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Sunday, May 5 2013

How Speaking Too Many Languages Is Limiting

© Jeremy Sutton Hibbert - Restaurant sign in Figueres, Catalonia., mai 2013

I know, by saying this - that speaking too many languages is limiting- I probably go against years and hours and sweat tears of very dubious as well as very serious research that say the contrary. As a matter of fact, if you go about googling the advantages of speaking many languages, the number of  […]

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Saturday, September 18 2010

Of Language and Thought: Gender Awareness

The sky, a sun, a moon and a pigeon © Joao Vicente, CC-BY 2.0

Partant d'un article du New York Times sur la question essentielle de savoir si la langue que nous parlons décide de nos pensées, quelques considérations sur la langue en général et en particulier l'utilisation de différents genres pour les mêmes choses, notamment en français et allemand.

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Tuesday, July 13 2010

Why the Accent Is so Important

A tâche without an accent is just a stain.

Où la pub p)our une application iPhone sur le site spotify fait du multitâche une histoire un peu sale, faute d'accent.

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Saturday, August 29 2009

Faute de grammaire, on mange de la dessert

Crème Composé

It is probably a marketing trick to be using French sounding names in countries where French is not spoken. Especially for food. The "Cuisine flair, I suppose". But what really really bothers me, is when marketing does not check its grammar and ends up using the wrong gender for a word, or making a pathetic spelling and grammar mistake. Two examples in Germany, where the gender of "dessert" has been changed, or where a mousse-like dessert is called Crème Composé when it should be Crème ComposéE.

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Saturday, July 4 2009

Animals Too Speak Foreign Languages

Coq gaulois de la statue des Girondins place des Quinconces à Bordeaux © Jean-Marie DAVID Dinkley, CC-BY-SA 3.0

Les onomatopées utilisées pour les cris d'animaux sont très différentes d'une langue à l'autre. Entre le "cocorico" français, le "cocka doodle doo" anglais et le kikiriki français, je me demande comment notre fille va apprendre à faire parler les animaux.

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