Cool tool: Google translation bots

by Lauren Nemec

I know that Google has been offering a machine translation tool for translations of text and web pages, called "Google Translate", though I've never used it and haven't really been following the news about its advances or anything.

(As a side note, click here to read about how Google's translation of "flippant" into Chinese came out as "the assassin who stabbed Bush" - Oops!).

But today I stumbled upon a blog post at the "Google talkabout" blog discussing Google's release of a machine translation robot, or "bot", that translates text in "instant message" or "chat" online conversations. Anyone with a Gmail account can use this functionality.

It sounded so cool, I had to check it out.

The conversation started out well.. The robots translated the text well enough (not that greetings are difficult for MT software) and within seconds...

...But, it didn't work flawlessly. Perhaps it was user error, but you can see in this next image that the "en2fr" robot jumped in with some weird text of its own before my "fr2en" robot had a chance to translate my pricing question.
Regardless of the hiccup, I think this is a nifty tool that can be very helpful in overcoming language barriers- when the quality of the translation is not crucial. Things like this allow us to communicate with almost anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Anyway, these bots are available to Google chat users in 24 language pairs: ar2en, bg2en, de2en, de2fr, el2en, en2ar, en2de, en2el, en2es, en2fr, en2it, en2ja, en2ko, en2nl, en2ru, es2en, fi2en, fr2de, fr2en, hi2en, hr2en, it2en, ja2en, ko2en, nl2en, ru2en, uk2en, ur2en, zh2en. (Don't understand the language codes? Look them up here.)

What kind of American English do you speak?

by Lauren Nemec

Take this quick quiz to see what kind of American English you speak.

Then share your results:

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Here are my results:

Lauren's Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English 20% Upper Midwestern 10% Dixie 5% Yankee 0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Having been born in Chicago to Midwestern parents, but raised in Texas, I suppose my accent and use of American English got neutralized.. or warped. I'm without the nasal accent or long drawl often associated with each region. And I suppose it's a little weird that both "y'all" and "pop" are in my vocabulary instead of "you guys" and "pop" (upper Midwest) or "y'all" and "coke" (South).

Have a good weekend, everyone!

10-Year-Old Boy Speaks 11 Languages

by Lauren Nemec

A boy living in England has my dream superpower.

Arpan Sharma, a 10-year-old British Indian boy, has a gift for learning languages. He has learned 11 languages so far and is eager to learn more.

Arpan's mother tongue is Hindi, which he learned from his parents growing up. He also speaks English, and learned French, German, Italian and Spanish at school. Using interactive CD-Roms, Arpan has taught himself Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, and Thai. Most recently, the young language genius has been learning the difficult language of Uganda- Lugandan.

He says learning Swahili was the biggest challenge, and that Mandarin was difficult, too. Hindi is his favorite.

The young boy enjoys studying music in school, in addition to learning languages. His headmaster believes that his musical training has helped him develop his talent for picking up languages, saying "Arpan is a language genius, a natural when it comes to listening to the exact pronunciation and repeating them perfectly. I think some of his talent is twinned with his ability as a musician. His good ear for music and tone is used for languages as well."

So what does Arpan plan to do with his talent and passion? He says, "When I'm an adult, I want to be a surgeon who can work in all the hospitals of the world and speak the language of the country I'm in."

Arpan came in 3rd place last year at the national Junior Language Challenge, and has reached the final round again this year, which will be held on Friday.

Good luck Arpan!

Photo Courtesy: Daily Times, Pakistan

Happy Halloween!

by Lauren Nemec

It's October 31st, which means that tonight across the United States, children will be running from door to door asking for candy, dressed up in their Shrek, Harry Potter and Star Wars costumes. But Halloween is not just for children. Adults will enthusiastically don ridiculous costumes to attend Halloween parties. They'll compete with their neighbors to see who can turn their home into the scariest haunted house on the block; manicured lawns will be transformed into cemeteries, complete with spider webs, gravestones, spooky music, fog, and any other Halloween-themed novelty Wal-Mart can sell. Yes- in the United States, it seems Halloween has exploded into a major holiday, rivaling Christmas in its commercialism.

