Language Trainers Blogs

June 2013:

June 17 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Häufig sieht man – zum Beispiel in Uni- oder Volkshochschulnähe - Aushänge von Menschen, die nach Tandempartnern suchen. Dass diese Leute keine Freizeitpartner zum gemeinsamen Fahren auf einem langen Fahrrad suchen, wird einem spätestens bei genauerer Betrachtung der Anzeige klar. Aber was sind Sprachtandems eigentlich, und warum sind sie so beliebt' In einem Sprachtandem sucht man sich einen oder mehrere Leute, die Muttersprachler in der Sprache sind, die Du erlernen möchtest.  Andersherum möchten sie Deine Sprache lernen. Das Schöne dabei ist, das alle im selben Boot sitzen... (Read More).

June 17 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

If someone asked whether I thought grammar and funny could go hand in hand, I would say no. But alas, grammar can be hilarious if you’re not the one who messed up! Common mistakes with the words your and you’re are the biggest violators.  So what’s the difference' The word your usually parks itself in front of a noun or pronoun to show possession. For example: Nicolas will pass on your questions today. Now, the word you’re is a contraction for you are. This rule is nonnegotiable. If you cannot write it out as you are in a sentence, then you’re wrong! (Ha, get it') For... (Read More).

June 13 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

London plays host to a unique 2 day event this weekend, and you're invited! Nordicana is the very first Scandinavian expo we've had here and you can find all the proceedings at the Farmiloe Building in Clerkenwell. Whether you're learning Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or Finnish, there will be something here for you. Events scheduled include free all-day cinema, food stalls, and Q&As with Swedish novellist Arne Dahl and Danish actresses Marie Askehave (The Killing) and Sidse Babett Knudsen (Borgen). Some events need to be booked in advance so check the website for details. You'll find... (Read More).

June 13 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Einmal im Monat wird an dieser Stelle ein Wort vorgestellt, dass fest im deutschen Sprachgebrauch verankert ist, aber eine überraschende oder kuriose Geschichte hat. Das kann ein Fremdwort oder Lehnwort sein – und oftmals kann uns nur die historische Linguistik Aufschluss darüber geben, wo seine Wurzeln liegen. Das erste Wort, das wir uns genauer ansehen, ist das Wort Fenster und so alltäglich es sich anhört, so interessant ist seine Geschichte. Der Duden sagt, dass das Wort lateinischen Ursprungs ist und eng verwandt ist mit fenestra, -ae, f. – zu Deutsch: das Fenster, die... (Read More).

June 10 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A Yiddish word has caused controversy at America's annual spelling contest, Scripp's National Spelling Bee. Thirteen year old Arvind Mahankali spelled the word 'knaidel' to beat 11 other contestants and go on to win the high profile competition. However, Jewish linguists say that the preferred spelling is actually 'kneydl,' which refers to a small amount of unleavened bread, alternatively known as matzo balls. The competition result will be upheld as the Spelling Bee uses Webster's Third New International Dictionary, published by Merriam-Webster, as the official spelling of all words... (Read More).

June 07 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Samuel Johnson – der wichtigste Gelehrte und Literat Englands im 18. Jahrhundert  ist nach Shakespeare der am zweithäufigsten zitierte englische Schriftsteller. Er schrieb zahlreiche einflussreiche Biografien und Literaturkritiken und war Schlüsselfigur des kulturellen Lebens Londons zu jener Zeit. Ganz besonders bekannt ist er für sein Wörterbuch Dictionary of the English Language, an dem er neun Jahre arbeitete und das er fast im Alleingang verfasste – Unterstützung bekam er lediglich durch seine Angestellten, die seine markierten Literaturverweise verschriftlichten. Die... (Read More).

June 06 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A change in state laws in Germany means that the German language is to lose it's longest word. Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz (meaning 'law delegating beef label monitoring') was first introduced in 1999 in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in north west Germany, as the government looked to halt the spread of mad cow disease. The word is no longer in use as European union regulations have changed, and indeed was used so little that it never made the dictionary! Instead, the acronym RkReUAUG was more commonly employed. The German... (Read More).

June 03 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Channel 4 is set to become the first UK television station to broadcast foreign language advertisements on Sunday evening. The entire advert break will be in French with English subtitles, and will feature French brands such as L'Oreal and Renault. These are scheduled to show during a break in the new French zombie drama, The Returned (Les Revenants) which was a hit when it aired on French channel Canal+ last year. The eight part series will be the first subtitled series to air on the channel for 20 years. Watch the trailer... (Read More).

May 2013:

May 31 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

In keeping with our week’s theme on Internet slang, today we’re going to explore the wonderful world of strange Twitter terms. Twitter is an incredibly popular social network and micro blogging site that allows users to post updates with no more than 140 characters. Users tend to have difficulty squeezing thoughts into a limited character count, so the Twitterverse created it’s very own vernacular to appease the masses. Alongside Twitter’s traditional glossary of must-knows like “#” and “@username,” a few odd and humorous terms found their way into the mix. Here’s a... (Read More).

May 30 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Recently re-elected Truro city Councillor, Conan Jenkin, has called for Cornish to be integrated onto signs in Truro city centre. The City Council will initially investigate whether it can put the bilingual signs up to highlight local amenities. If this proves successful, Cornish language may appear on future signage. The decision was taken at a council meeting earlier this month, where a motion was also proposed to investigate the instigation of a Cornish Language Policy. Truro is the administrative capital of Cornwall and home to the highest number of Cornish speakers in the... (Read More).

May 29 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Like the evolution of dance, language has evolved for Internet users. The web created it’s own vernacular and unfortunately acknowledgement arrived in the form of the Oxford English Dictionary. A few years ago, OED decided to wave it’s white flag and add a few internet slang words to it’s lexicon: LOL, OMG, and <3 better known as: ♥. Although Internet slang was initially created to shorten the length of keystrokes or recompense for smaller character input areas, it quickly seeped into our everyday lives. At random moments throughout my day, I will hear or even say a few of these... (Read More).

May 27 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A new Welsh language initiative was launched by Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills, at the touring festival Urdd Eisteddfod today. In order to encourage Welsh speakers to use and promote the language through technology, funds totalling £750,000 have been made available over the next three years for people to develop projects to support the Welsh language within digital media platforms. Applications for grants can be made here. Mr Andrews said 'To ensure that the Welsh language thrives in the twenty-first century and that Welsh speakers are fully able to participate as... (Read More).

May 23 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

I've just spent a good hour on the BBC Skillswise site after finding loads of helpful little English language games. These are aimed at adult literacy learners, but I think some might help with students learning English as a second language too. As someone who didn't learn anything about grammar at school, (compound sentences, anyone') these were very helpful to me, even if just to learn what I'm actually applying in my everyday use of the language. My favourite is the homophones game. Some of the games are very basic, but it never hurts to refresh your skills... you might learn something... (Read More).

May 23 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Did you know fetuses start developing language skills in the last 10 weeks of pregnancy' Imagine what would happen if they had cell phones in the womb! Researchers in the United States and Sweden have discovered the tiny humans can actually learn by listening to their mother’s communicate. Have I blown your mind' The research is partly based on their auditory system already fully working during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy. Infants are able to listen and decipher sounds as well as remember and learn them. Once born, babies at just 30 hours old (I’m still younger) were exposed to... (Read More).

May 21 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

German immigrants migrated to Texas in the mid 1800’s, and integrated their culture and language in the generations to follow. Unfortunately, the German language is now dying off with its current generation. As a result of World War One and Two, areas in Texas that taught and conducted business primarily in German switched to the English language. The German dialect quickly fell out of favor, and that caused the language to not be passed on to children of the fifth and sixth generations. Those who spoke German in Texas created a new dialect known as ‘Texas German.’ Texas German is a... (Read More).

May 20 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Als ich vor einiger Zeit mit meinen drei engsten Freundinnen zusammensaß, kamen unweigerlich alte Geschichten auf den Tisch, denn wir haben viele Jahre lang gemeinsam die Schulbank gedrückt. Im Fokus standen diesmal alte Kamellen über den Französischunterricht, denn anstatt Vokabeln zu lernen, beschäftigten wir uns damals lieber mit albernen Streichen und dem zweifelsohne traurigen Privatleben des Französischlehrers. Nachdem wir Erinnerungen über versteckte Arbeitsblätter und mit Tafelwasser eingeweichte Lehrerstühle ausgetauscht hatten, wurden wir melancholisch, denn wir mussten... (Read More).

May 16 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Enjoy reading' Here are 5 of this summer's literary festivals to look forward to! London Literature Festival When' Monday 20 May 2013 - Sunday 8 September 2013 Where' Southbank Centre, London Highlights include: Launch of this years' Poems On The Underground, Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveller's Wife) discusses her work as an author, poetry readings from Sylvia Plath's final manuscript, Ariel.  Hay Festival When'  Thursday 23 May - Sunday 2 June 2013 Where' Hay-on-Wye, Wales Highlights include: Interview with the winner of the International Man Booker Prize... (Read More).

May 16 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Our North American neighbor, Canada, is often the butt of American jokes. I’m no better than my countrymen when Canadian relatives visit and their slang evokes pure hilarity. Fortunately, my relatives and most Canadians could care less about American’s poking fun at them. Because French and English are the two official languages, Canada has it’s very own slang: Here are a few popular slang terms Canadians use: Aboot: Canada’s pronunciation for the word “about.” - “What’s all your hollering aboot'” Canuck: a nickname for Canadians. - “I have only love for my... (Read More).

May 14 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Meine Nachbarin fragte mich kürzlich, ob ich ihr nicht ein Buch zum selbständigen Englischlernen empfehlen könne. Sie hatte das Fach in der Schule, aber leider ist nicht viel hängen geblieben. Als sie im Urlaub war und es mit der Kommunikation nur rudimentär klappte, bekam sie einen Motivationsschub und ist nun Feuer und Flamme. Da ich in meiner Tätigkeit als Englischvertretungslehrer vor einiger Zeit nur einen Einblick in Englischlehrbücher für Kinder – nicht aber Erwachsene – bekommen habe, musste ich mich zunächst selbst informieren, und was liegt da näher als der Besuch... (Read More).

May 14 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

During my travels abroad, I have immersed myself in many different cultures, dined on unique and exquisite foods, enjoyed meeting people of different ethnicities, and shared a global hate for all things to do with fanny packs! Fanny packs are the bane of my existence in the world of travel. In case you’re not familiar with said item, here is the official definition: Fanny pack: a small zippered pouch suspended from a belt around the waist. Fanny packs were once acclaimed as a helpful security measure for travelers, offering protection for passports and money. Thieves were deterred... (Read More).

May 13 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Acronyms certainly make our lives easier, even if we don't even realise we're using them. Lots of 'words' used on a day to day basis are actually abbreviated. For example, do you enjoy scuba diving' Would you enjoy explaining to people that you enjoy self contained underwater breathing apparatus diving more' What about sonar' Did you know it's actually sound navigation and ranging' With instant messaging and texting, using abbreviations has become more popular, and more importantly time saving. LOL, for example, is an acronym; whereas OMG is an abbreviation. An abbreviation becomes an... (Read More).

May 09 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Did you know that Japanese has three different alphabets' I didn't until today! The first is Kanji. There are 214 Kanji characters, some of which are known as radicals. Radicals are characters which are used to form other characters. Romaji is the way of writing Japanese using the Roman alphabet. Romaji literally means Roman. All Japanese words can be written in Romaji, making it easier for us Westerners to pronounce Japanese words, or at least know whereabouts in Japan we are! Kana is a writing system based on syllables. There are two components to this - katakana and hiragana.... (Read More).

May 09 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

New York is more than my home, it’s a brilliant city of merging cultures often called the world’s melting pot. On the days I don’t have any interest in cooking (which is quite often), my neighborhood offers an abundance of culinary options. As of late, my favorite cuisine has been Spanish food. Spanish food in New York is not only delicious but a medley of rich ingredients shared among Latin Americans in the area. One of my favorite Spanish dishes is arroz con pollo, which means chicken with rice in English. Although the name seems basic, there is nothing simple about this delicious... (Read More).

May 07 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Berlin – das ist die Stadt der Millionen Gesichter, der großen Geschichten und der hundert Sprachen. Wen es hierher verschlägt, den lässt diese Stadt nicht mehr los. Und der, der sie wieder verlässt, wird sie immer in sich tragen. Berlins Innenstadt ist ein Schmelztiegel der Kulturen; Tür an Tür wohnt hier die Vielfalt der Welt und ergänzt sich gegenseitig zu einem großen Ganzen. Dass man in der Weltmetropole Deutsch spricht, ist schon lange keine Selbstverständlichkeit mehr. Denn nicht nur Touristen bedienen sich des Englischen: Es finden immer mehr Expatriates den Weg an die... (Read More).

May 07 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Lately, I’ve found myself listening to music in foreign languages. Although English is my first language, I’ve never shied away from enjoying music from around the world. Sometimes listening to foreign music soothes my mind a bit easier than listening to an English song. Why is this' Well for starters, people enjoy listening to tunes in a foreign language because it’s easier to focus on the artists voice and musical instruments. Usually when you listen to music in your own language, your mind focuses on the words rather than the melodic instruments playing or the tones an artist... (Read More).

May 06 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Lets face it English is a stupid language. There is no egg in the eggplant No ham in the hamburger And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple. English muffins were not invented in England French fries were not invented in France. We sometimes take English for granted But if we examine its paradoxes we find that Quicksand takes you down slowly Boxing rings are square And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. If writers write, how come fingers don't fing. If the plural of tooth is teeth Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth If the teacher... (Read More).

May 02 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Exciting to see this on the BBC website this week! Hot Fingers is a BSL finger spelling competition; the main aim of which (other than fundraising!) is to set the fastest time spelling out words with your hands. Finger spelling is a method of communicating the alphabet using hand movements. It's used primarily to spell out names, as well as words which don't have a sign, or words you don't know the sign for! It's pretty time consuming so you wouldn't be able to hold a full conversation using just finger spelling!  Other sign languages spell the alphabet using just one hand, but in British... (Read More).

May 02 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

  During my recent trip to China, I met a few seniors who redefined the terms direct and humorous by asking several personal questions. While strolling through a park in Beijing, a curious group of old timers were eager to strike up a conversation with me. Here are a few questions they asked: 1. Have you been to Disneyland'  2. How old are you' 3. Why aren’t you married' 4. How much money do you make' 5. Do you own a gun'   Conversation topics often deemed too personal are actually considered a norm in China. Questions of this nature aren’t intended to be rude or... (Read More).

April 2013:

April 30 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Als ich vor einigen Tagen mit einer Freundin in London war, besuchten wir ein Konzert. Wir kamen an der Konzerthalle an und sahen einige Menschen kreisförmig auf dem Boden sitzen, andere hatten sich in einer Schlange angeordnet. Also gesellten wir uns beiläufig dazu. Nach einiger Zeit sprach uns eine junge Frau aufgeregt an und verlangte von uns, dass wir uns ganz hinten anstellen sollten. Dass es „einfach nicht fair“ wäre, wenn wir uns einfach seitlich dazustellten. Ich war aufgrund ihrer unwirschen Art etwas überrumpelt und reagierte zunächst entsprechend gereizt. Am nächsten Tag... (Read More).

April 30 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Game of Thrones is an epic fantasy series on HBO based off George R.R. Martin books. What’s even cooler than the books being adapted to a television series is the creation of a made-up language called Dothraki. Thanks to the brilliance of David Peterson, a language creator for the Language Creation Society, Dothraki came to life in the Game of Thrones television series. Dothraki, although a made-up language, has a dictionary with over 3000 words. In the dictionary, readers cannot only learn words but the proper way to form sentences and phrases. This might be quite helpful if you're... (Read More).

April 29 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Next week (6 - 12th May) is National Deaf Awareness Week. Lots of events around the country have been organised to raise awareness. In Norwich, deaf and hearing children from local schools will gather at the city's Forum to perform songs by One Direction, amongst others, in sign language. Norfolk also has two sign language choirs. Jenny's Signing Angels and V-Sign will both be performing at the Forum on Wednesday 8th May between 10am-3pm. This is Sally from the Signing Angels performing Alanis Morrisette's Ironic in British Sign... (Read More).

April 25 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Learning Portuguese here in London' You might be interested to know that Mariza is playing at the Barbican Centre on Monday 13th May. This is a great chance to hear fado, the popular Portuguese traditional music, live. Mariza has won awards for her music, including a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music. This video has the lyrics in Portuguese on screen - particularly useful to check... (Read More).

April 25 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Es ist bekannt, dass das häufige Sehen von Filmen in ihrer Originalfassung stark zum Lernerfolg einer Fremdsprache beitragen kann. Durch sie bekommt man ein gutes Praxisverständnis für die Sprache – Worte und Phrasen werden direkt im Kontext abgespeichert, grammatikalische Konstruktionen und Umgangssprache werden wie beiläufig gelernt. Kein Wunder also, dass Lehrer vermehrt Filme im Sprachunterricht einsetzen und ihre Schüler ermutigen, Filme in der Originalsprache zu sehen. Gerade das spanische Kino hat in den letzten Jahren große Aufmerksamkeit erregt. Regisseur Pedro Almodóvar,... (Read More).

April 25 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Speaking and understanding different languages can be complex.  Luckily, there are a few words that seem to sounds familiar no matter what language you speak. One of those words is 'mom.' So, how many ways can you say mom' English - Mom French - Mere German - Mutter Spanish - Mamá Although all are spelled differently, they're quite similar sounding. Most languages like French, English, German and Spanish have Latin or Germanic roots. Because of this, some words are very similar in pronunciation and spelling. Language is ever evolving, and as words like 'internet' and... (Read More).

April 23 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Wortspiele sind einfach in allen Sprachen ein humoristischer Dauerbrenner - im Englischen werden sie allgemein puns genannt. Ganze Sammlungen von englischen Wortspielen werden manchmal auch passenderweise unter dem Namen punography zusammengefasst. Im Internet findet diese alte rhetorische Figur nun eine neue Heimat, nachdem sie zunächst im Volksmund und in Büchern zu Hause war. Viele literarische Größen - von Shakespeare über Alexander Pope bis Oscar Wilde und Vladimir Nabokov – haben sich ihrer reichlich bedient. Die Grenzen zwischen raffinierter Doppelsinnigkeit und plumpem... (Read More).

April 23 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Did you know many police dogs are given basic training in foreign languages' The animals are usually brought in from different European countries where they received basic training in the country's native language. Once brought over to the United States, handlers maintain the original commands as well as English ones. Dogs are adept enough to learn several languages for training and usually become familiar with bilingual commands very quickly. Next time you hear a trainer command a police dog in German to 'packen' or 'fass,' I would stay clear because you may get bitten!   Why... (Read More).

April 22 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

The BBC have launched the first children's television series to be translated into Manx Gaelic. The entire series of Friends and Heroes, which consists of 13 episodes, has been distributed to every school in the Isle of Man as a teaching resource. The animated episodes are 25 minutes long and have English subtitles. 'It sends a message to the children that Manx is for us today, not just something from the past. To have such a high-quality resource as this is brilliant.' said Julie Matthews, Head teacher of the Isle of Man's only Manx speaking school,... (Read More).

April 19 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

eBooks written in foreign languages have been selling like hotcakes. Amazon reported a seventy percent rise in eBook sales during 2012 both within the United States and international markets. Foreign language eBooks offer readers the opportunity to read popular books translated in various languages, and often at a lower price than the print version. Authors gain a wider audience due to accessibility. Notable examples include JK Rowling's Harry Potter series translated to La Collection Complète des eBooks Harry Potter or Bram Stoker's Dracula in French. If you would like to challenge... (Read More).

April 18 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Da wir in Deutschland amerikanische und englische Serien nicht im Original sondern in synchronisierter Fassung im Fernsehen zu sehen bekommen, passiert es nicht selten, dass man über eigentümliche Formulierungen wie unglückliche Wortspiele oder allzu wörtliche Übersetzungen stolpert. Unlängst sah ich einen Bericht in einem Nachrichtensender, der vorwiegend mit Voice-Overs arbeitet, das bedeutet, man lauscht der Berichterstattung des deutschsprachigen Sprechers im Vordergrund, während leise im Hintergrund noch der Originalton zu hören ist. Damit wird eine gewisse Authentizität und... (Read More).

April 16 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Ob in der Schule, im Büro oder in den öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln: Smartphones gehören inzwischen zum Alltag vieler Menschen. Besonders ihre verstärkte Nutzung in Schulen stellt mehr und mehr ein Problem dar. War es vor zehn Jahren noch eine Ausnahme, wenn ein Kind ein Mobiltelefon besaß, sind heute diejenigen Außenseiter, die nicht mit den neuesten Geräten, den besten Apps und den meisten Kontakten aufwarten können. Heute sind Smartphones als ständige Begleiter verstärkt zum Problem geworden. So nutzen auch immer mehr Schüler ihre Mobiltelefone im Unterricht, wo sie tweeten,... (Read More).

April 16 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Look at the Jobs Market Do you want to earn a bigger salary' Of course you do, we all do. One of the best ways of increasing your earning power is by picking up more skills. One of the skills which could most help you in your career is the knowledge of a second language. Even if you haven’t yet started studying a foreign tongue then a quick look at a careers website should be enough to show you how good an idea this could be in the long term. If you find yourself wondering where to find a great place to take Chinese lessons in Toronto after doing this then the thought of improving your... (Read More).

April 15 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Do you feel like testing your grammar skills' The Telegraph has published an ace quiz to test your knowledge. I scored a shocking 50% so have lots to learn! I have to admit, number 11 did catch me out; so it's lucky that there's a handy explanation of why each right answer is correct. Now I just need to teach myself the difference between adverbs which qualify adverbs, and adverbs which qualify... (Read More).

April 11 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Thousands of Croatians attended a demonstration in Zagreb on Sunday to protest against the return of the Cyrillic alphabet on signage in the town of Vukovar. Vukovar, a town in eastern Croatia, was destroyed during a siege in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, and was ethnically cleansed of  non-Serbs before being taken by Serb forces. The city was reintegrated into Croatia in 1998. The Croat and Serb communities in Vukovar remain divided. According to the 2011 census, the Serbian population has reached over a third (34.8%) of the city's population, which therefore protects the... (Read More).

April 11 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Learning a second language is something which should be fun. In fact, you will probably enjoy the process of learning but you may also come across a few low points in which your resolve is tested. This kind of issue happens to everyone who learns anything new over a long period of time and if you want to keep up the good work then you might want to consider some of the following secret motivation techniques. Plan a Trip There are few better incentives for improving your current pace of learning than the thought of a trip to somewhere they speak the tongue you are studying. Can you... (Read More).

April 09 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Talk More One of the reasons why we don’t always progress with a second language in the way we would like to is that we don’t always talk enough. This is a vital part of the process but one which can be difficult to start. You might be worried about making a mistake but mistakes are part of the learning process and simply can’t be avoided. At some point you need to pluck up the courage to start talking more. The sooner you do this the better and you will find that working with a native speaking teacher from Language Trainers helps you build up your confidence quickly in this respect.... (Read More).

April 08 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Small language book publisher Diglot Books is celebrating a victory against internet marketplace Amazon. The retailer had previously refused to make Cornish children's story Matthew and the Wellington Boots (Matthew ha'n Eskisyow Glaw) available through Kindle Direct Publishing because the language was not supported by the platform. The Kindle Direct Publishing platform officially supports only 10 languages; English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Galician, and Basque, though more languages are set to be added in the future. Diglot Books pointed out that... (Read More).

April 04 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

 When they plan to learn a foreign language most people probably don’t fully appreciate that this is the start of a lifetime of learning. One of the great things about studying a second language is that you can carry on picking up new words and phrases while having fun long after you have learned the basics. However, the hardest part of all may be at the very beginning, when you might get frustrated at what you see to be a lack of progress on your part. If this is the case then here are some tips to see if you can increase your learning speed. Take a Trip Ideally, you will have... (Read More).

April 01 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A Government savings agency is to abandon its Welsh language services. National Savings and Investments (NS&I), which is best known for Premium Bonds, says that the service costs too much to run; with just 107 customers corresponding with the company in Welsh in February 2012, that represents a cost of over £900 per customer which it says is 'not a cost effective use of public funds.' Crown body language schemes are voluntary, but once adopted, cannot be revoked. Gwenith Price, Deputy Welsh Language Commissioner, has asked the Welsh Secretary to intervene. She stated that 'When the... (Read More).

March 2013:

March 28 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

The Language Council of Sweden has removed the word ungoogleable from its 2012 list of new words. The word in Swedish is ogooglebar, which means 'something which cannot be found on the internet with the use of a search engine.' The word was removed due to copyright infringement claims by Google. The search engine organisation had contacted the Language Council to request that the definition include a mention of the compnay's name, and to add a disclaimer to point out that Google is a trademark. Forty words did make the grade, one of which is nomofob - fear of being seperated from... (Read More).

March 28 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Learn New Words with a Smile The idea of learning a lot of new words might seem daunting at first. Most tongues have thousands of commonly used words and you might think that it is virtually impossible to learn and memorize all of these. This isn’t the case, though. Once you get on a roll you will discover that it is possible to keep on picking up new words at a good rate. The secret is to find the best place to take Spanish lessons in Houston, or wherever you are and whatever tongue you want to learn. After that, you need to keep on practicing in order to come across as many new words... (Read More).

March 26 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

The process of learning a new language is something which might fill you with a certain degree of fear. After all, it is far from the easiest thing you could choose to learn, isn’t it' The good news is that if we look at the hardest parts of picking up a second language we can see that it probably isn’t going to be as difficult as you might think. Don’t Fear the Grammar Perhaps the biggest fear for most of us is the issue of the grammar. After all, this is something which is generally viewed as being difficult and relatively dull. Of course, the exact issues will largely come down... (Read More).

March 25 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

http://www.youtube.com/watch'v=8oVEiA58kzM This is the trailer for the up and coming Rendez-vous with French Cinema event which stops in London from 4 - 7th April. Films this year will be shown at Cine Lumiere and Curzon Soho. All the screenings will feature exclusive Q&As with directors and actors. Films will be shown in the original French with English subtitles so you can test your knowledge! To kick start the festival on Thursday 4th of April, the Cine Lumiere will host In The House, with an exclusive on-stage interview with star Kristin Scott Thomas at 5pm. Populaire,... (Read More).

March 21 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A local council has revised plans to remove apostrophes from street signs. Mid Devon Council made a decision earlier this month to abolish the punctuation on signs around the area to 'avoid confusion.' Apostrophes were dropped from signs in Birmingham several years ago. Following a public backlash, Mid Devon Councillor Peter Hare-Scott said: We are reviewing the situation and I shall be recommending to cabinet on March 28 that they amend the policy so that street names may indeed in future have apostrophes. The policy was designed to prevent streets being given 'inappropriate and... (Read More).

March 21 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

The Underground When you go to a foreign city which has an underground transport system you should use it. These are among the best places in the world for eavesdropping other people’s conversations and hearing some new words. The time honored way of doing this all over the planet is by sitting and looking at the opened book in your hands while you listen to what the people around you are saying. Just click here if you like the sound of learning how to understand other Underground travelers in distant lands. The Supermarket This final unexpected place to visit has a bit of the... (Read More).

March 19 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

If you are studying a foreign language in order to use it abroad then you might be wondering where you would be best advised to practice and brush up on it once you get away. The truth is that wherever you go you are likely to be surrounded by the words and phrases you have recently learned. However, there are some extra special places which you should definitely consider going to when you finish your classes with Language Trainers and travel to somewhere you can use the language each day. The Zoo We all love going to the zoo but did you know that it is fantastic for language students... (Read More).

