Accents of English

A website I found today compares how people from many different regions and countries pronounce English words. It also gives the pronunciation of equivalent words in related languages, and in older forms of English and other Germanic languages. The pronunciations are all given in the IPA, and there are recordings of many of the modern words as well.

Shaetlan (Shetlandic)

I found an interesting article about Shetlandic (Shaetlan) today entitled Shaetlan is Daed – Lang live Dialect or Shetlandic is dead – Long live Dialect.. It’s available both in Shetlandic and English. It raises some interesting points about the current status of Shetlandic, about relationship between languages and dialects, and the difference between linguistics definitions and popular perceptions of dialects.

Shetlandic is a Germanic language/dialect spoken in Shetland, a group of islands to the northeast of Scotland and to the south of the Faroe Islands. It’s a variety of Scots with Norn influence. Norn was a language derived from Old Norse spoken on Shetland, Orkney and in parts of northern Scotland until the 19th century.

Here are a few extracts:

… when I was young we spoke Shaetlan – we needed the word ‘dialect’ only if we were speaking English, when we would usually call it ‘The Shetland Dialect.’ When we were speaking Shaetlan, the distinction between dialect and language didn’t arise – it was an artefact of translation, a distinction which appeared only when you were looking at Shetlandic from an English-language viewpoint. The word ‘dialect’ implies that one language is a left-over scrap of another language. It’s a purely relative term, which becomes relevant only when you are looking at a language from an external viewpoint.

Recently, however, I’ve noticed that an increasing number of people use the word ‘dialect’ to describe the Shetland tongue even when they’re speaking (or writing) Shetlandic.

He goes on to argue that creating a standard spelling system for Shetlandic would be a positive move and would help it to survive. He dismisses claims that such as system would kill off the forms of Shetlandic spoken in different islands; instead people would continue to pronounce words in their own way while writing them in a standard way. Moreover writers would not be forced to give up their idiosyncratic and creative spellings as they claim.

Further information, articles and texts about and/or in Shetlandic are available here.

ECpod

Ecpod is a language learning site I found the other day that’s designed to teach you conversational English and Mandarin Chinese. It contains videos made by members, some of which feature everyday activities such as cooking, shopping or playing; others focus on particularly aspects of English or Chinese. There are also funny videos, cartoons, and a variety of others. The videos are vetted by language tutors commissioned by the site, who sometimes also add transcriptions.

It’s free, but you have to join to site to submit your own videos.

This sounds like a good idea. Do you know of similar sites for other languages?

Word of the day – snasail

Today’s word, snasail, is Scottish Gaelic for accurate, alright, brave, decent, elegant, lopped, neat or ornamented. When I stumbled upon it in my Gaelic dictionary, I thought at first that it said ‘snailsail’, which conjured up an image of sailing snail.

A related words include:
snasmhor – neat, smart or elegant
snas-bhriathrach – eloquent, oratorical, rhetorical (briathrach = eloquent, loquacious, talkative)
snas-chainnt – philology, rhetoric (cainnt = language, speech)
snasachadh – analysis, carving, elegance, make-up, ornamenting, polishing

The root of these words is snas, which means aspect, colour, decency, elegance, gloss, perfectness, polish.

Time

Finding time to study languages isn’t always easy what with all the other things you have to do. You can probably find moments during the day when you could study a bit, each of which might be only short. This doesn’t matter as long as you manage to accumulate a sufficient number of moments.

Some people advise you to fill every spare moment with language-related activity. This is all very well if you’re the kind of diligent person who carries around textbooks, dictionaries, flashcards and other language learning paraphernalia which you can whip out whenever the opportunity arises. If, like me, you don’t always have such things to hand, you can practice your language(s) by thinking of the words for the things you see around you, trying to describe the appearance and actions of any people and or animals you encounter, or just talking to yourself.

While I do try to use my spare moments to practise my languages, quite often I spend them just daydreaming or letting my mind wander instead. Sometimes my daydreams are in other languages though.

Last week Geoff B over on Confessions of a Language Addict wrote a good post about planning your studies – he suggests that when planning language study, it’s better to find times that fit into your routine and make them part of your routine, rather than thinking something like ‘I’ll study for an hour every evening’, then failing to do so.

He goes on to comment:

“Too often when we formulate our language learning plans, we are making them not for ourselves but for our idealized version of a dedicated language learner. Then we beat ourselves up for not being motivated enough to stick to it. In laying out your language learning plans, think about how you live your life and how you do things. Try to lay out some routines you can actually see yourself sticking to.”

Gwyliau

Yn ddiweddar, dw i wedi bod yn meddwl am le i fynd ar fy ngwyliau eleni. Dw i wedi penderfynnu gwneud cwrs Cymraeg yn Nant Gwrtheyrn ym Mis Mai. Yna ym Mis Gorffenaf, a i ar yr Ysgol Haf Iaith a Diwylliant yn Oideas Gael yn Glencolmcille yn Iwerddon. Ar ôl hynny, bydda i’n mynd i Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (Ysgubor Mawr Ostag), y coleg Gaeleg ar Ynys Skye, i wneud cwrs caneuon Gaeleg. Mae dwy wythnos o wyliau eraill ‘da fi, ond dw i ddim wedi penderfynnu lle i fynd eto.

