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Strange Maps’ Accidental GeographyWhile it’s not exactly about languages, I couldn’t help but point you in the direction of Strange Maps collection of maps in unexpected places, Accidental Geography. A cloud shaped like New Jersey is always worth linking to around these parts. Tags: maps
Happy Paczki DayYou’ve probably heard of Mardi Gras and Shrove Tuesday, but have you ever heard of Pączki Day? Chances are if you’re familiar with Polish traditions you have, but just in case, here’s a refresher from the Polish-American Journal. Pączki is the plural form of pączek, a pastry similar to a jelly doughnut eaten in the week before Lent. So: pancakes or pączki — what’ll it be for you? Tags: Polish
I hereby defriend youLanguage Log has a fun post on the social networking idea of “defriending.”... More Tags: Dutch, English, social networking
Funny Translation ErrorsIf you’ve ever attempted to communicate in a foreign language, you’ve probably made an embarrassing translation error at one point or another. In fact, our Foreign Exchanges category is full of stories like that. However, some errors are more public than others.... More Tags: translation
What Does it Mean to Speak a Foreign Language?You might be surprised that this question comes up a lot around here. After all, we know a little something about speaking, learning, and teaching foreign languages. But we also realize that the answer to this question varies an awful lot, depending on who you ask.... More Tags: Fluency, language learning, language myths, Proficiency
2009 Expressions You’d Like to ForgetThe Boston Globe has an interesting article on “banishing” words and expressions.... More Tags: English, expressions
Did You Miss Me, Sherlock Holmes?I managed to get in one movie over the winter holidays, Sherlock Holmes. It was an enjoyable movie, pretty good, actually, except for one little piece of French. In a scene where Robert Maillet (Dredger, apparently also of WWF fame) returns to do battle with Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes), Dredger asks Holmes, “Tu m’as manqué?” This was intended to mean “Did you miss me?” But, instead, it means “Did I miss you?”... More Tags: French, movies
The World’s Most Difficult LanguageThe Economist goes on a search for the world’s most difficult languages as learned by Anglophones. English-speakers appreciate this when they try to learn other languages. A Spanish verb has six present-tense forms, and six each in the preterite, imperfect, future, conditional, subjunctive and two different past subjunctives, for a total of 48 forms. German has three genders, seemingly so random that Mark Twain wondered why “a young lady has no sex, but a turnip has”. (Mädchen is neuter, whereas Steckrübe is feminine.)While the debate over “difficulty” is truly subjective, the article brings up some interesting traits of various languages, such as the inclusive/exclusive “we” of the Kwaio language (also a feature of Tagalog) and the 14 nouns cases of Estonian.
Social Networks and Language LearningA little while ago, we blogged about how internet terms are being translated into other languages. I recently changed my Facebook language setting to Arabic, hoping to acquire some technical Arabic. You just never know when you might need to use words like ﺇﻋﺩﺍﺩﺍﺖ ﺍﻠﺷﺑﻛﺎﺕ (network settings) and المطوّرون (developers)! ... More Tags: facebook, language learning, Twitter
What English Sounds Like To ForeignersThis feels appropriate for Friday the 13th… We just came across this video in which some innovative (and groovy) Italians mimic the phonemic inventory and intonational contours of English with a bunch of gibberish. If you think you can pick out words and phrases from the string, just remember that it’s imagined, but it proves that he’s done a good job. (Alternate title: “What Bob Dylan Sounds Like To Everyone.”) Tags: English, Italian
Email by Any Other Name …Something to think about while you’re buying an iPhone™, Kindle™, laptop, or other internet-related gadget for the holidays—with so many new internet terms popping up in English these days, how are those terms being translated into other languages?... More Tags: email, French, internet, purism, vocabulary
Do Newborns Cry in Different Languages?According to one study, yes. ... More
Becoming Italian: At a Cafe, Online, and In ConversationDianne Hales closed out October with some great advice for using your Italian in different situations, from the caffè to the internet. A sampling after the jump…... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: At HomeHere are some of the most important words you’ll need to talk about your home.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Would You Like to Participate in a Language Learning Group?We’ve done a good deal of research on how to create a successful language course, and now we want to learn more about how our customers put it to use. To do this, we’re forming Language Learning Groups in Spanish and French, and we’re looking for twenty qualified participants for each language.... More Tags: Complete Basic Course, French, language learning, language learning methods, Spanish