March 18 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

No doubt you're still recovering from yesterday's St. Patrick's Day celebrations! One of the worst things about being in a pub on St. Paddy's Day is listening to the awful, stereotypical impressions that almost everyone thinks they can do after a few pints. Unfortunately some of those people were hired to pretend to be Irish on film. There's a LOT of examples to choose from, but I think it would be better to show examples of when people get it right. Daniel Day Lewis in In The Name Of The Father had such a perfect Belfast accent that people thought that the London born actor was Irish.... (Read More).

March 14 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A team of researchers from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa are working to record and revive the dying language of Hawai'ian Sign Language. They have located and identified 40 users of the language over four of the islands, most of whom are over 70. James Woodward, a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawai'i, says What we find with Hawai'i Sign Language is that 80% of this basic vocabulary list is different.  It means it cannot in any way be related to American Sign Language. Hawai'ian Sign Language is believed to have originated in the 1800's, long before American... (Read More).

March 14 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Travel More The thought of a trip to Latin America or to Spain is enough to get most of us looking out our passport and planning an unforgettable vacation. However, if you have ever done this in the past without knowing any of the local language then you might have come home feeling that you missed out on certain aspects. By being able to hold a conversation with the people you come across you will find out more about the history of the place, find out of the way attractions and learn how the people live and think. These are all intangible parts of a trip abroad which can leave you... (Read More).

March 12 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

When you learn a new language it can make a huge difference to many aspects to your life. The most exciting thing of all is that you won’t know until you do it exactly what will change and in what way. It is like opening a door in your life which leads you off in new and unexpected directions. When it comes to the Spanish language there are a few possible outcomes we could look at here, although these aren’t the only ones. Make New Friends If you live in a city with a big Spanish speaking population then you are severely restricted in your number of potential friendships by not... (Read More).

March 11 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

LOTS of language events to look forward in the coming weeks and months around the UK! Here's a round up... Kinoteka Polish Film Festival runs from 7th - 17th March. Venues include the Tate Modern, Riverside Studios and the Barbican Cinema in London, FACT in Liverpool, the Filmhouse in Edinburgh and the Queens' Film Theatre in Belfast. The 11th annual festival will host not only films but Q&As with directors, free kid's animation workshops and interactive cinema workshops for budding writers and directors. Trafalgar Square once again hosts the Maslenitsa Russian Festival,... (Read More).

March 07 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Today is World Book Day in the UK. The original World Book Day, held on April 23rd, is a UNESCO initiative to promote reading. Our local version is a charity event specifically to get kids reading. Each child in full time education is given a £1 book voucher. In recent years, a selection of 8 books has been made available for this event. This year's selection can be found here. If nothing there takes your child's fancy, the voucher can also be used as £1 off any full priced book at participating bookshops. Some schools encourage children to dress up as their favourite character from a... (Read More).

March 07 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

The Vocabulary It is wonderful to learn a new word and to be able to use it in a sensible way. I have quite a good memory so that combined with my interest in the subject means that I don’t struggle too much with this aspect. However, what if you don’t pick up the words as easily as you might do' Well, one idea is to use mnemonics to help you remember more words. I do this for difficult words and you could try it with any of the important ones which don’t stick in your head. All you need to do is relate the word to a memorable image. For example, I remember the Spanish word mentira... (Read More).

March 05 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Learning a second language can be a fun experience if you go about it in the right way, although there are sure to be parts of it which you enjoy more than others. Personally, I like to learn lots of new words and I drag my feet a little when it comes to the grammar. This is probably because I am so keen to just start talking and using what I have learned. Which part of the process is most difficult for you and what can you do about it' The Speaking This is the part of the language learning process which should be most fun but I can understand why some students find it tough.... (Read More).

March 04 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Today is National Grammar Day. Is there a real point' Now, I get as annoyed as anyone when I see horrible spelling, grammar or even text speak written as though it's proper English. I've also been on the receiving end of some mean comments (on this very blog!) regarding my own grammar. I try my hardest...as do you, I'm sure. But every once in a while, we can all make typing errors or have a gap in our knowledge. English is difficult enough, with its nuances, irregular pronunciations and rules, without the internet grammar police out in force. There IS a difference between correcting... (Read More).

February 2013:

February 28 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Children's television channel CBeebies is to air 30 episodes of a new show entitled Magic Hands as part of the spring schedule. The 5 minute programme, aimed at children under 6, will be in BSL (British Sign Language) and is to feature four presenters who have been deaf since birth and are new to our screens. This is a groundbreaking show for British television as the aim of the programme is to bring to life a mix of modern and classic poetry using sign language, animation, music and spoken word. Series producer, Judith Bunting, says: “Translating modern and traditional poems for... (Read More).

February 28 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Email and Phone Use These days you will find that most jobs in any language need you to be able to use both email and the phone well. This can be extremely difficult to do, as most language students find that they need to see the person they are talking to in order to fully understand the conversation. However, if you are wondering, “Where can I take Chinese classes in Toronto'” then you should also be thinking about how you can go about practicing these different communication methods as well. Using the internet to chat with native speakers and other students is a good start although... (Read More).

February 26 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

One of the best reasons for learning a second language is to enhance your career. Whether you plan to move abroad to work or you are happier at home this can be a fantastic career move, as it will open up a lot of new horizons for you. However, working in a foreign language is a fairly big challenge for anyone. It certainly isn’t as easy as working in a job in which everyone around you speaks the language you have grown up with. If you want to do it well then here are a few of the main points to consider. Learn to Speak in a Formal Way No matter what type of job you are looking at... (Read More).

February 25 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A Peterborough primary school is thought to be the first in the UK where not one out of the 440 pupils speaks English as their first language. The majority of pupils at Gladstone Primary School speak Punjabi or Urdu at home, whilst 19 other languages are represented in the school. To cope with communication, the school has adopted a number of ways to help the children learn English fluently. The school employs 28 teaching assistants, 10 of whom speak Urdu. Gladstone also runs a buddy system with other schools in the area so each child has a friend whose first language is English. In... (Read More).

February 21 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Today is UNESCO's International Mother Language Day, and the theme for this year is Mother tongues and books – including digital books and textbooks. UNESCO is promoting the use of books and textbooks in local languages to support education in mother tongues, which promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and serves as the foundation for all social, economic and cultural life. In the spirit of celebrating the day, can you suggest and recommend some books in your mother tongue to help other language students who are learning your... (Read More).

February 21 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

French for Romance   The French language is renowned as being one of the world’s most romantic languages and it certainly has a lovely feel to it for anyone who wants to speak it. Of course, you will feel most romantic when you head of to Paris and are surrounded by people speaking it as well as the famous sights of this amazing city. However, you shouldn’t forget to learn the basics before you go, so that you know what is going on. Don’t forget of taking French classes in New York before you go in order to enjoy the trip even more. Chinese for the Exotic Appeal If you... (Read More).

February 19 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

When you first think about studying a second language there are some practical reasons which you will want to take into account. For a start, you need to think about which one is going to be of most use to you in your career and personal life. However, what if you were given the chance to simply the language which most charms you' Which one of the world’s tongues seems most interesting to you and which one can you imagine speaking and studying for the rest of your life' Spanish for Rhymes and Fun Spanish shares with Italian a wonderful sense of rhyme and rhythm which makes it... (Read More).

February 18 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

In February 2009, UNESCO declared Manx Gaelic extinct. It was then changed to 'critically endangered' following protests from the Isle of Man. The language has been revived by a community keen to keep their culture alive. If you visit the Isle of Man today, there are signs in both English and Manx. [caption id='' align='aligncenter' width='576' caption='Image from http://geographicallyyourstoo.blogspot.co.uk'][/caption] Dr. Brian Stowell presents a show on Manx Radio every Sunday which promotes the language. He is also author of The Vampire Murders, the first novel to be published... (Read More).

February 14 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

North America In the US the figures for Spanish speakers are huge in some parts of the country. In fact, overall it is believed that over 37 million speak it at home, making it second only to English in popularity. Canada also has strong links with the language and you shouldn’t be surprised if you hear it being spoken anywhere you go in the country. Finally, if you want to immerse yourself in it then all you need to do is practice your Spanish taking classes in Miami! Asia The number of students of the Spanish language in Asia has grown incredibly in recent years. The continent is... (Read More).

February 12 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

The Spanish language is one of the most popular with students all over the world right now and there are some very good reasons for this. The enormous reach of this language means that it is one which you will come across just about anywhere you go. If you love travelling and hate not knowing what people are saying to you then here are some places you can use Spanish to enjoy a better time. Spanish Speaking Countries Of course, where you are most likely to come across the Spanish language is in Spanish speaking countries. You already knew this but perhaps you didn’t know just how many... (Read More).

February 11 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Following the news that the original  English-Guernesiais dictionary from 1967 is to be republished due to public demand; it has been announced that a new language commission is to be set up to protect and promote the island's language. Guernesiais is a variation of Norman French which is native to the Channel Island. It has been in use on the island for over 1000 years, although today the primary language is English. Up until 1948, it was French. According to the latest figures, only 2% of the island's population is fluent in Guernesiais. Culture and Leisure Department member Darren... (Read More).

February 08 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

Travel and Talk When you learn a language as a youngster one of the biggest problems is that you need to wait on your parents or other people to give you a chance to travel and practice. This can be hugely frustrating and I remember giving up on French because I was fed up with only being able to listen to those awful cassettes (yes, it was a while ago since you ask) and never having a decent conversation with anyone. The good news is that you can now find a great place to take Chinese lessons in Toronto or anywhere else in North America and then set about practicing right away. Obviously... (Read More).

February 07 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A grant from the The National Manuscripts Conservation Trust has ensured that two rare 17th and 18th Century Cornish manuscripts will be restored this year. The manuscripts, which contain 'an early example of a Cornish grammar and vocabulary study which resembles a Cornish dictionary,' and an examination of the contemporary decline of the language, date back from 1688 and 1750. The unpublished texts are key sources for people studying Cornish language and literature, and are to be made available to the public at Cornwall Record Office when the restorations are complete later this... (Read More).

February 06 2013 (Language Trainers USA)

The Chinese language is now one of the most popular with language students all over the world. There are some very good reasons for this, as the Chinese economy is booming, there are Chinese immigrant populations all over the world and it is a hugely attractive place to visit as a tourist. In fact, if we look at the figures we will see that around 750,000 non native speakers took the Chinese proficiency test a couple of years ago, which is a massive increase on just 4 or 5 years ago, when the figures were closer to 100,000. However, if you are now a fully grown up adult who hasn’t... (Read More).

February 04 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

It's the Oscars at the end of this month, so now is the time to catch the nominees for Best Foreign Film, and judge for yourself which is the best candidate! Up this year are 5 nominees: No (Spanish) Amour (French) A Royal Affair (Danish) War-Witch (French/Lingala) Kon-Tiki (Norwegian) Blog readers will know that I'm a big fan of using foreign films as a language learning tool, and as a student of Spanish, I will be going to see No this weekend (it doesn't hurt that it has Gael Garcia Bernal in, either!) Here's the... (Read More).

January 2013:

January 31 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A few blogs ago, I shared the story of the Icelandic teenager, Blaer Bjarkardottir, who wasn't allowed to use her own name, as it wasn't on the list of Government approved girls names. The list ensures that names fit in with Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules. Blaer and her mother, Bjork Eidsdottir, decided to oppose the ruling and it was overturned! The Icelandic Government will not be appealing the courts' decision, so Blaer will officially be Blaer, instead of Stulka (Girl) from now on. Blaer's name is actually pronounced as bly-r, as it is written Blær. A handy guide to... (Read More).

January 17 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

Someone sent me this which I thought I'd share with you... it's kind of pointless but interesting at the same time. Music video experimentalists Collective Cadenza decided to put the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme tune through every single language on Google Translate... and back to English. Here's the... (Read More).

January 14 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

To be able to use your own name is a right we take for granted. We've all heard stories of parents naming their children crazy names, like the Egyptian dad who named his daughter Facebook,  and the Israeli couple who also took inspiration from the social network, naming their daughter Like. Some countries, however, have guidelines regarding name choices. Some even have a list of approved names that you must choose from to name your offspring. One of those countries is Iceland. Blaer Bjarkardottir is a 15 year old Icelandic girl who is referred to on her passport, school registration and... (Read More).

January 10 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

A new €5 banknote was unveiled by the European Central Bank today. The main feature of the new note, other than enhanced security features, is that the word 'Euro' is now written using the Cyrillic script, as well as the Greek and Latin alphabets. There are no countries for which the Euro is the currency which use Cyrillic as the primary writing system. Many languages are written in Cyrillic but only 12 countries use the alphabet. Bulgaria is the only member of the EU which uses Cyrillic, whilst Macedonia and Serbia are candidates for EU membership. The inclusion of Cyrillic could... (Read More).

January 07 2013 (Language Trainers UK)

There are no surprises in Marist's annual list of Americans' least favourite words. Whatever has been named the most annoying word used in conversation, for the fourth consecutive year. Like, you know, and just saying were also named as irritating, as was Twitterverse. Words and phrases tend to become annoying for us when overused or misused. For example, 'going forwards' is a phrase I particularly detest, as a former colleague managed to get it into every conversation going. 'Literally' is an example I think almost everyone must have heard. Do you have a word you can't stand to hear'... (Read More).

January 06 2013 (Language Trainers Germany)

Da denkt man, man beherrscht die englische Sprache recht gut, und trotzdem kommt es immer wieder zu seltsamen Begebenheiten, wenn man in den jeweiligen Ländern zu Besuch ist. Ich erzähle immer wieder gerne die Anekdote, wie ich bei meinem Besuch in den USA bei allen möglichen Gelegenheiten - im Supermarkt, an der Tankstelle, im Restaurant – auf die Frage „How are you'“ stets kühn und äußerst ausführlich antwortete. Ich wunderte mich immer ein wenig, warum mich die betreffenden Fragesteller so seltsam ungeduldig anschauten, während ich ihnen erklärte, dass es mir sehr gut... (Read More).

December 2012:

December 24 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Here in the UK, it's traditional to wish people a 'Merry Christmas' at this time of year, as opposed to the North American greeting 'Happy Holidays.' In fact, the word for Christmas in Old English is Cristes Maesse, and later Christ's Mass. Mass, in religious context, means a death sacrifice. So maybe not a nice thing to wish, after all' When some of us are sending our Christmas cards, some write 'Merry Christmas,' whilst others use 'Merry Xmas' as a shortened version of the former. In Ancient Greek, the word Christ was spelled with an X - Χριστός (Xpistos) so some believe... (Read More).

December 20 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: yourdailygerman.wordpress.com As a keen language learner I love reading blogs about learning languages, even if I'm not studying the language in question. I have taken German classes in Washington and have worked with many German people over the years, but my German is still fairly terrible out of lack of practice. However, one thing I will say about German is that I always found it fairly simple to learn once you understood the rules. Compared with English's hundreds of grammatical and syntactical rules (and then its penchant for breaking them at the drop of a hat), the German... (Read More).

December 20 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Collins Dictionary has selected a word or phrase for each month of the year, to define trends and events of 2012. The words were submitted by members of the public on the Collins website. January - broga - a blend of 'bro' and 'yoga' and referring to a new form of yoga aimed at men. February - legbomb - referring to this photo of Angelina Jolie at the Oscars this month. March - Eurogeddon - referring to Europe's economic crisis April - mummy porn - the month when Fifty Shades of Grey was launched May - Zuckered for the month when social network Facebook made its stock market... (Read More).

December 19 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: alljapaneseallthetime.com Here's an interesting map showing some of the main writing systems used throughout the world, with the word 'Wikipedia' written in each alphabet. The source website is in Japanese, but you can still see the wide variety of writing systems used, from the Latin alphabet in North and South America and most of Europe, to the various pictograms and syllabic systems used in Asia (Chinese Hanyu, Korean Hangul, Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana), to Arabic scripts in the Middle East, to Cyrillic alphabets used in Russia and Eastern Europe, and many others... (Read More).

December 17 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: mentalfloss.com Blogger M. Asher Cantrell from mentalfloss.com recently put up a very interesting post on 12 letters that have at some point existed in the English alphabet, but have since been phased out. Among them are familiar symbols such as the ampersand (&), ash (æ) and ethel (œ), which are still seen today, though not considered part of the Latin alphabet. An interesting one is the letter thorn (Þ), which was used in the word 'ye', an old English form of 'the'. Contrary to popular belief, the 'y' was actually a Þ, and was pronounced 'th' - so those people who try... (Read More).

December 13 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Dmitry Golubovskiy, the CEO of Esquire Russia, has posted a video of himself pronouncing the longest word in the world, on Youtube. The video is over 3 hours long! The word, which has 189,819 letters, is the chemical name for the largest known protein, titin. In fact, comparing the longest words in each language is not as easy as you may think. It actually depends on a number of factors. If you count scientific and medical words, as shown here, place names or compound words, then the letter count obviously has the capacity to be longer. In the Oxford English dictionary, the longest... (Read More).

December 10 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

If, like me, you're learning Spanish, then you might want to consider adding this puzzle book to your Christmas list. Wordsearches and crosswords are a great way to test your vocabulary skills. I use crosswords to practise my native English too! This one is available from Waterstones. If you're learning a different language, no worries...others are available in Italian, German, French, Swahili, Hindi, Japanese, Pashto, and even... (Read More).

December 06 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

If you're learning Spanish, Italian or French, then you might like to put one of these on your Christmas list. It's a handy little desk calendar which gives you a new phrase or word in your chosen language each day. Every little helps! It also comes with an audio CD of basic phrases so would make a great present for a friend who is planning to learn a new language in the New Year. The calendars are available from... (Read More).

December 04 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: martinamor.dk Following on from an earlier blog post about learning to read and write Korean in 15 minutes, I recently found this entry on software programmer and keen traveler Martin Amor's blog about learning to read Thai script in 24 hours (over a period of a week). Martin, who describes himself as 'the direct opposite of a language buff', was originally overwhelmed with the thought of learning Thai, but was pleasantly surprised to find that he made very fast progress once he set his mind to it. Though it's generally known as the 'Thai alphabet', the language is in fact an... (Read More).

December 03 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

We're halfway through the 3rd annual Portuguese Film Festival - and you know what that means, Portuguese language students in London! Don't leave it too late to investigate as this one finishes on Saturday! Saturday's closing night features the UK premiere of gothic ghost movie The Baron (O Barão) followed by a special talk by director Edgar Pêra. The full programme can be found... (Read More).

November 2012:

November 29 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Youtube has added some more languages to its 'translate captions' service. Six European languages will now join the existing English, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. These appear automatically in videos when you click on the 'turn on captions' button at the bottom of the video. This doesn't apply to music videos. The subtitles are generated using Google Voice (voice recognition technology.) If you discover an error, there are ways to submit corrections. Google are also working on a new feature to translate the subtitles into other languages. For now, you can use subtitles in Dutch,... (Read More).

November 28 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: reddit.com/r/etymology Reddit user imkharn took an interesting approach in making a map of the USA - he used the literal English translations of the etymology for each state name. For each item I followed the etymology back until it was translatable to English. For some states this meant more then one step. Louisiana comes from Louis which comes from the Frankish word hluda wiga which means heard of or Famous War. Washington comes from Old English and means estate of a man named Wassa. Wassa in turn is an Anglo-Saxon name for Genius of the Woods. While it isn't perfect... (Read More).

November 26 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Yet another film festival (I did let you know it's the season!) to remind you about. If you're learning a Scandinavian language, this one's for you. The Nordic Film Festival showcases independent films from Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. The festival runs from Friday November 30th to Wednesday December 5th at 3 independent venues across London - Cine Lumiere in South Kensington, Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, and Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. A full festival line up and more information can be found... (Read More).

November 22 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

This week, I came across a word I hadn't heard before in the book I was reading. That word was perambulator, which I now know to be more common these days in the diminutive form of pram. Olfactory is another word I've come across recently, which I didn't know previously. Usually when I'm reading a book and come across a word I don't know, I'll write it down in my notebook, with the context, and find the meaning later on. It helps with my vocabulary in my native English, of course; I also thought that this might be a nice little tip for language learning. It depends on your reading level: if... (Read More).

November 21 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: russiansphinx.blogspot.com It's easy to forget our trans-Atlantic cousins in Europe speak a huge variety of languages throughout the 50 countries that make up the continent. Given the prevalence of English, it being Europe's (and the rest of the world's) lingua franca, it would also be easy to assume that English makes up the largest part of this multitude of different languages. However, the truth is a little different. Blogger Russian Sphinx is something of a dataphile - her blog features a wide variety of charts, maps and graphs of a wide variety of interesting sources of... (Read More).

November 19 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

It's Film Festival season in London, and here's a heads up for yet another one! As a student of Latin American Spanish, and a huge Latin film fan, I'm looking forward to getting involved with this one. The 10 day film fest kicked off on Friday with a performance by Lokandes, followed by a screening of Mexican documentary 'And the River Flows On' and a Q&A session with producer Jesus Rodriguez Montes. Many Latin American countries are represented, with films from Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Brazil due to be... (Read More).

November 19 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

French is renowned for being a language closely associated with love and romance - but why' Is it just our mental projections of fireworks over the Eiffel Tower, or is it simply an aural association with the lyrical, soothing accent and how it is often portrayed in popular culture' Well, this isn't an easy question to answer. But the French language definitely has a few grammatical and syntactical features that could be interpreted as strikingly romantic - at least to me, anyway. For example, the phrase 'I miss you' in English is fairly straightforward. When you render the same thought... (Read More).

November 15 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: itunes.apple.com Claiming to 'change the way people learn languages', Duolingo has been running for a while, and has been lauded as an 'elegant solution' to 2 problems - helping people learn languages, and translating foreign language texts on the web. For example, if you're a native English speaker who wants to learn Spanish, it gives you Spanish sentences from around the web that are relevant to your level, along with a crib sheet of words that you may not know. After you've finished, it then highlights words that you had trouble with and gives you more real-world examples of... (Read More).

November 15 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

We're halfway through the 20th anniversary of this year's nationwide French Film Festival, and already we've seen gala screenings of Asterix et Obelix: Au Service de Sa Majeste, starring Gerard Depardieu. This year, you can test your French listening skills all around England and Scotland; with screenings in Bristol, Manchester, Warwick, London, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh. If you're learning Québécois, there are 5 films for you to choose from, including Starbuck, a comedy which was a box office hit in Canada. In addition, Amour is on national... (Read More).

November 13 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: arstechnica.com This one's a slightly different kind of language post, but still interesting I feel. Tech company Apple has been heavily involved in plenty of litigation over the past few years, most recently over claims that other phone manufacturers (namely Samsung) have modeled - or straight up copied - their devices' designs. Whichever side you take in that particular debate, it's clear that Apple's penchant for trying to sue everybody is starting to grate. Thankfully, judges are also getting annoyed by it. Apple lawyers have been arguing that 'App Store' is a trademarked... (Read More).

November 12 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

I certainly know a backpfeifengesicht or two! I love hearing about words that don't have an English translation, so was excited to come across this video. If you can think of any others, please let me... (Read More).

November 08 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

You might know of popular site engrish.com, which displays translation mistakes on signs around the world. This phenomenon is happening a little closer to home as well! In the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, officials put up this sign. The Welsh text translates as 'Station current closed in front follow entertainment,' leaving motorists thankful that the English alternative makes sense. Network Rail, who employ contractors to undertake highway maintenance, have pledged to investigate and rectify the mistakes. Embarrassingly for the bilingual country, this isn't the only recent translation... (Read More).

November 06 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

What with all the election fever going on around the US at the moment, I thought it might be nice to take a look at a red/blue map more suited to our happy little language blog... click the image for the full size version! Seems like in general the northern states favor 'pop', the south favors 'Coke', and the east and west are 'soda'... (Read More).

November 05 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A group of Swedes have started a petition to have the word 'nerd' redefined in the Svenska Akademiens Ordlista (official Swedish dictionary.) The word nörd was added to the Swedish dictionary in 2005 and is currently defined as enkelspårig och löjeväckande person (a simple and laughable person.) The aim of the petition is to change the definition to something more positive, and each of the people who have signed it have added their own definition. The online petition, Nörduppropet, which has 5388 signatures so far, states that 'a nerd is a person with strong interests, a... (Read More).

November 01 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Just wanted to share with you a site I found for language games, which is so much fun! I've been using it mostly to learn colours in Finnish(!) but there are a lot of languages to choose from and several games for each. If, like me, you're interested in a certain language, but want to explore before you commit to a course, this is a great beginners tool. If you're just starting to learn a new language, you can test your vocabulary for numbers, foods, animals and basic phrases, to name a few. Alternatively, you can use it to learn a bit of lots of languages! There are so many different... (Read More).

October 2012:

October 29 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A recent study has revealed that Bob Marley's music is the most helpful with teaching students English! The study, conducted by Kaplan International Colleges, asked current students and alumni whether popular pastimes such as playing video games, watching television and movies, and listening to music helped with their English language learning. An overwhelming majority of 80% said that listening to music helps, with Bob Marley being the top choice with 14% of students recommending his music to learn English, followed by Michael Jackson with 11%. 82% of students said watching television... (Read More).

October 29 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: youtube.com A few weeks ago I made a post about the hyper-polgylot Richard Simcott, who speaks an almost unbelievable 16 languages, most of which are at a fluent or near-fluent level. His skills come from constant use and working in a job that affords him a great deal of time to practice and improve his skills. Well, just to make us all feel a little worse about their own language learning... Here's another hyper-polyglot - Timothy Doner, a 16-year-old American who currently speaks around 20 languages (though the level of fluency fluctuates a lot, and most of them are... (Read More).

October 26 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

A recent article on CNET discusses this year's '25 worst passwords of the year' list, with the top 3 unchanged from last year: 'password', '123456' and '12345678'. However, new entries to the list such as 'Jesus', 'password1' and 'welcome' show that on the whole, people still aren't getting to grips with the fact that these kinds of passwords are easily crackable. Making a strong password is not difficult, and requires only a tiny bit more effort. A password that is easy to remember doesn't necessarily have to be easy to guess. Language learners can use words from several languages in... (Read More).

October 25 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Ed Manley and James Cheshire from UCL’s Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA), were busy this summer. The two researchers collected data from 3.3 million tweets during the London 2012 Games, using Twitter's API.  They then created an impressive looking map of all of the locations of those tweets. Not only that, but the map is colour coded for each language. The grey parts of the map were tweets in English, which makes up the majority of it. There are pockets of colour elsewhere though, in descending order representing Spanish (white), French (red), Turkish (blue), Arabic (green),... (Read More).

October 24 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news Scholars at Oxford University working on an ancient writing system called 'proto-Elamite' may have finally unlocked the secret to deciphering it, thanks to a breakthrough in technology that allows academics to view the inscriptions more clearly than they were previously capable of doing. From the article: In a room high up in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, above the Egyptian mummies and fragments of early civilisations, a big black dome is clicking away and flashing out light. This device, part sci-fi, part-DIY, is providing the most detailed and high... (Read More).

October 22 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: quora.com As a learner of Mandarin myself, one question that fellow Mandarin users often have is in marking the difference between 2 words that Chinese people use to describe foreign people: laowai (老外) and waiguoren (外国人). Due to China's history of isolationism, many Chinese people still see people in black or white terms: either they are 'Chinese' or 'not Chinese'. They don't particularly differentiate, say, an American from a French person. Both of them are waiguoren, both of them are laowai. But the two words do actually conjure up slightly different nuances of... (Read More).

