Language acquisition

By Simon

According to a study at UCLA, reported on EurekaAlert!, young children acquiring language benefit most from conversations. Reading them stories and talking to them are also helpful, but two-sided conversations have much stronger effects on their language development.

A study of language use in 275 families looked at the affects of conversation, adult monologueing, reading aloud and watching TV. It found that the one with the greatest positive effect on language development was conversation, which had up to six times more benefit than the other activities, while watching TV had neither positive nor negative effects.

The more children take part in conversations, the more opportunities they have to learn from their mistakes and use new words. The interactions of conversation are also important for social, emotional and cognitive development.

Gossip and language

By Simon

According to recent research, gossip makes up about 80% of human language interactions, and it is possibly one of the things that separates humans from other animals.

Researchers suggest that language developed mainly to share social information, i.e. gossip, and has enabled humans to build larger and more complex societies than other creatures. Animals such as apes spending a lot of time grooming each other and this limits the number of individuals they can interact with, while humans use language as a form of “vocal grooming” and are able to keep up with far more individuals.

In Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language Robin Dunbar makes a similar case, and estimates that the optimal group size for humans in about 150.

How much time do you spend gossiping?

Traaghtys

By Simon

Cheayll mee voish my ynsaghey mychione my thraaghtys jiu, as er lhimmey jeh arraghey ny ghaa, t’eh begnagh aarloo cur roish.

Traethawd hir

Mi glywedais gan fy nhiwtor am fy nhraethawd hir heddiw, ac ar wahân i newid neu ddau, mae o bron yn barod i gyflwyno.

Tráchtas

Chuala mé ó mo mhaoirseoir faoi mo thráchtas inniu, agus lasmuigh de athrú nó dhó, tá sé beagnach réidh cuir isteach.

Fir Scaanagh 2

By Simon

Va ny Fir Scaanagh ard-yindyssagh, feer aitt as arraneyderyn mie erskyn towse. Ghow ad arraneyn smooinaghtagh as ommidjagh lesh skeealyn giare eddyr oc. Va taitnys vooar aym.

Jea hie mee dys Llangefni er Anglesey dys cooney caarjyn ta gleashagh thie dys Reading ayns Sostyn.

Dynion Bwganod 2

Roedd y Dynion Bwganod yn wych dros ben llestri, yn ddoniol iawn ac yn cantorion ardderchog. Mi ganasant ganeuon difri a dwl efo hanesion byrion rhwngddynt. Mi fwynheais yn fawr iawn.

Ddoe es i i Langefni i helpu ffrindiau sy’n symud i Reading yn Lloegr.

Fir Scaanagh

By Simon

The Spooky Men

Noght ta mee goll dys cuirrey-kiaull ‘syn Galeri Caernarfon lesh ny Fir Scaanagh (Spooky Men), sheshaght chiaullee voish Yn Austrail ta jannoo turrys mygeayrt yn Reeriaght Unnaneyssit ec y traa t’ayn. She arraneyderyn yindyssagh ad, as t’ad goaill arraneyn feer aitt – ta mee jeeaghyn roym lesh.

Dynion Bwganod

Heno dw i’n mynd i gyngerdd yn y Galeri Caernarfon gan y Dynion Bwganod (Spooky Men), côr o Awstralia sy’n teithio o gwmpas y DU ar hyn o bryd. Maen nhw’n canu yn ardderchog, ac yn canu caneuon doniol iawn – dw i’n edrych ymlaen ato yn fawr.

Fir Uaigneach

Anocht tá mé ag dhul chuig ceolchoirm sa Galeri Caernarfon lena Fir Uaigneach (Spooky Men), cór ón Astráil atá ag tabhairt camchuairt na Ríochta Aontaithe ar faoi láthair. Is amhránaithe den scoth iad, agus bíonn siad ag canadh amhráin an ghrianmhar – tá mé ag súil go mór leis.

Busing

By Simon

Recently while reading Douglas Coupland novel Gum Thief I came across a used of bus(ing) that I hadn’t heard before – one of the characters talks about “busing” tables, which sounded a bit strange to me. I’m familiar with the word busboy, but haven’t been quite sure what a busboy did. Now I’ve discovered that a busboy, busgirl or busser is someone who works in a restaurant clearing and laying (busing) tables and helping the waiting staff – a kind of assistant waiter. I’ve never heard this expression being used in the UK though and, as far as I know, no equivalent position exists here – waiters and waiteresses are normally responsible for clearing and laying tables.

The use of busing to refer to clearing tables was apparently first attested to 1913 and probably comes from the four-wheeled cart used to carry dishes.

In the UK the word busing might be used in the context of transporting people by bus, especially school children. According to Wikipedia busing is “The transportation of schoolchildren, by bus, to schools in other neighbourhoods in order to alleviate social inequalities or to achieve racial integration.”

Are busing or to bus used in other English-speaking countries? If so, what does in mean?

Fliaghey

By Simon

Fliaghey / Glaw

T’eh ceau fliaghey dy mennick er y gherrid, as t’eh deayrtyey ny keayrtyn. T’ad gra dy vel laghyn fliaghagh graynoil, as ta niart mooinjer gra nagh row sourey ain mleeaney, agh er lhiam dy vel y fliaghey mie dy liooar myr ta eaddaghyn kiart ayd, as myr ta ymmyrkey jarrooagh ayd.

