"Like modern-day explorers, the two academics featured in The Linguists travel to forgotten places around the globe to unearth rare treasures—in this case, endangered languages. On a shoestring budget, professors David Harrison and Gregory Anderson navigate difficult terrain, searching for speakers of these forgotten and mostly hidden languages."
TT didn't like my link so I suggest accessing via Language Log.
Well worth watching.
nit-picky question
nutrax wrote this on another thread:
>BTW, in my circles, masters candidates always do a "thesis." PHD candidates do a "dissertation," although it is >sometimes also called a "thesis." Masters candidates don't do dissertations. Bachelor degrees that require some sort >of research usually include a "project" but it might be called a "thesis."
a friend of mine in england on a master's programme said he was definetely asked to write a "dissertation".
and then what's it called…
Question from a student: why is "I" (the personal pronoun) always written in capital letter?
Do you have much difficulty understanding the posts on Thorn Tree?
I ask because a poster recently included a few phrases in her request for advice that I thought might not be easily understood.
First, she described herself as "not too badly heeled." A native speaker of English myself, I have never seen this particular modifier used in that way. We might say that someone was "well-heeled," which itself is slang for well-to-do, meaning affluent, but it seemed strange to me that someone would…
This is a cultural question more than anything. In Ecuador and Peru is "sobrino" generally used only in relation to your actual nephew, or is it commonly used as a term of affection, say for the son of a friend?
On the W Europe board, I just saw a post where someone asked for a restaurant in Greece where they had "gyro". I looked it up in an online dictionary and discovered that one of the meanings is what I used to know as "souvlaki". Is this a new term for the same old sandwich, or is it an Australian (or other) term?
On ne sait pas qu'est-ce qui a déclenché au juste les émeutes anti-arménienne de 1905,
ou
On ne sait pas ce qui a déclenché au juste les émeutes anti-arménienne de 1905,
et également
on sait toujours pas exactement ce qui s'est passé.
ou
on sait toujours pas exactement qu'est-ce qui s'est passé.
Je devrais savoir ça, mais là au moment je suis fatiguée et je sais plus. Francophones, aidez-moi !
D'ailleurs, par rapport à l'expression "pédaler dans la choucroute", est-elle vraiment employé…
I think this literally translates as "Yes, & do you get garlic with that" or "Yes, & does that come with garlic?"
But what is the actual sense in which it is used?
Is it an expression of disbelief or sceptism?
How do you say "external trade surplus" in French? "Excédent commercial extérieur ". I don't think so.
There is something I've noticed some people on TT get upset about from time to time--the use of the term "American" in reference to things and people from The United States of America. I understand why this irks people; America is a region spanning two entire continents. Who are the people of The United States of America to claim "American" as their own?!
My questions is: What other term should be used? "I like to drink United States of American beer." "I like United Statesian literature."…