Language Superlearners SurveyMichael Erard, author of Um…: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean, is working on a new book about language superlearners and is looking for language speakers of any level to take part in a brief survey on language learning. Pitch in! If you speak six or more languages, click here. (Wow! Good for you.) If you do not have much experience with a language other than your mother tongue, click here. (This second category includes people who may have studied a language in high school or college, but wouldn’t consider themselves bilingual or multilingual.) More information on the book can be found here. We’ll be interested in seeing the results; goodness knows we love a good popular science language book. Tags: bilingualism, multilingualism
Essential Italian: In ConversationSome of the most basic expressions in Italian are the ones you’ll use in conversation.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Becoming Italian: Shopping, Loving, Sleeping, DrivingWe can barely keep up with the amazing posts Dianne Hales is writing over on her blog for Italian Heritage month. A sneak peak:... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: OnlineMost computer terms in Italian are borrowings from English. Here are some of the more obvious you’ll need when talking about computers in Italian.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: At a Coffee BarHere are some phrases you’ll need in any coffee bar.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: In a ShopBefore you go shopping in Italy (and we do hope you get to go shopping in Italy!), brush up on the following essential phrases.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: In LoveBefore you can fall in love, you have to make friends. Here are some phrases you can use socially in Italian if you want to make friends.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Italian: A Trip, A Market, A RestaurantOver at Becoming Italian, Dianne Halles is continuing her series of thoughts on learning Italian with essays on La Bella Lingua in Viaggio, La Bella Lingua al Mercato, and La Bella Lingua al Ristorante. A sampling: Prosciutto, both crudo (raw) and cotto (cooked), is sold by the fetta (slice). Una fetta sottile usually refers to a small slice of meat; a fetta grossa, a large slice or hunk. You buy milk in bottiglia (a bottle); jam in barattolo (a jar), sugar, pasta or rice in scatola (a box); beer or coca cola, in lattina (a can). Butter is usually sold in panetto; parsley, basil, mint, and other fresh spices, in mazzo (a bunch). You can ask for un filone di pane (a loaf of bread) but remember that Italian bread is never sold sliced (a fette or affettato). When in doubt, I use an all-purpose term an Italian friend taught me: confezione, which literally means packaging or wrapping, but also refers to almost anything packaged. So whether you’re buying cookies, coffee, sugar, or tuna, you can confidently ask for “una confezione…di biscotti, di caffè, di zucchero, or di tonno.” For foods sold in certain numbers, such as eggs (uova), you request “una confezione da 6 (or da 12) di uova.”Read more on Becoming Italian Word By Word. And don’t forget to enter the Celebrate Italian Heritage Contest! You still have until November 7th, but why not enter now? Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: On the RoadGetting around by car can be daunting; use these phrases to help you get from point A to point B.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Top 10 Secrets for Learning Italian (Part 2)More language learning advice from Dianne Hales on her blog, including my favorite piece of advice: Don’t be afraid of tripping over your tongue. “Sbagliando si impara,” Italians say. “You learn by making mistakes.” Focus on communicating, not speaking in diagram-able sentences. If you can’t think of the correct tense, just say the infinitive of a verb — parlare for “speak”, for example — or stick to the present tense. And by all means, use your hands. That’s molto italiano.Read more over at her blog. Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: At the MarketHere are some phrases to use while shopping at the market.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: At the HotelThe staff at most hotels speak English, but these essential phrases might come in handy nonetheless.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian: In a RestaurantThe best part of visiting Italy is the fantastic food. Here are some essential dining phrases to make your restaurant experience the best it can be.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
