Christmas makes me melancholy. And that’s why I need a good comedy. This one wasn’t a really huge international success (to be honest, it wasn’t even a huge national success) but it’s one of my favorite movies.

Julen nærmer seg, og mange av oss har en uke fri fra skole, studier, jobb eller praksis. Helligdagene betraktes av de aller fleste som en avslappende tid, mens andre for øyeblikket er svært bekymret. Uroligheten handler om det enspråklige vakuumet som de snart skal ta del i. De heldige få med tospråklige familier misunnes av tusenvis av språknerder fanget i monolingvistiske omstendigheter. Kommunisering på kun ett språk i over en uke? Det er ufattelig lenge! Nei, det vil rett og slett ikke fungere dersom nerdene skal opprettholde sunn mental helse gjennom hele jula. Dette språklige marerittet er grunnen til at vi serverer noen tips til hvordan språknerdene enkelt kan snike fremmedspråkene inn i julefeiringen sin. Dersom du kjenner deg igjen, ber vi deg lese videre.

Christmas is coming up and many of us are having a week off from school, studies, work or internships. And as much as the holidays are meant to be a relaxing time, some of us are deeply concerned. The hesitation is about the one-, or even two-week monolingual vacuum we are about to take part of (no, it’s not about the Mayan prophecy on the upcoming Armageddon). Those fortunate ones with bilingual families are envied by thousands of nerds trapped in monolingual circumstances. Communicating in just one language seems impossible and nerve wrecking? It simply won’t work out while staying sane at the same time. That’s why I have come up with some guidelines or tips on how and why to sneak a second language into typical Christmassy incidents.

Jika anda ditawarkan les bahasa gratis untuk mempelajar dua bahasa lainnya dari seseorang yang ahli bahasa, bahasa apakah yang ingin anda pelajari untuk dikuasai? Saya rasa, setiap orang mungkin akan mempunyai jawaban yang berbeda. Bagi saya, saya akan memilih bahasa jepang dan bahasa Perancis. Mengapa? jawabannya cukup sederhana karena saya menyukainya. Beberapa hari yang lalu saya terlibat dalam sebuah pembicaraan dengan teman mengenai bahasa dan saya mengatakan bahwa saya lebih suka mempelajari bahasa Jepang dan bahasa Perancis dibandingkan bahasa terkenal lainnya seperti bahasa Jerman atau bahasa Portuges yang pada umumnya dipelajari oleh banyak orang diseluruh dunia.

If you were offered a free language course to learn two other languages from a linguist beside your own language, what language would you choose to master? Everyone might have a different answer, I guess. I would like to choose Japanese and French. Why? The answer is quite simple because I just love these languages. A few days ago I had a conversation about linguistic things with my friend and I told him that I’d like to learn Japanese and French more than the other famous languages like German or Portuguese which are commonly learned by many people from all over the world.

Zůstaneme ještě chvíli ve Vánoční náladě, co vy na to? Během mé krátké návštěvy v předvánočním Česku jsem si nemohla nevšimnout, že trdelník (spolu se svařákem) se stává nedílnou součástí Vánočních trhů.

Let’s stay in the Christmassy mood for a while, shall we? During my short visit in the pre-Christmas Czech Republic I couldn’t help but notice that trdelník (together with mulled wine) is becoming an integral part of the Christmas markets. So what is it and where did it come from?

Å arbeide i en ordbok handler om ord (selvsagt). Siden vi er elsker språk her i bab.la, ville jeg sjekke ut om de vinnende ordene i 2012 virkelig var verdige sin tittel. Og de er alle verdig, men her er fem av de like bokstavelige andreplassene!

Working in a dictionary is all about words (obviously). Since we are loving languages here at bab.la, I wanted to check out if the winning words of 2012 were really worthy. They might have been worthy, but here are the runner-ups, just as wordy!

I recently learned that TGIF can stand (for instance) for transforming growth-interacting factor, Tactical Ground Intercept Facility or a 2D drawing tool for Unix. Um, well, we’ll stick to the “Thank God it’s Friday” phrase! Enjoy! And as usual, if you want to send us a funny or interesting link and see it published in [...]