October 22 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

TripAdvisor has been questioning travellers about their language skills, and the results aren't too surprising, unfortunately. 94% of Brits make an effort to learn a few words of the local language when on holiday, but almost three quarters expect those they meet to speak English! Whilst 11% of Brit respondents claim to be fluent in at least one other language, compared to 70% of Germans and 51% of Italians. TripAdvisor spokesperson Emma Shaw says: “It’s easy to blame our poor grasp of other languages on the fact that English is so universally spoken, but expecting all signs to... (Read More).

October 18 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

I was asked recently by a co-worker what the correct grammar for this is - 'The United States are big' or 'The United States is big'. Although both sounds right in my mind, one ('is') definitely sounded more right than the other. The confusion obviously lies in whether 'The United States' should be considered singular or plural. At first glance it seems like it should be plural - it refers to a collection of states, after all. However, it describes a singular unit - that is, the USA. However, the United States have not always been strictly 'united', even when they were first called so. So... (Read More).

October 18 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

It's World Italian Language Week and my friend Giovanna, who is from Parma, was telling me how difficult it is for her to understand the difference and pronounce the words 'thirty' and 'forty' in English. I've never given this a second thought, other than that certain languages have sounds which we don't use in English. It's true that English has sounds that other languages don't use. It probably doesn't help Giovanna that in London, some of us Londoners pronounce 'th' as 'f' (e.g. 'toof' rather than 'tooth'). It will certainly make me more aware of my pronunciation, that's for... (Read More).

October 15 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Academy Award Best Foreign Film entries for 2013 have been announced. This year's winner was Iran's A Separation, which I wrote about in January, yet Iran have withdrawn their submission for 2013 in protest over the controversial amateur American film The Innocence of Muslims, which is seen as hugely insulting and has provoked violent demonstrations in the Middle East. High profile submissions include Chile's No, starring Gael Garcia Bernal; The Intouchables, which is the second highest grossing French film of all time, Denmark's A Royal Affair, and Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or... (Read More).

October 11 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Chinese author Mo Yan has won the 109th Nobel Prize for Literature. The Swedish Academy's Permanent Secretary, Peter Englund, announced the winner and said that his work 'with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary'. Mo Yan, a pseudonym meaning 'no name,' is well regarded in China as one of the greatest living authors. The prize goes to the writer 'who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.' His latest novel, Pow, is due to be released next year. The dual narrative intertwines the two stories and... (Read More).

October 11 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: itchyfeetcomic.com I think anybody who is in the process of learning another language knows this feeling all too well - you're at a stage when you can communicate reasonably well, you can express your thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics... and then your confidence is utterly shaken when you're suddenly faced with a small gap in your vocabulary that suddenly becomes a yawning chasm. This happens a lot to me here in China, where it seems that I can be doing absolutely fine in a conversation until a word comes up that I don't understand, and suddenly I lose all sense... (Read More).

October 09 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: cnn.com Last week, a 92-year old retired engineer in Scotland passed away, and with him died the first unique Scottish dialect to be lost in Scotland. Usually, regional minority dialects will end up blending into standard English and form a hybrid or mixed language. But in this case, the distinct dialect known as Cromarty fisherfolk has, with the death of its last remaining native speaker, now become extinct. Cromarty fisherfolk is interesting in that not only does it not aspirate any 'h' sound, but it is also devoid of any 'wh' sound - a feature unique only to this Scottish... (Read More).

October 08 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Interested in etymology' The Oxford Dictionary needs your help! A new addition to the Oxford English Dictionary website has been launched for members of the public to submit information and evidence of word usage. A list of words currently being researched is available... (Read More).

October 04 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Have you written a poem today in celebration of National Poetry Day' We'd love to hear it! Maybe you can try a poem in the language which you are learning' This years theme is stars. Of course 'stars' is a polysemic word in English, so the possibilities are abundant. Does anyone here use poetry as a tool for their language learning' Please... (Read More).

October 04 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

While the term seems rather... wordy, initial-stress-derived nouns are something that can be a dead giveaway when telling a native English speaker and a very proficient non-native speaker apart. So, what is it exactly' Initial-stress-derived nouns, simply put, is a process in English whereby the stress of a verb moves to the first syllable in the word when it becomes a noun or adjective. Still confused' Here are some examples: Record (v): 'I forgot to record my TV show.' Record (n): 'Usain Bolt has broken the 100m world record again!' Permit (v): 'I'm sorry, Dave. I can't permit you... (Read More).

October 01 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Scottish dialect Cromarty fisherfolk has become extinct after the last known speaker, Bobby Hogg, died recently. Cromarty, named after the fishing village in the Highlands, was a traditional fisherman's dialect, and was recorded in a booklet compiled of words and phrases by the online archive of the Highland Council in 2009. Older words such as 'thee,' 'thine,' and 'thou' are characteristic of the dialect, as is the use of the letter 'h,' which is used differently to how we know it in English. The word 'herring' then becomes ''erring' and 'ears' becomes 'hears.' Bobby Hogg and... (Read More).

September 2012:

September 28 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

As somebody trying to increase my fluency in another language, people like this simultaneously gain my unbridled respect as well as pure jealousy. British polyglot Richard Simcott speaks 16 (yes, 16 languages), most of which are at a near-fluent level. For me, the most impressive thing is not so much the number of languages, but the linguistic diversity of them. Many polyglots can bolster their numbers by gaining fluency in languages closely related to one another (e.g. Spanish, Italian and French), but Simcott's expertise is impressively far-reaching. His spoken languages include... (Read More).

September 27 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Researchers have found that a lot of European languages are at risk of 'disappearing' from the internet, as English slowly takes over as the language of choice. Icelandic, Maltese, Lithuanian and Latvian have been identified as the languages most in danger, with 21 languages in total at risk of disappearing from the internet. The study, which was carried out by University of Manchester’s National Centre for Text Mining, assessed language technology support within four categories for each language. The categories were automatic translation, speech interaction, text analysis and... (Read More).

September 26 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Thanks to the depth of English's vocabulary, English is a little more prone to little 'easter eggs' like this. Back in the 60s, famous logologist (a studier of words) Dmitri Borgmann came up with a sentence that is pretty impressive in a certain way, while also making complete sense. Here's the sentence in question - see if you can work out what feat of vocabulary engineering makes it impressive! I do not know where family doctors acquired illegibly perplexing handwriting; nevertheless, extraordinary pharmaceutical intellectuality counterbalancing indecipherability transcendentalizes... (Read More).

September 24 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

In France, plans are afoot to ban the words 'mother' and 'father' from all legal documentation. President Francois Hollande has pledged to make same sex marriage legal, and the words will be replaced by the word 'parents' in all marriage ceremonies and in the civil code. The plans have caused outrage amongst members of the Catholic Church. Of course, by definition, a 'parent' is a protector or guardian, and has the same denotation as 'father' and/or 'mother.' The draft law is due to be presented to cabinet members on October 31st. I wonder if this would have the same impact, or even if... (Read More).

September 20 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Swansea will play host to the annual Celtic Media Festival next April, it has been announced. The aim of the festival is to promote the cultures and languages of the Celtic regions within the media. Films will be shown in Welsh Gaelic and Breton as well as English. The 34th celebration will feature screenings and exhibitions from Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland,  and Brittany, as well as master classes for local students. The full programme will be announced in early 2013. More information can be found... (Read More).

September 19 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: xkcd.com Randall Monroe's popular nerdy webcomic XKCD usually focuses on maths, physics and everyday situations, but his love for language and etymology occasionally comes to the fore. A few days ago he posted a strip titled 'Cautionary Ghost', which deals with the ever-controversial prescriptivism vs descriptivism argument over the word 'literally'. Some believe that the misuse of 'literally' is a heinous crime that ought to be corrected every time somebody makes the mistake; others believe we should allow the meaning of the word change to reflect its new usage (which is a lot... (Read More).

September 18 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: andaman.org In the 1992, language magazine Language Today had a feature on the world's 10 most influential languages, written and researched by George Weber. This article was thoroughly researched (Weber spent 5 years compiling the data before writing up the article itself), and uses several surprisingly simple criteria to determine just how influential any given language is, awarding languages points for each of the following categories: 1. Number of primary speakers: max. 4 points 2. Number of secondary speakers: max. 6 points 5. Economic power of countries using the... (Read More).

September 17 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Everyone loves an excuse to pretend to be a pirate. Just so you can brush up on your pirate lingo, I'm reminding you in advance that Wednesday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! This year marks the 10th anniversary of the celebrations, which is reason enough to participate in the fun. There are loads of resources and tutorials on perfecting your pirate speech here. In the US' Wear an eye patch or simply talk like a pirate to get one free Krispy Kreme doughnut at participating stores. Go the whole hog and dress in full pirate gear, and they'll give you a dozen free Original Glazed... (Read More).

September 13 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

'I'll swish you to a swazzle! I'll swash you to a swizzle! I'll gnash you to a gnozzle! I'll gnosh you to a gnazzle!' (The Twits) Did you know that today is Roald Dahl Day' Roald Dahl is my hands-down favourite author, and was renowned for inventing words and creating his own distinct vocabulary. This year marks the 30th anniversary of one of his best loved books, the BFG, and for this book, he invented a collection of 238 words, which are known as gobblefunk. The words were fictional but made reading fun. The meanings of the words weren't always clear, but it is clear that Dahl got... (Read More).

September 13 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: sporcle.com Here's a fun little game on Sporcle, a web site for trivia and word games. You're given 26 words that mean 'nonsense', and you have 10 minutes to match each one with its more specific definition or etymology. I got 20 out of 26: can you do better' You can take the test... (Read More).

September 12 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu Popular linguistics and language blog Language Log latched on to a post on a 'grammar fail' blog that featured a screenshot of one of my grammatical pet peeves: a confusion of its and it's. As the more grammatically aware will know, the words get confused often due to the fact that apostrophes usually imply possession (e.g. 'This is Fred's shoe') or missing letters (e.g. 'I didn't do it'). In the case of its and it's, one implies possession and the other is short for 'it is', so it's not surprising that some people forget the rule of which one to use in... (Read More).

September 10 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The European Day of Languages is set to be celebrated on September 26th. The Strasbourg based Council of Europe initiative has been in place since 2001, and aims to encourage language learning across Europe. In honour of the day, I've compiled some European language facts! Russian is the most widely spoken language in Europe with approximately 150 million native speakers English is the most popular second language, but only the fourth most widely spoken! There are roughly 225 indigenous languages in Europe - how many can you guess without looking at a map' 81% of adults regret... (Read More).

September 06 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new computer scam is doing the rounds - in Gaeilge. It's the first Irish Gaelic language computer virus to have been reported, and has had some users fooled into believing it's real due to the official looking logos, stamps and even the Irish flag on it. Someone, somewhere has seemingly created a pop up warning the user that their computer has been locked, possibly using a free web translation service, as only 60% of it actually makes sense in Irish. The pop up then goes on to instruct the user that the computer can be unlocked if a transfer of €100 is made. Presumably no-one has... (Read More).

September 05 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Idioms are funny things. In my efforts to get better at Mandarin, I have found that there are some things I can work out on my own, and some things that - even if I look them up and find out the meaning - completely flummox me until they're explained to me by a native speaker. One thing I recently discovered that is heavily in the latter category is the phrase �'鱿鱼 (chǎo yóu yú). It literally means 'fried squid', �' being a very common word in the world of food for any fried dish, and 鱿鱼 simply meaning 'squid'. However, after I heard the phrase come up several times in a... (Read More).

September 03 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Pope is planning to set up a new pontifical Latin academy in the Vatican to restore the use of the ancient Italic language, the Vatican has said. The new academy, Pontificia Academia Latinitatis, would 'promote the knowledge and speaking of Latin, particularly inside the Church.' Until the Second Vatican Council reforms in the 1960s, Vatican documents were only published in Latin. Pope Benedict is keen to increase the popularity of Latin as the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, as he believes that the more people understand Latin, the easier it will be to explain the... (Read More).

August 2012:

August 30 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new study conducted by the University of Strathclyde in association with the University of Cagliari, and published in the International  Journal of Bilingualism; has found that children who are bilingual also surpass monolingual children in other skill areas. Two experiments were conducted in Glasgow and Sardinia. Researchers gave a test group of 121 nine year olds different tasks, which were a variety of physical, problem solving, arithmetic and language activities. They found that the 62 bilingual children were significantly more successful in the tasks given to them, and that the... (Read More).

August 30 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

I discovered this fascinating infographic this morning, which was created by Kaplan International but for some reason has since been removed from their site. The subject matter is how non-native English speakers learn English. Unsurprisingly, immersion learning is the most popular form of learning English - 65% of people asked said that the best way to learn English is to move to an English-speaking country and take lessons there. It's interesting how much the media helps non-native English speakers improve their English - a large percentage of English learners are aided by popular... (Read More).

August 28 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: princeston.edu/~lingclub The University of Oregon have come up with a fascinating selection of linguistic puzzles, and they're free to play! While certainly challenging your brain, they may also introduce you to a few lesser-known minority languages. The vast majority are basically linguistic logic puzzles - after being given a few examples of vocabulary from that language, you are then asked to render some other words in the target language. The very first language is Agta, an endangered language from a northern island in the Philippines. With only around 600 speakers, the... (Read More).

August 27 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

London's Spanish Film Festival kicks off next month at Cine Lumiere in South Kensington. The festival, which runs from Friday 28th September -  Wednesday 10th October, promises several UK premieres for Spanish language cinema fans. Pedro Almodovar classic Todo Sobre mi Madre (All About My Mother) gets another cinema outing on 30th Spetember, and will be preceded with an introduction from Antonia San Juan, who played transvestite Agrado in the film. Another treat for Almodovar fans on the 1st October with a talk entitled Acting with Almodovar, with actors Lluis Homar, (Bad Education,... (Read More).

August 24 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: chrome.google.com/webstore Here's a great little tool that takes a novel approach to learning a new language - in fact, it's rather similar to the approach taken by the author of the Harry Potter book that gradually teaches you Swedish I posted about earlier this month. Flewent is an extension for Chrome that takes whatever English website you happen to be browsing, and translates certain words into your target language, depending on the level you choose. You set the target language and a percentage, and Flewent does the rest. If you don't understand a word, you can simply hover... (Read More).

August 23 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Cambridge University have been running an interesting research programme this summer. Both groups of children and groups of adults are being taught the same Polish course by the same tutor. Researchers hope to determine whether a person's age or mother tongue affects their ability to learn a language. The lessons contribute to an international project which is also running in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and is a collaboration between France's Universite Paris 8, Germany's Universatat Osnabruek, University of York, and Radboud Universiteit in the Netherlands, as well as... (Read More).

August 22 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: techcrunch.com While not specifically about learning languages, I still thought that this language-related tidbit was worth posting. A recent article on tech blog Techcrunch, somewhat dramatically titled 'Putting an end to the biggest lie on the internet', discusses something that we all both find familiar and yet instantly gloss over - terms of service. When signing up to any web site (or installing most applications on your computer), it's perfectly normal to be greeted by a wall of text, often in hard to navigate legalese or otherwise official sounding language, delineating... (Read More).

August 20 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new book, A Story of English in 100 Words, by linguistics expert David Crystal, lists how English words have been used throughout the ages and demonstrates how the language has evolved. Crystal believes that these words are crucial to the development of the language, and traces the etymology and social standing of each of the words he has chosen. The word 'tea' for example was first documented in the 17th Century. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary in 1660 that he sampled his very first cup of tea. Tea drinking started out as an upper class activity but as the price fell, it became more and... (Read More).

August 16 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

It's A Level result day, and it seems that modern languages are not a popular choice for A Level students. No language subjects at all are in the top 10 of subjects studied this year. European languages such as French, German and Spanish were the most studied languages, but all of these subjects suffered from a drop in the number of candidates studying for the exam. In contrast, Polish, Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese and Russian entries were more popular than ever before. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: 'A strategy designed to promote... (Read More).

August 15 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: reddit.com/r/languagelearning Everybody likes to take different approaches to their language learning, and besides immersion learning one technique that has proven to work (and is repeated ad nauseam by my Chinese teacher) is 'interesting is the best teacher'. There is a lot of truth in this maxim, as people are far more inclined to stick with something if they find it interesting or fun, rather than straight up rote learning. So, Reddit user abcd_z came up with an idea to create a version of the first Harry Potter book to help teach people Swedish. The method is pretty clever -... (Read More).

August 13 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

How many of us haven't tried a crafty trick whilst playing Scrabble' One player took it to the extreme this week by cheating at the US National Championships. The five day event, held in Orlando, Florida, saw 350 players competing for a $10,000 (£6400) prize. The player was a minor, and thus has not been named. His methods, however, have. In the 24th of 28 rounds, a player who was due to be the next opponent of the boy saw two blank tiles on his side of the table. After the game, the boy was seen dropping the two blank tiles on the floor, in an apparent attempt to use them in the next round.... (Read More).

August 10 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: dynamo.dictionary.com dictionary.com remains my favorite online dictionary - not only because it contains definitions from several different dictionaries and details etymology, but also because they have a sense of fun. The English language is wonderfully quirky, especially when it comes to its vocabulary, and while it is so often the target of complaint from native and non-native speakers both, it is also no small source of fun. This little flashcard game celebrates that, giving you a 12-question vocabulary quiz on words that you are never very likely to use in any... (Read More).

August 09 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new smartphone app which helps teach sign language has won another award. Sign4Life was developed by secondary school students from Salesian College in Co. Limerick, as part of their Transition Year project. The app, which is now available on Android; is aimed at friends, family and teachers of the deaf, and is designed to help bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing communities through video technology. In March, the five students won the regional finals of Junior Achievement Ireland. They followed this up in May by taking the All-Ireland National Junior Achievement title.... (Read More).

August 06 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

French (along with English) is the official language of the Olympics, yet has been used sparingly in London for these Games. The only usage I've noticed is that all the official speeches at the opening Ceremony were given in French first, then English. Certainly all the newly erected official signs on the streets here in London are in English. Have you ever wondered WHY the official language of the Olympics is French' Shouldn't it be primarily the language of the host country' The answer is that the official language is primarily French as it is the language of the International Olympic... (Read More).

August 02 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Commission for the Management of Language Use in Shanghai has reported that English sign accuracy has improved by 85% in the three years since its' campaign launched to clear up any confusing signage in time for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. Signs such as  'inform police immediately - if you are stolen' have been removed by volunteer translation students. Websites such as Cheezburger's Engrish Funny have been set up to publish photos of translation errors in all languages snapped by tourists, and this has added to the notoriety of such gaffes. Newspaper Shanghai Daily says... (Read More).

August 01 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: mezzoguild.com I read this fascinating article recently on how our current method of learning languages is essentially 'broken', in that it focuses way too much on learning grammar and not enough on actually immersing yourself in the language. There are plenty of parts of the article I could quote, but the one that really stuck with me is this sentence: Grammar rules are what fluent speakers use to describe what they already know. Think about it: how many native English speakers actually have a good knowledge of grammar, unless they have learned a foreign language to a... (Read More).

July 2012:

July 30 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois and Penn State have discovered that texting may influence tweens to use poor grammar in everyday writing. The word count limit on most mobile phones restricts the use of proper spelling and grammar, leading users to type shortcuts, acronyms and remove 'non-essential' words. The study involved testing tweens on their grammar. This was based on a standard ninth grade grammar test. The researchers then asked the tweens to complete a questionnaire about their texting habits, which included questions about their opinions on texting, and how... (Read More).

July 27 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news While human rights are not widely acclaimed as one of the focal points of China's government, recently there has been something of an uproar about the latest version of one of China's most prominent dictionaries: a glaring omission that tacitly denounces homosexuality. The word in question is 同志 (tóngzhì). On the surface, it means 'comrade', and has been used for years as a familiar form of address between Chinese people - particularly between fellow members of the Communist party. However, just as 'gay' means 'happy' in English (yet the word has been... (Read More).

July 26 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Two German businessmen have launched a new hotline service for angry people to vent their frustrations.  Schimpf-los, (Swear Away) has operators available seven days a week to listen to people scream and swear - and they'll even give as good as they get, provoking customers into getting all their rage out. 'We don't judge people who are angry,' said Ralf Schulte, who set up the hotline with his business partner Alexander Brandenburger. 'It happens. It's natural. With us you can blow off steam no strings attached,' he told Reuters. The entrepreneurs found inspiration to set up the hotline... (Read More).

July 25 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: dailywritingtips.com English is a language famous for borrowing words from other tongues to bolster its own vocabulary, but often, due to a process called semantic shift or semantic change, such words end up changing their meaning from the original word, or mean something much more or less specific than the original word implied. English not only borrows words, but also accepts new meanings as they come into common usage - even if that common usage would otherwise be deemed 'incorrect' (e.g. the word 'literally' recently had its dictionary definition altered to accommodate the... (Read More).

July 23 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

You may be familiar with cut and paste kings Cassetteboy. I discovered their latest creation today, and it's just too good not to share with you. The victim of this video is London mayor Boris Johnson. On their YouTube page, Cassetteboy introduce the compilation of Borisism's particularly well. 'Fluff-headed loon Boris Johnson welcomes the world to the London Olympics.' Watch here before it gets taken... (Read More).

July 19 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Dictionary publishers Collins are inviting the public to submit suggestions for inclusion in the dictionary for the first time. The word selection process is usually closed, and Collins hope that including everyone in the process will make the way the language is recorded more democratic. All submissions will by reviewed by Collins dictionary editors, and approved words will be included in the online edition of the dictionary with the submitter's name credit published underneath. Words must prove themselves worthy of inclusion, as the editors look for objective evidence to decide which... (Read More).

July 18 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: greatist.com/happiness A common complaint among would-be language learners is that they're too old. Most people know that children pick up languages as easily as anything, their young minds absorbing every nugget of information without them even having to try. However, this does not mean that adults can't learn a new language and become just as proficient in it than a child who was raised speaking that same language. Adolescence is certainly not the cut-off point for gaining fluency in another language, as this article on greatist.com states: [...] the results of this latest... (Read More).

July 16 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A team of Ukrainian students have designed a pair of gloves which are capable of converting sign language into speech. The battery operated gloves contain a complex system of 15 sensors which translate hand gestures, using a smartphone app via bluetooth technology, into soundwaves. They then utilise Microsoft Speech and Bing API to translate the soundwaves into speech. The creation, which is called Enable Talk, recently won first prize in Microsoft's Imagine Cup, a technology design competition open to students all over the world. The team of four students; Valery Yasakov, Anton... (Read More).

July 13 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The US team have been busy making a series of videos ahead of the upcoming Games. The first two concentrate on the Americans trying their hands at a little Cockney rhyming slang. The first phrase they learned is: 'If you win a medal, you can go chicken oriental.' Chicken oriental is slang for 'mental' or crazy, and isn't used widely in London! The second video shows the athletes working on saying 'Now I'll stick on the Hansel and Gretel, and make us a nice cup of Rosie Lee.' The only rhyming slang we use here is Rosie Lee (tea). Although none of the team have the accent correct at all,... (Read More).

July 12 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: pantheon.yale.edu/~clb3 This survey is a joint venture between 3 linguistics professors, 1 at Yale and 2 from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The idea is to learn more about 'north American' accents - that is, the accents of people who grew up in the USA and Canada. Differences in regional accents and dialects are influenced by a number of factors, and this survey is a great way to collect enough data to study how and where these differences manifest themselves. So, who can participate' Well, basically any native English speaker from the US or Canada. From the... (Read More).

July 09 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Like history' Love languages' You may be interested in the Polish historical equivalent to Monopoly. Kolejka (Queue) has been dubbed 'the world's more boring board game,' as it involves collecting items on your shopping list, mirroring the experiences of queuing for rations in Communist eras and during and after the War. Although it was initially launched in Polish, a multi language version has just been released. You can now play in English, German, Japanese, Polish, Russian, and Spanish. There are rules in each language available to download here. The games maker's have... (Read More).

July 09 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bookblog.net/gender Yes, it's a bit of a novelty, but it's surprising how well it works. The Gender Genie is a simple site set up from an algorithm that was developed by Moshe Koppel of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon of Illinois Institute of Technology. The idea is that it analyzes the language used by an author, and uses vocabulary and syntax to detect the probably gender of the author. Certain 'masculine' and 'feminine' keywords are parsed, and it uses those as flags to work out whether the author is male or female. It works best with longer passages... (Read More).

July 05 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Language Show Live will be exhibiting again this year at the Olympia in Kensington. The show, which runs from Friday 19 - Sunday 21 October, is free to enter, but you must register your attendance first to obtain tickets. This year's show will feature a new addition to the line up - an interactive language technology area where you will be able to try new software and apps. Also new for this year is the inclusion of a Cultural Arena where you can learn and experience different cultures with workshops and performances. A full schedule for this is still to be announced. There will be... (Read More).

July 05 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Backslang is an unusual form of slang in which words are reversed phonemically (i.e. by sound), in order to make it harder for people to understand what the speakers are saying. There is a theory that backslang originated between market sellers in Victorian England, who wanted to have private conversations with their assistants or fellow sellers in order to trick customers into paying more money for poorer quality goods. In this way, backslang is fairly similar to Cockney rhyming slang which was purportedly invented so criminals could discuss illicit matters while evading the attention of the... (Read More).

July 02 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

This week I've learned a new trick to help with spelling and memorising whole sentences in Spanish. This will work with whichever language you're learning, obviously you don't have to be learning the same language as me to use it! Write down a sentence you want to learn, maybe a line from a book you're reading, and put it somewhere away from where you're working. Pin it on the back of the front door, for example. (Probably best not on the fridge!) Read it over a couple of times and memorise it. Then go back to where you were working and write it down. Compare it to the original version.... (Read More).

June 2012:

June 28 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Facebook has rolled out a new translation feature to users' profile pages. The social network site has teamed up with search engine Bing, to provide a translation link on comments which are posted in another language. The translation feature, which has been available on fan pages for a while, will allow users to click a link and the translation will pop up in your preferred language. Good news for those of us with international friends whose language we can't... (Read More).

June 28 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a video of a native Khoekhoe speaker demonstrating some basic Khoekhoe vocabulary. Khoekhoe, also known as Nàmá, is a language natively spoken by around 200,000 people in the southern African nation of Namibia. As well as being a tonal language, Khoekhoe is also characterized by its use of 'clicks', or doubly articulated consonants, a familiar property of languages in the Khoisan language family. There are several other African languages that share this 'click' quality, foremost among them the Zulu language, which is spoken by around 10 million people. You can find out more... (Read More).

June 27 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: wikipedia.org Sometimes while casually browsing the internet, you'll click a link to a Wikipedia article and somehow become stuck in the trap of clicking related links to learn more, until you find yourself at 4 in the morning, reading about something completely unrelated to the original topic. Wikipedia should come with a warning. So it was that I discovered Texasdeutsch, or 'Texas German', a dialect of German still spoken by descendants of mid-19th century German immigrants to the Texas Hill Country region. The fact that Texas has a German immigrant population comes as no... (Read More).

June 25 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

This week, children across England will be participating in mandatory reading checks. The Year One children, (ages five and six) have been learning to read using the phonics system. The tests are to measure how well the pupils are learning to read using the sounds of each letter and putting them together to form words. The test will take between 5-10 minutes, and will ask pupils to read 20 real words and 20 made up words, such as 'terg' and 'spron'. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers, the National Association of Head Teachers and the National Union of Teachers issued a joint... (Read More).

June 25 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: endangeredlanguages.com Google recently launched endangeredlanguages.com, an online collaborative effort to preserve linguistic diversity around the world, giving the chance to threatened languages and those on the cusp of extinction to survive and thrive once more. From the site: Experts estimate that only 50% of the languages that are alive today will be spoken by the year 2100. The disappearance of a language means the loss of valuable scientific and cultural information, comparable to the loss of a species. Tools for collaboration between the world communities,... (Read More).

