New York times now available online in Chinese

Saturday, June 30, 2012

I try to keep careful track of who is learning (and not learning anymore) which languages in which countries, along with which newspapers and agencies publish in which languages; this in recent times has meant a lot of articles about Chinese. Two days ago quite a significant one of these events took place: the New York Times announced that it had begun a Chinese language edition of the newspaper online, which you can read here.

Being able to be read by a potential 500 million (and growing) online population makes this an easy decision to make, in spite of the possibility of being blocked later on. As the Washington Post notes, the Wall Street Journal (which has had a Chinese edition for a decade now) lost about half its traffic when it was blocked. The New York Times, on the other hand, is starting from zero and so there is no benchmark yet for comparison. The more Chinese is learned by people outside of the country though the easier it will be to maintain a steady readership. I have to admit that I prefer the site design of the New York Times in Chinese to something like...qq.com, let's say.

Okay, it's a biased comparison as QQ.com isn't a newspaper, but I still like the familiar layout of the New York Times.

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Jojo sucht das Glück Season 2 is starting in a week

Friday, June 29, 2012

Deutsche Welle has announced that season 2 of Jojo sucht das Glück is about to begin, with the first episode in the new season coming out on the 5th of July. If you haven't seen the show before, here's an example of one of the episodes: it's a telenovela for German learners with episodes about three minutes in length apiece, with subtitles and pdf grammatical explanation aplenty. I think I must have been busy with something at the end of the last season as I only remember being annoyed by an incomplete ending and didn't realize that it was supposed to be a cliffhanger leading into the next season.

On a related note, I found out about a TV show from 2004 or so called Extr@ that is also very good for German learners, but this show was actually made for learners of other languages too: the English version was the longest, and French and Spanish versions were also made. That link goes to the full set for the German version, but being older and not very well promoted anymore it's more difficult to find it in French and Spanish. They do exist, but I haven't been able to find the entire series in one link as has been done with the German one.

Here's an example of one episode from the show. It's very clichéd and trite humour, but so much the better for learning the language at the intermediate level. Nothing's better than a nice predictable bit of comedy for the intermediate student.


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Meetlatvia videos - very nicely done

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Two days ago I came across a small set of very nicely done videos on Latvia, done in Latvian with subtitles in a number of languages: English, Belarusian, Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian. It's a pity that the subtitles don't include the original Latvian (most people that find themselves interested in Latvia enough to watch a few videos on it would probably like to see the script as well), but this is their only real drawback. I may ask the owner of the account if (s)he would be interested in adding the original Latvian, but the user hasn't logged in for about a year so there's a good chance the message would not be received.











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Which languages professionals in Portugal speak

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

From here in Portuguese:

Three quarters of middle and senior management in Portugal speak English, with Spanish as the second most spoken language. According to figures from the Michael Pagce Group (a recruitment firm for management positions), 75% of skilled Portuguese professionals speak English. The same data shows, however, that only 42% of these professionals have a high level of skill in the language and only 3% are fully bilingual.

Spanish is the second language most spoken, being spoken by 28% of the candidates. Of those professionals that know Spanish, only 12% have a high or bilingual level. After Spanish comes French with 18%, and German with 4%.



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On learning Chinese (and Spanish and English) in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, for the 2014 World Cup

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

This article in Portuguese goes over some of the linguistic preparations taking place in Manaus, Amozonas, Brazil, where one of the stadiums being constructed for the 2014 World Cup is located. The article cites the 'complexity' of the language as one reason why municipal workers will only be learning the basics of Mandarin, but it's more unfamiliarity than complexity. A short-term intensive Chinese course given to Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese people for example could focus entirely on how to pronounce terminology shared with Chinese (and a few basics of grammar and word order) and end up with a vocabulary of a thousand or more words by the end of a few weeks. For example:

--- Do you use denwa (電話) in Chinese? Yes, it's diànhuà. Mainlanders simplify it as 电话.
--- Can you use 行 (iku) to mean go in Chinese? No, in Chinese this character means okay (xíng) - to go you use the character for saru (to leave, 去る) and pronounce it qù (instead of kyo).
--- Can you use the word hikooki (飛行機 ) in Chinese to mean airplane? Almost - take out the middle character  (and simplify the hanzi for mainlanders) and you have 飞机 (fēijī).
--- Can you use the word tenki (天気) in Chinese? Just about - simplify it (天气) and pronounce it as tiānqì and you're good.

