Friday, December 22, 2006
Intercultural and Cross Cultural News Ends for 2006
Dear Reader,
As we now enter our end of year break the Intercultural and Cross Cultural News page will now not be back until January 3rd 2007.
All the staff at Kwintessential would like to take this opportunity to wish you either a Merry Christmas, a prosperous New Year, a happy Hanukkah or Eid Mubarek!
A Plate of Five Sliced Things please Waiter
"Five sliced things'' and "pee soup'' will be off the menu under a plan to try to standardize the English names of dishes and drinks sold in Beijing restaurants before the 2008 Olympics, according to a report yesterday.
Although the quality of English on restaurant menus has improved greatly in recent years, spelling errors and simple descriptions of food instead of names are still common.
The Beijing Daily said the dishes and drinks served in the capital's restaurants will be given "standardized'' English names by the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program, a government-sponsored organization that promotes English.
Read more: ChinaSudan Blocks Google's Arabic Translation Tool
The Sudan military Islamist dictatorship regime is blocking Google online translation of web pages, Mathaba can report.
In an effort to boost communication between people across borders created by languages and thus foster better understanding, some companies have provided free online translation tools allowing Internet surfers to read web pages translated by computers into their own languages.Google provides one such service in Beta testing, which also provides translation of web sites and pages to and from Arabic into various other languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Portugues, Spanish, Chinese etc.
Read more: SudanWord of the Day: malaise
malaise \muh-LAYZ; -LEZ\, noun:
1. A vague feeling of discomfort in the body, as at the onset of illness.
2. A general feeling of depression or unease.
The first sign of illness is a malaise no worse than influenza. -- Steve Jones, Darwin's Ghost
Beauty is a basic pleasure. Try to imagine that you have become immune to beauty. Chances are, you would consider yourself unwell -- sunk in a physical, spiritual, or emotional malaise. -- Nancy Etcoff, Survival of the Prettiest