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Which English? One that promotes understanding between countries and cultures | Mind your language
Finding the right words to communicate effectively to a global audience is much more important than whether you put an ‘ise’ or ‘ize’ on the end As the Guardian discusses the most effective ways to write for a global audience that includes readers of different varieties of English, a lot of emphasis is being placed […]
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English to English: ‘translating’ a cultural divide
Our Tumblr project has explored over 400 US-UK cross-cultural topics. As the Guardian continues to reach a global audience, the nature of ‘translations’ is changing Katie Rogers Media: Mind your language | theguardian.com http://ift.tt/1lW6psH
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Johnson: What is a foreign language worth?
JOHNSON is a fan of the Freakonomics books and columns. But this week’s podcast makes me wonder if the team of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt aren’t overstretching themselves a bit. “Is learning a foreign language really worth it?”, asks the headline. A reader writes: My oldest daughter is a college freshman, and not only […]
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Subject, Meet Verb
Every job has its joyless tasks. It’s time again for one of mine: pointing out that singular subjects should go with singular verbs, and plural subjects with plural verbs, just as singular pronouns should be used to refer to singular antecedents, and plural pronouns to plural antecedents. After Deadline http://ift.tt/1ivjoMU
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Obama wants to ‘de-escalate’ but I will be de-happified if we can’t de-accelerate use of this word | Mind your language
It’s an ugly word for an ugly state of affairs. Surely English can do better. How about ‘descalate’? Barack Obama, when asked about the situation in Ukraine this week, said: “We may be able to de-escalate it.” A number of news organisations reporting the president’s statement, among them USA Today and the Washington Examiner, chose […]
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Johnson: A few favourite things
WHEN Johnson needs to research something, a long list of bookmarks, plus a stack of physical books, plus a phone jammed with apps, have made the work faster and more fun. This column is dedicated to a few of the things that make working with language easier and more enjoyable. Indeed, there has never been […]