identity at weekend meeting - The Canadian Press
21 Nov 2009 | 12:35 pmCBC.caParti Quebecois debate language, immigration, identity at weekend meetingThe Canadian PressMarois says the bill will seek to affirm that Quebec is a secular society where French is the primary language and where people believe in equality between Pauline Marois says Charest not protecting French language, cultureThe Gazette (Montreal)Gaga over baby talkNational PostPQ wants language law applied in daycaresCBC.caExaminer.com -Daily Gleanerall 55 news articles » -
Bing Accused of Censoring Simplified Chinese Language Searches - Mashable (blog)
21 Nov 2009 | 11:27 amBing Accused of Censoring Simplified Chinese Language SearchesMashable (blog)The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof is controversially asking web users to “Boycott Bing“, claiming that Bing is censoring Simplified Chinese queries even Boycott Microsoft BingNew York Timesall 8 news articles »
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English Experts
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13 frases em inglês com expressões inéditas
19 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmOlá Pessoal! Hoje temos mais treze frases pesquisadas e preparadas para ajudar a realizar o sonho de quem quer falar inglês fluentemente. Algumas expressões chegam a ser inéditas na internet por ainda não terem sido ensinadas claramente. Espero que aproveitem e bons estudos a todos! 1. Encher, satisfazer(comida): Fill sb up Ex: Junk food doesn´t fill you up. (Besteira não enche, não satisfaz.) 2. Viver a vida perigosamente: Live life on the edge Ex: Polly likes to live life on the edge. (A Polly gosta de viver a vida perigosamente.) 3. Engatinhar(criança): Crawl Ex: The baby is… -
Aprender inglês com ou sem Sotaque?
18 Nov 2009 | 10:40 amJoão Henrique comenta: “É a variedade de sotaques que enriquece o nosso vocabulário e também a fluência. Convivo no trabalho com um escocês por 28 dias e depois com um sul-africano por mais 28 dias. O resultado tem sido a melhora no meu entendimento da palavra ouvida e também no meu falar. Quanto ao sotaque, no início eu ficava preocupado em “imitar” o sotaque deles, e isso me deixava perdido quando havia a troca de escala deles, pois o outro às vezes corrigia a entonação e o meu sotaque. Atualmente não me preocupo em adequar o meu sotaque ao sotaque deles, falo com a… -
Poemas em inglês: The Raven – Parte 3
17 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmHi, this is Jason Bermingham on English Experts. For those of you who are just joining us, this series of posts features the poem “The Raven” by American author Edgar Allan Poe. Poe lived from 1809 to 1849 and is now considered one of America’s greatest writers. Among his many accomplishments, he is credited for inventing the detective-fiction genre, which was later made famous by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Today we are going to read and hear stanzas 7, 8, and 9 of “The Raven”. If you haven’t read part 1 and part 2 of this… -
Curso de Inglês para Tímidos: Lição 15
16 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pmGostaria de iniciar a lição de hoje com uma dica para quem deseja melhorar o inglês falado. Parece estranho, mas para falar bem é necessário ouvir muito inglês. Ouvir, ouvir e ouvir é a palavra de ordem. Porém é importante saber selecionar o que você ouve, não adianta ligar a TV na CNN e ficar assistindo se você não entende nada. Um artigo sobre podcasts publicado aqui no EE em 2007 ensina que: se você ouve um podcast e entende apenas 50% do que está sendo dito, quer dizer que está desperdiçado metade do seu tempo. É a mais pura verdade, para você falar bem é necessário… -
É correto chamar o professor de Teacher?
15 Nov 2009 | 11:02 amUma das coisas que mais me motiva a estudar inglês é saber que eu ainda tenho muito o que aprender. E confesso, algumas coisas me pegam de surpresa, e eu fico pensando – “Poxa! Estudo inglês há tanto tempo e nunca tinha pensado nisso”. Mas, bola pra frente, o esquema é enfiar a informação correta na cabeça, se desprender do que você tinha aprendido errado no passado e seguir os estudos, firme e forte. A propósito (by the way), “bola pra frente” em inglês é chin up e a expressão “firme e forte” pode ser traduzida como alive and kicking.
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The English Blog
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Celebrity Cutout Challenge
21 Nov 2009 | 8:42 amMessageboard b3ta is running a challenge which involves creating 'cut-out-and-keep dolls based on celebrities'. Some of the entries are very funny. Some are also very rude or in very bad taste, so you've been warned! Click here to see the most popular entries. (Thanks to Frogsmoke for the tip.) -
Pic of the Day: Cockermouth Floods
21 Nov 2009 | 4:43 amEmergency rescue workers float past a 'Merry Christmas' sign as they look for residents stranded by floods in Cockermouth, England. (From Time Magazine's Today in Pictures) -
Is Newsweek's Palin Cover Sexist?
21 Nov 2009 | 3:21 amEx-Republican candidate for vice-president Sarah Palin has objected to Newsweek using a photo originally taken for health and fitness magazine to promote an article analysing her relevance as a political figure. In a Facebook post, she called the choice of photo "unfortunate" and went on to describe Newsweek's approach as "sexist" and "out of context". READ MORE• Palin angered by 'sexist' Newsweek cover (Yahoo! News)• Sarah Palin blasts Newseek cover (guardian.co.uk)COMMENTIt's not the first time Newsweek has caused controversy with a… -
Cartoon: Van Who?
20 Nov 2009 | 11:31 pmThis cartoon by Christian Adams from The Daily Telegraph concerns the choice of Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy as the new "President of Europe". The cartoon shows Van Rompuy sitting at his desk reading the newspaper with news of his appointment. He just says, 'Who?'COMMENTARYThe joke is that Von Rompuy is (or was) virtually unknown outside Belgium (and some would say even in Belgium!) The cartoon suggests ironically that he doesn't even recognize his own name.MORE CARTOONSMartin Rowson (The Guardian)Paul Thomas (Daily Express) -
Video: Henry's Handball Sends France to World Cup
20 Nov 2009 | 10:18 pmThis Newsy video looks at the controversy surrounding Thierry Henry's handball, which helped France to qualify for the World Cup at the expense of Ireland. Transcript here. COMMENTSIs Thierry Henry a cheater? Yes. Should the match be replayed? No. READ MORE• France rejects Ireland plea to replay World Cup qualifying match (The Times)• Hand of Thierry Henry rubs shine off the golden generation (The Guardian)• Thierry Henry and football philosophy (Agnès Poirier in The Guardian)
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Mission to Learn
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Where to Find Free Computer Programming Education Online
18 Nov 2009 | 3:15 amWith so many people looking to pick up new skills in a tough job market, now seems like a good time to offer guidance on where to find valuable training for free. Here’s a post from Karen Schweitzer with 10 places to find computer programming education. Computer programmers are employed by every industry imaginable. If you have been thinking about programming as a career, or if you simply have an interest in this area of technology, you can begin your studies online. There are many different universities and other education resources that provide free courses, lessons, and tutorials for… -
10 Most Popular Posts of All Time on Mission to Learn
17 Nov 2009 | 4:58 amEvery once in a while its nice to stop and take stock of what’s working and what’s not on the blog. There are many gauges for this, but one that is easy to quantify is which posts have attracted the most views on the site. The following 10 posts have attracted the most “unique page views,” according to Google Analytics, from November 15, 2007 to November 16, 2009. While these don’t really paint a complete picture of Mission to Learn, new visitors might find them a good starting point nonetheless, and long-time readers might find it fun to revisit some of them. -
Wrestlin’ with making sense of it all. You?
11 Nov 2009 | 3:15 amIf you are reading this, you are one of roughly 1400 subscribers (Thank you!) or one of the many others who stops each day. I’m really hoping you will take a minute to comment. I’d appreciate it greatly. Comment on what? Well, I’m pondering things like health care reform in the U.S., Afghanistan, BPA, the rise of the BRIC economies, global climate change, H1N1, and on a more local level, what the priorities of the Carrboro board of alderman should be. Truth is, if you were to stop me on the street, I’m not sure how coherently I would be able to talk about these and any… -
Two Brief Lessons from the Mile High Learning Club
5 Nov 2009 | 4:46 amI do some of my best learning when I am settled in at 35,000 feet. I read. I tap into the large store of iPod learning content I keep on hand. I think (although it may look like I’m sleeping). Sometimes I even manage to find a nugget of wisdom in the airline magazines. Here’s a couple from a recent flight from Raleigh to Baltimore, compliments of the Southwest Airlines Spirit magazine: Be Deliberate Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything is Illuminated and Eating Animals, says that his choice to be vegetarian is “one of my ways of being deliberate within my life.” Safran Foer… -
15 Online Resources for Book Lovers
26 Oct 2009 | 3:33 amImmersing yourself in a book or in the literary culture is a great way to get more out of the books you read. There are thousands of sites online created specifically for people who like to read. Many of these sites can be used to find, read, discuss, and share books online. Here is a list of 15 free online resources that any book lover will enjoy: Like what you see here? Even if you are just “stumbling” by, I’d truly appreciate it if you would consider subscribing by RSS feed or by e-mail. - Jeff AddAll – AddAll is a free book search and comparison site. It compares…
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Language Log
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Questions and conditionals
21 Nov 2009 | 10:29 amDecades ago, when I was little, I read this joke in Mad Magazine: Do your feet smell? Does your nose run? You may be built upside-down. I giggled for a short time — just a couple of days, I think — at the surprising coincidence of the two verb senses, and the double pun, and then got on with whatever boys in short pants do during those parts of the day that are not taken up with giggling. But I see now that there is something linguistically interesting about the joke: the two questions convey the effect of a conditional. So the content of the joke could be phrased (though for some… -
How things have changed…
21 Nov 2009 | 4:54 amIn today's Stone Soup, Val tries to catch up: The previous few strips sketch her motivation: But even among young people, texting became popular in the U.S. only a couple of years ago, more than five years after it became widespread in Europe and Japan. See "What's the difference?" (3/10/2008), and some of the links there, e.g. "No text please, we're American", The Economist, 4/3/2003; "Why text messaging is not popular in the US", textually.org, 4/4/2003. The question that I asked then seems still to be unanswered: The explanations offered for the geographic difference, back then, included… -
The implications of excessive praise
20 Nov 2009 | 5:46 amYesterday's Sally Forth: One of the standard cases of Gricean implicature is the interpretation of irrelevant praise. Thus in "Logic and Conversation", Grice's first example of "flouting the first maxim of quantity" is this: A is writing a testimonial about a pupil who is a candidate for a philosophy job, and his letter reads as follows: "Dear Sir, Mr X's command of English is excellent, and his attendance at tutorials has been regular. Yours, etc." (Gloss: A cannot be opting out, since if he wished to be uncooperative, why write at all? he cannot be unable, through ignorance, to say more,… -
Co-brothers-in-law
19 Nov 2009 | 5:27 pmSuppose that Edward is married to Susan and Michael is married to Susan's sister Judith. Edward is therefore Judith's brother-in-law, and Michael is Susan's brother-in-law. In my usage, and what I think is standard English usage, there is no named relationship between Edward and Michael. In particular, they are not brothers-in-law. I was therefore surprised to see a news item in which men in this situation (one of whom is accused of trying to hire an assassin to kill the other) were described as brothers-in-law. There are languages in which the relationship between Edward and Michael has a… -
Just one word after another…
19 Nov 2009 | 12:59 pmYesterday's Get Fuzzy: And today's: Personally, I find that I get better results with a contingency table. A nice solid oak one, for example.
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GoodWord from alphadictionary.com
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11/21/09 - offbeat
20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm1. [Noun] An unaccented beat in a musical measure, the upbeat. 2. [Adjective] Unusual, not conforming to conventions, oddball. -
11/20/09 - pernickety
19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm[Slangy] 1. (US) Fussy or exacting about details, fastidious, 2. (UK) Snobbish, supercilious, pretentious. -
11/19/09 - umbrageous
18 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm1. Affording or forming shade; shady. 2. Easily offended, likely to take offense, sensitive to insult. -
11/18/09 - squamulose
17 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pmCovered with very small scales (squamules). -
11/17/09 - gloaming
16 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm1. Evening, dusk, twilight. 2. Shade, shadows, dusky light.
