Why doesn't mainland Europe produce as many popular music artists than UK / US? Is it purely down to the language barrier?
posted by nam3d
on May 15, 2011 -
18 answers
I work at a school whose mascot is the Longhorn. We are setting up a text messaging service and I'm looking for a catchy name for the new service. Difficulty: there's already a "cattle call" newsletter, and I'd like to set the new service apart as something new and unique. Any ideas?
posted by richmondparker
on May 5, 2011 -
37 answers
So I graduated last year and have been working in sales since then. I'm very intrigued by the concept of teaching english abroad, as I've had some great experiences teaching children before, but am overwhelmed by the amount of different schemes and companies. I have never really
travelled before, and I know this may be seen as a big step, but I have this uncontrollable itch to just go for it while I am young and relatively free.
I'm really looking for any and all advice from you guys - anyone who's done it, anyone who's considered it, anyone at all!
Ideally, I am looking for a half-year placement, with a UK-based TEFL company (although it seems that many companies don't care where you are from). Having said that, I could be swayed by a year-long course. I am very excited by i-to-i, and heard about this through a recommendation.
However, as I say, I feel a little like I am stabbing in the dark. I have read with much interest some previous questions, and have heard mention of Dave's ESL cafe, but this seems to be mostly aimed towards the USA.
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posted by jhighmore
on May 3, 2011 -
16 answers
I'm trying to find information on the translation of musical theater, particularly the songs.
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posted by Gordafarin
on Apr 29, 2011 -
4 answers
Is there a good Spanish-language primer/course/guide for beginners wanting to learn Windows?
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posted by Evilspork
on Apr 26, 2011 -
1 answer
Does it bother anyone else when people say "Yeah. No." or vice versa? Saturday Night Live spoofed this in the last few years. Help me find the sketch or other examples of people criticizing this recent-ish sentence structure.
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posted by davextreme
on Apr 25, 2011 -
29 answers
Given 4 months of free time, how can an advanced English learner take the biggest step toward full fluency?
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posted by mshrike
on Apr 18, 2011 -
11 answers
Are there "alphabet songs" for alphabets other than English? THere is the familiar alphabet song, to the tune of "twinkle twinkle little star". Are there similar songs for children learning the alphabets of other languages, such as Finnish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, etc.?
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posted by cogneuro
on Apr 18, 2011 -
25 answers
There's a "Trimet Respects Civil Rights" notice on all the public transit vehicles in Portland. It's one straightforward paragraph translated into 6 languages. Why is it that in the [what I believe to be] Russian translation, the word "Trimet" only appears once, whereas in the 5 other languages it appears twice?
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posted by desertface
on Apr 14, 2011 -
6 answers
A guy in Tallinn pointed at me and said something that sounded like "satavaziru!" (emphasis on the "zi" syllable). What might that mean?
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posted by mokudekiru
on Apr 13, 2011 -
12 answers
My oldest daughter is beginning the college application process. Neither me nor my wife hold college degrees. How best to move forward?
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posted by Mr.Me
on Apr 5, 2011 -
26 answers
I want to write a tool for multiple-searching a site that only supports single-searches. What's the best implementation language?
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posted by Four Flavors
on Apr 4, 2011 -
7 answers
[sign language filter] How can an American learn Danish Sign Language? Preferably without a tutor.
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posted by BurN_
on Apr 3, 2011 -
5 answers
I want Spanish language TV shows/movies that I can find free online where the dialogue is relatively slow and I can have Spanish subtitles.
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posted by geegollygosh
on Apr 2, 2011 -
15 answers
Karaoke in Japanese. Am looking for tracks with a karaoke version on YouTube for an event. This
old post has some great ideas, but sadly half of them have been removed from YouTube. What Japanese language songs do you sing at karaoke at the moment?! The more contemporary the better
posted by 0bvious
on Apr 1, 2011 -
6 answers
If you're Chinese or know Chinese language/culture: when you hear the phrase "Lu Shan," do you automatically think of the Lu Shan mountain range? (Are there any other common meanings that would come to mind more strongly than the mountains would?)
posted by kalapierson
on Mar 28, 2011 -
12 answers
Can I compute how frequently a word occurs in
general English text? I have a list of about 2000 words, and I want to sort it with the most common words first.
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posted by Chicken Boolean
on Mar 28, 2011 -
27 answers
My wife is reading
Les Miserables and I am reading bits along with her. Many years ago I took French in high school and am amazed at how much French pronunciation ability I have lost. Is anyone aware of any website or other reference source where I can get French names and words from the book pronounced for me?
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posted by Rad_Boy
on Mar 27, 2011 -
7 answers
Every so often in my interweb adventures I find
videos or
recordings made in a non-English language along with a written transliteration of what the words could sound like in English, which ends up stroop testing the brain into hearing the transliteration. Do you know any examples of the opposite?
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posted by Blasdelb
on Mar 27, 2011 -
2 answers
Do you know of any written stories, fiction or otherwise (but not movies) with language usage similar to that in
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome or
The Dark Knight Returns? Example of what I'm looking for are after the break.
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posted by Brandon Blatcher
on Mar 23, 2011 -
30 answers
I have written a cover letter. I would like to know whether it makes recruiters jump for joy or punch the screen.
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posted by Fen
on Mar 11, 2011 -
40 answers
Looking to pick up Mandarin for business people, aka with a heavy dose of how to do corporate speak.
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posted by Phire
on Mar 8, 2011 -
6 answers
[English] language mavens: I need a word that falls between
tactile and
kinesthetic, that describes an interesting physical sensation like the click of those little toy jumping discs.
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posted by spacewrench
on Mar 4, 2011 -
20 answers
I'm an Englishman married to a Lithuanian - so we have 2 different, though similar, alphabets between us - how can we orthographically regularise our surnames? Alternative spellings? Double-barrelled names?
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posted by KMH
on Mar 4, 2011 -
16 answers
Are there any languages that distinguish between the consonants represented in IPA as /k/, /c/, /t/ and /q/?
posted by Dim Siawns
on Mar 3, 2011 -
10 answers
I'd like to read some sharp, simple fiction writing to improve my academic essays -- what would I like?
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posted by EmilyFlew
on Feb 21, 2011 -
26 answers
What language is this? The two things I remember sounded like "nazoor sun" and "sollaar sun" for how are you and fine thanks, or similar. The guy who taught me speaks several languages including Farsi, Arabic, Azerji and Turkish, but googling hasn't worked for me. What was he teaching me? I'd like to learn some phrases in that language to surprise him with next time I see him.
posted by Chrysalis
on Feb 21, 2011 -
5 answers
German speakers, please tell me what this word means (and how it's actually spelled).
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posted by Srudolph
on Feb 19, 2011 -
29 answers
All this revolution stuff is making me curious about this whole middle east and north africa place I hear so much about. So much so I'm half thinking of learning Arabic, or at least trying and failing. Oh God's of Mefi which dialect should I go for? Whats easiest to learn or most understood by most people: Egyptian, Classical,Standard, Gulf, Syrian, Maghreb or waa?
posted by Damienmce
on Feb 16, 2011 -
16 answers
How do I go about gaining a reading knowledge of Dutch on my own, and what is important to emphasize when doing so?
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posted by andrewesque
on Feb 15, 2011 -
12 answers
