Top Linguistics Blogs
Share the Top Linguistics Blogs on
Mr. Verb
Science: "just one view of the world, just another story"
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is considering legislation now that has this as its first paragraph:Teachers, principals, and other school administrators are encouraged to create and foster an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of the advantages and...
Forensic linguistics meets historical linguistics
The last few days have seen a lot of press about an effort to use linguistic evidence to gain new insight into a pivotal moment in Irish history, the Rebellion of 1641. I can't vouch for the info in the link ... it's hotly contested territory and well beyond...
After all the uproar over the "Coastie Song" last year (covered in a string of posts on this blog, leading up to this), the guys who did that released a Valentine Day song for/to our Chancellor, Biddy Martin. "Baby be my Biddy" has been written up for a while (like...
(on)-ics for language names: More Edenics
As the house historical linguist on Team Verb, I should probably say something about the whole Edenics thing.One thing that strikes me is the name, since I don't think (n)-ics was used for language names before Ebonics, which was consciously created as a blend of Ebony and Phonics, according to...
Caveat Emptor: Buying term papers
Spam aimed at academic blogs have been talked about (like here), and blog spam is just a fact of life. Along the way, it's often noted that email and web scams tend to be easily recognized by bad grammar and spelling. It's kind of hilarious when the you get blog...
The Origins of the Specious: Edenics
Ooops, I meant …The Origin of Speeches:Intelligent Design In LanguageFrom The Language Of Eden To Our Babble After BabelIt's the most recent book on Edenics. It's been out for a while (and was dealt with in some detail in the blogosphere, including on the Log, like here), but a reader...
The Linguist - language learning should be fun
Download now or listen on posterous Language teacher.mp3 (12263 KB) Here is what I would do if I were a language teacher. This is in response to Jacob who wanted some more constructive comments on how to handle language teaching......
インターネットと、iPhone、と他の新しいガジェットと言語の勉強。あなたは何をつかっていますか？
インターネット、iPod、および他の新しいガジェット、外国語学習を変更させていま......
The internet, the iPhone, the iPad other new gadgets and language learning. What do you use?
The internet, the iPod, and other new gadgets, and the programs being developed for them are gong to change how we learn, and especially, how we learn languages. I am looking for ideas. a) the keeners, or early adopters How......
Are any of you familiar with Benny the Irish polyglot and his website and language learning approach? I hope to have a discussion with him about where we agree and where we disagree in our approaches to language learning. I......
The three keys to language learning success - the transcript
Download now or preview on posterous The Three Keys to Language Learning.doc (61 KB) I posted the podcast here earlier. Here is the transcript. I will also be putting it into the library at LingQ. Posted via email from Lingosteve's......
Over at Lexiophiles there was an article about the decline of German as a second language in French schools. I made the following comment. L'appetit vient en mangeant. If people can just get started in a language it soon becomes......
Language Log
Eavesdropping on (un)happiness
Matthias Mehl et al., "Eavesdropping on Happiness: Well-Being Is Related to Having Less Small Talk and More Substantive Conversations", Psychological Science, published online 18 February 2010: Is the happy life characterized by shallow, happy-go-lucky moments and trivial small talk, or by reflection and profound social encounters? Both notions—the happy ignoramus and...
It's been a while since I complained about the way that some journalists use real people as if they were hand puppets. (See here, here, here and here for a sample, from the good old days before bashing the Main Stream Media became one of the favorite rhetorical strategies of...
Annals of uptalk: the python wrestler
A New York Times Room for Debate piece on "Killing Pythons, and Regulating Them" (3/5/2010) supplies another piece of anecdata for my on-going quest to document the North American varieties of uptalk. This one is from the sound track of a YouTube video about a python wrangler in central...
John McIntyre has once again wandered off into that parodic fantasy land where usage writers and linguists disport themselves as characters in hard-boiled detective fiction. This time, on the occasion of National Grammar Day, it's "Pulp Diction"; the complete serial is here. The climax of the tale comes in installment...
I have seen repellently bad poetry on various subjects (mortgage services and sewage disposal, to name but two); but my horror at the poem publicized by National Grammar Day was not evoked solely by the poetic standard, low though it is: I love the King of Ing He makes me want to...