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University of Michigan Linguistics Department
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New Paper: How to establish substratum interference
16 Nov 2009 | 6:54 amSally Thomason published her paper, “How to establish substratum interference” in the new book, Issues in Tibeto-Burman Historical Linguistics, ed. by Yusuhiko Nagano and published by the National Museum of Ethnology, 2009. Her paper “At a Loss for Words” has been reprinted in Natural History’s Annual Editions: Anthropology 10/11. -
NELS Conference Presentation: Quantificational Properties of ne-Wh items in Russian
16 Nov 2009 | 6:44 amNatalia Kondroshova presented her paper, entitled Quantificational Properties of ne-Wh items in Russian (co-authored with Radek Simik), at the 40th annual North East Linguistic Society Conference on Nov. 14th. Abstract -
Ling Bling Bash: Nov. 12, 5:30-7:00 pm
9 Nov 2009 | 6:52 am -
Undergraduate Club: Questions and Condiments
9 Nov 2009 | 6:51 amThe Undergraduate Club meets Monday, November 9 at 7:30 for “Questions and Condiments”. Bring some homework, questions, or anything interesting Linguistics-related, and the Club will provide some delicious snacks to doctor up your dilemmas. We’d love to see you there! “Questions and Condiments” 7:30 November 9 403 Catford Room -
Colloquium Talk: On the development of nominal and verbal morphology in four Lusophone creoles
9 Nov 2009 | 6:49 amMarlyse Baptista gave a colloquium address to the Pittsburgh Linguistics Colloquium Series on November 6th, 2009. Title: On the development of nominal and verbal morphology in four lusophone creoles Abstract
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Paleoglot
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Japanese dialect mirrors suspected PIE development of sibilantization between two dental stops
20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 amSo I was looking on the internet for something else, and as it often happens, I came across something unrelated to what I was looking for but which nonetheless had value for another problem that I pondered on several moons ago, the origin of the intervening PIE sibilant in a sequence of adjacent dental plosives *-TT- (eg. *h₁ḗdti [ʔé:d̰ˢtʰi] 'he eats')[1]. My instinct has always been to attribute -
Linear A treatment of consonant clusters
19 Nov 2009 | 6:00 amI just discovered Minoan language blog by Andras Zeke, and in particular an intelligent post called Treatment of consonantal clusters in Linear A and B. Here, Zeke goes into excellent detail about his observations of Linear B's handling of consonant clusters and what impact that may have on rules implicit in Linear A. I've been lately thinking along the same lines so it's great to not feel alone. -
Don't let quotes run "amok"
14 Nov 2009 | 8:00 pmI couldn't help but laugh at the hilarious blog discovery Paddy K recently uncovered:The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" QuotesIt's amazing how, despite all one's careful wording, two ill-placed punctuation markers can wreck it all. -
Minoan inscription HT 104
12 Nov 2009 | 4:00 pmI find it very sad that there's so little decent conversation about Minoan artifacts despite ample information available online. John Younger has gone to great trouble to detail all sorts of Minoan artifacts and their inscriptions (link here) yet I haven't seen much active discussion in the blogosphere about it. Why?? This should be a fascinating topic for any linguaphile to explore! Maybe the -
A Pre-Greek name for Odysseus
9 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pmIn my previous post (Odysseus, Uthuze and Utnapishtim), I finished off with the dangling idea that the name Odysseus had reached Anatolia and the Aegean by the second millenium BCE. This shouldn't be a provocative speculation given the facts and communis opinio. However, the question is exactly how the name entered Greek and how a Sumerian name Utu-zi suggested by the Babylonian rendering of the
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Fritinancy
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Halftime Show
20 Nov 2009 | 9:31 amIn honor of Big Game weekend, a couple of football-related items. You've heard of the Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. (Gooooo, naming rights!) But you may not have known—I didn't—that some two-year colleges have bowl games, too. In the Bay Area, we have the Eagle Bowl, the Bulldog Bowl, and the Silicon Valley Bowl. And in the Central Valley, Modesto Junior College will host its 17th annual Graffiti Bowl tomorrow. Where does "Graffiti" come from? Well, Modesto is the home town of director George Lucas, who memorialized his high school… -
But Enough About Me
19 Nov 2009 | 12:12 pmLet's talk about you. Ad for HTC mobile phone, bus stop, San Francisco, Nov. 14. Yahoo ad, MUNI bus, same bus stop, same day.Advertising directed at "you" is nothing new, of course."The most famous poster in the world," originally publishedas the cover of Leslie's Weekly, July 16, 1916. 1953 poster by the Ad Council for the U.S. Forest Service.* The difference? Back then, "you" were being asked to shoulder responsibility. Now it's all about looking in the mirror.I blame Time, of course: Hat tip to Jordie Welles for suggesting this… -
"Write It Right," Revisited
18 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pmIf you're familiar with Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?), it's most likely because you've read his most famous short story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," or his satiric and widely quoted Devil's Dictionary.* But like many journalists and fiction writers, Bierce also considered himself a usage maven. He collected several hundred of his peeves in a 1909 book, Write It Right: A Little Blacklist of Literary Faults. Write It Right might be forgotten today if Theodore Bernstein hadn't reprinted it as an appendix to his own usage book, Miss Thistlebottom's… -
November Linkfest
17 Nov 2009 | 10:23 amIn honor of Thanksgiving, a multi-course menu of links. NamingFellow namer Anthony Shore, formerly of Landor, has been writing terrific stuff on his blog, Operative Words. He recently published the English translation of his interview with Grasp, a Spanish naming blog. No permalinks (what's up with that, Anth?), so look for Part 1 on Nov. 9 and Part 2 on Nov. 10.I've also been enjoying Beg to Differ, from Canadian brand consultancy Brandvelope. I recommend the three-part series on how to name a chicken sandwich, about Brandvelope's work with KFC Canada. (The link goes to Part… -
New Oxford American Dictionary WOTY 2009
16 Nov 2009 | 12:40 pmIt's unfriend: "To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook."From the announcement:“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend”…
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languagehat.com
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BROTHER-IN-LAW.
20 Nov 2009 | 11:03 amIs the husband of your wife's sister your brother-in-law? I would have said "no" and been pretty sure I was reflecting standard usage, but it turns out I would have been wrong. Bill Poser at the Log has a post about this, sparked by "a news item in which men in this situation (one of whom is accused of trying to hire an assassin to kill the other) were described as brothers-in-law"; he was surprised to see it, because to him "there is no named relationship" between such men. I agreed with him, but he and I are in a distinct minority; most of the (so far) 74 comments say things like (to take… -
GABO AND THE DICTIONARY.
19 Nov 2009 | 5:19 pmSomeone at MetaFilter linked to "In the Shadow of the Patriarch," a long, long New Republic article by Enrique Krauze on "Gabriel García Márquez and the demons of his time." I'll confess up front that I've only read the first of its nine pages, and furthermore that I may very well not get any farther; I've enjoyed most of the García Márquez I've read, but I've already read more than I really need about his life, times, and politics. However, the article begins with a reflection on his relations with the dictionary, which seemed like obvious LH material:Many years later, in the course of… -
VOLTA.
18 Nov 2009 | 7:24 amVolta: A Multilingual Anthology "contains seventy-five poems in seventy-five languages. Seventy-four of these poems are translations of one poem, the seventy-fifth." You can read the English poem (the original) at wood s lot for November 18, 2009, where I got the link; it and all the translations (in, among many others, Maltese, Mongolian, Nepali, Nigerian Pidgin, North Eastern English, and Norwegian) are available in pdf form via the first link. Here's an etymological passage from the long introduction by the poem's author, Richard Berengarten:The title ‘Volta’ itself comes from Modern… -
DELL HYMES, RIP.
17 Nov 2009 | 10:13 amI just read in Sally Thomason's post at Language Log that Dell Hymes died in his sleep last Friday. I do not have a particular interest in his area of specialization, the languages of the Pacific Northwest, but his work in linguistic anthropology combined brilliance in both elements of that term with a remarkable sensitivity to literary and artistic qualities in oral texts, and I am extremely fond of his book "In Vain I Tried to Tell You": Essays in Native American Ethnopoetics. A brief passage from its opening essay, "Some North Pacific Coast Poems: A Problem in Anthropological Philology,"… -
TY AND VY, THEN AND NOW.
17 Nov 2009 | 6:49 amAnatoly makes a very interesting point about change in Russian usage since the nineteenth century (Russian below the cut):On of the things that strikes me in Anna Karenina (which I'm rereading) is how ty [intimate 'you'] and vy [polite 'you'] work in comparison to now. Naturally, there's a different sense of distance, and naturally, there's intimacy[1], but what sticks in my memory is something else—that you can return from ty to vy, as Dolly and Oblonsky do when they quarrel. It's as if the passage from vy to ty is like a peg pressed on a stretched-out piece of rubber; all you have to…
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A Way With Words
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Keep Your Tail Over the Dashboard (full episode)
21 Nov 2009 | 8:16 amThis week, McGimpers, geetus, and other underworld lingo from the 1930s. Crime novelist James Ellroy stops by to talk slang terms and reveals his own favorite. Also, is the expression Hear, hear! or Here, here!? Is it bran-new or brand-new? The spooky, creepy story behind the flat hat called a tam. And what does it mean to keep your tail over the dashboard? This episode will be available here for downloading and online listening Monday, November 22, 2009. To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program. Grant talks… -
Word Encounters of the First Kind (full episode)
14 Nov 2009 | 7:00 amThere’s a frisson you get when you meet a word for the first time—feeling pleasantly stumped in between wondering, “What the heck does that mean?” and hurrying off to find out. Martha and Grant talk about some terms that had just that effect on them: ucalegon and cacoethes scribendi. This episode first aired April 12, 2008. Discuss this episode here. Listen here: Download audio file (080414-AWWW-word-encounters.mp3) Download the MP3 here (23.4MB). To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program. -
Anaheim, Azusa, and Cu-ca-monga! (full episode)
8 Nov 2009 | 9:33 pmAll aboard! This week, a bit about the musical language of railroad conductors’ calls: “Anaheim, Azusa, and Cu-ca-monga!” Also, the origin of the military slang term cumshaw, tips for learning Latin, the influence of Spanish immigrants on English, and the funny story behind why plain-talking Texans say, “We’re going to tell how the cow ate the cabbage.” Listen here: Download audio file (091109-AWWW-anaheim-azusa-and-cu-ca-monga.mp3) Download the MP3 here 23.5 MB). To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or… -
Shivaree (minicast)
4 Nov 2009 | 1:00 amYou may remember the call we had from Tony in Encinitas, California. He was curious about the term for an unusual hazing ritual. Listen here: Download audio file (091104-AWWW-shivaree-minicast.mp3) Download the MP3 here (1.9 MB). To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program, or subscribe to the newsletter. “My dad woke us up one night, about 8 o’clock. He said don’t be alarmed. There’s going to be gunfire and a lot of noise, and there’s going to be a lot of people in the house and… -
Bless Your Heart (full episode)
31 Oct 2009 | 9:07 amThis week, it’s backhanded phrases, those snarky remarks that come sugar-coated in politeness, like “How nice for you,” “Oh, interesting!,” and the mother of all thinly veiled criticism, “Bless her heart.” Also this week, free reign vs. free rein, the origin of the one-finger salute, and what it means if a Frenchman has big ankles. And Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings stops by to try his hand at a slang quiz. Listen here: Download audio file (091102-AWWW-bless-your-heart.mp3) Download the MP3 here 23.5 MB). To be automatically notified when audio is…
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The Linguist
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Large Chinese presence at ACTFL language show
21 Nov 2009 | 7:22 amACFTL second day. A few impressions before I walk into the morning fog for my daily 45 minute walk to the Convention site from my hotel (while listening to Russian)The presence of Chinese teachers, Chinese exhibitors, Chinese seminars etc. is amazing. The interest in China and the Confucius Institute are obviously big reasons. I have met many dedicated teachers, including a lot of non-native speaking American language teachers who speak the foreign languages they teach very well. Impressed.Lots of high school teachers, principals, and "World Language Supervisors"More later since I am running… -
Why language students drop out. Demotivation.
20 Nov 2009 | 7:23 amApparently the greatest drop off in language courses at university occurs from the first year to the second year. In a Chinese program at a US university, the professor asked the students why. The answer was that many were disappointed that they were still only able to say very little, and they did not like having to engage in childish conversations in a language which they did not master well enough to really say anything.Yes. It is demotivating for many people to have to talk in a language before they have enough familiarity and enough vocabulary. So, why do most language programs insist… -
Language learning research
20 Nov 2009 | 7:18 amDay one at the ACTFL Conference in San Diego. Over 5,000 delegates, mostly teachers and professors of languages. But these people do not only teach, they do research. Yesterday I sat through a presentation by the head of the Chinese Language Teachers Association of America, a PhD in Linguistics and Chinese professor, on "Finding research topics and designing empirical studies on CFL." CFL is not the Canadian Football League that I am used to, but Chinese as a Foreign Language. The presentation was supposed to last from 1 to 2.30, but did not finish much before 5, mostly a monologue in quite… -
Homework revolt in Canada.
18 Nov 2009 | 7:43 pmSome parents are in revolt about the amount of homework their kids have to do according to the Globe and Mail.I do not know how useful homework is. I know only that I resent most of the kinds of assignments that language teachers like to give. If I had to answer comprehension tests about my reading it would destroy the pleasure and I would read less. I do not know about the math and science. I suspect that many homework assignments are more of the make work variety than effective learning activities, as, I suspect is the case with much of what happens in school. I could be wrong but that is… -
"Second-Language Learning in Canada's Universities." The bureaucrats speak and people don't learn.
17 Nov 2009 | 4:06 pmEducation ministers across Canada talk but fewer people learn French.The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), collectively commended the Commissioner of Official Languages today for undertaking the study "Two Languages, A World of Opportunities: Second-Language Learning in Canada's Universities." As I read through this report about bureaucrats congratulating one another, and describing yet again the language teaching offerings of our universities, as if the Universities do not already do that, I ask myself what is this all about. What does the following mean?"In Learn Canada…
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Sinosplice
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Aspect, not Tense
18 Nov 2009 | 4:24 pmYou often hear people saying that Chinese has simple grammar, and the most often cited reason is that “Chinese has no tenses.” It’s true that Chinese verbs do not have tenses, but Chinese grammar does have a formal system for marking aspect. What is aspect? Most English speakers don’t even know. I’ll quote from the Wikipedia entry on aspect: In linguistics, the grammatical aspect (sometimes called viewpoint aspect) of a verb defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof) in the described event or state. In English, for example, the present tense sentences “I… -
Thinking to Oneself Productively
15 Nov 2009 | 9:17 pmThis is a follow-up to an older post of mine called Talking to Oneself Productively, and the advice this time comes from JP Villanueva. I recommend that you read the full post, but here’s the essence of it (emphasis mine): Some functional L2 speakers talk about switching languages like throwing a switch; when they hear a language, they start to ‘think’ in that language, sometimes at the detriment of the other languages. A lot of very highly functional L2 speakers, on the other hand, code switch between L1 and L2 when with peers; both for pragmatic reasons, but also for effect… and… -
China Ruined the Android Experience
11 Nov 2009 | 4:04 pmI was pretty excited when I first got my Android phone. Yeah, the Hero a bit sluggish, but that’s been fixed, and the Sense UI is even being updated to support the latest version of Android. So far, so good. Starting about a month ago, however, I could no longer download anything from the Android Market (Google’s version of the iPhone app store). I figured it was a network glitch that would clear up soon. No, it’s not going to clear up soon. China has blocked all downloads from the Android market. To be perfectly clear, then, this is what I lose out on, simply because… -
Hospitals and Train Stations
9 Nov 2009 | 6:16 amThe past two weeks, I’ve had occasion to visit two different hospitals in Shanghai. Both were large, public hospitals that served a huge volume of patients every day. I came away from both feeling that Chinese train stations and Chinese hospitals are very similar. Both serve huge numbers of people Both contain a wide cross-section of society Both involve a lot of helpless waiting and nerve-wracking purchases Both offer VIP options which offer English-language services and a quieter, more private atmosphere Both leave you with a sense of wonder and hopelessness at the magnitude of the… -
No Longer Happy with DreamHost
2 Nov 2009 | 9:51 pmI haven’t been blogging much lately because I’ve been looking for a new web host in my spare time. I’ve been with DreamHost for years, but recently their service has become unforgivably bad. My main complaints are: My site was hacked while at DreamHost once. (One time is forgivable) My site was later hacked again, which was probably due to outdated web app installations (and not the previous hack). But DreamHost proved amazingly unhelpful in shutting out the hacker. I thought I had shut him out once, but I was wrong. The best solution in this case, then, is to back…
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babelhut.com
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Barra de Español 1.2 is now available!