Anyway, to the article:
The increase of Chinese companies with a presence in Manaus, along with the growing number of tourists leaving China to meet the Amazon, has led to growth in the provision of Mandarin language courses. Still available only in a small number of institutions, the learning of the language is also motivated by the World Cup in 2014 in the city.

Mindful of this, muncipal agent Elom de Oliveira began studying Mandarin last week...in the second semester of study Elom will resume a Spanish course that was interrupted...To begin studying the Chinese language, he and 46 others enrolled in the first basic Mandarin course sponsored by the Fundação Escola de Serviço Público Municipal (FESPM).

The free course is part of the "Training Program for the 2014 World Cup" (Programa de Capacitação para a Copa 2014)...besides Mandarin, the program also offers classes in English and Spanish in four levels.

The director of FESPM (Angelo Bulbol) explained that the classes had a duration of 78 hours. "We cannot ignore China's growth. It is imperative that professionals consolidate their careers by mastering Mandarin, which since 2009 is among the most requested by municipal employees."

She admitted that due to the complexity of the language, over the three months the classes will be focused on a general knowledge of culture, such as greetings and manners, weather conditions, tourist spots in the country, ethics, money and principal verbs.

She said that it is possible that the Foundation will offer intermediate and advanced Mandarin courses, but it will depend on the performance of current students in the class.

Data from Amazonastur shows that Chinese tourists to Amazonas grew by 6.1% in 2011 compared to the year before (10.6 million in 2010, 11.3 million in 2011).


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New poll on the Persian language and alphabet

Monday, June 25, 2012

New poll on the right! This is the first one in about four months, and it's about the Persian language and the alphabet you believe it should use. Multiple options are possible.

Persian as of 2012 is officially written in two scripts: Perso-Arabic in Iran and Afghanistan, and Cyrillic in Tajikistan. It is also often written unofficially here and there in the Latin alphabet. Other alphabets I'm not sure - it was written in the Greek alphabet (only unofficially?) from time to time throughout history, not sure whether it was ever written in the Armenian alphabet.

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Edit: on a related note, an editorial in the New York Times today also came with a translation in Persian. It's by Nicholas Kristof, who has always shown a fondness for Iran.

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Poll results on Russian as an official language in Latvia

It's time to put up another poll and so here are the results of the most recent one (although it ended back in February) for posterity:


Should Russian be added as an official language in Latvia?

Strong yes 131 (27%)
Leaning yes 102 (21%)
Neutral 44 (9%)
Leaning no 43 (8%)
Strong no 141 (29%)
Undecided 21 (4%)
Other 3 (0%)

On top of looking at it as a yes-no question, it can also be summed up by strength of opinion, which shows that strong opinions alone form a majority:

Strong: 272 (56%)
Leaning: 145 (29%)
Neutral / Undecided: 65 (13%)
Other: 3 (0%)

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More Spanish ads for the US election

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Two more Spanish political ads that have been making the news this week. Romney's is all text aside from Romney approving the message at the end:



Obama's ad featuring an endorsement from Cristina Saralegui is in Spanish with Spanish subtitles (also an English version elsewhere):



For an article on how much increased Spanish/Latino/Hispanic support helps or doesn't help in the most important swing states, see this article by Nate Silver.

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Why Shakespeare is better in the original pronunciation

Saturday, June 23, 2012

It's better because...well, just watch this video and see why.


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Students learning Chinese at Pagoda in Korea up 53% over last year

Friday, June 22, 2012

An article here in Korean details the plans of some of the hagwons (hagwon = private or cram school) in Korea to deal with, and profit from, the increasing number of students learning Chinese. Most of it is about these plans but the numbers from Pagoda are worth citing here as it is one of the largest hagwon chains in the country.

While students learning Chinese from elementary are continuing to increase, large businesses are now giving preference to new employees that can speak the language.

