The New York Times recently ran an article by Seth Kugel, the Frugal Traveller, describing a recent visit to the Mirandese-speaking region of Portugal. Today, Mirandese is Portugal’s second official language, but before it was officially recognized as such in 1999, it was sometimes treated as a rural (and therefore undesirable) dialect of Portuguese.

However, it’s actually been a distinct language since around the 12^th century, when it branched off  from Astur-Leonese. Mirandese does have many similarities to Portuguese; the two languages share a common ancestry and they have been spoken side-by-side for centuries. Despite these commonalities, Mirandese has its own phonology, morphology and syntax and is actually much more closely related to Asturian. In the New York Times, Mr. Kugel lists one of many differences that make the language unique:

Most memorable was how Mirandese distinguishes grandmother and grandfather, both of which are spelled abó. When necessary, grandfather becomes l abó de las calças (grandparent of the pants) and grandmother is l’abó de la saia (grandparent of the skirt). Insensitivity to male cross-dressers and female jeans-wearers notwithstanding, can we all agree that that is adorable?

Yes. Yes, we can.

Unfortunately, like many other regional languages, Mirandese is in trouble. UNESCO considers it a dialect of Asturian-Leonese and estimates there are about 150,000 Asturian-Leonese speakers in the world; even so, it is listed as “definitely endangered.” Considered as its own language, the situation becomes even more dire. Omniglot reports that there are only 10,000 fluent Mirandese speakers left in the world, with 5,000 more who speak it just occasionally.  It is spoken only in the following municipalities: Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro and Vimioso.

Most worrisome, of course, is the dearth of young people speaking the language. Omniglot says that “Many young people view the language as archaic and underdeveloped and have little interest in it.” Without new blood, languages die out quickly.

However, Mr. Kugel did note that during his visit there were “many exceptions” to that general rule, so a revival is certainly not out of the question.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Spotlight on Mirandese

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Last week, the Malaysian Ministry of Defense posted an English translation of its dress code for employees on its web site. Unfortunately, it appears that they didn’t make arrangements to have the translation work done by a competent translator. The results were predictably hilarious and awkward.

Some of the issues stemmed from simply atrocious grammar. For example, this rather convoluted sentence comes from a screen grab of the web pages in question, now hosted on Scribd since the originals have been taken down:

“Therefore, how to dress and clothes are clean, tidy and appropriate to be standard practice is emphasized to the officers and staff.”

Well, then. That’s enough to give any English teacher a fit, but at least you get the gist of it. But, it gets worse. Women working at the Malaysian Ministry of Defense are advised not to wear “Clothes that poke eye” or “Dress up that thought it seems to want to attend a party or picnic.”

On Thursdays, Male employees who aren’t required to be in uniform must wear “long sleeve batik shirt with collar/ mongoose fight.”

Two mean, carnivorous animals fighting- yes, that’s exactly what I want to be wearing around my neck!

After people got wind of the page’s translation issues, the Ministry became the target of mockery across social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, according to the Uppercaise blog. As a result of the publicity, the English version of the site was taken down.

Malaysian Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Star that the errors were due to Google Translate, saying “We have corrected the mistakes and translations are no longer done that way. It is now done manually.”

While these sorts of translation errors are often the fruit of relying on “free” machine translation, Uppercaise discovered that the official statement was probably not the whole story. They ran the original Malay on the site through Google Translate and found significant differences from the translations posted on the website.

The origin of this particular translation fail may always be shrouded in mystery, but the lesson is clear: When it comes to translating your website, take the time and spend the money to use a qualified translation firm!

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Malaysian Defence Awkward Translation

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When it comes to protecting threatened languages, technology can be a double-edged sword. It can serve to discourage young people from speaking the language of their parents and grandparents, or it can provide tools to help them learn it and space for them to practice it.

Here’s one especially sweet example of how technology can help preserve indigenous languages: an Inuit father named Qajaaq Ellsworth is in the process of developing a video game for young children ages three to seven, the same age range as his little girl. The video game, called Ilinniarnaqsivuq (Time for School), has two goals. The first is to help children get a head start on school by teaching them about colours, numbers, animals, weather and how to navigate the classroom setting.  The second is to help children practice these concepts in three languages: English and the Inuit dialects of  Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun.

Ellsworth told the Vancouver Sun that the idea was inspired by his daughter’s love for gadgets, saying “I have a daughter who is almost four years old, who is very comfortable with technology. She likes to play with our iPad, but there’s not much access to Inuktitut-language material.”

