A recent parliamentary vote in France has given over 20 regional languages recognition — despite cries of outrage from L’Académie Française. According to Article 75 of the revised constitution, languages such as Breton and Occitan are now officially “part of France’s heritage,” and may soon be incorporated into road signs and certain documents.
Boosted by the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the Chinese have never been more enthusiastic about speaking English. Of course, many young people already study English in school — but the recent surge in interest for the English language crosses all age groups.
Several European nations have recently undertaken reforms to simplify or standardize their national languages. Hungary, Malta and Portugal have all carried out measures to clean up some fuzzy areas in Hungarian, Maltese and Portuguese, respectively.
In film and television dubbing, casting can be a big issue. Whose voice will be able to convince audiences that Johnny Depp is speaking French, or that Julia Roberts is speaking Spanish? In Poland, the entertainment industry doesn’t face that problem: films and shows have traditionally been dubbed by lektors – men who read the [...]
Spanish spoken in the USA is heavily influenced by English, and this is leading to a new dialect that some refer to as “Spanglish.” A study of Spanish as spoken in New York has already shown that the incursion of English words into US Spanish takes place whether or not the speaker actually learns English. [...]