Pagoda (a hagwon chain in Korea) has reported an increase of 53% in students learning Chinese compared to last year, and 224% more compared to 2009. Pagoda has begun a "Chinese intensive course" in Gangnam (south part of Seoul, one of the trendy areas) in order to help people rapidly improve in the language over a two-month period. In this course the teacher also drafts and manages a study plan with each student.
It also notes that there is an increase in students that are studying English and Chinese at the same time, probably not that enjoyable an experience for the average worker with little interest in languages that is only learning them to get ahead. If and when Chinese becomes the other must-have language in the country it'll take that much longer to achieve any sort of mastery in them.


The good thing about Chinese from Korea's point of view though is that it can kind of be combined with already existing Korean literature/hanja classes. To increase student familiarity with written Chinese these hanja classes could simply be increased as is, or recognizing simplified characters could be added to the curriculum.


For what Chinese feels like to a speaker of Korean or Japanese, see this post I wrote a few years back. It's basically like the effect of Latin or Greek on English, except that these are all Indo-European languages while Chinese is not from the same family. Arabic and Persian is probably the best analogy for anyone that knows how these two languages have influenced each other, with one having influenced the other much more but with some bilateral influence having taken place as well.

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Languages the Swiss speak at home vs. work

Thursday, June 21, 2012

An article here in French with some census numbers from Switzerland has an interesting comparison at the end showing which languages are spoken at home vs. at work. German dominates with Hochdeutsch showing a huge increase compared to that spoken at home, French is spoken a bit more at work than at home, Italian interestingly almost maintains the same percentage, and English shows a huge increase in relative terms.

Swiss German: 61.3% at home, 66.9% at work
German / Hochdeutsch: 9.6% at home, 32.3% at work
French: 23.2% at home, 29% at work
Italian: 9.0% at home, 8.8% at work
English: 4.1% at home, 16.5% at work

Romansch also has a place in the article, but not the home vs. work part: according to the census it is spoken by 0.6% of the population.

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Government of Aragon to call Catalan spoken in Aragon "southern Aragon" or "northern Aragon"

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

I know little about the details of eastern Aragonese vs. western Catalan, so this post will suffice with two paragraphs from this article in Spanish and no extra commentary...except this page on the Benasquese dialect which apparently is about halfway between the two:

The government of Aragon (PP and Partido Aragonés) has decided to abolish any legal recognition of Catalan, according to a draft of the lew language law presented yesterday, which will repeal the law passed at the end of the last legislature, which was led by the socialist Marcelino Iglesias.

The new text will affect more than 50,000 Aragonese in the eastern regions and who will from now, according to the new Aragonese text, speak "southern Aragon" or "northern Aragon", despite that the entire academic community has no doubt in calling the language a dialect of western Catalan.

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Chinese astronauts enter Tiangong-1, but 4179 Toutatis is more intriguing

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The big news in space today: Chinese astronauts entered Tiangong-1 today, becoming the third nation to have a space station. A video of that in Chinese with music:




And for a video in English with some fairly awkward commentary, see this one:



A complete success so far, and very good news. More interesting for me, however, is the upcoming flyby of an asteroid known as 4179 Toutatis by Chang'e 2, which originally orbited the moon, then went off to a Lagrange point, and now has been sent off on its third task. This encounter will occur in January 2013, right after Toutatis flies fairly close by Earth in December 2012 at a distance of 7 million km. Toutatis is a fairly hefty asteroid for one that comes as close to us as it does, with a diameter of 4.5×2.4×1.9 km. That means that we've obtained a fairly detailed radar map of the asteroid already:


I have often written about the potential for up-and-coming spacefaring nations to contribute in new areas with missions to asteroids and minor planets, and this is a perfect example of where China is doing a good job at it.

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The Esperanto city that never was

Monday, June 18, 2012

A German article here (automatically translated) is more interesting than the average Esperanto or other IAL-based article, being about a certain aspect of the language movement more than the language itself. This one is about Parkurbo Esperanto, which you can also read about on the Esperanto Wikipedia (automatically translated). The planned location: close to Munich.


