Languages in schools

By Simon

According to an article I found today in The Telegraph, the British government have decided to tinker with the education system yet again and plan to reintroduce compulsory foreign languages in secondary schools up to the add of 16. Their plan is to make languages one of five core subjects along with English, mathematics, a science and one of the humanities.

I understand from friends who work in education that such reforms and changes rarely have much time to settle before the next lot come along. It’s only six years since the requirement for languages in secondary schools was dropped, for example.

Do you think it’s a good idea to make the study of languages compulsory in schools?

Nurdles

By Simon

I came across the word nurdle in a book I read last week. Which of the following definitions do you think is the correct one?

  1. Nurdle, noun: A small furry creature that lives in burrows in the hills of Yorkshire
  2. Nurdle, verb: To score runs (in cricket) by gently nudging the ball into vacant areas of the field.
  3. Nurdle, noun: Something small and cute
  4. Nurdle, verb: To waffle or muse on a subject about which you know little.
  5. Nurdle, noun: A plastic pellet
  6. Nurdle, verb: To faff about doing nothing constructive.
  7. Nurdle, noun: A blob of toothpaste shaped like a wave.
  8. Nurdle, verb: To play a (tiddly)wink so close to the pot that it’s almost impossible for your opponent to pot it.

Can you suggest any other definitions for this word?

Chinese puzzle

By Simon

Chinese characters

Can any of you decipher the Chinese in this image?

The larger characters appear to be “仙露明珠方 朗潤松風水月北” (xiān lù míng zhū fāng lǎng rùn sōng fēng shuǐ yuè běi).

The smaller characters on the left appear to be “??扵甾香饭石生?” (??zāi xiāng fàn dàn shēng ?) – I’m not sure about the first two or the last one.

I know what parts of it mean, but not the whole thing.

[Update 21/11/2010]: according to a friend or a friend, the characters are “仙露明珠方明润，松风明月比清华。 于留香馆，石生画。” This is from 《小窗幽记》 (xiăochuāng yōujì) in 《醉古堂剑扫》 (zuì gŭ táng jiàn săo), Volume 12, Paragraph 121.

Budget Cuts Threaten Foreign Language Education

By Simon

Today we have a guest post by Alvina Lopez

Both in the United States and Europe, and most recently in the UK, higher education budget cuts have threatened many aspects of university education that were once taken for granted. Particularly hard hit have been humanities and arts departments. Cutting funds for foreign language study seems to be the latest trend.

At the beginning of October, The State University of New York (SUNY) Albany made unprecedented cuts to its foreign language offerings, announcing that it would completely eliminate its French, Russian, Italian, and Classics departments. The move sparked an outcry, not just in New York, nor simply in the United States. Recently, over 13,000 people from around the world signed a petition protesting its foreign language program cuts, including signees from 37 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, according to a Times Union article.

While SUNY’s cuts are at the forefront of media coverage reporting on threats to foreign language study in the United States, the school is hardly the only one. In the UK, massive budget cuts may sacrifice one of its oldest teacher exchange programs run by the non-profit organization, the English Trust for European Education (ETEE). According to a PRWire article, the Foreign Language Assistant program has been running for the past century, enabling UK students to serve as teaching assistants in Europe, where they further develop their language skills and cultural understanding. The program also brings in foreign language teachers from abroad.

Denmark, too, is experiencing cuts to university foreign language departments. A University World News article reports that more than twenty foreign languages are under threat of elimination or will merge with other language groups. Copenhagen Business School Professor Emeritus Robert Phillipson was quoted as saying, “It is lunatic for Denmark not to maintain strong research and teaching environments for a wide range of languages.”

While it is typical for humanities and arts programs to get the ax during periods of economic difficulty, slashing funding for foreign language education is short-sighted. Learning foreign languages isn’t simply a luxury, and to treat it as such is to ignore the fact that countries and cultures are not isolated enclaves. In order to get on in this world of rapid globalization, being multi-literate is absolutely essential. If our leaders don’t recognize this, who will?

About the writer
This guest post was contributed by Alvina Lopez, who writes for accredited online schools. She welcomes your comments at: alvina.lopez@gmail.com.

Typing Unicode characters

By Simon

Today I discovered a handy shortcut you can use to type accented letters and other Unicode characters without messing about with language-specific keyboards. All you need to do is type the decimal value of the character you want, then press Alt and x, and it should change into the character.

For example, if you’re writing a bit of Romanian and want to type the t with a comma below (ţ), type 0163 and then Alt-x. You can find the character codes in the Character Map or in BabelMap. This works in Word and WordPad in Windows XP and Vista, though unfortunately doesn’t seem to work in other programs.

I also found a useful site you can use to type in a variety of languages from Czech to Welsh.

Do you know of any other ways to input Unicode characters? I normally use BabelMap.

Rîli cwtshy

By Simon

I heard the expression rîli cwtchy [ri:lɪ kʊtʃɪ] on Radio Cymru this morning when they were talking about pyjamas. It’s on interesting example of Wenglish (Welsh and English mixed together) with cwtch = a cubby-hole; a hug or cuddle; to hug or cuddle, made into an adjective meaning ‘comfy’ by adding the English adjectival ending -y, and intensified with the rîli (really).

A more standard way of expressing the same concept is cyffyrddus / cysurus iawn.

Crémaillère

By Simon

Crémaillère / Trammel

Crémaillère [kʀemajɛʀ] nf – trammel (chem.), rack (rail).

Etymology: from the Old French cramail, from Latin cramaculus (rack), from the Greek kremasti (suspend).

The French word crémaillère came up last night when I mentioned that I’m planning to have a housewarming party, the French equivalent of which is pendaison de crémaillère and pendre la crémaillère means “to have a house-warming party”. This word also features in the phrase for a rack or cog railway: chemin de fer à crémaillère, and engranage/direction à crémaillère is rack-and-pinion gear/streering.

The French version of the housewarming party originates in the Middle Ages when people cooked on open fires with pots suspended from a crémaillère (trammel). The crémaillère was usually the last thing to be installed in a new house, and once it was, people held a party to thank family, friends and all those who had helped them with the new house. This was known as a pendaison de crémaillère (hanging of the trammel) [source].

According to Wikipedia, the custom of having a housewarming party dates back to pre-central heating times when guests brought firewood and built fires in all the fireplaces in a new house in order to warm it. This was thought to chase away any evil spirits in the vicinity, which liked to take up residence in unoccupied houses. Apparently there was a custom of bringing gifts of bluebirds, which were thought to bring good luck and happiness to the new house.

Traditional housewarming gifts in countries such as Austria and Russia apparently include bread (to never go hungry), salt (so life is always full of flavour, or for long life), and a broom (to sweep away troubles) [source].

Do you have any housewarming traditions?

Do you have a party, hold a party, throw a party, or use another verb?