A Fun Read on Idioms from Across the GlobeIf you’ve learned another language, you know that idioms are difficult to get right, because their literal translations don’t necessarily match up with their meanings. But that makes them a lot of fun, too. You can sometimes figure out how the string of words came to have the intended meaning, but just as often you’ll have no clue. Either way, they sound anything from funny to just plain bizarre when they’re literally translated. ... More Tags: idioms
Essential Italian: On a TripIf you’re visiting Italy as a tourist, you’ll need some essential phrases for your trip. ... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Top 10 Secrets for Learning Italian (Part 1)Dianne Hales, author of La Bella Lingua, shares the first five of her top 10 secrets for learning Italian.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian Phrases: Part 2Here are five more Italian phrases you absolutely have to know if you’re studying Italian, or simply visiting for a few days.... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Essential Italian Phrases: Part 1Let’s kick off our celebration of Italian Heritage Month with five phrases you can’t do without in Italian. ... More Tags: Italian, Italian Heritage Month
Recognizing Syllables In Language (And In Sigur Ros Lyrics)Just read the short piece “Private Tongues,” an interesting essay on how we recognize our own language versus how we discern (or don’t) the differences in syllables in other languages. Anglophones are quick to recognize the differences between regional dialects of English, but mostly consider other languages to be monolithic. This is sort of like being able to differentiate between lime, chartreuse, olive, khaki and pea, but seeing all shades of red as a single color.Incidentally, we’re big Sigur Rós fans in the office, though I’d never thought of the lyrics to “Untitled #1 (Vaka)” in English. I will, however, admit to interpreting Kate Bush’s “jeux sans frontières” (in Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers,” the phrase’s English translation) as “she’s so popular” when I first heard it many moons ago. Related: One of us who speaks some Icelandic contends that there’s a lot more Icelandic to “Vonlenska” than most people realize. (SUZANNE) Tags: Icelandic, Sigur Ros
“I salute yaw vigah”One among us hails from Woostah, or rather Worcester, Massachusetts. He doesn’t speak that way any more, but did as a child, and can summon it at will. Which makes for a really good Mayor Quimby impersonation. (He also talks about wicked hahd slahp shawts, as in ice hockey.)... More
Yamli: A Great Tool for Typing in ArabicIf you’ve ever tried to type in Arabic, you know it’s not necessarily the easiest thing in the world. You can insert Arabic letters using the Insert Symbol menu in Word, but that’s pretty tedious. There are also virtual Arabic keyboards out there, such as this one, which allows you to use your own keyboard, or this one, which allows you to use your mouse to click on virtual keys. In both cases, you can copy the text you produce and paste it somewhere else.... More Tags: Arabic, Arabic script, learning Arabic, Yamli
On Speaking English in BombayThe subtleties of communication in India sometimes require not just a knowledge of a different language, but a different knowledge of your own language as well, as explained by Jil Wheeler in her essay at The Morning News. The most difficult element of Bombay English to master comes from a tiny syllable—bhi or hi—that is inserted in to Hindi sentences to emphasize the word preceding it. In “red hi hat hai,” it’s the red hat (not the blue), while in “red hat hi hai,” it’s the red hat (not the shirt). The problem—if you consider it a problem, which you probably don’t, unless you tried this morning like me to catch a taxi, only, to the office itself—is that people aren’t content to simply translate bhi and hi as increased stress on the word. They also translate “bhi” or “hi” as “only” or “itself;” e.g., it’s the red hat only. You probably have no idea what I’m talking about, but anyone who has been to India does. Tags: English, Hindi, India
Stroopwafels, anyone??April 30th is Koninginnedag (Queen’s Day), the national holiday of the Netherlands in honor of Queen Beatrix. ... More Tags: Dutch, Koninginnedag, Queen's Day, stroopwafels
Who doesn’t love free music?During my daily morning hunt for a music playlist, I stumbled across Minority Language Radio. It’s full of surprising snippets and songs by artists in many (potentially) endangered and minority languages. Check out the list of artists under Khoisan languages, if you’d like to listen to some songs with ‘click’ sounds. Miriam Makeba is mistakenly listed under that list—she sings in Xhosa which belongs to the Bantu languages. However, the clicks in Xhosa are generally considered to be adopted through strong historical interactions (in the past) with neighboring Khoisan populations. Xhosa of course, isn’t endangered, but here’s a link to the famous Qongqothwane song (also known as “The Click Song”) by Makeba. (ELHAM) Tags: endangered languages, music, xhosa
