Category Archives: Language-Sites

Free book on Chinese, other Asian languages

Posted on September 4, 2006 by Kevin

Mark Swofford of Pinyin News has announced that the 1991 Schriftfestschrift: Essays in Honor of John DeFrancis on His Eightieth Birthday (Sino-Platonic Papers) is now available as a free PDF in honor of the 95th birthday of Professor DeFrancis. The … Continue reading →

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Chambers Dictionary update

Posted on September 2, 2006 by Kevin

I posted two months ago about America’s Merriam-Webster dictionary update (New dictionary words (first post)). Now Britain’s Chambers Dictionary has announced new words for the tenth edition, due out around October 2006. Chambers is known for having some offbeat definitions, … Continue reading →

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Japanese language through manga

Posted on August 21, 2006 by Kevin

One of Japan’s English newspapers, the Mainichi* Daily News, has manga (cartoons) in the original Japanese with English translation via mouse-over. They call it Manglish (mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/entertainment/etc/manglish/index.html) [EDIT (5/15/10): dead link]. That’s “manga English,” not the mixture of Malay and English … Continue reading →

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Oxford English Dictionary, Icon of England

Posted on August 3, 2006 by Kevin

Thanks to the votes of the English public, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has been voted an icon of England (ICONS Online; project commissioned by the British government). It’s now as English as fish and chips (British English for “as … Continue reading →

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Standard Appalachian English

Posted on July 20, 2006 by Kevin

Here’s an article (http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855935235&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189249849&path=%21health%21healthology) [EDIT (3/26/2010): dead link] about Appalachian English. It gives some history and dispels the frozen-in-time-English myth (note: Cajun isn’t frozen-in-time-French either). It includes a good general quote about dialects: [Dennis] Preston, the Michigan State University linguist, … Continue reading →

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Wigan, U.K., embraces dialect, sells shirts

Posted on July 15, 2006 by Kevin

After being somewhat embarrassed in the past about their regional dialect, the town of Wigan, Greater Manchester, in northwest England will produce tourism merchandise that translates some expressions. Wiganworld has even more Wigan words. Some of the expressions are rather … Continue reading →

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New dictionary words (first post)

Posted on July 7, 2006 by Kevin

American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster (THE “Webster’s” before the trademark was lost) announced some new words for the 2006 update of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Editon. They don’t mention this there, but an Associated Press article says that the verb … Continue reading →

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