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?

What Can You Do With A Linguistics Degree?

By Simon

Today we have a guest post by Brian Jenkins.

Linguistics is an intriguing subject to some college students, and many end up choosing it as a major. However, Kent Clizbe, a headhunter who specializes in recruiting linguists, offers this dispiriting advice: “I tell these students, ‘you did your dissertation specializing in Cherokee semantics. Great. Now get as much of a computer background as you can.'”

Associate’s, bachelors’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees and certifications are available on-campus and online. Most associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs offer career training for those who want to teach English as a Second Language (ESL). Those with a master’s or doctoral degree have wider career options. So yes, those with a linguistics degree are sought after in the job market.

What Can Linguists Do?

  • Build databases to help e-commerce customers navigate the Internet
  • Build natural language processing systems to improve customer service of Internet businesses
  • Develop grammar checking functions for software
  • Improve the quality of automated translation on the Internet
  • Work for natural language processing firms
  • Work on search engines, speech recognition, and artificial intelligence
  • Work with language consultants to document, evaluate, and preserve languages
  • Develop curricula and materials for education
  • Work for the F.B.I., police departments, or the foreign service
  • Work for product-naming companies

Careers for Linguists
Some of the occupations shown below require additional training:

  • Computational linguists (combines linguistics and computer science and overlaps with the field of artificial intelligence)
  • Lexicographers (compile, write and edit dictionaries)
  • Vocabulary resource managers
  • Speech therapists
  • Translators
  • Intelligence analysts or code breakers for the U.S. government
  • Forensic linguistics (analyzing linguistic aspects of evidence, legal texts, voice identification issues, and other topics)
  • English as a Second Language teachers
  • College linguistics instructors

There are more than 200 linguistics programs across the country. The Linguistics Society of America provides an extensive list of schools that offer linguistics programs and other closely related areas of study.

Linguistics Bachelor’s Degree Program
These programs typically cover phonics, general linguistics, computational linguistics, English as a Second Language, and statistics. In order to improve the chances of getting a job some students choose a double major and have a secondary specialization in a subject such as computer science, psychology, education, the speech sciences, philosophy, foreign language, or journalism.

Linguistics Master’s Degree Program
These programs focus on research and provide the skills needed to teach language. Students typically specialize in a specific area, such psycholinguistics or phonology. Applicants for a master’s degree program are typically expected to be highly proficient in English, English composition and English as a Second Language. They also need a comprehensive knowledge of at least one foreign language.

Linguistics Doctoral Degree Program
Students seeking a doctoral degree need an in-depth understanding of advanced linguistics theory and computational linguistics. They’re usually required to speak and read fluently in several languages. A Ph.D is typically required to teach at colleges and universities.

Online Linguistics Degree program
Online linguistic students basically receive the same education students attending a traditional school. They can easily access lectures, texts, and audio and video recordings. Foreign language classes are typically part of an online linguistics program. There are numerous accredited online linguistic programs to choose from.

Many schools offer linguistics education programs. A linguistics degree, especially when combined with other training, qualifies graduates for an array of jobs within the field.

About the author

A member of BrainTrack’s writing staff, Brian Jenkins writes about careers in education, among other topics.

Wfftio

By Simon

wfftio [‘ʊftɪɔ] verb – to flout, dismiss, criticise

I’ve encountered the Welsh word wfftio quite a few times in things I’ve read and heard, but wasn’t quite sure what it meant. I heard it again this morning on Radio Cymru and decided to look it up.

Here are a few examples of wfftio in action:

Mae dadlau chwyrn wedi bod yn y cynulliad wrth i’r Prif Weinidog, Carwyn Jones, wfftio honiadau nad oedd safonau glendid bwyd wedi gwella yng Nghymru ers cyfres o achosion E.coli yn 2005.

There has been a fierce debate in the Assembly since the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, dismissed claims that food hygiene standards have not improved in Wales since the series of E. coli outbreaks in 2005.
[Source]

Gweinidog Addysg yn wfftio arolwg.
Education Minister criticises survey
[Source]

Mae Alun Pugh y Gweinidog Diwylliant wedi wfftio at y syniad o gyflwyno Deddf Iaith Newydd.

Culture Minister Alun Pugh has dismissed the idea of introducing a new Language Law.
[Source]

I think wfftio comes from the exclamation wfft [ʊft], which means ‘For shame!’ or ‘Fie!’ according to Y Geiriadur Mawr. Other Welsh exclamations include:

  • Ew! – Yuck!
  • Wb / Wbwb – Oh! Alas!
  • Wel – Well!
  • Wi – Oh! Alas!
  • Ych-a-fi! – Yuck! Urgh!

Word of the day – plumitif

By Simon

Plumitif [plymitif] nm – penpusher, bureaucrat; scribbler.

I came across today’s word last week at the French conversation group and particularly liked the sound of it. It comes from plume (feather, quill, nib) and is marked as pejorative in the dictionary. Plume comes from the Latin pluma (feather, down), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleus- (to pluck, a feather, fleece), which is also the root of the English word fleece.

Other words and expressions involving plumes include:

  • il y a laissé des plumes (he left some feathers there) – he came off badly, he got his fingers burnt
  • il perd ses plumes (he’s losing his feathers) – he’s going bald
  • elle a la plume facile (she has the easy pen) – writing comes easy to her
  • homme de plume – writer
  • prendre la plume – to write
  • je vis de ma plume – I live by my pen
  • je lui passe la plume – I’ll hand over to him / let him carry on
  • plumeau – feather duster
  • plumer – to pluck; to fleece (a person)
  • déplumer – to pluck
  • se déplumer – to moult, lose one’s feathers; to go bald
  • plumeux – feathery
  • plumier – pencil box/case

A penpusher is defined as an “Un-needed, beaureucratic employee not making any difference and hampering efficiency” [Urban Dictionary] or “someone who has a boring job in an office” [The Free Dictionary]. Are there similar words in other languages?