So, U.S. Americans celebrate Halloween by doing what we do best - spending money and eating. But how does the rest of the world celebrate Halloween? According to PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org, "Halloween is one of the world's oldest holidays, dating back to pagan times. But it is celebrated today by more people in more countries than ever before."

Let's take a look at Halloween traditions around the world.

Ireland - Where it All Began

In Ireland, where the holiday supposedly originated, children receive a one-week holiday from school for the Halloween celebration. Both adults and children dress up as goblins, ghosts and other creatures, much like in the United States. Bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits and people sometimes also set off fireworks.

A traditional Halloween cake called "barmbrack" will be eaten. Various objects are usually baked into the cake, and tell the fortune of the one who gets the item in his or her piece. For example, a ring indicates a wedding in one's future.

Austria

From PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org: In Austria, some people will leave bread, water and a lighted lamp on the table before retiring on Halloween night. It was once believed that these would welcome the dead souls back to earth on a night that Austrians considered to be magical.

China

There is no "Halloween" celebration in China, but they have a very similar celebration called the "Ghost Festival" which is held on the thirteen day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Chinese families will prepare feasts and leave empty seats at the table for their deceased family members. The Chinese also burn things made of paper to remember the dead and bring comfort to the ghosts. For example, "Hell Money" is offered to ancestors for use in the afterlife.

Hong Kong

People in Hong Kong do celebrate Halloween, unlike maChristine Kee, Executive Vice President of the Translatus Asia division and native of Hong Kong explains, "In Hong Kong, children head to local theme parks like Disneyland or Ocean Park to participate in western Halloween traditions."

Halloween's "Jack-O'-Lanterns" in Asia.
Photo from Travelogger.

Korea

From PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org: In Korea, the festival similar to Halloween is known as "Chusok." It is at this time that families thank their ancestors for the fruits of their labor. The family pays respect to these ancestors by visiting their tombs and making offerings of rice and fruits. The "Chusok" festival takes place in the month of August.

Mexico

Halloween kicks off three days of celebration in Mexico, and is celebrated much in the same way as it is in the United States. Children dress up for trick-or-treating while teens and adults throw costume parties. The Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which occurs the following two days, honors the lives of the deceased and celebrates the continuation of life. The traditions of the celebration differ across regions, but common elements include providing offerings for the departed, preparing special foods, lighting candles in honor of the departed, and spending time at desceased relatives' grave sites. It's a fascinating celebration, and you can read more about it here.

Photo by Ruben Cordova, from UTSA.edu.

ABC News: Found in Translation, on a Chinese Flight

The following article, from the ABC News Travel Section , gives us some fun on this Friday with examples of interesting translations from an in-flight entertainment guide in China.

Found in Translation, on a Chinese Flight

An In-Flight Entertainment Pamplet Gains Much in Translation

Reporter's Notebook by DAVID KERLEY and CLAYTON SANDELL
Oct. 23, 2007

ABC News correspondent David Kerley and producer Clayton Sandell, currently on assignment in China, couldn't resist sharing these English translations found while perusing the in-flight entertainment pamphlet on a flight from Guangzhou to Beijing.

Making Sense of the Music Program

JAZZ & ROCK "They are vigorous music; they can't be defined to be something belonging to the furious young people only. Listen to Jazz & Rock and release yourselves!"

LIGHT MUSIC "If you feel tired on the journey, you can fling yourself in the light music to relax. In this peaceful music world, you can smell the fragrance of the greens, hear the bickering of the streams and enjoy the beauty of the blooming flowers."

FOREIGN POP MUSIC "When you wake up in the morning, trying to figure out whether you are in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, you hear the harmonic voice of the Backstreet Boys on the radio. You suddenly forget where you are — because music is boundless! This is the power of Foreign POP Music."

