Random links for 15 September 2011

A lot of interesting news has come in today and the past few days.

This article on French, English and other languages in Montreal is particularly interesting. French is spoken by about 54% of the population at home, and this is set to drop to 47.4%. However, this is not due to English but rather other languages, so-called allophones. This is actually good news for French as long as it is still spoken by more than English is, as speakers of other languages will generally gravitate towards the language spoken in the province they live in.

The numbers (another source here) go as follows:

1971: Francophones 61%, anglophones 27.4%, allophones 11%
2006: Francophones 54%, anglophones 25%, allophones 21%
2031 estimate: Francophones 47.4%, anglophones 23%, allophones 30%

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The Esperanto Wikipedia is having its own conference in October.

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A post here by a missionary who has translated a pamphlet into Papiamentu, apparently the 125th language.

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A school in Melbourn has elected to discard its Latin motto (nisi Dominus frustra) and replace it with.....a graffiti-style motto that says "Inspiring Minds". Bleh. I would have preferred a new Latin motto if nisi Dominus frustra doesn't really fit the school anymore or comes across as vague.

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In Mondial: le dicionario ha ja atingate plu di 4850 paroles; yo espera que yo povaria finar lo in le fine del semana o le comence del semana prochan. Ora yo ha poco besonia por le dicionario sur paper, solmente cuando yo vola un parol dopo P.