Around the web – November 2019

Here’s your round-up of the penultimate month of the year’s most popular stories about language, translation and interpreting.

• “Unspeakable things”: the vocabulary used to discuss sexual violence sometimes has drawbacks.

It is hard to tackle a problem you are afraid to name.

• Urban Dictionary has long been looked down on by more traditional dictionaries, but now some linguists are using it for research. Certain U.S. states are referencing it to determine the acceptability of vanity plate names, and its definitions have also been brought up and debated in court cases.
• Talking about court cases, did you know that emojis have now ‘invaded’ courtrooms?

In 2019, dozens of emojis showed up in legal cases.

• We need to appreciate all languages spoken by someone as an integral part of who they are – both in sickness and in health.
• 5 reasons mental health interpreters are important.
• As online apps become good at translating Iceland’s complex language, the isolated country is newly vulnerable to computer scams.

Icelander Kristjan Asgeirsson lost $68,000 in an online scam. The people of Iceland are no longer protected from online fraud because of their linguistic isolation.

• Here are some of the most surprising changes made in translations of ‘Harry Potter’ books.
• There was a time when the figurative meaning of ‘fishing’ was only used in terms like ‘fishing for compliments’. Now we have ‘catfishing’, ‘blackfishing’, and ‘sadfishing’: do you know what they all mean?
• We’re fast approaching the end of the year, and MacMillan Dictionaries have already compiled a “Trending Words of 2019” quiz. Test your knowledge here. (In mid-October The Guardian also published an article with the Top 10 words of 2019 and both Oxford Dictionaries and Collins Dictionaries have named their words of the year.

What does “milkshaking” refer to?

• Even if you speak French fluently, there are some words you may never manage to pronounce correctly (personally I don’t think I have much of a problem pronouncing these ten words, but have issues with other words not on the list!).

Further reading:

• Around the web – October 2019
• Around the web – September 2019
• November 16th was Icelandic Language Day