English alone is not enough
Ilmar Anvelt
University of Tartu
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• булыжная дорога
• яйцекаменный
чай
saldejums
English alone is not enough
“You can buy in your own
language, but you must sell in
the language of your customer.”
English is just a tool, not a nifty skill.
You have to know Swedish or
Hungarian to stand out from the
crowd.
A student of mine, quoted from memory
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using
multiple languages either by an
individual speaker or by a community of
speakers. Multilingual speakers
outnumber monolingual speakers in the
world's population.
Plurilingualism
Plurilingualism is a situation wherein a
person who has competence in more
than one language can switch between
languages – from one language to
another and vice versa – according to the
circumstances at hand for the purpose of
coping with a social matter.
Language policy of the EU
Every European citizen should master
two other languages in addition to their
mother tongue.
• ec-European Commission - Learning your
neighbour's language
• eTwinning - Homepage
Interlanguage
(learner language)
vahekeel
•
•
•
•
•
Interference
Positive and negative transfer
I love you
I like you
Sholokhov creative like me
Interference between foreign
languages
• I became a letter.
• We were staying by the Angel Bridge.
Interference between foreign
languages
• I: Teid palutakse homme inglise keele
eksamile ka tulla.
• Prof. Ariste: Wieviel Leute?
• I: Only one.
Interference between foreign
languages
• I: Guten Abend.
• Borderguard: Билет?
• I: What kind of ticket do you mean?
English
Estonian
German
lecture
lektüür
Lektüre
Translate the
Estonian and
German words
into English
reading
matter
reading
matter
Translate the
English word into
Estonian and
German
loeng
Vorlesung
Do these words
mean the same in
all the three
languages?
• Falsche Freunde - False Friends
A few examples from
MED Magazine
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chef – boss, head, leader
Smoking – dinner jacket
Dress – sports shirt/jersey
Chips – potato crisps
Textbuch – songbook or script
Handy – mobile phone
A few examples from
MED Magazine
• selbstbewußt – self-confident, not self-aware
• mittelalterlich – medieval, not middle-aged
• Warenhaus – deparment store, not
warehouse
• Hochschule – college, university; not high
school
• ausländisch – foreign, from abroad; not
outlandish
A few examples from
MED Magazine
•
•
•
•
•
•
фабрика – factory
стул – chair
гениальный – brilliant, great, of genius
смокинг – dinner jacket
конкурс – competition
нервозный – irritable, nervy
A few examples from
MED Magazine
•
•
•
•
•
•
новеллист – short story writer
лунатик – sleep-walker
симпатичный – likeable, nice, attractive
экспертиз – expert opinion or examination
гимназия – secondary school
кабинет – study, office, consulting room
The future of English
“…everyone will speak and write
in whatever language they
choose, and the world will
understand.”
Nicholas Ostler
The Last Lingua Franca
Language industry
The language industry is the sector of
activity dedicated to facilitating
multilingual communication, both oral
and written.
Language industry
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
translation and interpreting
subtitling and dubbing
software and website globalisation
language technology tools development
international conference organisation
language teaching
linguistic consultancy
(EU DGT)
MT and CAT
• Machine translation – the use of software to
translate text or speech from one natural
language to another
• Computer-assisted translation – a human
translator uses computer software to support
and facilitate the translation process
Machine translation EN–ET
• At least 36 Islamist prisoners have died in
Egypt during an apparent attempt to
escape during their transfer to a prison
outside Cairo.
• Vähemalt 36 islamistliku vangid surnud
Egiptuses ajal ilmne põgenemiskatselt
ajal üle vangla väljaspool Kairo.
Machine translation ET–EN
• Tuleva aasta augustis täitub 330 aastat
Victoria bastioni nurgakivi panekust,
kindlustust ehitati enam kui 20 aastat.
Selle uuendamiseks kulub kaks aastat.
• Future filled with 330 years of Victoria in
August bastion where to put the
cornerstone, insurance, built more than
20 years. This update will take two years.
Trados
memoQ
Translation is impossible
but necessary.
Indian writer Gayatri Spivak