Blog

  • Should languages be allowed to die?

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    Cornwall has begun an initiative to halt the almost terminal decline of its language and has won widespread, and not only widespread local support, but also some EU and government funding. The idea is that, for example, front-line tourist reception staff would welcome visitors in the native dialect, and road signs would be rendered in Cornish and would, it is hoped, become

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  • Emoji – the new lingua franca?

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    You may recall that we have touched upon this subject on our social media pages. Scholars, and in particular Professor Vyv Evans, a linguist at Bangor university, now have a new and rather alarming concern – the seemingly unstoppable rise of the emoji. For those still in the linguistic dark ages (like the writer), emojis are a modern day version

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  • Google translate is a useful tool, but do take care!

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    Every year, the town of As Pontes de Garcia Rodriguez, in the north-western Spanish province of Galicia, organises an annual event, the Feria do Grelo, celebrating one of the local speciality vegetables, rapini, or broccoli rabe, which is a turnip-like vegetable used in regional dishes. Web masters for the town were keen to broadcast details of this unusual festival to

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  • The language of multi-culturalism

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    A recent issue of Private Eye (No. 1404) has an interesting comment about cutbacks in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses. The article takes up a point made by the Prime Minister at his party conference. “There are parts of Britain today where you can get by without ever speaking English or meeting anyone from another culture,” he

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