This post contains a selection of links related to language and words in the news. These can be items from the latest news, blog posts or interesting websites related to global English, language change, education in general, and language learning and teaching in particular. Feel free to contact us if you would like to submit a link for us to include, or just add a comment to the post, with the link(s) you’d like to share.
Valentine’s Day infographics
43 percent of singles say bad grammar is a turnoff
According to a recent online survey of 1,700 adults, 43 percent of online daters consider bad grammar a “major” turnoff. More than a third (35 percent) think good grammar is sexy, and 22 percent couldn’t care less.
Language of Love Infographic
Have you ever wondered whether English is the language of love? Kaplan decided to discover how love inspires people to learn English [… and] asked 1,213 EFL (English as a foreign language) speakers what motivated them to learn English.
Infographic for Valentine’s Day: Love Idioms
Here is a fun graphic that we created for Valentine’s Day! You can use it to explain a few “love idioms” to your students.
Global English
Is English still the dominant language of higher education? (live chat, 15 February 12-2pm GMT)
Globally, English has been key to academic collaboration … But as Mary Jane Curry, co-author of ‘Academic writing in a global context’, points out, the growing dominance of English in academia has put scholars from non-English speaking countries at a disadvantage in publishing and sharing research across borders.
Improve your English
The unbottling of wine-related buzz words
If you also get a bit wide-eyed when wine words start buzzing about, read on.
Language resources
Love and relationships resources
… if you’re looking for lesson plans, audio materials or something more interactive – find your ideal classroom companion in our collection of love and relationships resources.
Books, dictionaries, words and languages
Leo Messi Now Has His Own Adjective In A Spanish Dictionary
There are no sufficient words in our silly “languages” to describe Lionel Messi. Pepsi is aware of this, and pounced on the opportunity to partner with a Spanish dictionary to come up with a new word to describe Messi’s brilliance.
Pope resignation: How Ansa’s Giovanna Chirri broke news (video)
When the Pope announced he would be stepping down from his position, it was in Latin. Giovanna Chirri, from Italian news agency Ansa, was the only journalist listening who understood what he was actually saying. Her knowledge of Latin led to a world exclusive on the news of the Pope’s resignation.
Language technology
Innovative Computer System Reconstructs Ancient Languages
An international team of scientists has used a new automated tool to reconstruct protolanguages – ancient tongues from which modern languages evolved.
Meme
A bit of fun (or should I say pun) from FjøsBook.com
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