Figuring out the Films

CLASSICAL MOVIE "Those movies are so impressive. They attract you to walk into an imaginary world. You can't move your eyes away from the beautiful scenes; you can't help laughing or crying. You are totally moved by those romances."

ART MOVIE "They are the explorers or seekers to art and beauty. They are trying to show you something from their movies that they might not know by themselves. But you will definitely get something from their movies that you can feel."

How has language changed your life? Rosetta Stone wants to know!

by Lauren Nemec

Rosetta Stone, Inc. wants to hear about how learning a foreign language has changed your life. The leading provider of language-learning software has started a contest, calling for 300-word essays about how learning a language has affected your love life, career or family. The grand prize is a trip for two with a value of $5,000. Runners-up will receive language-learning software.

The contest is open to U.S. Residents only. Entries are due by November 30th.

Contest details are here.
Contest rules are here.

If you can write well, have a great story to share and live in the United States then you should certainly go for it! (And if you should happen to win, consider taking along one of us poor souls who are not eligible to participate in the contest... Wink.)

"Lost In Translation - What Interpreters Are Really Telling Their Audiences"

by Lauren Nemec

CityNews.ca has posted an amusing story citing examples of diplomatic mis-interpretations.

It's good for a hearty laugh. Thanks CityNews.ca!

Invented Languages

by Lauren Nemec

The LA Times posted an enjoyable and thought-provoking article today about invented languages. In it, the author takes a look at the world's constructed languages (called "conlang" for short) ranging from Esperanto to Klingon.

In their own words - literally

Fun with Engrish

by Lauren Nemec

The term "Engrish" widely refers to the incorrect usage of the English language - usually in written form - by people in East Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and China. "Chinglish" is the term used to describe incorrect usage of the English language in China or by Chinese people.

Things associated with the west, including English, are wildly popular in East Asian countries because they are seen as exotic. So the Chinese, for example, slap English sayings on anything from t-shirts to pencil cases to bubble gum wrappers. Sometimes the translations are done by professionals and checked for quality- but often they are done using machine translation software, a dictionary or a person who knows very little English, producing the "Chinglish" phrases that we all love so much.

Americans are guilty of doing this too- not so long ago, it was all the rage in the United States to wear clothing spattered with Asian languages or to get tattoos of Chinese or Japanese characters. Much of the time, this writing was nonsensical, meaningless, or silly. I'm sure many people were stopped in the street by Chinese speakers who would say something like, "Hey, did you know your shirt/tattoo says 'female horse rice'?"

So now that we know more about Engrish and Chinglish, we can have some fun.

• Watch a 1,300+ photo slideshow of Chinglish photos on Flickr.com.
• Visit the Hanzi Smatter blog - 'dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in western culture' - to see many examples of tattoos gone wrong
• Take a look at Engrish.com; read about Engrish in the fabulous FAQ section and see hundreds of hilarious photos of objects with Engrish
• Read an old post I made about Beijing's effort to rid the city of poor translations in time for the 2008 Olympic games
  

On a side note, we even have Chinglish here in Prague! Here are a few cute examples of Chingrish I've found, courtesy of Restaurant Shanghai (the best Chinese food in town):

Fried yellow croaker in squirrel style
Ocutopus with vegetables
Grape-shaped fish with bones
Chicken of three vigours

Have any more fun Engrish sites to share? Post a comment and tell us all about it.

Yes Sir, Th@t's My Baby

by Lauren Nemec

A couple in China has irritated government officials with their request to name their baby "@". The couple claims that this name (pronounced like English "at") symbolizes their deep love for the child, as the Chinese pronunciation of the symbol sounds like the phrase, "love him".

It's not clear if Chinese officials- who are already bogged down with couples trying to name their children non-traditional and modern names- will approve of "@". In a country where as few as 20 surnames cover the majority of the population, young parents are proposing more and more unorthodox names for their children in effort to individualize them.

