Can anyone correct the following text, please? If I had my own blog, I would like to write about learning foreign languages. Since I was a child, I’ve always felt attracted to languages other from my own. When I began to study English, at 11 years of age, I thought it would be difficult, but I’m glad my idea proved wrong. Most times, my score was high. Of course, later in life, studying this language hasn’t always been easy, and much depended on the context, the material studied and the skill requested. In any case I can’t complain, I’ve always done pretty well. There’s one thing I learned, and it was important to study English, other languages and everything in life: never stop learning. It is the golden rule I follow in my life.

Travelling What does travelling mean to you? I think, whatever the reason you travel for, wherever you go, whoever you travel with, travelling is one of the most important experiences we can have. Travelling helps us to learn new things, to see the world with eyes different from our own, to relax, to have fun. Of course, visiting a different place each time will help us to learn even more and will change us even more. But even visiting the same place at a different time can have special effects on us. For example, did you visit the same place as a child and as an adult? What were your reactions? Did you feel you had missed something? Today, we can move to any corner of the world and learning languages is easier than in the past. These two factors improved the quality of travelling. What do you think? #travelling #languages

Cooking Cooking is not only necessary, it can also be fun. I’m usually, what people say, a bookworm, and my mind is most times used to theoretical tasks. Of course, in our lives we also need to perform some simple practical acts. Cooking is one of these. It is not necessary to cook big or difficult dishes, even the easiest ones are very tasty and nutritious. By studying foreign languages, I also have the opportunity to discover and taste dishes that are typical of foreign countries and cultures. Moreover, cooking by oneself also lets everyone satisfy their own needs and avoid buying precooked-food which, as we know, is not always top quality. What do you think?

Languages and food As a linguist and a translator, I think that the link between languages and food is very strict. I would even say that one of the reasons to study a new language could be to learn more about food. First of all, some dishes names are actually untranslatable, as they could be considered as “realia”. For this reason they are left untranslated or are translated with the closest dish possible, which is not usually a real equivalent, though. Secondly, each dish name could evoke different cultural associations. For example, “pasta” is a common dish both in Italy and in China, but it is prepared, cooked and garnished very differently. When thinking about “spaghetti”, an Italian could recall actor Alberto Sordi’s famous scene in a movie where he tries to eat so many at once. The Chinese equivalents, 面条 (miantiao), could be associated with 长寿面 (changshoumian), the traditional long and thin pasta served on birthday to wish the person a long life. The word “fromage” could make a French person think about specific and local traditions, while the word “cheese” could make an Englishman think about the word used when being photographed. Moreover, even units of measure can make things more specific. While I translated recipes, I had to convert units from the imperial to the metric system. As you may guess, measures are to be approximate and this is more difficult if the ingredient is available only in the imperial system. Last but not least, in American recipes you will often find measures in volume, and not in weight (eg. ¾ cup of beans) and this makes conversion even more difficult. What do you think ? #food #foodandlanguages #culture

Teaching today I think teaching is not only a profession, it is also one of the greatest responsibilities and one of the greatest honors. Of course, each teacher has to make his/her method fit the new generations, at least a bit. This is especially true today, in our fast-pace changing world. Do you describe yourselves as traditional or innovative teachers? What methods do you use to keep students’ attention high? Do you think social media could be helpful in class? Thanks for your answers.

Could anyone correct this post? Whoever studies a foreign language, will probably find pronunciation one of the most difficult points, if not the most difficult. What are the reasons behind this? I think it depends on the language. English is a case of multicentric language: British Received Pronunciation and General American are seen as the main models. I was exposed to the first at school and university and to the latter in daily life. But, along with these two variations, there exist many others in countries with English as their official or second language, along with different variations even within the same region, area or city. Having so many models can sometimes create confusion. In the case of Chinese, there exists a standard variation, which is Mandarin Chinese or Putonghua. The problem is that Chinese population is extremely numerous, and daily speaks several dialects and local languages, and each place within China only has its own accent. In the case of languages with few speakers, there is the opposite problem. It becomes very difficult to find mother tongue speakers and audio material, even in the Internet age. What do you think?

What do you think about videogames to learn foreign languages? I think they are a very good tool. In the past, videogames were very simple and had very little text, if any at all. For this reason, it was easy to understand how to play, even without translation. Later, games began to have more complex plots and better graphic aspects, so the text became much more important. Most games were developed in English, but even a basic knowledge of the language was enough. At least in my case, this was the beginning of a virtuous circle. On the one hand, studying English let me progress with the game, on the other hand, the more I played, the more words, terms and grammar I learned. More recently, videogames companies tried to launch more and more products on foreign markets, and for this reason, translations were needed. Most times, it became possible to choose different languages within the same game, and this let users to compare and find the equivalents of one or more words. Amazing! For these reasons, I think that videogames are not only a way to have fun, but also a learning tool! What do you think? What are your experiences?