June 20 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A study by the European Commission shows that Britain is at the bottom of the list for student's ability to speak a second language. Malta and Sweden scored highly, with 82% of students being able to demonstrate skills in a second language fluently. Tests were carried out in 14 of the 27 European Union countries. Only 42% of pupils were competent in a second language. It was revealed that British students had a poorer grasp of the basics of a foreign language than pupils in the other nations tested. The five most widely spoken second languages were: 1) English - 38% 2) French -... (Read More).

June 18 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

You may have read about Scottish schoolgirl Martha Payne's NeverSeconds, a blog focussing on Martha's school dinners. She uploads a photo of her lunch every day and rates it. Martha also posts photos of lunches she has been sent from other schoolchildren around the world, as well as raising money for charity Mary's Meals, which provides school lunches for the poorest communities all over the world. Argyll and Bute Council claimed that the nine year old's blog was attracting negative attention, and implemented a ban on photography in the school canteen, after one of her photos was... (Read More).

June 14 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Great news for British schoolchildren this week comes with the announcement that languages will be made compulsory in schools again, from September 2014. With Brits trailing behind the rest of the world when it comes to being multi-lingual, this can't come soon enough in our multi cultural society. Both Spain and Belgium introduce learning a second language to pupils aged three. Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that foreign languages will be part of the National Curriculum for all children from the age of seven; earlier than ever before. Previously, languages were compulsory... (Read More).

June 12 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Any learner of Greek or Russian will tell you that learning a new alphabet is no great task. However, there are certain false friends to look out for - for example, Greek's letter rho (Ρ), looks exactly like the Latin letter P, but is pronounced like an 'R' rather than a P. Similarly, the Cyrillic letter У looks like a Latin Y, but in Russian is pronounced 'oo'. While the actual pronunciation or exactly what each letter represents in each language can differ, there are 11 letters that exist in all three alphabets. This Venn diagram shows the common letters - the Greek alphabet is on the... (Read More).

June 11 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Swiss newspaper  Neue Zürcher Zeitung published their entire front page in binary on Friday (June 8th). Details such as the publication's website, date and price remained in the original form. The reason' The newspaper was celebrating its first digital edition. You can 'read' it here. (The German front page is on page 3, and the rest of the paper was printed as usual, so you won't be needing this translation... (Read More).

June 07 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Queen's English Society, a group formed in 1972 to publicise the need for good grammar and spelling in written English, have announced the closure of the group, citing disinterest from the public. The announcement has attracted a lot of mockery from the media. At a time when a lot of people are using text speak as the norm, has the Society chosen to close at the wrong time' Languages evolve and change, there is no doubt. Currently, with the evolution of technology and social media, certain restrictions on space and characters limit the way we communicate. But does this mean that the... (Read More).

June 05 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

One of the toughest parts of learning Chinese is learning to read and write Chinese script, or 汉字 (hànzì). Characters have to be learned apart from their pronunciation and meaning - some characters offer clues (for example, 木 (mù), means 'tree' or 'wood', and the character looks like a little tree), but the vast majority simply have to be learned. Once you start to learn the component parts of characters (known as radicals) you can start to piece it together, but how to actually say each character is simply a rote learning task. Chinese characters are measured in strokes - that... (Read More).

June 04 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new Mandarin teaching centre opened at Wellington College in Berkshire on Saturday. The £500,000 centre is apparently the largest of it's kind in the UK, and has a pagoda and Chinese water garden. The centre will not only teach students, but also host Chinese cultural events. Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, opened the centre as part of the schools' Speech Day programme on Saturday. Speech Day honours outstanding students, with exhibitions of their work, sports displays and games, and prize ceremonies. Wellington College is a 150 year old independent school and is known for... (Read More).

June 01 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: transparent.com One of the most boring parts of learning a new language is expanding your vocabulary beyond the standard, basic words that you use daily. However, without having a good, all-rounded vocabulary, improving your general fluency is next to impossible, and you'll always be limited in your range of conversational topics. Language resource site transparent.com aims to help people improve their vocabulary by giving you a new word in your target language every day, along with a pronunciation guide, its meaning, and an example of its usage. The site supports a wide... (Read More).

May 2012:

May 31 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

And now for something a little more silly... Yesterday viewers of long running Channel 4 show Countdown were surprised to see the word 'minge' pop up when letters were pulled up randomly for the board. For those who haven't seen it, Countdown is a number and word puzzle game show, and is great as you play along and test your English vocabulary! In this particular round, contestants attempt to make the longest word out of randomly chosen vowels and consonants, which are selected by one of the contestants. The winner of this round made the slang word 'mingers,' if you're... (Read More).

May 30 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: ryanestradadotcom.tumblr.com Artist and traveller Ryan Estrada recently created a comic that claims to teach readers how to read the Korean alphabet - known to Koreans as Hangul - in around 15 minutes. Obviously practice will help you remember what you've learned, but the basis for the ease of learning is that Korean's alphabet is actually extremely simple. Though users of the Roman alphabet tend to freak out when they see a different writing system - for example Chinese characters, Thai script, or the Cyrillic alphabet - the Korean alphabet has one thing other writing systems... (Read More).

May 28 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The Estonian Language Institute has published the first major etymological Estonian dictionary. It has been nine years since work began on the book. Two previous dictionaries exist, but this is the first compiled and published in Estonia. The first known Estonian etymology dictionary was Julius Mägiste's German effort which remained unfinished at the time of his death. Alo Raun's 1982 edition contained just one line per word stem, and so the new version is seen as a huge breakthrough for the documentation of the language's etymology. The book includes 6,643 word entries. Lead... (Read More).

May 25 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: usatoday.com Dallas-based pizza chain Pizza Patron is spearheading a promotion whereby if you order a pizza in Spanish - whether you're a fluent speaker or it's your first time speaking - you get it for free. The promotion is slated to start on June 5th, from 5pm to 8pm. Why are they doing this' Is it a statement against the immigration reform that is currently a hot topic for debate in several southern states' Or simply an effort to raise awareness of the chain among their primary customer base' According to Andrew Gamm, Pizza Patron's brand director, 'Because we sell a... (Read More).

May 24 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

I live with two Italians, so am always hearing Italian spoken around the house. An Italian work colleague recently taught me how to say smettila (which is 'stop it' - don't ask.) My housemate is always amused when I come home with a new Italian word or phrase - the last one was zucchero filato (candy floss) - as he knows that I usually pick up words I can't use in everyday conversation. When I told my housemate my new word, he laughed a lot (apparently it's cute to hear Italian spoken with an English accent!) and then suggested I nod my head when pronouncing the first syllable, as I had... (Read More).

May 23 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

One of the wonderful things about English is that thanks to the host of languages it 'borrows' and derives words from, there is pretty much a word for everything. True, there are some facets of meaning that English cannot describe in a single word (such as the Pascuense word tingo, meaning 'to gradually borrow items from somebody else's house until they are left with nothing'), but with an estimated 1 million plus words in the English language, there's usually a word to fit the occasion. So it is when I wanted to describe 'somebody with wavy hair' in a single word, and came upon the word... (Read More).

May 22 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

2012 marks the 6th annual Literature Festival in London and a whole host of exciting events are planned at the Southbank Centre for the celebration of spoken word performance. Highlights for this year include: American novellist Siri Hustvedt, best known for penning What I Loved, will be giving a lecture on her new book,  Living, Thinking, Looking, a collection of essays. StorySLAM - an open mic style night where budding authors read their 5 minute short stories to an audience including publishers at Random House Creative Writing classes - get hints and tips on how to create and plan... (Read More).

May 21 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: forvo.com For those learning to speak a new language, pronunciation can often be a hurdle. For example, stress is very important in Italian, and learners need to be very clear on which syllable(s) they stress. While most words follow the rules, there are always exceptions, and getting the stress right may be the difference between being understood by a native speaker and being greeted with a look of incomprehension. While the claim of 'all the words in the world, pronounced' is a pretty bold claim, forvo.com is undeniably a pretty impressive achievement. It's an excellent idea... (Read More).

May 17 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new report by the Modern Languages Working Group, which was commissioned by the Scottish government, recommends that children in Scotland should start learning a second language from the first year of school. Currently, language subjects are introduced in the sixth year. Ministers have signed an EU agreement promising to adhere to the recommendations made in the report, and the Scottish government is now looking to run a pilot scheme in around a dozen primary schools as soon as the coming 2012-2013 academic year. Minister for Learning, Alisdair Allan, said 'The world is changing... (Read More).

May 15 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: chrome.google.com Sometimes great ideas are born, and sometimes they are just clever combinations of existing great ideas. The Language Immersion plugin for Chrome is in the latter category, combining the existing technology of Google Translate and the individual user's browsing habits to aid language learners. So, how does it work' The method is actually extremely simple: you tell it what language you want to learn (of the 64 currently supported by Google Translate) and your current familiarity with that language. In turn, when you browse your regular websites the plugin will... (Read More).

May 14 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

One woman in Nepal holds the key to a near extinct language. Seventy five year old Gyani Maiya Sen is the last remaining member of the Kusunda people who speaks their language fluently. Ms Sen states that other Kusunda people can speak a few words of the language but are not fully conversant. 'Fortunately I can also speak Nepali, but I feel very sad for not being able to speak my own language with people from my own community,' she said. It is not known how many Kusunda people remain at this time; at the time of the 2001 Nepal census, there were 164 Kusundas living in Nepal, however many... (Read More).

May 10 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Archaeologists working in Turkey have found what they think to be evidence of a long forgotten language. A team of archaeologists working at Ziyaret Tepe, the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Tushan in south eastern Turkey, discovered an ancient clay writing tablet inscribed with Cuneiform characters, in the remains of a palace. Cambridge University researcher, Dr John MacGinnis, who examined and deciphered the tablet, found a list of 60 female names on the artefact. Some names are Assyrian, several more belong to other languages of the period, such as Luwian or Hurrian. Forty five of... (Read More).

May 07 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new study, entitled The Foreign Language Effect, explores the hypothesis that thinking in another language can influence the decisions one makes. Researchers at the University of Chicago conducted six experiments and concluded that 'using a foreign language reduces decision making bias.'  The six experiments were based on Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman's theories on how people intuitively perceive risk. One experiment tested native English speakers learning Japanese. 121 students were given a hypothetical choice as to whether they would save a set number of people, or take the risk... (Read More).

May 03 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

If you're a user of Google's Gmail service, you will soon be able to translate more easily within your email! The new system, which is being rolled out to all users during the next few days, will work much like a Google search which asks if you'd like to translate the page when the search engine finds the page in another language. To translate a message manually, you can click on Translate Message in the header at the top of the message. If you want things to happen automatically, select Always translate. If you don’t need translation for a specific language, you can select Turn off and... (Read More).

May 03 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: voices.yahoo.com Back at school I had a French teacher who wasn't a native French speaker, but still spoke the language fluently. His grammar was perfect, he had a wide vocabulary, but many students just could not take him seriously. Why' Well, he spoke French in what can only be described as a broad British accent. While a French person wouldn't have much difficulty in understanding what he was saying, he never at any point sounded like a French speaker. However, it is important when learning another language to learn the accent along with it. As this article says, an accent... (Read More).

April 2012:

April 30 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Multilingual guides are sought after for the summer season in the Outer Hebrides. Thousands of tourists are expected to descend on the Western Isles of Scotland in the next couple of months, and demand exceeds the 27 existing multilingual tour guides. Joan Morrison, of the Western Isles Tour Guide Association, said: 'We are pretty desperate and really need people fluent in Finnish, Swedish, Spanish or Italian, and willing to undergo training. We need people as soon as possible within the next couple of weeks so we can start training.' Gaelic remains the main language spoken by... (Read More).

April 26 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Google has announced that over 200 million people use its' Translate service every month. Google Translate launched in 2006 offering Chinese and Arabic translation, and now offers translation in 64 different languages. Google Research Scientist Franz Och said in an official blog post: In a given day we translate roughly as much text as you’d find in 1 million books. To put it another way: what all the professional human translators in the world produce in a year, our system translates in roughly a single day. By this estimate, most of the translation on the planet is now done by... (Read More).

April 25 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: cracked.com [warning: explicit language] Humor site cracked.com have got a 'top 10'-style list for almost every subject you could think of, and the English language is no exception. This time they're lampooning the prescriptivists of the English language - those who apply rules and normative practices on the language's spelling, grammar, syntax and pronunciation. This article lists 7 common 'mistakes' in English that aren't technically mistakes, such as split infinitives and people liberally using the word 'literally' when they mean 'figuratively'. While these 'errors' so often... (Read More).

April 23 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Back in November, I posted about Globe to Globe, which is just one event in the calendar of the World  Shakespeare Festival taking place around the UK. The Festival launched today, which is the 448th anniversary of Shakespeare's birthday. The date also marks English Language Day at the UN. During the next 6 weeks, the Globe Theatre in London is showing 37 of Shakespeare's works in 37 different languages. The festival kicked off today with Troilus and Cressida in Maori, which has already been performed in Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand to standing ovations. Director Rachel... (Read More).

April 20 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: lifehacker.com Lifehacker ran an article today on polyglot Gabriel Wyner, an opera singer who was tasked with learning 4 languages due to his career choice. He has achieved near fluency in Italian, French, German, and most recently Russian. His four-step method is simpler than you might think, and relies on taking each language step by step; first learning correct pronunciation, then immersing yourself entirely in the language to improve your grammar and overall vocabulary. After that, you work on listening, reading and writing, and only then do you work on improving your... (Read More).

April 19 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Paul McCartney's music video for his latest single My Valentine features actors Johnny Depp and Natalie Portman using sign language to convey the lyrics of the song. It has been widely reported that there are some errors in the sign language used, most notably, that both actors use the sign for 'tampon' rather than 'appear,' and 'enemy' instead of 'Valentine.' Whilst in British Sign Language, the sign is for 'tampon,' it's important to note that the actors are using American Sign Language, for which the signs for some words differ slightly. Therefore, the sign they used to signify 'appear'... (Read More).

April 19 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

The word ambidextrous is familiar to most people: it describes somebody who is be able to use both hands (and sometimes, in the case of soccer, feet) equally well. The word comes from the Latin words ambi meaning 'both' (the same root for words like ambivolent) and dexter, meaning 'right-handed' or simply 'right'. Therefore the literal meaning is 'to be right-handed in both hands'. Since the majority of people are right-handed, being left-handed was often seen as contrary or against the norm. Since a mostly right-handed populace generally means that a society will use tools and implements... (Read More).

April 18 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Most people know what a synonym is (a word that has the same or similar meaning to another word, e.g. 'big' and 'great'), as well as a homonym (a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning, e.g. 'steak' and 'stake'). However, a retronym is a little different. A retroynm is when a word is coined after the fact, because the original term has become inadequate. A simple example of a retronym is analog clock. Before digital clocks, all clocks were analog, and were just referred to as a clock; but after digital clocks became popular, the word clock alone was no... (Read More).

April 16 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Language students, you may very well be preserving your mental health! New research demonstrates that learning another language could prevent the onset of the cognitive disease dementia. Being able to speak two languages makes the brain work harder, and is therefore more resilient in later life; according to the study, which was conducted at Toronto's York University. The researchers examined hospital records of patients diagnosed with a variety of different types of dementia, and found that those who were bilingual were diagnosed with dementia three to four years later than patients who... (Read More).

April 12 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have called for languages to be made compulsory in schools until AS levels, in order to help the future economy. Modern languages had previously been a mandatory subject for GCSEs, but this was changed in 2004. French and German were the most popular choices offered by many schools, but the number of students taking those subjects has halved in the last 16 years. Last summer, 154,221 pupils took French. This is in contrast to the 350,027 pupils who sat the exam in 1995. 60,887 students took the German GCSE last year, compared with 129,386 in 1995.... (Read More).

April 09 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Olympic fever is hitting London and there are some pretty condescending articles hitting the web regarding the English - American language 'divide.' Indeed, yes, there are some phrases and words which differ slightly, but we're all adult enough to either work it out or ask if something is not easily understood. If you're an American visiting London for the Olympics, you certainly wouldn't ask for 'chips' in a restaurant, and if you see it on a menu, you'd take it to mean 'French fries.' English staff in hotels, restaurants and shops in this multi cultural city are well used to hearing a... (Read More).

April 09 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: youtube.com I recently came across this video on YouTube of a native Arabic speaker - with no knowledge of the English language - mimicking the sound of spoken American English. Named 'Mr John' by his fellow Arabic counterpart who proceeds to ask him questions, the man answers in pure gibberish, but due to the phonemes used throughout the gibberish, in a few instances he does sound like he might be talking English. He begins every response with 'yeah, um...', which he clearly picked up from hearing American English speakers talking. Through intonation, he does occasionally... (Read More).

April 06 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: slavistix.nl Russian has a fearsome reputation as a tough language to learn, but it's far more than just having to learn a new alphabet. A recent article on slavistix.nl explains six of the biggest basic hurdles of learning Russian, so those considering taking up the language should take note. 1. Stress is mobile and flexible and does not follow strict rules. The correct placement of stress is one of the major problems when learning Russian language. 2. There are 6 different cases in Russian language, inflection and declination are important features of Russian... (Read More).

April 05 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Following the launch of the European Spanish store, online retailer Amazon.com now has a specialist Kindle shop for digital books in the Spanish language on its US site.  The books on offer include an exclusive on Paolo Coelho novels, the popular Twilight and Hunger Games collections, and titles by authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The site also offers subscriptions to Latin American newspapers, such as La Nacion. 'We're excited to introduce Spanish language storefronts on all Kindles, as well as a dedicated store for our Spanish-speaking customers in the US,' said Kindle Content... (Read More).

April 05 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

economist.com Although China's track record for joining the rest of their world in social networking isn't the best (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are just three out of many sites that are blocked by the 'Great Firewall of China' in the PRC), their language is ideally suited to it. Sites like Twitter, which force you to compress your thoughts into 140 characters or less, often force speakers of English and other languages to compress their language and use acronyms, initialisms and short forms of words. Due to the Chinese writing system, you can fit far more information into far fewer... (Read More).

April 02 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The winner of the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award 2012 was announced on Friday. The ceremony, which took place at the Sunday Times Literary Festival in Oxford, saw Irish writer Kevin Barry being crowned the winner. The judging panel for the awards included Lord Melvyn Bragg, playwright Hanif Kureishi, and actor Ian Hart, as well as Joanna Trollope. Barry's short story, entitled Best Trip to Llandudno, beat the five other shortlisted authors to the prize of £30, 000. All the shortlisted writers win £1000 each, and the stories will be published in an anthology which... (Read More).

March 2012:

March 30 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: columbia.edu A linguistic map is a map that shows the geographical distribution of speakers of certain languages or regional dialects. While in the USA the main languages would obviously be English and Spanish, in areas of the world with diverse languages like south Asia, linguistic maps can very very interesting and varied. Here's a linguistic map of that very area, thanks to Columbia University's linguistics faculty (click on the map for the full-size version): India is famed for its incredibly diverse linguistic landscape, and this map shows that its fame is... (Read More).

March 29 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Enid Blyton’s books, such as popular ‘50s series The Secret Seven, and Malory Towers, which Blyton started writing in the ‘40s, are about to get a language overhaul. Publisher Hachette UK has obtained the rights to Blyton’s entire body of work, excluding Noddy, and plans to bring the language used in the books up to date in a bid to boost sales and to attract new readers. The stories themselves will remain unchanged, but the language will be updated. The intention is to make the text 'timeless' and will not contain any modern slang or references to modern culture. This year marks... (Read More).

March 26 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Travel magazine Wanderlust recently published an article entitled 10 Most Ridiculous Travel Fashion Items. I was amazed to see on it a Phrasebook T-Shirt. The idea behind this is, using international airport style graphics, the wearer can simply point to what they want with no need to interact with the locals. I think it might just be the laziest invention ever! It's no longer available to buy, however, so anyone thinking of getting it is out of... (Read More).

March 22 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

I've always thought of my multi-lingual friends as supremely clever people, and it turns out this belief is now supported by science! Researchers at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, have found that bi-lingual people have a heightened ability to monitor their environment. Lead researcher in Speech Production and Bi-lingualism, Albert Costa Martinez, explains further; “Bi-linguals have to switch languages quite often — you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language. It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that... (Read More).

March 22 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: guardian.co.uk Although Margaret Thatcher is not the recipient of very many popularity awards, the former UK Prime Minister has been warped from the traditional 'Iron Lady' image to a rather more sinister, heartless leader - thanks to a bad Russian translation of the movie starring Meryl Streep. 'The Iron Lady', an oscar-winning biography of Conservative ex-Prime Minsiter Margaret Thatcher, was, like so many other movies, another pirated movie in Russia, but the 'translator' responsible for the subtitles took some rather alarming liberties to the script. In fact, 'lost in... (Read More).

March 19 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog A belated St Patrick's Day to everybody! While St Patrick's Day may be the best-known Irish import into everyday American life, the Gaelic Irish language has actually had more of an impact that you'd think. Thanks to English's constant desire to steal words from other languages and assimilate them into itself, there are quite a few common words that come from the emerald isle. For example, 'whisky' (or 'whiskey') comes from the Irish uisge beatha, meaning 'the water of life'. 'Galore', meaning an abundance of, comes from gu leor, meaning... (Read More).

March 19 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

The British Library has released the first ever audio CD of clips of Shakespeare plays spoken in the original pronunciation. The recording includes some of Shakespeare's best known speeches, such as the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet's To Be Or Not To Be, and the Friends, Romans, countrymen... monologue from Julius Caesar. The 'new' pronunciation makes lines which were meant to rhyme actually rhyme, and demonstrates the importance of pronunciation in communications. You can listen to some of the clips here. I think the accents used sound like a cross between Yorkshire and... (Read More).

March 15 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Following on from the news of the development of a new program to help us speak languages; the latest buzz in the technology world is a device which will translate sign language to text. The intention of the program, named the Portable Sign Language Translator, is that it will be used as an app on a tablet, Smartphone or laptop, and will allow deaf people or people with speech difficulties to communicate with hearing people more easily. A camera will record the user's hand signs, and then import the recording into the program, and translate it to text. Researchers and scientists at... (Read More).

March 15 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: justmeans.com When people say that sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube bring people closer together, it's easy to think of it as a one-dimensional thing. However, these kinds of sites that help and encourage social engineering have a few other major benefits that you might not consider at first. For example, of the some 7,000 languages that are spoken around the world today, half of those are expected to be extinct by the year 2100. The cause of this sad fact is often cited to be globalization and the fact that common language is the only real way for otherwise disparate... (Read More).

March 13 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Unlike langauges like German, English is said to lack the ability to make a new word by simply piling on other words onto another. Thanks to noun agglutination and the ease of making more specific words out of different existing words, German can make words like Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz (their term for a cattle marking and beef labeling supervision duties delegation law). What English does have, however, is our own compound words, which coupled with English's amazing ability to coin new words, is pretty much the same thing but without the ability to... (Read More).

March 12 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Too lazy to learn a new language' Curious to see what you sound like speaking in Mandarin' Or maybe you use your Windows-compatible smartphone on holiday' Microsoft is developing the perfect program for you! The software will record your voice, then translate it into another language for you, and then play your voice back speaking in that language. There is no release date for this yet, but Microsoft researchers say the program will require an hour of training to learn your voice. At the moment, the program can translate between 26 languages, including English, Spanish, Italian and... (Read More).

March 08 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: nativenewsnetwork While I so often say around here that languages bring us together, it seems that there are many who disagree. This story happened a few weeks ago, and was pretty upsetting. Happily this kind of thing is the exception rather than the rule. When a Wisconsin 7th grader, Miranda Washinawatok, decided to speak a few words of her native Menominee language to a classmate, her teacher decided to punish Miranda for her own ignorance. 'The teacher went back to where the two were sitting and literally slammed her hand down on the desk and said, 'How do I know you are... (Read More).

March 08 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Fancy a bit of culture this weekend' The new Weighted Words exhibition, which runs until June 10th at the Zabludowicz Collection in London, features pieces by artists who explore language and words within their creations. Glenn Ligon's works feature heavily. According to the Zabludowicz Collection website, 'Weighted Words seeks to focus on the affect of language, rather than its purely cerebral aspects. The works in the exhibition deliberately seek to elicit emotional, visceral or somatic responses, rather than foregrounding concerns for semiotics or linguistics as such. The works use... (Read More).

March 05 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

This morning I read in the local newspaper about the celebrations planned for today - St Piran’s Day. St Piran’s Day, for those not in the know, is the national day of Cornwall, and as I know there are usually Cornish language workshops held around here for children, I wondered if there was anything to support adult learning too. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you’re in luck. For today only, the Cornish Soundboard app will be free.  The app features Cornish people from across the county saying typical Cornish phrases, so you can be sure to imitate them correctly with the right... (Read More).

March 01 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

I've posted in the past about using foreign language films as a fun way to learn languages. For Londoners and visitors to London, March is a great time to catch up on world cinema, with several foreign film festivals. First up is Kinoteka, the annual Polish Film Festival, which runs from 8th to 22nd March. This is also running, on a smaller scale, in Belfast and Edinburgh. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the festival, a host of events are planned. Last night (11th March) was the gala preview of this years' Oscar nominated film, In Darkness, ahead of the UK release on Friday 16th... (Read More).

February 2012:

February 27 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A new show on BBC channel CBeebies aims to teach pre-school age children about languages and their related cultures. Eleven minute programme The Lingo Show features an animated bug named Lingo, as the 'host' of the show. Lingo then introduces other bugs from other countries who sing little songs about their respective allocated language and culture within a live action set. Episode 1 introduces Wei, a bug which sings in English with Chinese Mandarin words interspersed. Through the use of songs and repetition, we learn that the Mandarin word for hello is nee hao. The show isn't... (Read More).

February 27 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: nytimes.com Though it is a familiar and staple word in France and French language classrooms alike, the word 'mademoiselle' (the English equivalent of 'miss'), has come under intense fire recently in France from 2 prominent French feminist organizations, who for months have been campaigning to have the word removed from official documents. Their complaint lies in the word's implications: 'mademoiselle' - in contrast with 'madame' - indicates the marital status of the female in question, whereas the male form, 'monsieur', gives away no such information. A spokeswoman for one of the... (Read More).

February 24 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news A polyglot is somebody who speaks several languages (from the Greek poly = many, glotta = tongue). However, a new breed of hyper-polyglots has risen: people who were not happy with just a few languages, and have spent their lives learning to speak as many languages as possible. The hyper-polyglot in the BBC News article, Ray Gillion, speaks 18 (!) languages, and his wife speaks 6. We're not talking about him just dipping into that many langauges, he can speak all of those languages at a fluent or near fluent level. Yes, it's OK to feel jealous at his achievements,... (Read More).

February 23 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

National tourism agency Visit Britain's new multi million pound advertisement contains an unfortunate spelling mistake. The typo, which was seen on the New York subway, consisted of the spelling of popular Welsh National Park, the Brecon Beacons, as Breacon Beacons. It's all too easy to complain about the lack of use of spell check and/or proof reading, but we've all done it. I can't say that I've spent £25 million on an ad campaign which features a spelling mistake though. What's been your biggest typo' Has it been in a different language' Or maybe you've seen a horrible spelling mistake... (Read More).

February 21 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

This image serves to demonstrate the importance of understanding the idiomatic differences between languages - in English, the verb go has many uses and facets of meaning, but in some languages the role it plays is far more limited. In some Middle Eastern languages, for example, it usually means to leave, rather than being more of a general usage verb. So it was, then, that protesters in an anti-America rally in Pakistan were actually giving the USA an unintentionally positive message... 'Go America go' would usually be interpreted in English as a motivational cheer, rather than an... (Read More).