“I’m Nipmuc — this is my language.”NPR has a great feature on the Nipmuc language, and how David White, an electrician from Massachusetts is doing his best to keep it alive. Today, less than ten people speak the Nipmuc language which is based on the Algonquian dialect. NPR also has a link to a beautiful spoken prayer in Nipmuc, be sure to give it a listen. (ELHAM) Tags: endangered languages, nipmuc
The game’s afoot…It’s generally hard to escape any kind of sports fervor, and this month I’ve been even more attuned to sports metaphors in everyday language. There are the easy ones: he took a shot, slam dunk, hit a home run, etc. Then there are the ones that baffle, a recent favorite being heat on the fastball.... More Tags: english, language, sports
Schott’s VocabBen Schott, author of numerous Schott’s Miscellanies, is authoring a blog on language at The New York Times called Schott’s Vocab, which investigates the stories behind words and phrases in recent news such as peregruzka, guo jin min tui, and glam-mas. Tags: current events, vocabulary
The 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English LanguageAs a sort of follow-up to Stephen Fry’s entreaty for more people to appreciate the loveliness of language, here’s a list of the 100 most beautiful words in the English language. While the English word I consider to be the most beautiful — “murmur” — wasn’t included, I was reminded of some other lovely words (“inglenook” and “mondegreen”) that I hope to surreptitiously work into conversation as much as is humanly possible. See what I did there? (SUZANNE) Tags: English
Stephen Fry on LanguageThis is already a month old, and chances are you’ve come across it many times over, but I’ll point you to it anyway: Stephen Fry offers us his thoughts on language in podcast form (as opposed to his mockery of discussions on language, which he acknowledges in this podcast). There’s nothing inherently new in what he’s saying, but it’s the most interesting essay on language I’ve heard in a long time. Alternatively, if you’re a visual learner, you can read the text of the post on his blog, though I’d recommend the podcast for the pure joy of hearing such passages as Let there be textural delight, let there be silken words and flinty words and sodden speeches and soaking speeches and crackling utterance and utterance that quivers and wobbles like rennet. Let there be rapid firecracker phrases and language that oozes like a lake of lava.That Stephen Fry can articulate a cardboard box. (SUZANNE) Tags: linguistics
A Good Month to Cut Wood?Since it’s the beginning of a New Year, it’s as good a time as any to talk about the names of months in various languages. Most European languages use the same Latin roots for the names of months, which is why it’s usually pretty easy to learn them. January, for example, is janvier in French, Januar in German, enero in Spanish, gennaio in Italian, januari in Dutch, as well as in Swedish. Even Hungarian, which is not an Indo-European language, calls the month január.... More Tags: foreign language, January, months
Il Bay-Watch: English Words in Foreign ContextI recently came across a reference in an English sentence written by an Italian to a “bay-watch,” where she meant to say “lifeguard.” I asked my co-workers if they’d ever heard of a lifeguard being referred to in English as a “bay-watch,” and no one had ever heard it used in such a way. We decided that this must be a term adopted in Italian from the internationally successful David Hasselhof/Pamela Anderson lifeguarding show, and used as a slang term to mean “lifeguard.” Someone else brought up the fact that the French use “la pom-pom girl” to mean “cheerleader.” I went searching for more examples, and found that in Austria, where “das Oldtimer” is an antique car and “das Handy” is a cell phone, the words “dressman, photoshooting, showmaster, beamer, popper, twen and sunnyboy” are all used to a different end than they might be in English, if they’re ever used in English at all. Know of any other examples of an English phrase used to mean something different in a foreign language? E-mail us: watchyourlanguage@randomhouse.com (SUZANNE) Tags: French, German, Italian, loanwords, slang
Meh“Meh” indicates a lack of interest or enthusiasm, and it recently became one of the newest words to be added to the Collins English Dictionary. Apparently, it was inspired by an episode of The Simpsons, where Homer tries to pry away the kids from watching T.V., and they respond with, “Meh.” We’re wondering if meh was perhaps adapted from the Yiddish word “mnyeh,” which also suggests indifference. Tags: coinage
The Speech Accent ArchiveI can’t stop browsing the Speech Accent Archive, which documents the voices of non-native speakers of English. (via The Morning News) A valuable resource for actors and ESL instructors alike. (SUZANNE) Tags: accents, english
