My new pet project Global Glossary (which I have introduced in a previous blog post) has been going from strength to strength for some time and has been acquiring new features gradually. So I though it would be a good idea to post a commented summary now of the most significant recent innovations. Here it goes.
Global Glossary: probably the biggest dictionary in the world
In Global Glossary, Lexicography on 2011/06/25 at 4:44 pm
It is time I introduced the readers of my blog (all three of them) to my new pet project: a website that claims to be – probably – the biggest dictionary in the world. The website, called Global Glossary, is a collection of bilingual glossaries in 95 languages and contains over 25 million entries.
How not to order a beer around the world
In Living with languages on 2011/04/25 at 3:08 am
This is a beautiful poster I spotted recently in a bar in north Dublin. It’s titled How to order a beer around the world and features phrases one can use in various languages to, well, order a beer. Combining my keen interest in languages with my even keener interest in beer, it drew me to itself like a lamp draws a moth.
I have a million comments to make about this poster. But before I do, let us understand what it is for. Contrary to what its title might suggest, its purpose is not to teach you how to order a beer correctly in various languages. Its purpose is more to entertain and amuse than to inform. It belongs in a genre of what I call decorational multilingualism (more about that later). So let us not expect much of it.
