By Allan Metcalf. American Speech, the journal of the American Dialect Society, is unique, in the old sense of “one of a kind.” It is the one and only academic journal that focuses on what’s happening with the English language in the United States.
The editorial policy is more inclusive, allowing articles on “the English language in the Western Hemisphere” and “other languages influencing English or influenced by it,” but the center of attention remains American English.
Many people are concerned enough to write articles about what our language should be doing; look no further than Lingua Franca for examples. Few people, however, take the trouble to do research and find out, for better or worse, what our language actually is doing. Those few find room for their research in American Speech and its companion annual monograph, Publication of the American Dialect Society. Read more...

European Day of Languages
Every year, 26 September is the day we celebrate Europe’s rich linguistic heritage – the EU’s 23 official languages, the 60 or so regional/minority languages, and the languages spoken by people who’ve come to Europe from other parts of the world.

NELLIP - Network of European Language Label Initiatives and Projects

Multilingual database for European Language Label

There is no argument that English has taken a firm hold as the language of modern science. How far should non-English speaking countries go to maintain their own languages?
Several days ago I came across an article in Israel's online Ynet news (belonging to the daily Yediot Achronot newspaper) by Shachar Chai, discussing a decision by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to allow doctoral theses in English. The bulk of this article, however, addresses the bitterness of the President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, Professor Moshe Bar Asher, with this decision.
I heartily agree with the idea to allow writing in English. For me, this gets close and personal – so I say "better late than never". I received my doctorate from the Hebrew University in 1998, after a protracted battle for permission to write it in English. A timely retirement of the equivalent of Graduate Studies Dean paved the way for a younger, and more receptive one who acquiesced to my request. Read more...

By Nishant Kumar. With a majority of engineering and technology courses being either bilingual or taught in English, France is emerging as a study abroad destination for Indian students. Nishant Kumar reports from Paris.
With the global education sector undergoing a substantial transformation , the focus of Indian students is shifting from traditional educational destinations like the UK, US and Australia. In fact, given the variable palate that Europe has been offering in recent times, countries like France, Germany and Spain are emerging as study abroad destinations for Indian students. While the latter two are more popular for postgraduate, research and management studies , France has come up as a more holistic choice for Indian students. Read more...

The European Union has 23 official and working languages. They are: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.
The first Community Regulation determining official languages was passed in 1958. It specified Dutch, French, German and Italian as the first official and working languages of the EU, these being the languages of the Member States at that time. Since then, as more countries have become part of the EU, the number of official and working languages has increased. However, there are fewer official languages than Member States, as some share common languages. In Belgium, for example, the official languages are Dutch, French and German, whilst in Cyprus the majority of the population speaks Greek, which has official status.
There are two main entitlements for languages with “official and working” status:
- documents may be sent to EU institutions and a reply received in any of these languages
- EU regulations and other legislative documents are published in the official and working languages, as is the Official Journal
Due to time and budgetary constraints, relatively few working documents are translated into all languages. The European Commission employs English, French and German in general as procedural languages, whereas the European Parliament provides translation into different languages according to the needs of its Members. More info: Official languages and other facts about European countries.

Critère de sélection, de promotion ou de mobilité dans beaucoup d'entreprises, l'anglais n'est pourtant pas pratiqué couramment par la plupart des salariés français. Selon le dernier indice EF sur le niveau de compétences en anglais des adultes dans le monde, la France se situe au 23e rang mondial. Des résultats quelque peu inquiétants lorsque l'on sait que 50% des salariés ont déjà été confrontés, dans le cadre professionnel, à une situation en anglais où ils se sont retrouvés en difficulté (Baromètre Wall Street Institute/JobInTree).
A l'heure actuelle, les Français qui maîtrisent le mieux l'anglais ont entre 25 et 35 ans, car ils ont bénéficié d'un enseignement scolaire plus adapté et de l'émergence des formations post Bac à vocation internationale type Bachelor ou MBA... Pourtant, globalement, les actifs n'ont plus vraiment d'excuse, si ce n'est cette inhibition maladive à parler anglais en public, ils peuvent aujourd'hui bénéficier d'un large éventail de formations, même avec un emploi du temps chargé. Explications avec Christophe Libilbehety, Directeur commercial du magazine Vocable. Suite de l'article...

Une faute d'orthographe oubliée, un point d'exclamation mal interprété ou une formule de politesse hasardeuse et c'est le drame. Devenu un outil de travail à part entière, l'e-mail peut en effet générer "de l'incompréhension, des difficultés d'interprétation et des conflits", selon une note de l'Observatoire de la responsabilité sociétale des entreprises. Quelles sont alors les règles à respecter pour ne pas commettre d'impairs? Quelles formules de politesse utiliser pour ne pas passer pour un rustre? Aline Nishimata, auteure de "Savoir rédiger vos e-mails professionnels", livre des conseils pour éviter que sa correspondance finisse dans le dossier "Boulets" d'un collègue...
Quels sont les principaux points à soigner pour bien rédiger un mail?
La première chose, c'est l'objet du mail. Il est nécessaire d'y indiquer le contenu de votre message, ne serait-ce que pour être certain d'être lu. Pour ne pas froisser son interlocuteur, commencer par un "Cher Monsieur X" ou "Chère Madame X" est préférable à un simple "Bonjour" ou même seulement "Cher Monsieur" ou "Chère Madame". Accoler le nom de famille est en effet très important. Concernant le contenu, il faut respecter la règle journalistique des 5 W: Who? What? When? Where? Why (Qui? Quoi? Quand? Où? Pourquoi?). Suite de l'article...