20 Nov 2009 | 9:51 amThe latest version of Barra de Español is now available from addons.mozilla.org! Those of you who already have an older version installed should see an update notification in Firefox soon, if you haven’t already. What’s new in 1.2? The biggest new feature is the ability to find pronunciations of Spanish words. You can select a word on any web page, right-click on it, and choose “Pronunciar,” or you may type in the word into the toolbar’s search box and select “Pronunciar” from the dropdown to the right. The pronunciations are found on forvo.com. -
Barra de Español is now in the Public list on addons.mozilla.org
29 Aug 2009 | 9:44 amI received an email today from the Mozilla Add-ons group that Barra de Español has been approved to be in the public listing on addons.mozilla.org! This means that it no longer has the “experimental” label and can be installed without the user needing to check a box. For those of you who forgot what Barra de Español is, check out the original announcement. If you haven’t installed it yet, do so today! -
Ramses launches the Spanish-English Sentence Database
10 Aug 2009 | 3:28 amOur good friend Ramses has just launched a wonderful database of Spanish-English sentences at http://sentences.spanish-only.com/. I insist that you go there now and bookmark it. I’ll wait. This thing is great for the Spanish student! How many times do you learn a new word but you don’t have a sentence for it to put in your SRS? This happens to me all the time. Now you can go to the Spanish-English Sentence Database (SESDB? Am I allowed to make acronyms for something I didn’t create?) and search for the word and find a sentence containing that word. You may browse the… -
Why You Should Be Using the US International Keyboard Layout
4 Aug 2009 | 1:24 pmThe bold statement that is the title of this post should really read “Why You Should Be Using the US International Keyboard Layout If You are Studying Languages that Use the Roman Alphabet and Especially If You are a Software Developer,” but that makes a monster of an already long title. So keep in mind this post is not aimed at anyone studying languages that use non-Roman-derived writing systems. It all began so innocently… On June 13th, I received this tweet from @darmorrow which thanked me for creating Barra de Español and asked me how to type the “@” key. -
What’s on your playlist?
10 Jul 2009 | 6:51 amListening and understanding Spanish is a big weakness for me. I can read Spanish much better than I can listen to it. So, to get better at it I’ve been spending more time listening to Spanish music and podcasts. Since I last wrote about finding music you like in your language of study, I have discovered Pandora. Pandora is great because you start with an artist or multiple artists you like, and it starts playing similar artists. As you listen, you can give thumbs up or down to each song, and Pandora will adjust what it plays next based on your choices, essentially learning what you will…
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Slang O The Day
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owt
20 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm... Get the definition to today's term at Slang O' The Day. -
naughts
19 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm... Get the definition to today's term at Slang O' The Day. -
not haps
18 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm... Get the definition to today's term at Slang O' The Day. -
twankie
17 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm... Get the definition to today's term at Slang O' The Day. -
eye jammie
15 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm... Get the definition to today's term at Slang O' The Day.
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Speaking English Podcast
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Episode #125 - do not vs. donut vs. donate
13 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pmFind more episodes at www.speakingenglishpodcast.com. -
Episode #124 - father vs. farther vs. further
26 Oct 2009 | 6:35 amFine more stuff at www.speakingenglishpodcast.com! -
Episode #123 - How to pronounce share & chair
4 Oct 2009 | 4:55 amCheck out the website at www.speakingenglishpodcast.com -
Episode #122 - Quickie: How to pronounce 'chasm'
26 Sep 2009 | 11:49 amFind more episodes at speakingenglishpodcast.com, join us at facebook.com/speakingenglishpodcast or follow us on twitter. -
Episode # 79 ? meat vs. meet
26 Sep 2009 | 7:37 amFind more episodes in the archive at www.speakingenglishpodcast.com, follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/speakingenglish) and join us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/speakingenglishpodcast).
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Tower of Confusion
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Language Cascades
6 Nov 2009 | 8:14 amAbout 3 weeks ago, I accompanied my 4-year-old to play in a public play area. Watching her running around, I suddenly heard a mother beside me yelling at her kids, “¡Ven acá!” (come here). My first impression was – ok, the Latino population has indeed increased in my area. My second thought was – what is [...] -
What is Natrual Approach really?
29 Aug 2009 | 12:16 pmKeith commented on my previous post, questioning on how SRS can fit into the “natural language learning” model. After all, it is not natural. It seems to be me that different “language naturists” have different degrees of “naturalness” in their approaches. By all means, I am in favour of the “natural approach” as opposed to the [...] -
SRS and the Natural Approach
13 Aug 2009 | 7:17 amThe other day Kev posted an excellent question in my previous post. He asked: If you spend progressively more and more of your time on reading and listening (as you should), wouldn’t the amount of time you spend on feeding/reviewing an SRS fade to zero? Therefore, is it worth spending any time at all on an [...] -
SRS Best Practices
3 Mar 2009 | 6:50 amThe key to language acquisition is vocabulary-building. The best way to build your vocabulary is through comprehensive input (i.e., reading and listening). An efficient way to maintain your vocabulary is to use an Spaced Repetition System (SRS). There is no doubt about it. Look around and you will see everybody in the language-learning circle talks [...] -
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-03-01
1 Mar 2009 | 8:59 pmLoué le deuxième volet des aventures d’Harry Potter de la bibliothèque. Lu 2 chapitres dans le café. # Fini chapitre 3 de “la chambre des secrets” aujourd’hui. # 給了三歲半女兒一個小測騇.她以學懂這些字/Gave my 3.5 yr old daughter a quiz. She already knows these characters：人口手耳大小上中下水火天山兩米牛羊肉毛光月女. # Spanish Anki now over 700 cards. # Started Japanese Anki with 3 cards. Not sure if it [...]
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separated by a common language
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Sesame Street
14 Nov 2009 | 4:51 amWhile Grover takes/has her nap, a little reflection on her bi-dialectal language acquisition. She's six weeks short of being two, and (orig. AmE) talking up a storm. I'd wondered whether she'd get any Americanisms from me, but (a) I tend to use BrE words when in the UK and (b) I'm just her mother. It's not me she's going to get Americanisms from. It's Elmo.So, she says (BrE) nappy and cot and loo and peebo (that one is the creche's influence, I think). I've had a little influence on her (and her father) with (AmE) washcloth and bathtub (as opposed to BrE bath). But I took it upon myself to… -
well done the
6 Nov 2009 | 1:01 pmOften these days my blogging consists of answering queries from readers wondering about this or that thing they've heard or read. I'm going to turn that on its head and ask you about something. It's this little type of exclamation:In each Festival match of 30 overs we scored over 115 runs and on average only lost 4 wickets an innings – well done the batters.* [Derbyshire Cricket Board]Well done the players, we knew you had it in you and well done Juande Ramos, you sorted the tactics just right to get the best from our lads [comment on SkySports]Well done the runners [comment on a JustGiving… -
this/these premises
31 Oct 2009 | 2:22 pmI was in London yesterday, and blew some money on a black cab, since a cancel(l)ed train had made me late. While paused at a stop light, I read a notice outside a (BrE) railway station/(orig. AmE) train station that said something like "This premises closed for necessary maintenance", which left me wondering: whoever says this premises instead of these premises? When one encounters unfamiliar forms or usages in a dialect other than one's own, one naturally suspects that one overuses the impersonal pronoun that the form is native to the other dialect and not one's own. My methodology for… -
write (to) someone
26 Oct 2009 | 1:55 pmFrequent contributor Marc wrote to say that he:received this comment about a draft letter I prepared:"Can you please put in I AM WRITING TO YOU NOT I AM WRITING YOU..this is amercian and bad english."Comment is from an England-born Australian.I am willing to admit that this may be American English (and the letter is on behalf of an organization that is supposed to use "international" (i.e., British) English. But it's certainly not "bad English", is it? (And I do find it easier accepting criticism on my English that is spelled and capitalized properly... but that's another issue.)If there is a… -
à la carte
17 Oct 2009 | 5:13 pmIn my last, menu-related post, I cheated and let someone else do all the work. As my penance, I'll do the work on this menu-related one. Moe wrote (a half a year ago) to ask:I'm from the US and my boyfriend is from Liverpool. Last night at a restaurant (US) he ordered a sandwich a la carte. I asked him if he wasn't hungry enough to get the fries\chips that came with the sandwich. This launched into the discussion of him stating, rightly so, that a la carte means "according to the menu". By his definition, this means just ordering from the menu directly instead of special ordering.From my…
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Mr. Verb
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Movement and universality
20 Nov 2009 | 7:37 amThis release was just passed along by a contributor and ultimately comes from an esteemed colleague (so HT to AS). The basic news is about a new MIT Press book, by Shigeru Miyagawa, Why Agree? Why Move? He examines agreement and movement data from Japanese, English and Kinkande.Some things aren't quite clear from the release, like this:The existence of similar structures in such otherwise disparate languages, Miyagawa asserts, provides strong evidence that all human languages have a common origin.Common origin in human cognition, sure, but is the assertion one about monogenesis?I guess we'll… -
When we say Madison is 'wild' ...
19 Nov 2009 | 2:01 pmwe mean wild.‘Wolf or wolf hybrid’ captured near Monroe StreetMonroe Street ends by the University of Wisconsin and is an increasingly upscale business district further away. From here. -
Lévi Strauss and structural linguistics
17 Nov 2009 | 11:03 pmWe haven't noted the passing of Claude Lévi Strauss here yet (nor that of Dell Hymes). For a piece that talks about Lévi Strauss in connection to linguistics, check out this obituary, including these quotes:he came into contact with structural linguistics, a behaviouristic amalgam of European and American theories, and particularly the more imaginative work of Roman Jacobson, the Russian theoretician of language who was also at the New School at the time. … For him anthropology was scientific and naturalistic, that is scientific in the way that structural linguistics had… -
Palinorama
16 Nov 2009 | 4:48 amI guess nobody's noticing like the folks in Alaska, but the release of Going Rogue is generating another huge wave of attention to Sarah Palin. This piece from the Fairbanks Daily News gives a good survey. And this is probably the last blast for the Wisconsin team that wrote about her accent (see here). "Defining dialect, perceiving dialect and new dialect formation: Sarah Palin’s speech" by Tom Purnell and colleagues is now available from the Journal of English Linguistics website.Maybe now we can really move on.Update, 7:30, by Joe: We can't move on quite yet! It turns out the Tina… -
A question not (quite) asked
15 Nov 2009 | 4:53 amFor a while, the issue of how to refer to the present decades bubbled in the blogosphere — should it be, for instance, called 'the aughts'? This never really resolved itself in speech, at least that I know of, and the decade is coming to a close. I was reminded of this on seeing David Segal's piece in the NYT this morning, "Naming the '00s". But he's not talking about what to call the decade in that sense, rather what cliche handle to give it, so that it can sit alongside the roaring '20s and the 'me decade' of the '70s. I'm with the poet Billy Collins on this one:"Let’s call this one…
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Learning the Language
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Study: Teacher Exchanges Are Pipeline for Bilingual Teachers
20 Nov 2009 | 1:37 pmSome school districts are helping to fill a shortage of bilingual teachers through international teacher exchanges, but that strategy for alleviating shortages is still "relatively unexplored," according to a report released yesterday by the Migration Policy Institute. Researchers Aaron Terrazas and Michael Fix give an overview of how school districts are participating in the short-term U.S.-Mexico Binational Migrant Education Program and long-term exchanges under cooperative agreements with Spain or Mexico to bring foreign teachers to their communities. Most teachers with the binational… -
Tennessee Will Let ELLs Take Tests in 'Simplified English'
18 Nov 2009 | 10:40 amThis coming spring, Tennessee will give its state assessment to English-language learners for the first time in "simplified English," according to a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education. The state is calling the alternative test form "English Linguistically Simplified Assessment" and it will be used for math, reading, science, and social studies. While the test items use rudimentary English, or in testing lingo, what is often called "plain English," the content is on grade level. The modified English includes a reliance on common words, the use of concrete words rather than… -
Do Charter Schools Enroll Their Share of ELLs?
