17 October 2009
A very interesting item from BBC Radio 4's Today programme about endangered languages. At the moment, some 7,000 languages are spoken globally but some predict that number will shrink in the next few decades.
Questions such as "what makes a language 'living'?", and "should we conserve the endangered ones?" are discussed in the piece,
"The death of language?"Labels: foreign language
25 September 2009
Tomorrow sees the annual
European Day of Languages. Initiated by the Council of Europe in 2001, this day sees various celebrations of language, diveristy and foreign language learning across Europe every 26 September.
The 27 states of the European Union share some 225 indigenous languages with many more spoken by citizens whose family origin is from further afield. Some 23 are recognised as official languages, and the EU has provided a written and audio sample of each on their
Languages in the EU webpage.
To celebrate European Day of Languages, the
European Commission Representation in London has made available to schools some 200,000 copies of a language mini guide. The colourful guide is an excellent EDL resource, giving a small
example of European languages (PDF download).
You can find more information on the
European Union in London here, as well as more on European events and news.
Meanwhile, if you are a teacher, pupil or parent, why not have a look at the
EU young translator contest. This Europe-wide competition, called Juvenes Translatores, is open to secondary schools with registration running until 20 October.
Whatever you are doing to celebrate this European Day of Languages, enjoy!
Labels: EU, European Day of Languages, European Union, foreign language, translation
27 August 2009
A language school based in Dubai are planning to make use of Twitter to bring basic Arabic language to a worldwide audience.
Followers of the Eton Institute will get a daily lesson, containing an English
transliteration of an Arabic phrase. Starting with simple words such as "hello" and "goodbye", the lessons purport to develop into more advanced real world scenarios including work, school, travel and so on.
The institute's Managing Director added: “Learning the Arabic language doesn’t have to be a chore. By offering short and easy to remember lessons on Twitter we hope to make the learning process as simple as a ‘tweet’ which can be followed on a daily basis.”
Some may have their doubts about learning even the most rudimentary knowledge of a foreign language in such a simplified way. Combined with other resources on the internet to aid with pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, however, it may be an interesting way for a complete novice to dip their toe in the Arabic water.
The lessons start on 1 September. If you want to see how it works out, simply follow
EtonInstitute on Twitter.
Labels: Arabic, foreign language
21 August 2009
A fun new book out this summer takes a sideways look at the idioms and sayings of the world.
"I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ear and Other Intriguing Idioms from Around the World" takes its title from a Russian saying which is broadly similar in meaning to the English phrase "I'm not pulling your leg". Often, we are so used to these absurdities in our own languages that they pass us by in everyday speech – although of course they often present a challenge to the foreign language translator!
The book is best viewed as a something to dip into, considering idioms from the Russian “To look like September” (to look miserable) through to the French “to fart in silk” (be very happy).
The chapters are arranged by subject matter (love, health, work, and so on) with a short introduction to each, and translations from a range of languages including French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. Several of the idioms are illustrated in cartoon form, adding to the entertainment value.
Sadly the book doesn't really delve into the background of the idioms. An academic study would have been out of place, but you can't help but wonder if a more thorough exploration of a phrase and its etymology would have added to the fun. Also, as
foreign language typesetters and translators, we would have liked to see more emphasis on the original saying rather than just the literal translation.
That said, it's all good fun. Even better, it's inspired the Guardian newspaper to produce a
fun quiz of foreign language idioms. Give it a go and, as they point out, you can find out if you're "a walking donkey killer or simply carrying owls to Athens"
Labels: foreign language, global, literature
14 August 2009
Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out this news story about
York council coming under fire for relying on online machine translation.
There's a couple of funny examples but there is also an underlying serious point. If you want to communicate details and nuances of your services in a foreign language, the often rough and ready translation provided free online might not be good enough or, even worse, can make you a laughing stock.
There really is no substitute for
professional translation services provided by a human being!
Labels: foreign language, professional, translation
09 December 2008
There is mixed news in a new report on languages in secondary schools from the
National Centre for Languages (CiLT). They looked at a sample of schools across the UK in a survey they have carried out each year since 2002.
First the good news. State schools in the UK are starting to offer a much broader range of foreign languages than the traditional French or German. Since 2005 the number of schools offering Mandarin as an option has increased from 2% to 14%, while Italian has increased from 7% to 18%. The availability of Urdu, Russian and Arabic has also increased.
With China's growing influence in the world, making Mandarin available as a foreign language option can only be a good thing. And learning it from an early age is no bad thing either, as some people find it difficult to adapt to the
Mandarin pronunciation later in life.
Many also find it difficult to get to grips with the writing system which uses individual characters for particular words or concepts. The examples featured in the
Chinese GCSE specification (PDF) I looked at were written in
Simplified Chinese, as one would expect for people learning Mandarin with an eye to interacting with mainland China (or more correctly the People's Republic of China).
This at least reduces the number of characters that need to be learned, although there are still thousands!
And it is interesting to note that many Traditional Chinese characters seem to be gaining currency even in the PRC as the influence of Hong Kong is felt.
There is a down side exposed in the CiLT report though. Although the decline in foreign languages in our schools has bottomed out, this summer saw just 44% of Key Stage 4 (ie 16 year old) pupils sit a language GCSE. Compare this to France where the teaching of English is compulsory up to age 17.
Although many schools are taking up alternative qualifications to GCSE to tempt pupils to learn languages, we still lag some way behind many other EU countries.
My daughter is currently going through the process of chososing her GCSE subject and to try to ensure she takes at least one foreign language I will be directing her here –
700 reasons why it is good to learn another language.
Labels: Chinese, education, foreign language, Mandarin
