The Language Blog by K International

Spotlight on Mirandese

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, [...]

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

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Malaysian Defence Awkward Translation

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. [...]

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

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Father Builds Inuit Video Game

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 [...]

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

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Recovering Aboriginal Languages

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 [...]

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

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Texting in Endangered Languages

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 [...]

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

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Japan fbomb

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. [...]

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

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Who is Santa Claus?

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 [...]

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

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Ancient Roman Graffiti

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 [...]

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

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Speaking Dothraki

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 [...]

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

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Duolingo

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 [...]

Orginal Article on K International's Language Blog | Duolingo

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