Category Archives: English as a Second / Foreign Language

Lingro: Free Web page translation by word and more

Posted on November 30, 2007 by Kevin

You can get whole Web pages translated (Google Language Tools, Babel Fish, etc.), but here’s a free tool to translate any individual word on a Web page you want: Lingro (via Education Week). Lingro works for English-English and both to … Continue reading →

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Freerice: Vocabulary quiz helps UN food program

Posted on November 13, 2007 by Kevin

Do you like words? If you want to test your vocabulary and add to it while helping to feed the hungry people of the world, try Freerice. Here’s how it works: For every correct answer to FreeRice’s online vocabulary game, … Continue reading →

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‘The Queen’s Hinglish’ (Hindi English) book

Posted on November 9, 2006 by Kevin

There’s a new book out about the mixed English and Hindi (and other Indian languages) spoken by Indians in India and England. The book is The Queen’s Hinglish by B. K. Mahal (ISBN 0007241127). It’s mini-quiz time. Match the Hinglish … Continue reading →

Posted in Dialects, English as a Second / Foreign Language, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language Media, Newer Englishes, Words / Dictionaries | Comments Off

Shanghai Daily newspaper combats Chinglish

Posted on October 15, 2006 by Kevin

The Shanghai Daily newspaper (上海日报 Shang4hai3 Ri4bao4) of Shanghai, China, has put up a Web site (202.101.38.80/art/2006/10/16/294376/New_Website_offers_English_fun.htm) [EDIT (5/29/10): dead link] to help university students improve their English, especially in preparation for the Shanghai World Exposition in 2010 (Expo 2010 … Continue reading →

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Follow-up: Oral language-play for speech impaired

Posted on October 6, 2006 by Kevin

Back in August I posted (Oral language-play for speech impaired) about the System to Augment Non-speakers Dialogue Using Puns (STANDUP) project that helps speech-impaired children develop language analysis through puns. The Discovery Channel has a little more information. The program: … Continue reading →

Posted in English as a Second / Foreign Language, Foreign Languages, HUMOR, Humor Research, LANGUAGE, Language Media, Language Technology, Linguistics | Comments Off

2006 European Day of Languages + award

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Kevin

September 26th is the European Day of Languages. Here’s what the Council of Europe’s official site says: The general objectives of the European Day of Languages are to: * Alert the public to the importance of language learning and diversifying … Continue reading →

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Language buses and more for EU

Posted on September 22, 2006 by Kevin

The European Union has started a program of foreign-language phrases on public transportation, beginning with Lithuanian, English and Polish on Vilnius, Lithuania, language buses. Other languages on buses, trains, and trams will follow in other countries. Given that there are … Continue reading →

Posted in English as a Second / Foreign Language, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE | 2 Comments

Catalonia: tax breaks for English trilinguals?

Posted on September 17, 2006 by Kevin

A political party in Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, Spanish: Cataluña), an autonomous community (capital: Barcelona) in Spain, has proposed tax breaks for citizens who can speak all three of Catalan, Spanish (Castilian), and English. I don’t know if this will encourage … Continue reading →

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Buzzword contest from BuzzWhack

Posted on September 16, 2006 by Kevin

BuzzWhack has a buzzword contest going on: We’ll be giving away 7 free copies of The Buzzword Dictionary each week through November 1, 2006 to the people who nominate the best 7 buzzwords each week. A lot of the nominees … Continue reading →

Posted in English as a Second / Foreign Language, LANGUAGE, Language-Sites, Words / Dictionaries | 1 Comment

IBM Viascribe transcription device

Posted on August 2, 2006 by Kevin

Viascribe, an in-development speech recognition/dictation device for making college lecture transcripts available to deaf and hard of hearing students, is being broadened to English as a second language students and corporate uses, such as teleconferencing. Liberated Learning Consortium, an IBM-university … Continue reading →

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