17 Nov 2009 | 12:50 pmDiane Ravitch over at Bridging Differences observes that many charter schools "have disproportionately small numbers of children who need special education or who are English-language learners." That complaint has been popping up in a number of different places lately. Last month, Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj and Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco made the same observation in the Huffington Post, basing it on data about charter schools in New York state. The month before that, an ELL advocacy group in Massachusetts made the same claim about charter schools there, which I reported on in Education Week. A… -
Free Webinars on Language Issues
17 Nov 2009 | 9:13 amThe National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition is hosting several webinars on issues concerning ELLs, including one this week about how math teachers can best work with such students. The math webinar features the FASTMath program used in Fairfax County public schools in Virginia, and will take place this Friday, Nov. 20, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., Eastern time. (You'll get a link that appears to be in error and kicks you out of this blog entry, but if you click on "back" you can get to the registration page.) Earlier this week, I blogged about a free webinar on best practices for… -
Mass. May Revisit In-State Tuition Rate for Undocumented Students
16 Nov 2009 | 8:31 amSome Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing for the state to permit undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates at public universities, according to an Associated Press article. It says Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, supports a bill that would provide in-state tuition rates to students living illegally in the country. The former governor, Mitt Romney, a Republican, opposed the idea. The article says that 10 states—California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin—permit undocumented students to pay in-state…
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Blogging Translator
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Getting into translation part 2
3 Nov 2009 | 9:37 amThis is another post aimed at those considering a career in translation, following my recent similar post. A few months back I was asked to write a case study for 50:50 Magazine, about what it was like being a freelance translator. It’s hard to pin down what a typical day would be like for me, but the case study I wrote describes some of the tasks my working day generally involves*. I’ve written a replica of that case study for my blog: Job title: Freelance Translator Languages: French, Spanish and Portuguese (into English) Company/location: My cosy home office in London! -
Getting into translation
22 Oct 2009 | 6:53 amLast Saturday I gave a talk at a Chartered Instituted of Linguists event on getting started in translation. I had one hour to give a rough overview of the skills you need to be successful as a translator, the type of work you might do, a ‘typical’ day, networking, how to approach potential clients, and how to then grow your business. I’ll also be running the presentation as a webinar in February 2010, for anyone who couldn’t make it to London last Saturday. Attendees of the event who are new to my blog may be interested in reading a little more about how I got into… -
Guest post: an introduction to SEO
23 Sep 2009 | 1:18 amToday I’m publishing this guest post by Rob Hammond, SEO strategist at a leading global media company, who gives some basic pointers on Search Engine Optimisation for translators. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) deals with optimising websites for people who use search engines such as Google, Yahoo or Bing. If you’re wondering what this has to do with translation, read on… What is SEO? SEO is centred around the ‘natural’ (or ‘organic’) search listings shown in a search engine results page. This is distinct from ’sponsored’ results… -
Autumn calendar dates
1 Sep 2009 | 8:11 amNow that the summer is all but behind us, we can look forward to a packed calendar of translation events for the coming autumn, and I’m pleased to announce that yours truly will be speaking at some of them! 12 September, ITI London Regional Group Marketing Workshop, University of Westminster, London. This is an all-day event with talks and workshops on a variety of marketing-related subjects, including: - marketing yourself as a freelance translator or interpreter - website dos and don’ts - a practical workshop on how to write good promotional copy - assertiveness and negotiation… -
Contingency planning for your freelance business
21 Aug 2009 | 7:44 amImage courtesy of http://www.backup2go.com.au/dataloss.php Céline over at Naked Translations wrote a post yesterday about back-up systems for freelancers, and invited others to share how they guard their businesses against data loss. Céline, if you’re reading, this post is my answer! I actually have what some might call a fairly paranoid approach to how I back-up my work, and have a few solutions. It took me a long time (too long) to fully realise just how important it is to make sure important documents can be recovered in the event of computer failure/other business disaster.
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Learn French with Daily Podcast
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788 – Plaque d’immatriculation catholique (Christian car plate)
20 Nov 2009 | 5:44 pmLearning Guide | PDF Transcript Un juge américain a ordonné à la Caroline du sud de ne pas délivrer de plaque d’immatriculation avec une image ou… Learn French now ! Listen to today’s lesson : -
787 – Parachute de guerre (War parachute)
19 Nov 2009 | 7:46 pmLearning Guide | PDF Transcript La famille d’un soldat de l’armée de l’air de la 2ème guerre mondiale qui a été abattu au dessus de la Belgique… Learn French now ! Listen to today’s lesson : -
786 – Real Life French: un marché
19 Nov 2009 | 6:44 pmReal life French Guide Welcome to your lesson of Real Life French. Each lesson we take a simple situation you may encounter in everyday life in France. Learn French now ! Listen to today’s lesson : -
785 – Éléphants indiens (Indian elephants)
18 Nov 2009 | 6:28 pmLearning Guide | PDF Transcript L’autorité du Zoo central en Inde a confirmé que les zoos et cirques du pays ne seront plus autorisés à garder… Learn French now ! Listen to today’s lesson : -
784 – De l’eau trouvé (Water found)
17 Nov 2009 | 1:53 amLearning Guide | PDF Transcript Grosse nouvelle ! La tentative du mois dernier de la Nasa pour trouver de l’eau sur la Lune fut un grand succès… Learn French now ! Listen to today’s lesson :
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Learn Languages Now
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Fluenz French Language Course - Learn French Language in No Time
16 Nov 2009 | 2:02 pmA desire to Learn French Language is a good thing because it is a great asset for someone entering the job market. Being bilingual creates a huge number of new job opportunities and to learn French now will give you a huge advantage in the future. Learning foreign languages is easiest when you are young and impressionable although, with the right training, it can be done at any age. The Fluenz French course is a great way to learn French because it is entertaining and gets results at the same time. The Set Up: Driven Toward Achievement The Fluenz French language program is a great course for… -
Rocket French Review
1 Nov 2009 | 4:35 pmLearning a foreign language such as French has many benefits and can be a rewarding challenge. Knowing how to speak a secondary language can bring numerous benefits in both your personal and business life and can open doors to a multitude of opportunities in the domestic marketplace. Learning French can open doors to employment in a variety of occupations such as teaching, translation, interpreting and the travel industry. Learning French is now easier and more accessible then ever. There are many French courses available but which one is the best and simplest to use? Learning French online… -
Rocket German: Learn German in No Time
1 Nov 2009 | 4:35 pmOne of the reasons why many people are going into learning more and more foreign languages is because there is loads of software out there which can help them in doing exactly that, but in the most easy-to-learn manner possible. And one of these software programs is the Rocket German language software which can help you to learn German easily, and fluently. The Rocket German language software has a German language pack, which not only helps a beginner to learn German quickly, but it makes the whole learning procedure extremely interesting and amusing. Great Audio Features So, as you look at… -
Learn French Language Fast With the Best Interactive Rocket French Software
1 Nov 2009 | 4:34 pmVoulez-vous apprendre parler en fran aise? If the answer is Mais oui, (mayzwoo-ee) it shows that you have a burning desire to learn French language, but do not know how to go about it in a systematic manner. There are plenty of language courses out there, and that is the reason why you can get plenty of options telling you all about the French language course, which can make you learn French as it is spoken by the French, really easily. You should use the Rocket French software when learning French, because it is the best possible way to learn how to speak, write, and read French.With… -
Review: Rocket Italian Language
19 Oct 2009 | 3:04 pmIf you are really interested in finding out places where you can learn all about the Italian language, you can always go in for the rocket Italian to speak learning course. Not only are you going to learn how to speak fast Italian, but you are also going to learn everything about the language as well as the grammar and the vocab. Thanks to Rocket Italian, you can find yourself using fluent Italian to speak, read/write and listen, the moment you are confronted with the language! Real Good Points about Rocket Italian Software The extensive study material is extremely useful, because you are…
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Learn Italian Language
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Alda Merini
1 Nov 2009 | 10:21 amLa Poesia di Alda Merini Sono molto irrequieta quando mi legano allo spazio -
IX settimana della Lingua Italiana nel mondo
7 Oct 2009 | 10:03 amL’italiano tra arte, scienza, e tecnologia 19 – 25 ottobre 2009 Dal 19 al 25 ottobre 2009 si è svolgerà la IX Settimana della Lingua Italiana nel Mondo, l’evento che ogni anno si propone di promuovere la lingua e la cultura italiana. Il tema di questa edizione è “l’italiano tra arte, scienza e tecnologia”. “La Settimana è nata per promuovere, in tutto il mondo, la lingua italiana nelle sue più varie sfaccettature: proprio per favorire questo scopo, ogni anno l’iniziativa, che tradizionalmente si tiene nel mese di ottobre, sceglie un tema… -
Italian language levels
10 Sep 2009 | 11:09 amThe Council of Europe (Il Consiglio d’Europa) has developed a set of common standards in language learning, understandable across countries and institutions. “The scheme proposed in the “Common European Framework of Reference: Learning, Teaching, Assessment” adopts a “Hypertext” branching principle, starting from an initial division into three broad levels: Basic User: A1 and A2 Independent User: B1 and B2 Proficient User: C1 and C2 Such a simple “Global Scale” makes it easier to communicate the system to non-specialist users and will also… -
Italian song: Briciole
4 Aug 2009 | 9:53 amUna canzone per non dimenticare l’italiano il titolo è “Briciole”, la cantante è Noemi Ecco il testo della canzone: “Briciole” Questo è un giorno da vivere se non si può descrivere di un amore impossibile rimangono le briciole soltanto scuse insostenibili da qualche tempo eri tu con me Non c’è più niente niente niente che mi leghi a te mi sento un vuoto da disperdere toccare il fondo per capire che è un nuovo giorno senza te Questo male di vivere che non mi fa decidere delle notti romantiche il ricordo fa piangere sebbene cercherò di eluderti da… -
the top 100 Language Blogs in the world
15 Jul 2009 | 10:14 amLexiophiles has included ”learn Italian language” blog in its annual competition for the top 100 Language Blogs in the world. There are 100 nominees in each of the 4 categories and the voting has already begun and will end on July 26th. If you like this blog, please click on the button and vote for “learn Italian language”
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Brave New Words
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Translating Hebrew Literature
18 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pmI learned about this website and newsletter on translating Hebrew literature from Erika Dreifus, who learned about it from the Jewish Council Book Blog. -
Call for Papers
13 Nov 2009 | 4:10 pmThere is a conference here at the University of East Anglia in the spring and you can still submit a paper proposal. Here is the information:DISORDERING THE DISCIPLINES: TRANSLATION AND INTERDISCIPLINARITYGraduate Symposium in Translation Studies Friday 26th and Saturday 27th March 2010Elizabeth Fry BuildingUniversity of East AngliaThis postgraduate symposium, the fourth in a biannual series hosted by the School of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, aims to advance the state of knowledge in the academic study of translation. Its objective is to facilitate the… -
And We Have a Winner
9 Nov 2009 | 4:03 pmThe winner of our first give-away is Nina, who wrote:"_In the Land of Invented Languages_ by Akira Okrent discusses non-naturally occuring languages like Esperanto, Klingon, Bliss Symbols (an early communication system for people with disabilities who are nonverbal. This is perhaps an unconventional choice, but I read it some time ago, and found it interesting."Nina, please email me with your contact details so I can pass them on to the publisher.Thank you all for your comments and recommendations! Check back soon for a compiled list of suggestions and also for another give-away! -
A Magnificent Give-Away
5 Nov 2009 | 4:02 pmBrave New Words is pleased to present our first give-away. In order to win a copy of John McWhorter’s book Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.In your comment, please recommend a book about a language. Give the name of the book and its author, and write a couple of sentences about why this is a book worth reading. You do not have to use your real name and you should definitely not post your address, but you do need to include your e-mail address, so I can contact you, and you have to be prepared to give me your… -
A Magnificent Book Told in a Magnificent Bastard Tongue
2 Nov 2009 | 4:04 pmThis past weekend, I read what I quickly realized was my favorite language book of the year, John McWhorter’s Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English. This fascinating book is not about words, as interesting as they are. Instead, it is about grammar. Why is English grammar different from that of the other Germanic languages? As Mr. McWhorter puts it:“English’s Germanic relatives are like assorted varieties of deer-antelopes, springboks, kudu, and so on-antlered, fleet-footed, big-brown-eyed variations on a theme. English is some dolphin swooping around underwater,…
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Learn a Language
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Polyglot – learn a language like a Polyglott
20 Nov 2009 | 11:34 pmWhat is a Polyglot A polyglot is a person who learns language to the point of high level of fluency. There have been famous and non famous polyglots in history. There was Cardinal Mezzofanti who learned some 38 languages, by studying morning to evening his whole life. On the other hand my grandmother Anna Wolonick for example was fluent in five languages but never studied any languages formally, she simply lived in Eastern Europe during her teens. The word Polyglot comes from the the Ancient Greek language word πολύγλωττος (poluglōttos, ‘many-tongued, polyglot’), from… -
Learn a language by making mistakes
18 Nov 2009 | 10:16 amYou learn a language by making mistakes There is no way you can learn a language without blood, sweat and tears. This is one of my how to learn a language mantras. Why? The way your brain remembers things is through a series of mistakes and failures until it self corrects. Learning a language is not much different than playing a sport. For the first year you are very awkward and clumsy. But latter after many mistakes you learn coordination and grace. Mistakes are natures gentle guide to reshape the neorons and connections in your brain. Learning from mistakes is a deep evolutionary… -
Bonarka city center
18 Nov 2009 | 1:58 amBonarka city center Kraków This post is not about languages, but about galeria Bonarka city center opening in Kraków. I am an American in Kraków and sometimes get off the subject of langauges. I can not believe all the Galeria’s that have opened in Krakow. It is a good thing, I guess. I am not complaining, but read on to see why you will not see me shopping in Krakow there. Update about Bonarka I just got back from Bonarka, it is great. It is cheap like Walmart but fancy like a European shopping center. I spend 300 pln and that is a lot of money for me. So my judgement is… -
City of Ember
9 Nov 2009 | 9:43 amLast night I watched the movie City of Embers. It is based on a book by Jeanne Duprau. I actually rented it at my local video store down the street. I think the film City of Embers I would rank as one of my favorites. I can recommend City of Embers The plot is a futuristic tale about the survivors of a great war on the surface of the planet. It is a teenage move. But I usually love movies that a fourteen year old girl would like. I do not like swearing or drinking or fighting in movies. Maybe I am pretty innocent but I do not like this type of action. This is why I liked City of… -
Bilingual education
2 Nov 2009 | 11:48 pmBilingual education for your child bilingual education I am a big believer in multilingual education for children. Do not not believe the experts that will tell you it will affect your child’s language development in a negative way. In is untrue. It will develop their brains and organizes their gray matter in ways a mono lingual person can never have. I wrote a page about bilingualism and bilingual education for your child. It is worth reading. I posted it to the main part of my site as it is a rather long post and could be printed with greater ease. Education and bilingual children…
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Naked Translations
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Avatar
20 Nov 2009 | 3:17 amWhile reading PoPCo, by Scarlett Thomas, I learnt that the word “avatar”, which refers to an Internet user’s alter ego in online forums and other communities, comes from a Sanskrit word meaning “descent of a deity to the Earth in incarnate form”. According to Wikipedia, it was popularised by Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash (1992): While Stephenson was not the first to apply the Sanskrit term avatar to online virtual bodies (the video game Habitat did that), the success of Snow Crash popularized the term to the extent that avatar is now the accepted term for this concept in computer… -
