Language Trainers Blog

A new show on BBC channel CBeebies aims to teach pre-school age children about languages and their related cultures.

Eleven minute programme The Lingo Show features an animated bug named Lingo, as the “host” of the show. Lingo then introduces other bugs from other countries who sing little songs about their respective allocated language and culture within a live action set. Episode 1 introduces Wei, a bug which sings in English with Chinese Mandarin words interspersed. Through the use of songs and repetition, we learn that the Mandarin word for hello is nee hao.

The show isn’t especially logical, as it goes on to demonstrate the words for ice cream, banana, and yellow fan, red fan and blue fan, but hey, it’s for kids so I guess needs to keep their interest. It’s literally an introduction, and doesn’t overwhelm with too many words. The series doesn’t look at a different language each episode either, which is great for continuity.

There are other “characters,” each of which will introduce a different language. The languages they represent are Spanish, Somali, French, Punjabi, Welsh, Polish, and Urdu.

You can watch episodes on the BBC iPlayer here.

National tourism agency Visit Britain‘s new multi million pound advertisement contains an unfortunate spelling mistake. The typo, which was seen on the New York subway, consisted of the spelling of popular Welsh National Park, the Brecon Beacons, as Breacon Beacons. It’s all too easy to complain about the lack of use of spell check and/or proof reading, but we’ve all done it. I can’t say that I’ve spent £25 million on an ad campaign which features a spelling mistake though.

What’s been your biggest typo? Has it been in a different language? Or maybe you’ve seen a horrible spelling mistake abroad? Please share!

Tomorrow, February 21^st, marks the 12^th annual International Mother Language Day. In honour of this worldwide occasion, we bring you some facts about the day, and what it represents.

· International Mother Language Day was founded by UNESCO in November 1999 to “promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, and to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.” It has been internationally observed since the year 2000.

· February 21^st was chosen to mark the anniversary, and in recognition of, the death of students from the University of Dhaka in 1952. The students were shot dead by police whilst on a peaceful protest for what is now known as the Bengali Language Movement.

· In Bangladesh, February 21^st is observed as a national holiday, National Language Movement Day.

· To remember the students, there is a monument named Shaheed Minar (Language Martyr’s Monument) on the Dhaka University campus in Bangladesh. There are smaller monuments in every district of Bangladesh.

· There are similar monuments in the UK, in Manchester, Oldham, Birmingham and in Altab Ali Park, in Whitechapel, East London. Another is proposed for Clare Gardens in Cardiff.

· UNESCO Headquarters launches the event and Member States are encouraged to organize educational, cultural and social activities that support linguistic diversity and multilingual education.

· Schools, universities and cultural institutions are especially involved in activities promoting the goals of International Mother Language Day.

· There is a theme attached to each year’s observance. The theme for 2012 is “Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education.”

· A Photo Contest was organised to mark this years’ event. Contestants from all nationalities were invited to submit up to 3 photos which embodied the theme “Languages and Cultures through the Language of Photography.” Winners are due to be announced shortly.

Are you involved in any International Mother Language Day activities? Leave a comment and tell us all about it!

From the title, can you guess which classic book has been translated into Jerriais by St Helier born linguist and writer Geraint Jennings? Jerriais, although not widely spoken, is an official dialect of Jersey, in the Channel Islands. Jennings has been an advocate for preserving the language, compiling and publishing a collection of Jerriais texts online at Les Pages Jerriaises.

Mr Jennings has been working on the book for 13 years, and instead of doing a literal translation, he has instead adapted it to make parts of the original storyline relate more to Jersey and its history. Jennings is also a teacher of the language, and feels that it is important to have a work of fiction that children are already familiar with to help them learn.

You can hear an excerpt of the book, read by Mr Jennings, here.

Source: BBC News

With Valentine’s Day approaching, you might want to know how to say “I love you” in another language. According to Google Data, more than 29 million searches are made every month for that very phrase.

The most popular searches are for the phrase in Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, German, Korean and Arabic. Instead of using Google Translate, online tool Omniglot is worth a look, it has a pretty comprehensive directory of “I love you” in these languages and many more you may never have heard of.

In other love and language news, scientists at the University of Texas have just published a new study on “function words.” These are described as everyday words which we use all the time, such as the, a, and and. The report investigates the way people speak, rather than what they say, and examines whether the speaking and writing styles couples adopt during conversation with each other can affect long-term strength of relationships. They conducted two experiments in which a computer program compared partners’ language styles.

You can “test” how compatible you are with your partner (according to whether you have matching language styles) by using study co-author James Pennebaker’s interactive application.

Source: Psychological Science

A woman from Birmingham recently recovered from the flu only to find she had a French accent.

“I had a bad seizure and when it stopped my mouth wouldn’t work. Over the next month, I had to learn to speak again. But when I did, I heard a different sound, not my Brummie accent. I sounded French but I’ve never even been there,” said Debie Royston.

The condition, known as foreign accent syndrome, was diagnosed by speech disorder expert Professor Nick Miller of Newcastle University; and Ms Royston is one of only 60 people in the world known to have it. Professor Miller said that Ms Royston “appears to have suffered seizures, but other factors may be present. For most, sounding foreign is a temporary phase of days, weeks or months. The number left with a permanent foreign accent is relatively few.”

The condition is usually associated with brain injury or trauma or a stroke, and those affected do not suddenly gain any further foreign language skills. The name “foreign accent syndrome” is actually a misnomer, as it has more to do with the listener’s perception of the speech, rather than the scientific principles behind it.

Other reported cases in the UK include Sarah Colwill, from Devon, who woke up in hospital in 2010 speaking in a Chinese accent, after experiencing a severe migraine.