February 20 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Tomorrow, February 21st, marks the 12th annual International Mother Language Day. In honour of this worldwide occasion, we bring you some facts about the day, and what it represents. · International Mother Language Day was founded by UNESCO in November 1999 to “promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, and to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.” It has been internationally observed since the year 2000. · February 21st was chosen to mark the anniversary, and in recognition of, the death of... (Read More).

February 18 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

The German language is full of Anglicisms - that is, words or phrases that come straight from English and insert themselves into German. In German it's known as an Anglizismus, and the habit of incorporating English words into German is called Denglisch (a portmanteau of 'Deutsch' and 'Englisch'). Examples include the words 'crash' and 'reboot' when talking about computers, and these words decline and conjugate like other German words (e.g. 'Ich musste den Computer rebooten, weil die Software gecrasht ist' means 'I had to reboot the computer because the software crashed').) Sometimes... (Read More).

February 17 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: youtube.com A couple of weeks ago a video went viral on the internet featuring a 14-year-old girl, later found to be named Alyssa Kramer, whose unique talent is to be able to take any word and say it backwards within seconds. The video quickly gained popularity and at the time of writing has around 2.7 million views. Here's the video, for those of you who might not have seen it yet: The big question is, how is she able to do this' Alyssa claims that she's always been able to do it. You can tell from her replies that she is not doing it entirely phonetically (like the effect... (Read More).

February 16 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

From the title, can you guess which classic book has been translated into Jerriais by St Helier born linguist and writer Geraint Jennings' Jerriais, although not widely spoken, is an official dialect of Jersey, in the Channel Islands. Jennings has been an advocate for preserving the language, compiling and publishing a collection of Jerriais texts online at Les Pages Jerriaises. Mr Jennings has been working on the book for 13 years, and instead of doing a literal translation, he has instead adapted it to make parts of the original storyline relate more to Jersey and its history. Jennings is... (Read More).

February 13 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

British comedian David Mitchell, best known for his role in cult British TV show Peep Show as well as being a frequent guest on panel quiz shows, is also famous for his wit and bile-fuelled rants about society in general. His 'David Mitchell's Soap Box' series has gained quite a bit of fame on YouTube. Though he seems like the kind of person who would have only distaste for American culture, he is actually pretty forgiving of the intricacies of American English and the liberties Americans have taken with the Brits' precious language. However, there are some that (in my opinion quite... (Read More).

February 13 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

With Valentine's Day approaching, you might want to know how to say 'I love you' in another language. According to Google Data, more than 29 million searches are made every month for that very phrase. The most popular searches are for the phrase in Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, German, Korean and Arabic. Instead of using Google Translate, online tool Omniglot is worth a look, it has a pretty comprehensive directory of 'I love you' in these languages and many more you may never have heard of. In other love and language news, scientists at the University of Texas... (Read More).

February 10 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A woman from Birmingham recently recovered from the flu only to find she had a French accent. 'I had a bad seizure and when it stopped my mouth wouldn't work. Over the next month, I had to learn to speak again. But when I did, I heard a different sound, not my Brummie accent. I sounded French but I've never even been there,' said Debie Royston. The condition, known as foreign accent syndrome, was diagnosed by speech disorder expert Professor Nick Miller of Newcastle University; and Ms Royston is one of only 60 people in the world known to have it. Professor Miller said that Ms Royston... (Read More).

February 07 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news The original definition of an internet troll is somebody who purposefully posts something inflammatory or purposefully incorrect online in order to gain the attention and ire of fellow internet users. However, these days it is used in a general way to describe anybody who posts malicious or offensive on the internet. Trolls tend to target places that are easy to sabotage or have a large audience that are otherwise sympathetic, like Wikipedia, or Facebook memorial and tribute pages for deceased people. Due to the anonymity of the internet it is very difficult to... (Read More).

February 01 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: visual.ly Here's a great infographic about the speed of languages, that is: how fast languages are spoken. Why do some languages like Spanish and Japanese sound like they're going by so fast, whereas others like Chinese seem more slow and pronounced' A study was performed to find out why this is, and as it turns out, it's more about the language density rather than the actual syllables per second. The 'language density' is a measurement of how much information each language can fit into a single syllable (using Vietnamese as a standard). As it happens, the slower languages tend... (Read More).

January 2012:

January 31 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Apologies for the terrible pun, but I couldn't resist. Learning Chinese is difficult for many reasons, but one of my main weaknesses is learning hanzi, the Chinese pictographic characters. Although some of them make sense (e.g. 川 [chuān], meaning 'river', looks kind of like a river; or 门 [mén], meaning 'gate', looks like a gate), some are a little more cryptic, and some require leaping a few mental hurdles to remember consistently. While sites like memrise.com are very helpful in committing characters to memory, after a while it gets a little stale. In an effort to make rote... (Read More).

January 30 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Time magazine has published an interview with the author of new book Babel No More, Michael Erard. This book is an intriguing read for language students, and fans of linguistics, as it delves into how to approach learning a new language, and how some people are able to learn a language quickly, whilst others are not. The main focus of the book is people who are able to speak more than one language (polyglots) and people who are able to communicate in many languages (hyperglots.) The interview is available here. You can also read the first couple of chapters free on... (Read More).

January 30 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Now, everybody's heard of the great bard, William Shakespeare, but perhaps not everybody knows that he was much more than just a prodigious playwright. The English language has Shakespeare to thank for a great deal more than Macbeth, Hamlet, et al.: he also invented a great number of words and phrases. According to painstaking calculations, Shakespeare used 17,667 different words throughout all his works, and at least 1 in 10 of these words had never been used before. That's somewhere in the region of 2,000 words that Shakespere coined himself. Among them are common terms such as lonely,... (Read More).

January 26 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

A father and daughter from Gwynedd, North Wales, are refusing to pay their parking fines as the tickets were not written in Welsh. Noel Jones and his daughter Bethan were issued with the £65 tickets after parking in the car park of a village community hall in Penrhyndeudraeth. The private car park is primarily for the use of customers, and resident drivers have been issued with bilingual notices regarding the parking enforcements for the past two years. 67% of locals use Welsh as their primary language, however both Noel and Bethan Jones are fluent in English. The pair feel that the... (Read More).

January 23 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Language cards are now being used to communicate with tourists who find themselves in difficulty when climbing mountains in Austria. More than half of all mountain rescue operations in Carinthia, in the south of Austria, are for tourists who do not speak any German or English. The A6 size cards hold questions pertaining to any injuries the patient might have, and help the mountain rescue teams communicate how the patient might be safely rescued. It is hoped that the climbers will point to their answers in their own language. Other popular tourist regions in Austria are also looking to... (Read More).

January 19 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

It's that time of year when the Oscars are announced. Recently I wrote about using world cinema as a tool for language learning and development.  As some of my favourite films have won the Best Foreign Film award, (Czech film Kolya won in 1996, and Argentinian film El Secreto De Sus Ojos took the title in 2009) I will paying particular attention to the nominees this year. This years' ceremony takes place on February 26th, and the shortlisted films are due to be announced next Tuesday. This Wednesday, nine films were chosen to be on the long list out of 63 entries. The following... (Read More).

January 19 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: kalimedia.com For those interested in etymology (the study of where words come from), this is a fantastic resource. At first glance it may look like a standard atlas, but take a closer look at the names of places and you'll see that the map doesn't show the modern-day names, but the modern English translation of where the name came from. For example, San Francisco is marked 'St. Little Frank One', New York is 'New Yew Tree Village', Philadelphia is 'Sibling Love', and so on. Some places have more obvious etymology than others (for example Vermont means 'Green Mountain', easily... (Read More).

January 17 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

The English language has historically borrowed words heavily from other tongues (known as loanwords), and is part of the reason why we have such a rich vocabulary compared with every other language on the planet. England had cultural contact with many other races and tribes throughout its history - for example the Roman, Viking and Norman invasions brought Latin, Norse and French to Britain, respectively. The Angles (where we get the word English) were originally a Germanic tribe hailing from Denmark, and they inhabited the British Isles after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Saxons... (Read More).

January 16 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

In honour of the 125th anniversary of the language, students in Stoke-on-Trent have started a campaign to promote Esperanto as the second language of choice. Esperanto is a language which was devised in 1887 by Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. It is considered to be an easy language to learn, as the grammar has no irregular verbs, and people in almost every country have learned to communicate using it. An estimated 2 million people speak the language worldwide, with almost 1000 of those in the UK. But why are students in Stoke-on-Trent so interested in Esperanto' Well, the headquarters of the... (Read More).

January 13 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: etd.lsu.edu There are some who would think that your internet privileges should be revoked should you never have run across lolcats - photos of cats, often in humorous positions, captioned in what seems like a rudimentary form of English. One of the most famous lolcats, rather overweight specimen of a cat, bears the caption 'I can has cheezburger'', which helped spawn not only a plethora of other lolcat images, but also the website icanhascheezburger.com (which has just celebrated its five-year anniversary), where people can submit their own. lolcats are a prime example of what... (Read More).

January 12 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

New research from British scientists at Cardiff University's School of Psychology shows that infants can recognise their mother's voice, rather than the words, in any language; demonstrating that tone is key to voice recognition. Researchers studied 84 babies aged between 14 and 18 months and conducted two studies - one in English and the other in Greek. None of the babies had prior exposure to the Greek language. Research leader Dr Merideth Gattis explained, 'in this research we aimed to investigate the contribution of prosodic cues, or tone of voice, to infants’ understanding of... (Read More).

January 09 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Latvia is set to hold a referendum on February 19th, to decide whether Russian should officially be the country's second national language. Currently, 44% of the population are Russian speakers, however, 16% of the population are ethnic Russians, who do not hold Latvian citizenship thus are not eligible to vote.* According to Latvian law, more than half of Latvian voters must vote in favour for the proposition to pass. The proposal does not have the backing of President Andris Berzins. “Granting the Russian language the status of the second state language is the denial of Latvia as a... (Read More).

January 05 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

Francophiles and French language students, here's your opportunity to immerse yourself in all things French. The France Show will be exhibiting at Earls Court, London, from 13-15th January. There will be food, wine, entertainment, and a chance to win a trip to France so you can practise your French! Tickets are £10 in advance, and £13 on the door. There's also a two tickets for £13 deal... (Read More).

January 03 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

There's an app for everything these days, most of which have no practical use whatsoever. With that in mind, here's another one to add to your collection if you're interested in languages: Swearport. Not recommended for younger learners, Swearport allows you to explore the various vulgarities in a multitude of different languages, and is available for both iOS and Android. While swearing is neither funny nor clever, it can actually be an important part of speaking a language fluently. It is said that no matter how proficient they are at speaking another language, people always return to... (Read More).

January 02 2012 (Language Trainers UK)

I came across this on Tumblr recently. Although the point being made with regards to English is interesting, it bothered me more that pronounced is spelled incorrectly.... (Read More).

January 01 2012 (Language Trainers USA)

Happy new year everybody, from Language Trainers USA! Hopefully one of your resolutions is to finally stop putting off your dream to learn a new language... A friend asked me last night why we sing a song called 'Auld Lang Syne', and what it even means. I knew it was a traditional Scottish song and that the words were penned by legendary Scottish poet Robert Burns, but as far as what the words meant, I was at a loss. After a quick Google (remember the days when your phone couldn't tell you anything you ever wanted to know'), we found out that auld lang syne literally translates to 'old... (Read More).

December 2011:

December 23 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

A collective noun is the word used to define a group of something, usually animals. Common collective nouns such as 'herd', 'flock', 'pack' or 'swarm' are well-known, but English has a vast collection of lesser-known collective nouns for certain creatures. For example, 'a murder of crows', 'a bed of eels', 'a parliament of owls', 'an army of caterpillars', 'a cluster of spiders', and 'a streak of tigers'. Some collective nouns even change depending on the nature of the group in question. For example, geese are usually referred to as a 'flock' or a 'gaggle', but these terms should only... (Read More).

December 16 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: abcnews.go.com The latest US Census Bureau figures show that even during a time when so many Native American tribes are struggling to retain their native tongues, 169,000 people speak Navajo at home, more than any other Native American language. However, these figures may be easy to misinterpet. From the article: Evangeline Parsons Yazzie, a Navajo professor at Northern Arizona University, said the figure recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau is no surprise, but can be misleading. The country's population of Navajos is well over 300,000. For every one who speaks the... (Read More).

December 14 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: nytimes.com Following on from previous posts about Na'vi (the language invented for James Cameron's Avatar), Klingon Star Trek, and most recently, the language of Dragons (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim): here's another language invented for the media - Dothraki. Though the language is not actually seen in and of itself in the series of novels by George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire, when HBO serialized the books into the hit show Game of Thrones, they undertook to create an actual language - complete with full vocabulary, grammar and syntax - for the Dothraki race of... (Read More).

December 13 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

To coincide with Plain English Day last Friday, (December 9th) the Plain English Campaign announced the latest winners of its annual 'Golden Bull Awards'. Each year, the campaign presents awards for the best and worst examples of English. This year's winners include the Met Office for using phrases such as 'overnight tonight' and 'temperatures really struggling,' and my personal favourite, Flybe, for this gem in a letter sent to a customer: I believe that what has not been explained to you is that it is not a £4.50 card charge, in the process of booking a flight, you will have a booking... (Read More).

December 12 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

English is abundant in idioms and proverbs, for example: 'kill two birds with one stone', 'too many cooks spoil the broth', and 'woke up on the wrong side of the bed'. These are ingrained in our language, and we use them almost without thinking about their literal meanings. Chinese also has an abundance of idioms, and one subset of them are particularly interesting: those called chéngyǔ (成语). Chengyu mostly come from ancient stories and Chinese fables, and most conservative estimates say that there are around 5,000 chengyu (though some claim the figure is closer to 20,000). To... (Read More).

December 08 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

December sees the 19th anniversary of the first text message. The very first SMS message was sent in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1992. The content'  “Merry Christmas”. Vodafone engineer Neil Papworth messaged his boss, Richard Jarvis, from his computer, starting a new trend in communication. However, it wasn't until the turn of the century that text messaging really took off. It's estimated that 8 trillion messages will be sent worldwide in 2011. Earlier this year, the Oxford English Dictionary added abbreviations commonly used in text messages to its online edition. OMG,... (Read More).

December 08 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

A palindrome is a fairly well-known term for a word or phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards. For example, 'Madam, I'm Adam' is a palindromic phrase, as is 'Go hang a salami. I'm a lasagna hog'. Palindromes get trickier the longer they get: the longest palindrome I know is 'A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!' - though somebody with the aid of a dictionary and an algorithm has created the world's longest palindrome, with 17,826 words that read the same forwards and backwards. A variant of a palindrome is a semordnilap. They're like palindromes, but reading the words backwards... (Read More).

December 06 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Does anyone else like to use foreign language films to help build their knowledge' As a world cinema fan, I have quite a few in my collection, and as a Spanish language student, I feel it’s in my best interests to have as many Spanish language films as possible! Watching a movie in another language is an entirely different experience to a Hollywood blockbuster. One has to concentrate and focus undivided attention on the narrative, not only through the words spoken, but also the subtitles. I love immersing myself in a film this way. The subtitles aren’t always accurate, but it’s a good... (Read More).

December 02 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

It's that time of year again, where we're all trying to think of fabulous Christmas gifts for family and friends. Don't worry, I won't be making these a regular thing all the way through December! I've just discovered these magnets which would make a great gift for any language student, and thought I'd share! These little Magnetic Poetry Kits now come in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Norwegian and Swedish, and are a fun way to practice your writing skills in another language. There's also a Hebrew alphabet kit, a sign language kit, and a Chinese for Kids kit, but these are a little... (Read More).

December 01 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a nice scene taken from the Young Indiana Jones TV show from the 1990s, showing one great benefit of being a polyglot (somebody who speaks several languages) - impressing the opposite sex! Although some of the accents are, let's just say, a little suspect, it would certainly still be very impressive to be able to have a conversation journey through French, German, Italian, Hungarian, Swedish, Greek and Arabic all in the course of around one and a half minutes... certainly something to aim... (Read More).

November 2011:

November 30 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Many English speakers who enjoy long words will have heard of the 45-letter word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. The word did not come about organically, however: it was invented in 1935 by Everett M. Smith, president of the National Puzzler's League, to serve as the longest word in English. It is primarily made up of common Latin and Greek prefixes and suffixes, and means 'a lung disease caused by inhaling very small particles of silica dust'. The rather easier to remember 28-letter antidisestablishmentarianism is also a classic choice for fans of long words - meaning 'against... (Read More).

November 28 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

It seems that native speakers of certain languages are able to roll their ‘r’s more easily than others. For me, as a native English speaker currently learning Spanish, it’s very difficult to pronounce rolled ‘r’s, which is also known as the alveolar trill. For example, trying to convey the name of a Cuban bar (Barrio) was particularly difficult when trying to arrange to meet up with my Spanish friend Eva recently. Pronouncing ‘r’s in an English accent, in the English form, is a huge disadvantage to communication in Spanish. An Italian friend tells me that some children are... (Read More).

November 27 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Following on from an earlier post on denominalisation - the increasingly popular habit of turning nouns into verbs (e.g. 'Facebooking', 'friending', etc.), here's legendary comic artist Bill Watterson's take on the matter through his greatest creation, Calvin & Hobbes. Click for the full size... (Read More).

November 24 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

The people at Hotels.com have been busy conducting surveys recently, and their latest research seems to confirm what we already knew…British people are not renowned for their language skills. 64% of the 2000 Brits surveyed didn’t know a word of any other language. One of the reasons given for this was “expecting hosts to speak English.” (!) 63% of those polled had no idea what the Dutch word “goedemorgen” means. I don’t speak Dutch, but could easily guess that it would be “good morning,” due to the similarities when trying to pronounce it. 1 in 50 respondents claimed to... (Read More).

November 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a great tongue-in-cheek video on the history of English made by the folks at The Open University, dating from the Roman invasion, through the Norman Conquest, British Empire, and all the way to the modern age. It really does manage to show how many sources English has borrowed from: Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, French, German, and many others. In fact, modern English borrows vocabulary from over 350 different languages, and new words continue to be coined every day. The English language really does have a rich, fascinating history, and these videos really makes you appreciate... (Read More).

November 22 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: medicalxpress.com I don't usually refer to medical documents on this blog, but I thought this was a fascinating discovery from the neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC), and well worth linking to. Their studies showed that readers who are able to read especially quickly are relying on a 'visual dictionary' in their heads, which helps them immediately recognise common words. These findings are contrary to the long-held belief that our brains work on phonics, 'sounding out' words while reading in our heads. How exactly did they discover this' Through a... (Read More).

November 21 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

This weekend saw the 8th annual Liet International Song Contest, which was held in Udine, Northern Italy. The competition is a lesser known version of the Eurovision Song Contest, and songs must be performed in one of 82 languages recognised in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The competition winner is decided by a group of music experts, whereas the second prize is voted for by viewers and the studio audience. Out of this year’s 12 finalists, the winner was Janna Eijer, from the Netherlands, who sang in Frisian, a language which is spoken in Germany and the... (Read More).

November 18 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: zompist.com Here's an interesting hypothetical question: what if the English writing system adopted pictograms rather than our traditional Roman alphabet' Well, for a start, it'd mean pretty much redesigning our written language from the ground up. But Mark Rosenfelder from zompist.com has explored this hypothetical question in greater detail, coining 'Yingzi' (英子), an English adaptation of Chinese characters, or 'Hanzi' (汉字). He has come up with a system of using basic pictograms for simple words such as man, tree, sun, moon and so on, and then using different... (Read More).

November 17 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

The World Shakespeare Festival takes place next year in locations around the UK, starting from 23rd April. As part of this event, the Globe Theatre in London will be taking on one of its most ambitious projects yet. The project, entitled Globe to Globe, encompasses 37 of Shakespeare’s plays, each performed in a different language. This will run for 6 weeks only, from 21st April – 9th June 2012. If you’d like to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Korean, Macbeth in Polish, Hamlet in Lithuanian, or Richard II in Palestinian Arabic, tickets start at £5 and are available here.... (Read More).

November 15 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

The new video game from famed studio Bethesda, Skyrim, is the fifth instalment of the Elder Scrolls saga, and puts the player in a medieval fantasy landscape that has suddenly come under siege by dragons. I have previously posted about both Klingon and Na'vi - invented languages for Gene Roddenberry's em>Star TrekStar Trek TV show and James Cameron's Avatar movie respectively. Skyrim has adopted a similar technique to give their world more depth and character, and it takes on a pivotal role in gameplay. The player's character is the only one who can speak the Dragon language, and so is... (Read More).

November 15 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I always enjoy visiting Engrish Funny for some translation laughs. This image, from sister site Failbook, presents some interesting cultural differences. In English, the  π symbol (meaning the number) is of course pronounced as 'pi,' thus making the phrase on the t-shirt amusing to English speakers. However,  the Greek letter π is 'p,' with the pronunciation the same. It's also pronounced as 'p' in French, Spanish, Lithuanian, Slovak, Bulgarian and Portuguese. It seems that English is the odd one out in the way we pronounce it. Do you know of any other languages that pronounce π... (Read More).

November 11 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I had no idea that the UK had a National Scrabble Championship, but we do, and this year was the 40th anniversary! Wayne Kelly from Warrington beat Gary Oliver from Southampton to win his very first official Scrabble title, having entered in previous years and not reaching the final. The contestants entered months of heats, with over 300 players battling for a place in the final. The final itself consisted of five matches, the winner being the player who won the most matches out of five. Mr Kelly used the words “caromel,” (meaning to turn into caramel) worth 69 points, and... (Read More).

November 09 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: matadornetwork.com Here's one of the great things about English - since it is ruled by popular usage, all it would take for words that have long fallen into disuse to come back into fashion is for people to start using them again. A blogger is trying to do just that, by taking a selection of 20 words from Erin McKean's series on weird words - titled Weird and Wonderful Words and giving definitions so people can start slipping them into conversation. The words include wonderful terms like jargogle (to confuse), jollux (a fat person), ludibrious (to be an object of mockery),... (Read More).

November 07 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Language is constantly evolving, so it’s quite natural that certain words will be replaced and updated. When you read Shakespeare, for example, there is often an index of words to refer to since they are no longer in use today. A new survey has found that text speak is diminishing the usage of such traditional British words. The study of 2000 adults was carried out to mark the launch of Planet Word, the book which accompanies the series of the same name. J.P. Davidson, the author of Planet Word said: ''This could be viewed as regrettable, as there are some great descriptive words that... (Read More).

November 03 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Ensuring you get the correct spelling, in any written language, is paramount. You can get away with slight mispronunciations is most cases, verbally, but on paper you can and will appear not to have an appropriate attention to detail. The consequences can range from implying something you didn't intend, to not getting a job because you have misspelled a single word on your CV. [caption id='' align='aligncenter' width='500' caption='Oh, the irony. '][/caption] Using spell check sometimes just won't cut it. Some words which sound the same when vocalised are often used incorrectly in... (Read More).

October 2011:

October 31 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Language journal has published a study by three linguists at the University of Lyon, showing that certain languages are more or less equally efficient. The study compared the efficiency of conveying information in spoken German, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Researchers took a sample group of 59 people, who each read a sample text in their native language. The recordings were then edited to remove the pauses, and syllables were tallied in order to draw conclusions regarding the density of information communicated in each language. Japanese was found to... (Read More).

October 31 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Anthony Burgess' novel A Clockwork Orange is perhaps most famous in popular culture for the 1971 Stanley Kubrick movie adaptation starring Malcolm McDowell. While it was toned down in the movie to aid the audience's understanding, the book puts more focus on Nadsat, a constructed language invented by Burgess to give more depth to the England that he created in the novel. Since the events of the novel took place in the future, Burgess wanted to create slang that would not sound dated to people reading it later on, but an added bonus is the unique type of narrative it creates. In fact,... (Read More).

October 30 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: dictionary.com The word 'psychopath' is thrown around plenty on TV, but few may know the true definition of the mental disorder. Essentially, it's an inability to empathize with others or establish any kind of meaningful relationship. However, this often means that a person exhibiting psychopathic behavior fits a certain pattern of other traits: extreme egocentricity, a failure to learn from experience, and a tendacy to treat other people as a means to further their own ends, rather than individuals in themselves. Here's an interesting article on a study recently performed by... (Read More).

October 28 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a fantastic web site if you're learning a language and need some help with vocabulary (or in the case of langauges with different scripts, flashcards). After selecting the language you're learning, memrise.com helps you learn with a gardening metaphor - it teaches you new words as 'seeds'. These 'seeds' are then 'watered' through you testing yourself via a mixture of multiple choice questions and user input. Once your 'seeds' are 'watered' enough to become 'plants', you'll have to keep them blossoming by revisiting the site and redoing the tests to prove that you recognize the... (Read More).

October 27 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Eagle eyed readers may have spotted that the resident Language Trainers blogger has recently changed. I’m Emma, and I'm taking over from Wendy, who has been posting all the latest linguistics news for the past three years. Wendy has travelled all over the world and now lives in Shanghai, where she has the opportunity to practice her Mandarin skills every day. I’ve also travelled extensively, but am not multi-lingual. I am however currently (slowly) learning Latin American Spanish. A bit about me: I’m British, and as we all know, we Brits are not well renowned for their language skills.... (Read More).

October 25 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

An onomatopoeia is a word that mimics a sound - for example 'woof', 'bang', or 'moo'. While they are popular in English (to the point where some onomatopoeias are no longer commonly recognised as such, like the word 'bleat' to mimic the sound a sheep makes), they are absolutely rife in Japanese. In fact, unlike English, Japanese has two kinds of onomatopoeia: Giongo (擬音語) are words that directly imitate sounds (there's a subgroup of these just for animal and human sounds, called Giseigo (擬声語)), and Gitaigo (擬態語) are words that express emotions, actions, or conditions. Both... (Read More).

October 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a great short film by Australian director Brian Fairbairn that has been doing the internet rounds lately. One of its purposes is to show how we can garner so much from just body language and speech intonation, even if we don't know exactly what people are saying. In 4 minutes of conversation we can't comprehend the actual dialogue, but we can discern what's actually happening. You'll notice that there are quite a few English words in there - or rather, English phonemes. However, there's never enough context to understand exactly what the characters are saying. The words used are... (Read More).

October 24 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Tomorrow is the concluding part of a fascinating five part BBC documentary series called Fry’s Planet Word. In this series, Stephen Fry explores aspects of linguistics and how we learn and how our skills develop, and he travels across the world investigating different languages. I don’t want to spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it, but each episode is quite a broad range of different topics under the umbrella of a different theme for each episode. For example; in episode one, entitled “Babel,” Fry covers sign language, animal communication, visits the Nilotic speaking Turkana... (Read More).

October 20 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Some debate regarding language usage has been stirred up recently, after respected French language body L’Academie Francaise placed some English words on their blacklist of words to “ban”. In reality, only two words/phrases have been listed so far – “le best of” and “impacter,” a word which means “to impact” and is a mixture of French and English. This move is intended to preserve and enrich the French language. It does not include English words such as “weekend” and “sandwich” which are in everyday use in France. Other words, such as “email,” are encouraged... (Read More).

October 19 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: dialectblog.com Here's a great article about the difference between dialect and accent - and why Americans tend to get them mixed up, even though they refer to two very separate linguistic ideas. Strangely enough, it often seems to be linked with race rather than area - Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader during the 2008 Presidential elections, famously said that Obama spoke 'with no negro dialect' - the article's author argues that 'I doubt he would have mentioned a candidate’s ‘Tennessee dialect’ or ‘New York dialect’ (he probably would have used... (Read More).

