tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38190621116131353762024-03-05T19:41:58.426+01:00Desperately seeking a lingua franca...Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-17369827219788333572022-11-20T17:13:00.013+01:002022-11-23T17:37:02.210+01:00Keynote speeches by Tetyana Struk from Ukraine and Prof. Michael Cronin from Trinity College Dublin among highlights of #2022TEF<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUK-mawHJ5mg9AyGjYRp9iIN9yzMBIMdrD27MNWcPgdQMBJTwCuBomUtNeIiaNt5kPCMh79kK-UMTYDOBixAcQKX7euRaS6OqWSBsAgHxwEGh_7KwXvtQ5ic3zDPNMIjstsXNrRy993xPbttSsYYvR2wCSx9dezDQNT7VJJc12nsxxZJrrVvQeELew/s846/translate.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="846" height="429" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUK-mawHJ5mg9AyGjYRp9iIN9yzMBIMdrD27MNWcPgdQMBJTwCuBomUtNeIiaNt5kPCMh79kK-UMTYDOBixAcQKX7euRaS6OqWSBsAgHxwEGh_7KwXvtQ5ic3zDPNMIjstsXNrRy993xPbttSsYYvR2wCSx9dezDQNT7VJJc12nsxxZJrrVvQeELew/w640-h429/translate.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Source : <i>depositphotos.com</i></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What a
pleasure it was to participate in the 2022 <i>Translating Europe Forum</i> (<i>#2022TEF</i>) over
the internet a few days ago. I had already the chance to attend the event at
the Conference Centre Charlemagne Building (CHAR) in Brussels in 2015 and
several times remotely online over the last few years. Each time, it has turned
out to be an inspiring and stimulating international event (participants from
over 100 countries this year) and a truly enriching experience.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="NL-BE"><i>#2022TEF</i>: <i>ACCESS FOR ALL Going beyond translating text</i>
was held from Nov. 9th to 11th. I closely followed the opening session online
from my cosy place in Sart-Eustache, Belgium on the evening of Nov. 9th. Aminda
Leigh (moderator and translator at <i>AMROS Media Solutions</i>) as well as
Anya Sitaram (executive producer, communications consultant and conference moderator
at <i>Rockhopper MediaOpening</i>) took the floor and presented the program of
the three-day forum. They informed participants that more than 40% of them were
under age 35, which shows how much young generations seem interested in the
language translation industry and its trends and novelties. Welcome was then addressed
by Johannes Hahn (European Commissioner for Budget and Administration). He
highlighted the crucial role of translation and the richness of multilingualism
in our community. </span><span lang="EN-US">He
also insisted on the fact that it is important to write clear and concise
documents or produce accessible records nowadays. The very intereactive and hybrid form of <i>#2022TFE</i>
(live in Brussels or online, or available for viewing on demand on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLqIRaiVCGCSrlTMx1iG1pRlyYR1ZKSyi" target="_blank"><i>YouTube</i></a></span><span lang="EN-US">) shows that accessibility has been
taken into account.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">In today’s
world with many people feeling apprehensive about the future, the first speech
by Ukrainian translator Tetyana Struk was particularly moving and inspiring.
Mrs. Struk explained how much the war in Ukraine has changed her life as a translator. Translating in a situation of crisis is extremely challenging. Mrs. Struk told us that the prerogatives of a translator
in a situation of war are suddenly </span></span>foremost human and<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: inherit;"> not financial at all. The
need to help prevails. She explained how her life as a CEO has changed since
the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict and how the job of most Ukrainian
translators has been challenged on various aspects since then : time, work
conditions, emotions, secondary trauma, 24/7 work, planning, etc. </span><span lang="NL-BE" style="font-family: inherit;">A standing ovation by the <i>#2022TEF</i>
attendees in Brussels proved how touching and moving Tetyana Struk’s talk truly
was on Nov. 9th.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="NL-BE"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We could
then follow a panel discussion moderated by Aminda Leigh and involving Nicolas
Beckers, (head of the language service at <i>ARTE</i>), Dragos Ioan Ciobanu (Professor
of computational terminology and machine translation at the <i>University of
Vienna</i>, Austria), Amalie Foss (freelance translator and President at
<i>Audiovisual Translators Europe</i>) and Gian Maria Greco (senior research fellow in
translation - accessibility expert at <i>University of Macerata</i>, Italy). Members
of the panel talked about ways to convey meaning between languages,
possibilities to switch from translating text-to-text to speech-to-text
translation, key changes and challenges in the profession today, speech-to-text
and text-to-speech technologies improving accessibility for diverse audiences,
etc. A few sentences and thoughts during the panel discussion were pretty
emphatic. Gian Maria Greco, for instance, explained that “<i>diversity is part of human nature</i>”. He said that “<i>we, as linguists or translators, need
specifications since we have specific needs nowadays</i>”. Focusing on new
technological tools that could help the translators or the interpreters, Dragos
Ioan Ciobanu warned that “<i>when it’s free,
it basically means that you are the product.</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US">I could not
attend any of the online presentations on Thursday, Nov. 10th but was well
connected on the morning of Friday, Nov. 11th (on Armsitice Day) as from 9:00 AM
to enjoy the online presentation by Elina Lahdenranta, service development
specialist at <a href="https://www.lingsoft.fi/en" target="_blank"><i>Lingsoft</i></a></span><span lang="EN-US">, one of Finland’s leading language
companies which offers agile translation, subtitling and transcription services
as well as diverse speech recognition and text analytics solutions. </span><span lang="NL-BE">Mrs. Lahdenranta offered a quick overview
of <i>Lingsoft</i>’s most useful commonly used translation tools with practical
demonstrations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="NL-BE">I eagerly awaited
the keynote speech of the day and was certainly not disappointed. Entitled <i>The power of words</i>, the tremendous speech
by Professor Michael Cronin (<i>Trinity College Dublin</i>) focused on how translation
shaped history. Prof. Cronin explained that the language and translation
industry, just like our society, evolved through time : it moved from an
ethnocentric approach in the 1980s to a geocentric perspective (altogether with
trends like internationalization and/or localization in the business world) from
the mid-80s to the 90s and eventually to today’s terracentric type of
translation. </span><span lang="EN-US">The
current terracentric approach concentrating on resource consciousness, mobility
issues, post-holocene governance, range and idioms rivets the translation
industry nowadays. Prof. Cronin illustrated his fantastic keynote speech with
several book covers like <a href="http://chabot.be/livres/lage-des-transitions-puf-2015/" target="_blank"><i>L’âge des transitions</i></a> by Pascal Chabot</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://ethanzuckerman.com/books/rewire/" target="_blank"><i>Rewire</i></a> by Ethan Zuckerman</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/titles/richard-baldwin/the-globotics-upheaval/9781474609036/" target="_blank"><i>The Globotics Upheaval</i></a> by Richard Baldwin</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-49496-4" target="_blank"><i>Non-human Nature in World Politics</i></a> by Joana Castro Pereira and
André Saramago</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://marylgray.org/bio/on-demand/" target="_blank"><i>Ghost Work</i></a> by Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://davidepstein.com/the-range/" target="_blank"><i>Range – Why Generalists triumph in a specialized World</i></a> by David Epstein</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/213416/landmarks-by-macfarlane-robert/9780241967874" target="_blank"><i>Landmarks</i></a> by Robert Macfarlane</span><span lang="EN-US">, <a href="https://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/en-attendant-les-robots-antonio-a-casilli/9782021401882" target="_blank"><i>En attendant les robots</i></a> by Antonio A. Casilli</span><span lang="EN-US">, etc. The list of books is a very nice source of ideas for future Christmas gifts... As Prof. Michael Cronin put
it, most people on social media post, react or address in their own language
which makes the social network look like a tool tending towards provincialization.
He also spoke about supply-side ecology and demand-side solutions for climate
change mitigation related to the translation business. Translation has indeed
an ecological cost. You sell more and more goods, products and services to
achieve translations nowadays. Therefore, is translation in the gaming
industry for example a real priority? </span><span lang="NL-BE">In the current age, what kind of translation has a better ecological
efficiency? Those are particular issues of current concern indeed... Prof.
Cronin warned the audience that we should also keep in mind that slavery was the
most lucrative business in the past and that we should avoid this situation
again. He nevertheless always remained optimistic through s whole speech. “<i>You still have to believe</i>”, he said. He also insisted on the
fact that we, translators, should make all we can in order to prevent digital
provincialism from happening in the future. He even addressed the idea of
interspecies communication and translation which might not be so futuristic or
related to science-fiction anymore…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2BR_t7RcnjM2Kp2pjhyEs5lP33Vu_1LFH9LgExvR_oItJC74E4gEs-cl5Ei_yp9WzFJf3zopdfdBKavIdTkNlEPloHJfvmo8J3Xdhtq4ZZLraOs0Bkg-74JD7HKd8GPhVMECrNetflpNru6dxW6P1J0LMawGJekRP2Vk9POGsg49aRjGHfI9j36-/s2304/2022tef.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2304" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF2BR_t7RcnjM2Kp2pjhyEs5lP33Vu_1LFH9LgExvR_oItJC74E4gEs-cl5Ei_yp9WzFJf3zopdfdBKavIdTkNlEPloHJfvmo8J3Xdhtq4ZZLraOs0Bkg-74JD7HKd8GPhVMECrNetflpNru6dxW6P1J0LMawGJekRP2Vk9POGsg49aRjGHfI9j36-/w640-h360/2022tef.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The speech of Prof. Michael Cronin at #2022TEF <br />was very inspiring</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="NL-BE"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After Prof.
Cronin’s speech, two more panel discussions were on the program: a first one
entitled <i>Industry insights : people, data
and quality</i> which turned out to be a machine vs. human translation debate
and a last one with John O’Shea (chairperson of <i>FIT Europe</i>), James Hurrell (head
of content and localization, <i>BBC Studios</i>), Britta Aagaard (chief business
officer, <i>Semantix</i>), Adrian Probst (English/French to Swiss German translator
and content creator at <i>Freelanceverse</i>) and Rudy Loock (<i>University of Lille</i>, France) who
talked about accessibility as well as about the recent developments and technologies on
which it is worth keeping an eye. At the end of this final panel discussion,
the excellent moderator Aminda Leigh selected one of my questions that I had
previously posted online. She forwarded and read it to the panelists. The question was
the following one : “<i>European
Accessibility Act (</i></span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><i>a landmark EU law which requires some everyday products and services to be accessible for people with disabilities) </i></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">: what impact does it have on translations to be delivered
and how are the machine translation tools going to adapt to this?“ </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">To my
surprise, as well as to Amanda Leigh’s,</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">no
answer by the panelists, who stared at each other for a few seconds without
saying a single word, was given. Mrs. Leigh, telling me from a distance via the
internet that she was sorry that my question was not answered, commented on the
fact that this question might have been a bit too complicated.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span><i>#2022TEF</i> ended with short closing remarks by Christos Ellinides (director general of the <i>Directorate-General for Translation</i> at the European Commission) and very positive feedback from the organizers. Next year, <i>#2023TEF</i> will be held from Nov. 8th to 10th and it will be the 10th edition of this high-quality forum for translators and linguists. I cannot wait to join this fantastic event again next year!</span></p>Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-84720838112227019152021-12-31T17:09:00.003+01:002021-12-31T17:27:59.726+01:00Luxembourg call for English... and more multilingualism!<p style="text-align: justify;">If there is one place in Europe where multilingualism can be taken as a model, it's the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. During the latest Christmas holiday break, I travelled to tourist hidden gems Vianden, Echternach or Larochette, three towns in Northeastern Luxembourg, and could bear witness to the fact that multilingualism is a reality in that small landlocked country located in Western Europe.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF-GtvY0bsOENDhGiJ87KAYNLmUepRzKkLmPKubSQM9BMhjEdx1istGra5juxdZLqTd-CK539yJnMp7sXCaWRoyhb0x3JqNVkmi6whV5jxbeReILAZEKxuw0JQ1vs3UY2ypyUwftzIt74g_Rk8qpU2OtAl_ynm_xEC7e8uf2pwWwpo7W-UYkuJeHBi=s1600" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhF-GtvY0bsOENDhGiJ87KAYNLmUepRzKkLmPKubSQM9BMhjEdx1istGra5juxdZLqTd-CK539yJnMp7sXCaWRoyhb0x3JqNVkmi6whV5jxbeReILAZEKxuw0JQ1vs3UY2ypyUwftzIt74g_Rk8qpU2OtAl_ynm_xEC7e8uf2pwWwpo7W-UYkuJeHBi=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The flag of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">With an area of 2,586 square kilometers (around 998 square miles), Luxembourg is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Luxembourg City is the capital of the grand duchy and also one of the four official capitals of the European Union (EU) together with Brussels, Frankfurt and Strasbourg. Luxembourg City is the seat of the Court of Justice of the EU, the highest judicial authority in the political and economic union of 27 European member states. The culture, people and languages of Luxembourg are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it a mixture of French and German cultures. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Luxembourgish is the only national language of the Luxembourgish people, as defined by law. In addition to Luxembourgish, French and German are two other languages used in administrative and judicial matters. All three of them are jointly considered official administrative languages of Luxembourg. In 2019, Luxembourg (called <i>Lëtzebuerg</i> in Luxembourgish) had a population of around 635,000. It is one of the least-populous countries in Europe although it has the highest population growth rate on the continent. Foreigners account for nearly half of Luxembourg's population. As a representative democracy with a constitutional monarch, it is the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy. Luxembourg can count on an advanced economy and one of the world's highest gross domestic product --GDP-- (adjusted by purchasing power parity --PPP--) per capita.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">On the official website of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, it is mentioned that "<i>multilingualism opens the door wide to life in Luxembourg</i>". Through that website, it is also highlighted that "<i>apart from the commonly used languages in Luxembourg, other languages are also spoken, especially English, Italian and Portuguese, but also Slavic or Nordic languages, a symbol of the rather substantial expat communities of Luxembourg. But just to reassure you: it is a rare occurrence not to find a common language in Luxembourg.</i>" See official web page about languages in Luxembourg at <a href="https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/languages/languages-spoken-luxembourg.html" target="_blank">https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/languages/languages-spoken-luxembourg.html</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When walking through the small medieval streets of Vianden, I could hear several people greeting each other in Portuguese. They also entered a local shop where a few words in Portuguese were also courteously exchanged. When they came out of the shop, the owner thanked the clients of Portuguese origin with a typical <i>Villmools merci a bis geschwënn</i> (<i>Thank you very much and see you later!</i>). Later on, the lady who welcomed us at the Restaurant <i>An Haal</i> in Echternach, could present the menu in several languages. During the whole lunchtime, I had the pleasure to have a kind and polite talk with her in a mix of French, German and Dutch.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg70QMgrxHFX0aWbsVhbzOHHhytM4f_6Xa8Gf9uSt22qGJqIwqAznfH6BLrYykfSNCA1ZyTzpQjztnv2r0ejV8FIYlEg1HDQ_xl-ZJ-pKfoEoMRYZ2JYBkFiuy8AWySg1q-kQ4t5l_iH3qYBZ8cU7ExFOBNEc_2INa0Dtk-UlK1nZApOwm2Ob5Wdk_5=s2304" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="2304" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg70QMgrxHFX0aWbsVhbzOHHhytM4f_6Xa8Gf9uSt22qGJqIwqAznfH6BLrYykfSNCA1ZyTzpQjztnv2r0ejV8FIYlEg1HDQ_xl-ZJ-pKfoEoMRYZ2JYBkFiuy8AWySg1q-kQ4t5l_iH3qYBZ8cU7ExFOBNEc_2INa0Dtk-UlK1nZApOwm2Ob5Wdk_5=w400-h225" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The impressive Basilica Saint Willibrord in Echternach can be visited either in French, German, English or Luxembourgish</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">As a matter of fact, I raise here the issue of the successful story of multiligualism in Luxembourg because I was hooked by a puzzling article in the press a few weeks ago. English is actually the <i>lingua franca</i> of the large international community working at the European institutions and of people employed in the banking and industrial sectors in Luxembourg. Believe it or not, the press relayed the news that a petition urged Luxembourg government in late September 2021 to make English an official language. Adopting English as an official language would attract more international talent to Luxembourg, the petition argued. Here is the hyperlink pointing to the interesting article by John Monaghan published on the <i>Luxembourg Times</i> website on 2021-09-28: <a href="https://www.luxtimes.lu/en/luxembourg/make-english-an-official-language-in-luxembourg-petition-urges-6152f5e7de135b9236691c34" target="_blank">https://www.luxtimes.lu/en/luxembourg/make-english-an-official-language-in-luxembourg-petition-urges-6152f5e7de135b9236691c34</a>.