European day of languages is upon us..

There are over 6000 languages spoken in the world. And behind each and every one of them lies a rich and diverse culture. European Day of Languages aims to celebrate each language and culture by showing people across Europe how important languages are, and what fun can be had learning them.

Set up by the Council of Europe, it was first celebrated in 2001 and will go off with a bang in 2009 on the 26 of Sept with over 45 countries involved.

The idea is to promote interest in languages and language learning for adults and children. So whatever your age and whatever your interest in language, there should be something for you among the 300+ events (over 50 in the UK and Ireland alone).

Activities range from the light-hearted to the serious – from games and quizzes to literary evenings and round-table discussions on language policy.

If you’re in central London on 25 September, drop in on the language stand at Victoria station and enter a competition to win an Italian course. Or find out more about language courses for adults at events dotted around the UK.

In Brussels and Luxembourg – the EU commission’s main sites – events will include a conference and press event on early language learning with multilingualism commissioner Leonard Orban.

According to European Union's survey "Europeans and their Languages", 56% of EU citizens (25 member states) speak a language other than their mother tongue, but 44% admit to not knowing any other languages than their native language. However, 28% master two foreign languages. 38% of the EU citizens indicate that they know English, followed by 14% mastering French or German.

New Firefox browser provides foreign language functionality.

Firefox has added a feature to its web browser that allows a user to read a web page in a foreign language.

A new plug-in identifies the language used on a web page and automatically provides a translation, leaving the layout of the page unchanged.

The plug-in, designed by the San Francisco-based Worldwide Lexicon project, recognises over 40 languages. Users start by telling the software which language they prefer. When a page written in a different language loads, the software searches for translations provided by the project's community of volunteers. If none is available it uses an online service, such as Google Translate.

A test version of the plug-in is available at the Firefox website.

Chinglish - Is this where we are heading?

"I like your smile, but unlike you put your shoes on my face". A charming way of saying "Keep off the grass". But could you figure it out? Or this: "Wash Clothing Store" for laundry.

They are both typical Chinglish, a combination of English vocabulary and Chinese grammar. Expressions such as "people mountain people sea", means extremely crowded, and "give you some color to see", meaning a punishment, are widely known and recognized.

Chinglish has been attracting global attention in recent years as China grows rapidly in stature on the world stage, attracting both fans and detractors.

The Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Programme and English First China Company, a language trainer known as EF Education, jointly launched a campaign to root out poor grammar and misused vocabulary in downtown Beijing on Tuesday. They argue Chinglish is an embarrassment that must be wiped out at all costs.

"EF Education is very happy to be able to help regulate English logos on the streets of Beijing", said Michael Lu, vice-president of EF Education. "And it is meaningful, to allow the capital show its most beautiful historical and cultural heritage to the world."

He said, since the launching of the campaign, foreign teachers and students had been very keen to volunteer participation. Michael Lu said he believed signs were very important in public services. "The signs in some old buildings confused foreign visitors, such as "Cherish Environment".

Chinglish, although the target of much criticism, has also won supporters who regard it as an interesting way for foreigners to learn how Chinese people think and express themselves.

"Many Chinglish logos carry Chinese elements and they will enrich the English language," 32-year-old Oliver Radtke said.

The German multimedia producer has been focusing on written examples of the lingo on signboards, menu cards and shop fronts. He had even published a book "Chinglish: Found in Translation," on the subject. About 50,000 copies of the book have been sold since it was published in 2007.

His first encounter with Chinglish was in a cab in Shanghai back in 2000. He saw a curious note reading "Don't forget to carry your thing".

He is convinced that the notion of one single, standard version of English is outdated because "it now boasts more than one billion regular users worldwide, and the number of people speaking it as their second language is growing rapidly."

Radtke's opinion is echoed by other fans of Chinglish.

"Some Chinglish is simply wonderful and displays a poetic side that is far better than admonitory signs in my own country," said an English teacher in Beijing.

Some Chinese university experts also side with Chinglish. "English has absorbed elements from other languages such as Frenchand Spanish in its growth, and the emergence of Chinglish again testifies to the language's vitality and inclusiveness," said Shi Anbin, an associate professor with the journalism and communication school of Tsinghua University.

Language skills lead to a colourful career

Language is one of the most powerful communication tools available to an individual today. With the emerging globalisation trend, an individual who has knowledge of more than one language has a number of advantages to his/her credit. Careers nowadays not only ask for languages as a primary skill, but occasionally as a secondary skill as well.

Learning foreign languages may give one access to the rendering of certain specialised language services, which are highly challenging and remunerative. Naturally having a flair for languages helps but just as important is an interest in people and an agile mind. Awareness of social and cultural backgrounds of foreign countries also helps in the appreciation of the nuances of foreign languages for effectiveness in all kinds of work.