Peter K. Austin’s Top 10 Endangered LanguagesI’m not sure how it’s possible to list your “favorite” endangered languages. Around these parts, depending on who you’re talking to, you can find us discussing Sercquiais on a Tuesday, Istro-Romanian on a Wednesday, and by the time Thursday rolls around we’re trying to figure out whether or not Lenape is extinct (alas, it is). Peter K. Austin, however, seems to have a better sense of his own preferences, as he was able to compile his Top 10 Endangered Languages for The Guardian. (Via.) (SUZANNE) Tags: endangered languages
Guess the AccentA bit of fun to start your week: Can you guess where my accent is from? (Via.) I’m convinced a few of the Americans have lived abroad for some time, but I could be wrong. And humbled for not recognizing the accents of my own countrymen. (SUZANNE) Tags: accents
Pop vs. SodaSorry to be stuck on English, but this is perhaps one of my favorite debates: Pop vs. Soda. I grew up in the Midwest saying “pop,” and it wasn’t until I moved out East and was ridiculed to death for my terminology in college that I felt forced to change my wicked ways. I’ve found compromise by saying “soda pop,” and modulating my voice to emphasize a different word depending on the person I’m talking to. Strange Maps takes a look at my geographical vocabulary constraints with this Pop vs. Soda map. And just for the record? I don’t drink soda pop at all. Maybe a root beer every few months. And when I want that, I just say “root beer.” Or should that be “sarsaparilla?” (SUZANNE) Tags: English, English language, regional accents, vocabulary
Grammar: The Transgression vs. The CorrectionSome light reading for the weekend: Web comic Wondermark picks on Larry the Language Nerd. (via Language Log) Tags: English, English language, grammar
Variety’s Slanguage: Entertainment Biz SlangVariety, the entertainment business news weekly, has used its own brand of slang, which they call “slanguage,” since 1905. They’ve even provided a slanguage dictionary on their website. (Via kottke.org) (SUZANNE) Tags: English, English language, media, slang
Yupik Eskimos and their Whistled LanguageWe just stumbled across a story on NPR from a while back about a community in Alaska where the inhabitants whistle to communicate across long distances. More about whistled languages here. Tags: alaska, whistled languages, yupik eskimos
Gell-Mann on the Ancestry of LanguagePhysicist Murray Gell-Mann expresses his opinion on theories of modern language ancestry at TED.com. Tags: linguistics
I say “kukuriku,” you say “cock-a-doodle-doo”And who’s right? Well, no rooster would understand either of us, so let’s call the whole thing off. The words we use to refer to animal sounds are only vaguely imitative, and therefore, can differ quite a bit from language to language. If you’d like to explore these interesting and, sometimes, amusing differences, check out the links below provided here via Visual Thesaurus. Note the first link in particular, where the words for animal sounds in several different languages are recorded by the best voice talent available for the job—little children. [ZVIEZDANA]Tags: animal sounds, onomatopoeia
How do you tawk?On our team here at Living Language, even though not everyone is a native speaker of English, we tend to spend a lot of our time discussing (okay, making fun of) regional differences in the speech of those of us who are Americans. I’m the favorite target, frankly, having been raised in that state right across the Hudson River from our offices in Manhattan. But, I like to argue that a variety of English that makes a sharp distinction between talk and tock, hawk and hock, and Dawn and Don is richer and more interesting, right? I can only feel sorry for my phonologically impoverished colleagues.... More Tags: American English, dialects, regional accents, varieties
Simpsons funLanguage play accounts for a good portion of laughs you get from “The Simpsons.” In case you ever wanted a taxonomy of Simpsons language jokes, linguist Heidi Harley has been putting it together in her blog for four years, going back to 2005. Tags: humor, linguistics, Simpsons
Even Dummies Can Learn With Living Language!Well, maybe not, actually. At Living Language we’re always on the lookout for success stories about people who use our programs to learn new languages. So we were delighted to find this video, in which a dummy — or I suppose the term they prefer is puppet — learns Japanese with one of our courses. He starts out pretty well, but, unfortunately, we saw that we can’t quite put this one in the win column. Still, we’d like to congratulate Kearsley Malarkey for trying, and thank him for choosing Living Language. But, ahem, please choose one of our competitors for your next language. (CHRIS)
Tags: Complete Basic Course, Japanese, puppet
