November 2008
Bilingualism in the USA
November 28, 2008
I’m back from the USA. I had a fantastic time (can you see me in the photo?). I won’t talk about the differences between British and American English, as other blogs out there do it much better than I would...
5th anniversary
November 11, 2008
Today is a special day: it’s this blog’s 5th anniversary, which, in blog years, must be around 180, a ripe old age which it would have never reached if it hadn’t been for all the great comments it gets and...
The Pirahã
November 10, 2008
Guardian article about a missionary who went to convert an Amazonian tribe to Christianity but instead, "learned to speak their unique language - and ended up rejecting his faith, losing his family and picking a fight with Noam Chomsky." I...
My Cool Job
November 7, 2008
I was delighted when Carrie, author of the website My Cool Job, asked me to answer a few questions about what it's like to be an English to French translator. I'm not entirely sure my job is as cool as...
Northern Baker v Southern Linguist
November 5, 2008
Southern Linguist and a couple of English friends, in a bakery in Northern France a few months ago: Southern Linguist: "Bonjour, 15 chocolatines, s’il vous plaît." Northern Baker: "Pardon?" English friend: "Je pense qu’elle veut dire "pains au chocolat"." Northern...
Rwanda drops French as official language
November 1, 2008
It's official. There goes the 60,000 word English report I was meant to spend most of December and January translating into French for an NGO based in Rwanda. Where do I complain? What do you mean, Rwanda has other fish...