Translators should be meticulous and possess the ability to retain their concentration for long periods of time. They should also be able to get along with people, especially when it concerns assignments of a technical nature.

Interpreters at international conferences need physical stamina, cool temperaments and should preferably equip themselves with the background of the assignment they are to cover. On the other hand, foreign language teachers require proficiency, patience and the ability to communicate with students from different age groups.

Just about all universities conduct diploma, degree or certificate courses in many foreign languages. There are many foreign language training institutes which offer specialised training in a particular language at different levels. Those who have aquired the graduate level of proficiency in foreign languages may go in for MA-level programmes. Whilst learning a foreign language might be on the decline in some areas of the world, language skills offer a world of opportunities for those willing to learn.

Korean language thrown a lifeline

Korean, a language with few students but high priority in government rhetoric, has been given a modest injection of money.

A project led by Gi-Hyun Shin at the Australian University of NSW has won $485,000 over two years under the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program.

But in a sign of Korean's vulnerability, one of the universities that put together the successful proposal for NALSSP money has decided to abandon the language. From next year, Curtin University of Technology will take no new students.

Korean is one of four priority languages under this program, which has $62.4 million to spend over fouryears. Dr Shin said the money would allow work including teacher training and the development of materials on Korean culture for non-language subjects in schools, such as social sciences.

"What we're trying to do is to get high school students informed about what is happening in Korea at the moment and when they get to university they might be interested in signing up (for Korean)," he said.

Dr Shin said that despite the rapid rise of South Korea as a trading partner, the country and its culture had yet to create "any particular image" in Australia, which shared its status as a middle power. Among the priority languages, Korean lacked the strong profile of Chinese or Japanese.

This year Curtin decided it had too few students to maintain its Korean program, according to Will Christensen, head of the school of social sciences and Asian languages.

Learning foreign languages important in globalised world, says Dr Kang

Punjab Agricultural University club — Litteraire Francais — on Thursday organised a seminar on “French language, literature and culture” in the Students’ Home Auditorium at the PAU. The chief guest at the event was PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang who is also the chief patron of the club.


In his remarks, Dr Kang said that he had deep interest in languages, right from the time he was a student and that he obtained proficiency in French under the Education Testing Service ( ETS) programme. Dr Kang said that continuous practice was vital for learning any foreign language.

He added that one should try to learn as many languages as one could, as this gave one knowledge about various societies of the world. The world is shrinking by the day, said Dr Kang, adding that this made learning languages all the more important.

Dr Neeta D Kang, who was also present on the occasion, said that it was important to communicate in the language of the land and that learning of foreign languages was imperative to interact with people of different nationalities.

Reference book for foreign spouses available in 7 languages

The National Immigration Agency (NIA) has published a reference book in seven languages to help foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens adapt to local customs and lifestyles, an official said Wednesday.

"The book has been printed in Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Philippine, Thai, Myanmar and Cambodian languages for distribution to foreign spouses of local citizens," said NIA Director-General Hsieh Li-kung.

"The book contains all sorts of practical information and useful tips for better living," Hsieh said, adding that it is expected to help new immigrants assimilate into life in Taiwan.

In order for their marriages to succeed, foreign spouses need the full support of their Taiwanese family members, Hsieh said, calling on extended family members to open-mindedly accept these spouses as new immigrants to Taiwan.

According to Hsieh, the NIG has set up a databank of 394 translators versed in Vietnamese, Indonesian, Philippine, Thai, Myanmar and Cambodian languages.

"This new group of translating and interpreting talent can easily and smoothly communicate with new immigrants and offer them various counseling services," Hsieh said.

In addition, Hsieh said the NIA has installed hotlines for foreign spouses and other foreign expats to offer them more useful counseling and guidelines for living in Taiwan.

Linking language, art and culture

A tool, a hurdle, a weapon. An inescapable part of our lives. Language is all that and more. It is also part of our identity as distinct human beings.

Research has shown that when we are born we think in pictures. Eventually, we link the pictures to the words we hear spoken around us. Our cognitive processes are thus all linked to our birth language and, therefore, language and culture are inextricably linked.

Language is an emotive issue with economic, social, educational and political implications, according to Professor Kathleen Thorpe, head of German studies in the School of Literature and Language Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The best example of the political implications of the use of a particular language, was the 1976 Soweto uprisings when pupils refused to be taught in Afrikaans, which the government had tried to force on them. Language — the use of one’s own mother tongue in particular — is a basic human right entrenched in the Bill of Rights in our Constitution.