October 18 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Kanji are the Japanese forms of the traditional Chinese characters that were first used as far back as 8,000 years ago. Many countries in Asia use some form of traditional Chinese pictograms: variants are present in the written languages of Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan, as well as mainland China and Japan. Frustratingly hard to learn for westerners, a competent Kanji reader can identify at least 2,000 different characters, though there are apparently around 50,000 different characters in all. However, most of those are archaic, technical or very rarely used. Some of the most basic forms of... (Read More).

October 17 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

[caption id='attachment_2094' align='alignright' width='206' caption='The legendary Giacomo Casanova'][/caption]Source: effword.com This is a fantastic article about sexual eponyms - an eponym is a word derived from somebody's name, or a place. There are hundreds of them in English, and we use them without ever thinking about their origins: for example, the Fahrenheit temperature scale is named after physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit. Likewise, a mausoleum is named after the ancient Carian leader Mausolus (Μαύσωλος), who had a huge tomb built for him by his sister and widow: now the... (Read More).

September 2011:

September 27 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: merriam-webster.com The Merriam-Webster online dictionary's definition for 'literally' now includes a note on the 'incorrect' usage of the word: 2. : in effect : virtually Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. Instead, the use is pure hyperbole intended to gain emphasis, but it often appears in contexts where no additional emphasis is necessary. I know people who will literally start foaming at the mouth (hah) when people confuse the word 'literally' with 'figuratively'. However, this is English, and... (Read More).

September 23 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: newscientist.com Here's a truly interesting article written by social psychologist James W. Pennebaker, on those little words that we never put much thought into - pronouns. Pronouns are the short words that we often substitute for other nouns - 'I', 'you', 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they', 'we', etc. What started as a study into how we use pronouns and other 'function words' - especially when talking about dramatic or traumatic events - became a life's work for Pennebaker. 'Function words' (pronouns, articles ('a/an' and 'the'), prepositions (like 'to', 'for', 'from', etc.), auxiliary... (Read More).

September 22 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

As someone who is currently learning Mandarin, I find the language very challenging - both to speak and to write - as well as extremely quirky. It is, however, a very satisfying language to learn, as it's almost impossible to learn to speak Chinese without learning a little about Chinese culture. One element I find especially interesting is the way Chinese combines words to form new words or phrases. A much earlier post touches on this, discussing how Chinese has to combine ideas to give names to modern concepts like the computer: The age of the Chinese language means that it has to... (Read More).

September 20 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: news.bbc.co.uk 'John's chick is proper buff but she switched on her man the other day 'cos he wanted to jam with his bred'rins instead of taking her out to the cinema. She was proper vexed and dust out. It was bare jokes.' Be honest, how much of that did you understand' If the answer is 'not much', then don't worry - you're not alone. A while ago, the BBC performed a small study on the slang terms used by children from schools across the United Kingdom, and found that the vocabulary used varied even more than they thought it would. With England being such a small country in... (Read More).

September 15 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

The Welsh language (known to its speakers as Cymraeg) is a language dating back to the 6th century, and is spoken daily in the small country of Wales, in the United Kingdom, by around 60% of people living there. While it is considered a minority language, the number of speakers continues to grow due to a number of measurements by Welsh authorities who want to promote the continued use of the language. To many outsiders, the Welsh accent sounds slightly odd, as its phonology is quite rare - many of the sounds required for speaking Welsh do not exist in English. The written language is also... (Read More).

September 10 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: time.com Here's a fascinating article about why some languages sound so fast to English native speakers - the results may surprise you. But it doesn't change the fact that some languages seem to fly by compared with your native tongue. Being an English speaker learning Mandarin Chinese, I often find myself flummoxed when I'm trying to comprehend native Mandarin speakers: not because I don't know the words, but I simply can't keep up with the speed at which they're coming at me. One of my most common phrases in Chinese is 'màn diǎn, nǐ shuō de hěn kuài!' - 'speak a little... (Read More).

September 08 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: crosswordcontest.blogspot.com Let's take a break from all the academic waxing linguistical for a minute, and have some fun - this crossword puzzle was made by crossword puzzle writer extraordinaire, Matt Gaffney, on his blog, 'Matt Gaffney's Weekly Crossword Contest'. At first it seems like a pretty ordinary crossword puzzle, but the black squares arranged in a diagonal in the middle of the puzzle are actually a meta element of the puzzle itself - if you solve all the clues correctly, those squares will also form an extra word - a common method of transportation. Click the... (Read More).

September 01 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: reddit.com/r/tattoos The Tattoos section on social bookmarking site Reddit is a great place to ask for advice on body ink, and for showing off your new tattoos to the world. Unfortunately, user 'MikeTheDudeHenry' got a little more than he bargained for when he revealed his new 'Latin' tatto emblazoned across his shoulder blades. Clearly following the adage of quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur ('anything said in Latin seems profound'), he hoped for a wholly positive reaction to his cemel dosce tattoo, which he claimed was Latin for 'know thyself'. It soon became apparent... (Read More).

August 2011:

August 28 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Dictionary makers Collins have removed a selection of lesser-used words from their smaller dictionaries. These uncommon words have been tracked in recent usage and the least-used ones will now only be  marked obsolete and removed from current editions of dictionaries. Some of the words to be removed are: 'wittol'– a man who tolerates his wife's infidelity, which has not been much used since the 1940s. 'drysalter' - a dealer in certain chemical products and foods. 'alienism' - the study and treatment of mental illness. 'cyclogiro' - a type of aircraft propelled by rotating... (Read More).

August 26 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

The next in the series of posts exploring how numbers are rendered in different languages is Japanese. Japanese, along with many other Asian languages like Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese and Korean, has a reputation for being fiendishly difficult to learn for native English speakers. While this is true in many ways, the number system is in fact pretty straightforward. When I learned Japanese, counting from 1 to 10 was one of the first things we learned to do. It was only after we had mastered the first 10 numbers that our teacher told us that by learning just a couple more words, we could... (Read More).

August 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: nature.com/news Here's an old news article that talks about why English has so many irregularities when it comes to the past tenses of common verbs (e.g. 'I am' -> 'I was', 'I see' -> 'I saw', etc.). As it turns out, the reasons aren't too surprising - like so many things in English, it relies on common usage. The article compares such linguistic evolution to biological evolution - after all, the most often-used (and therefore useful) genes generally stay the same while the rest of the organism evolves. 'To help' isn't as common a verb as 'to be' or 'to have', and so is more... (Read More).

August 22 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: idlewords.com I found this brilliant blog post a few days ago, and had to share it here. My father's native tongue is Arabic, but I was brought up speaking English - something I regret deeply, as it would have been great to have been raised a bilingualist. I picked up bits here and there growing up, but have little understanding of the grammar and syntax of modern Arabic, so this post really opened my eyes to what a complex language it is. In this blog entry, they give 11 reasons why Arabic is such a varied and interesting language, though sadly this goes hand-in-hand with it being... (Read More).

August 22 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

A while ago, I wrote about the SarcMark, a proposed new punctuation mark to indicate that someone was being sarcastic. My conclusion was that people just wouldn't get it. They would have to have it explained to them, and I sincerely doubt that someone would want to pay for the privilege of using it. The latest attempt at expressing sarcasm in a universal form is Sartalics. Unlike regular Italics, Sartalics lean to the left to indicate that someone is being sarcastic. A team of design interns decided that it was time to introduce an easily-recognisable way to demonstrate sarcasm via... (Read More).

August 18 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Dinosaur Comics are one of my favourite webcomics, because they manage to be both funny and smart (and they have dinosaurs!). A recent comic discussed the sexism inherent in some words of English. It may be a carry-over from times well past, but there's no denying that the feminine versions of many words have more negative connotations than the masculine versions. The examples from the comic are: Master/Mistress - both can be in charge of something, but a mistress can also be an extramarital lover (what is the male version of this word'). Sir/Madam - both are polite ways of... (Read More).

August 15 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a funny comic I found on webcomic Rooster Teeth, about word sizes in English. It's funny, but he has a... (Read More).

August 13 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Memrise is a new vocabulary-learning website that I'm already a bit addicted to. It takes the standard spaced repetition method (you see the same word at increasing intervals until you know it consistently), but adds a cute theme. After you choose a word list to learn from, each new word is seen as a seed that gets planted when you first view it. After you 'plant' it, you 'water' it by answering multiple choice questions. Eventually you will know it well enough to 'harvest' it, so it moves from your greenhouse to your garden. In your virtual garden you can see all the words you know, growing... (Read More).

August 12 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: my.vocabularysize.com If you've ever wondered just how many English words you truly know, here's a test that does a pretty good job at estimating the number of English word families you recognize. A word family is a set of related words by form - for example the verb 'to conquer', the noun 'conqueror', and the adjective 'conquered' and any other related forms are all one word family. The test consists of 140 questions - each time it gives you a word, and uses that word in an example sentence. You then have a choice of 4 definitions for that word. You simply need to choose the... (Read More).

August 08 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: endangeredalphabets.com There are somewhere between 6,000 and 7,000 languages alive and active in the world today, but it is estimated that as many as half of them will be extinct by the end of this century. This means that not only many languages but also many alphabets and writing systems will be lost forever. Of these 6,000-7,000 remaining languages, there are only around 100 different alphabets in use. But not if the Endangered Alphabets Project can help it - it has been discovered that of the 100 alphabets in use, around a third of them are endangered. That is to say, they... (Read More).

August 03 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: futilitycloset.com In 2001, the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary purposefully inserted a fake word into their 2001 edition, in an attempt to fool other lexicographers (people who are involved in the making of dictionaries) into proving that they stole material from them. If another dictionary cited the word that the NOAD had invented, it showed that they were simply lifting words from them. The word was esquivalience, and the fake definition given was (rather aptly) 'to shirk your duties'. Predictably, the word was picked up by dictionary.com (who later removed... (Read More).

August 01 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: dictionary.com Reference site dictionary.com recently compiled a list of the most often misspelled words in the English language, featuring words such as 'accommodate', 'definite', 'foreign', 'miniature', 'judgment', and 'pronunciation'. You can see the full list here. Most of them are pretty simple in terms of meaning, but have various properties that lead many people to spell them incorrectly - for example many people like to add an 'e' to 'judgment', since the root word is 'judge'. However, 'judgement' is incorrect. Using their flashcards, you can make sure that you know how... (Read More).

July 2011:

July 31 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

We've all read those few phrases in phrasebooks where we think 'When would I ever use that'' For me, it's mostly the pick-up line section, but I guess I'm not the kind of person who will go home with someone I can't communicate with at all. After writing about how I didn't think it was funny to purposely give people the wrong translation for something, I was linked to the Zompist phrasebook by reader Adrian. I hadn't heard of the site before and so wasn't really sure what I was expecting. I clicked the link and up came a categorised list of phrases, which appear to be translated correctly... (Read More).

July 25 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Google+ is the latest offering from Google - a social networking tool which may yet rival Facebook (although it's in its early days). For many people, this development may seem like just another version of Facebook (without the ads and the silly games), but there is one big difference: Hangouts. A Hangout is basically a video chat room that anyone can start, and anyone with the invite link can join. It allows up to 10 people to all see each other, share links, talk, text chat, and watch videos together. This is a great social tool, but also has the potential to be a great learning tool. If... (Read More).

July 22 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Besides the occasional exception (such as the country Qatar), in English the letter Q is always followed by U - but we never question why this is the case. Why are these letters so closely linked' It seems we owe this - along with so many other things in English - to Latin. The Classical Latin alphabet had fewer letters than we do today (for example U and V used to be one and the same), and Q was used as an alternative to C and K in certain situations. Latin orthography dictated that a Q should be followed by a U, and the habit stuck, making QU a common digraph. From Wikipedia: In... (Read More).

July 22 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

In my last post I talked about couples communicating in other languages, and wondered how successful it can be. I've also talked about what is sometimes called getting a black-haired dictionary (learning a language from a paramour, in this case a Chinese girlfriend to teach you Chinese). If you have a partner who speaks a different language from you, will it always help you learn that language' Not necessarily. Depending on your situation, having your partner available to you may be very successful, or not really help you with your language progress at all. Obviously, one of the big... (Read More).

July 20 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Here's a great playlist on YouTube of 10 one-minute videos gradually detailing the history and evolution of the English language. They're presented in an entertaining, bite-sized, yet educational and engrossing way. The videos are provided by the Open University, a British institution that provides distance learning to a huge number of people. Here's the first video in the series - 'Anglo... (Read More).

July 19 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I was reading a really interesting blog post on Speaking of China, a blog by a western woman who is married to a Chinese man. The post was all about love and language, and people who communicate with their loved one/s in a language that is not native to one or both parties. She was asked whether she had a better relationship with her husband in Chinese or in English. She said that it fluctuated between the two (and may be slightly better in English because of her husband's studies in the US), but that they have some kind of hybrid Mandarin-English language that they communicate in. Her... (Read More).

July 18 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Following on from a previous post on the relative complexity of counting systems in different languages, it struck me as interesting to explore a couple of the more interesting number systems in certain languages. Starting in relatively familiar territory, French compares very similarly with English, up until a point. Whereas we name our multiples of ten using the base number and adding '-ty' (e.g. sixty, seventy, eighty, etc.). French does the same, until 70, which is soixante-dix, literally 'sixty-ten'. 80 gets even stranger - quatre-vingts, literally 'four-twenties', and 90 is... (Read More).

July 15 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I watched an old episode of the sitcom Frasier the other day. In it, Frasier wants to give a speech to his son in Hebrew, but doesn't know how to because he isn't Jewish. He enlists a coworker to translate and help him with pronunciation. Later on, the coworker feels slighted, so instead of Hebrew, he translates the speech into Klingon (a fictional alien language from the Star Trek TV show, in case you somehow didn't know). It all worked out well in the end, but it made me think about similar language tricks. I've met plenty of people who have, as part of their kind language guidance to... (Read More).

July 12 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: translation-telephone.com Here's a fun site - enter a message in English, and it'll translate it through 15 different languages and then back into English. Machine translation - as much as it has improved in the past 10 or so years - is very rarely perfect, especially with language pairs that are very different (such as English and Chinese). As a result, it often mangles the original phrase into something that's barely recognizable - much like the old party game also known as 'Telephone' or 'Chinese Whispers'. It works particularly well with song lyrics - the chorus to Rebecca... (Read More).

July 11 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: sf.airnet.ne.jp Another interesting link found on my favorite content aggregator, Reddit, shows one man's research into the counting systems in different languages, and how some are more complicated than others. Creator Takaguchi Shinji is a mathematician at heart, and wanted to show whether or not the common stereotype of Chinese students being good at math could be related to the supposed relative simplicity of their counting system. As it turns out, the Chinese counting system is far more regular than that of English - in fact, Mandarin rated 65th out of the 69 languages... (Read More).

July 11 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I have been in situations before where two speakers have a reasonable knowledge of each other's languages, but perhaps are not confident enough to speak them. In some of these cases, both speakers carry out their half of the dialogue in their own language, with a fair amount of success. Sometimes I find it too difficult to explain something in another language, but I know the listener will be able to understand me if I speak English. While this can be considered a form of listening practice, and successful communication is fantastic, it obviously lacks the speaking element. Conversely, if... (Read More).

July 08 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Everybody has different aims to consider when learning languages. One of them is whether to focus on written or conversational language. Of course, you don't have to focus entirely on one (and I wouldn't recommend you to), but it will affect things like the type of texts or materials you study from. At the moment, I'm studying a reading textbook, which has short essays followed by comprehension questions. My teacher is careful to point out which things are only suitable for written texts (and so I should avoid saying things that way). There are also discussion questions so I can get my fill... (Read More).

July 04 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: mcclatchydc.com Here is a great article on how technology may be helping preserve languages and dialects that are slowly becoming extinct, rather than help kill them off as sometimes believed. Across the globe in the Philippines, teenagers think it's 'cool' to send mobile phone text messages in regional languages that show signs of endangerment, such as Kapampangan. Technology, long considered a threat to regional languages, now is being seen as a way to keep young people from forsaking their native tongues for dominant languages. YouTube and Facebook, as well as Internet... (Read More).

July 03 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

When you learn a language, do you choose your accent, or does your accent choose you' Perhaps you are learning in a rural place and get used to the local accents because you talk to the locals. In this case, do you insist on training yourself to use a 'standard' form of speech' Obviously, regional words and phrases may make you easier to understand for locals and more difficult for others, but if you were as comprehensible as other regional speakers, would you mind having an accent' When learning Chinese, would you go with southern pronunciation, or the Beijing accent which has... (Read More).

June 2011:

June 30 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I've written a lot about trying to listen to as much language as you can, whether it be in real life, or (even better) in a format that you can listen to more than once, and hopefully read along with. I'm lucky to have a language teacher who has a very pleasant voice and manner of speaking, so when she records texts for me, it's never a chore to listen to (although I do sometimes have to talk myself into listening to lessons rather than music or podcasts in English). However, I've heard a lot of people whose recording voices are almost painful to listen to, and I would struggle to make it... (Read More).

June 28 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

When I first saw the link to this article about tweeting and grammar, I thought it was talking about people using Twitter in a grammatically correct way. I thought this was both fantastic and statistically unlikely. It turns out that the article is talking about a species of bird, the Bengal finch, that appears to recognise some kind of grammar within its bird songs. Bengal finches make a lot of noise when they hear unfamiliar bird songs, most probably related to maintaining their territory in the face of strange birds. Scientists familiarised a group of finches with a new song, which... (Read More).

June 27 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

I came across this animation recently showing the evolution of the western alphabet, from its Phoenician origins circa 900 BC to the modern Roman alphabet we use today. The most interesting transition in my opinion is from the Etruscan alphabet to the first Latin script (which is the first most people will recognize). Many letters are flipped horizontally - B, D, E, F, K, L, and P. A couple disappear completely - for example, the Greek letters theta (Θ), xi (Ξ) and phi (Φ). The sounds still exist in English, though they are formed differently. Theta is a 'th' sound, xi is the 'ks' sound... (Read More).

June 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Contractions - the act of replacing letters in words with an apostrophe - are often used in spoken English. It's easy to see where contractions such as 'shouldn't' and 'didn't' are short for, but a word like 'won't' has rather less obvious origins. The origins of the word 'won't' are, in fact, pretty indicative of the long history of the English language. It's an evolved short version of 'will not', originating back in the 15th century, when it was spelled and pronounced as 'wynnot'. As English continued to change over the years, it became 'wonnot', and eventually was shortened to 'won't'.... (Read More).

June 23 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I'm reading a collection of essays by David Sedaris called Me Talk Pretty One Day. Some of the essays, including the title one, are about his struggles as an American visiting a small town in France and trying to pick up some of the language (there, in Paris, and in New York City). His partner speaks French, so that leaves him as the only non-French speaker in the town (something that I can relate to, though not so much with French). He starts off pretty much only knowing the word for bottle opener, which he uses with all the local merchants. He proceeds to type all of his new words (using... (Read More).

June 21 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news As mentioned a few posts back, mainland China uses a different form of written Chinese from Taiwan. While China reformed their script during the cultural revolution of the 50s to Simplified Chinese (jiǎnhuàzì), Taiwan stuck with the more complex Traditional Chinese (zhèngtǐzì). Around 2,000 characters were simplified, in an effort to raise literacy rates across China. Taiwan - a separate entity from China since 1949, retained Traditional Chinese writing and has continued to diverge from mainland China culturally and politically since then. [caption... (Read More).

June 21 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I've seen my fair share of awful translations into English, which I forgive because most of the time they are hilarious, and I imagine that the people who commissioned them probably don't have much more than an online translator available to help them. Sometimes, though, I come across words that look like legitimate English words, but I have no idea what they mean. Sometimes I can glean a fair idea from the context, but there are times when I just have to look up the word to see what they are talking about. I don't know why, but people seem to pick the most obscure or out-of-date words... (Read More).

June 17 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Recently, I dipped into the Chinese microblogging world, ruled by 微波 (wēi bó). Like Twitter, it can be completely overwhelming to the uninitiated, especially with the millions of users and the Chinese interface. I wasn't sure how much time or energy I wanted to spend on it, and how much benefit I would end up getting out of it. So here I sit at the edges without throwing myself in. On one hand, there is a wealth of information out there, and so many people to interact with. I know some non-native speakers who rave about the service, and about how you can say so much more with... (Read More).

June 14 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: dictionary.com It might seem odd to spend some 90 years deliberating on a dictionary of a language that has been dead for 2,000 years, but the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary is more than a simple reference book. It is an in-depth, 21-volume reference of ancient Mesopotanian dialects, and also acts as an in-depth study into one of the first-known writing systems, developed as far back as 30BC: cuneiform script. The nearly 28,000 words compliled in this mammoth dictionary reflects more than just an old language, but a lot about its culture. Martha T. Roth, the editor in charge,... (Read More).

June 14 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

And now for some light relief - Simon Pegg back in his Big Train days, a mostly absurd British comedy series. This is a short but funny sketch about a woman looking for help from non-English speaking... (Read More).

June 13 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news A recent article on the BBC News website uses an iconic British children's book (A Bear Called Paddington) to compare how English speakers and German speakers differ not only in terms of the words they use, but also the subject matter of their conversation. Specifically, 'smalltalk' or 'phatic conversation' is the focal point. Americans and Brits almost always begin a conversation with a couple of pleasantries - for example asking the other person how they've been or what they've been up to, or talking about the weather. This lightweight chatter serves little... (Read More).

June 11 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

The 2014 Winter Olympic Games are being held in Sochi, Russia. With English being announced as the official language of the games, organisers and staff are scrambling to learn enough of the language in time for the games. The organisers have announced Education First (EF) as their official language education provider. EF has already organised an online learning centre for the 70,000-strong Olympic support staff, which will offer online language classes and support, especially in English relating to the Winter Games. Because online and distance learning are still not common in Russia, this... (Read More).

June 07 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

With the ease of online translation these days, it is hard for me not to get lazy sometimes and just run text through a translator to get the gist of what it's saying. Often this is enough for me, but sometimes it's just so I know what the text is about before looking at it more closely. Usually it also helps with speed (I read and comprehend slowly sometimes). The other day, I threw some text through a translator, but what it gave me was tantamount to rubbish. The original text was mostly phrases that didn't have much context, and so the result was even more garbled. I had to struggle to... (Read More).

June 03 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

At the beginning of your language learning, trying to learn a lot of vocabulary might not be that helpful or easy. If you can't actually use this language in real sentences and constructions, it will be even more difficult to remember. But at some point in your language learning career, you are likely to feel that you don't have enough vocabulary. You will have enough sentence structures to want to fill them in with useful (and/or random) words. This is when the word lists and the flashcards will come in handy. It may feel like you're back in primary school, but reviewing flashcards is a... (Read More).

May 2011:

May 31 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: reddit.com/r/linguistics Here's another interesting linguistic post from social bookmarking site Reddit - something that seems to be becoming a monthly ritual. This time in concerns internet slang, more specifically laughter. Whilst acronyms like 'LOL' and 'ROFL' are pretty much almost universal now in the online world, the question posed was how people from different cultures denote the sound of laughter online. English's 'hahaha' or 'hehehe' sum up the sound of a hearty gut laugh quite nicely, but different languages have different phonetics for particular letters, leading to... (Read More).

May 31 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I am fortunate enough to hang around with friends who are all at different levels of learning the same foreign language, and who are all fairly keen to speak it to each other. The people who are at a lower level learn a lot from the people who speak it really well. Me being somewhere in the middle, I am able to both learn and teach and it's very satisfying. I find that when I listen to a non-native person speaking a foreign language, I understand more readily than when a native speaker is speaking it (provided, of course, that they have a certain level of language knowledge). I think it's a... (Read More).

May 30 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

English is a fascinating language, and like all languages has its fair share of interesting oddities. Unpaired words are one such oddity - they are words that would appear to have a related word or one with the opposite meaning, but don't. For example, the words disambiguate, inevitable and unkempt would seem like they have direct antonyms given the prefixes in- and un-, but the words ambiguated, evitable and kempt don't exist. Most unpaired words are a result of words falling out of use. However, many never had a 'normal' form in the first place, but happened to start with the same... (Read More).

May 29 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I'm a fan of word games, especially ones like Scrabble and Boggle (both trademarked, of course), and anagram games like Text Twist. So I was pretty happy to try out a version of the anagram game where you have to find as many words as you can from the given letters, and the words power a cute little train. This game is called Text Express 2, if you want to try it. I feel like I should warn you that you may find it slightly frustrating, as I did. Usually I'm very good at these games, so when I got the letters H U L E N E, and I tried to find the 6-letter word, I was stumped. This was the... (Read More).

May 25 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Having been an on and off blogger and generally outspoken person for many years, I can't imagine the concept of having no right to free speech at all. Even though I've lived in countries where you have to keep a lid on your opinions to some extent (Turkey, China), I've never felt in danger of being reprimanded, hurt, or imprisoned. So when I heard about the amazing Afghan Women's Writing Project, I had to stop and think for a while. The project helps Afghan women write and publish pieces in English about their real lives and experiences. These women often have to publish work anonymously,... (Read More).

May 23 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bbc.co.uk/news Since I currently reside in Shanghai, this bit of linguistic news was of great interest to me. While China and Taiwan share the same original language of Mandarin, 60 years of going their own ways - both politically and linguistically - have caused the languages to evolve in different ways. While a native Chinese person will have little difficulty conversing fluently with a native from Taiwan, the devil is in the details, so they say. From the article on BBC News: A Taiwanese visitor to mainland China was shocked to see sliced 'tu dou' on a menu. The word means... (Read More).

May 21 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I have a few colleagues and acquaintances who are currently labouring under the impression that my foreign language skills are better than they are (and I don't really have a problem with that). Why' Because most of our communications are done in text format, and that makes it much easier for me to make sure that I understand them, and that they understand me. Besides being able to take my time a little bit more, working via instant messages or email allows me to check both directions of communication using an online translator. Obviously, Google Translate won't give me perfect sentences,... (Read More).

May 20 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu This appeared in one of my favorite language blogs recently, and was too good not to share. I live in China, and often see poorly translated English signage all over the place, but rarely is something this badly (and unintentionally hilariously) translated. This sign was found on a shower door - the Chinese character (拉 - 'lā') simply means 'pull'. However, its translation here is given as 'Latin America'. While the reason why this was chosen as the best translation by the makers of the sign is a little unclear, this is Victor from Language Log's... (Read More).

May 17 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

The cast of reality TV show Jersey Shore doesn't really have a reputation for being particularly scholarly, but some of the cast members are ensuring that they will be able to speak some Italian for the upcoming season. The fourth season will be filmed in Florence, where apparently officials aren't exactly welcoming them with open arms (too much chaos in the first three seasons). Some of the cast members have Italian backgrounds, but none of them speak the language. In order to be able to 'know how to order grilled chicken', cast members have requested that they be furnished with copies of... (Read More).

May 16 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Esperanto, a language constructed by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, was designed to be a modern language for the whole world to speak: the aim was to create a politically neutral language that was easy to learn, which would help not only foster communication between those in different countries, but also improve international relations by giving them some common ground. The thing is, Esperanto never really caught on as Zamenhof had hoped. While it is still spoken by a small percentage of people in the world, it has a long way to go before it will be used as any kind of lingua franca. A... (Read More).