When Ellsworth’s game is complete, probably by April of this year, that will change for the better.

While these two dialects are used as the language of instruction in some Inuit school districts in Canada, the game is being developed for home use at the moment. Eventually, Ellsworth told the newspaper that he would like to create a classroom version as well.

When it comes to preserving Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, video games like this make sense because they are aimed at very young children, helping them gain skills at an early age. By focusing on commonplace topics like school and the weather, the game also teaches kids how to use these languages in their everyday lives.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Father Builds Inuit Video Game

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In Australia, English is by far the most commonly spoken language. Of course, that wasn’t always so.  According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, before Europeans set foot there, about 250 languages were spoken, divided into at least 500 different dialects.

Many of those languages are completely extinct. As it stands now, only about 15 of them are still taught to children, which is necessary for any language to survive long-term.

However, indigenous activists like Diane McNaboe are leading an effort to recover some of these lost languages. McNaboe is a member of the Wiradjuri people, an indigenous group living in New South Wales. Although their language was once effectively dead, Ms. McNaboe is one of a group of activists trying to piece it back together. In an interview with ABC.net, she explained her efforts to recover the lost words her ancestors spoke by asking for help from local communities:

“A lot of our old aunties and uncles could speak between 4 and 7 different languages, Aboriginal languages. There’s a wealth and knowledge out there and if it can be saved and recorded…it might be just people who ring up and say ‘look I know my father used this word when he was talking with the Aboriginal people in the area’, and that word may not seem very much to somebody else but it could be of importance to us. It could be another word that we’ve lost.”

A similar effort by Wiradjuri elder Stan Grant recently led to the first-ever Wiradjuri dictionary, published in 2005.

However, according to McNaboe, lack of written information about the language has hampered further efforts to reconstruct it. She told ABC.net:

“I talked to a lady in the Historical Society in Lithgow and they didn’t have much recorded there. I thought, well that’s a shame, because there’s a wealth of knowledge and there’s a lot of our Aboriginal sites, Wiradjuri sites, in and around Lithgow and into the mountains and things like that.”

With few historical records to go on, collecting scattered memories seems like the best hope for the  Wiradjuri language.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Recovering Aboriginal Languages

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If you’re trying to preserve an endangered language, technology can be both your best friend and your worst enemy. More and more frequently, however, technology has become an ally in the quest to keep indigenous languages alive. Apps and computer programs have been developed to bring these previously left-behind languages into the digital age. That makes it easier and more practical for people to keep using them.

Indigenous Language Institute executive director Inée Slaughter explained this sea change to the New York Times:

“For a long time, technology was the enemy.  Even in 1999 or 2000, people were saying technology killed their language. Community elders worried about it. As television came into homes, English became pervasive 24/7. Mainstream culture infiltrated, and young kids want to be like that. It was a huge, huge problem, and it’s still there. But now we know ways technology can be helpful.”

Young people are naturally attracted to technology, and nobody wants to be left out of the latest digital advances. However, technology has become accessible enough and easy enough to use that people can bring their languages online themselves- – and that has made all the difference in the world.

In fact, linguistics professor K. David Harrison told the New York Times that “We are getting languages where the first writing is not the translation of the Bible — as it has often happened — but text messages.”

It’s hard to overestimate the importance of that type of grass-roots effort in keeping a language alive.  However, challenges still remain, particularly challenges related to hardware. For example, while it’s relatively easy to create a new keyboard for a touchscreen phone, not everyone can afford that technology. Convincing manufacturers to build a new physical keyboard for an under-served market is considerably more difficult.

Advocates for N’Ko, an alphabet used to write the Mande family of languages, have been trying to get a simple cell phone that uses N’Ko produced. However, because it’s a niche market, none of the manufacturers have been willing to take on the project. N’Ko speaker Lamine Dabo explained that “Everyone says it’s possible, but the money is not enough for them to make it a priority.” Hopefully, that will change.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Texting in Endangered Languages

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No matter where you are these days, it seems that holiday advertising has become increasingly in-your-face: flashing lights, signs that shout at you, and of course Christmas carols played at the highest possible volume starting sometime around Halloween. Leave it to a department store in Japan (where else?) to take it to the next level.

