05/08/2006 - 05/09/2006

dutch: the language of online purchases

A total of 30% of the Dutch population made online purchases in 2005, according to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). That percentage was a shade higher in Sweden, the UK, Germany and Luxembourg. In Greece, almost no one makes online purchases. The average for the European Union (EU) was 20% in 2005. Nearly 80% of the households in the Netherlands had an Internet connection in 2005. That percentage was the highest in the EU. The most popular Internet activities in 2004 were e-mails and surfing, followed by software downloads, online shopping and online looking for a job.

borders to venture into middle east

Borders Inc., a subsidiary of global book, music and movie retailer Borders Group, Inc, announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Al Maya Group, a diversified corporation headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, to establish a franchise arrangement under which Al Maya will operate Borders stores in the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Borders

hrsa launch new page on cross cultural competence

In the USA, the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) announced a new Web page on cultural competence. This user-friendly site highlights approximately 40 HRSA-supported projects on the critical subject of cross-cultural health care. HRSA has provided exceptional leadership in helping health care providers enhance their clinical and organizational skills in cultural competence. As a result, the quality of cultural and linguistically appropriate services that HRSA provides to its diverse constituents has vastly improved.

UK Local authorities fail to break glass ceiling for ethnic staff

Almost half of England's 411 local authorities still do not have a single person from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities among their top earners.

And the 'glass ceiling' stopping BME staff reaching the top in local government seems to be becoming thicker. The 2004-05 Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI), compiled by the Audit Commission and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, show that 189 local authorities do not have a single BME employee in their top 5% of earners, compared with 181 in 2003-04.

japan a long way from being multilingual

Despite 2 million foreign residents and calls for internationalization from within, Japan has a long way to go before becoming a multilingual society. The current state of health care is no exception. Be it university hospitals with cutting-edge research facilities or your neighborhood dental clinic, few medical institutions in Japan are capable of serving patients in a foreign language.

competition for Irish language translators

Irish becomes an official and working language of the European Institutions from 1st January, 2007. A competition to select 30 Irish language Translators for recruitment to the EU to meet this new competence has been launched by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), on 3 May, 2006.

world of physics lacks any cultural diversity

The prospect of a black Marie Curie or Michael Faraday emerging in Britain appear extremely bleak, according to a report for the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Physics that concludes that physics, in particular, "is very much white (and male) dominated".

Prof Peter Elias and Dr Paul Jones of the University of Warwick, and Dr Sean McWhinnie and Royal Society of Chemistry call for more work to find out why ethnic minority groups do less well than the white population at university, and are less likely to choose postgraduate study in chemistry and physics, even when qualified to do so.

globalization diminishing cultural diversity says author

Cultural diversity in the world is diminishing through globalization, author and environmentalist David Suzuki said during a visit to Calgary yesterday.

Suzuki, promoting his new book David Suzuki: The Autobiography, met with residents in Forest Lawn (Canada) to discuss the challenges of preserving ethnic diversity in society. "The great joy of Canada is that we are this really amazing experiment where we value diversity," said Suzuki.

irish minister welcomes cultural diversity

EU migrant workers coming to Ireland promote diversity and enrich the country’s culture, it was claimed today.

Speaking on Europe Day, Minister of State Noel Treacy said continental European languages can be heard in Irish towns and cities and Polish newspapers can be seen on news stands.

“The richness of Europe’s cultures shows that the EU is so much more than just an economic and political entity,� Mr Treacy told his audience at a ’Europe Entices’ event in Dublin’s Bewley’s Café.

world cup 2006: phrase of the day - handbags

'Handbags' is used to describe attempts of players to fight but without the fighting or a pathetic attempt at demonstrating bravado. The phrase can also be phrased as handbags at ten paces to emphasise the lack of real intent or conflict. A commentator may refer to a slight scuffle between two players as "a bit of handbags..."

word of the day: otiose

otiose \OH-shee-ohs; OH-tee-\, adjective:
1. Ineffective; futile.
2. Being at leisure; lazy; indolent; idle.
3. Of no use.

Mr. Federspiel's surreal flourishes and commentaries straddle the line between interesting and otiose. Most of the surrealism is pretty but pointless. -- D. F. Wallace, "The Million-Dollar Tattoo", New York Times, May 5, 1991

Although the wild outer movements and the angular Minuet can take such clockwork precision, the Andante, with its obsessive, claustrophobic dialogues between strings and bassoons, seemed sluggish and otiose. -- Tim Ashley, "VPO/Maazel", The Guardian, April 16, 2002

initiative to boost diversity in media

A £3m programme of initiatives to tackle diversity in the broadcast media was launched today by sector skills council Skillset and the UK Film Council. The funding will enable the launch of more than 20 projects across the UK to benefit almost 600 individuals. The projects are part of the Audio Visual Entrepreneurship (AVE) programme which has been launched to support individuals from groups currently under represented within the media including women, people with disabilities, black and ethnic minorities, older people and young people from economically disadvantaged areas.

india sees need for language learning

Large companies have learnt that being fluent in a foreign language helps when it comes to doing business abroad.

Mergers, acquisitions and tie-ups with firms in other countries have changed the way Indians do business, with firms realising that being fluent in a foreign language may translate into more business.

“We may be more comfortable with English in India, but it isn’t of much use in some parts of the world. It therefore becomes essential for our executives to be well-versed in the local language if they want to invest in these parts,� said Madhukar Shukla, a senior faculty member at XLRI.

PSP launches the talkman translation tool

Originally launched in the far east, this UMD is a a learning tool and interactive phrasebook, covering six languages and with a couple of games thrown in for good measure. Oh yes, and all hosted by a blue bird called Max.

Using TalkMan is supposedly easy. Select your location, choose your language and then the scenario (hotel foyer, restaurant, in a club etc), decide what you want to say (via dropdown) or say it through the microphone (included), then get Max to translate to your new friend. or be brave and say it yourself "parrot fashion". And with the ability to reverse the process, Max can translate the reply too. There's also games, a voice memo, unit convertor and lots of other little toold to make language learning more fun.

world cup 2006: phrase of the day - give and go

"Give and go" is also known by the terms "touch and go", a style of play said to have been born out of the Shankly years at Liverpool F.C. This style of play involves passing then moving to space, then passing and moving into space throughout the whole team to create a fluid motion up and down the pitch.

bloggers blooming in china

Blogging is booming in China with the number of bloggers expected to hit 60 million by the end of this year.

China is the world's second-largest internet market after the US, with more than 110 million users. A survey by Chinese search engine Baidu.com put the current number of blog sites at 36.82 million which are kept by 16 million people, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The number of Chinese bloggers is expected to hit 60 million by the end of this year, Xinhua said, quoting a report on China's media industry by the prestigious Tsinghua University.

word of the day: aspersion

aspersion \uh-SPUR-zhuhn; -shuhn\, noun:
1. A damaging or derogatory remark; slander.
2. The act of defaming or slandering.
3. A sprinkling with water, especially in religious ceremonies.

Orley had once been forced to resign from a local men's club for casting aspersions on the character of another member's wife. -- Thomas A. Underwood, Allen Tate: Orphan of the South

Its meetings were fiercely argumentative; members seemed to love nothing better than to cast aspersions on each other's intellect and class loyalty. -- Glenn Frankel, Rivonia's Children