Jun 16th, 2010 at 12:00PM: Today's question comes from Justin in Boise, Idaho:
"I'm going on a vacation to Zurich next month. My girlfriend chose the place. I don't speak any German. Neither does she. Are we going to die?"
Gadling: Everyone dies someday, Justin, but not speaking German will probably not be the end of you.
It just so happens that I went to Zürich last month. Like you, I speak not a word of German. ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
language posts
Ask Gadling: What if I don't speak the language?
Jun 16th, 2010 at 12:00PM: Today's question comes from Justin in Boise, Idaho:
"I'm going on a vacation to Zurich next month. My girlfriend chose the place. I don't speak any German. Neither does she. Are we going to die?"
Gadling: Everyone dies someday, Justin, but not speaking German will probably not be the end of you.
It just so happens that I went to Zürich last month. Like you, I speak not a word of German. ...Canada gets its very own dictionary
Jun 3rd, 2010 at 9:30AM: Canadians have long been quick to declare the differences with their American neighbors to the south. Whether displayed through a particularly fervent love for hockey or by virtue of the country's publicly-funded healthcare system, there's numerous if sometimes subtle differences. We can now add one more reason to the list - Canada has its own version of English.
OK, yes...I can hear you saying ...Foreign "safety vernacular" for women
Mar 15th, 2010 at 11:00AM: There is, as they say, a time and place for everything. And sometimes, ladies, that occurs when you're traveling. I encourage anyone who travels to a foreign country to learn a few key phrases and learn a bit about the place, in order to avoid cultural faux pas. Even something as innocuous as patting a child on the head in Thailand is considered a grievous offense, because the head is considered ...Fluenz - Language learning for grownups
Feb 19th, 2010 at 12:30PM: So many language programs boast their superiority by claiming they teach you the same way you learned your native language as a child. Not Fluenz.
"Up until now, people have been limited to the 'see a picture, memorize the word' language programs that teach adults as if they were children. But, adults learn differently from children," says Carlos Lizarralde, co-founder of Fluenz. "That's why ..."Where's the bathroom?" - International travel tip
Jan 9th, 2010 at 7:44AM: Whenever traveling internationally, it's important -- for obvious reasons -- to know how to ask where the bathroom is.
Make sure to do some research before starting a trip to a foreign land. Even if the country speaks the same language, it's important to know customs so as not to make an unpleasant remark.
One trick that can be used with many phrases is to keep a cheat sheet in your pocket ...How to say "cheers" in 10 different languages
Dec 31st, 2009 at 2:00PM: Cheers! Bottoms up! To your heath! This New Year's Eve, whether you'll be clinking classes in another country or just want to impress your friends, bring a little international flair to your New Year's party by toasting at midnight in languages from around the world. Here's how to say "cheers" in 10 different languages.
Czech - Na zdravi!
Dutch - Proost!
French - A votre sante!
Gaelic ...Esperanto: the universal language celebrates 150 years
Dec 29th, 2009 at 4:30PM: Ĉu vi parolas Esperanton? Do you speak Esperanto? Even if you don't, you've probably heard of the world's most popular artificial language. Spoken by a dedicated international community, this easy-to-learn language has been pushing for global understanding for a century now. This month Esperantists, as people who speak Esperanto are called, are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of ...Papua New Guinea: Land of 800 languages
Dec 19th, 2009 at 12:30PM:
In the above map, conceived by Swedish linguist Mikael Parkvall, each country's area is proportional to the number of languages it has produced. The map, which appears in Parkvall's fascinating book Limits of Language, is accompanied by the following caption:
Languages are very unevenly distributed among the countries of the world. The map tries to capture this fact by rendering each ...Rosetta Stone TOTALe - Can you really learn a language online?