Two readers of the Japanese Subculture blog were strolling around Shinsaibashi, Osaka, when they came upon a store having a New Year’s sale that featured deals so huge that apparently the only way the store could properly advertise them was to festoon their signs with one of comedian George Carlin’s seven dirty English words. As Japanese Subculture’s Jake Adelstein so eloquently put it, this was “no ordinary sale- it’s an effin sale!”

Zarina Yamaguchi, who sent the picture in, explained her reaction:

“I didn’t know how to react but what caught me by surprise was that none of the people around me seem to understand the profanity. My friend Sarah and I, both of mixed Japanese descent, both bilingual in Japanese and English, were struck with the comical twist. Pretty sure I would have never seen this elsewhere, I had to snap a shot.”

Of course, the blogosphere is very glad that she did! But why use the f-word to advertise a sale in the first place? For the answer, we go to the Super Happy Awesome blog, which reports that the signs were actually a pun. The sale, you see, was for special New Year’s grab bags called Fukubukuro. What we don’t know is whether or not the marketer responsible for the signs was aware of how singularly offensive some English speakers consider the “F-word.” Perhaps they thought the clever, multi-lingual pun was only mildly off-colour? That seems quite possible given the non-reaction Zarina noted in the local populace. Either way, it definitely speaks to the importance of getting help from a skilled translator when you’re advertising in another language!

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Japan fbomb

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Santa Claus is a familiar figure to children and adults across the world; a “jolly old elf” who rides through the night sky on a sleigh, bringing presents to all the good boys and girls. But who is Santa Claus, really? Where the does the legend come from?

The English name “Santa Claus” comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas, in turn, is derived from the Dutch translation of “Saint Nicholas.”

The real-life St. Nicholas was a Greek bishop who lived in what is now Turkey. He was known for giving giving gifts to the poor and protecting children. In fact, one story has him resurrecting children whom a psychopathic local butcher had made into meat pies, like an ancient version of Sweeney Todd.

But what is it with him and the chimney? Apparently, one of St. Nicholas’ many good deeds involved paying the dowries for three poor girls so that they wouldn’t have to turn to prostitution to support themselves. He wanted to make this gift anonymously, but when it came time to deliver the third purse the girls’ father was waiting up for him. So, down the chimney it went, where it was caught by a pair of stockings that the girl had hung up to dry.

Those of us who are used to the unfailingly cheerful modern version of Santa might also be surprised to learn that he wasn’t always so full of good cheer. In fact, in Austria and Bavaria he was supposedly accompanied by a rather unpleasant character called the Krampus. The Krampus looks like a rabid goat, and comes after the children on St. Nick’s “naughty” list. Sometimes, he merely delivers their families a bundle of switches to beat them with. Other times, he eats them. It’s still traditional in this region for young men to dress up like the Krampus and run around frightening the little ones before St. Nicholas’  feast day. If you see a Krampus, you are traditionally obliged to give it some schnapps, which seems like the sensible thing to do.

While the modern-day Santa Claus may have been derived from the legends of St. Nicholas, the two are treated as separate characters in many countries, with the saint delivering presents on his feast day and Santa Claus delivering a smaller load of goodies on Christmas Eve.

Santa as we know him today is an amalgam of St. Nicholas, the ancient Norse God Odin, and the old English character of Father Christmas. Like Odin, he has a long flowing beard and is capable of flying through sky at night. Father Christmas was created to represent the “spirit of Christmas,” defending the holiday from English Puritans who thought that drinking and merriment was an ungodly way to celebrate. From Father Christmas, Santa gets his jolly demeanour (and probably also his rosy cheeks and nose.)

Are you ready for Santa Claus this year?

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Who is Santa Claus?

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5 Funny Inscriptions

You might think of graffiti as a modern urban problem, but rest assured, writing on walls is an ancient art. Our forebears liked to make their mark on a place just as much as we do. Perhaps even more so, considering that they often had to chip away at stone walls to do so.

Translating graffiti inscriptions can lead to some interesting insights into the people and the cultures that created them. When it comes to ancient Rome, for example, we primarily learn that the Romans had dirty, dirty, minds.  Here, via Pompeiana, are 5 funny inscriptions from the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, translated for your amusement:

Words of Wisdom from Pompeii 

Scholars found this inscription scrawled on a wall in Pompeii: “The one who has sex with a fire burns his penis.” Hard to argue with that… 

The Apologetic Guest 

This is also from Pompeii: “We have wet the bed, host.  I confess we have done wrong. If you want to know why, there was no chamber pot.” Makes you wonder why this particular apology wasn’t delivered in person. If I were to have a bed-wetting incident-at someone else’s house, no less- I certainly wouldn’t want it recorded in stone. 