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">According to a short article in <i>The Linguist</i>, Vol. 60, No 6, December/January 2021, "<i>the petition to make English the fourth official language of Luxembourg has failed to get enough support to be discussed in parliament. The ongoing campaign is calling for official recognition of English with the aim of attracting people from outside the country, but a similar petition in 2019 also failed to meet the required 4,500 signatures.</i>" According to the Education Ministry of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the official languages French, German and Luxembourgish are spoken by 98%, 78% and 77% of the population respectively, while 80% of the people living in Luxembourg speak English. Foreign-born persons and guest workers make up 47% of the population of Luxembourg. The most common languages spoken by them, other than German and French, are Portuguese, English and Italian.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Amazing situation for such a small but rich country! After all, this can simply be summarized by Luxembourg's national motto: <i>Mir wëlle bleiwe wat mir sinn</i> (Luxembourgish), <i>Nous voulons rester ce que nous sommes</i> (French), <i>Wir wollen bleiben, was wir sind</i> (German) which could be translated in English by <i>We want to remain what we are</i>... </p><p style="text-align: justify;">As the Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein has put it: "<i>The limits of my language are the limits of my world.</i>" It has never been so true in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the example of its multilingual people should be followed in some bigger countries too.</p><p style="text-align: right;">Sources: <i>Wikipedia</i>, <i><a href="https://luxembourg.public.lu/" target="_blank">https://luxembourg.public.lu/</a></i>, <i>The Linguist</i>, Vol. 60, No 6, December/January 2021, p. 5 and "<i>Make English an official language in Luxembourg, petition urges</i>" by John Monaghan, <i>Luxembourg Times</i>, 2021-09-28.</p>Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-32624269683327168532021-11-11T23:29:00.011+01:002021-11-12T10:09:19.976+01:00An overview of the #2021TEF - Collaboration in times of automation<p style="text-align: justify;">I am so thankful that <i>DG Translation</i> (<i>DGT</i>), the European Commission's in-house translation service, has allowed me to participate in the <i>Translating Europe Forum</i> 2021 (<i>#2021TEF</i>). Due to the COVID-19 situation, this year's edition was virtual again and held online on 3-5 November 2021. I could not make it on 3 and 4 November but attended a very informative plenary session and interactive panel discussions on Friday 5 November. I had already attended the <i>Translating Europe Forum</i> 2015 in Brussels and had already learned a lot from that experience back then.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The main theme of the <i>#2021TEF</i> was <i>Collaboration in times of automation</i>. It was also a great opportunity for translators to network and learn about great IT tools, future trends in the language industry, etc.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-FPpXY_1pz9VdYcon9cS0BVamoUUAivfu-BrzVIVfqqG7Z9i36_6_E-gPtrwf68AJxPvb7dYh-h-x-PkBWFFcpPxGjkzOcRcxEvrW7pXdtD2I30ny9MKORbPxxcxKtsFSK4Jbw0EGKg/s872/TEF2021+-+en+cours.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="872" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY-FPpXY_1pz9VdYcon9cS0BVamoUUAivfu-BrzVIVfqqG7Z9i36_6_E-gPtrwf68AJxPvb7dYh-h-x-PkBWFFcpPxGjkzOcRcxEvrW7pXdtD2I30ny9MKORbPxxcxKtsFSK4Jbw0EGKg/w400-h258/TEF2021+-+en+cours.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">On 5 November, the participants in the <i>#2021TEF</i>, the vast majority of them being translators from all over the world (mainly from Europe but also from Africa, Taiwan, Argentina, Colombia, etc.), could enjoy a first excellent presentation by British futurologist, speaker and broadcaster Shivvy Jervis who was introduced by British-Italian journalist, moderator and translator Aminda Leigh. Shivvy Jervis, voted one of Britain’s Women of the Year for 2021, focused on our human potential. She convincingly talked about the science of motivation, the three signals that mean machines will not displace people in the way feared by some of the <i>#2021TEF</i> participants and some of the most fascinating jobs and skills of the future. As far as the three signals are concerned, here is what Shivvy Jervis explained:</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: left;">- algorithms do not have consciousness, a sense of ethics or grasp of real expression and artificial intelligence (AI) without human oversight is therefore risky;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- those who flip the threat or use AI to their own advantage have proven it can grow their business and not threaten it;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- AI is becoming more dominant using automation to enhance the work, not displace it.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Mrs. Jervis also highlighted the fact that augmented reality will create jobs in the future. According to her, there are five job areas to be considered for the (near) future: digital ethicists, virtualised medicine professionals, immersive media experts, experts contributing to 'adaptive AI' and alternative energy planners. She also mentioned that people absorb information 6 times better when it is in an immersive format such as augmented reality i.e. overlaying digital info onto our real worlds. In short, Shivvy Jervis sends the following message to the translators: <b>feel future ready!</b> She also told them that there will be surprising opportunities from a turbulent time:</p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">- pressure from the crisis can be used to remove barriers or unhelpful processes;</div><div style="text-align: left;">- more organisations might be showing awareness of responsibilities to community or "moral economy";</div><div style="text-align: left;">- digital transformation could be seen more about human capital than IT infrastructure.</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">In order to learn more about Shivvy Jervis and her studies on the intersection of digital breakthroughs, scientific discoveries and brain chemistry, you can go to her website: <a href="http://www.shivvyjervis.com" target="_blank">www.shivvyjervis.com</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">After this session, I had the chance to attend two online workshops. The first one, entitled <i>A new, flexible working environment</i>, was chaired by Geert Vanderhaeghe (owner and general manager of <i>Lexitech</i> and a <i>LIND group</i> representative). Other panelists were Martina Kichler (deputy secretary general at <i>Universitas</i>), Alina Birsan (founding manager at <i>AB Language Solutions</i>), Kåre Lindahl (CEO of <i>Venga Global</i>, part of <i>ARGOS Multilingual</i>), Kata Juhász (head of HR at <i>MemoQ</i>). COVID-19 has changed the way we work. It has sped up technological advances and revealed how important people are in providing language services. What does it mean for the post-COVID era? What new flexible ways of working did we learn? Has the concept of office space changed? Is a return to the office really necessary? Have we not proved that the job can be done well also from home and, if so, what does this mean for the language industry? The panelists have tried to give answers. This first workshop was quite interactive. During the talk, the audience was asked to participate and take surveys. When asked how much the work of translators was impacted by COVID, 46% of the survey respondents indicated that they work more from home than before and they enjoy it. 31% of the people who completed the questionnaire said that there was no significant change in how they work. 23% of the participants work more from home than before, but they see a lot of negative impact. Another question was then raised: how did technology impact the COVID period? In this case, 64% of the respondents have answered that they feel more connected to the outside world thanks to technology whereas 36% of them feel more isolated than before COVID despite technology. One lesson to be learned from this panel: language service providers (LSP) hire for culture... Skills depend in fact on the company you apply for. LSP managers need to understand what motivates the people that they want to hire. A rigid mindset could turn into a problem. <b>Nowadays, people seem to be more attracted to purpose than to efficiency.</b> Flexibility, openness, agility and curiosity are some of the competences which are most looked for by LSP managers these days. The second workshop attended by me on 5 November was more technical: several experts had prepared a live demonstration of noteworthy IT tools. It was just a glimpse of the newest automation tools and products for the translation profession...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKkCwM2UXT-4IWS9sjmO-KBMcKraa5XOEf2R75jN-mYDmaBOowY4u0TMUoIR7W-3HOIvedmgnkvlyRu-Fp2D1FD2V9Ok7IhB_-JB-9Z591qyL6fTemHUIDtmCqvPHXuVgy5YBX8a7NUM/s2016/tef_rect_4-3_poster.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKkCwM2UXT-4IWS9sjmO-KBMcKraa5XOEf2R75jN-mYDmaBOowY4u0TMUoIR7W-3HOIvedmgnkvlyRu-Fp2D1FD2V9Ok7IhB_-JB-9Z591qyL6fTemHUIDtmCqvPHXuVgy5YBX8a7NUM/w400-h300/tef_rect_4-3_poster.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">In the middle of the afternoon, Aminda Leigh introduced Yota Georgakopoulou, a consultant at <i>Athena Consultancy P.C.</i> and a <i>LIND group</i> representative, who chaired a very informative panel discussion entitled <i>Automation for the Translation Profession – What’s next?</i> followed by a Q&A session. The high-level panel members were Robert Etches (CEO of <i>Exfluency</i>), Amanda Smith (director of language strategy and content business operations at <i>Discovery Communications</i>), Peter Van den Steene (CEO of <i>Presence Group</i>), and Tomáš Svoboda (translation scholar, freelance translator and <i>EMT</i> board member). Mr. Etches quickly set the tone of the debate: "<i>We</i> [at <i>Exfluency</i>, his company] <i>don't sell translation!</i>". He and the panelists insisted on the fact that <b>translating remains a human thing</b>. And interpreting remains even more human! Mr. Van den Steene took the example of puns or expressions to be translated. What came out of the talk is that full automation is not for tomorrow! Again, a few questions were asked to the audience via the <i>Slido</i> interaction tool in paralllel with the panel discussion. Will auto-interpreters be a default service offering by 2030? 47% of the respondents picked the answer <i>Maybe</i>, 28% said <i>No</i> and 25% chose <i>Yes</i>. Another question was raised later on: is being paid by the hour better than being paid per word/minute of video + CAT/MT discounts? The answer <i>Better to be paid per hour</i> reached 59%, <i>Both are problematic/just as good</i> was chosen by 25% of the respondents and <i>Better to be paid per word/minute of video + discounts</i> was 16% of the answers. Capitalizing on talent (and experience maybe?) in order to connect people will definitely still prevail for some time.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ismo Leikola (also called ISMO), a famous stand-up comedian, concluded the forum with a nice and very funny comedy show which lasted a few minutes. ISMO makes people see familiar things anew through his unique perspective. He started his comedy career in 2002 in Finland, his home country. There, he wrote and starred in two seasons of his own sitcom simply entitled... <i>ISMO</i>! He also filmed four DVD specials from 2008 to 2016. The comedian made his US debut in 2014 at the <i>Laugh Factory</i> in Hollywood where he won the title of <b>The Funniest Person in the World</b>. In December 2015, he relocated to Los Angeles from Scandinavia. Now he performs to sold-out crowds around the world and has also gained attention at the biggest comedy festivals. Ismo Leikola can be seen regularly performing in LA clubs and headlining across the USA. See some of his funniest performances freely available on <i>YouTube</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbXmGgJePsk" target="_blank"><i>ISMO - Super excited</i></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eo2uq5k1O0" target="_blank"><i>ISMO - Man on the moon</i></a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws0hx6U52Uo" target="_blank"><i>ISMO - Flying through time</i></a>. ISMO made me laugh!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7xEn6rwxPlcrdnn1VA3zWzAJNFqNw0B9MOmONSJLm5GBRMKa-ePHCSkxETDpPmllc7k7kEyconUcc7tZQiOg6yN7uswBCC1kuVaT-XfSigxT5f9QvsHuc9zAvqpyxipmTmVNGf0EstE/s780/Ismo+watch+your+language.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="780" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-7xEn6rwxPlcrdnn1VA3zWzAJNFqNw0B9MOmONSJLm5GBRMKa-ePHCSkxETDpPmllc7k7kEyconUcc7tZQiOg6yN7uswBCC1kuVaT-XfSigxT5f9QvsHuc9zAvqpyxipmTmVNGf0EstE/w640-h277/Ismo+watch+your+language.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: justify;">You can find details and information about the excellent <i>Translating Europe Forum</i> 2021 (including video files of all presentations freely available) on:<br /><a href="https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/translating-europe-forum-2021tef-2021-nov-06_en" target="_blank">https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/translating-europe-forum-2021tef-2021-nov-06_en</a><br />and<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLqIRaiVCGCQp1cLGJn-F7aqnuxGX5xPn" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLqIRaiVCGCQp1cLGJn-F7aqnuxGX5xPn</a></p><p style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>Photo credentials: Bert Larsimont, </span><i>#2021TEF</i> - European Commission and Ismo Leikola – <i>Watch Your Language Tour 2020</i></span></p>Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-54202392326599473742020-06-30T15:11:00.002+02:002020-06-30T15:31:39.764+02:00Multilinguisme et gouvernance internationale : l'OIF rappelle les enjeux (vidéo)<div style="text-align: justify;">Pour illustrer les enjeux du multilinguisme sur la scène internationale et encourager nos représentants à s’exprimer dans leur langue nationale ou, quand celle-ci n’est pas disponible, en français, l’<i>Organisation internationale de la Francophonie</i> (<i>OIF</i>) vous propose une vidéo actualisée. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dans la vidéo qui vous est proposée, plusieurs intervenants expliquent les enjeux du multilinguisme et la nécessité de le promouvoir dans les enceintes internationales. Réalisée en 2016 pour les 10 ans du <i>Vade mecum relatif à l’usage de la langue française dans les organisations internationales</i>, cette vidéo a été actualisée en 2019 et postée sur <i>YouTube</i> (libre accès) le 27 mai 2020.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lien vers la vidéo intitulée <i>Le multilinguisme dans les Organisations internationales</i> :</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjWQTF2KYZ8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjWQTF2KYZ8</a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">L'<i>OIF</i>, comme elle le rappelle sur son site internet <a href="www.francophonie.org" target="_blank">www.francophonie.org</a>, met en oeuvre la coopération multilatérale francophone au service de ses 88 Etats et gouvernements. C'est aussi l'occasion ici de rappeler que la Francophonie célèbre ses 50 ans sur les cinq continents du 20 mars au 31 décembre 2020 et que l'<i>OIF</i> a lancé à cette occasion une grande consultation auprès des jeunes âgés de 15 à 35 ans (voir <a href="https://consultation-jeunesse-francophonie.org/">https://consultation-jeunesse-francophonie.org/</a>). Malheureusement, dans le contexte actuel de la crise sanitaire mondiale (COVID-19), beaucoup d'événements prévus pour le cinquantenaire de la Francophonie sont ou seront reportés ou annulés. Le XVIIIe Sommet de la Francophonie qui devait avoir lieu les 12 et 13 décembre 2020 à Tunis est d'ailleurs reporté en raison de la crise sanitaire qui touche aujourd’hui le monde entier et des nombreuses incertitudes qui en découlent. La Tunisie réaffirme sa volonté d’accueillir le XVIIIe Sommet et propose d'ailleurs que celui-ci se tienne à Djerba en 2021, à une date qui sera décidée ultérieurement par les autorités tunisiennes et l’<i>OIF</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Le multilinguisme nourrit son homme</i> (adage soninké)</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCRPyCnkXRPTj6YlwZTX2fFVEUBmizC4ZohH2PeUFflY8D3YtPfM_fvvF3fBzAh15OiaEZotXTmHsAoGigem-IlV1Sc3iZW7GYSrhr1nJwU_YutUo0AOxanbynLl4LGI2TjaGuiET93U/s1024/Parlez-Vous-Fran%25C3%25A7ais.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1024" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifCRPyCnkXRPTj6YlwZTX2fFVEUBmizC4ZohH2PeUFflY8D3YtPfM_fvvF3fBzAh15OiaEZotXTmHsAoGigem-IlV1Sc3iZW7GYSrhr1nJwU_YutUo0AOxanbynLl4LGI2TjaGuiET93U/w500-h336/Parlez-Vous-Fran%25C3%25A7ais.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Sources: <i>OIF-Organisation internationale de la Francophonie</i>, <i>iStock</i>, <i>YouTube</i> et <i>TV5 Monde</i></div>Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-50402092907130767602019-12-31T12:41:00.002+01:002020-01-12T21:18:33.126+01:00Less than one day until 2020: a last look at 2019, the year of indigenous languages<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As the countdown to New Year 2020 has started, let me focus one last time on 2019 which was declared the <i>International Year of Indigenous Languages</i> by the <i>United Nations</i>. Through this post, I would like to share with my readers a list of hyperlinks pointing to thought-provoking articles or interesting podcasts related to indigenous languages.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoN-6f4kEDcC2clzCB6R5n5mgNBiUSBdwX_Ks_x29L_oruwLzqKh9i3tg8pEAUj_xwbYnVUhn4-0C-wOz0KPa2tJmSROiVjix3hYE1aH2OVv2Mk7oNg5b9y7eYVX9DpbZMNUB0gE_2MzI/s1600/IMG_20190915_091948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoN-6f4kEDcC2clzCB6R5n5mgNBiUSBdwX_Ks_x29L_oruwLzqKh9i3tg8pEAUj_xwbYnVUhn4-0C-wOz0KPa2tJmSROiVjix3hYE1aH2OVv2Mk7oNg5b9y7eYVX9DpbZMNUB0gE_2MzI/s400/IMG_20190915_091948.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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The existence and, in many cases, the resistance of indigenous languages have never been more important indeed. The indigenous languages provide a unique understanding of the world. Most of us have probably been reminded at some point that, besides the very formatted business or political jargons that are used in the Western world nowadays, the indigenous languages are crucial to catch up with local socio-cultural peculiarities. All human beings are creatures of their culture of which aspects like language, aesthetics, religious values or moral codes lie beyond objective rating due to lack of a culture-free standard of measurement. It would definitely be an insult or a mistake to imply that because some remote areas on our little planet are sometimes technically underdeveloped their people or their cultures are in general underdeveloped.</div>