Guernésiais stampsTo honor the history of Guernsey’s native language, Guernésiais, stamps have been released featuring commonly used phrases such as “L’affaire va-t-alle?” and “À la perchôine.” Click here to read more about the language.(ELHAM)
Tags: language, stamps
Ken Lee Tulibu Dibu DouchooWe’ve all struggled with getting the song lyrics right before, and things are just so much harder when you’re trying to figure them out in a language that you don’t speak well. Remember the endless rewinding? And can you ever hit the right spot?! Teenage life became so much more bearable when cassettes were replaced by CDs, but any reason for drama positively disappeared with the internet and iPods. ... More Tags: mariah carey, song lyrics
The difficulties of typesetting ArabicSomething we’re all too familiar with: The difficulties of typesetting Arabic. (via languagehat) The technical problem is this: Arabic letters are generally not written separately but joined to each other in groups or entire words, like a script typeface in English. And though the Arabic alphabet has only 28 letters, most letters have four forms, depending on whether they occur at the beginning of the word, in the middle of the word, at the end of the word, or stand alone. Furthermore, each combination of letters is unique, creating a typographic challenge greater than Chinese. Because all letters connect dynamically with the preceding one, and most also with the following one, the number of unique combinations is almost astronomical. (SUZANNE) Tags: Arabic
America’s Next Top Language LearnerToday at Living Language, we spiral into the world of television gossip to report that in last week’s episode of America’s Next Top Model, the girls were “forced” to speak Italian. What was most interesting to me in watching the episode was to see how the models interpreted the “phonetics” that were given to them on cue cards. Those who read the phonetics straight from the page seemed to be speaking gibberish, whereas the models who used mimicry — interpreting the script with an over the top Italian accent to match the film crew eagerly feeding them lines — tended to get it more or less right. I never thought I’d use a televised modeling competition as a jumping off point for a language learning tip, but if that isn’t proof of the benefits of “listen and repeat” right there, then, well, then I must be a top model. (SUZANNE) Tags: Italian
Learning English, the CRAZY wayThe New Yorker has a great article on Li Yang and his method of learning English through shouting. There’s still some debate about whether his methods are linguistically sound, but without a doubt, he is quite an interesting language teacher. China intends to teach itself as much English as possible by the time the guests arrive, and Li has been brought in by the Beijing Organizing Committee to make that happen. He is China’s Elvis of English, perhaps the world’s only language teacher known to bring students to tears of excitement. ... MoreTags: English, language learning
Getting Started in TradingThe New York Times has a graphic on the hand gestures used by traders on the floor of the stock exchange, a spectacle that has always fascinated and baffled me (Question No. 1: Who are they gesturing to?). And now it mystifies me slightly less. (SUZANNE) Tags: sign language
Semantic AnticsSol Steinmetz, author of SEMANTIC ANTICS, was on NPR last weekend talking about how and why words develop new meanings. Many times, a change in meaning is due to the influence of foreign models. For example: ... More
The Colorful French TongueWhile searching through videos for yesterday’s little leg pull (which I’m sure most if not all of you figured out before you even got to the video - the Association for Preventing Redundancy In Languages and Finding Original Orthographic Linguistic Sources? It took three of us to come up with that…) we came across something that tickled us pink: a spoof of our language courses from The Leslie Uggams Show in the late sixties. (Yes, we’ve been around since long before French maid costumes were considered comedy.) I couldn’t wait another day to share it with you, so you get two videos in a row this week. (SUZANNE)
Amazonian tribeswoman speaks language similar to EnglishAnthropologists and linguists are baffled by the recent discovery of an Amazonian tribe of women who speak a language remarkably similar to American English. In order to investigate this linguistic anomaly more closely, they have flown one of the women back to the United States to conduct more experiments in the sound studios at MIT’s Association for Preventing Redundancy In Languages and Finding Original Orthographic Linguistic Sources. Click below to see the scientists’ footage of the tribeswoman and her remarkable language. ... More
We’re Talking About Language
I sometimes fear that when we get started talking about language, this is what we sound like to our co-workers.
