The Language Feed - March 13, 2005

Sun Mar 13 19:18:40 UTC 2005

The Language Feed
March 13, 2005

This issue and archives can be read on the web at
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smorris2/feed
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Bonuses for language schools
Times Online, March 11
The Government will offer cash bonuses to secondary schools today in an
attempt to arrest a sharp decline in the study of foreign languages.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,591-1519569,00.html

Lawmakers try again to make English the official language
Arizona Daily Sun, March 11
Nearly seven years after a voter-approved law making English the state's
official language was overturned, Arizona lawmakers are considering
whether to put the question on the ballot again.
http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=104891

BCC says extra language investment for schools is not enough
Personnel Today, March 11
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned that greater
investment on language learning in schools will not stop young people
leaving school without the necessary language skills for business.
http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2005/03/11/28623/BCC+says+extra+language+investment+for+schools+is+not.htm

Ambushed: Volunteers test OSU’s foreign language skills
Daily O'Collegian, March 11
Language Ambush workers asked 250 students and faculty to answer a
question in a foreign language. More than 250 Oklahoma State University
students and faculty members were ambushed by a foreign language
Thursday afternoon.
http://www.ocolly.com/new_ocollycom/show_story.php?a_id=25783

County's diversity shown in language
SGV Tribune, March 10
Looking for a conversation in Efik? How about Wu? Want to chat over
coffee in the language of Ladino or Frisian?
http://www.sgvtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,205~12220~2756558,00.html

Md. teen protests foreign language Pledge
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 10
A ninth-grader is protesting his school's decision to broadcast the
Pledge of Allegiance in foreign languages as part of National Foreign
Language Week.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Pledge%20Foreign%20Language

Language skills legacy
Malaysia Star, March 10
My mother-in-law, who speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, used to comment
that it was difficult communicating with my son, Ian, when he was in
kindergarten. Ian only spoke English when he was a toddler. “It’s like a
duck speaking to a chicken,” my mother-in-law would say. I see the same
thing happening with my six-year-old daughter, Erin.
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2005/3/10/features/10234616&sec=features

U of A prof creates language for videogame
The Gateway, March 10
A U of A linguist and computer game company BioWare have joined forces
to create a realistic, mythical language for the soon-to-be-released
computer game Jade Empire.
http://www.gateway.ualberta.ca/view.php?aid=4154

Sioux Falls area ranks high in language diversity
Aberdeen News, March 10
Although the vast majority of residents here primarily speak English,
the greater Sioux Falls area ranks among the top 10 percent in the
country for language diversity.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/11100633.htm

Beijing police hone their language skills
People's Daily Online, March 10
Education should have been the last thing on the mind of Xu Jie, now a
39-year-old Beijing police officer - but he ended up with a schoolbag
and became a full-time student at a foreign university.
http://english.people.com.cn/200503/10/eng20050310_176236.html

District immersed in Chinese language
News & Observer, March 9
In Chapel Hill's Glenwood Elementary School, special "dual language"
classes are cleanly divided in half between U.S.-born youngsters and
native Chinese students.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/2192263p-8573372c.html

Program helps language skills
Minnesota Daily, March 9
Some retired professors at the University are putting their teaching
skills to work again by helping international teaching and research
assistants with their English skills through the Partners in English
program. The goal is to help the assistants with conversational English
they encounter in their classrooms. The program will result in a more
efficient class for both the student and teaching or research assistant.
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2005/03/09/63622

Take my word for it
The Guardian, March 13
Nicholas Ostler's fascinating history, Empires of the Word, examines why
some languages survive while others die out, and why English reigns supreme.
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/history/0,6121,1436277,00.html

It's never too late to learn a new language
Press and Sun-Bulletin, March 13
¿Hablas Español? Parlez-vous Francais? Sprechen Deutsch? Parli l'italiano?
If not, would you like to? Is it ever too late to pick up another language?
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/lifestyle/stories/li031305s153788.shtml

Hawaiian language enjoying revival in its homeland
North County Times, March 12
"E heluhelu kakou," Nako'olani Warrington tells her third graders --
let's read together. But there's no need to translate at Ke Kula Kaipuni
o Anuenue, a public immersion school where all instruction for the 350
students is in the Hawaiian language.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03/13/special_reports/books/15_35_323_12_05.txt

Scots Gaelic is in peril. It is our duty to save it
Sunday Herald Online, March 13
Muriel Gray argues that multicultural Scotland should give priority to
protecting our most endangered species, the native Gaels, before we
start worrying about those who speak Punjabi, Urdu or Arabic.
http://www.sundayherald.com/48303

Alphabet soup
St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 13
I am the world's worst speller. I have been all my life. My homework —
from Miss Pedrow's third-grade language arts class to Dr. Gurevitch's
doctoral seminar in persuasion and attitude change — all came back with
the measles, solid red marks from top to bottom. "Good writing,
atrocious spelling" was the verdict of just about every essay contest I
ever entered (even those I won).
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/11102923.htm

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