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Most of us have been directly exposed to indigenous languages at least once in our life... 25 years ago, I wrote a thesis during my translation studies at the <i>University of Mons</i>, Belgium. It was actually a translation from English to French of a book entitled "<i>Tales of the South Carolina Low Country</i>" written by Nancy Rhyne. Parts of the dialogues in the book were written in Gullah, a creole language spoken by an African-American population living in coastal regions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Northeastern Florida in the USA. Trips to Ocean Isle Beach, Wilmington and Calabash in North Carolina as well as to Myrtle Beach, Pawleys Island and Charleston in South Carolina in the past allowed me to become immersed in the culture conveyed by the Gullah language. Last summer, my family and I went to the Italian Alps and were amazed to find many indications and signs written in Piedmontese dialect in the very small village of Moncenisio (Monsnis in Piedmontese or Moueini in Franco-Provençal). Each year around mid-September, on the occasion of the <i>Day of the Walloon Region</i>, the regional daily newspaper <i>L'Avenir</i> has one edition being written and published in Walloon... It reminds us that Walloon is the historical language of Southern Belgium where my family and I have always lived, and most of the Belgian areas where French is now spoken were Walloon-speaking in the past. Even more recently, I was asked to translate a website dealing with a musical show about Native Americans, their culture and their values. A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend the show "<i>Indian Spirit - Chapter I: Awakening</i>" by <i>Wota Creation</i> for which most lyrics have been written in Lakota, a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes and considered by most linguists as one of the three major varieties of the Sioux language.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYgABL9_NNFKQdK5rXJO6eFeekPpzzMJfYsP4O9quoXPp9oW5CAtUV7LEu8D4ShEKsYQ-E3QGYy_vGXErM3MKUrhvi9VoxztG4kUExWSWE1qkZavzqw1HDmsMjpx0p5VYBwvPF1tWLdM/s1600/indianspirit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivYgABL9_NNFKQdK5rXJO6eFeekPpzzMJfYsP4O9quoXPp9oW5CAtUV7LEu8D4ShEKsYQ-E3QGYy_vGXErM3MKUrhvi9VoxztG4kUExWSWE1qkZavzqw1HDmsMjpx0p5VYBwvPF1tWLdM/s400/indianspirit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here is the list of interesting links that I want to share with you:</div>
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<a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190320-the-man-bringing-dead-languages-back-to-life" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190320-the-man-bringing-dead-languages-back-to-life</a> ("<i>The man bringing dead languages back to life</i>", by Alex Rawlings on 22nd March 2019 - <i>BBC Future</i>)<br />
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140606-why-we-must-save-dying-languages" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140606-why-we-must-save-dying-languages</a> ("<i>Languages: Why we must save dying tongues</i>", by Rachel Nuwer on 6th June, 2014 - <i>BBC Future</i>)<br />
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20120531-can-we-save-our-dying-languages" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20120531-can-we-save-our-dying-languages</a> ("<i>Can we save the world’s dying languages?</i>", by Gaia Vince on 31st May, 2012 - <i>BBC Future</i>)<br />
<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17081573" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-17081573</a> ("<i>Digital tools 'to save languages'</i>", by Jonathan Amos, Science Correspondent in Vancouver - <i>BBC News</i>)<br />
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<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/peru-student-roxana-quispe-collantes-thesis-inca-language-quechua" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/27/peru-student-roxana-quispe-collantes-thesis-inca-language-quechua</a> ("<i>Student in Peru makes history by writing thesis in the Incas’ language</i>", by Dan Collins on 27th October, 2019 - <i>The Guardian</i>)<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2019/oct/29/one-language-dies-every-two-weeks-how-can-poetry-help-books-podcast" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2019/oct/29/one-language-dies-every-two-weeks-how-can-poetry-help-books-podcast</a> ("<i>One language dies every two weeks. How can poetry help?</i>" – <i>The Guardian Books</i> podcast - On 29th October, 2019, Clive Boutle, who runs independent publisher <i>Francis Boutle</i>, came into the studio of <i>The Guardian</i> to talk about his mission to preserve minority languages by publishing poetry in Livonian, Kernewek, Scottish Gaelic, Catalan, Frisian and many more)<br />
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<a href="https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-endangered-language" target="_blank">https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/what-endangered-language</a> ("<i>What Is an Endangered Language?</i>", by Anthony C. Woodbury, <i>LSA-Linguistic Society of America</i>)<br />
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<a href="https://www.calgaryjournal.ca/news/4504-lost-in-translation-the-lasting-effects-of-separating-indigenous-children-from-culture-and-language.html" target="_blank">https://www.calgaryjournal.ca/news/4504-lost-in-translation-the-lasting-effects-of-separating-indigenous-children-from-culture-and-language.html</a> ("<i>Lost in translation: The lasting effects of separating Indigenous children from culture and language</i>", by Ricardo-Andres Garcia, Brian Wells and Nathan Woolridge on 26th February, 2019 - <i>Calgary Journal</i>)<br />
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I hope that you will enjoy the stories listed above.</div>
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All the best for 2020!</div>
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"<i>What the survival of threatened languages means, perhaps, is the endurance of dozens, hundreds, thousands of subtly different notions of truth.</i>"</div>
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― Mark Abley, "<i>Spoken Here: Travels Among Threatened Languages</i>"</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-28416169101275248262019-08-16T22:48:00.005+02:002019-08-16T22:57:55.761+02:002019 - International Year of Indigenous Languages -- Why do indigenous languages matter?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Nearly two-thirds of 2019 have passed and I should not miss the opportunity to write about the <i>International Year of Indigenous Languages</i>. Indigenous languages are particularly significant for social, economic and political development throughout the whole world. They also matter for peaceful coexistence and reconciliation in our societies. Nowadays, many indigenous languages are in danger of disappearing and it is why the <i>United Nations</i> declared 2019 the <i>Year of Indigenous Languages</i>. This is a way to encourage urgent action to preserve, revitalize and promote them. Born and living in Belgium, well known for being a country with three official languages as well as several other regional languages and where multilingualism is becoming almost a common rule, I would like to give special emphasis to this action of the <i>United Nations</i>.</div>
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In her <i>Threlford Memorial Lecture</i> delivered at the last <i>Members' Day</i> of the <i>Chartered Institure of Linguists</i> held on 2019-03-16, Professor <b>Bernadette O’Rourke</b> (<i>Heriot Watt University</i>/<i>University of Glasgow</i>) underlined the fact that "<i>in the globalised world in which we live, with mobilities and flows, transnational working, economic migration and forced migration, our societies have become more diverse than ever before. Multilingualism is the norm -- not the exception -- in 21st century societies. In February 2018, the </i>Salzburg Global Seminar's Statement for a Multilingual World<i> was launched, calling for better policies and practices to support such multilingualism. It opened with the statement that all 193 </i>UN<i> member states are multilingual, as are most people in the world. It also pointed out that 7,097 languages are spoken across the world but 2,464 are endangered</i>". </div>
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You can find more about Professor <b>O'Rourke</b>'s speech in <i>The Linguist</i>, Vol. 58, No 3, p. 8, June/July 2019 and her presentation freely available on:<br />
<a href="https://www.ciol.org.uk/sites/default/files/Threlford%20Lecture%20-%20Who%20has%20the%20authority%20to%20speak.ppsx" target="_blank">https://www.ciol.org.uk/sites/default/files/Threlford%20Lecture%20-%20Who%20has%20the%20authority%20to%20speak.ppsx</a>.</div>
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As far as my homeland Belgium is concerned, here is the language breakdown:</div>
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- Dutch as first language: +/-55%, Dutch as second language: 19%; </div>
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- French as first language: +/-38%, French as second language: +/-59%;</div>
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- German as first language: 0.4%, German as second language: 22%;</div>
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- English as second language (or non-local English): 38%;</div>
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- Spanish as second language: 5%;</div>
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- Italian as first language: 2%, Italian as second language: 1%;</div>
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- Arabic as first language: 3%, Arabic as second language: 1%;</div>
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- Turkish as first language: 1%.</div>
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Dutch, French and German are the three official languages but other regional languages and dialects are also (less and less) spoken in Belgium. Other regional languages spoken in Wallonia (Southern Belgium), outside the Walloon domain, are: Picard, in Mons, Ath, and Tournai; Lorrain (also called Gaumais locally), in the Virton area; Champenois, in Bohan; and Luxembourgish, in the region of Arlon and Martelange. The Picard, Lorrain and Champenois dialects spoken in Wallonia are sometimes also referred to as Walloon, which may lead to confusion. In Northern Belgium, the following regional languages and dialects are also spoken: West Flemish, Limburgish, East Flemish, Brabantian or Low Dietsch. The following dialects of German are also recorded: Moselle Franconian and Ripuarian. These figures and records have been displayed on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walloon_language" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walloon_language</a><br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Belgium" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Belgium</a>).</div>
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As far as multilingualism in Belgium is concerned, the <i>Université Catholique de Louvain</i>, the country's largest French-speaking university, published a report with the following introduction in 2006: "<i>This issue regarding economies is devoted to the demand for knowledge of languages in Belgium and in its three regions (Brussels, Flanders, Wallonia). The surveys show that Flanders is clearly more multilingual, which is without doubt a well-known fact, but the difference is considerable: whereas 59% and 53% of the Flemings know French or English respectively, only 19% and 17% of the Walloons know Dutch or English. Within the report, professors in economics <b>Victor Ginsburgh</b> and <b>Shlomo Weber</b> further show that of the Brussels' residents, 95% declared they can speak French, 59% Dutch, and 41% know the non-local English. Of those under the age of forty, 59% in Flanders declared that they could speak all three, along with 10% in Wallonia and 28% in Brussels. In each region, Belgium's third official language, German, is notably less known than those. In addition to the three official languages (Dutch, French and German), others are spoken in Belgium, like in Wallonia, where French became dominant only relatively recently. Sometimes seen as dialects, the varieties related to French have been recognized by the French Community as separate non-official languages (langues régionales endogènes, lit. "regional native languages") since 1990, without, however, taking any further significant measures to support those varieties</i> (source: <a href="http://www.languesregionales.cfwb.be/" target="_blank">http://www.languesregionales.cfwb.be/</a>)."</div>
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Here are a few definitions of Belgium's main non-official languages (sources: <i>Wikipedia</i>):</div>
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<u><b>Romance</b></u></div>
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<b>Walloon</b></div>
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Walloon is the historical language of Southern Belgium, and most of the areas where French is now spoken were Walloon-speaking. It is also the traditional national language of the Walloons. Though it has been recognized, like other vernaculars in Belgium, since 1990, it is mainly spoken by older people, though younger Walloons may claim some knowledge. It is mainly used in rural regions, and is used in theaters and literature, though not in schools.</div>
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<b>Picard</b></div>
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Another language related to French, and a historic language of the region, Picard, was recognized by the government of the French Community in 1990. Western Belgium has its core area in France, stretching into the western part of Wallonia.</div>
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<b>Champenois</b></div>
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Champenois was also legally recognized in 1990. It is mainly spoken in Champagne, France, and a small part of Wallonia.</div>
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<b>Lorrain</b></div>
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Like the other indigenous languages closely related to French, Lorrain was recognized in 1990. It is mainly spoken in Gaume, a part of Belgian Lorraine.</div>
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<u><b>Germanic</b></u></div>
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<b>Flemish</b></div>
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Flanders too has a number of dialects. Linguists regard these as varieties of Dutch rather than a separate Flemish language with the exception of Limburgish and West Flemish. The main Dutch dialects in Belgium are Brabantian and East Flemish. Standard Dutch, as spoken in Belgium, is mostly influenced by Brabantian. There are literary traditions in both the East Flemish and West Flemish dialects.</div>
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<b>Limburgish</b></div>
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Limburgish is a language spoken mainly in north-eastern Belgium and the south-eastern Netherlands, in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg. It is closely related to Dutch but has more German influences.</div>
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<b>Low Dietsch</b></div>
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Low Dietsch is a Germanic language or dialect in the north-east of the Belgian province of Liege, in the kernel area of the historical (and linguistically mixed) Duchy of Limburg. It is spoken in towns and villages such as Plombières (Bleiberg), Gemmenich, Hombourg, Montzen and Welkenraedt. By linguists, the variety is classified as a transition between Limburgish and Ripuarian. It has been defined as either varieties of Dutch or of German. Low Dietsch is acknowledged as an internal regional language by the Walloon authority since 1992. The Low Dietsch was the favorite foreign language of <b>Andrew Jackson</b> for its sound and eloquency. Low Dietsch is practically identical to the German dialect in the northern part of the neighbouring official German-speaking region of Belgium. The different definition is due to the fact that the German-speaking region was annexed by Belgium in 1919, whereas the "Low Dietsch" area has been part of Belgium since 1830.</div>
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<b>Luxembourgish</b></div>
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Luxembourgish, a Moselle Franconian language, is native to Arelerland, the eastern part of the Belgian province of Luxembourg, including the city of Arlon (Arel). Here it has largely been replaced by Belgian French in recent decades, contrarily to its flourishing on the other side of the border, in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The language has, since 1990, been recognised by the Walloon authorities as Francique (Franconian). It was the only non-Romance language recognized in the 1990 decree.</div>
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<b>Yiddish</b></div>
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Yiddish is spoken by many among the 20,000 Ashkenazi Jews living in Antwerp. The Yiddish community there is among the strongest in Europe, and one of the few Jewish communities worldwide in which Yiddish remains the dominant language (others include Kiryas Joel, New York, and similar Ashkenazi neighborhoods in the United States, London, Paris, Montreal and Israel).</div>
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<b><u>Sign languages</u></b></div>
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<b>LSFB</b></div>
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LSFB, or French Belgian Sign Language, is used primarily in Wallonia and Brussels and is related to LSF and other Francosign languages. It developed from Old Belgian Sign Language which came about as a result of contact between Lyons Sign Language and LSF.</div>
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<b>VGT</b></div>
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Like LSFB, Flemish Sign Language, or VGT, is a Francosign language descended from Old Belgian Sign Language which is used primarily in Flanders with five major regional dialects: West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp, Flemish Brabant, and Limburg. Moreover, there is dialectal variation between men and women speakers due to historical developments of the language.</div>
