Category: Language
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Dead songs… Lingering in the air…
The Unesco Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger is a melancholy document, charting the 3,000 or so languages that experts predict will vanish by the end of this century. In that context, a growing number of composers are turning their attention to languages that are extinct, endangered or particular to tiny groups of speakers…
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Babies. Beeps. Logos…
Researchers have long known that adults can flexibly find new ways to communicate, for example, using smoke signals or Morse code to communicate at a distance, but a new Northwestern University study is the first to show that this same communicative flexibility is evident even in 6-month-olds. The researchers set out to discover whether infants…
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Universal translator. Useless.
Skype users will soon be able to conduct voice and video calls supported by a near-real time translation technology. And while it can't yet guarantee that no fine detail will be lost in translation, Microsoft's new idea for its video chat platform surely feels like something straight out of science fiction. No longer will our hopes…
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Shakespeare. Chinese. The essence.
The Royal Shakespeare Company is to translate the entire works of the Bard into Mandarin as part of efforts to foster greater cultural ties with China. Culture Secretary, Sajid Javid, announced funding of £1.5m to pay for the project, which will also cover the translation of up to 14 important Chinese plays into English. (1, 2)…
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Bacteria language… Staying silent... Being wise...
Bacteria seem to be have a more complicated "language" than we thought. They can communicate with each other not only via single "words" (in the form of chemical signals via a single specific molecule) but also via combinations of these words!!! (1) Language seems to be inherent to every living being. It seems that we…
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