ECpod

By Simon

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

By Simon

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

By Simon

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

By Simon

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

By Simon

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

By Simon

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

By Simon

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?

Languages Quick Fix

By Simon

Languages Quick Fix is a very useful site I discovered today. It includes words, phrases, and idioms in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, and German, plus a basic introduction to each language. There are recordings of the words, phrases, and idioms in all the languages – in the case of Chinese, the recordings are in Mandarin, Shanghainese and Cantonese. There are also links to news stories, dictionaries, and Chinese paintings (in the Learn Chinese – One At a Time section).

Another useful site I came across today is SmallMarble, a multilingual phrase book to which anyone can contribute. At the moment it has Spanish translations of most of the phrases, but few translations in other languages.