You say "tomato", I say "tomato"

It's often said that the biggest difference between a British accent and an American one is rhotacism; words in British English have a flat "r" sound, while in American English the sound is rolled.

Of course, this often isn't true, as accents within Britain and America vary so widely. New York and Boston accents, for example, have a flat "r" sound, while Cornish, Scottish and some West Midlands accents are among those in the British Isles to retain the rhotic "r".

So which is the most common English accent?

English is spoken worldwide by around 840 million people, and is the third most-spoken global language after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. It's the mother tongue of 335 million people, and a second language for a further 505 million. As most English speakers don't speak the language natively, that means the most common English accent in the world is probably what is known officially, if imprecisely, as "international English".

So for some Sunday entertainment I thought I'd share the song – “You say tomato, I say tomato” – which defines the major differences and in which we supposedly agree to call the whole thing off... being half American, half British this is the story of my life!

The world's most influential language

What makes a language influential? Is it one with the most speakers?

According to one group of scholars, including cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker, whether or not a language is influential is less about that language itself, and more about how it connects to others.

To establish how languages are connected, the scholars looked at three forms of writing. If someone, a journalist for example, wants their story to go global, they will most likely print the story in their native language, as well as in those languages they think will have the biggest reach.

First, they looked at over 2.2 million book translations between 1979 and 2011, which were made in over 150 countries and more than a thousand languages. They then looked at which edits to Wikipedia were being done in more than one language, scanning 382 million edits in 238 languages by 2.5 million editors. Finally, they turned to Twitter, looking at 550 million tweets in 73 languages written by 17 million users – more than 10% of Twitter’s active user base.

If researching a global language network shows one thing, it's that English remains the number one most connected language in the world. After English, however, there was no single global network, but rather three sets of smaller networks around the world, linked together by languages that have had historical and colonial influence, such as French, Spanish, German, Russian, Portuguese and Chinese.

International Mother Language Day

UNESCO is celebrating International Mother Language Day (IMLD) today. 2017 runs under the theme “Towards Sustainable Futures through Multilingual Education”.

On the occasion of this Day, I launch an appeal for the potential of multilingual education to be acknowledged everywhere, in education and administrative systems, in cultural expressions and the media, cyberspace and trade. Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General  

Well, Switzerland represents the prefect example with its four National languages: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Multilingualism is an integral part of Switzerland's national identity, however, that does not mean every Swiss is multilingual.

It is important to know that there are three official languages in Switzerland (German, French and Italian) but there are four National languages (German, French, Italian AND Romansch). Although Romansh is spoken by only some 10,000 people in certain parts of Graubünden, it has five distinct dialects: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader.

Here are some more facts:

- German is the main language of around 64.9% of the population. However, they do not speak standard German but rather various Alemmanic dialects that are collectively known as “Schwiizerdütsch” (Swiss German).
- Swiss German is not a written language, although it is used sometimes in personal correspondence. Standard German is used for all formal, written communication.
- French is the main language of around 22.6% of the population.
- Italian is the main language of around 8.3% of the population.
- Romansch is the main language of about 0.5% of the population.
- Several cantons are multilingual: Bern (German-French), Fribourg (French-German), Valais (French-German) and Graubünden (German-Romansh-Italian).
- Swiss German is the most widely used language in the workplace (66%), followed by standard German (33%), French (29%), English (18%) and Italian (9%).
- Over 42% of the population over the age of 15 regularly use more than one language.
- Foreigners living in Switzerland also contribute to the country's linguistic diversity. English and Portuguese are the most commonly spoken foreign languages.
- Other commonly spoken foreign languages include Spanish, Serbian, Croatian and Albanian.

Happy Valentine's Day

This I Love You Map, shows the phrase “I Love You” translated into 130 different languages and positioned on the map based on the primary language spoken in that country or region of the world.

Here's wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day
wherever you may be in the world!

Sweet pickup lines

Feeling a bit frivolous today and having been inspired by a friend's Facebook status I decided to share some sweet pickup lines. It's Valentine's Day in a week, so get ready to be swept off your feet. Which line would you fall for? Or do you have a better pickup line?

In this changing and uncertain times we are living today, I think we need to rearrange the alphabet. How about putting U & I together?

Guess what I’m wearing? The smile you gave me!

If I were an octopus, all my 3 hearts would beat for you.

Roses are red violets are blue I didn’t know what perfect was until I met you.

Your smile lit up the room, so I just had to come over.

There isn’t a word in the dictionary to describe how beautiful you are.

Is there an airport nearby or is that just my heart taking off?

Because of you, I laugh a little harder, cry a little less, and smile a lot more.

Me without you is like a nerd without braces, a shoe without laces, aSentenceWithoutSpaces.

This time next year let’s be laughing together.