Naked bouncing? In the workplace?
At this page in the Daily WTF you may find a verbatim reproduction of an email in which an office worker told her colleagues: Please be advised- I will be bouncing Nude in 5 minutes. Please let me know if this presents an issue. Presents an issue? It sure does! ...
One Hour Translation Blog
Social networking sites and translation
Ever since the advent of the World Wide Web in the early 1990’s, it has been widely used as a means of social networking i.e. sharing of common interests, ideas etc through emails and instant messaging. Recently however the idea got a special impetus with improvement in communication, higher bandwidth...
Multi currency payments and translators
Translation is a world wide necessity and translators have the entire world as their canvas. With the advent of the internet it is easy for service providers and prospective clients to contact each other. As a freelance translator, you may be working for clients across borders and may be paid...
Localization of mobile apps guide
French > 40% of Internet users. It means that many of the potential customers of the apps you developed do not speak English. Those users prefer buying apps in their native languages. Some apps even became a single-country “hit” (see here) thanks to a wise decision of their developer to localize them. Here’s...
A tip for your business: using country top level domains
Let’s say that your business sells its products both at the US and in Japan. You translated all your website content to Japanese and put it online. In doing so, you hope to attract more traffic from potential customers who live in Japan and search the Internet in their own language for...
Translation of iPod Applications
The Apple iPod is one of the defining inventions of the new millennium. Like its peers (the camera and the mobile phone), it’s a portable device that not only fulfills one main function superbly, it can also feature a Swiss-Army-Knife-like collection of secondary functions that make it a truly versatile...
Android Applications Translation
The Android was specifically created in order to accommodate a myriad of mobile-optimized applications that utilize all of the advantages that the portable gadget medium has to offer. This is a device that’s been designed to be open, so it’s only natural that it also features the translation of Android...
Learn Thai Podcast
Phrase Lesson 4: Time and Making an appointment (Video)
In this lesson you will learn some more useful phrases....
Phrase Lesson 4: Time and Making an appointment (Audio)
In this lesson you will learn some more useful phrases....
Phrase Lesson 3: General answers (Audio)
In this lesson you will learn some useful phrases. Click here to download the transcript of this lesson....
Phrase Lesson 3: General answers (Video)
In this lesson you will learn some useful phrases....
Phrase Lesson 2: General questions (Audio)
In this lesson you will learn some useful phrases. Click here to download the transcript of this lesson....
Phrase Lesson 2: General questions (Video)
In this lesson you will learn some useful phrases....
Global Watchtower™
Kilgray Pumps Up MemoQ’s Translation Business Intelligence and User Interface
Kilgray today announced the general availability of MemoQ 4.0, a server-based translation memory engine and desktop environment for translators, after several months in beta field test. Although we consider MemoQ a translation management system (TMS), the software also competes against traditional desktop translation memory tools (Déjà Vu, Trados, Transit,...
Yesterday employment services provider Manpower announced that it would acquire COMSYS IT Partners, a professional staffing firm. Both companies offer language services in their portfolio — Manpower is the fourteenth largest company on our list of top 30 language service providers (LSPs), generating US$55 million in language-related revenue in 2008...
Welocalize Sets Its Sights on Marketing Translation
Language service provider Welocalize today announced the release of its web-based MarketSight translation marketplace. In this latest example of translation technologies moving into the cloud, this self-service software is aimed at helping companies manage their marketing translation budgets and operations. Unlike most portals offered by translation agencies, MarketSight lets users...
Community Translators Misdirect Google Translate
With all of the news about hacked e-mail accounts, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that crowdsourcing interfaces can be manipulated, too. Earlier today, politicking or pranking Russian translators forced a Google Translate mistranslation of four segments — “USA is to blame,” “Russia is to blame,” “Obama is to blame,”...
Language Line Services Does an About Face (-to-Face)
This morning, Language Line Services (LLS) announced that it will use its staff of 8,000 interpreters to offer face-to-face (F2F) services throughout the state of California. Why is the company suddenly making such a strong play for in-person services after decades of touting the benefits of its remote interpreting services?...