Interpreting: how to react when stuck
13 Nov 2009 | 1:39 amHowever thoroughly you prepare for an interpreting assignment, there will always be surprises. I’m not talking about having to hop on a tractor so the client can see it in action, although my client was very grateful that I didn’t mind working in unusual conditions (mind? I loved it!). I’m talking about terminology. I had researched everything to do with sod-cutting, including soil composition, so when the English client explained that the sod-cutter worked well on loam-based soil, I congratulated myself and used the French word “loam”, which was part of the little glossary I had… -
Of mice and fairies
5 Nov 2009 | 12:35 am“Look! I have a wobbly tooth!” says my niece Jasmine, who is six. “Brilliant! Will you put it under your pillow so the little mouse comes to get it?” “A MOUSE??! In my BED??!” Cross-cultural confusion alert! Backtrack or the little girl will never go to sleep again, terrified that her bed is about to be taken over by tooth-loving rodents. “The fairy! I meant the fairy! The lovely tooth fairy!” Although no one knows for certain the origin of the little mouse and the tooth fairy, it looks like they might come from a French fairy tale called La Bonne Petite Souris, where a fairy… -
Guest post: An interpreter's dilemma
30 Oct 2009 | 7:03 amThe verb “to interpret” has two common meanings, which in a sense are somewhat contradictory. The first relates to the act of interpreting written documents or oral statements, in the sense of giving one’s “take” on them. The use of the word in this sense suggests circumstances in which a fair degree of subjectivity is permitted. The second sense, with which NCTA members are likely to make an association, relates to the art of oral translation, whose practitioners are expected to eschew subjectivity and to render the target language with an almost scientific precision. Translations… -
Loire valley castles
22 Oct 2009 | 9:56 amI visited many stunning castles during my recent holiday in the Loire Valley. Guess what these are called in the comments and if you're the first to give all the right answers, you'll win a month of free French podcasts courtesy of frenchpod101.com. Go! Castle 1 is mainly known for its incredible vegetable garden. Castle 2 was the home of one of Napoléon's ministers, whose nickname was "the limping devil". During the Second World War, one end of Castle 3 was in the free zone and the other in the occupied zone. Castle 4 is one of the earliest French Renaissance castles. Castle 5 was the home…
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Cognition and Language Lab
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A Poorly-edited Editors' Handbook
12 Nov 2009 | 1:00 pmMost psychology journals require that papers follow the American Psychological Association's style guide. This guidebook covers everything from the structure of the paper to the right way of formatting section headings, and it is updated every so often. The sixth edition was released over the summer, and it seems it had to be recalled due to "errors and inconsistencies."I haven't actually seen the 6th edition myself (I just bought the 5th edition a couple years ago and am not in a hurry to buy the new one). On the whole, it's a good manual and the rules make sense. However, reviewers will… -
Changes in this blog
4 Nov 2009 | 7:39 amAs I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm in the process of renovating the lab website. There will also be significant structural changes to this blog (probably a regular schedule for posting, for instance). All this renovation is taking a considerable amount of time, and you may have noticed the lack of frequent posting. This will continue until the new site is launched, hopefully in the next month.Read the blog: http://coglanglab.blogspot.com Do the research: http://coglanglab.org -
Magic babies
29 Oct 2009 | 12:22 pmThere's an interesting article today over at Slate (Why Babies Crave Magic) that features work from one of my favorite local labs.Read the blog: http://coglanglab.blogspot.com Do the research: http://coglanglab.org -
Making Super-babies
26 Oct 2009 | 9:44 amParenting advice is no doubt as old as time itself. There is good advice, and then there are myths.The Walt Disney Company is, in a roundabout fashion, owning up to one myth, which is that their Baby Einstein videos make babies smarter. This has been a well-known myth in scientific circles -- the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no videos of any type for children under 2. Controlled experiments are tough, since it's hard to assign children to either watch or not watch TV (this tends to correlate with parental factors), but a quick search found a conference paper showing that toddlers… -
Vaccination and the Assault on Health
23 Oct 2009 | 5:53 amI had always though that refusal to get a flu vaccination was relatively harmless masochism. Refusal to vaccinate one's own children, on the other hand, should probably be prosecuted as child abuse, but at the least the negative consequences stay close to home.Yesterday, however, I read two articles on vaccination. One in Slate looks at the risks the unvaccinated pose to people with immunity problems (she's unable to get childcare for her child, who is undergoing cancer treatment, because the risk of being around unvaccinated children is too high). If that seems like a parochial problem ("my…
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Ryan's Linguistics Blog
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Copula contraction
21 Nov 2009 | 7:31 amI ran across an interesting instance of contraction on the Moviefone web site a while back, in the headline of a feature about some group of 80's stars or another: "Where They're Now". I found this interesting because you can't do this in English. Generally speaking, you can contract a copula onto the subject in English in an existential construction ("He is a good guitarist", "She is at the hospital") or when be is acting as an auxiliary verb ("They are going to the store"). This is reflected by a google search of "where they're now", which turns up millions of examples of constructions like… -
Review of "The Life and Death of Texas German" by Hans C. Boas
10 Nov 2009 | 7:17 pmWhen I was asked to review this book on my blog, I was unsure what I would find. Far from an expert on Texas German, I had in fact never heard of Texas German before received it in the mail this summer. However, as I've been slowly reading through it for the past few months, I've come to learn a great deal about Texas German and the rise and fall of this dialect. Overall, Boas' book is well-organized and extensively researched. His writing conveys a profound familiarity not only with the literature on Texas German, citing probably every major study undertaken of the dialecct, but also a keen… -
Apostrophe's
10 Oct 2009 | 7:58 amIt's become quite common recently (unless this is the recency illusion striking again) for people to get confused and use apostrophes in plural forms, e.g., dog's for dogs. I'm not usually one to criticize non-standard usages, but this one has me puzzled. How do people get confused about this? 's is essentially never used in the plural, except for capitalized acronyms which haven't been lexicalized, and even then I think only MLA recommends using 's. So it's not a case of people being unsure when to use it for plurals and when not to; the rule is never use them.So why is everyone so confused? -
Structural ambiguity
3 Oct 2009 | 6:59 pmA competitor in a Food Network show I watched recently was described as an "award-winning cake and sugar artist". Fairly straightforward, but my language faculty at first wanted to parse this is [[award-winning cake] and [sugar artist]] rather than [award-winning [cake and sugar] artist]. This is essentially the opposite of low attachment, so I'm not sure what was going on. Perhaps a desire for coordinated phrases to be coordinated as high as possible in the syntactic structure of the phrase. -
Extended break
5 Sep 2009 | 4:35 pmI'm not planning on doing any more updates until probably early next month, since I've started classes now, in addition to developing ESL materials for PronouncePro and working on some abstracts, papers, and a book review. Check back on October 3. If there are topics you're interested in hearing about this semester, feel free to post them in the comments section.
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Free Language
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Video: How to Learn Spanish for Free Online with General Resources, Exercises, Games, Interactive Tools, Radio, TV, Podcasts
15 Nov 2009 | 7:09 amSummary Welcome to Free Language's whirlwind tour about learning Spanish online for free. This is the third video screencast about learning languages for free. See all of them here. This video will take you through some top essential resources for learning Spanish for free online. View the links below the video to access the resources highlighted in this video. Here we cover places to find general resources, where to get learning materials, finding plenty of content online to expose yourself to the language and recommend the SpanishPod podcast for audio on-the-go as well as community… -
Video: How to Learn French for Free Online with General Resources, Exercises, Games, Interactive Tools, Radio, TV, Podcasts
12 Nov 2009 | 11:10 amSummary Welcome to Free Language's whirlwind tour about learning French online for free. This is the third video screencast about learning languages for free. See all of them here. This video will take you through some top essential resources for learning French for free online. View the links below the video to access the resources highlighted in this video. Here we cover places to find general resources, where to get learning materials, finding plenty of content online to expose yourself to the language and recommend the FrenchPod podcast for audio on-the-go as well as community atmosphere. -
EnglishClass101.com EnglishClass101 Learn ESL Podcast with Audio Downloads, Video Lessons, Flash Cards, Self-Tests, EFL
6 Nov 2009 | 3:13 amSummary From beginner to advanced levels, EnglishClass101.com is an excellent, all-around online environment for learning ESL. The Pod101 platform, method and technology provide the necessary tools to get you immersed in the English language and achieve the goals you desire and/or require. Since EnglishClass101.com is web-based, you can access your personal ESL Learning Center from anywhere, and it's really easy to download the podcasts and put them on your mp3 player (iPod, Zune, etc) or mobile phone to take them with you for practice and learning on the go. One of the most important things… -
ChineseClass101.com ChineseClass101 Learn Chinese Podcast with Audio+Video Lessons, Flashcards, Quizzes, Cultural Insights
6 Nov 2009 | 2:54 amSummary From beginner to advanced levels, ChinesePod101.com is an excellent, all-around online environment for learning Chinese. The Pod101 platform, method and technology provide the necessary tools to get you immersed in the Chinese language and achieve the goals you desire and/or require. Since ChinesePod101.com is web-based, you can access your personal Chinese Learning Center from anywhere, and it's really easy to download the podcasts and put them on your mp3 player (iPod, Zune, etc) or mobile phone to take them with you for practice and learning on the go. One of the most important… -
SpanishPod101.com SpanishPod101 Learn Spanish Podcast with Audio+Video Lessons, Flashcards, Quizzes, Cultural Info, Learn Center
6 Nov 2009 | 2:38 amSummary From beginner to advanced levels, SpanishPod101.com is an excellent, all-around online environment for learning Spanish. The Pod101 platform, method and technology provide the necessary tools to get you immersed in the Spanish language and achieve the goals you desire and/or require. Since SpanishPod101.com is web-based, you can access your personal Spanish Learning Center from anywhere, and it's really easy to download the podcasts and put them on your mp3 player (iPod, Zune, etc) or mobile phone to take them with you for practice and learning on the go. One of the most important…
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The Language Guy
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On Be Look Professional
19 Nov 2009 | 8:26 amMany years ago (1967 or so), I bought a wonderful Yamaha 250 cc motorcycle, the manual for which had this instruction for shifting gears:Tachometer tells the moment to do.Unfortunately, the RPMs given for gear shiftng kept this very fast motorcycle operating a little slower than a motor scooter. One evening, I told a friend who had ridden behind the original owner that the instructions couldn't be right and he offered to ride behind me and tell me when to shift. He did not look at the tachometer. He used his ears. I suppose the manual could have said.Ears tell the moment to do.Once I got the… -
Iran Disinformation in re Israel
27 Oct 2009 | 5:01 amI watched a BBC show "Endgame" last night about how the fall of apartheid came about and I was interested in learning more so I "prayed" through the good offices of Google to "God" (the Internet) and hit upon the idea of checking out the CIA World Factbook, an excellent source for basic information. This search collected the link associated with the title of this blog. According to the report, which makes a prima facie case for the demise of Israel within 20 years with the Jews in Israel emigrating to the US, Russia, and Europe.This "report" noted (my words) that seismic shifts such as the… -
The End Is Nigh!
22 May 2009 | 6:45 amIt is now five minutes until midnight, midnight for the human race, as the link associated with the title of this blog indicates. Midnight, of course, represents total darkness, the end of life, or, at least, the end of human life. Cockroaches will, of course, survive whatever damage we do to the planet.The clock in question is offered up by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and began "ticking" in 1947 and gave us just 7 minutes to live:As the Bulletin evolves from a newsletter into a magazine, the Clock appears on the cover for the first time. It symbolizes the urgency of the nuclear… -
What is an American Auto Company?
6 May 2009 | 6:51 amI see in the morning New York Times that the US government has approved the sale of most of Chrysler to Fiat. and that the bankruptcy judge has denied a claim of creditors that liquidation of the company, among other things, might yield greater value. The last time I checked, Fiat is an Italian auto maker. So we are not exactly saving an American auto company. What then are we saving?Jobs, of course. I do not oppose this but we do need to be clear about what is going on. Had anyone suggested that we should be alert to the needs of Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai, all building cars in the… -
Dr. Mercola
23 Apr 2009 | 4:52 amI followed a link on Facebook to Dr. Mercola's web site provided by a relative who was impressed by the claims Dr. Mercola had made as to the true origins of certain "organic" products. The most shocking on the face of it was that Burt's Bees, whose various lip and hand salves were well-known to me, are produced by Clorox. That may seem like a bad thing, but how bad is it really? Clorox makes an excellent product though it is hard to see how one could get Clorox wrong. Add sodium hypochlorite to water and bottle. To its credit, however, during WWII when a shortage of chlorine gas arose,…
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English, Jack
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Ben Yagoda on Language
21 Nov 2009 | 10:33 amHaving just written a post questioning the value of taking on a century-old usage book, I turn to a number of columns written by author, critic, and teacher Ben Yagoda, one of which is more than twenty years old.Even though they've been around for a long time, they're new to me. I had previously read and quite enjoyed The Sound on the Page and a number of his essays, including a collection of cliches in the voice of Mr. Arbuthnot, so I was pleased to stumble on his web site. Through a happy series of links that began with a blog post by Ben Zimmer and passed through the Wikipedia entry on… -
Jan Freeman's new book
19 Nov 2009 | 8:10 amI may be betraying my lack of education, but I'd never heard of Ambrose Bierce before Jan Freeman offered to send me her book, Ambrose Bierce's Write it Right: The Celebrated Cynic's Language Peeves Deciphered, Appraised, and Annotated for 21st-Century Readers. Or at least I thought I hadn't heard of him. Doing some background reading, I found that I'd actually read some of his short stories in high school or perhaps university. It made me feel somewhat better that only one person in the office here had heard of him at all.Freeman, who writes The word column for the Boston Globe, is… -
Conrad Black, English teacher
14 Nov 2009 | 3:25 pmConrad Black seems to have discovered the joys of being an English teacher. I'm a little curious, though about his "commending Hemingway's Snows of Kilimanjaro as illustrative of the virtues of short, simple sentences." I assume he doesn't have sentences like the following in mind:"They got into a taxi and drove out to Rimmily Hissa along the Bosphorus, and around, and back in the cool night and went to bed and she felt as over-ripe as she looked but smooth, rose-petal, syrupy, smooth-bellied, big-breasted and needed no pillow under her buttocks, and he left her before she was awake looking… -
Award-winning students
13 Nov 2009 | 4:36 amMost of the students who pass though our English for Academic Purposes (EAP) program end up doing very well in the college. This was highlighted in October when the awards and scholarships were handed out for the school of liberal arts and sciences. Here at Humber, LAS services students in every program and includes some of the most language-dependent courses. Despite this, former EAP students took home many awards:Joanne Anderton-Racic, Board of Governors' Scholarship: to a student in any program who has demonstrated high achievement.Misuk Yu, Derek Massey Award: To a graduate of the… -
Subtitles for ELLs
12 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pmHolger Mitterer and James M. McQueen have published a paper in PLoS ONE suggesting that if you're a learner of English, you should watch TV with English subtitles turned on. I regularly assign graded readers to students, and I suggest to those who read poorly (i.e., are slow and/or inaccurate at decoding individual words), and those with difficult-to-understand accents that they chose a reader that comes with a CD. I think this is basically the same process. In these learners, there's either no link between phonology and meaning & orthography (spelling), or the…
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Becomng a Better EFL Teacher
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Part 2 - What does it Really Take to Learn a Foreign Language?
