Digital Dialects - language games for European Day of Languages

Another shameless plug. This time it's for the Digital Dialects website. The site has interactive language games in 60 different languages from Afrikaans to Zazaki.

To play the games you will need Flash Player. The games are very good for practising basic vocabulary and mainly consist of matching vocabulary games. For some languages there are activities for more advanced students, too.

There are no audio files for most games, so they can be used primarily to improve reading skills rather than as a main teaching tool.

It is very user friendly and, unlike some similar sites, tells the user when they have made a mistake and shows them where they went wrong.

Languages, such as Greek, Hindi, Mongolian, Japanese, etc which use different writing systems have activities mainly in their own alphabets.

This site would be ideal for learning and practising common phrases in different languages for the European Day of Languages on 26th September.

For more ideas on activities for European Day of Languages you can look at (or even join) the EDL Ideas wiki.

Contrepèterie or Word play in French.

The English language lends itself to manipulation of words and phrases to create amusement. Word play and double-entendre have been the driving force behind the nudge-wink style of comedy favoured by many successful British comedians over the years.

Take, for example, Kenny Everett's character Cupid Stunt. An excellent example of a spoonerism if ever there was one. (Originally, the character was to be called Mary Hinge but the BBC wouldn't allow it!)

I was listening to a radio programme about the use of spoonerisms and it suddenly struck me that they must exist in other languages, too. A quick wikipedia search told me that spoonerisms are used internationally in many different languages.

In French, this is called contrepèterie and is extremely popular. The French are immensely proud of this and, in fact, the satirical newspaper le canard enchaîné has a column solely devoted to contrepèterie.

As in English, contrepèterie usually is a quite innocent phrase but contains more than a hint of indecency if letters or syllables were manipulated and enough thought was given to it.

François Rabelais used contrepèteries in 1532 in Pantagruel "la femme folle à la messe"

Just south of Paris, in Bourg-La-Reine there is a bookshop called le verger des muses.

The are many famous contrepèteries.

Here are some of them for you to think about:

• Les filles aiment le tennis en pension.
• J'aime vachement votre frangin.
• Elle prend la chose en riant.
• L'auberge du chat qui rit.

So, the next time you speak with a French person, listen very carefully.

He may, or may not, be a shining wit.

Reall Languages

Another recommendation. This time it's for REALL-LANGUAGES. A fantastic website for practising vocabulary in French, German, Italian, Russian, Swedish , Latin and English. It also contains exercises in other subjects, too.

There is a link to this site on my department's wiki but I had forgotten about it until I saw a link to it from Steve Smith on twitter.

The exercises are in the form of interactive games and students from beginner to GCSE standard will find them a great way to revise and practise vocabulary.

It's completely free to use and all you need is an internet connection and java.

Sur le pont d'Avignon?

I was taught this song at primary school. We drew pictures of people dancing on a bridge. In crayon. Probably.

Before un kilo de chansons came along, this was the song that every student of French learned.

Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d’Avignon
L'on y danse tout en rond

However, I found out today that it is, historically, wrong. You probably knew this already and are saying to yourselves "Isn't he stupid? Didn't he even know that?"

Today, as I was leaving Oldham to drive home I was accosted by my mother's neighbour. He had just, that second, arrived back from a holiday in the South of France and, as there was nobody else around, proceeded to recount his holiday adventures to me. (I could hear a collective sigh of relief from all the other neighbours!)

Anyway, he explained that the song was originally entitled "Sous le pont d'Avignon" because in medieval times, under the arches of the bridge on the Ile de la Barthelasse, there were all kinds of nefarious entertainments going on, including dancing. And dancing on the bridge was forbidden.

I checked this information and he is correct. So, now we all know. Thanks, Neil.

Learning German with Henning Wehn

The BBC German Languages site contains some excellent resources for learners of German. Self-proclaimed German comedy ambassador, and stand up comedian, Henning Wehn presents a series of hilarious and educational clips entitled "What so funny about German?"

The videos each last 3 or so minutes and the series includes advice on learning the German alphabet, word order, using genders, and finishes with advice on telling jokes in German.

I have embedded two of the clips below.

In the first, False friends, Henning explains that sometimes words sound the same in German and English but have totally different meanings.

In the second clip, Pseudo-anglicisms, Henning shows us that sometimes German takes English words and gives them a completely different meaning.

Do you know what Smoking, Evergreen and Bodybag mean in English? Watch and find out.

Lost in translation.

Translation has always been a tricky business. It isn't just a matter of changing words in one language to another and we can all quote examples of poor, but hilarious, translations from and into English. We can tell immediately if something has been translated by a student using google translate. In short, translation is only as good as the translator.

I read an article today from abc news about Pixar's new film (I refuse to use the word "movie") Cars 2. It has been released around the world and dubbed into 44 different languages and that is where Pixar's problems begin. One character in particular, Mater, proved extremely difficult:

"Mater's kind of a redneck, but that means nothing to anyone overseas because they don't have that particular vocal culture," says Rick Dempsey, senior vice president of Disney Character Voices. "So we had to figure out what region of Germany, for example, has more of an uneducated population without being offensive."

Good luck with that one, Rick.

This article got me thinking about the word "redneck" and how it would translate into other languages. In French, according to wordreference.com the word is "péquenaud". However, if you translate it back into English it gives the meaning as "hillbilly", "yokel" or "country bumpkin". All of these translations mean something completely different in English with differing degrees of offensiveness .

I'm sure that CBS would not have had such a hit in 1962 with a programme called "The Beverly Rednecks" or that the film "Deliverance" would not have been the success it was had Adge Cutler and the Wurzels been cast instead of Bill McKinney and Herbert Coward as the "mountain men".

I think that what I'm trying to say is that translation without intercultural understanding is pointless and if I didn't teach both I would be doing my students a huge disservice.

Learn French in One Word

I love this video. It is from Michelle Chmielewki's youtube channel.

What more can I say?