Thorpe says the undervaluing of the humanities is having a disastrous effect on the general standard of education in South Africa. Young people are being deprived of learning to think critically, construct an argument, tolerate and appreciate difference — as well as improve their language and communication skills, a matter increasingly mentioned by employers, she says.

“The perceived hegemony of English is doing everyone a disservice,” says Thorpe. “South Africa seems woefully unaware of the value of foreign languages — a surprising fact in the light of the upcoming World Cup, at which hundreds of thousands of Europeans are expected. Neither in schools nor at university level, is the awareness of the value of learning a new language very high. Learning a foreign language will change your consciousness,” she says.

Language studies broaden one’s thinking and hone critical and interpretative skills. Learning a language is a way to gain new knowledge, and the knowledge inherent in each culture is woven into its literature.

Art in visual form is also a language, albeit more bodily directed and less mediated than discursive language. Over time, art forms transform into conceptual clarity, into new discursive language. Therefore a picture is much more than just an image the viewer looks at.

Primary languages missing target

Almost a fifth of primary schools in England could miss a government target to offer language teaching by next year, a report says.

The National Foundation for Educational Research says overall language provision in primaries is increasing. There is a target for language lessons to be available for seven to 11 year olds by 2010 – with foreign languages set to become compulsory the following year.

Languages ceased to be compulsory for secondary pupils after the age of 14 in 2004. Instead the focus switched to increasing the number of younger pupils learning languages in primary school.

The report, commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, was intended to establish what progress was being made in primary schools. It found that in 2008, 92% of primary schools were offering foreign languages in some form. This was a rise of 22 percentage points from 2006. It also found the vast majority of primary schools were “making good progress” towards offering the full entitlement.

However, the NFER researchers found up to 18% of primary schools will not be able to offer the opportunity to learn a language to any seven to 11 year old child. This non-statutory target was introduced as part of the National Languages Strategy last year. But a higher proportion of schools – 26% – may not be ready to implement languages as part of the compulsory curriculum in 2011. About 30% of schools were currently not offering this level of language learning to their pupils, the research found.

One of the main barriers the researchers found was lack of time to fit languages into lessons. Languages will become a compulsory in primary schools from 2011, following a review of the primary curriculum by Sir Jim Rose. Numbers of GCSE entries in languages have declined since they were no longer compulsory.

A separate study undertaken by Cambridge University has found that a majority of head teachers feel there is a lack of continuity between primary and secondary school language learning. Almost 50% of heads questioned for this research said a language should be compulsory after the age of 14 for most pupils.

Schools minister Diana Johnson said: “We know that when children start learning a language at an earlier age they can absorb more, build more confidence and become more passionate about language learning. “That is why we are making languages compulsory in primary schools from 2011 and will continue to ensure schools teach them until age 14.”

Translation gets in the way of the message..

Translators and students of foreign languages are familiar with the problem of what the French call faux amis (translators’ false friends) – words that have the same origin and often look and sound the same but mean different things in different languages. Examples include the English word anecdote and the Russian “anekdot” (a joke) or velvet – in Russian “velvet” stands for corduroy.

Things get a little trickier and sometimes downright difficult when some meanings coincide and others diverge. A direc-tor, for example, is “direktor” in Russian when he is a member of a company’s board of directors but not when he is a film director (that will be a “rezhisser”); a Russian “director shkoly” is a school principal in America or a headmaster in Britain. A Russian “student” goes to college; in America, he might just as well be a 10-year-old schoolboy.

Experienced translators and interpreters are well aware of such words and, even though they are quite numerous (try Russian faux amis for accurate, carton, decade, novel, or revision) we very rarely confuse them. Language learners may be reasonably sure that as their proficiency improves they will get the right word almost automatically.

There is, however, a less well known but insidious problem: Take the word leadership, which is often translated into Russian as “rukovodstvo”. In nine cases out of 10, it is a mistranslation, for this Russian word means guidance, management, or even control.

So when a phrase frequently used by American politicians – US global leadership – is translated, sometimes deliberately and maliciously, as “amerikanskoye rukovodst-vo mirom” – something very close to American control of the world – it conjures up all kinds of nasty associations in the minds of most Russian readers.

The right Russian word is of course “liderstvo”. The word leader was borrowed from English decades ago and equipped with Russian suffixes to create derivatives – a verb, an adjective, and a noun. So Russian translators are in this particular case luckier than, say, the French, who simply have no equivalent for the English word; English-French dictionaries therefore recommend roundabout ways of conveying this concept.

When Americans speak of someone’s “leadership role” the meaning is best conveyed in Russian by the word “initsiativnost”. Sounds familiar? It’s because we both borrowed the word “initiative” from French.