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 » Writing Shanghainese
The recent discussion of different ways of writing Chinese reminded Jeff K of two books of Shanghai expressions that he had come across. See here for scans of a few pages. The first only provides English and Chinese characters (Hanzi), and is nearly useless for anyone who wants to learn to actually speak the Shanghai topolect, while the second provides … [Link]
languagehat.com » Pathos.
I’ve run across another example of the “echelon” problem, and this time I’m going to wag my finger at Michael Gorham a bit more vigorously (see this post). He uses “revolutionary pathos” to translate “революционный пафос,” but “pathos” cannot be used that way in English. The Russian пафос [pafos], like эшелон [eshelon] ‘special train,’ is a classic faux ami: while … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » How Do You Solve a Problem Like Fututiones?
The Times Literary Supplement discusses how translating Catullus is fucking hard. [Discuss this post] [Link]
Omniglot blog » Do we have a moving forward position?
I often receive emails from advertisers and people who run advertising networks wanting to place their ads on Omniglot. Or as they put it, they want to “buy redundant inventory” or “buy website traffic”. They talk about fill rates, CPMs, passback options, DSPs, geos, volume impressions and monetization strategies. Recently one asked me to let them know “if we have … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » Reverse Shade
Acting in a casual or complimenting manner towards someone. (Opposite Of Throwing Shade) I Have Dis Friend And Like I Wanna Be Close Friends Wit Her But She Is Legit #Highkey Gorgeous Like Damnn😁😍&~ Reverse Shade
[Link]
Language Log » Setting injustice back
Mitch Albom, "Austin pastor’s false cake charge sets real injustice back", Dallas Morning News 5/23/2016: Brown set back every future case of intolerance, allowing critics to ask if it’s real or fabricated. As Albom's column explains, Jordan Brown is the openly gay pastor who accused the bakery at Whole Foods of adding an anti-gay slur to the decoration of a … [Link]
Language Log » Rapping Karl Marx in China
In Sixth Tone, Fan Yiying has written an article that leaves me reeling: "Hip Song Gives Karl Marx Good Rap: Theme music for a Marx-focused television show is a hit with Chinese youth." The video of the song is posted here (unfortunately, you have to wait 40 seconds to get through the ads). And here is the audio: Your browser … [Link]
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