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Chinese tourists increasing in casinos in Spain

An article here in French (automatically translated here) is superficially about an increasing number of casino employees learning Chinese, but there are no numbers provided besides an "increasing number of tourists since the Chinese tourist visa program was expanded". Not that there is any reason to doubt the increasing number, but the Chinese the employees learn is most likely to be vocation-specific and not very extensive. The part at the end about the number 4 and the facing of seats (north, east, south, west) is interesting though and is true to a certain extent in Korea as well.

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The 2012 in 2012 LZ1 should be a wake-up call

Sunday, June 17, 2012

It probably won't, but it should. An asteroid called 2012 LZ1 just flew by us two days ago at a distance 14 times that of that from the Earth to the moon, which would not otherwise be news except for two things: 1) this asteroid was just discovered less than two weeks before closest approach, and 2) the asteroid is some 500 metres in diameter. That's the size of 2005 YU55 which made so many headlines back in November. Most of the asteroids we don't know about until a few days before they fly by are very small, perhaps 10 or so metres in diameter, but this one would have made a crater about 5 km in diameter (along with a number of other effects such as earthquakes and thermal radiation) if it were to have hit us.

I often hope to see the Earth hit by an asteroid that we discover about a week before impact, but only one about 10 metres in diameter (such an asteroid would make headlines and then break up in the atmosphere). Something as large as 2012 LZ1 is a much scarier prospect. Even if it landed in the ocean (which it most likely would), the tsunami created by it would be nothing to sneeze at. As this article states:

Astronomy Magazine analyst Bob Berman added during the webcast that the event was "scary" and a bit of a wake-up call for astronomers, who only discovered the LZ1 this week.

"The word space certainly means there's room up there, but now it's almost like we're dodging bullets here and there," he said. "We thought things like this size, we'd easily detect more than just a few days before they zoom past us. This one is a little bit worse that we could see something the size of a city block and not detect it until just three days beforehand."

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YouTube now has automatic Spanish captions

As of a day or so ago, YouTube now has the ability to generate automatic Spanish captions. It works in exactly the same way as the English ones: just hit the transcribe audio button and if the audio is Spanish it will appear in Spanish. As with English, it is fairly hit and miss but accurate enough to be extremely helpful. Try it out with Charlie Brown to see how it handles pretty scratchy audio, and for clear audio let's go with this documentary I found:



Since the function works better the clearer the audio is, this could be most helpful for videos such as these - documentaries on YouTube in Spanish that don't have English subtitles, or those that do but for which you prefer to also read the original Spanish.

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Confucius Institute opens in Marien Ngouabi University in Republic of the Congo

Saturday, June 16, 2012

From here in French:

The Confucius Institute at Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzavile has been inaugurated by the Congolese Minister of Higher Education, Ange Antoina Abena, attended by the Chinese Ambassador to Congo, Guan Jian.

This institute will be managed by Jinan University in China.

Armand Moyikoua, rector of the university, said of the opining: "Faced with the globalization of knowledge that characterizes the world today, Marien Ngouabi University is pleased to count among its 11 facilities one for the Chinese language and dissemination of Chinese culture...the Confucius Institute will participate not just in the education of foreign language learners, but also the human resources for the development of our country."

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Brazil to send young diplomats to China for six months to learn Mandarin

Friday, June 15, 2012

From here in Spanish:

Five young recently assigned diplomats will be sent to study at the Beijing University of Language and Culture for six months. According to a report published by the national Brazilian news agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil is developing a Chinese language training plan for its diplomats.

According to the report, relations between Brazil and China are becoming closer all the time in the economic, political, diplomatic and cultural sphere. In 2009 China became Brazil's largest trading partner. Last year bilateral trade reached $84.5 billion, 32.5% more than in 2010.

Brazilians here encounter two large difficulties: one is the language barrier, since there are few Brazilians who can speak or read books in Mandarin. The second is that there is little knowledge of Chinese culture.
It then ends by saying that the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Antonio de Aguiar Patriota) can read and speak Mandarin due to having been the Brazilian Ambassador in China before.

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Equatorial Guinea's fate in the CPLP to be decided on the 20th of July

Thursday, June 14, 2012

From here in Portuguese:

The decision on the entrance of Equatorial Guinea in the Lusophone community will be taken at the summit in Maputo (Mozambique), 20 July.