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<b>DGS</b></div>
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Unlike VGT and LSFB, DGS, or German Sign Language, is unrelated to LSF and comprises its own language family. DGS is related to PJM and Shassi. It is primarily used around the German-speaking communities of Belgium, although German and DGS are unrelated.</div>
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<b><u>Main foreign languages in Belgium</u></b></div>
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Languages spoken by immigrants from recent decades and their descendants include Berber (Riffian), Arabic (Maghrebi), Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Polish and English. In an article entitled "<i>Van autochtoon naar allochtoon</i>" in the daily newspaper <i>De Standaard</i> (in Dutch) published on 2007-04-17, it was stated by <b>Steven Samyn</b> that more than half of the Brussels' population was then of foreign origin. In 1961 this was only 7 percent.</div>
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Since we mention Brussels, we cannot avoid examining the situation in the <i>European Union</i> and the diversity of European languages. In early 2018, the centre-right Luxembourgish <i>MEP</i> <b>Viviane Reding</b> who also served as <i>EU</i> Commissioner for Culture, Information Society and Justice before 2014 told <i>Euractiv.com</i> that "<i>endangered languages could be saved by the internet</i>" (source: <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/languages-culture/interview/reding-endangered-languages-could-be-saved-by-the-internet/" target="_blank">https://www.euractiv.com/section/languages-culture/interview/reding-endangered-languages-could-be-saved-by-the-internet/</a>). <b>Mrs. Reding</b> stressed the fact that internet has helped to become more multilingual, and especially less widely spoken languages like Luxembourgish have benefited from it. "<i>All Luxembourgers or those who have relations with Luxembourg all over the globe started to communicate in Luxembourgish on the internet. The community became much, much bigger than the linguistic space was and because the spelling and the grammar was somehow shaky in personal messages, this led the government to come out with a new initiative to newly reframe the way Luxembourgish is written</i>", she said. The use of the European languages online could nevertheless be improved in the near future. Earlier this summer, the <i>EU</i> Commissioner for Education and Culture, <b>Tibor Navracsics</b>, admitted that progress with online multilingualism in Europe has been “frustratingly slow” and several associations of linguists complain about it. According to them, the word multilingualism needs to come back as a strong word in the <i>European Commission</i>.</div>
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There are 24 official languages and over 60 indigenous regional or minority languages, spoken by some 40 million people in the <i>EU</i>. There are actually more than 200 languages spoken in Europe (including Basque, Catalan, Frisian, Saami, Welsh, Yiddish and many others).</div>
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We hope actions taken during the <i>International Year of Indigenous Languages</i> 2019 will generate as much interest and positive change as possible for indigenous languages and those who speak them. The survival and robustness of indigenous languages on each continent (e.g. Kurunga in Africa, Nuu-chah-nulth in North America, Ticuna in South America, Manx in Europe, Batak in Asia, Rotuman in Oceania and many others) plays a vital role in the sustainable development, peace building and reconciliation processes of the communities that speak them. It is with this in mind that you are invited to get involved in making the end of the year and the next coming years a success. As written by <b>H.G. Wells</b>: "Our true nationality is mankind!".</div>
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For more information about the <i>International Year of Indigenous Languages</i> 2019 (partnership, events, initiatives, resources, etc.), go to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IYIL2019/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/IYIL2019/</a> or <a href="https://en.iyil2019.org/" target="_blank">https://en.iyil2019.org</a>. Also find here the hyperlink pointing to the online <i>UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger</i>: <a href="http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/index.php" target="_blank">http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/index.php</a>.</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-58638421891737312652019-02-05T23:04:00.002+01:002019-03-19T11:20:20.341+01:00There is no problem with German<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Having attentively read the article entitled <i>The problem with German</i> by Heike Krüsemann in <i>The Linguist</i> Vol. 57, No. 5, pp 16-17 a few months ago, I took the time to write a few lines to encourage young language learners to keep an eye on German.</div>
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First of all, I am far from being perfect in German grammar but have always learned it. This allows me to be well understood wherever I am in a German speaking environment. Sometimes a bit less in Bavaria, Luxembourg, Switzerland or Austria where differences, peculiarities and dialects are present... I must admit that the <i>lëtzebuergesch Sprooch</i> or <i>Schwyzerdütsch</i> are quite hard to understand!</div>
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And even if I do mistakes or sometimes search for my words, I have always been amazed at how happy German speakers feel when I make the effort of speaking their language. "<i>Übung macht den Meister</i>", it has never been so true!</div>
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In today's increasingly global economy, learning new languages, especially the ones that are less studied by competitors in the job market, can greatly boost the chances of landing lucrative work. In 2014, nearly 500,000 job postings in the U.S. requested foreign-language proficiency. Many more hiring managers will look favorably upon bilingual candidates in the future. After all, recent studies suggest that bilingual brains process information more efficiently than their monolingual counterparts. I started to learn German (besides Dutch and English -- French is my mother tongue) in the mid-1980s, at a time when the old continent was still divided in two blocks. It was also not long before the collapse of the iron curtain and the fall of the Berlin wall. My teacher Mr. Foret, also an excellent musician, was a man who loved to share his knowledge of the German and Austrian cultures with his students. And I was (and have always been since then) eager to learn German...</div>
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The essential and quintessential American writer Mark Twain wrote: “<i>Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp</i>.” Ultimately, proficiency in German may help capture something even more elusive: a lucrative job. German multinationals such as <i>Siemens</i>, <i>Bayer</i> and <i>Deutsche Bank</i> abound in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world, and many value German fluency in potential employees.</div>
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“<i>Given the longstanding strength of German-speaking countries in science, technology and industry, German remains a major language of international trade and investment</i>,” says Jan Eckendorf, deputy head of the cultural section of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. “<i>Only about half a million Americans are learning German — so what better way to stand out from the crowd?</i>”. Click on the link hereafter for the article <i>Best Languages to Learn to Get Ahead in Your Career</i> by Christian Ruhl of <i>Kiplinger Washington Editors Inc.</i>, a publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice: <a href="https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/business/T012-S001-best-foreign-languages-for-your-career/index.html" target="_blank">https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/business/T012-S001-best-foreign-languages-for-your-career/index.html</a>.</div>
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My feeling is that by learning Goethe's language, you might also start to question a few of the common stereotypes about the cold Germans. Not to mention that German has an enormous cultural heritage (music, science, literature and opera have deep roots in this rich and flexible language), it is a very distinctive language (common use of extremely long compound words), it is beating everyone else online (Germany is the country with the largest number of national domains and German domain names <i>.de</i> being more popular than <i>.net</i>, <i>.org</i>, and <i>.info</i> extensions) and you will always have someone to speak to since German people spend more on foreign travel than those of any other nation. Dr. Sarah Pimsleur tells you more about why German could well make an excellent choice if you are thinking about learning a new language on: <a href="https://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/learninggerman.htm" target="_blank">https://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/learninggerman.htm</a>.</div>
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Mentioning that I can speak German has always made a difference on my CV. German remains a very "technical" and "mathematical" language often appreciated by employers. German has also a reputation for being one of the hardest European languages to learn.</div>
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I have worked as an employee for professional associations and committees based in Brussels for over 20 years and very often got in touch with engineers, scientists and experts working for <i>DIN</i>, <i>BASF</i>, <i>Evonik</i>, etc.</div>
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I even ended up having lunch with German colleagues in the same place as Angela Merkel and staff members of the German Chancellery one evening in Berlin (at <i>Borchardt</i>, on <i>Französische Straße</i>). She sat just a few places away from us and savoured a huge <i>Schnitzel</i> and other culinary delights that night.</div>
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It is also true that my family has always been attracted by Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland or Austria to spend some enjoying moments during well-deserved vacations. Not to mention Belgium's <i>Ostkantonen</i> (the region of Eupen and Sankt-Vith), a true paradise for those who like the great outdoors... My father was a language teacher (Dutch-German-English) in Southern Belgium and this might explain it all.</div>
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I married a lady who also feels comfortable when spending time in Germany. I instilled a taste for Germany and its culture into my two sons too. They love to walk in the alleys of a beautiful Christmas market, ride down a <i>Rodelbahn</i> track, experience the fun in amusement parks like <i>Phantasialand</i> or <i>Movie Park Germany</i>, enjoy an ice hockey game at <i>DEG Düsseldorf</i>, have a good time at a nice wellness resort in Hochsauerland, discover castles and other historical places like the <i>Porta Nigra</i> in Trier, the <i>Pfalzkapelle</i> in Aachen, the <i>Schloss Benrath</i> near Düsseldorf, the <i>Waldecker Land</i>, the <i>Deutsches Eck</i> in Koblenz, the old town of Rottweil, the <i>Kurhaus</i> in Baden-Baden, the banks of the Danube in Neuburg an der Donau, <i>Wartburg</i> in Thüringen, <i>Zwinger</i> in Dresden, etc.</div>
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My son, when he was 9 years old and still a pupil in primary school, worked on a project about Germany and the country's culture and traditions.</div>
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Most of his classmates did not know much about neighbouring country Germany and my son taught them a lot about it.</div>
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Even some of my uncles and relatives who had experienced, gone through atrocities or lived during WWII have encouraged me to learn Goethe's language. It allowed me to travel (to Hochsauerland, Cologne, Aachen, Eifel, Bonn, Bayerisches Wald, Nord-Bayern, Schwarzwald, Moseltal, Thüringen, Bremen, Berlin, Sarrebrücken or Dresden but also to Saastal in Switzerland, Burgenland and Kärnten in Austria, Müllertal in Luxembourg, etc.) and meet many people. Some like my former colleague Jens (who told me a lot about classic writers and philosophers like Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse or Friedrich Nietzsche), the former ski world superstar Pirmin Zurbriggen (whom relatives and I met a few times during some of his fan club parties organized in Saas-Almagell, Switzerland in the 1980s), the meteorologist and weather man of the main German public broadcaster <i>ARD</i> Sven Plöger (who did a presentation, which I had the chance to attend a few years ago, on the influence of the weather on marketing and consumers' mood), the Swiss key-note speaker and expert in marketing Beat Krippendorf (with whom I had the chance to share the table at a gala dinner of the German association for active feed ingredients and additives at the <i>Hilton Berlin Hotel</i>) or the body language expert Stefan Verra (whom I got the chance to meet at a conference in Berlin where he came as a speaker) inspired me a lot in the past. Others like that former <i>Stasi</i> agent who ended up in Brussels to build a new life and whom I desperately tried to warn that he should quit his old obnoxious habits of trying to control everything, imposing his views, being pushy in all circumstances and spying on people were much less inspiring. No matter what, it has always been very enriching experiences anyway! Practicing German and socializing with German-speaking individuals also made me end up in some unbelievable and unprecedented places like the <i>Newton Bar</i> on <i>Gendarmenmarkt</i>, the <i>Borchardt</i> restaurant, the <i>Panoramacafé</i> on the 24th floor of the <i>Panoramapunkt</i> tower on <i>Postdamer Platz </i>in Berlin, the <i>Heino Café</i> in Bad Münstereifel, the <i>Göbels Seehof Hotel</i> at Diemelsee, the <i>Café Aufwind</i> near the <i>Mühlenkopfschanze</i> in Willingen, the <i>Radeberger Spezialausschank</i> in Dresden, the revolving restaurant <i>Allalin</i> at 3,500 meters above sealevel in Saas-Fee, the great funfair called the <i>Schueberfouer</i> in Luxembourg, etc.</div>
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It also allows to travel more easily in Eastern European countries where middle-aged people had often previously been taught German too.</div>
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<i>Goethe Institut</i> has a great list of reasons why you should undoubtedly start to learn German. You will find the list at: <a href="https://www.goethe.de/en/spr/wdl.html" target="_blank">https://www.goethe.de/en/spr/wdl.html</a>.</div>
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So, definitely, avoid viewing the German language as a threat like it has often been reproduced across the public and private domains.</div>
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Take time to learn German at the <i>Goethe Institut</i>, at school, in your sparetime, via the internet, etc. Until countries like Germany, Switzerland or Austria play major economic roles, mentioning that you can speak German will always be a plus on your resume.</div>
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You can find and read Dr. Heike Krüsemann's article entitled <i>The problem with German</i> also online at: <a href="https://www.ciol.org.uk/problem-german" target="_blank">https://www.ciol.org.uk/problem-german</a>.</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-44587999175002747782018-08-16T10:33:00.001+02:002019-02-19T15:17:29.190+01:00Video including animated map shows where American accents came from (by Gene Kim and Shira Polan, Business Insider, UK)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There are countless accents in the United States. Where did most of them come from? American accents have been evolving for hundreds of years. Here is a short video showing where and explaining how some of those iconic accents got their start.<br />
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<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/animated-map-where-american-accents-come-from-2018-5" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="491" data-original-width="872" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVhEYfqomEYAE5SJ4UqbOYwTw6uwT49XVsIUit0zMSVMkKLYWdSNdFDlbA9OdDo5ESHd01r3LLyu03d3g8VftEV-5-zLakvKhQXgm507EADMSfllRR4oIduwjPGGzPNSKyh-ud6uOCTOQ/s320/Capture.JPG" width="320" /></a><span id="goog_54219843"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_54219844"></span></div>
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Source: article written by Gene Kim and Shira Polan, published on <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/animated-map-where-american-accents-come-from-2018-5" target="_blank">http://uk.businessinsider.com/animated-map-where-american-accents-come-from-2018-5</a>, <i>Business Insider, UK</i> on 2018-06-18
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-33303201361790681492018-08-14T15:42:00.003+02:002018-08-15T19:03:04.147+02:00La lingua dell'Europa è la traduzione – Umberto Eco <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Several months ago, I walked down the Rue de Trèves in Brussels and a rather large poster displayed on the windows next to the entrance of one building of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) caught my eye. Umberto Eco’s statement: “<i>The language of Europe is translation</i>” (“<i>La lingua dell'Europa è la traduzione</i>”) was written on the poster. It read as an invitation to push the door and pop into their event room where an exhibition on the work of translators and linguists was held. Although not very spectacular, the exhibit was enjoyable and raised questions about languages and linguistics in Brussels…</div>
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The Belgian capital has become the perfect example of a melting pot which cannot avoid a Babel-like cacophony. And that's a fact! More than ever, with Brexit underway, a lingua franca for Brussels has become a hot topic. EU-speak has become a reality and is more and more spoken in Belgium’s capital, also known as the capital of Europe. If you add the never-ending domestic debate around languages spoken in Brussels and its region (French vs. Flemish), you would quickly understand that arguing on the quality of the English language spoken in Brussels can also generate passionate exchanges among linguists, language teachers and translators in Belgium.