Foreigners in Switzerland

Today there are more than two million foreigners living in Switzerland and some 2.1 percent of foreigners obtained Swiss citizenship in 2015.

In 2015 there were 2,048,700 foreign nationals with permanent residency (meaning those granted a permit for 12 months or longer) in the country, just under a quarter (24.6 percent) of the total population, said the Swiss statistics office (SS).

The 2015 figure includes 393,600 people who were born in Switzerland but do not have Swiss citizenship, with the rest being foreign-born immigrants.

Of those born outside Switzerland, 44 percent have lived here for ten years or more.

The biggest foreign populations are Italians, Germans, Portuguese, French and Kosovans, which make up more than half (54 percent) of permanent foreign residents in Switzerland.

Geneva has the highest number of foreigners, at 41 percent, followed by the cantons of Basel-City (35 percent) and Vaud (34 percent).

So where do you fit in?

Foreigners by Nationality

% of foreigners applying and receiving Swiss citizenship

Languages spoken at home

How Bilingualism rewires your brain

Around the world, more than half of people – estimates vary from 60-75% – speak at least two languages. Many countries have more than one official national language – South Africa has 11. And you thought Switzerland had a lot with four?! People are increasingly expected to speak, read and write at least one of a handful of “super” languages, such as English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish or Arabic, as well.

Multilingualism has been shown to have many social, psychological and lifestyle advantages. Moreover, researchers are finding a swath of health benefits from speaking more than one language, including faster stroke recovery and delayed onset of dementia.

Did you know that as a bilingual your brain is continually processing information in both languages?

“Bilinguals are a really a model of cognitive control,” Pennsylvania State University cognitive scientist Judith F. Kroll told Quartz, citing bilinguals’ ability to both hold two languages in their head and expertly switch between them at the right times.

Do all Europeans speak a foreign language?

Everybody assumes that growing up in Switzerland you automatically speak more than one language. Well, the truth is 60% of Swiss use more than one language at least one a week BUT the second language is often English and not one of the four national languages.

So, what does the rest of Europe look like?

Old World language families revisited

When linguists talk about the historical relationship between languages, they use a tree metaphor. An ancient source (for example Indo-European) has various branches (e.g., Romance, Germanic), which themselves have branches (West Germanic, North Germanic), which feed into specific languages (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian).

Lessons on language families are often illustrated with a simple tree diagram that has all the information but lacks imagination. There’s no reason linguistics has to be so visually uninspiring.

Minna Sundberg, creator of the webcomic Stand Still. Stay Silent, a story set in a lushly imagined post-apocalyptic Nordic world, has drawn the antidote to the boring linguistic tree diagram.

Un Natale insolito

The kids' attention nowadays is difficult to peal away from the screen. The children's library in Besso (LA BIBLIOTECA DEI RAGAZZI) tries its best to captivate the young readers' interest with all kinds of activities and events.

Their latest invention is a funky advent calendar. Just take a look at what today's window opens up to: a lovely short story read by a local family of five called "Un Natale insolito".

Should your children understand Italian it is a charming bedtime story to listen to, just click here: 

http://www.labibliotecadeiragazzi.ch/23-dicembre/

BE, an unusual poem

“Be” is a poem constructed from corporate brand mottos.

You might be into brands or marketing or just feel like spending some time guessing who's who... in any case this motto manifesto should keep you busy. It's amazing to see how many slogans the kids recognise!

Enjoy!

Ode to Life

Tonight I received one of the most touching farewell messages I have ever received from a fellow Expat. It was not a personal note but nevertheless went straight to my heart. What a beautiful way describe one's emotions that are so difficult to explain when asked why do you keep on moving homes if it makes you cry every time?

Here is the answer:

Slowly dies he who becomes a slave to habit, 
repeating the same journey every day, 
he who doesn't change his march,
he who doesn't risk to change the colour of his clothes,
he who doesn't speak to he whom he doesn't know. 

Slowly dies he who shuns passion, 
he who prefers black on white and dots on i's rather than a bundle of emotions,
the kind that make your eyes glimmer,
that turn a yawn into a smile, 
that make the heart pound in the face of mistakes and feelings.

Slowly dies he who doesn't overturn the table, 
he who is unhappy in his work, 
he who doesn't risk certainty for uncertainty, 
to thus follow a dream, 
those who do not forego sound advice at least once in their lives.

Slowly dies he who doesn't travel, he who doesn't read, 
he who doesn't listen to music, 
he who doesn't find grace in himself,   
He who slowly destroys his own self-esteem, 
who does not allow himself to be helped, 
who spends days on end complaining about his own bad luck, about the rain that never stops.

Slowly dies he who abandons a project before even starting it,
who fails to ask questions on subjects he doesn't know, 
he who doesn't answer when he is asked something that he knows. 

