Unspoken English rules

Posted on September 5, 2016 by TechCommGeekMom

Now here’s something that’s been making the rounds among some of my friends on Facebook regarding an unspoken rule when speaking about adjectives:

I really had never thought about it, but this is right. It makes me wonder if there are similar “unspoken” rules in English, but if there are also similar rules to this in other languages. This might be why other languages can be a little confusing to native English speakers.

Those of you who are bilingual or multilingual, what patterns have you noticed like this one–unspoken rules, but it’s correct grammar–in other languages? Post your comments below.

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The Double Vocabulary of English | Mental Floss

Posted on June 3, 2016 by TechCommGeekMom

Why does English have so many words that have twins? Here’s how we got to have two vocabularies, one based in Germanic roots, and one based in Latin.

Source: The Double Vocabulary of English | Mental Floss

As someone who thinks that she missed her calling by not studying and getting degrees in linguistics, I find this a fascinating little five minute video history of why English has more than one word for many verbs and nouns. It’s said that English is complicated because of instances like this, but perhaps it’s actually richer for it.

What do you think of this video? Include your comments below.

–TechCommGeekMom

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No wonder (verbal) English is Confusing–Part 5

Posted on July 6, 2014July 6, 2014 by TechCommGeekMom

I often enjoy reading the blog/website Anglotopia, as it is written by a person who loves England and UK stuff as much as I do (if not more) and is making a living doing it (lucky!). This latest article that was posted there is yet another example about localized English, and in this case, translation. We talk about standardizing English for easier translation, whether it’s for machine translation or localization purposes, and this article is a perfect example of how even an American like me would need a translation of the “Yorkshire” English first, but fortunately I understand enough French that I can figure out the translation of the expressions from the French instead. This had to be a little bit complicated to do, but it’s an excellent exercise!

Read the article here:
Le Tour Yorkshire: Translating French into Yorkshire English For the Tour de France in Yorkshire – Are You Watching?

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No wonder (verbal) English is confusing – Part 4

Posted on July 2, 2014 by TechCommGeekMom

Evidently, Siobhan Thompson is back, and BBC’s Anglophenia must be doing a series on the difference between British English and American English. Here’s another gem on British colloquialisms–some you may have heard before, and some that, well, my British friends will have heard more often than we Yanks….

As I find more, I will continue to post these! I find these fascinating!

If you have suggestions for articles or videos you’ve seen for other versions of English for comparison as well, email me and let me know so we can share with everyone! For example, I’d love to see a video comparing Canadian English and American English, or even Canadian English and British English. Or Australian English, Indian English, or South African English, for that matter. 🙂

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No wonder (verbal) English is confusing, Part 3

Posted on July 1, 2014 by TechCommGeekMom

It seems these kinds of articles are coming out nonstop these days. While this one doesn’t have a video (awwwww), it’s short and to the point, and is another example of why spoken English can be rather confusing. We have pronunciation confusion here in the States with certain towns and such, some due to the same issue mentioned in this article from the names of towns that we took from Mother England, but also incorporating other languages like Native American, Spanish, and French just to name a few.