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On the whole, English spoken in Brussels is rather all right when you stick to basic communication. When it comes to more complicated speeches and when people try to raise their level of speech, it is then a totally different story.</div>
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It might be necessary to explain Eco’s statement “<i>La lingua dell'Europa è la traduzione</i>” with one single sentence: (one of) the key(s) to languages is translation. Therefore, translation would also be the key to plurilingualism. It is indeed in this sense that we interpret the meaning of Umberto Eco’s formula. Should translation consequently be learned by everyone? Plurilingualism, as it is promoted by the European Union via its Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, seems to be a catchall term which belongs more to the domain of the utopia or even the unnecessary use than to the one of the attainability. Many people wonder why they should learn several languages when only one language (most of us would tend to say it is English nowadays) can serve as the language of universal communication?</div>
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Baroness Jean Coussins (House of Lords, London, UK) and Philip Harding-Esch (Secretariat, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages, London, UK) wrote the following lines as an introduction to the book entitled <i>Languages After Brexit: How the UK Speaks to the World</i>, edited by Michael Kelly; Palgrave Macmillan - ISBN 978-3-319-65168-2:</div>
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[…] <i>The trouble with languages is that too many Brits seem to think English will do. Since the referendum on EU membership, there have even been media reports of school students sighing with relief that they don't need to bother with their French lessons any more because they won't need it in future. What a contradictory world these young people live in: on the one hand retreating into a post-Brexit 'little island' mindset, and on the other, being in instant contact every second of the day via their smart digital devices with anyone and everyone in the world.</i><br />
<i>Someone needs to tell them that there are more blogs in Japanese than English; that Arabic is the fastest-growing language across all social media platforms; that the proportion of web content in English is diminishing, while the share of Mandarin is rapidly expanding; that French and German top the list of UK employers' language skill-set wish list; and that only 6% of the world's population are native English speakers, with 75% speaking no English at all.</i> […]</div>
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In addition, the poor quality of English spoken in the EU (and more specifically in the European institutions or bodies in Brussels, Strasbourg or Luxembourg City) is a real problem, especially now when Brexit is underway and the influence of native speakers could become less and less important.</div>
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As already mentioned in one of my previous posts, Jeremy Gardner, a British senior translator at the European Court of Auditors, pointed out examples of what might be called EU-speak. His memo entitled “<i>Misused English words and expressions in EU publications</i>” which was published in 2013 and edited in May 2016 appears to reflect years of frustration at the poor use of English in EU documents (check the post entitled “<i>Will Brexit also mean Brexit as far as English language is concerned?</i>“ – 2016-11-22).</div>
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As a matter of fact, I can also dress a rather long list of excellent examples of problems with English being spoken or written in Brussels nowadays. I know that we all do mistakes and errors but as Sophocles (<i>Antigone, The Theban Plays #3</i>) told in the past: “<i>All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.</i>”</div>
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Nobody’s perfect!</div>
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Nevertheless, it makes us wonder what the future of English language in non-English speaking Europe will be when professors, politicians, engineers, doctors, experts, etc. do mistakes like the ones listed here below on a daily basis:</div>
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- double negations (“<i>I don’t’ do nothing</i>”, “<i>It won’t change nothing</i>”, etc.) often applied during informal talks during a lunch with members of a professional association<br />
- a German secretary general at the head of a lobby often unnecessarily hyphenates words like <i>bi-lingual</i>, <i>un-necessary</i>, etc.<br />
- <i>she</i> and <i>he</i> are mixed up by a Greek manager of an association dealing with quality management in the agro-chemical business<br />
- French experts often pronouncing words with aspirated “<i>h</i>” during conferences<br />
- the wrong use of homonyms like <i>lose</i> and <i>loose</i>, <i>for</i> and <i>four</i>, <i>hear</i> and <i>here</i>, <i>know</i> and <i>no</i>, <i>right</i> and <i>write</i>, <i>meet</i> and <i>meat</i>, <i>there</i>, <i>their</i> and <i>they’re</i> or <i>to</i>, <i>two</i> and <i>too</i> in e-mails<br />
- a secretary had printed banners with mention “<i>Feed Addi<u><b>c</b></u>tives</i>” to announce a conference on feed additives<br />
- prepositions <i>since</i> often incorrectly used with periods of time and <i>for</i> often wrongly used with specific points in time<br />
- the word <i>self-life</i> appearing in a report on classification, labelling and packaging (CLP) of agro-chemical products instead of <i>shelf life</i> (or maybe the industry deals with selfish substances nowadays…)<br />
- it should be reminded to the vast majority of civil servants or employees working in Brussels that, except for modal verbs, the third person singular in the simple present tense in English always ends with “<i>s</i>” -- many native English speakers would ground their children for talking that way; it is not proper English and it is a part of hip-hop society just like wearing your pants half down the crack of your butt (imagine that at the office in Brussels or at a job interview); dropping the “<i>s</i>” is the form of the present subjunctive third person singular (not so common in Modern English anymore)<br />
- not to mention the obnoxious habit of also dropping the “<i>s</i>” in the plural form<br />
- some people also seem to struggle with the difference between plural and possessive in their e-mails, they often add an apostrophe after plural words when they have no possessive feature<br />
- not to mention the use of false friends and wrong terminology as mentioned in Jeremy Gardner’s guide entitled “<i><a href="https://www.eca.europa.eu/Other%20publications/EN_TERMINOLOGY_PUBLICATION/EN_TERMINOLOGY_PUBLICATION.pdf" target="_blank">Misused English words and expressions in EU publications</a></i>” (it gives excellent examples of the vocabulary developed by the European institutions that differs from that of any recognised form of English)<br />
- the need to insist for getting <i>species</i> always written with an “<i>s</i>” at the end (either singular or plural) in scientific studies not to mix up with <i>specie</i> which is a separate word that means coin money and is not the singular version of <i>species</i><br />
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No wonder why British people sometimes get the feeling that another language than English is currently being spoken by EU expats and Brussels bubblers!</div>
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According to me, language learning and teaching are absolutely crucial nowadays. There is a need to get back to basics: grammar, punctuation and style! More than ever, we should also highlight the fact that language learning goes together with openness, culture, awareness, peace and tolerance.</div>
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What Lazgin Kheder Barany (Department of English, College of Arts University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq) writes about intercultural awareness and linguistic awareness in the conclusion of his article entitled “<i>Language Awareness, Intercultural Awareness and Communicative Language Teaching: Towards Language Education</i>” at p. 275 of the International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies - ISSN 2356-5926, Volume 2 Issue 4, March 2016 (go to <a href="http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/article/view/183" target="_blank">http://www.ijhcs.com/index.php/ijhcs/article/view/183</a> for more information) is very interesting:</div>
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[…] <i>Both intercultural awareness (IA) and linguistic awareness (LA) are crucial and vital in foreign language teaching if one wants to learn and understand a language properly and appropriately, and they should be included in an intercultural communicative approach to foreign language teaching. There is a need to raise cultural awareness about both the target culture and the learners’ own culture. Learning a Foreign Language is an intercultural experience “because it allows to know another language but above all to enter in contact with another reality” (Longo, 2008, p. 113).</i><br />
<i>The prime aim of foreign language teaching should enable learners to communicate effectively with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in a diverse and multicultural world. This requires new methodological approaches that can provide learners with the means and ways of accessing and analyzing a wide range of cultural practices and meanings; can help learners develop understanding of the processes involved when interact with people from different cultural backgrounds (Humphrey, 2002); can promote and develop critical and creative thinking, mutual understanding, tolerance, acceptance, human rights, democracy and prepare learners to cope with and face life at large outside and beyond the classroom; those learners who are equipped with knowledge about their own culture and the target culture.</i><br />
<i>Foreign language teachers should be trained in language education programs that afford not only linguistic expertise (skills, knowledge and proficiency) in the structural aspects of the language, but also in the appropriate usage of language in diverse socio-cultural contexts, and to be enrolled in workshops dealing with general cultural issues, anthropology and human rights aspects. Teachers, before learners, must have intercultural communicative awareness and competence so that they will be able to teach and raise both linguistic and intercultural awareness in foreign languages classes effectively and competently. Learning foreign languages must be linked to the lives of the students; it should go beyond the classroom in order to be able to inquire into their worlds; to interact and cope with life at large confidently.</i> […]</div>
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The richness and vitality of Europe's languages confined to an area which is rather limited in comparison with other continents is a real challenge faced by translators. Plurilingualism in Europe is also a humanist and cultural challenge.</div>
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<i>Babel</i> means <i>confusion</i> in Hebrew. Is Babel, the diversity of languages a curse or a chance? I would say that it is a chance, provided you translate. Translation is one of the major cultural and societal issues of today’s globalized world. Although it is an expensive and baffling work on the difference of languages, cultures, and visions of the world in order to compare and put them in harmony, translation is more preferable than a fast and basic communication in a more or less artificial dominant language (globish).</div>
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First of all, translation is an historical fact: the roads to translation, via Greek, Latin or Arabic, are those of the transfer of knowledge and power. Umberto Eco said: "<i>La lingua dell'Europa è la traduzione</i>.” The European and Mediterranean civilizations were built on the following paradoxical practice: trying to say "almost" the same thing and inventing on the basis of a convergence model of knowledge and languages.</div>
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Translation succeeds in reversing the general belief. Translation shows how much cultural awareness and sensitivity are an excellent model for the present citizenship.</div>
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The idea that will be developed in the future is that learning at least two foreign languages is not only essential but also possible. This is the goal already set by many countries (e.g. France).</div>
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And what if Brexit would be a real boost to the language and translation industry at the end of the day? And don't come with the other Italian saying “<i>Tradutore, traditore</i>” this time…</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-5405695524359329802018-05-04T14:41:00.002+02:002021-12-14T23:07:13.813+01:00False friends -- Macron thanks Australian leader's "delicious wife"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On May 2nd, 2018, the 40-year-old French President Emmanuel Macron called Australian leader’s wife <i>delicious</i> and therefore demonstrated the perils of diplomacy in a foreign language. Macron switched between French and English during the press conference held at the end of his state visit to Australia, where he spoke next to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Macron appeared to have made a linguistic slip-up during the concluding part of the presser. Turning to his host, the French leader said a few more words in English to thank the Turnbulls for their hospitality: “<i>I want to thank you for your welcome, thank you and your delicious wife for your warm welcome</i>”. Emmanuel Macron — a former investment banker at <i>Rothschild & Co.</i> who prides himself on his ability to speak English fluently and addressed the U.S. Congress in English one week before — may have misused the word <i>delicious</i>. He picked the word <i>delicious</i> which is generally used for food and sometimes has a sexual connotation, the French word <i>délicieuse</i> is more versatile and, in certain contexts, can be used to mean <i>delightful</i>, <i>lovely</i> or <i>charming</i>. </div>
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False friends: avoid the word <i>delicious</i> in this context! </div>
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As usual, Macron's unfortunate wording quickly went viral on the internet and social media.</div>
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Here is what you can read about it on the <i>BBC News</i> web site: </div>
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<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43974078" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43974078</a></div>
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(Source: <i>BBC News</i>) </div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-82314260022229454052017-11-08T21:48:00.000+01:002018-03-13T14:51:51.470+01:00Don't give up and improve your English through idioms and phrases...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As a French speaker, I have always tried to brush up on my rusty English by sharing ideas or chatting strictly with natives from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, etc. Practicing the language with native speakers helps you be as sharp as a needle.</div>
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Some of my non-native English speaking colleagues from Brussels simply cannot seem to get their head around learning English strictly with natives. The snag is that the more English is spoken by non-native speakers, the more it is altered to suit regional needs. As you probably know already, the languages most commonly used by non-native speakers in Europe are English, French and German.</div>
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Almost thirty years ago, I had the opportunity to spend twelve months in Southeastern Ohio. It was a complete immersion in an anglophone environment (at a time when there was no internet or not many French speakers in that region). Since then, I have always gone to great lengths to ensure that there is some necessary support in order to adapt to a true anglophone environment and learn English -- to be differentiated from Spanglish, Franglais or EU jargon. You have probably heard about EU jargon before, right? You know, this hodgepodge of most Member States' languages and a clear result of the European Union's will for consensus! <em>Union</em>, <em>mechanism</em>, <em>directive</em>, <em>regulation</em> and <em>synergy</em> for instance are words often overused in Brussels. It sometimes requires to bust a gut in order to defend plain English there.</div>
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[Read also one of my previous articles entitled <em>Will Brexit also mean Brexit as far as English language is concerned?</em> at <a href="http://bert-languagesandlinguistics.blogspot.be/2016/11/will-brexit-mean-brexit-as-far-as.html" target="_blank">http://bert-languagesandlinguistics.blogspot.be/2016/11/will-brexit-mean-brexit-as-far-as.html</a>]</div>
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I often pick my Ohioan host parents' brains to receive explanations on some aspects of the English language and to get abreast of its evolution, today still. It is also nice to have a chat with British colleagues once in a while. Via Skype, you can also easily chew the fat with natives nowadays.</div>
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It is wrong to think that you know a language like the back of your hand. In language learning and teaching, there is no other method than applying some self-analysis and always trying to improve.</div>
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The key to knowledge of the English language is work, work and forever more work! Being curious is also crucial of course... In the past, I taught several children on the joys of learning English and reading English or American literature. I have always beavered away at sharing tips and sources with those who are interested in learning English idioms and expressions.</div>
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I know that some of you might think that mentioning paperback books is kind of old-fashioned but, believe me, it is always nice to turn away from a screen from time to time... Here are therefore references of a few monolingual and bilingual dictionaries as well as useful books that helped me bone up on my English during the last few years:</div>
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- <em>An A to Z of British Life</em>, by Adrian Room (Oxford University Press, 1990) - ISBN 0-19-431144-9<br />
- <em>A Practical English Grammar</em>, by A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet (Oxford University Press, 1986) - ISBN 0-19-431342-5</div>