Tags: linguistics
Cow dialectology?!Not likely if you ask LanguageLog and linguists. But scientific facts cannot stop some PR people and BBC journalists. Check out how and why the false idea that cows speak/moo in dialects has made the news all around the globe. Here’s my favorite “news bit” cited by LanguageLog. —I think this cow is from Buenos Aires. —You are mistaken; although it walks rapidly as if it were late for work, its moo is typical of cows from Santa Fe. Don’t worry, this dialog is fictitious, but according to the most recent theories of language specialists, this conversation could easily be real, because cows, just like humans, seem to have regional accents.[Zviezdana]
A very foreign language filmLinguists, the least likely Hollywood stars, are getting some major attention at the Sundance Festival this year. The Linguists details David Harrison’s and Gregory Anderson’s race to catalogue endangered languages such as Kallawaya and Chulym. I think an “Indiana Joneses of language hunters” kind of film definitely deserves a top spot in my Netflix queue. (ELHAM) Tags: endangered languages
Arabic Lessons: “It gets easier.”Robert F. Worth looks at the complexities of learning Arabic for the New York Times.... More Tags: Arabic
Texting in AmharicTexting in Ge’ez is now possible in Ethiopia, thanks to a new brand of cellphones by Nokia. It must have been quite a task; Ge’ez characters with all their variants number up to nearly 300. ... More Tags: Amharic, texting
Mapping Language: Europe, 1730The folks at Strange Maps today feature an ethnolinguistic map of Europe from 1730. The alphabets circling the map are of particular interest, as is the apparent color-coding of different linguistic regions. The map also uses the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer (a common starting point for documenting and comparing European languages at the time) to denote each region. (SUZANNE) Tags: ethnolinguistics, European languages
Let’s eat some wikipediaApparently in Beijing, some restaurant menus offer stir-fried wikipedia, with wikipedia being another name for flat, crispy mushrooms. You can even order it with pimientos and it’s quite delicious. I don’t know about you, but I’d be up for some wikipedia with steamed eggs, html, and salmon. (ELHAM) Tags: language, where food and web 2.0 collide, wikipedia
For Egyptian hieroglyphs enthusiastsThe Times has a great article on deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, with a link to the hieroglyphic “alphabet.” There’s even a quiz you can take, and if you want to go a step further, UPenn has a form that will allow you to inscribe your name in hieroglyphs. Mine’s a combination of an owl, an arm, a sphinx, and something that looks like the @ symbol, which made me look up the history of @. I never imagined the symbol went back all the way back to the Italian Renaissance. (ELHAM)
Whomever: a made-up word used to trick studentsLanguage Log posts a clip of the whoever vs. whomever debate from last week’s episode of The Office, along with links to the serious debate that followed. (SUZANNE)
The Talented Multilingual ClockVerbarius is a great solution for those having trouble learning how to tell time in a foreign language; it has the ability to write out time, for example: “Mitternacht” instead of 12:00 a.m. (Link via Swissmiss.) You can upload any language your PC supports, even Xhosa and Zulu.... More
Translation telephonyRemember that kids game telephone? You can now play it here with translations, sans people. (Via Wired.) I just had fun plugging in: “I am a funky monkey,” which after being translated into Japanese, back to English, Chinese, English again, and then French, churned up: “J’évente le singe essentiel de matin de caractère.” Translate that back into English, and the machine comes up with “ventilating essential monkeys” and their morning character. ... More
Spam in EsperantoSpammers, in an effort to get around e-mail spam filters, have begun using Esperanto translations of Russian science fiction for the subject lines of their e-mails. Language Log discovers that this technique actually works.... More
