Use the IPA to Learn Foreign Language Pronunciations

Geoffrey Pullum has an excellent post about the International Phonetic Alphabet at Lingua Franca today. You can read it at this link.

Following are the official IPA charts for those who are curious about the difference between alphabet letters and IPA letters (symbols for sounds). An interactive IPA chart can be found here.

The study of sounds truly is fascinating.

Captcha Recap and Update (reCAPTCHA)

In a post last year I referenced an article in the New York Times that explained the acronym-based etymology of the word Captcha and told how entering a Captcha code helps transform old articles and books into computer text files.

One of the inventors of CAPTCHA is heading up a new project that will not only help translate the web, but will also teach people a new language for free.

I urge you to take a few minutes to watch this entertaining presentation about the project.

DuoLingo has my support.

The official CAPTCHA Site

The official reCAPTCHA Site.

ESL, EFL, Etc. and Location, Location, Location

ESL - English as a second language
EFL - English as a foreign language
TESL - Teaching English as a Second Language
TEFL - Teaching English as a Foreign Language

If a language is a foreign language to a speaker, it seems obvious that it would be that speaker's second language (or third or forth), so why the differentiation?

The answer is location.

English is considered a foreign language when it is taught or learned in a non-English speaking country; it is considered a second language when it is taught or learned in an English speaking country.



Thanks to 22 Words for bringing this uproarious video to my attention.

However, if the class mentioned in the video is truly EFL, I would think the enrollment counselor would not be speaking English. It would be more semantically correct if the class was ESL, but it wouldn't be as humorous.