There are links to many articles about this story here at Google News.

Localizing the Theme Park Experience

by Lauren Nemec

Disney has learned the hard way that you simply cannot impose American culture on another culture and expect to be successful.

In 1992, Disney opened the Euro-Disney theme park, located just outside of Paris, France. Unfortunately, Disney failed to adapt to local tastes and cultures when planning the theme park, which resulted in negative publicity, controversy and low attendance. For example, in line with Disney values and policies, alcohol was not served at the park-- a poor decision considering that wine is a staple at any meal in France. The executive chef in charge of menus at Disney parks recalls being told, "Do your own thing. Do what's American." Many viewed Disney's expansion as an assault on French culture. French intellectuals called it a "cultural Chernobyl."

Disney did a little better in 2005 with the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland. For example, they limited the number of clocks in the park (in China, clocks are seen as a symbol for death), put Mickey Mouse in a red and gold Chinese suit, and even consulted a Feng Shui master to ensure a harmonious and pleasant environment for Chinese guests. However, Disney got a little too carried away adapting to the local environment when they offered shark fin soup (a local delicacy) on their wedding banquet menu. They removed the selection after environmental groups threatened a worldwide Disney boycott. Poor Disney can't win.

Mickey and Minnie in traditional Chinese clothes. Photo courtesy cbsnews.com.

There are a myriad of cultural differences that must be addressed and overcome when theme parks expand into other countries. There is a fantastic article today on OrlandoSentinel.com called "Disney and Universal tailor attractions abroad to prevent culture shock" that provides some wonderful examples of these localization difficulties. Highly recommended read, especially if you're a fan of Disney or Universal Studios theme parks.

Top picture: Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Hong Kong Disneyland. Photo courtesy wikipedia.com.

Bonita Cinderella - Teaching Children Foreign Languages through Fairy Tales

by Lauren Nemec

An American writer named David Burke has developed a unique foreign language learning program for children. Concerned by Americans' lack of foreign language skills, Burke developed a line of children's books that teach children new foreign words in every book. The article, "US Writer David Burke Teaches Language Through Fairy Tales", offers an example from the instruction CD to illustrate how the books read:

"Once upon a time, there lived a poor girl - nuhaizi - named Cinderella who was very pretty - pioaliang. The nuhaizi, who was very piaoliang, lived in a small house - fangzi…."

So far, the books are available from English into Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian and Japanese and from Spanish, Korean and Japanese into English.

I think this is a great idea, mostly because fairy tales are so universal. In the Czech Republic, for example, you can see Czech fairy tales portrayed on television during every national holiday. Czech children watch their Czech fairy tales on Saturday mornings with the same wide-eyed excitement as American children watching a Disney fairy tale. Though the tales may vary from country to country, the basic themes, plots and characters are usually the same.

Perhaps fun tools like these books will make children more eager to learn foreign languages and help them connect easily to other cultures.

You can visit David Burke's website at slangman.com to learn more about him and order these books. Here's a man as animated as his fairy tales...

American Express Not Lost in Translation

by Lauren Nemec

"Are you lost in translation?

or

Are you a card member?"

In addition to receiving world class services, rewards and privileges American Express card members now benefit from round-the-clock translation services. In case of emergency, American Express can connect its members to English-speaking medical and legal professionals, ensuring their customers never get lost in translation.

American Express has an interactive banner advertisement for these services floating around the internet. I discovered this elusive ad on msn.com's travel section in an piece entitled "Slideshow: 20 Great Travel Gadgets" (an interesting thing to look at in its own right- I am particularly interested in the Zadro Nano ultraviolet germ zapper). Unfortunately I haven't seen the ad since then.

If you can find the ad somewhere, play with it (and tell us where you found it by leaving a comment). It's actually pretty cool in that it entices viewers by offering voice translations of common travel phrases, printouts of these phrases, and even downloads of multilingual ringtones in Japanese, Mandarin, French, Russian and Spanish. Yes, your phone can say: "I don’t speak mandarin, but my phone does!"