The Stallion 

This was found in the gladiator barracks: “ Floronius, privileged soldier of the 7th legion, was here. The women did not know of his presence. Only six women came to know, too few for such a stallion.” Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, buddy. 

The Cursed Toilet

This cheerful little inscription was found in a bathroom: “To the one defecating here.  Beware of the curse.  If you look down on this curse, may you have an angry Jupiter for an enemy.”  Umm, have a nice day?

The Critic

Apparently, at least one Roman citizen gazed upon the obscenity-laden walls of his fair city and wished for something more: “O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin.” Well, everyone can’t be Shakespeare.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Ancient Roman Graffiti

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Now  more than ever, it seems like constructed languages have really taken off. Tolkein got the ball rolling with his elvish languages, Sindarin and Quenya, and Klingon has been showing up in some of the strangest places imaginable. Now, the success of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” series has fans trying to pick up another fantasy language: Dothraki.

The show is based on author George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. Most of the characters speak English. Not the Dothraki, though- their culture seems to have been modelled after  the Genghis Khan-era Mongols. In the text, there are just enough Dothraki words thrown in to make the scenes feel exotic.

For the TV series, HBO wanted a fully-formed language. So, they hired linguist David Peterson to create one. The Dothraki characters speak in Dothraki, and there are English subtitles.

In a New York Times article, Paul R. Frommer,  the linguist who created Nav’i, declared that “The days of aliens spouting gibberish with no grammatical structure are over.” So we can expect more of these constructed languages in the future, no doubt. The New York Times says that this is due to a “a desire in Hollywood to infuse fantasy and science-fiction movies, television series and video games with a sense of believability,” but it probably goes a little bit deeper than that.

After all, science fiction and fantasy are aimed squarely at geeks. One defining characteristic of a geek is that they love to completely immerse themselves in the things that interest them, whether it be a series of books, a video game or the inner workings of computers. Learning a constructed language gives fans something to fixate on after they’ve memorized and analysed the novels, and keeps them interested while they wait for the next season of the show.  It’s quite simply good business!

Want to learn Dothraki? Here are some helpful resources:

Dothraki.org – The unofficial fan site for the Dothraki language.

Dothraki.com – David Peterson’s blog.

Dothraki 101 – Basic information and translations from the Game of Thrones blog.

Dothraki Forum on Westeros.org – A great place to practice your Dothraki.

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Speaking Dothraki

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What language does the Internet speak? All languages, of course, but English much more so than others. Per Wikipedia, anywhere from 65 to 85 percent of the content on the World Wide Web today is written in English. That’s great for all of us English speakers, but what about the huge chunk of the world that doesn’t speak English? Their Internet experience is necessarily limited by their language skills. 

Luis von Ahn, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University, wants to change that equation by doing nothing less than translating the entire Internet.

Obviously, that’s a staggering prospect considering the sheer amount of content on the web. But according to Fox News, that’s the ambition behind Professor von Ahn’s new language-learning start-up Duolingo. Duolingo offers free language learning to everybody. Since the best way to learn is by doing, language learners on the service are simply assigned a few sentences to translate from the language they’re trying to learn into their native language. Each little snippet of text is from a real website. Duolingo then records the translation, compares it to other people’s translations of the same sentence and determines what the best translation for the sentence probably is. This is similar to the method used by Facebook to translate its website, though of course Duolingo’s project is much more ambitious in scope.

Professor von Ahn says that people are the “secret sauce” that will distinguish the translations Duolingo produces from Google Translate. He told Fox,

“We thought that maybe we could do it with a computer but we saw we couldn’t, that (machine) translations are really bad for now and we need human beings… The translations aren’t perfect but we’ve confirmed that they are very, very good.”

Meanwhile, Duolingo participants get the opportunity to learn a new language (or at least get some practice in it) for free. This will be especially valuable to people in developing countries who wish to learn English. Professor von Ahn notes that language learning programs “cost a lot of money, some up to $500, and for someone in Latin America that’s a great deal of money.” Compared to the high cost of a formal course, the time spent in translation is bargain. 

For some people, the opportunity to learn a new language through translation will be a perfect fit. Others may prefer a more structured method of language learning. Either way, though, translating sentences via Duolingo will be great practice. What do you think of this idea?

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Duolingo

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