Category Archives: Languages/Linguistic curiosities
Migrant children are often their parents’ translators: a source of pride or a cultural burden?
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Sanmeet Kaur, a UCL History graduate and self-described “aspiring writer”, fled Afghanistan with her family when she was five and arrived in the UK not speaking a word of English. In an article titled “The trauma of bridging worlds as a child translator” she describes …
“Migrant children are often their parents’ translators: a source of pride or a cultural burden?”
Read MoreRecent research shows that the language used in job postings may be holding women back from work
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Why are women still underrepresented in many high-profile fields like finance and STEM? The reasons behind this are complex and may include gaps in education, lingering gender stereotypes, lack of role models, and concerns over work-life balance. Findings from a recent study titled “Decoding bias: …
“Recent research shows that the language used in job postings may be holding women back from work”
Read MoreNew words and phrases generated via a collective experience can either unite or sow divisions: the case of “Familects”
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The term “familect” is not new but has gone viral recently thanks to the BBC TV show QI who launched it to its 1.3 m Twitter followers as the May 21 “Word of the Day”. A “familect” is the distinct dialect you develop with your …
Read MoreThe debate around “woke” culture is heated: while many say it has helped to raise awareness of social justice issues others claim it has gone way too far
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village What does “woke” actually mean in today’s culture? As the use of the word spreads, what people actually mean by woke seems less clear than ever. A review of Google keywords shows that the search for defining “wokeness” has surged in past years, with phrases …
Read MoreEmoji have come a long way in terms of improving gender and cultural inclusivity but users are asking for increased representation
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village A preview of the latest set of over 40 potential new emojis, many of which focus on gender neutrality and diversity, was released by Emojipedia shortly ahead of World Emoji Day, July 17. In past years emoji have come a long way in terms of …
Read MoreSurvey data about non-binary people: a critical tool to inform discussions about policy, resource allocations, and other issues that affect them
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village “International Non-Binary People’s Day” is celebrated ever year on the 14th of July since 2012 and is aimed at raising awareness around the issues faced by people who do not identify as male or female. The issue is gaining increasing traction in the current debate …
Read MoreLoss of linguistic diversity may lead to loss of knowledge of age-old remedies that could unlock the potential for new treatments
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village According to the UN, more than 30% of the 7,400 languages on the planet are expected to disappear by the end of the century. The impact of language extinction on linguistically unique knowledge is often overlooked, says Dr Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, a biologist from the University …
Read MoreExclamation marks have become part of a social-media specific dialect to prompt humour and irreverence
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Francis Scott Fitzgerald hated exclamation marks (“it’s like laughing at your own joke”), Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen and James Joyce loved them, and Anton Chekov even wrote a short story in their honour. “Long considered the ‘fun uncle’ of the punctuation family, exclamation marks have …
Read MoreNot everyone who speaks English is treated the same way. What happens when accent discrimination creeps in?
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Have you ever become impatient during work conversations, speaking over or finishing the sentences of colleagues who are non-native English speakers and are more hesitant? Do you tend to gravitate more towards colleagues who are English native speakers to chat than with non-native speakers? Have …
Read MoreTranslation can be a political act when is used to give a voice to under-represented groups and challenge gender stereotypes
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village The act of translating a text, of making it available to people who can’t read the original language, is a political statement in many different ways: what works are chosen to translate, or not to translate, who should translate, what languages to translate into. The …
Read More“Anumeric” people: What happens when a language has no words for numbers?
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Numbers do not exist in all cultures. There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia that instead of using words for precise quantities, rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or “some.” Numbers are a creation of the human mind, they are a tool, …
““Anumeric” people: What happens when a language has no words for numbers?”
Read MoreFrench government bans inclusive writing in schools but accepts other changes that feminize language
by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village In the French language, all pronouns, nouns and adjectives carry the gender of the object or person they refer to. In English, the discussion around “gender neutral” language focuses on pronouns (“they”), in Romance languages such as French it is more complicated. The French “iel” …
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