Laethanta saoire

Le déanaí tá mé ag smaoineamh cá bhfuil mé ag dul ar mó laethanta saoire i mbliana. Chinn mé ar Breatnais a fhoghlaim i Nant Gwrtheyrn sa Bhreatain Bheag i mí na Bealtaine. Ansin i mí Iúil rachaidh mé go Oideas Gael i nGleann Cholm Cille an Scoil Shamhraidh i dTeanga & Cultúr a dhéanamh. I ndiaidh sin déanfaidh mé cúrsa amhránaíocht as Gaeilge na hAlban i gColáiste Sabhal Mòr Ostaig san Oileán Sciathanach. Tá dhá seachtaine saoire eile agam, ach na chinn mé cá bhfuil mé ag dul go fóill.

Holidays

Recently I’ve been thinking about where to go on holiday this year. I’ve decided to do a Welsh language course at Nant Gwrtheyrn in Wales in May. Then in July I’ll be off to Ireland for the Irish Language and Culture Summer School at Oideas Gael in Glencolmcille. After that, I’ll go to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye, to do a course in Gaelic Song. I have two more weeks of holiday left but haven’t decided where to go yet.

The mither tongue

Moves are afoot in the Scottish Parliament to introduce lessons in Scots in Scotland’s schools, according to an article I found the other day.

The Minister for Schools and Skills, Maureen Watt, thinks that the language of Scots should be used in classrooms. This proposal is part of a new curriculum being published this week which will aim to ensure that “schoolchildren are exposed to Scotland’s literature and the languages of Scotland”. Presumably that would include Scottish Gaelic as well as Scots.

Quite a few of the comments on the article are written in Scots and most are supportive of the idea. There are also those who question whether Scots is a language, an old debate that will probably never be settled conclusively either way.

Another article discusses the role of Scots in schools and gives practical tips for teaching it, and this page is a transcription of a talk, partly in Scots, about Scots in schools. A recording of the talk is also available.

Sbectol a chrempogau

Ddydd Gwener es i i’r optegwr am brawf llygaid a darganfodais bod ngolwg wedi gwella ychydig. Felly dw i’n gorfod sbectol newyd – nid peth rhad yw sbectol, yn arbennig y lensiau, ond does dim dewis ‘da fi. O’n i’n bwriadu prynu gitâr clasurol yr wythnos hon; bellach bydda i’n gwneud hyn yr wythnos nesaf.

Nos Fawrth es i i barti crempog – mae un o’r nghyfaill yn trefnu partïon crempog bob blwyddyn ers talwryn yn ei weithdy ger yr amgueddfa bysgota. Roedd llawer o fwyd blasus a phobl dyddorol yno ac mwynheuais yn fawr.

Spéaclaí agus pancóige

Dé hAoine chuaigh chuig an radharceolaí agus fuair mé tástáil radhairc. Fuair mé amach go bhfuil feabhas ar mo radharc na súl agus tá orm spéaclaí nua a cheannach – níl rud saor atá spéaclaí, go hairithe na lionsaí, ach níl rogha agam. Bhí rún agam giotár clasaiceach a cheannach; anois beidh mé sin a dhéanamh an seachtaine seo chugainn.

Oíche Mháirt chuaigh mé chuig coisir pancóg – bíonn aon de mo chairde coisir a choinnigh ina cheardlann in aice leis iarsmalann na hiascaireachta gach bliana le blianta anuas. Bhí go leor bia blasta agus daoine suimiúla ann agus bhain mé an sult as.

Specs and pancakes

On Friday I went to the optician for an eye test and discovered that my sight has improved somewhat. So I need new specs – there’s not cheap, especially the lenses, but I don’t have a choice. I was planning to buy a classical guitar this week, but will probably wait till next week now.

I went to a pancake party on Tuesday night – one of my friends has been putting on such parties every year for quite a few years in his workshop down by the fishing museum on the seafront. There was loads of great food and interesting people there, and I had a great time.

Online sign language translator

There are many sites that translate between different languages, but a site I found today called Sign Translate is the first one I’ve seen that translates between English and sign language.

The site is intended for health professionals working in Britain’s NHS (National Health Service) and provides translations from English to and from British Sign Language (BSL), and also between English and Arabic, Bengali, French, Gujarati, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish, Turkish and Urdu. The BSL translations are displayed as videos, while translations in the others languages are available as text and audio.

The system does not in fact translate anything you say to it; instead it is programed with a set of typical questions and answers used in medical situations with versions of these in BSL and the other languages. Online BSL interpretation by real interpreters using webcams is also available.

This kind of system could be useful in other places such as hotels, police stations, banks, etc.

Have you come across any similar systems?