May 13 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Native Spanish speakers and those who have ever taken Spanish will immediately recognise the inverted question mark - ¿ - in the Spanish language, questions are not just ended with a question mark as in English, but are surrounded with them. For example: ¿Cuántos años tienes' means 'how old are you''. This practice is actually quite useful. By using the question marks like inverted commas or parentheses, questions are clearly marked. But why don't we do this in English' The answer is very simple: word order. In English, we have our own way of disambiguating between statement and... (Read More).

May 13 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

One of the things I find fascinating about languages is connotations. Even if some languages (or even cities or countries) share the same words, the common meanings may be completely different. Today I learned that in China, you can use the term 爱人 (àiren, literally love person) to mean your husband, wife, partner, sweetheart. A man can introduce his wife to people as his àiren, and the wife can do the same. I find this quite sweet and, as a person who severely dislikes most terms for 'significant other' in English (including partner, other half, better half), I think it does the... (Read More).

May 10 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

English has more words than any other language - around 2 million at the last count - but the average person's vocabulary only spans from around 12,000 to 17,000 words. That leaves a lot of perfectly acceptable words that seem strange to most native speakers, since they're either words with a more common synonym, rarely-used variants of otherwise known prefixes and suffixes, or just simply words that have become obsolete. Here are a few examples of words that probably aren't part of the average person's vocabulary. It's probably better not to think of this as an exercise in expanding your... (Read More).

May 09 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

I've stumbled across this in written English many times - for when somebody wants to announce 'there it is', English borrowed the French word 'voila' (not to be confused with a 'viola', the stringed instrument one size larger than a violin). 'Voila' literally means 'see there', and comes to mean 'there it is' or, more idiomatically, 'there you have it'. An example usage might be 'I couldn't find my glasses, until I checked my head - and voila! There they were.' However, since it is a word you rarely see written out - and being French has a slightly unexpected spelling for English... (Read More).

May 08 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

This is just a bit of a silly post, but again, it just goes to show how knowing your punctuation and reading questions properly could get you...$200' Make sure you double check your spelling and punctuation before you give your final... (Read More).

May 05 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

It's not difficult to notice which story has been dominating the news this week. The death of Osama bin Laden has brought with it a variety of reactions from around the globe, the vast majority of it celebratory. With one death, however, something else has been born - a quotation, attributed to the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.: 'I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy'. This very apropros quotation has been spreading around Facebook like wildfire, but perhaps it's just a little too apropros - in fact, quite... (Read More).

May 04 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Sometimes it's difficult to write posts about learning from e-book readers or mobile devices because there are so many different devices, formats, and applications out there to use. What I find useful might not be what you find useful, and in many cases, may not be available to you on the gadgets you prefer. I also want to steer away from promoting any one application or service. In spite of all of this, I wanted to talk about how my e-reader (a Kindle 3 wifi version, if anyone's interested) has really helped me with making my learning more portable (along with my MP3 player, of course).... (Read More).

April 2011:

April 29 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: wikipedia.org As a final note this month on foreign language adaptations (following on from the question about the consistency of Yoda's syntax and Buzz Lightyear's 'Spanish mode'), here's a quick note about the well-known children's cartoon, Dora the Explorer. While English speakers familiar with Dora the Explorer will know that during her adventures she (and the children watching) learns basic Spanish words and phrases. However, since Dora has since become a household name, there have been many foreign adaptations made - including Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew, Malay and Tamil.... (Read More).

April 28 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

For a little light relief, here's a hilarious sketch from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie - the latter now better known for affecting an American accent and playing Dr. House on FOX. This sketch, from the first season of A Bit of Fry & Laurie on BBC, shows the duo discussing the very topic of this blog: language. As silly as the discussion is, Stephen Fry's discussion points actually make a remarkable amount of sense. But maybe that's the... (Read More).

April 28 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

At a recent TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) conference, an interesting point was brought up about the learning of English. Dr Peter Waters, from German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech), presented 'Sounds: Avenues for Language Learning', a presentation about English pronunciation. He addressed the common problem of students not being trained to understand just the sounds of English (rather than how words are spelled). There are far fewer sounds in English than there are ways to spell them, and this inconsistency often brings up problems for English... (Read More).

April 25 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

All this talk about Yoda's syntax raises another interesting cross-language movie question - or at least I think it's interesting: in Toy Story 3, when Buzz Lightyear accidentally gets put into 'Spanish mode' by the other toys, what language does he speak in the Spanish language version of the film' Compared with the variety of methods used to set Yoda's speech aside from that of others in the international Star Wars dubs, this Toy Story linguistic conundrum is a little more mundane - Buzz still speaks Spanish. In the Spanish version made for Mexico, the rest of the characters speak the... (Read More).

April 25 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

One of the many things I find fascinating about living in China is seeing how the foreigners deal with the language. For many people, the only Chinese they know will get them home in a taxi and maybe to a drink at the pub. There are some Chinese words, though, that become part of daily usage for non-native speakers regardless of their language level. Sometimes they are simply Chinese words for things we don't have in other countries (mostly region-specific foods and dishes). Sometimes they are an interesting reflection of the way life is here. One of the words in the 'interesting' category... (Read More).

April 20 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

The two remaining fluent speakers of Ayapaneco, a language pre-dating modern Mexico, are not speaking to each other. Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, who live 500m apart in the village of Ayapa in Tabasco state, are the only two people left speaking the ancient language. They, however, do not wish to speak it to each other. According to Segovia, who spoke Ayapaneco with his brother until his death about 10 years ago, there is no real animosity between him and Velazquez. Other sources say they simply don't enjoy each other's company. Segovia has tried to start classes in the... (Read More).

April 18 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I was reading a guest blog post the other day about living in a foreign country and not understanding the language very well. One phrase jumped out at me and really made me think. Fiona Reilly of Life on Nanchang Lu dropped the phrase functionally illiterate into a paragraph about whether it's harder to live obliviously in a foreign place or run an emergency department in a hospital. In her former life, she was an ER doctor, and so not being able to communicate or work in a foreign place is obviously difficult for such an educated person. In my experience of being in places where you can't... (Read More).

April 16 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: guardian.co.uk While it may not be a well-known language (in fact, it could compete for being one of the least-known languages on the planet), Ayapaneco has been spoken in Mexico for centuries - before it was even known as Mexico. However, today there remains only two fluent speakers of the language - and they don't want to talk to one another. Exactly why Manuel Segovia (aged 75) and Isidro Velazquez (69) don't enjoy each other's company nowadays is not known, but the death of whatever friendship they may have had may also spell the death of yet another indigenous world... (Read More).

April 15 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Recitation is a very traditional language learning method (Recitation is a very traditional language learning method.) It's not the most fun of all the options, but there are definitely arguments for it. Reciting something that has been written natively gives learners a chance to simply get used to phrasing, rhythm, and sentence patterns that might otherwise get left behind when purely creating output (that is, making up the sentences yourself before you say them). I know that I have definitely had trouble with the flow of my speech because I am still trying to work out what I want to... (Read More).

April 12 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: voxy.com Voxy do make some interesting infographics - I previously posted about their detailing the use of Beatles songs in ESL classes. This time they've created a diagram that gives lots of great information about the difficulties of learning various languages as a native English speaker. Languages are ranked in three levels: rather simplistically labelled 'easy', 'medium' and 'hard'. Each language is broken down into the number of native speakers, with harder languages given reasons for their difficulty. Click to make it bigger: It seems that the primary criterion by... (Read More).

April 09 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: reddit.com/r/linguistics I make no secret on this blog of my fondness (perhaps bordering on obsession) with social bookmarking site Reddit. What sets apart Reddit from other similar sites is the quality of its community: unlike the comments you'll find in other online communities such as YouTube, the ability to 'upvote' interesting, thought-provoking articles and comments means that the best stuff always floats to the top. Also, given the sheer depth and breadth of Reddit's userbase, any question you find yourself asking probably has at least a handful of people knowledgeable... (Read More).

April 07 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Somewhat related to a recent post about Michel Thaler's verbless novel, I was recently made aware of a 1939 book by American author Ernest Vincent Wright called Gadsby. The novel is written as what is called a lipogram - a word game by which you avoid a particular letter or group of letters. Wright chose in Gadsby to avoid the English language's most popular letter: E. In case you aren't aware of just how important the letter E is in English, it's quite interesting to see just how limited he was in certain ways. For example, There is no number between six and thirty that he was able to use... (Read More).

March 2011:

March 31 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

A voice mapping project by the British Library has collected thousands of voice samples from around the world. Speakers have recorded either six specific words, or Roger Hargreaves's classic Mr Tickle*. Recordings are tagged with the place that the speaker grew up in, their age, and their gender. The map is based on the location the recording was made in (not the place the speaker comes from). There are a lot of ways to look at this information, besides general interest and keeping a record of the way English is spoken todya. I read an interesting article about the fact that British... (Read More).

March 30 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: ted.com When MIT cognitive scientist Deb Roy decided that he wanted to know how his infant son picked up language day-to-day as he developed, he went a little further than most. Rather than observe what he could, he decided that the best course of action would be to observe everything, and so he set up fish-eye cameras in every room of his house in order to document how his son dealt with and learned language. For five years, starting from the very day the newborn baby was brought home from the hospital, the activity in each room was recorded and logged, and over 200 terabytes... (Read More).

March 29 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: oed.com Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The Oxford English Dictionary has added the popular internet acronyms LOL (laughing out loud) and OMG (oh my God) to the latest edition of OED Online, the online form of the dictionary. They are not the only acronyms to make the cut: They join other entries of this sort: IMHO (‘in my humble opinion’) [IMHO at I n./1], TMI (‘too much information’) [TMI at T n.], and BFF (‘best friends forever’) [BFF at B n.], among others. Of course in such a context initialisms are quicker to type than the full forms, and (in the... (Read More).

March 27 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Chinese is one of those languages where just getting a tone wrong can result in something completely different from what you'd intended, although every language has certain words that are very easy to mix up. The worst is when you are absolutely convinced that you are using the correct word, but it turns out that you just asked for something ridiculous. The other day, I was telling my teacher that it was OK to eat steak rare, as long as it's fresh (鲜, xian with a high tone). Unfortunately, it sounded like I was saying �'� (xian with a rising tone, meaning 'salty'). Obviously, it's easy... (Read More).

March 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: theonion.com Ah, I do love me some good satire. Using the red (spelling) and green (grammar) underlining in Microsoft Word as the basis of the joke, The Onion have come up with a new way the popular word processor can help you reach your audience: 'Microsoft Word now includes squiggly blue line to alert writer when word is too advanced for mainstream audience'. Sadly, as with all good satire, there is a firm basis in truth to this gag. In order to pander to as wide an audience as possible, all formats of media often reduce themselves to the lowest common denominator. Reality TV... (Read More).

March 21 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

My last 'annoyances' post about confusing wreck and wreak made me think a little about other words that are often confused with each other in daily use. A lot of the confusion seems to stem from the fact that one of the words is used in an English idiom - a set phrase, for example - which has old, often forgotten roots. This word may be similar to another, far more common word. If you first experience these idioms without seeing it written down, it's easy to associate it with a more common word. So, as I explained last time, is the case with wreck and wreak - for most of us, the English... (Read More).

March 20 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

I've been talking to a friend lately about his progress with his language lessons. He seems to be doing well, and moving very quickly through textbook after textbook (three in 6 months!). Sometimes he worries about it moving too quickly, but from what I can see, he is making steady progress, and is his language teacher's best student. On the other hand, my own lessons have been all over the place in comparison. I had a textbook at one point, but it was hardly ever opened. I began my language lessons at an ability slightly higher than the beginning of the book, but I never really found the... (Read More).

March 17 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Just a short post here about something that either I've been hearing more often as of late, or simply been noticing more often: the difference between the words wreck and wreak. Wreak is almost always only heard in the popular idiom 'to wreak havoc', which means to inflict devastation or damage to something or someone. You can also say 'to wreak anger', which means to let loose your anger on somebody, e.g. 'He wreaked his anger on the children'. It's pronounced the same as the word reek (meaning to smell strongly). Wreck is used far more often, usually related to traffic accidents, and... (Read More).

March 17 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

In the continuing wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster, many people are turning to Japanese channels as different and possibly more current news sources. For those of us who don't understand Japanese, this can be a bit of a challenge. Luckily, there are a couple of ways that you can get around the language barrier if you are not conversant in Japanese. NHK, the public broadcasting channel in Japan, offers NHK World, with TV broadcasts in English and radio broadcasts in 17 languages. NHK News offers bilingual, English-only and English subtitled shows. Yokoso News offers... (Read More).

March 15 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: vanityfair.com I came across a very interesting (if slightly old) article on the Vanity Fair site recently on the 'like' pandemic in American English. Perhaps most noticeable in female Californians' accents, some see the over and misuse of 'like' as a scourge on the English language, some simply as a harmless form of teen slang, others see it as the way the language is evolving. Christopher Hitchens talks not only of how the word has pervaded the daily vocabulary of American teens, but also how it has near enough completely replaced the use of the word 'as' when forming similes... (Read More).

March 14 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

Hace algún tiempo hablábamos del peligro de extinción en el que viven miles de idiomas en el mundo y que podría tener como consecuencia la reducción del número de idiomas hablados en el  mundo a la mitad. Con el objetivo de minimizar la perdida cultural que ello supone, la asociación National Geographic colabora en  “Enduring Voices”.  Este proyecto pretende crear un registro de idiomas en peligro de extinción para que no se pierdan completamente y el conocimiento que se esconde en ellos sobreviva a sus últimos hablantes. Nace de la colaboración entre National Geographic y... (Read More).

March 13 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

If you're anything like me, the big achievements in language learning aren't when you get good scores on your classroom tests. Sure, getting questions right is encouraging, especially in your most difficult areas (for me, listening), but for me, those aren't the highlights. Knowing the correct answer in the classroom is a huge distance away from knowing the correct responses in real life situations. I remember the feeling of satisfaction when I managed a whole conversation solely in a foreign language (yes, you can be extremely proud of yourself for that!). Or when I was half-listening to... (Read More).

March 11 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Having studied Latin & Greek I'm always fascinated by etymology - the study of where words originated. I seem to learn new ones every day... today's is the origin of the word 'gorgeous'. According to etymonline.com, a great online etymology dictionary, the word comes from the Old French word gorge, which means the bosom or throat. The implication is that something is so beautiful it would be worth hanging around your neck as jewelry: thus its modern-day meaning of 'very beautiful'. I could spend many hours browsing etymology dictionaries, looking at entries for something as seemingly... (Read More).

March 10 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

Ah, you have to love a bit of language-related humour. [sic] humor is a tumblog that allows the author to vent frustration arising  from the clearly terrible fiction she has to read at work. Sure, writers may technically be using language correctly, but that doesn't mean that they can't put together some cringe-worthy word combinations. In many cases, though, they aren't even close to getting the language right. Here are a few of my favourites: Awesome use of a colon: “Hunter was wearing a track suit that featured: pants that could turn into shorts by unzipping the lining of the... (Read More).

March 09 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: guardian.co.uk In a move that simply reeks of maximizing profits in an increasingly digital age, publishers Harper Collins have decreed that their eBooks can only be borrowed 26 times before they have to be replaced. Their reason' Because apparently 26 is the magical number that represents that average number of loans before an actual book has to be replaced by the library. Their official statement on the issue reads: 'HarperCollins is committed to the library channel. We believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our... (Read More).

March 07 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Though the word seems to have been misappropriated by bloggers and quasi-journalists as meaning 'a little fact', the word factoid actually refers to something that looks like or is presented as a fact, but isn't. The suffix -oid means 'resembles', it is not a diminutive suffix (that is, something you add to the end of the word to mean a smaller version, like -ette, -icle, -ling etc.). There are many words in English that have, over the years, come to have a different meaning in popular usage than their original intended definition. For example, the word nonplussed is often used to mean... (Read More).

March 06 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

It seems that we are having some problems with the blog site, although things should be working normally with the RSS feed. There's somebody working on the problem right now, and hopefully we'll be back to you as normal very soon. In the meantime, there are lots of technical words that have been adopted from their original language, and either used in their original form or in a transliteration (approximation in the second language). Sometimes I listen to whole conversations peppered with English words, and sometimes they are enough for me to actually understand the conversation. I find it... (Read More).

March 02 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

We all know that feeling when you are involved in a conversation and the other people start referring to you in the third person. Before you know it, they're telling each other what they think '(s)he' should be doing with 'his (her)' life, or relaying a story about you complete with analysis. I've definitely said 'I'm standing right here!' more than once in my life. Last night I was at a restaurant and needed to order a couple of things that I didn't know the local names for. I incorrectly assumed that the waitress didn't speak English. She politely stood there and listened while I fumbled... (Read More).

February 2011:

February 28 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/ It seems I am a little late to the party to this one, but still worth talking about: in 2004, a French writer called Michel Thaler wrote a novel, Le Train de Nulle Part ('The Nowhere Train'), that contains no verbs. Not one single verb. As anybody who has taken any kind of language classes (or has even the vaguest recollection of English grammar from school), verbs are... well, they're pretty important. Integral, you might say. Try writing even one sentence without using a verb, and you'll find that it creates a pretty strange effect - now... (Read More).

February 28 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

There are many different ways to get over your fear of speaking a new language, but one of the most immediate, motivating, and gratifying ways is to be forced to speak it on behalf of someone else. If you are responsible for speaking for someone who has little or no knowledge of the language you're speaking (or the place you're navigating), you will have no choice but to use all those words you've been studying but may not have had a chance to use yet. When I first moved to China, I mostly went out with people who had a much better grasp of the language than I did. I didn't motivate myself... (Read More).

February 24 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

A veces el exotismo lo encontramos mas cerca de lo que nos pensamos. No nos tenemos que ir hasta la estepa rusa para encontrar idiomas que se salen de la norma y no se encuadran en la familia de las lenguas indoeuropeas. El euskera, hablado en el norte de España y en el sur de Francia no pertenece a las lenguas indoeuropeas y representa por ello uno de esos casos con origen incierto y que mantiene el debate abierto. Tal y como es el caso en muchos casos, la política tiene cierta influencia en el idioma. Sin embargo, el caso del euskera tiene una connotación política menor que el que... (Read More).

February 24 2011 (Language Trainers UK)

In the wake of Tuesday's earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, I've been thinking about the use of strong and emotional words to describe events. Recently there have been a lot of awful things happening around the world (floods, cyclones, protests, unnecessary bloodshed), and they can all claim valid use of words like destruction, devastation, and disaster. The problem is, I feel like these descriptions don't have the same effect on me as they should. Of course, sitting at my computer at work, I don't want to really empathise with survivors of disasters, for fear of crying in public, but I... (Read More).

February 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

This is a slightly more in-depth grammarian kind of post than usual, but I hope it's still interesting! Two useful grammatical terms used when discussing certain words and phrases refer to tautology and autology. While the terms sound similar, they have very different meanings. Tautology (sometimes also called circumlocution) is used to describe a phrase where the same thing is said more than once, even though it does not help to clarify the overall meaning of the phrase or add any further information. For example, the common phrase 'free gift' is a tautology, since a gift is free by... (Read More).

February 21 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: ted.com Today I watched an absolutely mindblowing video on ted.com, a site of small, non-profit group TED, who are devoted to 'ideas worth spreading'. There is a goldmine of interesting stuff in their archives, but being somebody with a keen interest in languages this video seemed truly worthy of sharing. The talk is given by Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Brain and Learning Sciences at the University of Washington and expert on early language and brain development. We all know that babies and young children are better at picking up new languages than adults,... (Read More).

February 16 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

One of my favorite comedians growing up (and still is today) was the great George Carlin (1937-2008). His constantly sardonic, generally profane yet ingenious rants helped shape my thoughts during my teenage years in more ways than I care to imagine, and a particular fascination that we shared was the English language. Of course, George is better known - perhaps even infamous - for another language-related sketch, '7 Dirty Words', in which he presents and analyzes the 7 words you cannot say on television. It doesn't take an expert to work out what at least some of these words... (Read More).

February 15 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: bitesizeirishgaelic.com I found an interesting article recently about the 'switch' in the brain that occurs when you achieve fluency in another language. Everybody's brain can train itself to the point of achieving this 'switch', which allows you to start thinking in the target language, allowing you to achieve fluency faster. The trick, as with any other skill, is practice - and a lot of it. The article talks about learning Irish Gaelic and Icelandic - two languages with relatively few speakers - but the same rules and techniques hold true for any language that you want to... (Read More).

February 13 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

Cada vez que se habla de los idiomas en Europa, un concepto es citado en casi todas las ocasiones: “Lengua indo-europea”. Y es que si nos fijamos en el mapa lingüístico europeo se nos viene a la cabeza el comienzo de los cómics de Asterix, en los que toda la Galia estaba dominada por los romanos a excepción de la pequeña aldea que siempre era capaz de resistir la dominación romana. En este sentido podríamos equiparar la familia lingüística indo-europea a los romanos y podemos hallar también algunas excepciones lingüísticas, que al igual que el pequeño poblado galo, han... (Read More).

February 10 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: physorg.com Cambridge Dictionaries Online have revealed that the top searches by English learners were generally English idiomatic phrases and slang - which are so often hard for learners due to old or strange origins. As such, they are difficult to teach, but if a foreigner can master a handful of them, it can make a great difference in how fluent their English seems. Phrases such as 'eat your heart out' (used in jest to say that someone is better), 'right you are' (expressing agreement), 'catch a few rays' (to sunbathe) and 'no mean feat' (a worthy or great achievement) were... (Read More).

February 08 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

I found this fascinating map on my favorite news aggregator site Reddit. It details how the names of countries came into being by literally translating their names from the original languages of their founders, and has quite a few surprising entries. Click the small image below to get the full size version - watch out, it's big! (4500x2234) Some of the more interesting country and continent name etymologies include 'land of dust' for Africa, 'village' for Canada, 'abundance of butterflies' for Panama, 'Where the land ends' for Chile, 'isle of shrewmice' for Spain, 'place of many... (Read More).

February 06 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

A simple question this time around - the words 'while' and 'whilst' are relatively common, but is there a difference between them' Simply put, no. The word 'while' can act as both a preposition (e.g. 'While I was walking down the street, I saw a fox') and a noun (e.g. 'It took a long while to finish'). 'Whilst' is simply an older version of the preposition form of the word 'while'. It is more often seen in British English, which explains why it is mostly seen in literature, but rarely (if ever) in American publications. While you may not end up ever using the word 'whilst' yourself,... (Read More).

February 02 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

A pesar de ejemplos como el de Suiza, con una política lingüística integradora y que tiene como objetivo que los ciudadanos se conviertan en políglotas, el idioma puede llegar a tener un componente político muy importante, obligándonos, una vez mas, a mirar hacia la historia para poder tener una visión mas completa. En este sentido podemos hallar un ejemplo muy nítido en Bélgica. Incluso antes de la creación del estado belga, el idioma ya tuvo una gran influencia en la política. Así pues, tras la incorporación de sus territorios en el imperio francés trajo consigo la... (Read More).

January 2011:

January 30 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

One language error that is often seen, not only in high school essays across the USA but in many places that should possibly know better, is the confusion of the two words imply and infer. Many think these two words mean essentially the same thing, but in fact the words are almost antonyms. Put simply, you can imply an idea or opinion, but you infer an idea or opinion from something. Therefore, the person doing the implying is not the person doing the inferring! Here's an example: Jack's smile implied that he was having a good time. Jack's mother inferred from Jack's smile that he was... (Read More).

January 27 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

Chocolate, queso, relojes de cuco y cuentas bancarias secretas. En estos cuatro conceptos se centra normalmente la idea que tenemos de Suiza. Un país que se encuentra en un mar de montañas y que a pesar de no contar con salida al mar, durante varios años tuvo al ganador de la Copa América de vela en su haber. Cuatro son también los idiomas oficiales de Suiza. Alemán, francés, italiano y el retorrománico. Grosso modo, se le puede asignar una región geográfica a cada idioma, completamente lógica si observamos el mapa lingüístico europeo. Así pues el alemán se concentra en el... (Read More).

January 24 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

Source: voxy.com/blog Being a bit of a Beatles fanatic, I was very happy to find this interesting infographic from voxy.com. They treated the legendary Beatles album Abbey Road as a linguistic corpus - that is, a body of words. By doing this, they can analyze things like the most often-used words, words per song, compare the songs on side A to those on side B, and so on. However, it also reveals just why Beatles songs can be (and often are) used as teacher's aids for those teaching English as a second language. Not only are the songs catchy and easy on the ear, but so is the... (Read More).

January 21 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

You may have noticed that some people like to tap the space bar twice after finishing a sentence. Why do they do this' The double space after a period habit comes from the days of typewriters. The problem with typewriters - besides error correcting, of course - was that due to technical limitations, the text was monospaced, also known as fixed-width or non-proportional. That is to say, unlike when you type on your computer, a character like the letter l or i takes up just as much horizontal space as a wider letter like a D or H. This made things look a little messy sometimes, due to there... (Read More).

January 19 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

Si hay una máxima a la hora de analizar los idiomas que se dan en el mundo es la necesidad de verlo como una extensión de una cierta cultura. Y estudiar la historia de la misma nos ofrece detalles muy enriquecedores. Ésta máxima se puede aplicar para todas las lenguas del mundo, y naturalmente también a la hora de analizar el japonés. Parándonos a analizar la historia de Japón y a la sociedad que ha traído consigo, podemos ver a las claras el camino que tomó el japonés. Sin embargo, el origen del idioma es un tema que ofrece controversia, dada la imposibilidad de relacionarlo... (Read More).

January 19 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

With the ubiquity of so-called 'smart' phones nowadays, people have struggled with tiny touchscreen keyboards and not-so-agile thumbs. Back in the day (when cellphones had these archaic things called 'keys'), people eventually learned to type incredibly fast - the current Guinness world record for sending a 160-character phrase on one of these old-school phones is 37.28 seconds, held by a 24 year old Norwegian, Sonja Kristiansen. At some point came T9, where you only needed to press each number key once and a built-in dictionary would work out the word you wanted, which sped up the process of... (Read More).

January 17 2011 (Language Trainers USA)

In my last post I wrote about how words like 'Google' and 'Facebook' used as verbs had made it to Lake Superior State University's annual 'banished words' list. It's an interesting linguistic shift and with the ubiquity of the internet we see and use these words almost every day. 'I friended her on Facebook', 'I spend too much time Facebooking', 'Let me just Google that'... and right now, in fact, I'm blogging. The use of nouns as verbs has been notable in recent years, and is especially so in the fact that, well, it is no longer considered particularly notable. People just do it, even if... (Read More).

January 12 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

Uno de los temas recurrentes a la hora de hablar del aprendizaje de idiomas es el bajo nivel que ha existido históricamente en España. Las razones que se le ha atribuido suelen ser varias, pero sobre todo destacan dos. El fracaso del sistema educativo y el hecho de doblar las películas y series extranjeras, tanto en cines como en las televisiones. Con respecto al sistema educativo, cabe destacar como en prácticamente todas las reformas del sistema educativo llevadas a cabo en las últimas décadas, la mejora de la enseñanza de idiomas ha sido uno de sus elementos principales. Se ha... (Read More).

January 05 2011 (Language Trainers Spain)

Comienza un nuevo año y a parte de recuperarnos de los excesos de comida y bebida de las navidades y dejar que la cuenta corriente se recupere de los gastos navideños, miramos a un calendario en blanco y pensamos sobre lo que esperamos que nos depare el año que acabamos de iniciar. Es curioso que sea el año nuevo y no el cumpleaños de cada cual el que nos lleve en mayor medida a fijarnos objetivos o a tratar de enmendar situaciones con las que no nos sentimos del todo bien. Perder peso, dejar de fumar, viajar, cambiar de trabajo. Las posibilidades son inmensas y entre ellas podemos... (Read More).

