Community language teaching

By Simon

According to an interesting article I found today, the UK government is planning to cut funding to Asset Programme, which provides classes in a wide range of language not usually covered in the regular school curriculum.

The languages are known as ‘community languages’ to distinguish them from modern languages, such as French, German, Spanish and Italian, and classical languages (Latin and Ancient Greek) which are included in the curriculum. They are Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Cornish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, Welsh and Yoruba. This sounds like a useful initiative and it would be a great waste of talent if it’s cut.

Are there similar programmes in other countries?

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– les boule Quiès = earplugs (to keep out noise) = plygia clust
– les protège-tympans = earplugs (to keep out water) = plygia clust
– le tympan = eardrum / tympanum = pilen y glust / drwm clust
– le bouffon / le fou du roi = jester = cellweiriwr
– le plaisantin / blageur = joker = cellweiriwr
– farceur = practical joker
– emballer / faire (la valise) = to pack = pacio
– deballer / défaire = to unpack = dadbacio
– l’avantage unique / l’argument clé de vente (ACV) = unique selling point (USP) = pwynt gwerthu unigryw

Deps and Depping

By Simon

When I was in London this weekend I heard the word dep being used by a singer who was standing in for another in a singing group. I hadn’t come across this word before and assumed it was an abbreviation of deputy.

According to this article, that’s exactly what it is – “in the music biz it means a stand-in, a musician who takes the place of a regular band member – usually when they’ve fallen ill … or more likely got a better paid gig on.”

Have you come across this usage?

London

By Simon

While in London this weekend I heard many different languages being spoken, including different varieties of English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin and Cantonese. Those were just the ones I recognised. I spoke mainly English while I was there, plus some Mandarin and a little Japanese and Portuguese. The next time I’m there I might take my digital recorder to record some of the polyglot babble.

In Bangor you can find speakers of quite a variety of languages, but the linguistic diversity of London and other big cities is much higher, so whatever language you want to practise, you can probably find people to speak with.

Here are a few photos I took of the firework display the ended the Thames Festival.

There’s a video of part of the Sing for Water concert I took part in here

Sing for Water London

By Simon

This weekend I’ll be in London for Sing for Water London, a concert featuring a massed choir made up of members of 50 or so choirs from all over the UK with the aim of raising money from WaterAid.

So if you happen to be in London on Sunday afternoon, please come along to the Scoop next to City Hall on the south bank of the Thames at 3pm to listen to and support us.

We’ll be singing songs in English, Zulu, Baga and Georgian.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– le portail = gate = gât / porth / llidiart
– la critique = review (of book, film) = adolygiad
– le cours = lesson, course = gwers / cwrs
– faire un stage = to do/go on a (training) course = gwneud cwrs (hyfforddiant)
– le petit bâtiment préfabriqué = Portakabin
– aiguisser / affûter = to sharpen (knife) = hogi / awchlymu / minio
– tailler = to sharpen (pencil) = hogi / awchlymu/ minio
– le poignet = wrist = arddwrn
– la ronce = bramble = miaren
– la ronceraie = bramble patch
– la mûre = blackberry = mwyaren
– la cardère = teasel = cribau’r-pannwr gwyllt
– carder = to card (wool) = cardio
– la moisissure / les champignons = mould = lwydni
– la Tamise = (River) Thames = Tafwys
– tamiser = to sieve, sift = gogru / rhidyllu / rhidyllio
– lumière tamisée = subdued lighting = golau isel

Have you heard?

By Simon

I’ve just finished a new video. It’s in English this time and has similarities and references to previous videos. I added Chinese subtitles just for fun, and because it was a good excuse to practise my Chinese. If you spot any mistakes in the Chinese, or you’d like to translate the subtitles into other languages, just let me know.

I recorded the voices using my default RP accent for one character, and a sort generic northern accent for the other which contains elements of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

Labhair Gaeilge liom

By Simon

I just watched a video of an interview in Irish that Benny Lewis did on Raidió na Life, the Irish language radio station in Dublin. Benny mentions that he has had a t-shirt made with “Labhair Gaeilge liom” (Speak Irish with me) on it and that people who see the shirt speak Irish to him, if they can, even in places where he didn’t expect to find Irish speakers.

What a good idea, I thought. In Ireland you can’t tell if someone speaks Irish just by looking at them, so you never know who to speak Irish to, and people don’t know if you speak Irish either. A t-shirt like Benny’s clears up both uncertainties. The same is true in Wales, Scotland and other places where minority languages are spoken – you don’t know who speaks them. Similar clothing or badges could be useful for other languages as well.

It would be interesting to wander round London, for example, wearing a t-shirt with “Labhair Gaeilge liom” and/or “Siaradwch Gymraeg â fi” (Speak Welsh with me) to say how many Irish and/or Welsh speakers you could find. Or I’m sure you’d get a lot of interest if you wore a badge saying “你可以跟我说汉语” (You can speak Chinese to me).

Have you tried this for any languages?

Could you give me translations of this phrase in various languages so I can put together a new phrases page?