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- <em>Collins Concise Dictionary Plus</em> (William Collins Sons & Co., Ltd., London and Glasgow, 1989) - ISBN 0-00-433252-0</div>
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- <em>Dictionnaire de l'anglais économique, commercial et financier anglais/français et French/English</em> par M. Marcheteau, L. Dahan, J.-P. Berman, C. Pelloux et M. Savio (Langues pour Tous, Pocket, 1995 et 2004) - ISBN 2-266-08921-8</div>
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- <em>Harrap's Expressions anglaises</em> (Harrap, Editions Larousse, 2016) - ISBN 978-2-81-870448-6<br />
- <em>Le Robert & Collins - Dictionnaire français-anglais English-French</em>, by B.T. Atkins, A. Duval, R.C. Milne and P.-H. Cousin, H.M.A. Lewis, L.A. Sinclair, R.O. Birks and M.-N. Lamy (William Collins Sons & Co., Ltd. and Dictionnaires Le Robert, 1987) - ISBN 2-85036-088-0 and ISBN 0-00-433451-5</div>
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- <em>The Oxford Paperback Thesaurus</em>, compiled by B. Kirkpatrick (Oxford University Press, 1994) - ISBN 0-19-282841-X</div>
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Hang in there and hit the nail on the head! You need to learn idioms and expressions. I hope this list of interesting books and dictionaries will be useful for language lovers who want to chat in English and eventually speak less and less Chinglish, Denglish, Spanglish, Franglais, EU jargon or another creole language! No pain, no gain! 😉</div>
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Do not hesitate to let me know what your favourite idioms are.</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-67789751563091296752017-05-05T22:47:00.003+02:002017-05-05T22:47:38.636+02:00Vive la France! Vive la langue française! -- Les tournures de phrase surprenantes de Macron lors de son opposition verbale avec Le Pen (in French only)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Ce 3 mai 2017, lors du débat (nous aurions plutôt tendance à parler de pugilat), j’ai dû vérifier le mot "logorrhée" utilisé à juste titre par Emmanuel Macron envers Marine Le Pen…<br />C’est féminin (le mot, hein)!<br />D'après le dictionnaire <em>Larousse</em>, la logorrhée est un trouble du langage caractérisé par un abondant flot de paroles débitées rapidement sur de longues périodes. Le terme logorrhée est devenu d’usage courant pour désigner une verbalisation rapide et parfois désadaptée. Pour en savoir plus, je vous invite à consulter le site du dictionnaire <em>Larousse</em> en ligne sur <a href="http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/medical/logorrhée/14253#5Q9d8wIDFDBKrGil.99">http://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/medical/logorrhée/14253#5Q9d8wIDFDBKrGil.99</a></div>
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Je suis déçu qu’aucun des deux protagonistes n’ait placé le mot "billevesée" (aussi féminin) pendant le débat. Les deux candidats en ont pourtant eu l'occasion à maintes reprises…</div>
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Des linguistes ont néanmoins pris note d'un bon nombre de perles pendant ces joutes verbales. Certaines semblent désuètes mais beaucoup sont encore d'actualité. Le journal français <em>Le Parisien</em> a relevé quelques-unes des expressions d'Emmanuel Macron, particulièrement prolifique en la matière:<br /><a href="http://www.leparisien.fr/elections/presidentielle/debat-poudre-de-perlimpinpin-et-galimatias-les-expressions-desuetes-de-macron-04-05-2017-6916131.php">http://www.leparisien.fr/elections/presidentielle/debat-poudre-de-perlimpinpin-et-galimatias-les-expressions-desuetes-de-macron-04-05-2017-6916131.php</a> (par Romain Baheux, 2017-05-04).</div>
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"Galimatias", c’est masculin et avec "s" même au singulier… Je n'ai pas honte à dire que ce mot fut une découverte pour moi tout comme le terme "antienne" d'ailleurs.</div>
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D’un point de vue purement linguistique, un quinquennat avec Monsieur Macron à la Présidence semblerait plus intéressant qu’avec Madame Le Pen et ses méthodes "à la schlag" (expression qu’elle a d’ailleurs utilisée en supputant qu'Emmanuel Macron était soumis à… l’Union européenne).</div>
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Quoi qu'il en soit, ceci nous rappelle que le français s'est substitué au latin il y a trois siècles environ en tant que langue diplomatique dans toute l'Europe et même au-delà. Voici d'ailleurs un chouette article qui explique pourquoi le français fut adopté comme langue diplomatique en Europe (d'après <em>Le Petit Parisien</em>, paru en 1892 et publié en date du 2017-03-29 par <em>La Rédaction</em>):<br /><a href="http://www.france-pittoresque.com/spip.php?article5685">http://www.france-pittoresque.com/spip.php?article5685</a>.</div>
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Sources: <em>Le Parisien</em>, <em>La Rédaction</em>, <em>Larousse</em><br />© Eric Feferberg - <em>AFP</em></div>
Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-47022492073808388062016-11-22T23:15:00.001+01:002017-01-09T09:56:20.651+01:00Will Brexit also mean Brexit as far as English language is concerned?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Before the EU referendum in the United Kingdom last summer, professional linguists discussed the possible impact of the UK leaving the EU, in <em>The Linguist</em>:<br />
<a href="http://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/665992-the-linguist-55-2/17" target="_blank">http://thelinguist.uberflip.com/i/665992-the-linguist-55-2/17</a> (<em>The Linguist</em> Vol/55 No/2 2016, April/May 2016, pp 18 and 19).</div>
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<em>The Linguist</em> is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government and technology. It is the bimonthly journal of the UK's <em>Chartered Institute of Linguists</em> (<em>CIoL</em>), of which I have been a member since January 2008.</div>
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Of course, Brexit will have an impact on the language-related industries and businesses in the UK and in the EU. And how about the risk for the English language itself at the EU level? There is an ever-increasing gap between British English and Eurojargon. English words and expressions in EU publications are more and more misused. Currently working in Brussels and always trying to brush up my rusty English, I only had the chance to speak English -- and English should be clearly distinguished from Eurospeak -- with British, American or Irish expats working either in EU institutions, embassies, multinational companies, lobbies or professional federations in the capital of Belgium. The use of Eurospeak (also sometimes called EU-Speak) has been applauded by young Members of the European Parliament for several years but some linguists including Jeremy Gardner, a senior translator at the European Court of Auditors, do not agree with this. The senior translator is very skeptical about this transformation of English language. In September 2013, Gardner wrote and assembled a document which can be considered as a <b>memo reflecting years of frustration at the use of English in EU documents</b>. The latest version of this memo is <b>available for free</b> at:</div>
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<a href="http://www.eca.europa.eu/Other%20publications/EN_TERMINOLOGY_PUBLICATION/EN_TERMINOLOGY_PUBLICATION.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.eca.europa.eu/Other%20publications/EN_TERMINOLOGY_PUBLICATION/EN_TERMINOLOGY_PUBLICATION.pdf</a></div>
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What if this pent-up frustration at the wrong use of English words in EU documents and talks had been one of the reasons for the people of Britain to vote for Brexit (and therefore for the rejection of globalism)?</div>
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The risk of seeing English become Esperanto in Brussels or elsewhere in the EU (besides Ireland and Malta maybe) is real. An interesting article in <em>The Economist</em> published on 2016-04-23 revealed that "a sort of Euro-English, influenced by foreign languages, is already in use. Many Europeans use <i>control</i> to mean <i>monitor</i> because <em>contrôler</em> has that meaning in French... [Euro-English] is becoming a dialect fluently spoken by a large group of people who understand each other perfectly well... Britain may be a polarising, unusual EU member, but English has become neutral, utilitarian; it is useful because others understand it." Its association with Britain is weak and will most probably weaken even more since Brexit has come to pass. Read the full article here: <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21697210-institutions-european-union-will-still-speak-kind-english-if-britain" target="_blank">http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21697210-institutions-european-union-will-still-speak-kind-english-if-britain</a></div>
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Another major newspaper, the <em>Financial Times</em>, had a very long article about Brexit possibly being an <em>entrée</em> for the French: <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e70b5042-3c65-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0.html#axzz4DXfFaFAK" target="_blank">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e70b5042-3c65-11e6-8716-a4a71e8140b0.html#axzz4DXfFaFAK</a><br />
It is of course another story but I am not quite sure Germans, Spaniards and others would really appreciate such a rise of the French language at the EU level... It seems that the EU desperately seeks a lingua franca anyway?<br />
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-29104119119867702852016-02-09T00:03:00.001+01:002016-02-09T14:20:00.084+01:00European Union: 60% of lower secondary level pupils studied more than one foreign language in 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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According to statistics produced by <em>Eurostat</em>, learning a foreign language at school is very common in the European Union (EU). Around 18 million lower secondary school pupils (98.6% of all pupils at this level) studied at least one foreign language in 2014. Nearly 11 million of them (59.9%) were studying two foreign languages or more.<br />
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English was by far the most popular language at lower secondary level in 2014. English was studied by more than 17 million pupils (97.3%). French (5 million or 33.7%) came second, followed by German (3 million or 23.1%) and Spanish (2 million or 13.1%).</div>
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Here is the link pointing to the full press release issued by <em>Eurostat</em> on Feb. 1st, 2016: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7146709/3-01022016-AP-EN.pdf/31595c2c-dbb8-4c95-9ad5-8cb038ffecd3">http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7146709/3-01022016-AP-EN.pdf/31595c2c-dbb8-4c95-9ad5-8cb038ffecd3</a><br />
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-55179206797296438992015-10-30T18:48:00.000+01:002019-02-19T15:20:32.397+01:00Exciting keynote speakers and large attendance at second edition of Translating Europe Forum in Brussels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I cannot be thankful enough to have received a confirmation from <em>DG Translation</em>, the European Commission's in-house translation service, for me to participate in the <em>Translating Europe Forum</em> which was held at the Conference Centre Charlemagne Building (CHAR) in Brussels on 29-30 October 2015. I could not make it on Thursday 29 October but attended a very informative session and great workshops from 9:15 to 12:45 on Friday 30 October 2015. </div>
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I was first surprised to see a full house in the Charlemagne Building's main meeting room <em>Alcide de Gasperi</em> (capacity: 447). Attendees, the vast majority of them being young translators since this year's forum was all about young people in translation, could enjoy a first excellent presentation by Italian freelance interpreter, translator and branding coach Valeria Aliperta who was introduced by Galician translator and television presenter Xosé Castro Roig. Valeria Aliperta, also Head of External Relations of <em>IAPTI</em> and a member of the <em>Chartered Institute of Linguists</em>, explained how translators or interpreters can use branding to get more visibility and enhance their profile online. Through her boosting presentation, the Italian interpreter gave an insight and a few takeaways into starting branding process, explaining why it is relevant to go through it, telling why we should invest in such branding, etc. Valeria Aliperta studied in Italy and now lives in the UK where she founded her own business called <em>Rainy London Translations</em>. You can see on her website <a href="http://www.rainylondontranslations.com/">www.rainylondontranslations.com</a> and on her blog <a href="http://www.thestylishfreelancer.com/">http://www.thestylishfreelancer.com/</a> how branding is not simply a pretty or colourful logo but a tool for every translator or interpreter in a modern world.</div>
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After this plenary session held in the <em>De Gasperi</em> room, I had the chance to attend two workshops: a first one on the role of translation for multilingualism and another one on revision and terminology. The first workshop focused on the "Man vs. Machine" debate and was illustrated by examples mentioned by a great panel of language industry experts like Mr. Panagiotis Alevantis, DG Translation's representative in Athens, Greece, Mrs. Judit Sereg, a freelance audiovisual translator from Hungary, Mrs. Zoe Moores, a respeaking expert from Britain, and Konrad Fuhrmann, Policy Officer at DG Education and Culture of the European Commission. Mr. Panagiotis Alevantis explained how in Greece and Cyprus young people who have learned a second language at school simply cannot speak in it when they reach the university level. He also highlighted that 51% of Greek businesses find language skills more important than digital computer or IT skills. There is therefore a need to focus on language learning in schools nowadays, especially since the <em>Europe 2020</em> - <em>Rethinking Education</em> project has been underway and should set a new benchmark on foreign language learning. At least 50% of 15 year olds should have knowledge of a first foreign language and at least 75% should study a second foreign language by 2020. There is much talk about the benchmark being that students should reach level B2 in accordance to the <em>Common European Framework of Reference for Languages</em>. Integrating this into the digital single market will be a real challenge. As today's technological developments are ongoing and <em>Google Translate</em> is much talked about or criticized, quality work and awareness of translators keep making a difference in the business. For instance, we definitely need translators when it comes to idioms. As it seems that machines are taking over and people do not take care about writing and language learning anymore, there is a clear signal to be sent to politicians and maybe some lobbying to be done among MEPs for instance. Let us not forget, as Mr. Alevantis pointed it out, that the real international language for business remains the language of your client (and not necessarily English)! Mrs. Moores ended the workshop by saying that technology could also be of help or generate innovation in some way in the translation business. She said that respeaking, a process of using speech recognition software to produce subtitles in real time for live television programmes, pays off for instance. She works full-time as a respeaker in Great Britain. Mr. Fuhrmann and Mrs. Sereg concluded that although big groups like <em>Microsoft</em> and <em>Google</em> tend to stop cooperating with universities in order to develop e.g. their spelling and auto-correction systems, technology could also be a benefit for less used languages like Hungarian, Basque, Welsh, etc. which could serve as a new digital eco system for smaller companies or assocations willing to develop open source translating or terminological tools. And why not having translation play a role in the language learning process in the end? </div>
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The last workshop I have attended on Friday morning dealt with revision and terminology. Three brilliant students (two from Belgium and one from Switzerland) involved in terminological research, proofreading or revision gave interesting presentations of their work done through their studies in major European universities.</div>
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The wrap-up session was again moderated by Spanish journalist Xosé Castro Roig who gave the floor to Rytis Martikonis, Director-General of <em>DG Translation</em>, and other young professionals. Major risks and threats like the "Man vs. Machine" issue, the gap between academia and real life, the price pressure or the deprofessionalisation in the sector of translation can be tackled thanks to big events like the <em>Translating Europe Forum</em>. It was the second edition of the now traditional annual event. Mr. Martikonis invited all participants to come back to Brussels next year and see how all young translators have evolved. It was also highlighted that it was a real pleasure of being a translator when attending such a well-organized event like the <em>Translating Europe Forum</em>. As a conclusion, we can all agree that language is not only about data or reducible to digital data. As Mr. Martikonis finally put it: "<em>Mastering the language will help meet challenges!</em>"</div>
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You can find details and information about the excellent <em>Translating Europe Forum</em> 2015 (including video files of all presentations freely available) on: <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/programmes/translating_europe/forum/index_en.htm">http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/programmes/translating_europe/forum/index_en.htm</a><br />
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The motto of <em>DG Translation</em> is "<em>Link up with languages</em>" and the forum was indeed an excellent opportunity to do so!<br />
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-63171238604548512462015-10-09T17:58:00.001+02:002019-04-03T12:29:37.009+02:00Improving English reading/listening comprehension - Selection of useful hyperlinks for kids and teenagers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Just like every year, I was asked to help some kids and teenagers who had to retake language examinations last summer (either in Dutch, English or German). I did help a young female cousin who had not achieved satisfactory results in English last June. Her teacher asked her to work on her listening and reading comprehension as well as on her writing skills over the summer.<br />