20 Nov 2009 | 4:42 amUse Additional Foreign Language Learning Resources Yes, most certainmly you can still use additional resources to fine-tune a linguistic point, clear up a bit of confusion, add on an expression or two and push your vocabulary a bit higher if you’d like. I recommend supplementing your immersion experiences with a bilingual dictionary, a phrase book, a foreign language only dictionary, a CD, DVD or audio-cassette-based foreign language course of the tongue or dialect you’re actively immersed in and working on. For that matter, you can even contract a tutor in your foreign language to help… -
What does it Really Take to Learn a Foreign Language?
15 Nov 2009 | 5:29 pmHow Long Does it Take to Learn a Foreign Language? “So, how long does it take to learn a foreign language?” If I hear that question one more time I’ll just scream. Okay, so maybe I won’t scream, but I’ll give an answer similar to the one I’ve already seemingly given a thousand times or more. Only now, my stock answer is getting a lot shorter and more concise. “How long it will take you to learn Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Chinese or whatever other foreign language you’re attempting to dabble in actually depends on you.” “The more you immerse yourself in it,… -
Whole Language Resources in English Language Teaching and Learning
13 Nov 2009 | 4:52 pmTeaching English as a Foreign Language While there are a number of commonly accepted, viable approaches to teaching English as a foreign language, there are elements of the whole language approach as postulated by Rubin, which lend themselves well to a broad range of methodologies and program types. It is important however, to consider how the inclusion of these will be viewed on the part of the English as a foreign language learners themselves. English as a Foreign Language Learning Resources • Listening Laboratory – used to play audio recordings for repeating, substitution drills and… -
PenPalAmis Language Exchange Website
25 Oct 2009 | 1:21 pmHere's an interesting foreign language exchange website to consider: I would like to suggest the following website: http://www.penpalamis.info/ PenpalAmis is a pen pal language exchange where anyone looking to learn a language, can find pen pals from around the world to practise with, which in my opinion is one of the most effective ways to learn a language, second to living in the target country itself. Because the website currently has only around 300 pen pals including a broad range of countries, ages and interests, this doesn't mitigate the value of the website - the website is simple to… -
The Best Countries to Teach English In - Second Part
12 Oct 2009 | 5:25 pmWhat’s the best Foreign Country to Teach English In? So what’s the best country to teach English as a foreign or second language in? Your own personal interests, tendencies and personal goals will tell you. If you’re a francophone and want to delve more deeply into the French culture in all its forms, France is hardly your only option. Why not likewise consider Guadeloupe (a department of France), St. Martin or one of the French-speaking countries of West Africa, such as the Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Morocco on Africa’s north coast? Equatorial New Guinea boasts Spanish as a major…
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Thoughts on Translation
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Coffee break links
17 Nov 2009 | 10:22 amHere are a couple of interesting links for your coffee break reading: Get Rich Slowly on How much house do you need?. As a small house dweller (we have our family of three and my office in an 1,150 square foot ranch with no plans to move or expand) and an envier of Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, I really enjoyed this post. White House Notebook on Language skills on display. Whatever your political views, I think it’s impressive that President Obama has placed so much emphasis on language skills during his current China trip. He went to the trouble of greeting his town hall attendees in the… -
Translation makes the front page of the LA Times
16 Nov 2009 | 8:32 amHaving recently joined the ATA Public Relations Committee, I was excited to receive an e-mail this morning about a story on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times. “Demand grows for niche translators” profiles German to English waste management translator Abigail “Trash Girl” Dahlberg and features extensive quotes from ATA President Nicholas Hartmann and national media spokesman Kevin Hendzel. Congratulations to reporter Tina Susman for researching this story so thoroughly…it’s exciting to see our sometimes publicity-shy profession on the front… -
Why you need your own domain name
12 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pmWhat’s in a domain name (corny, I know, but too obvious to pass up…)? A lot, as it turns out. As freelancers who are dependent on e-mail to keep our businesses running, domain names are very, very important. The three basic options when it comes to e-mail are: Use a domain name provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP), for example yourname@comcast.net, @earthlink.net, etc. Use a domain name provided by a free or fee-based e-mail service, for example yourname@gmail.com, @yahoo.com, etc. Use your own domain name, for example yourname@yourdomain.com Having your professional… -
Overcoming psychological barriers to success
5 Nov 2009 | 8:17 pmThis week, two blog posts on the psychology of freelancing caught my eye: this one from Get Rich Slowly, entitled “Knocking out the beliefs that hold you back” and this one from I Will Teach You To Be Rich, entitled “Success and the shrug effect” (and by the way, it’s not that I love blogs about how to get rich, but these two are interesting!). In the Get Rich Slowly post, GRS staff writer April Dykman points out how “limiting beliefs” hold us back from success. In April’s case, a college professor once told her that it was impossible to make a… -
Audio interview: getting started as a freelance translator
3 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pmWhile I’m formulating a few posts on the recent ATA conference in New York, here’s an interview that I’ve been meaning to post for a while. Colorado-based Portuguese translator, interpreter and voiceover talent Cris Silva (who has the distinction of being Colorado’s only ATA-certified English to Portuguese translator) recently interviewed me about getting started as a freelancer. Cris is teaching a freelancing class for the University of Denver translation certificate program and she asked me the following questions: What were the first steps you took to get started as…
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Global Watchtower
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The Word of the Year and How to Translate It
18 Nov 2009 | 8:07 amThis week, “unfriend” was chosen as the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year. In multilingual circles, this quickly prompted many — including us — to ask the question, “How do you translate that?” According to major media outlets (including the Telegraph, MSNBC, and many others), the term originated with Facebook. So, we went straight to Facebook to see how these community translation veterans rendered this celebrated word into other languages. (more…) -
CRM Provider Partners for Multilingual Customer Care
18 Nov 2009 | 8:01 amIn a February 2005 report on multicultural marketing, we highlighted the importance of customer relationship management (CRM) software in improving the quality of interactions with multilingual clients and prospects. Last month, machine translation supplier Language Weaver and newly-minted translation management system (TMS) provider Sajan announced multilingual support for RightNow Technologies’ CRM solution at the latter’s 2009 Summit. (more…) -
Buyers Join Forces to Tackle the Translation Quality Measurement Conundrum
17 Nov 2009 | 2:29 amWe’ve written extensively about translation quality from the buyer’s perspective, arguing that companies purchasing translation services should assume a more proactive role in defining their requirements, developing their own metrics, and communicating with suppliers about how they intend to evaluate their performance. Last Friday, we convened approximately 30 delegates from the industry’s largest buyer organizations for a Common Sense Advisory colloquium hosted by Google in Mountain View, California. (more…) -
Can You Read that Web Address? Yes, ICANN — or at Least Most of It
4 Nov 2009 | 10:30 amFinding that many of the visitors to Barnum’s American Museum in New York City would stay longer than they were wanted and thus keep new customers from entering (and paying), P.T. Barnum famously posted signs “This way to the egress.” His less sophisticated visitors would go in search of the exotic creature, only to find themselves back on the streets of Manhattan. Websites similarly redirect foreign visitors to the exit through a combination of bad design, little or no localization, and too much English. Last week, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers… -
SDL Grants WorldServer a Reprieve
4 Nov 2009 | 7:40 amLast month, SDL announced that the “development roadmap for SDL WorldServer continues beyond 2010 as an integral part of ‘Project Affinity’ (the codename for the next-generation enterprise translation management system from SDL).” This move acknowledges that SDL heard its WorldServer customers’ anxiety about the future superceding of that product by a new offering. Separately, the company announced its TM Server based on the company’s Common Enterprise Application Framework (CEAF). (more…)
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Global by Design
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A book day, every day, including Forgetting English
20 Nov 2009 | 8:26 pmThere is a woman who set out to read (and review) a book a day for a year. Not Moby-Dick, mind you. Books of a certain length. And she did it. A book a day for a year. But she kept going. She’s still reading! And, as luck would have it, she just read our own Midge Raymond’s book. And she gave it a nice review. Short story collections are a great fit for someone who has to read a book a day. I’m luck to get through a chapter a week. PS: Now she has a book coming out! -
A fantast.ic new country code
19 Nov 2009 | 7:18 amLast week I wrote about the coming of IDNs (internationalized domain names). But IDNs aren’t the only new country codes to keep your eyes on. There is also the occasional new Latin-based ccTLD. Like .IC. The Canary Islands is looking to get a country code to raise its visibility. That, and also to bring in a few million dollars in registration fees. Just imagine all the Bay Area startups that would relish a funky new combo-ccTLD name. Plast.ic. Elast.ic. Bombast.ic. Am I sounding a bit sarcast.ic? Of course, the gap between asking for a ccTLD and actually getting one can be quite… -
Minimalism in global gateways
17 Nov 2009 | 7:36 pmA global gateway doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, it shouldn’t be fancy. It should be as easy to understand as a stop sign. Form and function and nothing else. You don’t want people getting confused, waiting for animation to load, or just missing it altogether. This happens all the time. The fashion house Céline sure keeps it simple: In one page you know exactly what languages the site supports and there is no chance you’ll miss it. I certainly didn’t. What other global gateways exhibit such minimalism? -
ICANN is now accepting IDN applications
15 Nov 2009 | 7:37 pmIt’s now November the 16th in Asia, which means the “Fast Track” has begun. Here’s the process: The Fast Track process is only for ccTLDs and only for those countries with non-Latin official languages. So if you qualify, get your application ready — that and your $26,000 fee. -
Eagle over Seattle
15 Nov 2009 | 10:39 amOfftopic, I know, but I have to share. This is a photo of an eagle I snapped yesterday. Normally, I’m a second too late for these types of pics. Such a beautiful bird. And there is a globe in the background — from the Seattle PI building — so I could argue that this post is sorta related to globalization. PS: I’ve posted a few more pics here.
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Web-Translations Buzz
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Anyone for a glass of kalimotxo and a pintxo?
2 Nov 2009 | 8:13 amThe Basque language, known to natives as Euskera, is the only language isolate in Western Europe, meaning that it is the only existing language that has no known living ‘relatives’: it is unique! Linguists and historians alike have attempted to discover a link between Basque and other languages, but, despite trying to connect it to [...] -
Crowdsourced translation - Twitter jumps on the bandwagon
23 Oct 2009 | 3:11 amTwitter is the latest company to use crowdsourcing to localise their website and interface - about time they localised it too, as in the arena of social networking, Twitter has been lagging behind other sites such as Facebook when it comes to reaching a multilingual audience… So what is crowdsourcing exactly? Crowdsourcing is when the public or [...] -
Internet changes likely to impact international Web businesses
14 Oct 2009 | 6:19 amA recent article in New Scientist reports on the imminent release of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from U.S. national control. ICANN is responsible for maintaining the various technical standards that make the Internet possible on a low level. Under an Affirmation agreement with the U.S. department of commerce ICANN will not be coordinated by any specific government, allowing representatives from many countries to take part. The likely offshoot is that Internet standards will become more inclusive of Internet users outside America. For instance, the article… -
New EU language Regulations for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device manufacturers
1 Oct 2009 | 9:29 amLatest EU regulations demand that all packaging and instruction leaflets for pharmaceutical products and medical devices are translated into the official language of the country they are being exported to. American companies in this sector who intend to export their products to Europe must comply with these regulations, and indeed should embrace multilingual packaging in order [...] -
How to pay < £0.03 per click on competitive keywords
29 Sep 2009 | 8:15 amI’ve been helping a client manage their PPC spend recently by training one of their team members. I don’t normally do this; it was just a favour to one of our best clients which happens to be a local company. It took me back; I remembered the very early days when you’d pay 0.05$ per keyword [...]