McDonald's Symbols Lost in Translation?

by Lauren Nemec

If you've eaten at McDonald's anytime within the past year or so, you may have noticed the strange symbols on the food packaging that are meant to represent nutritional information. They look something like this:

If you have any health education, it might be easy to make some educated guesses about what the chart means, but do you think the average McDonald's consumer can fully interpret everything?

Here is the nutritional chart decoded:


What do you think? Is the 'fat' icon is, as they say, 'an easily recognizable measurement tool'? It looks like a display on a stereo system to me. Does the icon with the three dots looks like a salt shaker? I suppose it might, now that you mention it, but I never would have deduced that on my own. Did you even notice the gray shaded areas or dotted line representing daily allowances? I suppose I was too busy decoding the icons.

These days, many global companies opt to use illustrations and symbols rather than incur the cost of translations into multiple languages. If you've ever bought furniture from IKEA, you know what I am talking about.

Ikea's 'instruction people' show you rather than tell you how to handle and assemble IKEA products.

How can a company choose a group of icons that will mean the same thing in any location in the world, without causing offense or confusion? It's quite a challenge and McDonald's did not go at it alone- they enlisted the help of a language services provider.

As this trend grows, more language services providers seem to be offering cultural evaluation services for companies using images, symbols and illustrations in their documentation. Experts (such as marketers or iconographers) evaluate symbols against a certain set of criteria to determine possible cultural offensiveness or insensitivity, appropriate use of color, similarity to existing symbols, ease of comprehension, etc.

I'm sure the language services provider that McDonald's used to analyze their icons did a quality job, but I would question the person who developed these icons. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But I say, unless you can show me the right pictures, I'd rather have the words.

Czenglish

by Lauren Nemec

Turns out the Chinese are not the only ones having problems with poor restaurant menu translations.

I've just returned from a lovely lunch with my mother-in-law at a delicious Italian restaurant here in Prague. We had a nice laugh over the menu selections, which included items such as:

-Mozzarela cheese lavred wuth sloves of tomatoes and fresch basil
-Grilled proper salat with jogurt dresink
-Pizza with pineaplle tomtoes and chees
-Salad with nightshade and smokem cheese with 1000s islands dresink

I appreciate that restaurants are translating their menus into English. I can hold my own with food-related Czech, but there is always the fear of ordering liver or stomach by mistake. But I have to wonder: why do nice establishments spend so much money on printing beautiful, glossy menus with tassels and vellum paper only to overlook the importance of printing correctly translated menu items?

Translatus should go around Prague translating restaurant menus for free in exchange for adding a "Translated by Translatus" notice on the menu. Hmm.. there's an idea...

Translation Tools for the Modern-Day Traveler

by Lauren Nemec

If you depend solely on a tattered old phrasebook to get by when traveling abroad, you’re way behind the times. These days, international travelers have a wide range of tools and gadgets at their disposal to help them communicate when abroad.

Swearing

Travelers can really blend in with the locals by using profanity, and websites likes cusscards.com and insults.net easily bring multilingual expletives right to their fingertips. So, the next time you’re cut off by an Italian driver in Rome, you can swear at him like the locals do. Please note that these websites may contain offensive material.

Health

On a more serious note, tools also exist to aid travelers with medical issues. Some niche language service providers exist to help travelers with special needs, such as allergytranslation.com. This service provides translations of 175 food allergies and nearly a dozen diets in over 20 languages. The allergies and their translations are printed on a small card, which can be shown to restaurant staff in other countries, ensuring a pleasant and safe dining experience.

High Tech

A cousin of mine and his wife are traveling through Europe for the next few weeks. They're addicted to their Blackberries, so they activated international service for their phones prior to their departure. With internet access in their hands, they'll be able to perform on-the-spot machine translations (in addition to other great things like checking email, reading restaurant reviews, and checking flight delays). Smartphones can be a great tool for international travelers- one I never even dreamed of when I first started traveling 10 years ago.