We worked on that last August. I quickly noticed that my young cousin knew some appropriate vocabulary but she was shy and not confident in building long sentences in plain English. She was not used to watch TV programs or listen to podcasts in English language, etc. While it was rather easy to make my cousin write a few essays about topics studied at school or based on her course material, it seemed definitely more complicated to improve her listening comprehension skills in such a short time. I gave her a few tips to prepare effectively for the retake exam. The efforts made by my cousin eventually paid off and everyone (herself, parents, relatives and myself) is now very happy about how it turned out.</div>
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Among the tips given to my young cousin last summer, there was a selection of useful links which have helped and still help her improve her listening and reading comprehension. I have also shared these links with my two sons, who should also improve their English language skills on a regular basis.</div>
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Here are the selected hyperlinks:<br />
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<strong><u>Listening comprehension</u></strong><br />
<a href="http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice" target="_blank">http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/skills/listening-skills-practice</a> (a website created by the <em>British Council</em>);<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/london/" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/london/</a> (a website created by the <em>BBC World Service</em>);<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/</a> (a website created by the <em>BBC-British Broadcasting Corporation</em>);<br />
<a href="https://www.englishclub.com/listening/" target="_blank">https://www.englishclub.com/listening/</a> (<em>EnglishClub</em>, a free website for learners and teachers of English);<br />
<a href="http://learningenglish.voanews.com/" target="_blank">http://learningenglish.voanews.com/</a> (a website created by <em>VOA-Voice of America</em>).<br />
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<strong><u>Reading comprehension</u></strong><br />
<a href="http://www.thetimesinplainenglish.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thetimesinplainenglish.com</a> (a website created by <em>The Times</em>);<br />
<a href="http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-Comprehension.htm" target="_blank">http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Reading-Comprehension.htm</a> (a website created by the <em>Read Theory</em> team, a group of professional writers and educators);<br />
<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article_topic/teenagers/" target="_blank">https://www.newscientist.com/article_topic/teenagers/</a> (a website created by the weekly magazine <em>New Scientist</em>).<br />
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For adults who want to improve their comprehension skills and brush up their rusty English, these links also offer them a nice opportunity to do so.</div>
Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-3136048110297663672015-06-11T16:44:00.004+02:002016-11-22T23:04:09.054+01:00Quelle sera demain la langue de l’Europe?/Welche Sprache spricht Europa in Zukunft? (broadcasted on ARTE at 14:00 on 2015-06-06)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Which language for Europe?<br />
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MT+2, of course! Well… Here is the explanation: the EU would like to have every European speak three languages, that is to say two languages besides his/her mother tongue. Except that MT+2 has been quickly replaced by MT+E: mother tongue + English. And this means two, not three! Why would young people learn a second foreign language when they manage to be understood anywhere thanks to some English language skills? In these circumstances, why not have English to become the lingua franca of all Europeans one day? It is now unquestionable that even young French people start to learn English, a language held in contempt in the past. And there are less and less of them who learn German nowadays. <br />
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But having English as a lingua franca is not so simple after all...<br />
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See the <em>Yourope</em> report broadcasted on <em>ARTE</em> and <em>arte.tv</em> on Saturday, Jun. 6th, 2015:<br />
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- French version on <a href="http://info.arte.tv/fr/quelle-sera-demain-la-langue-de-leurope">http://info.arte.tv/fr/quelle-sera-demain-la-langue-de-leurope</a> <br />
- German version on <a href="http://info.arte.tv/de/welche-sprache-spricht-europa-zukunft">http://info.arte.tv/de/welche-sprache-spricht-europa-zukunft</a></div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-13146229461046389172015-01-03T12:19:00.000+01:002016-01-22T19:55:22.362+01:00Labelling and packaging are crucial in today's globally-wired consumer world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Since labels seem to have a very important role in the life of every product, not following correct labelling requirements and forgetting cultural impact could be extremely expensive nowadays.</div>
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This reminds us of four golden rules when translating or adapting labels:</div>
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- you shall always make sure to translate labels correctly;<br />
- keep in mind that words, names, colours or images on a label might be interpreted differently in other cultures;<br />
- research for labelling requirements is a must;<br />
- be sure to have your label written in every mandatory language according to national or regional labelling requirements.</div>
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For example, as far aesthetics are concerned, Americans and most Europeans believe that suntans are attractive, youthful and healthy. The Japanese do not believe it and would not consider the appearance of a suntanned individual on an ad or in a TV commercial very attractive. As far as colours are concerned, black and white are colours of mourning in Japan and should not be used on a product's package there. Similarly, a packaging with a green label would not be very well received in Malaysia because of the meaning of the colour green. Malaysians actually associate green with the jungle dangers and diseases.</div>
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Therefore, getting product label translations right or picking a good brand name for a product is/are either vital for consumer safety or can mean a high level of consumer brand awareness. I have taken time to collect and display some pictures of funny labels or brand names potentially having embarrassing double meanings. Here is now a nice compilation of examples which I have found on the internet and in the press.<br />
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Enjoy the hyperlinked document and start 2015 with a good laugh (and I am sure that some readers will laugh their head off)! One more evidence that labelling and packaging are crucial in today's globally-wired consumer world:<br />
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<a href="http://www.berthoop.net/2014-12-19_funny_labels.pdf" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">www.berthoop.net/2014-12-19_funny_labels.pdf</span></strong></a></div>
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Best wishes to all readers,<br />
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-- Bert</div>
Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-65242626267792541392014-09-24T16:58:00.001+02:002019-02-19T15:24:53.815+01:00You can’t say that in English!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Found on <em>Babbel.com</em>:<br />
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<em>By some estimates the English language has more than a million words. It’s impossible to nail down </em><em>an exact figure</em><em>, but it’s generally agreed that no other language has nearly as many. It’s not like any of us use all one million words, but still – you would think that English must have a word for everything, right? </em>(by John-Erik Jordan)<br />
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Read article -- click here:<br />
<a href="http://www.babbel.com/magazine/untranslatable-01?slc=engmag-a18-vid-in3-untranslatable1-ob#.VCLbK-rGPX8.blogger" target="_blank">You Can’t Say That In English!</a><br />
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-84382510687163489062014-04-28T10:44:00.001+02:002014-05-05T22:53:54.501+02:00"Our Language" by Simeon Potter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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More than twenty years ago, when I was still a student involved in translation studies at the University of Mons, Belgium, my father offered me an old book that he had kept and cherished for years: "Our Language" by the late Professor Simeon Potter. It was still a time when offering a rather old paperback version of a book meant a lot. It was then considered like sharing some bits of family heritage.</div>
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My Dad has retired for a few years, after having made a whole career as a language teacher in Southern Belgium's secondary schools and having been one of the few members of the Commission for Germanic language teaching programs officially recognized by the Ministry for Education of Brussels-Wallonia Federation. <br />
The book which had been offered as a gift, a <em>Pelican Original</em>, was and still remains a classic for linguists.</div>
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I had read most of "Our Language" during my studies and have just plunged again into this excellent little book about the evolution of the English language. Each page of the book reveals some surprising anecdotes or astonishing explanations on how the English language and/or vocabulary has evolved and been influenced by other languages or dialects through the ages.</div>
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You are for instance reminded "that of all the living languages of Europe Lithuanian is the most archaic, preserving in its structural pattern the primitive features of Indo-European most faithfully. Lithuanian still preserves seven case-forms in its nouns, four tenses and four moods in its verbs, an elaborate series of participles and highly involved system of inflexions."</div>
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In the book written by Professor Simeon Potter, you will read that "the notion that there is any virtue in uniform spelling is recent. Shakespeare himself varied the spelling of his own name."</div>
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You will also learn that Dr Samuel Johnson, the first really authoritative lexicographer, "was not interested in the improvement of English orthography. He and other lexicographers, on the other hand, revised the French Academy Dictionary and changed the forms of some five thousand words or one quarter of the whole French vocabulary."</div>
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Another interesting anecdote is about the translation of Friedrich Nietzsche's <em>Übermensch</em> by George Bernard Shaw. He translated <em>Übermensch</em> as <em>superman</em> while others had previously rendered it <em>beyondman</em> and <em>overman</em>. It set the fashion in <em>super</em> words, especially in America.<br />
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At a time when more interest is being shown in language learning than ever before, Simeon Potter's book makes an excellent introduction to modern linguistics.</div>
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As internet users commented on some fora, websites and blogs, "Our Language" by Simeon Potter is one of the most interesting, informative and accessible books on the English language and its origins that is available. It is not a new book (first published in 1950) but it is still as accurate as ever. Definitely a book to (re)discover for all language lovers!</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-79135370519939639282014-02-19T15:51:00.002+01:002016-01-22T19:56:16.782+01:00Bert's selection of useful language and translation related links<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkCjA1begCs8HQEAB_zN54SsOFlhDldTphSwn1xb234RruE9UzkPZSSoE6H3I6EOW8cHWmx1KnsCwuzUNJKTQ7ax_rCsXu80j07UOSeXCGX9rDR4wk0_2fh55nq_P79jDJT8-uQPkcDnA/s1600/82752347%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkCjA1begCs8HQEAB_zN54SsOFlhDldTphSwn1xb234RruE9UzkPZSSoE6H3I6EOW8cHWmx1KnsCwuzUNJKTQ7ax_rCsXu80j07UOSeXCGX9rDR4wk0_2fh55nq_P79jDJT8-uQPkcDnA/s1600/82752347%5B1%5D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are a few reliable links to top-notch language and translation-related websites which Bert uses and finds very useful:</div>
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<a href="http://iate.europa.eu/" target="_blank">http://iate.europa.eu/</a><br />
Find here the EU's multilingual term base. <em>IATE</em> (<em>Inter-Active Terminology for Europe</em>) is the EU inter-institutional terminology database. <em>IATE</em> has been used in the EU institutions and agencies for almost ten years in order to collect, disseminate and share management of EU-specific terminology. The main project partners are: the <em>European Commission</em>, the <em>Parliament</em>, the <em>Council</em>, the <em>Court of Justice</em>, the <em>Court of Auditors</em>, the <em>Economic and Social Committee</em>, the <em>Committee of the Regions</em>, the <em>European Central Bank</em>, the <em>European Investment Bank</em> and the <em>Translation Centre for the Bodies of the EU</em>.<br />
This project was launched in 1999 with the objective of providing a web-based infrastructure for all EU terminology resources, enhancing the availability and standardisation of the information. <br />
<em>IATE</em>'s task is to incorporate all existing terminology databases of the EU’s translation services into a single, highly interactive and accessible interinstitutional database. The following legacy databases have been imported into <em>IATE</em>. It now contains approximately 1.4 million multilingual entries: <em>Eurodicautom</em> (<em>Commission</em>), <em>TIS</em> (<em>Council</em>), <em>Euterpe</em> (<em>EP</em>), <em>Euroterms</em> (<em>Translation Centre</em>) and <em>CDCTERM</em> (<em>Court of Auditors</em>).</div>
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<a href="http://www.linguee.com/" target="_blank">http://www.linguee.com/</a><br />
<em>Linguee</em> is a dictionary and search engine for 100 million translations. It is not an automatic translator. <em>Linguee</em> is rather a unique translation tool combining an editorial dictionary and a search engine with which you can search hundreds of millions of bilingual texts for words and expressions.<br />
As described on the <em>Linguee</em> website, the <em>Linguee</em> search results are divided into two sections. On the left hand side you see results from the reliable editorial dictionary. This provides you with a quick overview of various translations of your search term. On the right hand side, you see example sentences from other sources. They give you an idea of how your search term has been translated in context.<br />
The majority of the example sentences you see on the right hand side is from professionally translated websites of companies, organizations, and universities. Other valuable sources include EU documents and patent specifications.<br />
<em>Linguee</em> is being developed by <em>Linguee GmbH</em> headquartered in Köln, Germany.</div>
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<a href="http://www.omegat.org/" target="_blank">http://www.omegat.org/</a><br />
<em>OmegaT</em> is a free translation memory application written in Java. It is a tool intended for professional translators. <em>OmegaT</em>, the open-source translation memory software application, is developed, distributed and supported by an informal, international group of volunteers.</div>
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<a href="http://www.intelliwebsearch.com/" target="_blank">http://www.intelliwebsearch.com/</a><br />
If you are a translator who wants to use this software for daily work, you will quickly be convinced that it speeds up your searches on the web and your work will therefore be delivered on time! Besides being fast and light, <em>IntelliWebSearch</em> has got a lot of pre-configured search engines. It is easy to install and to use and it really helps you find what you are looking for on the web.</div>
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<a href="http://www.translatorscafe.com/" target="_blank">http://www.translatorscafe.com/</a><br />
<em>TranslatorsCafé.com</em> is an online directory of translators, interpreters and translation agencies.<br />
Visitors to <em>TranslatorsCafé.com</em> will find a new and very convenient way to connect with others in the international linguistic community. You can also offer your professional translation and interpretation services to registered translation agencies. Useful linguistic news and resources as well as chat with other linguists about issues of the day are available too.</div>
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/" target="_blank">http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/</a><br />
The <em>BBC</em> offers free online language learning: courses, audio, video and games, including the alphabet, phrases, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, activities and tests.</div>
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<a href="http://www.thetimesinplainenglish.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thetimesinplainenglish.com/</a><br />
<em>The Times in Plain English</em> brings its readers important news from some of the best American sources of information. The writing is in clear, readable English. Among the publications <em>The Times in Plain English</em> stories come from such newspapers as:<br />
<em>The New York Times</em>, <em>The Los Angeles Times</em>, <em>The Miami Herald</em>, <em>The Arizona Republic</em>, <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>, <em>The Washington Post</em>, <em>The Christian Science Monitor</em>, <em>The New York Daily News</em> and <em>The Toronto Globe and Mail</em>. <em>The Times in Plain English</em> is <strong>not</strong> affiliated with <em>The New York Times</em>. <em>The Times in Plain English</em> is a publication of <em>News in Plain English, Inc.</em> (PO Box 577, Germantown, NY 12526). Arthur Schiff is the editor of <em>The Times in Plain English</em>.</div>
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<a href="http://cdt.europa.eu/CDT%20Various/game.html" target="_blank">http://cdt.europa.eu/CDT%20Various/game.html</a><br />
This little game has been designed by the <em>Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union</em>. Have fun and good luck!</div>
