27 Ιουν 2009

English acquires its millionth word

From
June 11, 2009

English acquires its millionth word

A page in dictionary showing a finger pointing to a word

(Richard Cannon/The Times)

For every French word there are now ten in English, or nearly-English

English has now acquired its millionth word, according to a website monitoring the extraordinary emergence of new English throughout the world, including slang, word-marriages with other languages and the thousands of new terms spawned by the internet.

“The Million Word milestone brings to notice the coming of age of English as the first truly global language”, said Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor.

Whether one accepts Mr Payack’s claim depends on how one defines the word “word”.

As of 2005, the Oxford English Dictionary contained 301,100 main entries. Adding in combination words, derivatives and phrases brings the OED total to 616,500 word-forms.

Appropriately enough, the 1,000,000th word accepted as genuine yesterday was “Web 2.0” which was defined as “the next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you”.

Three other terms narrowly lost out to “Web 2.0” in the race the million mark: “Jai Ho!” a Hinglish expression signifying a major accomplishment; “slumdog” (made popular by the film Slumdog Millionaire), meaning a child slum dweller, and “n00b”, a mixture of letters and zeros which is a mocking term for a newcomer in the online gamer community.

If the Global Language Monitor is right in its calculation, for every French word, there are now ten in English, or nearly-English.

Mr Payack and his colleagues use what they call a Predictive Quantities Indicator to assess whether a usage qualifies as a word: each contender is analysed according to depth (number of citations) and breadth (geographic extent of word usage), as well as the number of times a word has appeared in the global print and electronic media, the Internet, blogs, and social media such as Twitter and YouTube. Words need a minimum of 25,000 citations to qualify.

Purists, professional lexicographers and traditional Scrabble players are all likely to reject many of the words accepted by the Global Language Monitor.

But whether or not English can be said to contain a million real words, the survey reflects the extraordinary explosion of modern English, and the way its rapid spread has caused the language to mutate into new, wonderful and sometimes baffling shapes.

A generation ago, some 250 million spoke English. Today, approximately 1.5 billion people speak the language as a primary, secondary or business language. About 250 million people are learning English in China alone.

Mr Payack estimates that new words are entering the language at the rate of 14.7 words a day. The internet has also revived the possibilities for independent word-coinage in a way not seen since Shakespeare’s time, when the language was acquiring its modern structure and words were being invented faster than ever before. Of the 24,000 words used by Shakespeare, some 1,700 were his own inventions.

The internet has ushered in the second great age of neologism (new words), with an astonishing efflorescence of words and phrases to describe new ideas or reshape old ones. In the past, a word slowly spread and gained acceptance through usage or literature. If a word works today, the internet can breathe instant life into it, and as a result, modern, non-standard English is evolving at warp speed.

The language of the internet has itself evolved, with words that were once preserve of the cyber-boffins gaining universal acceptance: blog, byte, e-mail, spam, twitter and so on. Ancient or Classic Geek has evolved into Modern Geek.

The spread of English in the 20th century was remarkable enough: in the first decade of the 21st century, however, it has evolved and expanded more rapidly, and more strangely, than any language in history. Jai Ho!

20 Φεβ 2009

Cornish language extinct, says UN

The Cornish language has been branded "extinct" by linguistic experts, sparking protests from speakers.

Thirty linguists worked on Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, compiled by Unesco, the cultural section of the United Nations.
Cornish is believed to have died out as a first language in 1777.
But the Cornish Language Partnership says the number of speakers has risen in the past 20 years and there should be a section for revitalised languages.
Unesco's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger features about 2,500 dialects. There are thought to be about 300 fluent speakers of Cornish.
But Jenefer Lowe, development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership, said there were thousands who had a "smattering" of the language.
"Saying Cornish is extinct implies there are no speakers and the language is dead, which it isn't," she said.
"Unesco's study doesn't take into account languages which have growing numbers of speakers and in the past 20 years the revival of Cornish has really gathered momentum."
Last year the partnership agreed a single written form of Cornish which brought together several different forms of the language.
Mrs Lowe said: "There's no category for a language that is revitalised and revived.
"What they need to do is add a category.
"It should be recognised that languages do revive and it's a fluid state."
Christopher Moseley, an Australian linguist and editor-in-chief of the atlas, told BBC News he would consider a new classification.
He said: "I have always been optimistic about Cornish and Manx.
"There is a groundswell of interest in them, although the number of speakers is small.
"Perhaps in the next edition we shall have a 'being revived' category.
"[Cornish] is among a group of languages that turned out not to be extinct but merely sleeping."

29 Ιαν 2009

Literary Translation Workshop‏ - London 14/2/09

Translating Division, Chartered Institute of Linguists

Literary Translation Workshop

Saturday, 14 February 2009


University of Westminster
309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
(Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus) –
The University is located in Upper Regent Street between Oxford Circus and Broadcasting House

This event is being organised as a natural extension to the very successful Literary Translation event held in February 2008. Many of you who came last time expressed great interest in attending a hands-on Workshop based on this theme and this year’s event is in response to that interest. Based on the results of the questionnaire sent to all of you, the five languages being featured are French, German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic. A separate morning and afternoon session is being held to offer you greater flexibility and allow you to participate in two different language combinations. The workshops are being “facilitated” by experienced literary translators, some of whom also lecture in the subject.


