The Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual song competition in the world. Since 1956 when it was founded, there have been 36 winners with lyrics in languages other than English, while 31 songs won with lyrics fully or partially in English.

Photo source: images.unsplash.com It is well known that French and English share some common vocabulary. village – village air – air bracelet – bracelet etc. But did you know that some English words contain entire French sentences? Take a look at the video! „French Phrases Hidden in English Words“      

Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk   A new book from Seamus Heaney is to be published next spring – more than two years after his death.     Seamus Heaney found Virgil’s Aeneid a source of inspiration (Photo source: flickr.com)   The translation of an ancient classic by Virgil is one the Nobel Laureate had worked on for over 30 years, finishing it just one month before his passing. According to his daughter Catherine, the sixth book of Virgil’s epic The Aeneid was „a touchstone“...

Source: CRI English Many public venues in China put up signs in both Chinese and English, with the influx of millions of overseas tourists and an increasing number of expats living in China.   But some of these venues should have been more thoughtful and dedicated in providing the information in English. The latest translation mishap was spotted in Xi’an North Railway Station (wait, according to regulations it should be translated as Xi’an Bei Station), in which the sign „Please wait behind the...

Source: www.washingtonpost.com Intro Photo: foter.com   The future of language   To some extent, Americans have an advantage over much of the world’s population: The country’s two most widely spoken languages — English and Spanish — are among the most widely spoken worldwide. So, are Americans still willing to take language classes?   To some extent, Americans have an advantage over much of the world’s population: The country’s two most widely spoken languages — English and Spanish...

Source: www.washingtonpost.com Author: Caitlin Dewey Photo: Pixabay   Look at these young minds being corrupted by social media. A friend who teaches middle school English starts the school year with a lesson on how to e-mail properly. You’d think kids born in the same year as Facebook would know this stuff, but my friend says they overlook certain technicalities. They don’t start with a greeting, for instance. They sprinkle their writing with emoticons and textspeak. And she has to coach them specifically on the...

Source: www.thrillist.com Whether you’re backpacking in Barcelona, skiing in Switzerland, or dining in Dubrovnik, it’s probably a good idea to learn a few essential phrases in the local language.   Or, at the very least, learn the word for beer — and how to say it properly. But even if you’re lazy or just flat out inept with languages, there are still quite a few places you can get away with speaking only English (without looking like a complete idiot abroad). This handy map — compiled...

Source: Mental Floss Photos: Pixabay   English is known as a magpie language that picks up words from almost every other language and culture it comes in contact with, from Abenaki to Zulu.     And although some languages have understandably widened the English vocabulary more than others, modern English dictionaries contain more of a geographical melting pot than ever before. Listed here—in order by number of native speakers—are the world’s top 20 languages (according to Ethnologue, a global catalog of...

Source: mentalfloss.com Infographic: Alberto Lucas Lopéz Proportional Map of the World’s Largest Languages   There are 7 billion people on earth and about 7000 languages, but more than half of the world’s population speaks one of just 23 languages. This infographic, created by Alberto Lucas Lopézfor the South China Morning Post, shows the relative size of speaker population for all the languages that have over 50 million speakers (based on data from Ethnologue). It shows, quite strikingly, how giant the...

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com An A to Z of Noah Webster’s Finest Forgotten Words   October 16 is World Dictionary Day, marking the birthday of the great American lexicographer Noah Webster. Born in Connecticut in 1758, Webster published his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, in 1806, but it was his two-volume American Dictionary of the English Language published in 1828 (when he was 70 years old) that earned him his place in history as the foremost lexicographer of American...