In the middle of exam term, surrounded by revision notes and panicking about that next exam, it’s very easy to lose sight of why so many of us are studying literature. Thankfully, Clémentine Beauvais, who incidentally produces the comic strips in The Cambridge Student, has written an excellent article on this very topic. If you’re wondering what good can come out of reading critically, here’s the link for you.
In light of suspected recent spamming attempts, several users have been removed from the system, and one comment has been deleted. If you believe that I’ve deleted your account without due cause, please get in touch with me.
The BBC this morning reports on research published by the Northwestern University in the USA. The effects of bilingualism include, for example, the ability to ignore distracting sounds and background noise in order to concentrate better on meaningful sounds, and this has been detectable in the workings of the brain.
According to this report in the Daily Telegraph, published on the 10th of April, only one in forty British diplomats are fluent in the language of the country in which they work. Ninety per cent of staff have no recognised ability in their country’s language. Charles Crawford, a former British diplomat who speaks Serbo-Croat, Afrikaans, French, Russian and Polish, offers his comments and some interesting anecdotes.
Hi everybody, and welcome to a (slightly revamped) Polyglossia website. I’ve taken over responsibility for keeping things ticking over. If you’d like to share any interesting articles you’ve come across, recommend a film, or anything linguistic that takes your fancy, then please do make a post using the button above.
The site layout, by the inimitable George Walkden, will remain the same.
(For the techies amongst you, I’m aware of the problem in the top right of the window. WordPress doesn’t like having a href tags directly embedded in page titles, so I’ll be installing a plugin shortly. Until then, bear with me …)
The BBC’s just published a very interesting article in which Anthony Seldon, a senior figure in the independent sector, comments on the UK’s lack of engagement with languages. It’s well worth a read.
Cambridge University announces that it will teach only sciences from 2021 onwards. Read the full story here.
UPDATE: This was, of course, a joke. Albeit one that’s pretty close to the bone!
As part of its New Europe project, the Guardian newspaper is displaying a really interesting article on perceptions of Spain and of Spaniards, which can be found here. The Spanish version is also available on the El País website.
The University Council for Modern Languages is worried that the prospect of £9000 fees during the Year Abroad will lead to university applicants turning their backs on languages if the government does not guarantee a fee waver soon.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12893629
Committee elections for the academic year 2011-12 open at 18:00 on Friday 18th March and close at midnight at the end of Sunday 20th March. You can access the voting here: https://www.vote.cusu.cam.ac.uk/polyglossia/10-11/committee/. Only members may vote. If you think you should be on the electoral roll but aren’t, email gw249. (Note that the manifestos are no longer available online.)
The candidates are, in alphabetical order:
Vice-President:
Sarah Coskeran (view manifesto)
Social Secretary:
Camilla Crosby (view manifesto)
Editor of Polyglossia:
Louisa Long (view manifesto)
Hana Murrell (view manifesto)
The voting also contains a referendum on the new constitution, which you can download from here. It has the approval of the current committee, but we need you the members to accept it too!