These days, you can buy various language software packages for your pocket PC that provide phrasebooks, bilingual dictionaries, machine translation, language learning programs and flashcards, voice translation, and picture dictionaries.

Electronic pocket translators have been around for a long time, but can do much more than they used to thanks to increased storage space and improvements in machine translation technology. Most electronic translators on the market also have multiple functions, such as an MP3 player, world clock, travel alarm, currency converter and calculator.

Forget verbal communication- Just point

Those who want to forget spoken language altogether can depend on the most basic of non-verbal communication tactics – pointing. There are many universal wordless phrasebooks in print, usually called ‘picture dictionaries’. Whether it’s toilet paper, gasoline, beer or a doctor, simply point to a photograph in the ‘phrasebook’ to signify what you need.

Discretion

Though not related to translation tools exactly, there is one more sophisticated 'device' to point out.

In an age where travelers (especially from the U.S.A.) need to look as inconspicuous as possible, some products and services are designed to help travelers blend in. Avant-Guide, for example, is a range of travel books that won’t make you stick out like a sore thumb. Their discreet covers make the books look more like a novel than a travel guide.

So throw out that old phrasebook and get with the times ;)

Transliteration of Candidate Names into Chinese Causing 'Upset Stomachs'

by Lauren Nemec

Who would you vote for in the 2008 Presidential Election: ‘Europe Pulling a Horse’, ‘Upset Stomach’, ‘Beautiful Soup’, or ‘Sticky Rice’?

(Translation: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney)

Chinese-American citizens in the City of Boston are pushing for the full translation of voting ballots, including transliteration of candidate names. Because written Chinese uses characters rather than an alphabet of Roman letters, some Chinese-Americans may have a difficult time understanding an English-only ballot. Advocates for Chinese-American voting rights insist on using transliteration as a tool to assist Chinese-American voters who are not able to read English.


However, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin is opposed to the transliteration of candidate names on ballots, arguing that there is no precise or accurate process of transliterating names and that there is a possibility candidates will sue over their transliterated names.

Remember: Transliteration is not the same as translation.

Translation changes the word into another language while preserving original meaning.

Transliteration changes letters or words into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language.

Though there is a process to transliterating, it is not without flaws and can be very subjective. When a name is transliterated to Chinese, the linguist will find Chinese words that phonetically sound like the pronunciation of the original name. The linguist will then choose the word with the most appropriate meaning and turn it into the correct Chinese written character for that word.

Take my first name, for example: Lauren. The first syllable, ‘lau’ sounds like the Chinese word for ‘law.’ The second syllable, ‘ren’ sounds like the Chinese words for 'cloud', 'kind’ and ‘patient.’ My transliterated name could therefore be ‘law cloud’.

The problem with this process is that it can create nonsensical meanings in the target language. Perhaps you’ve heard of a very famous transliteration problem of Coca Cola’s. Back in the 1920’s, Coca-Cola was preparing to enter the Chinese market. A translator transliterated the name ‘Coca-Cola’ into Chinese characters. When the drink didn’t sell, the company found out that the transliterated characters meant ‘bite the wax tadpole’ or ‘a wax flattened mare’. The company then changed the name of the product to 'happiness in the mouth' for the Chinese market.

In order for an election to run precisely and smoothly, the ballots should be as clear as possible. Transliterated names could possibly cause more confusion than clarification and might complicate election procedures and results. Politicians with unflattering or poorly transliterated names could potentially argue that it adversely affects them in the polls, possibly resulting in litigation and contested elections. With this in mind, it’s easy to understand William Galvin’s concerns. However, the Chinese-American activists are not out of luck yet: Galvin says, "If there is precise way to do this, then I'll agree to it.” Good luck!

