The Language Feed - July 4, 2005

Mon Jul 4 17:30:29 UTC 2005

The Language Feed
July 4, 2005

This issue and archives can be read on the web at
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smorris2/feed
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Consulate paying to promote Italian language in school district
LA Daily News, July 2
Eastside School District first-graders will spend 25 minutes a week
studying Italian -- because the Italian government will pay $25,000 to
the district for helping Italy promote its native tongue.
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2949302,00.html

Bilingualism far from widely endorsed
Globe and Mail, July 3
The good news: official bilingualism poses no particular impediment to
visible minorities in the federal public service.
The bad news: many anglophone and immigrant civil servants hate it.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050703.wbiling0703/BNStory/Front/

A second language 'changes personality'
Telegraph, July 3
If only Basil Fawlty had learnt a little Spanish. Psychologists have
discovered that people take on the characteristics of foreign nationals
when they switch into their language - and such a change in the
embittered hotel owner could well have improved life for the hapless
Manuel.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/03/nlang03.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/03/ixhome.html

Preserving Gullah
Savannah Morning News, July 1 (username: langfeed; password: language)
A Georgia Southern professor seeks to interpret, translate and preserve
the rapidly fading dialect. Cornelia Bailey grew up on Sapelo Island
listening to the songs of great grandfather Balaam Walker and laughing
at stories told by great-great uncle Shadrack Hall, all in the Gullah
language.
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/070205/3137154.shtml

Forked tongues
Guardian, July 2
Deborah Cameron's review on Guy Deutscher's account of linguistic
evolution, The Unfolding of Language.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/referenceandlanguages/0,6121,1519203,00.html

Start-up charter school to teach Arabic language
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 30
She had a good start in kindergarten last year at Roswell North
Elementary, but the Thomases were intrigued with a Fulton County
start-up charter school opening in August off Holcomb Bridge Road near
Ga. 400.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/northfulton/0605/30edamana.html

Language and Afro-Saxon self-contempt
Trinidad and Tobago Express, June 26
It would seem unobjectionable to introduce Spanish as a second language
in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad was a Spanish colony for 300 years,
from 1498 to 1797. We still sing parang at Christmas (though we don't
understand it), are close neighbours to Venezuela (with whom we share
much), and some survivals exist in place names, even the name
"Trinidad". We are an English-speaking enclave in the middle of a
Spanish-speaking sea. Is it not absurd that we cannot speak to our
closest neighbours, particularly if we want to expand our economic,
political, and socio-cultural horizons?
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=85474192

Learn a new language in-flight
CNN, June 28
First it was in-flight radio, then came television programs and video on
demand. Now, interactive language tuition is coming to an airline cabin
near you.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/06/21/bt.inflight.language/

K-5 foreign language proposal OK'd
Daily News Transcript, July 4
Students in grades K-5 next year will have an opportunity to study
foreign languages after school through a fee-based program run by a
nonprofit organization out of Newton.
http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=59311

Foreign languages are alien to most children
icBirmingham, July 4
It is a fact that Britain is the most foreign language-resistant country
in Europe. While most of our European cousins are likely to be able to
speak to us in English, the reverse is the exception rather than the norm.
http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100localnews/tm_objectid=15697149&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=foreign-languages-are-alien-to-most-children--name_page.html

Adults Can Be Retrained To Learn Second Languages More Easily, Says UCL
Scientist
Science Daily, June 15
Our ability to hear and understand a second language becomes more and
more difficult with age, but the adult brain can be retrained to pick up
foreign sounds more easily again.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050615060545.htm

Dems seek edge in war of words
Indianapolis Star, July 3
As they did in 1776, words are changing the course of human events. On
America's 229th birthday, the definition of Thomas Jefferson's seminal
line in the Declaration of Independence -- "life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness" -- is at the center of a political war of words.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050703/NEWS06/507030498/1012

------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are subscribed to the Language Feed. To unsubscribe, send an email
to smorris2 at gmu.edu. Feedback is always welcome. Send yours to
smorris2 at gmu.edu.