Jun 21, 2022 | Blog, English language, Translation, Worldwide
The most spoken languages around the world English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Hindi and a whole lot more languages are spoken around the world. But do you know exactly how many? Well, the answer is 7,151! However, only 23 languages account for more than half of the world’s population. Nevertheless, we would like to talk about the top 10 most spoken languages in the world. First of all, it is important to point out that this top 10 has not always been the same. Indeed, the world is constantly changing, and with it the communities that speak different languages. They too are constantly changing. Some of them die, others are born, and others change according to the times in which they live. In 2022, at the top of the list, there is, unsurprisingly, English, immediately followed by Mandarin Chinese, each with over 1 billion speakers. In third place, there is Hindi, with more than 650 million speakers, and Spanish, spoken by more than 500 million people. French, Bengali, Modern Arabic, Portuguese, Russian and Urdu follow in our list, with over 200 million speakers each. The most spoken languages over the last century If we take a look at the top 10 in the early 1900s, we can see how slightly different things were. Indeed, the most spoken language was Mandarin Chinese. However, this is not unexpected due to the huge number of Chinese inhabitants. What may be more surprising, instead, is that the second most spoken language was not English, but Spanish. English gained the second position in 1911 and the first position only in 2013!...
Apr 24, 2022 | Blog, English language, Language Varieties
Creativity in a language is one aspect of human intelligence and we express it also through language and translation. Furthermore, we have to consider that languages change throughout time. Neology is the term we use to indicate the process of the creation of a new lexical unit. Neologism is the product of this activity. One of the most difficult challenges for translators is the necessity to find the right word. This happens because sometimes the perfect equivalent does not exist in the target language. That is why translators need to create new words or neologisms. How and why do we use creativity in language translation? Creativity in language and translation is important in a lot of fields, for instance in the technological field where translators have to manage large language databases. Furthermore, they have to do some statistical calculations in order to produce correct and usable text. There are a lot of reasons that push a community to create a neologism; the creation of a new word can derive from the need to name an original reference. This is the case for a new scientific discovery or invention or a new social expression. Neologisms in different fields and creativity in language translation Creativity in language and translation and, more generally, neologisms appear in the following fields: science and technology, culture and society, politics, and art. Over the last few years, scientific and technological progress has introduced procedures and devices in our daily lives that were impossible to imagine before. As a consequence, we have to create new words, especially in the IT and communication field where all new terms...
Apr 21, 2022 | Blog, English language, Traditions
Weather in small talk Spring has come with new beginnings and new weather conditions. Did you know that the weather is one of the most common topics for small talk around the world? In a lot of countries, people use small talk to fill awkward silences or as a way of breaking the ice and they do that by talking about the weather. Let’s imagine you are stuck in the elevator with a person you don’t know, what do you talk about? The weather of course! However, not every country welcomes small talk. Countries like Scandinavia, Sweden, Finland and Norway are not really into small talk. As for everything related to language, it is just a question of culture. For instance, in the USA and the UK, small talk is very common. Indeed, in the USA, small talk occupies at least six hours per day of conversation. In the UK, instead, 38% of British people make small talk about the weather. Talking about the weather – the weatherese language Actually, talking about the weather is not something we do just in small talk, but rather, there is a specialised language about the weather called weatherese. Forecasters use this language in weather forecasting. The problem is that forecasters seem to pay more attention to what the weather is than to how the weather may affect people. Indeed, specialised language is often used to save time, as most people do when speaking in a particular field. The problem with forecasters is that they are talking to a general audience, so they should be understood by everyone. On the other hand, academics...
Sep 26, 2021 | Blog, Communication, English language, Tips
Language teaching theories and methods September has come and, in many countries, its arrival ushers in a new scholastic year. In schools, many students are involved in language learning. Indeed, they study one or more languages, other than their native one. Foreign language teaching refers to the teaching of a language that is not native. Firstly, it is important to make a distinction between foreign language and second language, especially if we think about English language teaching. The terms English as Second Language (ESL) and English as Foreign Language (EFL) are not synonymous. Indeed, the difference between ESL and EFL lies in the environment in which it is taught. We refer to ESL when we learn English in a country where it is spoken. In this case, students can practice it outside of the scholastic context. EFL, instead, is taught in countries where it is not spoken outside of the scholastic context, with little chance of practising it. This is true also for the teaching of other languages. However, as English is increasingly becoming an international language and is used as a lingua franca in countries that do not speak it, the distinction between ESL and EFL is so blurred that it is not always easy to differentiate them. Language teaching methodologies Over the years, different theories of language teaching have emerged, resulting in different language teaching methodologies. We can think of the innatist theory, according to which children have an innate ability to discover language rules. This would explain why we are able to learn complex grammar rules. If we shift to the behaviourist theory, instead, we discover...
May 18, 2021 | Blog, English language, Language Varieties, Traditions
English is the product of many cultures and despite being of Germanic origin, an important part of English language etymology finds its source in the French language. In Twenty Years After – the sequel to The Three Musketeers by French novelist Alexandre Dumas – D’Artagnan said “English is little more than badly pronounced French”. Several years later, George Clémenceau (early 20th century French PM) said the same. Is there any truth in their claim? To find out, we need to go back in time and look at English language etymology in its historical context. But first, here are a few useful definitions. English Language Etymology: Definitions Cognates Cognates are words that share a common ancestry. True cognates might not be instantly recognizable; they only share the same etymology. But they can also have the same spelling and meaning, or they can be loanwords or calques. They can be close cognates (same meaning but slight variation in spelling) and even false cognates (or “false friends” – same spelling but different meaning). For example: True cognates: to attest < attester, from Latin ad-testari, curfew < couvre-feu, from the Old French cuevrefeu (used in the Middle Ages when fires had to be covered and people had to be home and off the streets by a certain time), coward < couard, Old French.Close cognates: analytique > analytical, créatif > creative, banque > bank.False friends: magasin (FR) = shop (EN) not magazine (publication), douche (FR) = shower (EN) not douche (EN) (medical term or type of person), bras (FR) = arm (EN) not bra (EN) (undergarment). Read more about the etymology of words between...
Feb 20, 2020 | Blog, English language
T-glottalization or t-glottaling? T-glottalization: the misperception of the letter /t/or T-glottaling, is when the sound of the consonant /t/ changes into a glottal stop. A glottal stop is literally the spot to take a break when you are supposed to produce a sound, in this case, the ‘t’ sound. It just stops in your throat. It’s like when you are about to say something and someone cuts you off. This pronunciation of the /t/ occurs in many varieties of English. Take an example of writ’t’en, Bri’t’ain, or impor’t’ant. Before pronouncing the /t/, there is a sudden pause and then you go for /ː(ə)n/ː(ə)nt/. To find out more about what is a glottal /t/ sound and how it is used in English, check out this informational video on glottal /t/ sound in American English. Using this video, practice your American pronunciation and speak like a native! The glottal stop or T-glottalization The glottal stop can actually replace a consonant so, for example, the letter /t/. Therefore we call it “T-glottalization”: the misperception of the /t/. Check out the pronunciation of ‘button, cotton or kitten’ and other words in the video above. Certain studies such as the one of Jeremy Obrien from UCSC Linguistics Research Center showed that the place of articulation of the letter /t/ could be confused with one of the glottal stops. The letter /t/ is part of the stop consonants which are /t/, /p/, /k/ but the /t/ is the only consonant that can get dropped for a glottal stop. It rarely happens with the /p/ and the /k/. In general, the glottal stop occurs especially on...
