From the 1631 Bible that declared „Thou Shalt Commit Adultery“ to the programming code that sent NASA’s Mariner 1 into the ocean rather than to Venus, there have been some amazing typos over the last few centuries of the written word. See the article below for more wonderful examples (I can’t believe anyone would insult a Sesame Street character in such a vulgar way)
Nothing separates the northern hemisphere from the southern quite as much as the way they celebrate Christmas, as the boys discover in this episode of Lifeswap – a series about a Kiwi called Duncan living in Germany and a German called Jörg living in New Zealand, told through their Skype conversation with each other.
Cecil, one of Africa’s most famous lions and the star attraction at the Hwange national park, was killed by bow and arrow in June by Walter Palmer, an American who runs a dental practice in Minnesota and hunts big game for fun.
The video below shows American late show host Jimmy Kimmel putting into words what I think a lot of people are feeling about this event.
We are currently looking for a new staff member for my team. We’ve had dozens of applications, but only two have been interesting. We have invited them both for interviews. I hope it becomes clear who is better for us, because at the moment, based on their CVs, it’s a dead heat (Unentschieden).
Another idiom that comes to us from the world of horse racing – where a dead heat is a race in which two or more horses finish exactly equal. But why the words „dead“ and „heat“? As mentioned in a previous post the word dead also has an additional meaning besides not alive. This meaning – exact, or precise which gives us expressions like deadline, dead ringer, or dead centre – is what is meant in this idiom. A heat is the name of a qualifying round in a race before the final.
Today the LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule blog is presenting an article that looks at the relationship between language and music, or more specifically, language and rhythm.
As English becomes ever more established as the world’s lingua franca, more and more people have to perform parts of their jobs in English. This may be true for you. It’s certainly true for high-ranking politicians. And sometimes they struggle.
There is a long history of politicians inflicting their less-than-perfect English on the world, from Heinrich Lübke’s words – „Equal goes it loose“ – to the Queen while awaiting the start of a military tattoo (although this may not be a true story) to the incomprehensible speech by current Italian prime minister in the video below:
But the fact that politicians who speak English as a second (or third, or fourth…) language have some problems with it shouldn’t surprise anyone. What’s really shocking is what comes out of the mouths of native English-speaking politicians.
Some US politicians really stand out in this regard. Enough has been said about George W. Bush in recent years, but let’s take a moment to remember Dan Quayle, vice president to Bush the elder. Quayle was famous for his almost poetically confusing statements. For example:
He also struggled a little with spelling, and wanted to make sure that the children of America would suffer the same fate:
Germans love to be naked. And to talk about their health in horrifying detail. Watch as Duncan learns these lesson in the fourth episode of Lifeswap – a series about a Kiwi called Duncan living in Germany and a German called Jörg living in New Zealand, told through their Skype conversation with each other.
If your company sells a product on the international market, it’s a good idea to do some careful research about how that product’s name sounds in all languages spoken by your new customers.
Here are some classic examples of where companies failed on this due diligence:
In English, the word „mist“ means a light fog – it sounds ethereal, mysterious and beautiful. Not so the German word „Mist“. This proved a problem for a number of companies when they tried to introduce their products to the German market. Rolls Royce (who had to rename their car from „Silver Mist“ to „Silver Shadow“), Clairol (whose curling-iron , the „Mist Stick“ was a flop in Germany) and whiskey-maker Irish Mist, all had big problems with this particular false friend.
And did you know that in the rest of the world, the brand known in Germany as „Wick“ is actually called „Vicks“. Doesn’t sound so appropriate when pronounced in German, does it…?
And honestly, I think the less said about the IKEA product-naming disaster below, the better..
Do you know of any other examples? Add them to the comments below!
Today the LINGUA FRANCA Sprachschule blog is bringing you another video from the TED series. TED (Technology, Education, Design) is an international and interdisciplinary conference series based around the concept “ideas worth spreading”.
In this talk, world-famous linguist Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds — and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize.
This video is suitable for a variety of levels. Higher-level English learners (B2+ and up) should just watch it as it is below. Intermediate students (B1+ – B2) – you can go to the video on the TED website and turn on the English subtitles. Lower-level learners (up to B1+) can turn on the German (or the language of your choice) subtitles, as well as look at a full transcript of the talk. Enjoy!
In the third episode of the Lifeswap saga – a series about a Kiwi called Duncan living in Germany and a German called Jörg living in New Zealand, told through their Skype conversation with each other – the boys deal with one of the biggest differences between the two countries: how they deal with the cold of winter.