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<a href="http://www.collinsdictionary.com/" target="_blank">http://www.collinsdictionary.com/</a><br />
As already mentioned on this blog (see <a href="http://bert-languagesandlinguistics.blogspot.be/2012/02/free-beta-versions-of-collins.html" target="_blank">here</a>), <em>Collins</em> has launched a free beta online version of its English language dictionary as well as bilingual dictionaries in French, German and Spanish. The <a href="http://www.collinsdictionary.com/" target="_blank">http://www.collinsdictionary.com/</a> website went live on 2011-12-31 and is owned and operated by <em>HarperCollins Publishers Ltd</em>. Its content is displayed for personal, non-commercial use only. <em>Collins</em>, a pioneer in dictionary publishing since 1819, has made this fully-searchable website free to any user who can browse the dictionaries and English thesaurus by letter or search for specific words.</div>
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<a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/" target="_blank">http://www.merriam-webster.com/</a><br />
Here is another free searchable dictionary and thesaurus, word games, a word of the day, and many other English language and vocabulary reference tools and resources. All <em>Merriam-Webster</em> products and services are backed by the largest team of professional dictionary editors and writers in North America (and one of the largest in the world). For more than 150 years, in print and now online, <em>Merriam-Webster</em> has been one of America's leading and most-trusted providers of language information.</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-36216633307708045462013-05-11T11:42:00.000+02:002015-06-12T10:09:49.283+02:00Arabic, Spanish, German and Turkish more widely spoken in Brussels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A study conducted by the VUB-Vrije Universiteit Brussel on 2500 adults, all living in Brussels, show a decline in mastering French, English and Dutch languages in Belgium's capital. These three languages keep being the most widely spoken languages in Brussels anyway. Just like in 2000, when the first study of this type was carried out, Arabic comes fourth in the rankings. In 2006, Arabic was nevertheless overtaken by Spanish.</div>
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The panel of Brussels' citizens who indicate that they notably speak Arabic has gone from 6.6 % to an impressive 17.9 % in a period of just 6 years. Demographic evolution in Brussels could explain this score.</div>
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According to the authors of the VUB study, there are always more Arabic-speaking people coming to live in Brussels and more of them are therefore included in the panel of people who are polled indeed. Brussels, also considered as the capital of Europe, is a linguistic melting pot (with a lot of expats coming to work in European institutions, federations and lobbies, at NATO, etc.) with 104 different spoken languages. The top 8 spoken languages remain identical to the one of 2006: French is first, English remains second and Dutch keeps the third rank. Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian and Turkish come next in the right order. Also to be mentioned: Dutch (Flemish), French and German are the three official languages of Belgium.</div>
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To have a close look at some of the results of this study, go to <a href="http://blog.lesoir.be/docs/2013/03/20/la-maitrise-des-langues-a-bruxelles/" target="_blank">http://blog.lesoir.be/docs/2013/03/20/la-maitrise-des-langues-a-bruxelles/</a> (in French).<br />
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See also the article published in <em>The Bulletin</em> (the magazine for Brussels' expats) and on <em>www.xpats.com</em> (on 2013-03-20): <a href="http://www.xpats.com/english-remains-brussels-second-language" target="_blank">http://www.xpats.com/english-remains-brussels-second-language</a> (in English).</div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-57999340934528512442012-12-02T12:48:00.001+01:002016-01-22T19:56:58.856+01:00European languages' future not necessarily at stake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Did I already tell you that I commute and work in Brussels every day? Besides being the capital of Belgium, Brussels has become the polyglot home of various international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants. In the Belgian city which hosts several institutions of the European Union (EU), there has been much talk about the following news lately: an Ombudsman criticized the restrictive language policy of the European Commission (EC) regarding public consultations and the <i>Erasmus</i> student exchange program of the EU is now short on funds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u>EC under fire over language policy</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, criticized the EC for refusing to conduct public consultations in the 23 official languages of the European Union (EU). He called it on to publish its public consultation documents in all 23 EU languages or to provide translations upon request.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In a decision issued on October 11th, the Ombudsman found that launching EC public consultations in only a few EU languages constituted maladministration.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The decision said that the EC "<i>has not shown any real willingness to ensure that all European citizens are able to understand its public consultations, which should, as a matter of principle, be published in all the treaty languages</i>."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It also noted that the EC had not provided any "<i>convincing and acceptable justification</i>" for limiting the use of EU languages in public consultations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Ombudsman has issued a decision on a complaint from a Spanish lawyer about some public consultation documents that are available in English or in a limited number of EU languages only, even if they are intended for the general public. The lawyer, who argued that the EC's policy was arbitrary and contradicted the principles of openness, good administration and non-discrimination, brought the initial complaint in 2010.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">According to Nikiforos Diamandouros, multilingualism is essential for citizens to exercise their right to participate in the democratic life of the EU. The Ombudsman’s decision is publicly available at:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/decision.faces/en/12009/html.bookmark" target="_blank"><span style="color: #783f04;"> http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/cases/decision.faces/en/12009/html.bookmark</span></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The EC’s response in November was that it had to prioritise its translation work in view of a limited budget and demands of the legislative process. It also indicated that EU citizens have the right to submit their responses to public consultations in any of the 23 official languages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">It is nevertheless very funny to see that only the English and Spanish versions of the decision have been made available online. It looks like the other 21 official languages have been forgotten indeed...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><u><i>Erasmus</i> short on funds</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For 25 years, the <i>Erasmus</i> program has helped students to do some of their degree work abroad. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This EU student exchange program is nevertheless in danger of becoming the victim of its own success. According to the EC, today’s <i>Erasmus</i> budget has a staggering shortfall of some €90 million ($117 million). This will need to be filled by a supplementary budget. If not, any student who receives a place in the <i>Erasmus</i> program for 2013 cannot be sure whether his exchange year will actually take place or not. 99% of the budget for 2012 was already used up by October because of the growing popularity of the program among students. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So far, the budget of the EU student exchange program had always covered the administrative costs behind the program itself and the scholarships for those who were selected to participate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The needed supplementary budget has recently been met with hesitations by EU governments. In today’s economic crisis, the dispute is clearly over money. Nevertheless, the chairman of the European Council, Cyprus’ Andreas Mavroyannis, has promised a solution to the problem. One other question remains nevertheless open: when will this problem actually be solved? No time frame has ever been given so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Erasmus</i> is important for EU integration. It helps ease conflicts as well as controversies. It also gives a unique chance to improve foreign language skills. Even if some students might not work as hard during their exchange year, it was still a crucial experience for most of them. Should the ongoing funding issues be solved by 2014, there will then be hope for improvements to the program. In future, it could be easier for students to get their masters abroad indeed...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Studying abroad is undoubtedly often good both for academic and personal development. <i>Erasmus</i> is probably one of the only projects that made generations of young people believe in a true European Union. What impact will it have on the European youth if the program is in jeopardy?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Let me reassure you straight away: there are many other excellent international youth exchange programs besides <i>Erasmus</i>. Some of them are even better structured and focus even more on cultural exchange (the student is considered as an ambassador of his country of origin during his exchange year). A long time ago, before the existence of <i>Erasmus</i>, I was actively involved in one of them (funded by the world-known service club <em>Rotary International</em>) and it is still running successfully today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Click on the following link for more information on the <em>Rotary Youth Exchange Program</em>: <a href="https://www.rotary.org/en/youth-exchanges" target="_blank">https://www.rotary.org/en/youth-exchanges</a></span></div>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-74292662594817819692012-09-20T15:46:00.004+02:002015-06-12T10:10:49.862+02:00I hope it won’t be all Greek to my son (j'espère qu'il n'en perdra pas son latin...)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Last June, my son came back from school with class options to be picked and a form to be filled in for the 2012-13 school
year. We sat and talked in the living room: the kind of discussion that a dad and his son can have when weighing the pros and cons for choosing one class instead of another, while the father keeps trying not to be too influent. My son seemed interested in Latin. I insisted on the fact that it had to be his own
decision and I gave him some time to decide. On that very same evening, the one-man-show
of French humourist Kev Adams was broadcasted live on TV. Kev Adams is
particularly well-known and influent among teenagers in French speaking
countries. I must admit that I find some of his shows quite fun, dynamic and
amusing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One part of Kev Adams' show dealt with the purpose of
learning Latin at school... Learning Latin language won’t help you in life,
said Kev Adams with a good sense of humour: "<i>Le latin, ça ne te servira jamais à
rien. </i><span lang="FR-BE" style="mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;"><i>Jamais dans ta vie tu
vas entrer dans un bar/bistrot/PMU et dire: Ok
les gars, poum pouloum pouloulouloum... </i>Alea jacta est<i>, est ce que c'est clair
?!</i>"<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="FR-BE" style="mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span lang="FR-BE" style="mso-ansi-language: FR-BE;">C'mon, Kev!
</span>You are very a talented entertainer but don't say that Latin is not worth being
learned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My son had a look at me and laughed out loud! "<i>Dad,
what would be your answer to him?</i>"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I suddenly told my son that if he was really interested in
learning any language, Latin would be crucial for him to learn. I insisted on the fact
that most of the words in French or English derive from other languages such as
Latin or Greek. I also explained that the declination approach of the Latin
would help my son if he wants to learn German at some point. I eventually had
to be influent to counter Kev Adams' negative vibes on learning Latin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">At least, I thank Kev Adams for having given me the
opportunity to explain why Latin has actually always been helpful to me simply
for understanding the etymology of some words.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This theory was recently reinforced by the article entitled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Natalie Haynes: It's not Latin's fault that
toffs and Tories studied it</i> that I read in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Independent</i> on 2012-06-25 (also made available on the web, see </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/natalie-haynes-its-not-latins-fault-that-toffs-and-tories-studied-it-7881114.html" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; color: #783f04; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/natalie-haynes-its-not-latins-fault-that-toffs-and-tories-studied-it-7881114.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The article mentions the following: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Learning another language makes you think differently about your own:
it makes you analyse the role each word plays in a sentence. It also introduces
you to the idea that some cultures are so different from your own that there
are words which are literally untranslatable. Latin will help you learn piles
of other languages that have similar vocabulary or grammar or both. And it will
give you excellent spelling and grammar in your first language</i>[…]”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Ooooh! By the way, my son Rémy eventually picked
Latin as a main option for the 2012-13 school year and still is a big fan of
Kev Adams (see Kev Adams’ official web site here: <a href="http://kevadams-officiel.fr/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #783f04;">http://kevadams-officiel.fr/</span></a>). I simply
hope that Rémy will also remain my number one fan and that I have not been too
influent in his choice.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></span>
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819062111613135376.post-54258030409686153482012-05-07T23:01:00.004+02:002021-02-04T20:56:50.045+01:00Stefan Verra, der Körpersprecher!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="color: #1f497d;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="color: white;">Two weeks ago, I attended the three-day <em>AWT</em> general assembly event held in Berlin, Germany. <em>AWT</em> stands for "<em>Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Wirkstoffe in der Tierernährung</em>" and is the German platform of the <em>EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures</em> (<em>FEFANA</em>). Beside field-oriented speeches and presentations, one excellent performance particularly caught my attention: "<em>Was sagt mein Körper und warum weiß ich nichts davon? - Die Geheimnisse der non-verbalen Kommunikation</em>" by body language specialist Stefan Verra. Herr Verra counts among the best reputable body language specialists in the world and is currently unsurpassed in the German-speaking countries. He told us what our body says and why we do not know anything about it.</span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="color: #1f497d;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="color: white;">Through a very dynamic performance on stage, Stefan Verra showed the attendance how much shaking hands with a partner (either professionally or in everyday life) can mean and reveal. The way we walk is also full of discerned messages. Stefan Verra's very professional and interesting approach never reaches interpretation but brings forward some ticks, quirks and sometimes obnoxious or good habits that our body reveals.</span></span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="color: white;">Highly energetic and active on stage, the Austrian "Körpersprecher" cites and gives as examples such personalities as former Formula One pilot Niki Lauda, ex-<em>Monty Python</em> comedian John Cleese, the widely televised US presidential couple Michelle and Barack Obama, Germany's first female Chancellor Angela Merkel, etc. During his one-man show, Stefan Verra never hesitates to show his great sense of humour and sometimes uses his strong Tyrolean accent which makes it even more delectable. For more than one hour of show on stage, this very dynamic edutainer (edutainment expresses the marriage of education and entertainment in a work or presentation, it is the act of learning through a medium that both educates and entertains) simply proves that he is a real body language expert and a very interesting person to be met and seen live at least once in a lifetime. Either in German or in English (just before leaving the room and Berlin in a hurry to catch a plane to Vienna, he told me that he could also perform in English), Herr Verra will make you understand your body’s language much better.</span></span></div>
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<span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="color: white;">Herr Verra explains the mystery of the non-verbal communication. He has also written a book entitled "<em>Die Körpersprache im Verkauf</em>" (<em>Amalthea Signum Verlag</em>).</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="color: #1f497d;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="color: white;">If you want to know more about body language and Stefan Verra's one-man show or biography, go to</span> </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.stefanverra.com" target="_blank">www.stefanverra.com</a></span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif">. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="color: #1f497d;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", sans-serif"><span style="color: white;">And what if body language was eventually the only true language getting close to a <em>lingua franca</em>?</span></span></span><br />
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Bert Larsimont, MCILhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12233570951583785490noreply@blogger.com0