One of the justifications for the petition by the movement called "Por Uma Comunidade de Valores" (For a Community of Values) against the entry of Equatorial Guinea into the CPLP (Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguese, Community of Portuguese Language Countries) is that the president of Equatorial Guinea is imposing the language on his country.

The executive director of the Instituto Internacional de Língua Portugesa (IILP), Gilvan de Oliveira, said that he respects the position of the civic movement, but noted that Equatorial Guinea is fulfilling, to the letter, a set of requirements imposed by the CPLP.
Also from another article:
The group denounces the crimes of the regime of Obiang, including summary executions, endemic corruption and constant oppression of civil society. "Equatorial Guinea currently has the largest average per capita income in all sub-Saharan Africa (with numbers similar to that of Italy). However, this apparently positive indicatory, mainly due to the petroleum resources of the country, is not enough to hide the fact that over 70% of the population of the country (about 650,000 inhabitants) lives under the standards of extreme poverty as defined by the UN (less than two dollars per day).


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Puerto Rico begins 10-year plan to replace Spanish with English in schools

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

From here and some other places in Spanish:

English will gradually replace Spanish as the language of the public school system in Puerto Rico, in a plan that will unfold over the next ten years. The initiative will start 31 August in 31 schools, in which all children will be taught in English in all subjects except Spanish language and history.

Secretary of Education Edward Moreno Alonso said that it was a response to demand from parents, explaining that it is initially aimed at children 5 to 9 years of age and would eventually extend to all ages. He said that the initiative responds to the rights of Puerto Rican children "to acquire proficiency in English".

In the first stage of implementation, 35 other schools will teach various courses in English, in accordance with the ability of the teachers there.

Moreno stressed that the intention of the Executive headed by Governor Luis Fortuño (of the New Progressive Party which favours the annexation of the islands to the US) is to have the pilot program extend to the total of 860 centres in public school in the next 10 years.

Opposition senator Juan Eugenio Hernández Mayoral (of the Popular Democratic Party) said that education exclusively in English would impair knowledge of Spanish.

At the moment 30% of Puerto Ricans speak English with proficiency.


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Chinese investment in Portugal, Chinese radio in Portugal

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

From here and here in Portuguese.

From article 1 (which actually takes place one day before the trip to Macau I referenced here):

The businessman Edmund Ho (note: also former Chief Executive of Macau) is in Portugal until tomorrow with an entourage of three dozen Chinese and Macanese entrepreneurs from the sectors of agriculture, environment and water, with the objective of promoting economic relations between the two countries.

This mission takes place one month after the entry of China Three Gorges in EDP (Energias de Portugal), with the acquisition of a public shareholding of 21.35%, and two weeks after the Chinese company State Grid accomplished the purchase of 15% of REN - Redes Energéticas Nacionais (National Energy Networks).
From article 2:
Radio Iris (91.4) in Lisbon began transmitting programs produced by China Radio International (CRI) beginning yesterday, 8 June. This is the 75th non-Chinese radio station to transmit CRI programs, and also the first Portuguese-language FM station to do so.
It then mentions that the new cooperation would be good for Portuguese people to know more about China and vice versa, but not really worth writing here word for word. There are a few pictures in that second article though of the opening ceremony, attended by the president of CRI.


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Germany's Goethe-Institut seeing record numbers of students from southern Europe

Monday, June 11, 2012

From here in French. Some of these numbers might be familiar as they are also referenced here, but the first-quarter 2012 numbers are new, I believe.

The Goethe-Institut said Friday that it was seeing record attendance in crisis-affected southern Europe.

In the first quarter of 2012, compared to the same period in the preceding year, the institute recorded an increase in its numbers of 30% in Italy and even more than 50% in Greece. In annual data the progression was less spectacular but equally clear. Between 2010 and 2011 there was a 14% increase in the number of Italians at the institute, and a 10% increase in Greece.

In Spain, this growth was over 35%.

The institute has set up specific courses in Madrid and Barcelona to aid students in making the right moves in the German job market.

The number of immigrants in Germany reached its highest level since 1996 due to an influx of people from southern Europe.

with the country attracting 958,000 people last year, 20% more than in 2010, with 679,000 people leaving the country for a positive migration of 279,000 people. This is also a 15-year record.

