Language Trainers Blog

A new study conducted by the University of Strathclyde in association with the University of Cagliari, and published in the International  Journal of Bilingualism; has found that children who are bilingual also surpass monolingual children in other skill areas.

Two experiments were conducted in Glasgow and Sardinia. Researchers gave a test group of 121 nine year olds different tasks, which were a variety of physical, problem solving, arithmetic and language activities. They found that the 62 bilingual children were significantly more successful in the tasks given to them, and that the Gaelic speakers performed better than the Sardinian speakers.

Dr Fraser Lauchlan, from the University of Strathclyde, said:

“Bilingualism is now largely seen as being beneficial to children but there remains a view that it can be confusing, and so potentially detrimental to them. Our study has found that it can have demonstrable benefits, not only in language but in arithmetic, problem solving and enabling children to think creatively. We also assessed the children’s vocabulary, not so much for their knowledge of words as their understanding of them. Again, there was a marked difference in the level of detail and richness in description from the bilingual pupils.”

The reasons for the differences were given as being linked to the mental alertness required to switch between languages. The Gaelic speakers apparently had an advantage over the Sardinian speakers as Gaelic is formally taught in Scotland, whereas Sardinian as a language is mostly a native oral tradition and is not widely or formally taught in the Italian island of Sardinia.

London’s Spanish Film Festival kicks off next month at Cine Lumiere in South Kensington. The festival, which runs from Friday 28th September -  Wednesday 10th October, promises several UK premieres for Spanish language cinema fans.

Pedro Almodovar classic Todo Sobre mi Madre (All About My Mother) gets another cinema outing on 30th Spetember, and will be preceded with an introduction from Antonia San Juan, who played transvestite Agrado in the film. Another treat for Almodovar fans on the 1st October with a talk entitled Acting with Almodovar, with actors Lluis Homar, (Bad Education, Broken Embraces) Marisa Paredes, (The Skin I Live In, All About My Mother) and the aforementioned San Juan.

A full programme of events and film screenings can be found here, with tickets available here.

Cambridge University have been running an interesting research programme this summer. Both groups of children and groups of adults are being taught the same Polish course by the same tutor. Researchers hope to determine whether a person’s age or mother tongue affects their ability to learn a language.

The lessons contribute to an international project which is also running in France, Germany and the Netherlands, and is a collaboration between France’s Universite Paris 8, Germany’s Universatat Osnabruek, University of York, and Radboud Universiteit in the Netherlands, as well as Cambridge.

Dr Henriëtte Hendriks, from the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at Cambridge University, said:

“The idea is that kids might do something different to adults when they approach language learning. We’ve chosen Polish because it’s an interesting language with a lot of different endings of words. It’s not a very familiar language in any of the countries we’re working in, although there are a lot of Polish people in them all.”

The researchers want to find out what we pay attention to most when learning a new language, whether it is identifying words which are close to our mother tongue, or the order of the words in a sentence.

What do you tend to pick up first, when learning a new language?

A new book, A Story of English in 100 Words, by linguistics expert David Crystal, lists how English words have been used throughout the ages and demonstrates how the language has evolved. Crystal believes that these words are crucial to the development of the language, and traces the etymology and social standing of each of the words he has chosen.

The word “tea” for example was first documented in the 17th Century. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary in 1660 that he sampled his very first cup of tea. Tea drinking started out as an upper class activity but as the price fell, it became more and more popular across society. This then led to a lot of tea related words – teapot, teaspoon, teahouse.

The word “hello” began as street slang in the early 1800s. Before this, “hal,” “hail,” “hey,” “ho,” and “hi” were used, at different periods. “Hello” became more popular with the invention of the telephone.

“LOL” is used as an example of 20th Century English. Used as an abbreviation of “laughing out loud,” we tend to use this mostly via text message or IM chat. My mum, however, still uses it as “lots of love!”

You can take a sneak peek at, or buy, the book here.

It’s A Level result day, and it seems that modern languages are not a popular choice for A Level students. No language subjects at all are in the top 10 of subjects studied this year.

