Poll Number 5 Results

What kind of influence has spell check had on our knowledge of language?

4 people said positive influence.
1 person said neutral or no influence.
1 person said negative influence.

I was the lone dissenter who chose negative influence. Even though spell-check has made our lives easier, I think it has actually decreased our knowledge of language. With spell-checker, we don't have to bother with learning how to spell words and we spend less time reflecting on our word choice, because we think that the spell-checker will catch our errors. I believe this is negatively influencing our knowledge of language.

Which influence did you choose, and why?

Poll Number 4 Results

How many words does it take to read a newspaper or magazine fluently in English?

No one chose 400-500 words
One person chose 800-1,000 words
One person chose 1,500-2,000 words
Two people chose 3,000-4,000 words
And no one chose 8,000+ words

The correct answer?

3,000-4,000 words.

Congratulations to those who guessed correctly!

This quiz was brought to you by this site, which breaks fluency down into different levels according to how many words and/or phrases a person knows. If you're interested in reading more about these other levels, have a little look-see!

Our next poll is: What kind of influence has spell check has on our knowledge of language? This poll will preview an upcoming series about language and technology. Don't forget to vote now!

Word Buzz Friday

Hey all!

Time for another word buzz! It looks like POP! (that along with "my favorite isn't listed") happened to be the favorite onomatopoeia from last week. I wonder why I didn't put "buzz"?

Today's word is:

Zombie Company

1. A technically bankrupt company that is kept alive with large infusions of government money for the sake of "stability" in the U.S. financial system. 2. A large financial company with negative net worth that continues to operate, despite having no clear path to solvency. 3. The UnDead of Wall Street.

"AIG is the premier example of a zombie company -- kept alive only by $120 billion in federal bailout money. Apparently, it's considered too large to fail."

Haha! I haven't heard this mentioned on CNN. Actually, I haven't been watching so much CNN since I can't figure out what channel it's on this cable plan in Chile. Oh well...

Anyways, Happy Friday!

Poll Number 2 Results!

Hello everyone!

The results of our second poll are in!

Below are the responses to the poll question (which lanaguge family contains the hardest to learn langauges):

Five voters chose Afro-Asiatic.

One voter chose Japonic.

Two voters chose Other.

So, how did you vote?

I chose Afro-Asiatic. I have found that languages in the Berber, Egyptian, Chadic and Cushitic branches of this family have been the hardest for me to wrap my head around. Some of these languages have no vowel or arbitrary vowel sounds, so words can be pronounced many different ways. This makes pronunciation and understanding very difficult! Afro-Asiatic languages are also some of the least taught languages in Western schools, which makes contact with these languages very difficult. Huasa, found in the Chadic language branch, has tones, which also complicates things for me.

I also chose Afro-Asiatic because I have found that Indo-European languages are generally easy to learn, followed by Japonic (although I do get tripped up by characters).

So, to all of you who voted, please tell me which language group you chose and why! And if you put "other" please describe the language family you chose.

Thanks!

Poll Number 1 Results

The results of our first poll are in!

35 of you voted, with a whopping 62% of you choosing Mandarin as the most spoken language in the world. In second place, came English, garnering 28%, with Spanish trailing behind at 8%.

But which is actually the most spoken language in the world?

English.

Or Mandarin.

It depends on who you talk to. And what you mean by "spoken".

Many of the numbers and figures change so constantly, that most linguists put English and Mandarin in a constantly evolving dance for being the top language dog.

This may surprise the 62% of you who voted for Mandarin, but it is quite possible that English may have won this round.

While Mandarin dwarfs English when counting only native speakers of each individual language, English sweeps past Mandarin when comparing total number of speakers worldwide, regardless of whether they are native speakers or speak it as a second or third tongue.

As a native language, Mandarin comes in first in the world at nearly 1 billion*.
As a native and second language, Mandarin comes in second at 1.15 billion (with the majority being native speakers).

As a native language, English comes in fourth in the world at nearly 310 million.
As a native and second language, English comes in first, reaching into the 1.8 billion range(with the majority being non-native speakers).

(Some of these charts add in all Chinese dialects, so be careful in your calculations!)

You can find more information and stats at the Ethnologue and here.

So, what do you all think? Am I crazy? Is my math wrong? How did you vote?