Programme



10:00 – 10:30 Coffee and networking

10:30 – 11:00 General Introduction

11:00 – 12:30 First Workshop

12:30 – 13:00 General Review / Q&A on First Workshop

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break – Delegates are free to make their own arrangements for lunch in one of the many nearby “eateries”.

14:30 – 16.00 Second Workshop

16.00 – 16.30 General Review / Q&A on Second Workshop

16:30 – Concluding remarks and close
Please apply on the tear-off slip to Julie Hobbs, Chartered Institute of Linguists, Saxon House,
48 Southwark St, London SE1 1UN, Tel: 020 7940 3144. APPLICATIONS BY 09 FEBRUARY 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For organisational purposes, can you please tick the boxes for the two language workshops you’d like to attend. If you want to go to both workshops in the same language, then just tick that one box. Different texts will be worked on at each session.

French


German


Spanish


Russian


Arabic



I should like to attend the Translating Division event on 14 February 2009. Please find enclosed my cheque payable to: “Translating Division, Institute of Linguists”

Price incl. morning coffee:
Members of CIoL £35.00
Non-members £45.00
Students £25.00

Membership No. …………………………… Type of Membership …..………………………........
Title ..……… First names ………………………. Surname .……………………………………...
Address ..………………………………………………………………………………………………….......................
………………………………………………………………. Post Code .……………………………..…....................
Tel: ………………………………...………................ Fax …………………………………………….….................
E-mail ………………………………………………………………………………………………………......................
If you would like to receive advance notice of our events by email, please tick the following box o
Please address any queries to: Julie Hobbs at julie.hobbs@iol.org.uk

25 Ιαν 2009

2008's Weirdest Story-How Embarrbutting!

How Embarrbutting

Web sites that import news feeds, but then automatically censor "objectionable" words, are sometimes committing "Clbuttic Mistakes".
The term was coined when a site changed the word "classic" to "clbuttic" on the theory the word "butt" (for instance) is less objectionable than "ass".
Prior to the 2008 Olympics, the American Family Association's news site automatically replaced a word in articles about sprinter Tyson Gay: "Tyson Homosexual was a blur in blue," they reported, "sprinting 100 meters faster than anyone ever has." Other mangled language has included "consbreastution", an article on "What did the British Embbutty do for this British National Overseas pbuttport holder," and a "series of previously secret Central Intelligence Agency plots to buttbuttinate foreign leaders." (London Telegraph) ...As if such urinevish buttaults on our language could protect anyone's chasbreasty.

Voter comments included:

Part of me understands the reason people want content filters on their sites. Many of them have religious reasons for that, but as a religious person I resent others thinking I need help filtering content because I can't properly use the divinely designed content filter between my ears! --Jim, Oklahoma

I studied computer science and can just imagine the morons that came up with this idea. "Oh, we can put a filter in place that will fix things real quickly!" I don't think they were quick enough, though... more like half-fast. (Say that last word out loud.) --Jarred, Washington

I was enthusibuttic about the tagline. --Sonia, Colorado

It's clear as glbutt, this consbreastutes proof that political correctness is low on buttets. Rather than political correctness, it's more like political correctum. --Jackie, California
Once crbutt supersbreastion wins over a sound consbreastution it will lead us into the intellectual morbutt. --Frank, Germany

2η ΣΥΝΑΝΤΗΣΗ ΕΡΓΑΣΙΑΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΟΦΩΝΩΝ ΜΕΤΑΦΡΑΣΕΟΛΟΓΩΝ

Ο Τομέας Μετάφρασης του Τμήματος Γαλλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας του Α.Π.Θ. σε συνεργασία με το Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών Διερμηνείας και Μετάφρασης της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής του Α.Π.Θ και τον Τομέα Μετάφρασης και Πολιτισμικών Σπουδών του Τμήματος Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, διοργανώνει τη 2η Συνάντηση Εργασίας των Ελληνόφωνων Μεταφρασεολόγων στις 7, 8 και 9 Μαΐου 2009 με θέμα:

«H μεταφρασεολογική έρευνα και η μεταφραστική πρακτική στον ελληνόφωνο χώρο»

Αντιγράφουμε από το δελτίο τύπου: «Η συνάντηση φιλοδοξεί να συγκεντρώσει ελληνόφωνους ερευνητές που δραστηριοποιούνται στο επιστημονικό πεδίο της Μεταφρασεολογίας και της Μετάφρασης με σκοπό την προώθηση της έρευνας και των μεταφραστικών σπουδών στον ελληνόφωνο χώρο.

Η αναγκαιότητα της διοργάνωσης αυτής, μετά την επιτυχία που είχε η Συνάντηση Νέων Μεταφρασεολόγων τον Νοέμβριο του 2006, αναδεικνύεται από τη συνεχή αναβάθμιση των μεταφραστικών σπουδών στην Ελλάδα, όπως αυτή πιστοποιείται όχι μόνο από την αύξηση των ακαδημαϊκών κυττάρων διδασκαλίας της μετάφρασης ανά την επικράτεια, αλλά και από την ενίσχυση της ερευνητικής δραστηριότητας, που καταλήγει σε συνέδρια και επιστημονικές εκδόσεις».