The number of immigrants from Greece last year increased by 90% compared to 2010, while the number of new arrivals from Spain climbed by 52%.

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Macau establishes permanent secretariat for relations with Angola

Sunday, June 10, 2012

From here in Portuguese:

The special administrative region of China and former Portuguese colony Macau established a permanent secretariat for closer economic and commercial ties between Angola and China, also serving as a platform linking the two countries.

Rita Santos, the deputy secretary-general of the Forum for Economic and Comercial Cooperation between China and Portuguese-language countries, said on Friday that Macau maintains good relations with Angola in various fields, and through the secretariat the region will serve as a platform for closer economic, commercial and cultural links. He also said that Angola is a country that is making large strides toward development. Also that "There is an Angolan community in Macau, as well as a friendship associates between the two peoples with a cultural week that we carry out every year."

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University of Oregon upgrades Portuguese language program

Saturday, June 09, 2012

The University of Oregon has upgraded its Portuguese language courses due to increasing demand, moving from Portuguese being available as an undergraduate language requirement to Portuguese as a full language program. It is not overly focused on Brazil either:

The core courses will become part of the Portuguese program in Romance Languages beginning fall term, along with a new Portuguese 150 course – “Introduction to the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) World.” The new offering will be a general education course, taught in English and intended to provide an overview of cultures in the Portuguese-speaking world.

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Brown dwarfs not as common as previously thought?

Well, this (and this and this and this) is a disappointment. It has been determined that 33 of the brown dwarfs WISE has discovered are nearby, within 26 light years, but they have turned out to be much less frequent than previously predicted, with only one of them per six stars or so. This would almost remove the possibility of one nearer than Alpha Centauri. There is still a faint hope for one at this distance:

Kirkpatrick emphasized that the results are still preliminary: it is highly likely that WISE will discover additional Y dwarfs, but not in vast numbers, and probably not closer than the closest known star, Proxima Centauri. Those discoveries could bring the ratio of brown dwarfs to stars up a bit, to about 1:5 or 1:4, but not to the 1:1 level previously anticipated.

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New Vesta video, trip to Berlin in September, El Huffington Post

Friday, June 08, 2012

Not enough to call this a link roundup, but three things I wanted to mention today:

--- First a new video of Vesta by JPL:




The northern hemisphere still isn't all visible, but it will be soon enough as spring is coming to the north and Dawn doesn't have to leave until August.

--- The trip to Berlin: not me - Deutsche Welle is looking for people learning German to visit Berlin in September. Or rather, to go on a 10-day trip across the country that culminates with an arrival in Berlin.

--- After French, we now have El Huffington Post in Spanish. This is not US Spanish: it is Huffingtonpost.es and focuses more on news from and relating to Spain (but I see some US election news in there already today). A US-based Spanish version is in the works, they say.

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Looking for Latin recorded by a Latvian native speaker

Anybody have any leads on this? A lot of reconstructed Latin as recorded by English or other speakers tends to overemphasize vowel length, but Latvian as a language with vowel length (and vowel length performing a function in declension no less) would lead one to believe that a Latvian speaker's Latin should sound more natural. I have yet to find a recording of this though, hence the post.

After posting this I may look around YouTube a bit for any Latvians that may know some Latin / would be interested in recording something.

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Transit of Venus, transit of Venus, transits of Venus

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Yesterday's transit of Venus across the face of the sun produced a vast number of great images, three of which I like in particular. I'm sure you have your own as well but here are mine I want to share:


This one taken by the Japanese Hinode spacecraft. Not only is it visually impressive, but the spacecraft itself was only launched in 2006, two years after the last transit. So though there was only an eight-year span of time between the two, we saw this transit in 2012 with a more impressive set of tools.

This one is an amateur work but I like the contrast with the skyline and the evening light.

The last one is actually a group of pictures - these from Boston.com.

The other interesting part about 2012 vs. 2004 is the number of extrasolar planets we know about: in 2004 we knew about 150 of them, this year it's over 700 with a few thousand extrasolar planet candidates.

