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 » Enter here
From Bob Sanders comes this sign at a burger joint in the Melbourne, Australia airport: 
The Chinese says: qǐng zài cǐ shūrù 請在此輸入 ("please enter [text / account number / password / name] here") Here I give Google Translate a lot of credit, because it knows that you have to enter something after the transitive verb shūrù 輸入: "Please enter … [Link]
Language Log » Asian (con)fusion
Michael Robinson sent in the following photograph of a restaurant which I believe is in the Inner Richmond section of San Francisco: During the last few weeks, we've experienced a lot of befuddlement over just what animal symbolizes the lunar New Year — see: "Year of the ovicaprid" (2/15/15). I feel the same sense of bewilderment over just what kind … [Link]
Language Log » Braised double bacteria in abalone sauce
Tim Leonard sent in the following photograph of a curious menu item (via Reddit): 
For Chinglish specialists, this one is easy to explain: bàozhī shuāngjūn 鲍汁双菌 ("two kinds of mushrooms in abalone sauce") jūn 菌 means "fungus, mushroom, mold"; "bacterium" is translated into Chinese as xìjūn 細菌 (lit., "fine fungus"). The confusion between bacteria and mushroom was earlier explained on … [Link]
Language Log » Comparative diglossia
In the comments on "From Bushisms to la langue François", there was some discussion of whether French is more diglossic than English — that is, whether the differences between (formal) writing and (informal) speech are greater in French than in English. As I mentioned, it's not clear how and what to count — informal words and expressions, informal morphological and … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Shots Received
Recently, many people have been saying "Shots Fired," when someone gives a witty remark or serious burn. Now, if you ever find yourself on the receiving end of one of these burns, you can say "Shots Received." Evil Friend: "Your birth certificate is an apology from the condom factory."You: "Ouch. Shots received."
[Link]
languagehat.com » The Ode on Slate.
It’s been too long since we had any Mandelstam around here, so I thank Trevor for sending me Alistair Noon’s translation, with a very interesting introduction, of Mandelstam’s Грифельная ода (Slate Ode; the link is bilingual, and for some reason calls it “Graphite Ode”). This has got to be one of the knottiest poems ever written; Omry Ronen devotes 187 … [Link]
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