May 2013
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Mysteries of vernacular: Earwig - Jessica Oreck...
TED-Ed brings us another awesome episode ofMysteries of Vernacular. In this episode they talk about every kid at camp’s worst nightmare: the dreaded earwig
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Awesome French: Nouns which gender even confuses... →
awesomefrench:
These are words French people sort of use anarchically regladless of their original gender. This confusion can be explained for example by liaisons (L’armistice = le + armistice, but it sounds like la + armistice), by the facts we mostly use them with their plural form (Les horaires d’ouverture…
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April 2013
3 posts
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TED-Ed: Who invented writing? - Matthew Winkler
Mysteries of Vernacular While humans have been speaking for tens of thousands of years, writing has only been around for approximately 5000 years. Check out this video from TED-Ed to see where writing came from.
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TED-Ed: Mysteries of vernacular: Noise - Jessica...
Mysteries of Vernacular has become an office favourite here at GlobaNova. In this episode they explain where the words noise, nausea, and naval all stem from.
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28 Creative Ideas for Teaching with Twitter →
world-shaker:
A lot of oldies, but some fresh ideas as well. It’s definitely worth a look, especially since each idea comes with a source. Here are three (with sources):
Set up a poll: Teachers might want to set up a Twitter poll for either their students or the broader microblogging community. The applications are limited only by one’s own creativity; for an added bonus, combine the poll with...
March 2013
7 posts
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Awesome French: Endearments for close friends or... →
awesomefrench:
For the anon asking about endearments >
Puce, ma puce (My ‘flea’) : Girls
Poulette, ma poulette (My ‘young hen’) : Girls
Poulet, mon poulet (My ‘chicken’) : Boys
Bichette, ma bichette (My ‘little doe’) : Girls
Bichon, mon bichon (My ‘Maltese dog’) : Boys and girls.
Mon chou, chouchou (My…
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5 examples of how the languages we speak can... →
divineirony:
To say, “This is my uncle,” in Chinese, you have no choice but to encode more information about said uncle. The language requires that you denote the side the uncle is on, whether he’s related by marriage or birth and, if it’s your father’s brother, whether he’s older or younger.
“All of this information is obligatory. Chinese doesn’t let me ignore it,” says Chen. “In fact, if I...
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February 2013
15 posts
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I Love You Map - Valentine's Day Afterthoughts
Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at GlobaNova!
When setting out on any language-related project, one can count on unexpected discoveries and changing perspectives. Our World Valentine project seemed simple to me at the outset – just map ‘I love you” in 100 or so languages onto a world map. I thought of it pretty simply as a Valentine card for my wife.
However, almost...
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130 Ways to Say "I Love You"
Happy Valentine’s Day from GlobaNova! Here’s the full list of “I Love You” translations from our I Love You map.
Afrikaans - Ek het jou lief
Albanian - Te dua
Amharic - Ewedishale hu
Arabic - Ana behibak (to male)
Arabic - Ana behibek (to female)
Armenian - Yes kez sirumem
Azeri - men seni sevirem
Bambara - M’bi fe
Basque - maite zaitut
Belarusian - Ya...
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If you can correctly pronounce every word in this...
crimsun:
Read More
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Linguistics Subtleties: Now the Whole World had... →
historical-nonfiction:
A fact list about language
The oldest known written language is Sumerian, which originated in Mesopotamia around 3,500 B.C. It was written in cuneiform script, and the symbols represent the sounds made by syllables
All the world’s major alphabets developed from a…
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I Love You Wall (Monmartre, Paris)
With Valentine’s Day coming up in a just a few short days you might be wondering where you should take your significant other. I suggest the I Love You wall in France. The wall spans 400 square feet and boasts over 300 ways to say “I Love You.”
(via Atlas Obscura, photo credit: ConstantineD)
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New App Translates Portuguese TV for Foreign...
Continue to Link
The smart folks behind this app combined Google Translate and closed captions to translate Portuguese TV for foreign viewers.
(via Creativity Online)
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TED-Ed: Beware of nominalizations (AKA zombie...
Beware the zombie nouns! Think about this video next time you use the word “antidisestablishmentarianism.”
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“The limits of my language means the limits of my world.”
– Ludwig Wittgenstein
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TED-Ed: How did English Evolve?
As world powers have changed over the course of history, so has the English language. Each new kingdom added to the English that we speak today.
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“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you...”
– Nelson Mandela
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The Interrobang and Other Little-Known Punctuation...
How many times have you entered “!?” at the end of text? Save half the time by using the interrobang - the combination of an exclamation point and question mark.
Mental_floss has compiled a list of 13 little-known punctuation marks. My favourites: The exclamation comma, sarcmark, and of course, the love point.
Continue to link
(via mental_floss)
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Why is Creativity Important in Education?
Sir Ken Robinson explains why creativity is a necessity - not an option.
(via Adobe TV)
January 2013
1 post
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TED-Ed: Why is there a “b” in doubt?
English has a lot of oddly spelled and pronounced words. We have rules, and exceptions, and exceptions to exceptions… Words can even have the same ending but sound worlds apart. This video delves deep into one specific example - the odd word, “doubt”.
(via TED-Ed)