Further Reading:

Candidates lost in Chinese translation: USAToday

Voting rights, not 'Sticky Rice': Boston Globe

Bringing Up Bilingual Baby

by Lauren Nemec

If you’re thinking about raising your child to be bilingual, one of the keys to success is to start as soon as possible. Studies have long shown that a child's brain is primed for learning languages from infancy until about three years of age. However, recent studies from the University of British Columbia imply that an even smaller window of time is ideal for introducing bilingualism to your child.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have made a new discovery regarding the way babies learn languages. According to the study, babies use facial clues (such as rhythm and movement of the mouth, muscle movements, and facial expressions) to distinguish between languages being spoken to them.

Babies from bilingual (French-English) homes and babies from monolingual (English) homes were shown a silent video of a person speaking in English, then in French. After a few moments, babies from 4-6 months old would lose interest in the video until the languages were switched, signifying that they can distinguish between different languages solely based on visual clues. (See the study in action! This is from UBC's Psych Department).

However, babies exposed to only one language tend to lose this ability by the age of 8 months. In the study, 8-month old babies with no multilingual experience were not able to make the distinction. As the saying goes, “use it or lose it”.

If you would like to read more about the study, here are some interesting articles:
Babies can tell if parents are bilingual
Secrets of babies' language skills
How Babies Decode Faces

If your child is older than 8 months, it's not too late to try to raise your child to be bilingual. (In fact, you're never too old to learn a foreign language).

Here are some articles giving advice about raising a multilingual child:

Ten Steps to Raising a Multilingual Child

Raising Bilingual Children: The First Five Steps to Success

A Monument to Language

by Lauren Nemec

I read the other day that the Russians have erected a monument to their language in Belgorod. The monument depicts a large bible opened to a page with letters of the Russian alphabet, symbolizing the holiness of the language and its links to the Orthodox Church. You can read more about it here.

The monument to Russian language. Photo Credit: kp.ru

I must admit... I had never heard of a monument to a language before. But it turns out that the Russian monument isn't the first of its kind.

Though not the first, the Afrikaans Language Monument in Western Cape Province, South Africa is surely the most dramatic. It was built in 1975 to commemorate the anniversary of Afrikaans becoming an official language of South Africa. The first monument built in honor of the Afrikaans language was the Burgesdorp monument, erected in 1893 and depicting a woman pointing to a book she is holding.

The Afrikaans Language Monument symbolizes the impact of culture and language on
Afrikaans and South Africa. Photo Credit: about.com

The Monument of Martyrs in Bangladesh (also called the Shaheed Minar) commemorates the people who lost their lives during the Language Movement of 1952 in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Every year on the 21st of February, people gather to remember those who sacrificed their lives for the movement to make Bengali an official language of Pakistan and affirm the culture and identity of the Bengali people.

Shaheed Minar, or the Monument of Martyrs, is a significant aspect of Bengali culture.

Know of any others?

You're Never Too Old to Learn a Foreign Language!

by Lauren Nemec

I found a sweet article today from the Hartford Courant about residents of a retirement community who are learning foreign languages in order to communicate with each other. You can read it here.

Nearly 40% of the residents at the Olympia, Washigton retirement community are Korean-born, and don't speak much English. Though they had been neighbors for many years, the American and Korean residents could not do much more than smile at each other- until now. At the request of the residents, English and Korean classes are being offered at the community. Being able to ask of their neighbor something as simple as "How are your children" in their neighbor's native tongue has not only helped the seniors to develop respect for each other, but has also opened the door for friendship.

Studies have shown that children who begin language learning at early ages will have better native pronunciation and an increased ability to speak the language fluently than an adult who begins language study later in life. However, according to language-learning-advisor.com, advanced age should not prevent a person from successfully learning a foreign language. Quite the opposite! A person's life experience, motivation, confidence and mature cognitive system can greatly contribute to their learning a foreign language.

Besides, I guess it helps that they don't have the added pressure of studying for exams or certificates!

