10/28/2005 - 10/29/2005

legal, IT and financial translators doing best

A press release from CILT (The National Centre for Languages) highlights that there is a continued strong demand for translators in financial and legal services.

Of all translators and interpreters, those specialising in finance, IT and legal services are the busiest in with demand expected to remain at the same level in the future. The same press release also predicts that the requirement for language services will rise in both the tourism and public-service sectors.

UK's linguistic future grey

Some more depressing news about the state of the UK's language skills! A survey now shows that only a fifth of 15-year-olds now learn a foreign language.

Headteachers blame a lack of high-quality language teachers and say uninspiring lessons are putting teenagers off. The Government’s decision to make the subject non-compulsory is only partly at fault.

The survey by the Secondary Heads Association highlights the sharp drop in take-up of modern languages since the Government made the subject non-compulsory for over-14s a year ago. Its findings are more alarming than a survey last November by Cilt, the National Centre for Languages, which suggested that more than a third of teenagers were abandoning languages.

research into writing skills of multilingual people

Faculty and staff members from Central Michigan University, Saginaw Valley State University and Mid Michigan Community College are examining the writing skills of students who speak more than one language.

its all about body language

A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that people pay more attention to body language than to facial expressions. The findings show that people interpret body language without consciously being aware of it.

From a cross cultural point of view it is interesting to note that if people are subconsciously interpreting body language, then it becomes even more important to be aware of intercultural differences in body language.

festival to promote xhosa language

A festival to promote the use of the Xhosa language and tradition in the Western Cape will be held next month.

Organised by the provincial Department of Cultural Affairs, Sport and Recreation, the event will include an exhibition of Xhosa literature and story telling. The festival is planned for November 21 to 27 in Langa.

Xhosa is used in the Southwest Cape Province and Transkei region of South Africa. It is also spoken in Botswana and Lesotho.Other names for it include Isixhosa, Xosa, Koosa, Kaffer, Kaffir, Caffre, Cafr or Cauzuh.

PIA targets hispanic population with spanish website

The move towards the mulitlingual website continues to gather pace on both sides of the Atlantic. A recent example of an organisation wanting to capiltalize of the business potential within the ethnic minorities is The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA). It recently launched a Spanish language Web site to provide additional service to members of the association whose primary language is Spanish or who do business in Hispanic markets.

The decision was taken after the PIA conducted a series of industry summits culminating with the publication in 1996 of the landmark study, Doing Business with The New Insurance Consumer. Among its findings: minority populations will be the fastest growing segment of American society, requiring the insurance industry to rethink its marketing and underwriting strategies; and minorities and women are closing the income gap between them and white males.

word of the day: malediction

malediction \mal-uh-DIK-shun\, noun:
A curse or execration.

There Justice Minister Bola Ige, confronted with the general incivility of local police, placed a malediction on the cads. Said the Hon. Bola Ige, "I pray that God will make big holes in their pockets." --"Sic Semper Tyrannis! Oppressors Face People's Justice," American Spectator, May 1, 2001

A conspiracy of infamy so black that, when it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men. --Joseph McCarthy, quoted in Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, by Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes