lunes, 4 de marzo de 2013

Expressions: The Naming of Days

by Liam Bourret-Nyffeler

I'm sure we've all been told about the importance of Latin in Western languages. It's hardly surprising that many days share similar name forms or concepts between languages. What is more, with celestial bodies in our solar system being of huge importance for everyone I'd like to look at some of the more surprising similarities. There are of course exceptions but the cultural connections with ancient empires have bestowed upon us similarities in the way things are named. For now we'll look at the days of the week: Today is Monday, So let's get started there... then?

Monday: Day of the Moon.
The moon is central enough to life here on Earth that it's even got it's own calender. I'm not going into months  and calender beyond what is pertinent to days but I might choose that next time.

Vikings and Germanic cultures share a similar word and concept. Some variation of Mon  or maan and dag, daeg, tag.
Spanish and other romance languages often have Lunes, Lundi or something similar. Again Luna = Moon.

Here's where it gets a little funky. In Japan, not only do they have "Day of the Moon" (Getsuyōbibut it's the day that follows Sunday! The same is also true in Hindi. (Somavār)

Note: On the whole Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and Portuguese follow a structure of something akin to "1st Day, 2nd Day etc." easier to learn if you can count... but I hoped for something that might lead to some old Gods of the Ancient cultures of those areas or something like that. Old Portuguese, however, DOES use this. If and when something relevant pops up in one of those languages, I'll mention that.

Take care, all. Don't get the Monday blues.
And as always, any clarifications, corrections or help of any sort are appreciated.

Sources: English references from http://etymonline.com
http://www.cjvlang.com/
Admittedly a bit of Wikipedia so don't take this blog as irrefutable in any way.

miércoles, 23 de enero de 2013

And a Merry 2013 to you all

by Liam Bourret-Nyffeler

From a cursory glance at the blog statistics and a few comments made by personal acquaintances, we have more than zero followers. So, it's time to kick things off again for the new year.

If you have come here from the new shiny website, welcome one and all.

This blog was envisioned as a means to ramble semi-aimlessly about the things we love here: Language, teaching and our students.

The original intention was to update weekly, but with everything else in life piling on top of itself like a traffic jam this will become a monthly effort. In terms of language, the updates concerned will deal with certain things that you can see in the English language itself. Perhaps a funny coincidence with another language, or something philosophical.

The next month is set to update on the ongoing gamification (I'm gong to stick with this spelling from now on) of the school. This is something that sees more TV time these days but if your not familiar with the concept there are a couple of blog entries from earlier that you can read. Those deal with my first attempt at motivating students through points systems that focused on giving more autonomy to the students by allowing them to earn point through work to then spend them on special rewards such as making posters, or watching a movie.
I have made huge leaps in finding out what works and what quickly gets overly complex so don't worry if you find the previous updates get too bogged down in detail. I've been giving talks

If there's enough interest I'll put up something newer.

Lastly, the hope is that students who wish to write poetry or a story have a space to get their material out there.

My hope is also that other members of staff add something too. So with a little luck, we'll have another writer here on the blog.

Best wishes to you all for 2013