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Women Learning Thai
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Thai Language Thai Culture: And the Honor goes to…
19 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmIs it Kun, Pêe, Aa-jaann, or Pôo yài Moo?… There used to be a time in the west when calling a person by their first name was something you didn’t do until you had known them for a considerable length of time, and then only when you had become very close. Nowadays, the new generation is often on a first name basis literally from the time they meet. That may be true in a lot of places, but in Thailand there is a small wrinkle to this rule. Although Thais are always on a first name basis because they eschew the use of last names, they almost never use just the person’s first name… -
Learn Thai with Psycho-Cybernetics
17 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmAh, to have the insecurities of a kid again… When I was fourteen, I moved from the glorious New Zealand to the enormous U.S. The U.S. was too strange, too big, too shiny new. Worse, I did not assimilate. My experiences were not the same as my classmates, leaving me the outsider. Dense and awkward became the name of the game. And this, after previously being an avid participant in school activities, keeping fairly decent grades. Enter a dog-eared copy of Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz. It literally changed my life. Following Maxwell’s advice, I restructured my mindset away… -
Free Download: The Ultimate Survival Guide to Thailand
15 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmAlan Brewis: The Ultimate Survival Guide to Thailand… The true generosity of Thai language learners never ceases to amaze me. Last year, Alan Brewis put a highly polished draft of his book, The Ultimate Survival Guide to Thailand, online for anyone to read. For free. When I contacted him about adding it to WLT’s growing list of free, he was more than happy to agree. This book is not intended to be an all-knowing encyclopaedia on Thailand. There are many publications that already do that job quite admirably. Rather, this book is designed to provide the short-term holiday-maker with… -
Sesame Street Turns 40
13 Nov 2009 | 1:50 amSesame Street comes of age… This week, on November 10th, Sesame Street turned the big FOUR OH. My, oh, my, does time fly… So if you didn’t know Sesame Street as a child, then your brothers or sisters, nephews or nieces, or even your own kids did (or are doing so). But did you know that there is a Thai version of Sesame Street? Well, there is. And the best way to get copies is to contact Rikker at Thai 101 พูด เล่น! (pôot lên! :-D Several times a year, Bangkok holds fairs where you can snag a copy or two of Sesame Street dubbed in Thai. As I don’t have… -
Bangkok’s Fertility Shrine: Chao Mae Tuptim
10 Nov 2009 | 4:14 amSightseeing around Bangkok… Last month a friend emailed to say, ‘I’M COMING TO BANGKOK!’ I emailed back, ‘Whooh! WHEN?’ A mere two days after his arrival, David had already paddled up the floating market, tussled for eight hours with tigers, then dropped a krathong into the klong. And more. Which got me wondering… … just what unique experience can I thrill David with now? The Grand Palace, the Golden Buddha, Wat Po… the… the… the… Wait! How about going off the beaten path to… …the Chao Mae Tuptim Shrine? Sightseeing at the Nai Lert Park Lingam shrine… Piling into…
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Russian Blog
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Reading for/about the Sick: «Униженные и оскорблённые» [The Humiliated and Insulted]
17 Nov 2009 | 3:13 amThough I am still not entirely «здорва» [healthy] yet, today I «чвствую себ горздо лчше» [feel much better] than the days before and that’s why I finally have enough strength to write a post. I was «чень трнута» [very touched] by all of your kind wishes of health and for me to get better soon, which is why I think I’m improving as fast as I am! «Болть» [being sick] is, as we all know, one of the most boring situations a human being can be in. When you’re sick you can’t really do anything at all, except stay in bed and… -
«В карантине» [In Quarantine]
13 Nov 2009 | 7:12 am«Вот и началсь…» [And so it has begun...] Yesterday I woke up with a cough and a terrible head ache, went to the doctor at the university who convinced me that «у мен нет свного грппа» [I don't have the swine flu] and sent me to the pharmacy to retrieve necessary medicine. And yesterday I did believe her, because I kept getting better steadily during the day. Then today I wake up some time after lunch and realized that I have much higher fever than yesterday and greater pain in my entire body. After consulting with my mother in Sweden over the phone, it… -
Two Years with Russian Blog!
9 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pm[Yes!] «Наконц!» [Finally!] Today is not just another day, today is «двятое ноябр» [the 9th of November] and a very special day. Why? Not simply because today is «день рождния велкого рсского пистеля Ивна Тургнева» [the birthday of the great Russian writer Ivan Turgenev] - happy 191st b’day to the author of «Отц и дти» ["Fathers and Sons"]! - but also because «в тот день» [on this day] two years ago I published my first post here on this blog. So it is finally official: «я пиш для того… -
«С праздником!» or: How to Congratulate Russian Style
5 Nov 2009 | 11:39 amYesterday was the 4th of November and «выходнй день в Росси» [a day of rest, day off, holiday in Russia]. Yes once again it was time to celebrate the mysterious «День нардного еднства» [(People's) Unity Day]. There’s no need to pretend that Russians don’t look at this strange holiday in pretty much the same way, since they don’t and in this confusion we can finally meet and truly understand each other. Most Russians don’t even know «почем» [why] this day is celebrated in the country today. Some people - including me since… -
In Russia Snow Walks…
1 Nov 2009 | 1:34 amA couple of days ago - I think it was «в срду» [on Wednesday] - we received our first snow here in Yekaterinburg: «впал првый снег» [the first snow fell (down)]. On Wednesday, however, I had the bad luck to be feeling a bit under the weather - in Russian «я захворла» [I got ill; this perfect colloquial verb «захворть» means ‘to be taken ill' or ‘(with instrumental case) to come down with (something)']. Because of this I was unable to catch «првый снег той зим» [this winter's first snow] on camera and when this snow melted away in…
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Polish Blog
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Registration of Foreign Birth Certificate in Poland, part 2
20 Nov 2009 | 11:12 pmHere Barb tells us what to do in order to register birth certificates of minors born abroad. Registering the births of minors (osób małoletnich): Birth certificates of minors, born abroad, are registered on the basis of a written application, submitted by one of the parents to the Office of Vital Statistic (Urząd Stanu Cywilnego), along with the original birth certificate and its certified translation. Sounds simple right? What they fail to tell you is that the express consent of both parents (regardless of marital status) is required (or may be required). The consent of the absent parent… -
Registration of Foreign Birth Certificate in Poland
18 Nov 2009 | 4:30 amToday we have a guest post by our favorite guest blogger, Barbara, about how to register your foreign birth certificate in Poland. All explained very clearly step by step in an easy to follow manner. This process is very important if you are planning to confirm your Polish citizenship. So, read on and take notes (or simply print this entry). And Barb - thank you so much for this!!! Anna recently inquired about the status of my confirmation of Polish citizenship application (potwierdzenie posiadania obywatelstwa polskiego). I told her that it was probably going to take another 6 to 8 months… -
Useful Expressions - Spoko, spoko
14 Nov 2009 | 5:12 pmA friend asked me a very theoretical question, and it went more or less like this: “OK, let’s say that, theoretically of course, I am going to be visiting Poland around Christmas, or at the very least - Greenpoint. What Polish words would I hear most frequently?” “Oh, you mean like the k-word?” was my reply. “No, not really, I mean like words that you can actually spell out on your blog without getting in trouble.” Ahhhh… OK, let me think then… Hmmm… so if you just happen to be listening to random people’s random conversations, what would you hear most often? -
Polish Patriotic Songs
11 Nov 2009 | 7:13 pmNovember 11. Święto Niepodległości. Independence Day. I wrote about it last year, if I remember correctly. So, this year, let’s celebrate it a little bit differently - with a song (and dance, but that’s optional). I have to say that I’m very undereducated when it comes to pieśni patriotyczne (patriotic songs). I remember something my grandma used to sing about ułani and their horses. And something about rozmaryn (rosemary). And of course, I was taught to sing “Rota“, which during the Partition was something of an unofficial Polish national song. So, I… -
About Rabid Dogs and Getting Really Mad
8 Nov 2009 | 7:51 pmRemember Barb’s guest post about her trip to Poland? In it, at the very end, she mentioned, humorously no doubt, the famous Polish wildlife specimen – wściekły pies (rabid dog). That comment has prompted one of the readers to send me an email asking whether it was true or not – if there really were rabid dogs in Poland. The reader was about to move to Poland and planned to take his dog with him. But now, after finding out that Poland was not a rabies free country, he was having second thoughts. Yes, wścieklizna (rabies) is very much real in Poland. And as far as I know, all cats and…
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Thai 101
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Logos from Google Thailand
2 Nov 2009 | 2:57 amGoogle is known for the custom logos it places on its homepage on holidays and other occasions. And with the worldwide spread of Google, their many country sites display logos specific to the local culture. Google Thailand (google.co.th) is currently showing a logo celebrating Loy Krathong (ลอยกระทง): Some earlier Google Thailand logos: Songkran 2008 Songkran 2009 National Artist Day 2009 -
Old Thai Movie DVD Roundup, Part 3: The Legend Collection from Five Star Productions
21 Oct 2009 | 5:12 amMore than a year after I first read about it on Wise Kwai's blog, Five Star Productions has finally begun releasing the promised films from its vault. At the end of August it was announced that Five Star had signed a deal with media distribution company BKP to release more than 100 titles from its film vault on DVD. The set has been dubbed The Legend Collection, or in Thai ตำนานหนังกลางใจ. This will be a re-release on DVD for some titles, but it will be the first DVD treatment for the vast majority of these films. Some 70 specific titles have been announced, and… -
One week until Book Expo Thailand 2009
8 Oct 2009 | 5:03 amWhere has the time gone? Thailand's semiannual book fair is upon us again. As regular readers will recall, the October incarnation is known as Book Expo Thailand (งานมหกรรมหนังสือ). Book Expo Thailand 2009 will run from Thursday, October 15 through Sunday, October 25, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. As usual, this massive book fair will be held at Queen Sirikit Convention Centre. I recommend traveling by subway -- the Convention Centre has its own stop. The book fair is always packed every single day, so parking is a nightmare. If you've never been, I absolutely… -
Nigerian scam in Thailand
3 Oct 2009 | 3:22 amAdvance-fee fraud is also commonly called a "Nigerian scam", because the African country is home to large numbers of people employing this scam technique. People get hooked by their own greed, when some kind stranger emails them out of the blue to ask them to serve as the next of kin for some heirless millionaire, or lets them know they've won some valuable prize. Most of these never make it to my inbox, thanks to email spam filters. This one didn't make it to my inbox either, but I spotted it in my spam directory while looking for spam false positives. It's absolutely 100% classic Nigerian… -
Marcel Barang: new blog, new translations
19 Sep 2009 | 6:29 amIf you are interested in Thai literature, especially translations of it, then it's a necessity to know the name of Marcel Barang. He is the world's foremost translator of Thai fiction into English and French. Not only is he prolific, but so few do what he does, making his work all the more valuable.Today I was delighted to learn that he now keeps a blog, alternately writing in French and English, called the written wor(l)d en deux langues. It's managed to escape my attention since he began it in July, but I'm glad it didn't take me until next year to find it.What is Marcel blogging about?Most…
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Helping You Learn English
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Nov 20, How can I improve my oral English?
20 Nov 2009 | 4:35 amHi , I can never express my ideas fluently in oral English. Would you give me some advice? Thank you. Answer:Hi Blair,Thanks for asking your -
Nov 19, Pronunciation Blues
19 Nov 2009 | 1:28 amI was speaking with one of my students today during our tutorial class and he told me a story which was funny (now) but very frustrating at the time. Picture it. Nacho, from Spain, has just flown over 10 hours to reach sunny Miami and he would like to have some chocolate milk. Sitting down at a table with some colleagues he eagerly waits for the waitress to come by and take his order. The waitress is now walking over to them and he is ready with his order.The waitress arrives and says, "What can I get ya?" to which Nacho replies "chowkit please."The waitress lookes confused. She asks him to… -
Oct 29, Mistakes and Failure are Bad
29 Oct 2009 | 2:52 amAre you afraid of making mistakes in English? Imagine how your English would improve, if you were not afraid of mistakes? Do you think you would speak more, write more or participate more, if your belief that mistakes are bad no longer existed? I'd like to share with you a wonderful free resource which can show you (teach you) that you no longer have to believe that mistakes are bad. I discovered Morty Leftkoe's amazing free mini course last week. In less than 40 mins it showed me how to stop believing mistakes are bad. Seriously!! :) Don't believe me? Try it for yourself...for free! Just… -
Oct 22, Motivation to Learn English in 2009
22 Oct 2009 | 7:02 amIdentifying your motivation to Learn English in the new year just got easier. -
Oct 19, Learn English Newsletter: October is Phrasal Verb Month
19 Oct 2009 | 12:23 pmHere is the latest Learn English Newsletter , which is normally only available to subscribers. I wanted to allow everyone a sneak-a-peek of the newsletter before deciding to subscribe. Even if it is free, you probably want to ensure it is worth your time. Enjoy and if you want to subscribe to the learn English Newsletter, just click here.
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WeboWord - Vocabulary Visually!
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Tractable – Docile; Easy to control
20 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amNote: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it. Pronounced as Trak (Emphasized) + Tuhbl {Listen to it here} It comes from Latin root Tractabilis which means to handle. Situational Uses / Sentences: The computation time to perform a complete search is not tractable. The organism can be cultured under defined conditions. It is genetically tractable. Post from: WeboWord Unable to follow the daily updates? Subscribe to WeboWord Express today @ http://www.weboword.com/express and give your vocab building a boost! -
Insipid – Dull; Lacking in character; Flavorless
19 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amNote: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it. Pronounced as In + Sip (emphasized) + Pid {Listen to it here} It comes from Latin insipidus which means tasteless from the root Sapidus which means having a flavor. Situational Uses / Sentences: He has quite a good voice, it’s just a shame they gave him a rather insipid song to sing. I was surprised to find that the fashion designer opted for such an insipid dress to wear. Post from: WeboWord Unable to follow the daily updates? Subscribe to WeboWord Express today @ http://www.weboword.com/express and… -
Erudite – Having or showing great knowledge through study and reading
18 Nov 2009 | 5:00 amNote: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it. Pronounced as Eruh (Emphasized) + Dite (rhyming with Light) {Listen to it here} or Eryuh (Emphasized) + Dite {Listen to it here} It comes from the Latin root erudire which means to instruct. Situational Uses / Sentences: My parents tend to opt for very erudite books which some of my friends find unreadable. It goes way beyond what even the most erudite scholar could possibly have known about in its entirety. Post from: WeboWord Unable to follow the daily updates? Subscribe to WeboWord Express today @… -
Inherent – Something that is intrinsic/basic
17 Nov 2009 | 5:31 amNote: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it. Pronounced as In + Heer (emphasized) + Uhnt {Listen to it here} It comes from Latin root Inhaerere which means to stick to. Situational Uses/ Sentences: The longer game length powerfully highlighted the inherent weakness of the design; luck played far too large a part in the outcome. “I think the most important ideas in that song were already inherent in it before we recorded it.” Post from: WeboWord Unable to follow the daily updates? Subscribe to WeboWord Express today @… -
Enigmatic – Hard to understand
16 Nov 2009 | 5:30 amNote: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it. It is based on Enigma which comes from Greek Ainigma which means fable/mystery. Pronounced as Enigg + Matick (Just as in Automatic) [Emphasized] {Listen to it here} Situational Uses / Sentences: Much of the imagery of this chapel will seem very enigmatic to most of you. The enigmatic stone mounds of Alabama – StonePages.com Post from: WeboWord Unable to follow the daily updates? Subscribe to WeboWord Express today @ http://www.weboword.com/express and give your vocab building a boost!