Glaw

Mae’n bwrw glaw yn aml yn ddiwedar, ac weithiau mae’n bwrw yn drwm iawn. Maen nhw’n dweud bod diwrnodau glawog yn ofnadwy, ac mae llawer o bobol yn dweud nag oedd gynnon ni haf eleni, ond dw i’n meddwl bod y glaw yn iawn os oes gen ti dillad addas, ac os oes gen ti agwedd positiv.

Dw i’n ceisio ysgrifennu tipyn bach yn Fanaweg bob dydd ac yn dechrau heddiw. Bydda i’n cyfieithu i’r ieithoedd Celtaidd eraill os oes gen i digon o amser.

BSL

By Simon

Yesterday I finally finished the British Sign Language (BSL) course I’ve been working on for the past year – if other things didn’t keep distracting me I would have finished it sooner. The course consists of just seven unit but manages to fit quite a lot in them, including numbers, colours, time, money, describing people, tenses, hobbies and interests, and food and drink. It also shows you how to construct sentences, and provides background information about sign language and the deaf community. I’ve found it fascinating and would like to learn more. Unfortunately there aren’t any sign language courses available in this area, but I do have a few books on BSL and a CD-ROM.

BSL is a bit simliar to Chinese languages in terms of structure – eg it’s an isolating language which uses time expressions to indicate when things happen rather than conjugating verbs. So you sign things like “Yesterday I eat cake” or “This morning I go to work”. Unlike Chinese or other spoken languages, sign languages can modify signs (words) to add nuances to their meanings. The amount of movement in a sign might be increased and/or its direction changed: for example instead of signing the equivalent of “she’s jumping high” you could sign “she’s jumping” with the sign for jump going higher than usual. Or if you’re describing someone’s hair you can modify the sign for hair to indicate whether it’s straight, curly, long or short hair.

One thing I plan to do with BSL is to link signs to words in the languages I’m learning. This will give me something extra to help me remember the words, and will help me to link words in different languages without using English. I think the physical nature of signs helps me remember them better than spoken words – my auditory memory is good, but my physical memory seems even better.

Have you studied or are you studying a sign language?

20 Free Tools for Translators and Language Learners

By Simon

Today we have a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online colleges for OnlineColleges.net.

Finding free translation tools online is a great way for translators and language learners to practice their skills. There are many different tools that can be used for translating text, websites, emails, and even speech. Here is a list of 20 free tools for translators and language learners to try:

WorldLingo – is a top-notch professional translation service that offers a free text, document, website, and email translator. The free translators have a 500 word limit.

SDLFreeTranslation.com – This free translation site provides language learners with tools to translate text and websites into more than 30 different languages.

Free-Translator.com – allows you to translate up to 150 words at a time. With this site, users can also translate web pages, find newspapers and courses for practice, and much more.

Translation2 – features a free text translator, dictionary, text to speech translation, and IM translator. The text translator provides a free editing tool, keyboard, decoder, and spell checker.

Google Translate – a free translator that allows you to enter text, web pages, or simply upload a document. Google Translate also features tools for searching web pages in other languages that can then be translated into your native language.

Dictionary.com – provides a free translator for translating text in over 85 different languages. Just a few of the languages included in this translator are French, Chinese, German, Japanese, Spanish, and Hindi.

Mezzofani Translations – This free translation site offers direct access to multilingual dictionaries and translators. Mezzofani Translation features a rating system for several translators as well as offering links to many more.

Freelang.net – provides users with free bilingual dictionaries, human translation, and other resources that are useful for language learners. This site also features a helpful forum for finding words and expressions in a wide variety of languages.

YAHOO! Babel Fish – In addition to providing a search engine, YAHOO! Also offers free text and web page translation tools. The Babel Fish translator allows users to translate up to 150 words at one time or enter the web page they wish to be translated.

ConveyThis – has a free translator that will translate your text into 40 different languages. This site also offers a website translation button that can be added to your website or blog to make it accessible in 40 languages.

Linguanaut Free Translation – features free human translations in over 40 languages. The translations are provided by several volunteer translators. One translation request can be submitted every 24 hours.

e-Free Translation.com – This translation site offers free language translators and dictionaries in over 30 different languages. E-Free Translation.com also provides language practice by featuring the news in 32 languages.

TRADUguide – a portal for language interpretation and translation services, offers a free beta translator’s dictionary. The site allows you to add a word or phrase then pick a source and target language.

Foreignword.com – This online language site offers a translation wizard, dictionary links, and a translator’s directory. The site also features a quick find for other languages and options.

Word2Word – a free language learning site that offers free courses, chat rooms, forums, and translation services. Within this site, users will find links to over 50 free online translators and translation software.

Applied Language Solutions – This online translation company offers a free online language translator that can be used for translating several languages. The translator features text, e-mail, and website translation.

Prompt Translator – The Prompt Translator is a free online dictionary as well as text, website, and desktop translators.

Babylon 8 – This leading translation software offers an online language translator that anyone can use free of charge.

Cucumis – This translator site offers free translations to users. The site is based on a translation exchange service. Every time you translate information you gain points. If you do not speak a foreign language, you can gain points by logging in every ten days.

Global Voices – This site offers free online text translation and translation tools that can be used for translating French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. Global Voices also features a free text translation tool for websites.