Laurel
The language that keeps on expanding
Thanks to The Week for bringing to wider attention this item from The Times (London):
The Internet “has changed English more rapidly than any invention...
Is resistance futile? Or can we go Globish?
News reports from Iran say that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use modified Persian words instead of English...
Word of the day
“A.Word.A.Day” is “a worldwide online community of some half-million readers who share a love for words, wordplay, language, and literature.” The selected words may...
Easier Indic input
HP Labs India recently launched a “gesture-based keyboard” (GKB), a new input method that will allow more people to use computers without typing. Current...
Faith-based language learning
This might be the answer to some of the “hurry-up” language acquisition decrees: according to the Jakarta Post, an Islamic boarding school in...
Language preservation can be fun
Keeping a language alive isn’t all work and no play. In North Dakota, according to the Grand Forks Herald, teams from Sioux reservation schools...
Native American languages in the news
Efforts to promote the Penobscot and Pequot languages have been in the news lately in Maine and Connecticut, respectively. And, according to the Norwich...
How long does it take to grow a linguist?
Maybe enough fertilizer can speed up the process.
Item 1
National Security Language Initiative
Briefing by Dina Powell, Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs...
You’re not from around here, are you?
We all know that our speech patterns and vocabulary and accent say volumes about us. Regional variations can be dramatic. I’m watching a video...
National Anthem Controversy Continues in Afghanistan
Back in the March issue of MultiLingual Computing & Technology I noted the language issues that have been raised in the writing of a...