This transit raises an idea: why not a probe to study solar transits between the sun and other bodies? The only ones we can see from Earth are Mercury and Venus, and Venus is the only one with a real atmosphere. Behind us however we have Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Titan, Uranus, Neptune, and Triton. Such a probe, powered by an ion engine, could have a mission of an extremely long length (a few decades) as it slowly spirals outward on a trajectory that creates as many opportunities to view transits as possible, and in the meantime it could perhaps have a closeup or two of a planet or asteroid, as well as carry out other observations à la the EPOXI mission in the meantime. I could see the scientific return vs. cost not being worth it for such a mission, but I wonder if there is something about the idea itself that makes it unworkable or a silly idea overall. I think I'll ask on a forum somewhere.

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Now trying out Duolingo

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Yesterday I received an invite to a site called Duolingo, a language-learning while translating site that is officially launching soon and is creating quite a bit of buzz. The premise is this: users pick a language to learn (currently just Spanish, German, some French), and as they progress they begin translating words and sentences to and from the target language. These sentences are then rated by other users and the accepted translations are then used as completed texts. Not sure exactly what is being translated and for whom (still don't know much about the site), but the introduction video mentions that if there were about a million users the entire English Wikipedia could be translated to Spanish in...some short period of time, I think it was a few days.

In terms of atmosphere it resembles Memrise a certain amount, but the goals are different. With just one day since I signed up I can't write a full review yet, but it's quite fun to try out...unless you already know all the target languages.

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Watching the transit of Venus right now

Not in person - it's cloudy here and I wouldn't want to anyway since there are better ways to view it. Namely right here. Enjoy! It will last for another...four or so hours, I believe.

Edit: as for what makes this event particularly interesting (because as a show it's really quite tame), see articles here, here, here, and here. It's basically useful on two fronts: 1) understanding the atmosphere, 2) aiding in detecting extrasolar planets.

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Link roundup for 4 June 2012

Tuesday, June 05, 2012

--- Let's start with the transit of Venus, since that takes place tomorrow. The best place to see exactly how it will look from your location is here. I won't be spending any time trying to see it from where I am though as the transit itself will be well recorded and studied by others, and my interest lies in learning more about the Venusian atmosphere through this. Last time a transit occurred was in 2004, when Venus Express still hadn't been launched. Venus Express and some other spacecraft will be coordinating observations this time around.

--- The entire Bible has now been translated into Inuktitut after 20 years of work, which is particularly good news for the language or anyone who wants to learn it. Apparently there will still be some errors but they should be ironed out for the next printing after being used in churches where mistakes will be easy to spot:

The Society is calling the initial printing – 5,000 copies (at $19.95 each) and another 100 in leather – an interim edition, because, says Mr. Wiens, “I’m sure we will find errors.”
There is little of interest in the comments section of the article, just the same two sides engaging in a campaign to destroy the position of the other.

--- A Catholic college called Redeemer Pacific has begun issuing diplomas in Latin.

--- Vivarium Novum is offering ten full tuition scholarships for a program taught entirely in Latin and Greek, according to an email I just got from them. The announcement is as follows:


Announcement of Competition
Latin, Greek and Humanities at the Academy Vivarium Novum in Rome – Italy
Academic year 2012-2013

The Academy Vivarium Novum is offering ten full tuition scholarships for high school students of the European Union (16-18 years old) and ten full tuition scholarships  for University students (18-24 years old) of any part of the world. The scholarships will cover all of the costs of room, board, teaching and didactic materials for courses to be held from October 8, 2012 until June 15, 2013 on the grounds of the Academy’s campus at Rome.
Application letters must be sent to info@vivariumnovum.it by June 30th in order to receive consideration.
A good knowledge of the fundamental of Latin and Greek is required.
The courses will be as follows:
  1. Latin language (fundamental and advanced)
  2. Greek language (fundamental and advanced)
  3. Latin composition
  4. Roman History
  5. Ancient Latin literature
  6. History of ancient Philosophy
  7. Renaissance and Neo-Latin literature
  8. Latin and Greek music and poetry
  9. Classics reading seminars
The goal is to achieve a perfect command of both Latin and Greek through a total immersion in the two languages. All the classes will be conducted in Latin, except for Greek classes which will be conducted in Greek.