*Photo credit: courant.com, Tony Overman

Foreign Language Tongue Twisters

by Lauren Nemec

Tongue Twisters are a source of fun for people all over the world. I've asked some members of Translatus' very multicultural staff to provide me with their favorite tongue twisters in their language. Have fun, and don't hurt yourself ;)

Lauren Nemec’s Favorite English Tongue Twisters

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,

I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Jean-René Savoie’s Favorite French Tongue Twisters

Les chemises de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches ou archisèches ?

Are the shirts of the archduchess dry or extra dry?

Ce chasseur sait chasser sans son chien dit le sage garde-chasse, chasseur sachez chasser sans chien!
This hunter knows how to hunt without his dog, says the wise hunting ward. The hunter knows how to hunt without dog!

Le blé s'moud-il ? L'habit s'coud-il ? Oui l'blé s'moud, l'habit s'coud.

Does the wheat mill itself? Does the coat sew itself? The wheat mills itself! The coat sews itself!

Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cent six scies scient six cent six cyprès.

If six hundred saws saw six hundred sausages,
six hundred six saws will saw six hundred six sausages.

Sonia Černohorská and Veronika Svobodová’s Favorite Czech Tongue Twisters

Vlk zmrzl, zhltl hrst zrn.

The wolf froze, he swallowed a handful of grains.

Strč prst skrz krk.

Stick your finger through your throat.

Třistatřiatřicet stříbrných křepelek přeletělo přes třistatřiatřicet stříbrných střech.

Three hundred and thirty three silver qu

ails flew over three hundred and thirty three silver roofs.

Pštros s pštrosicí a malými pštrosáčaty. Pštros s pštrosicí a pštrosáčatz šli do pštrosačárny.

A male ostrich with a female ostrich and baby ostriches went to the ostrich house.

Pan kaplan v kapli plakal.

The chaplain cried in the chapel.

Kmotře Petře, nepřepepřete mi toho vepře.
Godfather Peter, don't put too much pepper on my pork.

Marco Berg’s Favorite Dutch Tongue Twisters

Zeven Zaventemse zotten zullen zes zomerse zondagen zwemmen zonder zwembroek. Zware Julien zijn zuster zaliger zei: "Zo'n zeveraars! Ze zijn zijle zeker zot zeg! Ze zullen zinken!"

Seven fools from Zaventem will swim six Sundays in the summer without swimming trousers. The dead sister of fat Julien said: "Such fools! They are nuts! They'll sink!"

Drie dikke drilboren drillen door drie dikke deuren.

Three large drilling machines drill through three large doors.

Kapper Knap, de knappe kapper, knipt en kapt heel knap, maar de knecht van kapper Knap, de knappe kapper, knipt en kapt nog knapper dan kapper Knap, de knappe kapper.

Hairdresser Knap, the smart hairdresser, cuts and does hair smartly, but the mate of hairdresser Knap, the smart hairdresser, cuts and does hair more smartly than hairdresser Knap, the smart hairdresser, cuts and does hair.

Gooi geen groene groenten in de grote gracht.

Don't throw green vegetables in the big canal.

Alexander Larsson's Favorite Swedish Tongue Twisters

Sex laxar i en laxask.

Six salmons in a salmon box.

Sju sjösjuka sjömän sköttes av sju skönsjungande sjuksköterskor på det sjunkande skeppet Shanghai.

Seven sea sick sailors were taken care of by seven beautifully singing nurses on the ship Shanghai.

Flyg fula fluga, flyg, och den fula flugan flög.

Fly ugly fly, fly, and the ugly fly flew.

Knut knöt en knut bakom knuten, och när Knut hade knutit knuten så var knuten knuten.

Knut tied a knot behind the corner, and when Knut had tied the knot the knot was tied.

Want to see more tongue twisters in other languages? Check this out!

For more information about Translatus, please contact:
Lauren Nemec
Marketing Manager
Email: lnemec@translatus.com
Tel: +420 222 517 153
www.translatus.com