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 » Synesthesia and Chinese characters
Leo Fransella asks: I'm curious to know whether, in your years studying and teaching written Chinese, you've ever come across synaesthesia as applied to Chinese characters (zi) or words (ci)? The most common form of synaesthesia (~1% of people, I think) involves the systematic assignment of colours to letters, numbers or (sometimes) whole words. I have this 'grapheme-colour' quite strongly: … [Link]
Language Log » What's hot at ICASSP
This week I'm at IEEE ICASSP 2017 in New Orleans — that's the "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing". pronounced /aɪ 'trɪ.pl i 'aɪ.kæsp/. I've had joint papers at all the ICASSP conferences since 2010, though I'm not sure that I've attended all of them. This year the conference distributed its proceedings on … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » nmh
NMH stand for Nodding My Head as a direct opposite of the popular abbreviation SMH, Shaking My Head. NMH is often used to express approval or joy. Chloe: hey! do you want to come over next weekend? Eric: nmh! ofc!Eric: hey, you think this sweater looks okay? Chloe: nmh
[Link]
languagehat.com » Making Babel Sizzle.
Robert Minto has an appreciative review of Boris Dralyuk’s translation of Isaac Babel’s Odessa Stories (Pushkin Press, 2016); I’m bringing it here because it includes one of those translation comparisons I enjoy so much: Babel’s Odessa stories have never been presented as colorfully in English as they are here, in Boris Dralyuk’s translation. In his preface, Dralyuk notes that he, … [Link]
Language Log » No Japanese, South Koreans, or dogs
Here we go again. Image trending on WeChat, a sign on a Beijing bus: 
The sign at the bottom right reads: Hánguó rén Rìběn rén yǔ gǒu jìn shàng chē 韩国人 日本人 与狗 禁上车 South Koreans Japanese and dogs are forbidden to board Relevant Language Log posts: "Dogs and Japanese not admitted" (3/2/13) "Racist Park" (5/17/13) "'Hong Kong people are … [Link]
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