Nov 3rd, 2009 at 3:00PM: Rosetta Stone contacted me and (full disclosure) sent me a free trial of their new Totale program. This online-based language learning system includes:
Social networking capabilities
Coach-led practice sessions
Engaging language games and access to native speakers
Encouragement from customer success agents
But can you really learn a language online? This is what I set to find out, ...Hotel owner makes Latino employees change their names
Oct 27th, 2009 at 1:00PM: Taos, New Mexico, is home to a large Spanish-speaking population. There are a lot of Latino people living and working in the town. So it follows that many people there have traditionally Latino names. You would think a guy from Texas (another state close to Mexico and home to many Hispanic people) would understand that. But not Larry Whitten.
digg_url = ...Twitrans offers translation by native speakers
May 8th, 2009 at 2:00PM: Using web translation services like Google Language Tools is often less than satisfying. Sure, the service can translate any phrase or website into a passable version in another language. But it's far from perfect - tenses are often wrong, certain words don't convert...it's kind of a mess. Sometimes you just need to leave it to the experts: the language's native speakers. Thanks to the magic of ...Gadling giveaway: Me No Speak guides
Mar 23rd, 2009 at 5:00PM: You know those handy Me No Speak guides that I mentioned a few days ago? The ones that are stripped down to the basics of an illustration and translation, so you can just point to get by in a pinch when you don't have a common language. We have a few on hand that we're giving away. Enter our giveaway to win a Me No Speak guide for your next trip. The three grand prize winners will be able to ...Learn a new language - 10 words at a time
Mar 21st, 2009 at 2:00PM: The joke is that people who speak 2 languages are bilingual, and people who speak one language are American. Sure, it may not be that bad, but compared to Europe and Asia, the US really does lack bilingual speakers. There are plenty of ways to pick up a new language, including those expensive courses you see advertised on TV infomercials every night. Learn10 is a new approach to learning a ...Language barrier be gone: guide makes it a point...to point
Mar 19th, 2009 at 3:30PM: Chances are, you've been there--that awkward moment in another country when you don't speak the local language, and the person across from you doesn't speak English. Try as you might with a smile and game of charades, you're at an impasse. Game over. Or else, maybe you tried one last attempt: drawing it. That's the premise behind Me No Speak. The mini-guide takes the words most likely to come ...This location had absolutely tall!
Jan 4th, 2009 at 11:00AM: Apologies for the insane article title, it's one of the results of passing a piece of text through "Blahblahfish", a fun yet useless re-translator. The site takes any text you enter, and translates it to one of the 28 languages supported by the translation site, then translates that back to English again. "This location had absolutely tall" is actually "this site is absolutely fantastic" in ...Chicago? Or Stink Onion?
Dec 18th, 2008 at 9:00AM: Unfamiliar words from foreign tongues have a way of finding their way into English, a language which itself is a melting pot when it comes to origins. Frequently the foreign expression has a way of better summing up what the user is trying to say than what is available in the native tongue. What sounds better? A "smorgasbord?" Or "an extensive array or variety?" How about "faux pas" versus "a ...Learn a new language, and the Silbo Gomero
Sep 28th, 2008 at 10:30AM: I recently had the opportunity of meeting the co-founder of a new language-learning website called "Busuu". Busuu is a language on the verge of extinction; apparently today it's spoken by only 8 people in Cameroon. Other than that cool snippet of information, I didn't pay much attention to the website until I got an email saying that it will teach you how to do the whistle "Gomero", i.e. the Silbo ...Taiwan's road signs will make more sense next year
Sep 21st, 2008 at 10:30AM: When I lived in Taiwan, I normally didn't have a clue where I was going. The signage was not particularly helpful. I didn't read Chinese, and, outside of Taipei, that's mostly what you saw. Even when there were signs in English, there was an inconsistency with how street names were spelled.
Ask people to spell a word phonetically, and you'll see variation. In Taiwan, up until recently, there were ...A Few Tips for Speaking Spanish in Mexico
Jul 15th, 2008 at 10:00AM: "I'm done." I said in Spanish as I smiled and looked at our waitress, "Muchas gracias!", I continued, beaming at my Spanish prowess. She smiled back -- actually she looked like she was struggling to hold in laughter when I realized my error --- I had just told her I was done like DEAD. Ack! The embarrassment of the situation got me, I smiled sheepishly and dragged Tom to the exit to make a quick ...French Eurovision song causes trouble for using English lyrics
Apr 18th, 2008 at 10:00AM: The French language is incredibly important to those who speak it; so important that it even has its own academy established to do everything possible to protect it. So the fact that this year's French entry for the Eurovision song contest uses English lyrics has caused a slight national upset. Jacques Mynard, of the UMP party -- the same party as President Nicolas Sarkozy -- has urged France's ...
