Almost everyone uses language, so inevitably almost everyone thinks they are an expert in it. I don’t consider myself an expert, though most of my work requires at least language competence and sometimes actual skill, but I do follow the blogs featured on this feeds page.
(If you are wondering where the translation-related feeds have all gone, I have put them on their own page.)
Most of the blogs represented here are in English, most of the time, but don’t be surprised to find other languages used. Go with the flow – I occasionally find myself pleasantly surprised at how much I can grasp in languages I have never seen before.
Language On the Net
Language Log » Hong Kong interlingual contrast
John Brewer noted the palpable irony between two quotations in this article from today's NYT: "7 Hong Kong Police Officers Arrested in Beating of Protester"(11/26/14) A: Hundreds of people shouted “I want true universal suffrage” in Cantonese, with their chants echoing off the tall buildings in the area, amplifying their voices. and B: The protesters, in a nod to the … [Link]
languagehat.com » Phrasebook Alternative History: 1940.
Tamas Deak at Poemas del río Wang posts about a courageous man and his unique Polish-Hungarian phrasebook: Wladysław Szabliński vel Krawczyk was the Polish lector of the Tisza István University in Debrecen from the thirties. He was born in Warsaw on 7 December 1912. On 1 September 1935 he was already teaching at the university, and took an active part … [Link]
the world in words » Do we still need professional translators to subtitle foreign language movies?
Photo: froussecarton/Creative Commons Read this post from Nina Porzucki. Or listen to the podcast above. In the beginning there was light, a little music and subtitles, technically called intertitles. I’m talking the beginning of the 20th century, during the silent era of moviemaking, when an image really spoke a thousand words and intertitles were used sparingly to explain action, and dialogue, … [Link]
Language Log » Silver / aging / senior / whatever industry
Goods and services for senior citizens are a big business in China. In general, the manufacture and marketing of such products go by the designation lǎolíng chǎnyè 老龄产业. But, oh, how to render that in English? Here are some of the translations I've come across: silver industry senior industry ageing industry aged care Google Translate has "aging industry" Baidu Fanyi … [Link]
Language Log » Class war skirmishes in England
Several manifestations of verbal and visual class warfare have recently hit the mass media in Britain. The subtlest example, least transparent to outsiders, is the affair of the white van in Rochester — William James, "In class obsessed Britain, tweet of 'white van' man hits nerve", Reuters 11/21/2014: Posting a picture on Twitter of a two-storey house, displaying three English flags … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Noogies
A interesting word that comes up sometimes in American books I read is noogie [ˈnʊɡi], which is used in the context of one person giving someone else a noogie. The people involved are usually kids, and it sounds like a somewhat unpleasant experience, though until I looked it up, I didn’t know exactly what the word meant. It isn’t used … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » mun
man bun wow man, nice mun
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