Word of the Week: Fatberg
Fatberg: A sewer-clogging lump of congealed cooking fat mixed with wet wipes and other products. Coined from fat and the suffix of iceberg. Last week workers cleared a “bus-sized” fatberg from the...
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Localise for Brazil or Portugal; don’t localise into Portuguese
It is essential to tailor your translated websites to a particular market, taking into account the country as well as the language. If you want to sell your products in Brazil, for example, translating...
View ArticleWhen Symbols Turn into Words
How did the word “heart” get turned into a synonym for liking something? Some say the symbol...
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Sigmo Device Lets You 'Talk' in 25 Languages - Mashable
Sigmo Device Lets You 'Talk' in 25 LanguagesMashableIf learning a new language through Rosetta Stone proved too difficult, a new gadget offers an easier solution for real-time language translation....
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Language boosts invisible objects into visual awareness - The Guardian
The GuardianLanguage boosts invisible objects into visual awarenessThe GuardianThe philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously said that, "the limits of my language mean the limits of my world," meaning...
View ArticleSmarter Balanced Moves Ahead on Testing Tools for English-Learners
The Smarter Balanced group of 25 states will decide soon the range of testing accommodations to offer English-learners and students with disabilities.
View ArticleO que significa finna?
Um leitor do blog enviou um email querendo saber o que significa finna. Confesso que eu já tinha visto isso, mas por ser algo tão restrito nunca escrevi a respeito. Pelo visto, finna está começando a...
View ArticleNobody's Gonna Buy a Car Named Howard!
Like much of writer/actor Larry David’s oeuvre (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” Sour Grapes), the HBO original film Clear History, which premiered on August 10, is a comedy about envy, resentment, and failure....
View ArticleGOGOL'S VII.
Gogol's "Вий," one of the four stories in his 1835 collection Mirgorod, is a piece of misogynist tripe; Nabokov is actually being (uncharacteristically) kind to it when he calls it "a gooseflesh story,...
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My key takeaway? Language abuse is a growth area - Globe and Mail
My key takeaway? Language abuse is a growth areaGlobe and MailInstead, the blog itself undermines the theory. Despairingly, he quotes his toaster manual, which calls the button that pops up the toast...
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It's official: The Internet has broken the English language - Canada.com
Canada.comIt's official: The Internet has broken the English languageCanada.comIt's official. The war over use of the word “literally” has been lost. The Internet has won. The English language has...
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Lehigh Valley Dual Language Charter School expansion rejected - The Express...
Lehigh Valley Dual Language Charter School expansion rejectedThe Express Times - LehighValleyLive.comDual Language Charter officials say the "no" vote means the school cannot accommodate the 50...
View ArticleA Few Thoughts on Twitter
Article brought to you by http://inboxtranslation.com - I love Twitter Let me just start by saying I used to be sceptical about its value and did not have a personal account until @inboxtranslate was...
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From Einstein to Oprah: Famous faces may help spot early dementia
A new study suggests that simple tests that measure the ability to recognize and name famous people such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey may help doctors identify early dementia in...
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China, the Country of the Blind
Photo by Iris River on Flickr I recently read H.G. Wells’ short story The Country of the Blind, and it immediately struck me how relevant this story is to western visitors of China in modern times. If...
View ArticleHow Much Vocabulary Is Enough?
Today’s guest post comes from Jeffery Nelson, the creator of a great new blog called Living Bilingual. After you enjoy the article stop by and visit. ———- Language skills are hard to measure. There is...
View ArticleThe Base, Al Qaeda, and gays in China
Through a curious concatenation of sociolinguistic forces, the word jīdì 基地 ("base") has brought such disparate entities as militant Islamic fundamentalism, homosexuality, and Sinology together....
View ArticleHow the brain learns languages – the case of bilinguals
Here is a fascinating article about how the brain learns languages written by François Grosjean, Emeritus Professor of psycholinguistics, Neuchâtel University, Switzerland. The article discusses: ”...
View ArticleStrong Winds Beyond Cape Horn
From the Age of Exploration to the present, the seas around Latin America have been known for its strong winds. These winds are partly responsible for every hurricane that enters the Gulf of Mexico and...
View ArticleWord of the day: Khaki
Khaki comes from Hindi meaning dusty and dates back to Britain’s colonial occupation of India. The British army had traditionally worn red uniforms, giving soldiers the nickname “redcoats”, but this...
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