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Japanese Words
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Great Video Series to Learn Japanese
I am always on the lookout for good Japanese learning tools. With all the available channels there are a lot of different types products, but to be honest, many fall very short of really teaching you the language. But every once and a while, I happen to ... -
Japanese Pronunciation with Syllabry
I happened to come across what I think is a very good video for practicing Japanese pronunciation. Japanese doesn't have a lot of sounds, but some of the sounds it does have are difficult for English speakers. Luckily, the more you practice the better you will get. Even ... -
1000 Common Japanese Words for Anki or Mnemosyne
The most popular post on JapaneseWords.net has been 1000+ Japanese Words List. As the title suggests, the post contains a list of over 1000 common Japanese Words and Kanji. I am proud to announce that the list has just gotten much better. Thanks to the ... -
NihongoUp
I have mentioned several times that studying Japanese should be fun. If it's not fun then it is going to be much harder and take you longer to learn. An ideal method would be one that makes you feel like you aren't studying at all. Over the last few weeks ... -
JapanesePod101
So far we have covered tools for memorizing Japanese words and phrases, learning and reading kana and kanji, and of a great dictionary. Today we are going to talk about a program I used to use quite a bit when I first started working in Tokyo, JapanesePod101. When I first started ...
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There's Something About Translation...
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Copy cats are NOT cool
28 Oct 2009 | 8:37 pmI don’t normally like to use my blog as a platform to criticise others. But today I’m making an exception. Angry, by Marco Veringa on Flickr [edit 30 October 2009: Scroll to the end for an update] There are many reasons why I have a blog, and gaining a good, strong Google ranking is just one of them. So I generally don’t mind being quoted anywhere (in fact, I positively encourage it) and I’m all for getting my work out through different channels. All in all, I’m a pretty reasonable person and I appreciate that copyright isn’t always straight-forward in an… -
5 Qs with Amy Williams, French and Italian to English translator
22 Oct 2009 | 4:30 pmAmy Williams is a freelance translator working from French and Italian into English, and a director of Eggplant Translations. She specialises in marketing and advertising, and the arts, media and music in particular. In the early stages of my freelance career, Amy was kind enough to give me some great advice on setting up a website. Here I ask her for more tips about marketing, her areas of specialisation and why she has chosen to pursue further studies in psychology. Sarah Dillon: You have some very interesting areas of specialisation, for example marketing and advertising, the arts and… -
Building a Strong Online Presence
13 Oct 2009 | 4:23 amHello to translators and interpreters surfing by following my recent Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) webinar. I intend to blog about this in more detail later this week, but until then, here are some resources you might find useful: A series of short videos introducing Twitter. Some 5 minute videos on how I use LinkedIn, Wordpress, and Google Reader for professional purposes. A half-hour* presentation on social media for translators, which takes a more hands-on approach than my presentation today as it covers how to use Tweetdeck (co-presented with Philippa Hammond – check out… -
5Qs with Andrew Bell, AAA Scandinavian Translations
29 Sep 2009 | 4:30 pmAfter working as a nurse in several countries, Andrew Bell set up AAA Scandinavian Translations in 2001 and now specialises in medical/pharmaceutical translation services. He also runs the popular translator-networking site Watercooler. Here Andrew tells us about how he became a translator, and offers a wealth of advice for new and experienced translators interested in moving into the highly specialised field of medical/ pharmaceutical translations. Sarah Dillon: You have many years of experience in healthcare, and are in fact a Registered Nurse (RN). How difficult was it to make the… -
5Qs with Karen Stokes, French to English translator
21 Sep 2009 | 4:30 pmKaren Stokes has been providing French to English translation services through KES_Translate since 2002. In 2008 she was awarded Chartered Linguist (Translator) status, one of the first five translators in the UK to be awarded this distinction. Read on for more about Karen’s background, her approach to marketing and the Chartered Linguist application process. Sarah Dillon: You came to translation after many years in the business world. What unique benefits do you think this experience brought to bear on your translation career, particularly in terms of perspective, approach, etc.? Karen…
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Japanese Words
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Great Video Series to Learn Japanese
I am always on the lookout for good Japanese learning tools. With all the available channels there are a lot of different types products, but to be honest, many fall very short of really teaching you the language. But every once and a while, I happen to ... -
Japanese Pronunciation with Syllabry
I happened to come across what I think is a very good video for practicing Japanese pronunciation. Japanese doesn't have a lot of sounds, but some of the sounds it does have are difficult for English speakers. Luckily, the more you practice the better you will get. Even ... -
1000 Common Japanese Words for Anki or Mnemosyne
The most popular post on JapaneseWords.net has been 1000+ Japanese Words List. As the title suggests, the post contains a list of over 1000 common Japanese Words and Kanji. I am proud to announce that the list has just gotten much better. Thanks to the ... -
NihongoUp
I have mentioned several times that studying Japanese should be fun. If it's not fun then it is going to be much harder and take you longer to learn. An ideal method would be one that makes you feel like you aren't studying at all. Over the last few weeks ... -
JapanesePod101
So far we have covered tools for memorizing Japanese words and phrases, learning and reading kana and kanji, and of a great dictionary. Today we are going to talk about a program I used to use quite a bit when I first started working in Tokyo, JapanesePod101. When I first started ...
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Ingls na Ponta da Lngua
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O que significam 'real McCoy' e 'run away'?
19 Nov 2009 | 5:00 pmEm 1995, quando comecei a 'dar aulas de inglês', havia uma banda alemã conhecida como Real McCoy. Uma das músicas que lembro até hoje, devido ao sucesso na época, é 'Run Away'. Esta música foi sucesso em quase todo mundo. No final deste post fiz questão de incluir o vídeo para que vocês saibam do que estou falando [e para o pessoal que já passou dos 28 relembre este grande hit].O fato é que naquela época eu achava que McCoy era o nome do sujeito que liderava a banda. Um belo dia aprendi que em inglês 'real McCoy' era [e ainda é] uma expressão usada para dizer que algo é… -
Como dizer 'ralar' em inglês?
19 Nov 2009 | 1:30 amSe a pergunta estivesse relacionada ao ato de ralar algo, por exemplo, batatas, cenouras, mandiocas, beterrabas, queijo etc, a resposta seria 'grate'. Assim teríamos as seguintes sentenças:Peel and grate the potatoes. [Descasque e rale as batatas.]Why did you grate the cheese? [Por que você ralou o queijo?]Acontece que o 'ralar' ao qual me refiro no título deste post é aquele no sentido de 'dar um duro danado', 'trabalhar duro', 'trabalhar em excesso' e similares. Neste caso o melhor a dizer em inglês é 'work hard'. Afinal, não há bem uma expressão na língua inglesa que transmita… -
Vídeo: collocations com a palavra 'problem'
18 Nov 2009 | 3:30 amHoje compartilho com vocês mais um vídeo com dicas de collocations. A palavra da vez é 'problem' [problem]. Depois de ver o vídeo abaixo, que tal ver também as dicas do Prof. Adrian Underhill sobre como pronunciar os sons da língua inglesa? Para acessar este vídeo basta ir até o post 'Pronúncia em Inglês: Os Sons da Língua Inglesa'.Caso não esteja visualizando o vídeo abaixo, clique aquiVeja também os vídeos abaixo:Collocations com a palavra 'situation'A diferença entre collocations e Expressões IdiomáticasCollocations com a palavra 'breakfast'Collocations com a palavra… -
Professor de Inglês com Vivência no Exterior
17 Nov 2009 | 3:19 amDias atrás publiquei aqui no blog um post intitulado 'Quem é o melhor professor de inglês? Nativo ou não-nativo?'. Nele falei sobre um dos mitos mais frequentes no ensino de língua inglesa que persiste em ser perpetuado no Brasil. Apresentei lá também a opinião do linguista David Graddol que realiza pesquisas e estudos para o British Council[Conselho Britânico] e disse em entrevista ao G1 que "O melhor professor é aquele que fala a língua materna de quem está aprendendo o idioma. Também é preciso ser altamente capacitado e ter um ótimo domínio do idioma, claro."O curioso é… -
Inglês na Ponta da Língua: slides para download
16 Nov 2009 | 4:00 amSexta-feira passada eu estive em São Paulo dando a palestra Inglês na Ponta da Língua: estratégias para melhorar o seu vocabulário. Foi super demais! Contamos com a presença de mais de 70 pessoas e para mim foi um prazer conhecer todas elas.Abaixo você verá o arquivo em formato powerpoint relacionado à apresentação que dei. Nela falamos sobre vários itens: como aprender preposições, collocations, expressões idiomáticas, polywords, frases prontas, chunks of language, aprender e ensinar lexicalmente e muito mais. Foram dados inúmeros exemplos de cada um destes itens. Dicas de…
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OneHourTranslation Blog
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Linguistic Equivalence in Translation
21 Nov 2009 | 9:03 amEquivalence will always be an important part of human translation as long as the latter exists. To be more specific, equivalence is one of the most important considerations of professional translation agents and freelance translation service experts alike when it comes to localizing a website or straightforwardly translating textual material. Therefore, regardless of whether your professional translation agency is doing source oriented (to be as faithful to the original text as possible) or target-oriented (to make sure that the original message is translated in terms that the target audience… -
Website Localization and Translation Increases Profit
20 Nov 2009 | 8:30 amYou want your business to cater to in international consumers and your website is still mono-lingual? Well this is a paradox. More than 100 million people use language other than English to access Internet and more than half of the internet users are not native English. So how can you aspire for a global business if you are ignoring this ocean of consumers? For this pursuit you need website translation and website localization. Website localization or website translation means to modify your website for foreign web users by presenting the text in their language and using graphics, photos,… -
The Linguistic Approach to Translation
19 Nov 2009 | 8:15 amDifferent languages give different ways to look at the world but translation provides us the opportunity to explore and interact with these different views of the world. Translation refers to carrying the meaning of a text from one language to another. This process involves interpretation of meaning of the text and producing the same meaning in another language. Translation as an activity is actually as old as written language or text itself. However as a discipline of study it is comparatively new. Since all word of one language may or may not have a corresponding word in the other language,… -
Linguistic and Cultural Equivalence in Translation
18 Nov 2009 | 7:15 amLanguage is said to be the vehicle of our ideas, thoughts and perspectives of our world. While translation, simply is carrying the meaning or the idea from one language to another. Yet it is difficult to find a corresponding word for every word in two languages. It thus becomes a duty of translator to keep the meaning of the target language same as of the source language. This is called equivalence and is defined as ‘same meaning conveyed by a different expression’ The importance of equivalence is realized by all scholars of translation and has always remained a key point in the study of… -
Is Translation Merely Rewriting the Original Text?
17 Nov 2009 | 6:02 amTranslator is expected to carry the meaning intended by the author from one language to another. This is not as easy a task as it appears. Not all words in one language have a corresponding parallel word in another language. Secondly language is way of looking at the world. It reflects the values and the culture of the society. So ‘different language’ means ‘different ways’ of looking at the world reflecting different values and culture. It thus becomes much more than just rewriting the original text. Different cultures have their own ethical codes and symbols. What is ‘good’ and…
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Babel's Dawn
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Nova on Human Origins
17 Nov 2009 | 6:01 pmI just watched the third part of the PBS television series on "Becoming Human." It barely discussed the origins of speech or language, which I suppose is just as well. Better to say nothing than to say something superficial and pretend that it is the whole story. Still, I'm struck by the fact that they did a three hour report tracing the human lineage over about 6 million years and had very little to say about the issues discussed routinely on this blog. The speech triangle, voluntary control of vocalizations, words, syntax ... nope. -
Thanks
16 Nov 2009 | 7:46 amThanks to Angela Peterson whose list of 100 Best Blogs for Psychology Students puts Babel's Dawn at number 34. -
The FOXP2 Molecular Network Begins Taking Shape
15 Nov 2009 | 8:45 pmThe FOXP2 gene as illustrated by Simon Fisher (Oriel College, Oxford), the investigator who first isolated the FOXP2 gene. Download PDF version of this post A letter to the current issue of Nature has caused a stir among those interested in the evolution of language. It looks at the FOXP2 gene in more detail than any paper has ever done before. It also inspires at least as many questions as it answers, but now at least we have better questions. Also it has dealt yet another blow to the theory that language depends on distinct cognitive modules that permit internal thought and that later… -
The Helping Impulse
8 Nov 2009 | 8:45 pmHuman children around the world are put in the care of adults who are not their mothers. It is so common we take it for granted, but it is very unusual among apes. Download a PDF file of this postI’ve just read an article in the latest journal of Evolutionary Anthropology that confirms this blog is not alone in many of the most radical positions that it has taken. The view of human nature emerging from the effort to understand language origins differs dramatically from the classic Western position that reason separates us from the animals, and from the Romantic view of the lone genius who… -
A New Linguistic Process?
1 Nov 2009 | 8:45 pmDownload PDF of this postHere’s a book with a novel thesis: the English language has been, to coin a term, Vikingized. A creolized language is a grossly simple pidgin language that has been turned into a syntactically-complex mother tongue. A Vikingized language is the opposite: a syntactically-complex natural language that has been turned into something simpler. Creolization reflects the natural ability of children to communicate richly. Vikingization reflects the natural difficulty adults have learning the subtleties of a foreign language. I find myself intrigued by the idea because I can…