December 2010:

December 22 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Un año mas se acerca la navidad en el mundo cristiano. Con un origen marcadamente religioso, también es celebrada por muchas personas menos o nada religiosas como una fiesta en la que reunirse con los seres mas queridos e intercambiar deseos y regalos. Independientemente del grado de religiosidad de cada cual, se celebra el nacimiento de Jesús. A pesar de este aspecto común, a la hora del origen de la palabra y su significado utilizada por distintos idiomas sí se dan algunas variaciones. En español el término se deriva de la palabra latina “nativitate', compuesta por... (Read More).

December 19 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Aktuell helfe ich dabei eine globale Facebook Page zu betreuen. Das Wort global fällt dabei leicht im Zusammenhang, da nun mittlerweile mehr als 500 Millionen Menschen in dem sozialen Netzwerk angemeldet sind und nunmehr 60% der Benutzer außerhalb der USA angesiedelt sind. In der Tat kommt der Grossteil der Fans unserer Page aus verschiedenen Ländern von Türkei bis Frankreich und Indonesien bis Serbien. Der Austausch wird hierdurch selbstverständlich interessanter in dem viele verschiedenen Kulturen ihre Meinungen austauschen. Allerdings wird der Diskurs auch schwieriger, weil die... (Read More).

December 08 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Hay ciudades en las que al pasear por ellas, la historia nos inunda. El mejor ejemplo que podemos encontrar probablemente sea la ciudad de Roma, que no en vano recibe el nombre de ciudad eterna. Al recorrerla, compartimos el escenario de mas de 3000 años de historia. Cuando el brillo de la Roma imperial se apagaba en el siglo III, Constantinopla, capital de lo que se convertiría en el imperio bizantino, surgió como gran metrópoli. Una vez conquistada por los árabes se convertiría en Istambúl y en capital del imperio Otomano. Y al desmembrarse el imperio otomano, perdería su... (Read More).

December 03 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Im Zusammenhang mit dem Internet ist vor allem in den letzten Jahren ein Wort immer sehr häufig gefallen: Social Media. Wikipedia definiert Social Media wie folgt: „Als Social Media (auch Soziale Medien) werden Soziale Netzwerke und Netzgemeinschaften verstanden, die als Plattform zum gegenseitigen Austausch von Meinungen, Eindrücken und Erfahrungen dienen.“ Die Paradebeispiele sind Facebook und Twitter welche inzwischen weltweit und durch sämtliche Altersgruppen hinweg Bekanntheit und Verwendung gefunden haben. Facebook selber hat inzwischen mehr als 500 Millionen Benutzer. Wie... (Read More).

December 01 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

  Cuando se saca a colación el idioma chino en cualquier conversación o noticia, se suele hablar de dos aspectos que conciernen a este idioma: que es el idioma más hablado del mundo y la posibilidad de que se pueda convertir en el idioma del futuro, desbancando al inglés como el idioma internacional. Sin embargo, la riqueza cultural de China va más allá del tamaño de su población y sus posibilidades como potencia económica. A pesar de la importancia de estos dos aspectos, la República China ofrece una variedad lingüística mucho mayor que lo que podemos definir como chino,... (Read More).

November 2010:

November 29 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Obwohl der Wettbewerb bereits seit 2 Monaten sein Tore für Einreichungen geöffnet hat, so bin ich erst vergangene Woche durch einen kleinen Onlineartikel der Sueddeutschen darauf aufmerksam geworden. Tongue Stories – Wettbewerb für Sprachgeschichten lautet der Name des großen Sprachenprojekts der Europäischen Kommission. Die EU besteht mittlerweile aus 27 Staaten mit 23 verschiedenen Amtssprachen. Um ein einheitliches Europa zu schaffen, dass sich gegenseitig unterstützt, zusammenhält und Probleme löst, müssen sich die Menschen verständigen können. Der beschriebene Wettbewerb... (Read More).

November 24 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

A la hora de referirse al aprendizaje de un idioma, normalmente nos centramos en idiomas orales. Independientemente de si el idioma que queremos aprender es el inglés, alemán o el francés. Sin embargo, esta visión deja de lado un amplio número de idiomas, tal y como son las lenguas de signos o señas. Ni siquiera se les suele dar el calificativo de idioma, sino se les denomina lenguajes. Ello se debe a la idea preestablecida de que se trata de un código mnemotécnico para denominar ciertos objetos, siempre como una adaptación de un idioma oral particular. Sin embargo,... (Read More).

November 21 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Die Gründe, ein Fernstudium aufzunehmen, sind vielfältig. Meist entscheidet man sich dafür aufgrund einer bestehenden Berufstätigkeit. Der Lebensunterhalt ist zu bestreiten, eine Familie ist zu ernähren, der gewohnte Lebensstandard soll beibehalten werden … So unterschiedlich die Hintergründe sind, ein Fernstudium aufzunehmen, so vielfältig sind die Angebote der Bildungsträger für Fernstudiengänge. Fast alle Studiengänge, die man im klassischen Präsenzstudium belegen kann, sind heute als Fernstudium am Markt vertreten. Die entsprechenden Bildungsträger sind hervorragend... (Read More).

November 16 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Nos hemos acostumbrado a la cultura de la velocidad, lo inmediato y lo reemplazable. A través de los distintos servicios de telefonía, de mensajes instantáneos y el email nos podemos comunicar en cuestión de segundos con personas en lugares remotos. Hasta hace poco quien quisiese contactar con alguien de otro lugar tenía que decantarse casi obligatoriamente por las cartas. Hoy en día, uno no solo puede comunicarse instantáneamente por internet, sino si en un ataque de nostalgia uno se decidiese a escribir una carta, el desarrollo de los medios de transporte tendrían como consecuencia... (Read More).

November 12 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Aktuell findet das G20 Summit der 19 wirtschaftsstärksten Länder der Welt und entsprechendem Vertreter der EU in Seoul statt. Die Staatsoberhäupter, Finanzminister und respektiven Bankpräsidenten reisen aus diesem Zweck in die südkoreanische Hauptstadt. Aufgrund der hohen Internationalität sollte es niemanden verwundern, dass hier insgesamt mehr als 14 verschiedene Sprachwelten aufeinander treffen und dies zählt noch nicht einmal die lokalen Dialekte. Aus diesem Grund werden, wie bei anderen großen, internationalen, politischen Ereignissen auch, viele Übersetzter eingesetzt. Es... (Read More).

October 2010:

October 31 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

El sistema imperialista protagonizó los últimos siglos de la historia occidental y tuvo un ámbito geográfico enorme. Las potencias coloniales, turnándose en el transcurrir del tiempo, se convirtieron en vastos imperios. En éstos basaron su economía, su política y su poder. Para crearlos o defenderlos se enfrascaron  en muchasen ocasiones em distintos enfrentamientos, tanto abiertos, como de manera más solapada. La política internacional en el imperialismo tendió en gran manera hacia el proteccionismo y a reducir los contactos internacionales a meros acuerdos para evitar... (Read More).

October 22 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

In vergangenen Blog-Einträgen habe ich schon öfter auf die Relevanz von Sprachen aufmerksam gemacht, wenn es darum geht, neue Sachen zu lernen oder Problem zu konfrontieren. In diesem Zusammenhang habe ich nun eine Kollektione von Studien gefunden, orchestriert bei Lera Boroditsky, welche assistierende Professorin in Psychologie, Neurowissenschaft, und Symbolische Systeme an der Stanford Universität ist. Sie hat sich ausführlich mit der philosophischen Frage beschäftigt, ob Sprachen unsere Denkweise diktieren oder zumindest beeinflussen. Persönlich sieht sie die Fähigkeit eine Sprache... (Read More).

August 2010:

August 13 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Seit einigen Monaten helfe ich jemandem sich Schritt für Schritt an die deutsche Sprache heran zu tasten. Die Idee lautete, dass ich jeden Tag eine deutschen Satz oder ein deutsche Vokabel kommuniziere. Was anfangs ein kleiner Gag schien, entpuppt sich mittlerweile als beachtliche Ansammlung von Wörtern, Floskeln und Formulierungen. Der Umfang hört sich gering an und der schiere Sprachschatz des Deutschen, sollte Grundlage genug bieten, täglich etwas anzulernen. Wo fängt man jedoch an, wenn man bei Null startet' Der Schwerpunkt lag und liegt nachwievor darin, Deutsch lediglich... (Read More).

August 09 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Ich wurde vergangene Woche von einer Kollegin auf einen amüsanten Videoclip bei Youtube aufmerksam gemacht. Bei dem Video handelt es sich um einen niederländischen Werbespot mit dem generischen Titel „The worlds funniest commercial“. Soweit diese Aussage doch im Auge des Betrachters liegt, muss ich zugeben, dass der 42-Sekunden Spot doch zumindest ein Schmunzeln auf die Lippen zaubert. Die Synopsis lautet wie folgt: Eine Familie mit 2 Kindern steigt in ihr Auto und der Vater schaltet das Radio an. Aus dem Radio erschallt obszöne Musik. Dies meint man zumindest, bevor die gesamte... (Read More).

August 04 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

La India es un país de una diversidad que muchas veces se esconde detrás de un conocimiento superficial que raya el tópico. La importancia del Ganges, Gandhi, el sistema de castas y los colores vivos es lo primero que se nos viene a la cabeza cuando pensamos en el país que se encuentra al sur de la larga sombra del Himalaya. Y es que a la hora de pensar en la India nos la imaginamos con una homogeneidad que no corresponde a la realidad. Así se nos puede pasar de largo  muchas veces la gran riqueza que se da en este país.  La India es el segundo país más poblado del mundo, una de... (Read More).

August 01 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

In den vergangenen Wochen habe ich mich vorwiegend Themen gewidmet, die sich mit den zusätzlichen Vorteilen beschäftigen, welche das Erlernen einer Fremdsprache mit sich bringt. Auch für den heutigen Blogeintrag habe ich etwas gefunden, was mich in meiner allgemeinen positiven Einstellung gegenüber Fremdsprachen bestätigt. Eine gemeinschaftliche Studie an britischen und einer finnischen Universität haben interessante Ergebnisse hervorgebracht. Wie Cinthia Briseno in ihrem Artikel über Hirnforschung auf Spiegel Online zusammenfasst. Anhand von Analysen mit 872 Gehirnen von Verstorbenen... (Read More).

July 2010:

July 28 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

La presencia árabe en la península ibérica a lo largo de ocho siglos tuvo una influencia muy marcada en la evolución de lo hoy en día llamamos España. Sería imposible entender la historia española sin la influencia árabe, tanto desde el punto de vista político, como desde el económico y también el cultural. Aspectos como la agricultura de regadío importada y desarrollada en zonas como la cuenca levantina o distintos vocablos españoles, ejemplifican este hecho.  Desde topónimos como Albacete, Alicante o Guadalquivir, hasta palabras como aljibe o almohada. Incluso un vocablo... (Read More).

July 24 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Ein wenig Allgemeinwissen, dass niemanden überraschen sollte, lautet wie folgt: Menschen, welche ein Instrument spielen, haben ein besseres und aufmerksameres Gehör. Soweit so gut. Was hat das mit Sprachen zu tun fragen Sie sich jetzt. Ein Artikel in der Süddeutschen Zeitung berichtet von einer Studie an einer amerikanischen Universität, welche belegt, dass die kontinuierliche Verbesserung des Gehörsinns durch das Spielen eines Instrumentes, ebenso zusätzliche kognitive Merkmale belebt. Im gewöhnlichen Alltag wissen sich somit Musiker besser akustische Informationen zuzuordnen und zu... (Read More).

July 18 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

El primer dato que se suele dar a la hora de hablar sobre la variedad lingüística en el mundo es la existencia de multitud de idiomas, la cual sobrepasa los seis mil. Según datos de la UNESCO publicados en el año 2002, este número se vería reducido en un tiempo no muy lejano casi a la mitad. Normalmente, a la hora de hablar de lenguas muertas se toma como ejemplo al latín y la forma en la que dio lugar a las lenguas romances, desde el portugués hasta el rumano. Sin embargo muchas lenguas desaparecerán de una manera más traumática. El fenómeno de la extinción es una... (Read More).

July 16 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Die Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft ist vorbei und viele Zeitungen und ihre respektiven Internetpräsenzen werden vermutlich wieder ruhiger, wenn es darum geht die ausländische Presse zu zitieren. Bei sportlichen Großturnieren ist es ein beliebtes Mittel, um Meinungen und Stimmen aus anderen Ländern einzufangen und dabei, wie der letzte Eintrag erläuterte, eine andere Perspektive auf ein bekanntes Licht zu werfen. Selbstverständlich handelt es sich hierbei um eine zügige Prozessabwicklung, damit idealerweise schon am gleichen Tag mit den deutschen Schlagzeilen, die internationalen Zeilen zum... (Read More).

July 09 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

La tercera ley de Newton es una de las leyes científicas de mayor calado. Cualquier  objeto al entrar en contacto con otro crea una reacción proporcional y contraria. Generalizando este principio, cualquier acción tiene una consecuencia, independientemente de si es contraria o no. Y ello no es menos cierto a la hora de hablar de los idiomas. Tal y como pasa con cualquier elemento que en un determinado ámbito tiende a imponerse, el inglés se ha convertido en el idioma a aprender y, a la vez, el idioma al que resistirse. Por un lado, la importancia que ha adquirido... (Read More).

July 09 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Es wurde zuletzt eine Studie der Amerikanischen Universität in Sharjah (Vereinigte Arabische Emirate) veröffentlicht, welche unter der Obhut von Anatoliy Kharkhurin zeigt, wie die kreative Leistung von mehrsprachig sprechenden Testpersonen, die von einsprachigen übersteigt. Die Eigenschaft zwei oder mehr Sprachen sprechen zu können (in der eigentlichen Studie wurden Bilinguale gegen Monolinguale verglichen, s. Hier) fruchtet in innovativere und schärfere Problemlösung. Dabei sind es vor allem die zusätzlichen kognitiven Fähigkeiten, erlernt und vorhanden durch die zusätzliche... (Read More).

June 2010:

June 25 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Beim Versuch meine Französischkenntnisse auch außerhalb der Universität weiter zu verbessern, habe ich über die Gesamtlernsituation reflektiert und mir ist aufgefallen, dass es durchaus möglich ist seine Sprachkenntnisse aufzuwerten und dabei die einer weiteren zu verfeinern. In meinem Fall zum Beispiel, habe ich die vergangenen Jahre Französisch in einem englischen Sprachumfeld gelernt. Beides Fremdsprachen für mich, so ermöglichten meine besseren Englischkenntnisse jedoch diese Situation. Das interessante dabei ist, dass ich somit nicht nur wie geplant kontinuierlich mein... (Read More).

June 18 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Ein höchst interessanter Artikel erschien diese Woche auf der Guardian Webseite, hochwertige britische Tageszeitung, und ich empfehle jedem der Englisch spricht, sich diesen einmal durchzulesen. Der Journalist und Autor des Buches „Who are we – and should it matter in the 21st century'” Gary Younge diskutiert die Signifikanz von Sprachen während der letzten und auch diesem Jahrhundert. Ausgangspunkt des Artikels ist die kürzliche Parlamentswahl in Belgien, welche die nationalistische Neu-Flämische Allianz (NVA) als stärkste politische Kraft etablierte. Hauptagendapunkt der NVA ist... (Read More).

June 15 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Un idioma es la consecuencia de una forma de vivir. Y por ello se convierte en un ser vivo. Con su propio nacimiento, su propia vida y en cierta forma su propia muerte. Naturalmente dadas las características de cualquier idioma, cada evento citado no tiene un momento concreto y definido. Se diluye en un pozo de grises que solamente nos permite distinguir cada estadio después de cierto tiempo. Podemos pensar en muchos ejemplos, pero pocos tan claros como el latín. Después de su nacimiento y su auge  paralelo al poder del imperio romano, el latín evolucionó de manera tan drástica em... (Read More).

June 11 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Ich bin vor kurzem auf eine Initiative von der Daimler AG und Robert Bosch Stiftung in Kollaboration mit der Föderation Deutsch-Französischer Häuser aufmerksam geworden. Die Initiative nennt sich DeutschMobil und schickt junge Rektoren mit Stern-Vans durch Frankreich, um an französischen Schulen das Erlernen der deutschen Sprache zu promoten. Seit 9 Jahren findet diese Aktion jährlich statt und laut eigenen Angaben sind inzwischen 7.500 Schulen besucht worden und 460.000 Schüler haben dank der engagierten, angehenden Deutschlehrern durch Spiele, Videos und dergleichen die deutsche... (Read More).

June 07 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Die Debatte, ob Kinder schon in frühen Jahren Fremdsprachen lauschen sollen, um somit bilingual oder sogar trilingual aufzuwachsen gibt es schon seit Ewigkeiten. Während Sozialpsychologen davon ausgehen, dass Kinder sprachneutral zur Welt kommen und jede Sprache umgehend erlernen können, welche ihre Umwelt hergibt, sind manche Kinderpsychologen und Sprachwissenschaftler sich uneinig, ob die Aussetzung zu mehreren Sprachen in jungen Jahren nicht zu Verwirrung führt. So sollen beispielsweise die ersten Laute die Babys hergeben ein Durcheinander aus allen Sprachen sein, welche anschließend... (Read More).

June 06 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Dentro de 5 días comienza la copa del mundo de fútbol. Uno de los eventos deportivos más importantes del mundo, que tiene lugar este mes de junio y julio en el país del arco iris. Este calificativo le viene a Suráfrica como anillo al dedo. No solamente por la gama de colores que deleita al visitante, sino también por la variedad racial y de origen de los habitantes del país más meridional del continente africano.  Y ello lógicamente se ve reflejado  en los idiomas que se hablan en la República de Suráfrica. La constitución surafricana reconoce igualdad de condiciones entre... (Read More).

May 2010:

May 28 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Endlich zeigt sich die Sonne quer über Europa wieder etwas regelmäißger und man kann mit Sicherheit sagen, dass der Sommer nun da ist. Sommer heisst: längere Tage draußen, Grillabende, Picknicks in Parks, Schwimmbad-Saison, Fahrradtouren, Treffen in Biergärten und Cafés und natürlich Urlaub. Ob zu Hause, beim Wochenend-Trip oder im Ausland, so gehört der Kaffee an großen öffentlichen Plätzen für viele Menschen zum Sommer dazu. Draussen sitzen, sich der Sonne erfreuen, das Stadtleben bewundern und dabei einen Cappuccino oder Latte macchiato genießen. B ei der Kaffeebestellung... (Read More).

May 23 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

No se trata de un link a una página web, ni siquiera es el resultado de un fallo en el teclado del ordenador. Es la que está considerada la palabra más larga en el idioma alemán. La traducción de la misma al español sería “póliza de seguro para viudas de capitanes de barcos a vapor en el Danubio”. Así pues, para definir esta palabra en español hacen falta catorce palabras. Sin embargo, no podemos dejarnos llevar por este ejemplo, ya que no es del todo fidedigno y puede inducir a error, o para quien quiera comenzar a aprender alemán, horror. En realidad no todas las... (Read More).

May 21 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Es ist noch nicht ganz so weit. 20 Tage sind wir noch entfernt vom sportlichen Supereignis des Jahres – der Fussballweltmeisterschaft 2010 in Südafrika. Während sich die Spieler und Trainer längst in Ihre Trainingslager begeben haben, wird es so langsam auch für uns Fans Zeit, sich vorzubereiten auf 4 Wochen Fussballkunst und tagtägliche Diskussionen über Abseitstore Tore am Abend zu vor oder Aufstellungen für das kommende Spiel. Dank internatioaler werdenden Stadtbildern oder eigenen Reisen in die Fremde während des Sommers, werden solche Gespräche nicht nur in Deutsch, sondern... (Read More).

May 20 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

De vez en cuando, la actualidad nos lleva a través de los medios de comunicación a lugares recónditos. Lugares con sonidos más o menos exóticos y distanciados en mayor o menor medida de nosotros. Hay veces que las noticias nos trasladan a lugares en los que por un motivo u otro no nos habíamos fijado con anterioridad. Lugares como Haití, Timor Oriental o las islas Feroes, por citar algunos ejemplos. Y naturalmente esto nos acerca a sus gentes y sus idiomas. Desde el mes de marzo de este año 2010 le ha tocado el turno a Islandia. Gracias a la actividad del volcán situado en los... (Read More).

May 14 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Ein interessanter Artikel von Brigitte Jostes im Tagesspiegel thematisiert Deutsch als Fremdsprache vor dem Hintergrund der Wordkreation „Adoptivsprache“ als Analogie für Fremdsprachenerwerb. Während sich die Autorin vorwiegend mit dem Deutschen auseinander setzt und dabei an eine bessere Identifikation mit der eigenen Sprache zu Gunsten der Außendarstellung und Werbefähigkeit appelliert, habe ich großen Gefallen an der Metapher „Adoptivsprache“ gefallen und mich damit näher befasst. Offensichtliches Ziel der Wörtschöpfung war es, das Konzept des Erlernens von... (Read More).

May 07 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Vergangene Woche bin ich über einen Online-Artikel in der Aachener Zeitung gestolpert, der das Comenius-Programm der EU anhand des teilnehmenden Inda-Gymnasiums in Kornelimünster beschreibt. Anhand des Artikels kann das Programm am besten als Riesenschüleraustausch definiert werden. Innerhalb von nur zwei Jahren besuchen sich sechs Schulen aus fünf verschiedenen Ländern Europas. Nicht nur Fremdsprachenkenntnisse werden verbessert und neue interkulturelle Freundschaften werden geschlossen, sondern fremde, innereuropäische Kulturen werden ebenfalls besser kennen gelernt. Im offiziellen... (Read More).

May 02 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Desde el comienzo de la historia, el poderío político y económico ha tenido una gran influencia en el conocimiento de un idioma determinado. Uno de los ejemplos mas claros es el caso de Roma y el latín. La expansión de Roma trajo consigo no solo que el latín se hablase en todo el imperio, sino que dió origen a las lenguas romances y que se mantuviese como lengua franca durante casi dos milenios. Así pues cabe destacar la posterior importancia del latín en toda la administración y diplomacia europea, hasta que el francés tomó su lugar. El francés le dió paso al inglés, que hoy... (Read More).

April 2010:

April 30 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Nächste Woche steigt die 9. Konferenz für Fremdsprachen & Business Kommunikation in der internationalen Wirtschaft im Lindner Congress Hotel Düsseldorf vom 3. – 5. Mai. Die Schwerpunkte des Kongresses liegen wie jedes Jahr auf interkultureller Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit und das nicht nur Europaweit, sondern weltweit mit speziellem Hinblick auf den Mittleren Osten, China und Lateinamerika. Zusätzliches Augenmerk wird auf das Internet und die Möglichkeiten der Sprachenweiterbildung im digitalen Bereich gelegt. Podiumsdiskussionen wie z.B. „Total digital' Die Zukunft des... (Read More).

April 23 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

In einer Grundschule in Frankfurt wird seit neuestem Chinesisch unterrichtet. Wie einem Bericht der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung zu entnehmen ist, haben Erstklässler die Möglichkeit Chinesisch zu lernen und zusätzlich gibt es eine Chinesisch-AG für Dritt-und Viertklässler. Die Begeisterung an der außergewöhnlichen Sprache mitsamt seiner Zeichen und Aussprache wird im Artikel von Friederike Haupt durch ein Gespräch mit einer 10-Jährigen deutlich: „Außer ‚Hallo‘ sagen kann ich jetzt auch schon bis 19 zählen. Das haben wir bis jetzt erst gelernt – wobei: Was heißt hier... (Read More).

April 19 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

Los distintos idiomas que se dan a lo largo y ancho de la tierra probablemente sean uno de los aspectos más interesantes de la cultura  humana. Cada idioma es el resultado de una sociedad en concreto. Tanto de su evolución histórica como del entorno geográfico en el que se desarrolla. Por ejemplo podemos destacar la presencia en la lengua esquimal de decenas de términos que describen la nieve, según las características que presenta. El término de evolución histórica es bastante más amplio y nos referimos no solo a la historia de una cierta cultura, sino también a cualquier... (Read More).

April 16 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Laut einem Spiegel-Online Artikel lernen aktuell lediglich 15 Millionen Menschen auf der Welt Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Kolumnist Bastian Sick erörtert die Vorurteile gegenüber der Deutschen Sprache und interviewte Deutschlernende zwecks ihrer Motivation. Komplizierte Grammatik und unharmonische Aussprache stehen dabei klassischer Musik und Studiumangebot gegenüber. Speziell die Verbreitung der deutschen Sprache scheint auf dem ersten Blick eine sofortige Einschränkung zu sein (wie hier zu sehen). Neben Deutschland selber, Österreich und der Schweiz ist die Sprache nirgends wo... (Read More).

April 06 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Die Gebrüder Schroeter sind auf einer ehrenwerten und für alle Sprachenlernenden interessanten Mission. Sie haben sich zum Ziel gesetzt im Internet das größte Wörterbuch der Welt zu erstellen. Laut einem Bericht der Deutschen Welle sollen die insgesamt 5 Millionen Nutzer des Internetportals bab.la mithelfen dieses Riesenprojekt zu meistern. Getauft als das Internetportal für Sprachliebhaber kommt babla eigentlich aus dem schwedischen, eine der Sprachen mit denen die Schroeters aufgewachsen sind, und bedeutet „schwätzen“. Neben dem sich kontinuierlich entwickelnden Wörterbuch,... (Read More).

March 2010:

March 26 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Kürzlich wurde Louis van Gaal, Trainer des Fussballvereins FC Bayern München, mit dem dritten Platz der Sprachwahrer 2009 ausgezeichnet. Der Verein der Sprachpflege, welcher diese Ehrung jährlich durchführt, empfand lediglich Karl-Theoder zu Guttenberg (1.) und Ulrich Wickert (2.) für besser geeignet. Die Überraschung hierbei ist, dass es sich mit Van Gaal nicht nur um einen Niederländer handelt, der für die Erhaltung der deutschen Sprache gelobt wird, sondern zusätzlich einen Fussballehrer einer internationalen Spitzenmannschaft mit Spielern aus ganz Europa und auch Südamerika.... (Read More).

March 19 2010 (Language Trainers Germany)

Suchmaschinen wie Google oder Yahoo/Babelfish bieten bereits seit Jahren an, Texte oder Webseiteninhalte zu übersetzen. Was in vergangenen Jahren jedoch noch als Unterhaltungsmedium für profilierte Übersetzer galt, gewinnt mittlerweile immer mehr an Potenz und Genauigkeit. Vor allem Google hat sich zuletzt seinen Translator vorgenommen und viel Geld, Kompetenz und Arbeit in das Übersetzungsprogramm gesteckt. Es sind nunmehr Übersetzungen in 52 Sprachen möglich und ein kürzlicher Artikel in der New York Times berichtet über die Verbesserungen und stellt den Deutschen... (Read More).

February 2010:

February 26 2010 (Language Trainers Spain)

El español es la segunda lengua más hablada detrás del inglés, y quizás uno de los idiomas más complejos para los no nativos. Sin embargo, cada vez más actores y actrices anglosajones o con raíces latinas desean o necesitan aprender español por alguna razón en particular. Y para muestra, basta un botón. Para su próxima película, el actor Johnny Depp conocido por films ya clásicos como “Eduardo manostijeras” o “Piratas del Caribe” necesitará de un profesor nativo de español para poder interpretar con gracia al líder revolucionario mexicano Pancho Villa. Pero... (Read More).