In the letter the prospective student should indicate the following:


1. Full name;

2. Date and location of birth;

3. What school you currently attend;
4. How long you have studied Latin and/or Greek;

5. Which authors and works you have read;

6. Other studies and primary interests outside of school.


In addition, please attach a recent passport/ID photograph.

(For more information about the Academy, you may visit the website www.vivariumnovum.net.)


This is actually pretty much the same wording they used last year, but then the scholarship was for four students.

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Author of Oriente e Ocidente na Literatura Goesa believes Portuguese is important to Goa

Monday, June 04, 2012

From here in Portuguese:

The author of a book on Goan literature in Portuguese, presented in Goa today, argues that the Portuguese language is an asset for Goans, especially in the sector of information technology.

On the day he presented his book "East and West in Goan Literature" (Oriente e Ocidente na Literatura Goesa), Eufemiano de Jesus Miranda shows a desire to see a growing interest in the Portuguese language among Goan students.

"For my part, I will do everything I can for the Portuguese language, which for me is a second language from birth", he told Lusa (news agency) by telephone after the book's presentation, which is one of the few books written in Portuguese to be launched in Goa in the past 50 years.

The Portuguese language, dominant in Goa until 1961 when Indian forces captured the territory from the Portuguese, now has a relative weight, centred mainly on the study of history, he admits.

But he added that Indian industry, "especially in information technology", needs Portuguese "to fit in better with Portuguese-speaking nations", particularly Brazil and Angola.

Eufemiano Miranda acknowledged that "students in Goa still do not fully consider the potential of learning Portugese as a means to improve themselves professionally", but said that there "is some interest...I hope it grows."

He recalled that there is still a whole generation, to which he belongs, which was trained by the Portuguese and because of this speaks Portuguese daily...compared to other languages like French, which is "an entirely foreign language to Goans", learning Portuguese has some advantages: "In families that speak Portuguese, the youngest are looking to learn Portuguese to communicate with their elders."

He explained that the book resulted from his doctoral thesis in Portuguese literature, which dealt with "the main themes of Indo-Portuguese literature in the 19th and 20th centuries in a socio-historical context."
Another article here on the same subject (in English) also includes his views on Konkani, which he believes is enriched by Portuguese influence:

Dr Miranda who is also a fan of the Konkani language opines that the Portuguese language actually helped in developing our language. “As a Goan I feel proud of my Konkani. It defines us and we should make every effort to nurture and develop Konkani. But, at the same time Portuguese helped us to create a cosmopolitan image. It is said that a language is enriched with the words borrowed from other languages. So, I think Portuguese has enriched our Konkani language. My identity is the Konkani language but at the same time our views and overviews have changed due to the Portuguese influence,” concludes Dr Miranda.


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Macau looking for Portuguese people to work

Sunday, June 03, 2012

From here in Portuguese:

Macau is looking for Portuguese citizens to work. The multicultural territory continues to give priorities to local citizens, but there are multiple opportunities for foreigners, especially for those who want to escape the crisis or who are unemployed.

They are looking for lawyers due to having laws equal to those in Portugal, but not just this: they also need architects, engineers, specialized technicians and professionals in tourism.

The territory also has a great deal of construction, associated particularly with the hotel and tourist industry.
Perhaps more interesting though are the comments below the article, which can be seen here: pretty much all people looking for work. This is a typical one:
Estou interessado em ir trabalhar para Macau. Como faço para enviar curriculo. Tenho 25 anos e sou formado em restauraçao.

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OQLF shows slight increase of French signage in Montreal between 2010 and 2012

Saturday, June 02, 2012

From the OQLF website here; here is one part:

The Quebec Office of the French Language (OQLF) published five studies today on the language of commerce and business as well as languages used on the internet.

The display of company names shows a slight improvement between 2010 and 2012. The studies show that in 2012, 82% of shops had a company name that complies with the Charter of the French language in downtown Montreal, compared to 77% in 2020. This is a slight increase, especially with shops on the street, where compliance went from 78% to 85%.

The studies also reveal that French service in 2012 was available 95% of the time, about the same as that in 2010.

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Book believes study of Latin to be necessary for French

Friday, June 01, 2012

From an article here in French (automatically translated here). No time to write any more - somehow I ended up with things to do from 5 am to 1 am today.

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