Όσοι επιθυμούν να λάβουν μέρος στη Συνάντηση με ανακοίνωση ή poster θα πρέπει να υποβάλουν τις περιλήψεις τους (300 λέξεις) μέχρι τις 31 Ιανουαρίου 2009 (βλ. σχετικές οδηγίες) στη διεύθυνση metafrasi@frl.auth.gr. Εντωμεταξύ, μπορείτε να διαβάσετε τα πρακτικά της 1ης συνάντησης (2006), τα οποία έχουν αναρτηθεί σε ειδικό ιστότοπο.

Tools: Greeklish to Greek Conversion

Ινστιτούτο Επεξεργασίας του Λόγου / Institute for Language and Speech Processing (ILSP)

Το σύστημα επίδειξης σε αυτήν την σελίδα επιτρέπει στον χρήστη να χρησιμοποιήσει το αυτόματο σύστημα μετατροπής από Greeklish σε ελληνικά, για μη εμπορικούς σκοπούς. Η χρήση του περιορίζεται στους 255 χαρακτήρες.

http://speech.ilsp.gr/greeklish/greeklishdemo.asp

Μέχρι τώρα έχουν μετατραπεί 47.160.368 λέξεις!

Seminars: Professional Aspects of Translation

University of Surrey-Centre for Translation Studies

These seminars are especially aimed at students on CTS translation programmes, but all staff and students with an interest in translation are very welcome to attend.

28 January 2009
Prof. Peter Newmark (University of Surrey)
The Role of Imagination in Translation

4 February 2009
Claire Ingram (WordBank)
Getting started in-house - Project Management in an international localization company

4 March 2009
Sheilah Cardno (Translator and Conference Interpreter)
Finding the Right Way Into the Translating World

11 March 2009
Jonathan Burton (Royal Opera House)
Opera Surtitling

18 March 2009
Raisa Murto (Production and Quality Manager, Sandberg Translation Partners Ltd)
Paving your Way in the Translation Industry

The Translator as Writer, Conference, Portsmouth, Nov. 2009

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS

9th Portsmouth Translation Conference
7th November 2009

The Translator as Writer

The expertise of the translator manifests itself in two key ways:
firstly in terms of subject expertise (e.g. specialised domains such as law, music or telecommunications) and secondly in terms of skill sets (translation activities such as pre-editing, post-editing, gist translation etc.). This expertise is deployed through the translator's primary skill: writing in the target language. In next year's conference we would like to explore the interfaces between subject expertise, writing and translation. These might include:

Scientific and technical writing and translation
Controlled languages
Copywriting and translation
Multilingual document production
Translation and advertising
Creative writing and translation
Specialised Translation fields (law, medicine, finance)
Music and translation
Authorship and authority in translation

We welcome contributions from scholars, professionals and trainers. Proposals for practical writing/translation workshops are also very welcome. Enquiries and/or abstracts of 300 words should be sent by 30th June 2009. A selection of papers from the conference will be published.

22 Ιαν 2009

Technology courses: Introduction to Subtitling‏

(from Nikoletta-thanks!)

Imperial College London

The Translation Group at Imperial organises a wide range of stand alone courses in Translation Technology for those looking to learn more about this ever-changing area.

The details of our next course are:

Introduction to Subtitling
Dr Jorge Díaz-Cintas

Date: Saturday, 7 March 2009
Time: 10:30-16:30
Room: S309, Level 3, Sherfield Building
Fee: £110 full rate / £55 studen concession (including tea/coffee and buffet lunch)

Course content: After a definition and a survey of the different types of subtitles, the interaction between text and images will be discussed and you will learn about the technical issues that constraint subtitling in terms of time and space. We will then take a look at the different conventions applied in what is considered standard practice in interlingual subtitling, and examples of strategies such as segmentation, condensation and reformulation will be offered.

During this practical workshop, you will work with clips and will carry out some of the tasks pertaining to subtitling, like the spotting or cueing (i.e. deciding the in and out times of the different subtitles) as well as the actual translation of the clip following the appropriate limitations imposed by the medium. WinCAPS, a state-of-the-art professional subtitling program, will be demonstrated so that you can experience the technical and technological dimensions of subtitling.

An insight into the working environment will also be presented and some time will be left at the end for questions. A list of useful websites and other sources of information will be given to all the participants.

More detailed information about the course can be found on the following website:
http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/translationgroup/translationtechnologycourses

For registration and further enquiries please contact Terri Jacques:
t.jacques@imperial.ac.uk

To unsuscribe from this list, please send a mail to j.diaz-cintas@imperial.ac.uk

Dr Jorge Díaz-Cintas
Senior Lecturer in Translation
Imperial College London
Sherfield Building, Room S310
South Kensington Campus
London SW7 2AZ

www.imperial.ac.uk/translation
www.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.diaz-cintas _______________________________________________
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