European languages such as French, German and Spanish were the most studied languages, but all of these subjects suffered from a drop in the number of candidates studying for the exam. In contrast, Polish, Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese and Russian entries were more popular than ever before.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said:

“A strategy designed to promote modern foreign languages is overdue. From investigating the possibility of giving talented language teachers a ‘golden hello’ to setting up advisory networks, we must begin to raise the status of modern foreign languages so that our school leavers can take full advantage of the creative and commercial opportunities the rest of the world has to offer.”

Hopefully, the introduction of languages being taught in primary schools will increase future levels of language qualifications, which will in turn increase the number of language teachers.

How many of us haven’t tried a crafty trick whilst playing Scrabble? One player took it to the extreme this week by cheating at the US National Championships. The five day event, held in Orlando, Florida, saw 350 players competing for a $10,000 (£6400) prize. The player was a minor, and thus has not been named. His methods, however, have. In the 24th of 28 rounds, a player who was due to be the next opponent of the boy saw two blank tiles on his side of the table. After the game, the boy was seen dropping the two blank tiles on the floor, in an apparent attempt to use them in the next round. He was questioned, admitted to taking the tiles, and disqualified from the tournament. His previous opponents were then awarded wins.

Cheating in championship Scrabble is not common. According to the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA), there have been five suspensions for cheating since 2008.

A new smartphone app which helps teach sign language has won another award.

Sign4Life was developed by secondary school students from Salesian College in Co. Limerick, as part of their Transition Year project. The app, which is now available on Android; is aimed at friends, family and teachers of the deaf, and is designed to help bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing communities through video technology.

In March, the five students won the regional finals of Junior Achievement Ireland. They followed this up in May by taking the All-Ireland National Junior Achievement title.

Caoimhe O’Neill, Ciara Reidy, Colleen Mullane, Chris O’Brien and Fiona Mangan then competed against teams from 32 countries at the Junior Achievement Young Enterprise  European Final, which was held in Bucharest, Romania. The girls won the prestigious Company of the Year award at this event, after making a presentation and undergoing an in depth interview with the judges.

“We have seen so much, we have learned so much. With some things, you have to make an effort. It isn’t going to come to you,” said team member Caoimhe O’Neill.

In addition, the UK team, Vitamin Boom, won the FedEx Access Award for their Super Froo-Tea tea bags and iced tea products, which contain Baobab.

The Junior Achievement programme is part of a worldwide organisation, and aims to bring enterprise to the education system, and give students hands-on experience of running their own business. The organisation uses mentors from local businesses to help students through the process.

French (along with English) is the official language of the Olympics, yet has been used sparingly in London for these Games. The only usage I’ve noticed is that all the official speeches at the opening Ceremony were given in French first, then English. Certainly all the newly erected official signs on the streets here in London are in English.

Have you ever wondered WHY the official language of the Olympics is French? Shouldn’t it be primarily the language of the host country?

The answer is that the official language is primarily French as it is the language of the International Olympic Committee. The IOC headquarters is in Lausanne, a French speaking city in Switzerland. More specifically, it’s in honour of the founder of the Olympic Committee, Paris born Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is considered the “father” of the Olympic Games.

Other French language Olympic facts:

• 23 nations participating in the Olympics have French as an official language
• French and English are the official languages of the Olympic Charter (the rules which govern the Games) – however in the case of discrepancies, French takes precedence!
• Gilbert Fellim, the IOC’s Olympic Games Executive Director, says that French is always to be used during opening ceremonies and medal presentations.

The Commission for the Management of Language Use in Shanghai has reported that English sign accuracy has improved by 85% in the three years since its’ campaign launched to clear up any confusing signage in time for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

Signs such as  “inform police immediately – if you are stolen” have been removed by volunteer translation students.

Websites such as Cheezburger’s Engrish Funny have been set up to publish photos of translation errors in all languages snapped by tourists, and this has added to the notoriety of such gaffes.

Newspaper Shanghai Daily says that whilst there is a Chinese-language government website for reporting “Chinglish” crimes against English, there were “few channels for ex-pats to report incorrect English signs.”

Have you seen any badly translated signs? Please share in the comments!