Category Archives: Foreign Languages

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 →

Posted in English as a Second / Foreign Language, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language-Sites, Words / Dictionaries | Leave a comment

Free access to OUP foreign-language dictionaries 10/2007, quizzes

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Kevin

In honor of National Dictionary Day (American lexicographer Noah Webster’s birthday), Oxford University Press USA is offering free access to its online French-English, German-English, Spanish-English, and Italian-English dictionaries (oup.com/online/freeoldous/). [EDIT (6/6/10): dead link] This free access is from October 15 … Continue reading →

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Follow-up: Help test internationalized domain names

Posted on October 16, 2007 by Kevin

As I reported last week (Help test internationalized domain names 2007-10-15), the time has come to see how non-Latin characters will work in domain names. The Internet administrators at ICANN have set up test domains (http://example.test) in eleven writing systems. … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language Technology | 1 Comment

Help test internationalized domain names 2007-10-15

Posted on October 12, 2007 by Kevin

As I mentioned over a year ago (More writing systems for Internet addresses), Internet domains are biased towards English speakers. You have to use only the Latin alphabet (without accents), Arabic numerals, and hyphens (all English ASCII characters) for Web … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Language Technology | 1 Comment

Picture this: Zlango linguistic icons for cellphones and Web

Posted on October 12, 2007 by Kevin

You can liven up your cellphone/mobile phone messages and send Web messages and E-cards with Zlango icons (zlango.com/icons) [EDIT (6//6/10): dead link] (note: includes a few off-color terms) (via TechCrunch). Icons Zlango currently has over 200 icons (219, including at … Continue reading →

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Chinese (and Japanese) Internet slang

Posted on September 14, 2007 by Kevin

You probably know about English speakers’ netspeak/IM speak/textspeak, such as LOL for laughing out loud (and for Australians, m8 for mate). If you’ve read my post Spanish texting / IM abbreviations, you know about Spanish speakers’ usage, such as l100to … Continue reading →

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2007 International Linguistics Olympiad, USA’s first time

Posted on August 21, 2007 by Kevin

The fifth annual International Linguistics Olympiad for high school students was held in St. Petersburg, Russia, earlier this month. I was hoping the U.S. would finally join in. It did and fielded two teams, one of which won the team … Continue reading →

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U.K. vs. U.S. Harry Potter; French Potter dictionary

Posted on July 21, 2007 by Kevin

Given the complete lack of coverage by any print, television, or online source, you’re probably unaware that the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Bloomsbury Publishing), went on sale today. In honor of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Dialects, Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Words / Dictionaries | Leave a comment

2007 Maori Language Week

Posted on July 20, 2007 by Kevin

This year’s Maori Language Week in New Zealand will be July 23-29, 2007. The theme is “Tāpoi – Tourism.” It celebrates the language of the aboriginal people of New Zealand, a language with official legal status. For those of us … Continue reading →

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Spanish texting / IM abbreviations

Posted on July 18, 2007 by Kevin

If you’ve ever wondered what b/c (because) type of typing would be in other languages, Oxford University Press has provided some Spanish ones for free in this 165 KB PDF (plus how to write an old-fashioned letter in Spanish). Here … Continue reading →

Posted in Foreign Languages, LANGUAGE, Words / Dictionaries | 1 Comment