Translation Blog
I’m sure you’ve been there too: you’ve had a hard day at work followed by a strenuous workout at the gym and all you want is a nice, relaxing bath. You get in and start enjoying a bit of peace and quiet when the phone rings. You ignore it. It...
Have you ever wondered where “upper case” and “lower case” come from? I hadn’t until I came across an explanation as I was trying to work out whether it should be Beaux-Arts or beaux-arts. The “case” (from Latin cassa, “box”) refers to the type cases used by printers to keep...
This entry has nothing to do with English, French or translation. I just really want to share a film that I saw at the weekend. Once again, it’s directed by Michael Haneke, who is fast becoming my favorite director. After Caché, a powerful portrayal of France’s colonial guilt, The White...
I spent last Monday interpreting in East Sussex. After a busy day, we all ended up in a lovely pub with an interesting history in Lewes to have dinner and talk about forthcoming projects. Little did I know that a major incident had only just been averted thanks to the...
Fanlation is a term that I've come across very recently, and I came across it again when I received Jost Zetzsche's Tool Kit newsletter: I had just suggested that we use a new term for the kind of crowdsourced translation that the likes of Twitter and Facebook do when they engage...
A translator's resolutions for 2010
I thought it’d be a good idea to cast my mind back on 2009 and give myself some vague pointers objectives for 2010. 2009 was meant to be the year where I took advantage of a move to Leeds to work less, discover a beautiful region and resurrect my moribund Spanish....
Learning the Language
Native Americans Ask Feds To Help Keep Languages Alive
Native Americans asked federal lawmakers to help keep Native American languages alive during a "listening session" hosted by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs this week....
Race to Top Finalists Include 3 of 5 Top ELL States
Three of the five states with the most English-learners in this country were selected by the U.S. Department of Education as finalists for the $4 billion Race to the Top competition....
Arne Duncan: Revamping of ELL Tests Is a Difficult Issue
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that how to revamp tests for English-learners and students with disabilities might be the toughest issue that needs to be tackled with reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act....
Learning the Language Takes a Break
Learning the Language will take a break until March 4....
Head Start Teachers for Migrant Kids Have Education Barriers
Head Start teachers from Native American or migrant communities have a lot of linguistic and cultural expertise but they also tend to lack formal education credentials....
Resource: How Content Teachers Can Teach Language
A book released by WestEd tells how mainstream teachers who have English-learners in their classrooms can be language teachers....
Sinosplice » Life
The Value of a Master’s in Chinese Economics
In a recent post entitled Why China for Grad School? I opined: Aside from reduced cost, there is one main reason a westerner might choose to go to grad school in China over a western country: because one’s object of study is inherently Chinese. This includes Chinese history, Chinese...
I recently asked my readers to email me if they were interested in participating in a project focused on learning Chinese in Shanghai. The response was quite good, and I’d like to thank all of you that generously offered to participate. I’m actually a bit reluctant to deactivate the email...
The Singularity and the Chinese History of Chess
While reading up on one of my favorite topics, the technological singularity, I recently came across this interesting passage in an article by renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil entitled The Law of Accelerating Returns: To appreciate the nature and significance of the coming “singularity,” it is important to ponder the...
Creative English with Chinese Characteristics
Just in case you missed these English language Chinese coinages, here’s a sample: Smilence 笑而不语 vi. When you are expecting some answers from your Chinese audience, you may just get a mysterious smile and their silence only. 动词 当你期望从中国听众那里获得一些回答的时候，你只得到了神秘的微笑和他们的沉默。 The rest of the list...
Overheard near Jing’an Temple, a conversation between a Chinese woman and an American woman: Chinese woman: It is Chinese New Year, time for line dance. American woman: Really, line dances? You do line dances for Chinese New Year? Chinese woman: Yes, line dance. ...
Experiments in Learning Chinese in Shanghai
Working on lesson content at ChinesePod keeps me busy as always, but recently I’ve also started a project on the side. While ChinesePod is great for distributing excellent lesson content to an unlimited audience, I’m also very interested in individual learner experiences in Shanghai. There are so many fascinating linguistic...