Vive Le GyroLanguage Hat and Language Log explore why Canadians refer to gyro as “doner” or “donair.” Here at the offices of Living Language, we just spent a few minutes discussing how we say the word “gyro,” and the pronunciations range from “JYE-roe” to “JEE-roe.” Some of us even order the “HEE-roe.”... More
Bonjour, mon petit bureau de change!French Lessons, Flight of the Conchords style.... More
Birds of a feather hawk togetherIn our offices we’re constantly debating the proper pronunciation of the word “hawk.” We’re well aware that there are many different possible pronunciations depending on what part of the country you come from, but it’s eternally amusing to hear that the way I say “hawk” reminds other people of something a bit more unpleasant than a bird of prey. ... More
Ennywun can lern simpl spelling, yoI’m not degenerating into my fourteen-year-old self chatting on AIM, but using a spelling glossary recommended by the Simplified Spelling Society. ... More
Te Wiki o te Reo MāoriIt’s Māori language week in New Zealand, and to get into the spirit, I’ve been spending some quality time over at the interactive quizzes and conversation sections of the Kōrero Māori website. (The fact that my inner Flash geek is amazed at the design and interactivity of the games has nothing to do with it, really.) ... More
How does one translate “The Deathly Hallows”?Harri Putter: That’s what the famous Harry Potter is jokingly called in India. (A literal translation would mean “Green Son.”) In Arabic, he’s known as “Hari Butor.”... More
CelebrationsSo we completely missed celebrating Bastille Day this past Saturday. It’s possible I might have uttered a French phrase or two on the day, and I’m pretty sure I had a glass of Chardonnay, but I didn’t catch the fireworks. ... More
Awa-ohAdvertising is a clever game — often a language game (I certainly pause every time I hear Devo in a dust cloth commercial). ... More
Aakhri KhattaatScott Carney recently wrote about the dying art of Urdu calligraphy, and detailed how a small group of khattaat (calligraphers) who run one of the few handwritten papers in the world, face extinction because of widespread use of the Urdu typeface.... More
A bird is a bird is a birdSometimes even we forget that writing systems are built of the same lines and curves, only in different configurations. We need something like this toy block set to come along and remind us of that fact. Someone needs to do a multi-alphabetic version — Hindi, Russian, Chinese, Latin, Greek, Thai, Arabic, etc. Or maybe that would just be called “string.” (SUZANNE)
Da Zhen! (a.k.a. Touchdown!)From now on, when in China, please refer to American football as “Mei shi gan lan qiu.” Or its translation: “American-style olive-shaped ball.” To make things even more confusing, it could also mean “American-style rugby.”... More
Multilingual Dog TrainingSomeone please add this to the list of, umm, bizarre ways to learn commands in a foreign language. If Finnish, Hebrew, Polish, and Hungarian aren’t enough, you can also train your dog in Icelandic. (ELHAM)
Mick Jagger speaks CatalanWell, “better than average” anyway. Here’s a YouTube clip of his effort in Catalan. Mick, you know what the next step is; you have to start singing in Catalan. (ELHAM)
Tony Soprano’s Shish KebabThis might very well be the only post on the internet right now about “The Sopranos” that has nothing to do with the ending. ... More
oh hai, i has parsed ur sentencezA linguistic appreciation of LOLcode, inspired by the LOLcat phenomenon. (via Language Log) (SUZANNE)
Sont des langues qui vont très bien ensembleThe Guardian Arts Blog asks readers for their favorite multi-lingual songs. We did a quick poll around the office, and came up with a list of our own (mostly French-English) favorites:... More
But is he any good at the piano?This man can write Arabic numerals using all 10 fingers at once. (SUZANNE)
Not so much to do with language, but…A praying mantis: Literally. (Via Boing Boing) (ELHAM)
Wear your pun on your sleeve“War and peas” tees. (via Largehearted Boy) (SUZANNE)
How stuff works: Universal TranslatorsWhat we want to know is, will you sound like a speak ‘n spell when you say “Buenos días”? (Link) (SUZANNE)
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