News

I have noticed in recent discussions just how confusing it can get when social learning is regarded as synonymous with the use of social media.

First of all, social learning pre-dates social media by thousands of years. We have always and always will learn socially. It isn’t the only way we learn but it is a highly significant element.

If immigrants settling in Britain do not share its language, how can they fully participate in its democracy?

The misuse of words and their meanings can be unintended, marvelous works of gray tumor

I mentioned yesterday how much easier I found Chinese, as a language, when someone other than an actual Chinese person was speaking it. And by “actual Chinese person” I mean someone for whom Mandarin is a native language. Which led to the question: is this a general rule, that non-native speakers of a language find it easier to understand other non-natives?

Most of the answers I’ve received are in the “it’s a general rule” category. I’ll quote some of them, and then wrap up with my caveats, overview, and tips for further reading. Here goes.

Idiotic abbreviations are not a language change we should be celebrating.

YES, our language is changing. I have – as someone who tends to use words such as ”imposition” in text messages – come grudgingly to admit that the ”rules” are not ever set. Even the oldest of us do not speak Old English, and that’s probably a good thing; but is all change the same, and is all change for the better? Is our language evolving or devolving?

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/little-gain-in-lazy-english-mangling-20110517-1erad.html#ixzz1MgVLdXDx

An EU-wide survey found that 90 percent of users prefer to surf online in their own language, but most of our readers admit a willingness to use various languages online.

Recent research shows that reading has a massive impact on brain function and can actually affect understanding in nearly all school subjects

How do you say, “I think I’m lost” in Norway?

Easy. You can say, “I think I’m lost.”

The Oslo daily newspaper Aftenposten reports that a two-year, 44-nation study of language ability found that Scandinavians are best in the world at using English as a second language — and that Norwegians are best of all.

“Norwegians are world champions in English,” the Aftenposten headline reads.

English language education in Colombia is producing dire results, despite programs to encourage Spanish-English bilingualism, newspaper El Tiempo reported Tuesday.

According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Education in conjunction with education evaluation program Saber 11, has published figures showing that despite a 2004 strategy to encourage national bilingualism in the country, only 8% of 11th graders in Colombia speak even intermediate English.

Furthermore, of 13,324 English teachers evaluated as part of the study, only 25% achieved intermediate proficiency in English while only 6% demonstrated a better than intermediate command of the language

Swedes have excellent English skills, according to a unique study by educational company EF. But Norwegians and Danes have even better.

The EF English Proficiency Index — the first of its kind to rank English language proficiency — pulled its results from more than two million people in 44 different countries who took a free online English test between 2007 and 2009.

Norwegians were ranked as having the world’s best English skills as a second language, followed by the Dutch and Danes. Swedes came in at number four, ahead of the Finns, according to the EF EPI.

“People from small Nordic countries are motivated to learn English at a high level because they known that English language proficiency is essential for their professional careers. That may be the only way to survive in the global economy and find economic success outside of their borders”, Eva Kockum, President of EF International Language Centers, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide.