Weekly news about the linguistic world
Le lancement de cette initiative a eu lieu les 23 et 24 janvier en Mali. Le projet « École et langues nationales en Afrique » est maintenant une réalité qui a eté promue par l’OIF.
Huit pays francophones d’Afrique sub-saharienne vont développer un enseignement bilingue dans le primaire respectueux des langues nationales.
Bénin, Burundi, Cameroun, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Congo et Sénégal sont les pays concernés.
Spanish
El Diario La Nación de Argentina publicó un artículo acerca de una investigadora del idioma español.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1441158-cont-el-idioma-espanol-tiene-una-detective
English
Waterstone’s, the famous chain of BookStores loses the apostrophe in its name and generates a debate about Grammar usage in the UK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/13/in-praise-of-apostrophes-editorial
French
Séminaire à Mali sur la couverture par les médias et le bonnes pratiques francophones.
http://www.francophonie.org/Seminaire-sur-La-couverture-des.html
Learning French? You already speak it and want to practice? Try these ways to make the most of your Francophonie.
Occupy has been chosen as Word of the Year by The American Dialect Society.
Sprichst du Deutsch? Some people think German is very difficult to learn considering its complex Grammar or even “not so attractive” comparing to other languages such as French or Italian. But the German language is a very important one with 98 million native speakers. It is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union and 80 million people speak it as a second Language proving that German is definitely not so hard to learn. German is the official language in Deutschland (Germany), Österreich (Austria) and Liechtenstein. It is one of the official languages in die Schweiz (Switzerland) and Luxemburg (Luxembourg). Many of the best writers in the world have been German Native speakers, such as Goethe, Kafka, Handke, Brecht and the list goes on. They encourage you to discover the pleasure of reading their original masterpieces in their native language.
Where to learn
The Goethe Institut has schools offering German courses in about 90 countries. They also organize events to promote cultural exchange.
Many Universities offer German courses to the public and for sure you will find public or private institutions where you can learn.
ONLINE Learning
If you want to learn German online you should definitely check the Deutsche Welle website, there you will find a free and very useful online course and a collection of other important resources.
BBC also has a very interesting free online course and a variety of helpful resources that cannot be missed out.
Take a look at deutsch-lernen.com. It has a free course as well.
GOING TO GERMANY?
Living in a place where the language is spoken is just amazing. In Germany there are public institutions called Volksschule that provide cheap courses. There are also well known private schools in almost every city and the Goethe Institut also provides classes in Germany.
Le mur des je t’aime. I love you Wall
À Paris, on peut trouver un mur créé par Frédéric Baron et Claire Kito avec le syntagme “je t’aime” traduit à 311 langues.
http://atlasobscura.com/place/le-mur-des-je-t-aime
Literature Events
A complete list of the most relevant events happening this year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/06/literary-events-2012?CMP=twt_gu
Recomendación Urgente del día, por la Fundeu
Fundeu siempre útil y necesaria nos recomienda un uso correcto del español.
A lingua portuguesa é uma das mais faladas do mundo com cerca de 240 milhões de falantes. O Instituto Camões publicou uma série chamada de “Um Oceano de Culturas” para fazer uma homenagem fotográfica ao português e as diferentes culturas que o falam.
Es a menudo una duda que suscita en el mundo linguístico. ¿Castellano o Español? He de ahí el dilema.
The correspondents of the linguistic blog Johnson, by The Economist have made a selection of words that were relevant in the past year.
The British Council is working on a project to celebrate in about 50 countries, the bicentenary of one of the most influential writers in the whole world: Charles Dickens. It is expected to coordinate a wide range of activities in these countries.
For more information please check the British Council official site: http://literature.britishcouncil.org/projects/2011/dickens-2012