Let's avoid death by small doses, 
remembering always that being alive requires an effort far greater than the simple fact of breathing.

Only a burning patience will lead to the attainment of a splendid happiness...

By Pablo Neruda

Language facts of Switzerland

Switzerland has four language regions: German, French, Italian and Romansch. Multilingualism is an integral part of Switzerland's national identity, however, that does not mean every Swiss is multilingual!

It is important to know that there are three official languages in Switzerland (German, French and Italian) but there are four National languages (German, French, Italian AND Romansch). Although Romansh is spoken by only some 10,000 people in certain parts of Graubünden, it has five distinct dialects: Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Puter and Vallader.

Here are some more facts:

- German is the main language of around 64.9% of the population. However, they do not speak standard German but rather various Alemmanic dialects that are collectively known as “Schwiizerdütsch” (Swiss German).
- Swiss German is not a written language, although it is used sometimes in personal correspondence. Standard German is used for all formal, written communication.
- French is the main language of around 22.6% of the population.
- Italian is the main language of around 8.3% of the population.
- Romansch is the main language of about 0.5% of the population.
- Several cantons are multilingual: Bern (German-French), Fribourg (French-German), Valais (French-German) and Graubünden (German-Romansh-Italian).
- Swiss German is the most widely used language in the workplace (66%), followed by standard German (33%), French (29%), English (18%) and Italian (9%).
- Over 42% of the population over the age of 15 regularly use more than one language.
- Foreigners living in Switzerland also contribute to the country's linguistic diversity. English and Portuguese are the most commonly spoken foreign languages.
- Other commonly spoken foreign languages include Spanish, Serbian, Croatian and Albanian.

A book to help your kids with the move

For those of you who are moving ... yes, t'is the time of season again ... I have come across a lovely book about global "nomad" families called B at Home by Valerie Besanceney. It is a story that will help children and their parents (and stuffed animals!) with any transition or move.

Emma is only ten years old, but has already moved twice. Now, her parents are telling her the family is moving again. She's furious, sad, nervous, and a little excited, all at the same time. Unsure of how to tackle these conflicting emotions, she turns to B, her faithful teddy bear. While trying to come to terms with the challenges of another move, what Emma really wants is just to 'be at home'. As the journeys of Emma and B unfold, home changes once again, but home also begins to take on a new meaning that Emma can take with her wherever she goes. 

Buona lettura!

Memorize with Memrise

Always wanted to learn a language without leaving home? Feel like catching up on your kids' technology? Need to know Harry Potter's spells (all 89 of them!?) Wish you could take your current course with you wherever you go... to the office, on holidays, to the mountains or to your in-laws?

I have stumbled across an app called Memrise where apart from learning new languages, you can learn how to pattern in programming, pursue the study of the galaxies, become an expert in the animal world, acquire skills in electronics or gain a better understanding in anatomy.

Why, you can even create your own course. Although there are thousands of public courses to choose from, there are many reasons why people create their own courses, for example:
- Memorizing new colleagues' titles or teachers' names
- Naming bike parts
- A simple list of vocabulary for a test

You can keep your courses private, share them with friends, or open them up to the world to let others learn from you. Creating a course is easy, Do you have a good idea for a course? Ready to make one now? Just check it out here: http://www.memrise.com

This app is free and you can take your learning on the go, with an offline mode also available for learning in those hard-to-reach places.

Just for the record I am in no way being sponsored for any of the products or apps I post on my blog. They are all creations that my kids and I use in our daily lives and like to share with others. We used memrise when Expat girl needed to choose a new foreign language for school and wanted to learn a wee bit before she made a choice. For those who are wondering: she chose Mandarin Chinese.

Raising bilingual children infogram

I love infograms and I am a strong supporter of bilingualism, trilingualism even quadrilingualism! (Never had to write that word before!?!)

This infographic from ULearn is aimed at increasing awareness on the benefits of raising bilingual children, and looks at some of the tried and tested methods used by many families. Improving language skills at any stage in life is always a good idea, wouldn't you agree?

Gigi d'Alessio is coming to town

My hubby is Neapolitan so Gigi d'Alessio is a big feature in our household. The 48-year-old Italian singer and songwriter is presenting his tour called "Progetto Malaterra", a project of Gigi D'Alessio and #CampaniaSicura.

In this tour Gigi D’Alessio puts together a show where tradition and innovation merge creating a unique atmosphere. This event will be full of magical moments and unexpected surprises but will also spread the message of the cause that inspired the whole project.

The tracklist will include some of the worldwide renowed hits of the music from Naples. These tunes will also be included in Gigi D’Alessio’s new album, all sung in the traditional Neapolitan language, half of which are written by Gigi himself.

During the event there will be a space dedicated to the food products from Campania and to the efforts needed to fight the reality of “Terra Dei Fuochi” literally “the land of fires” that is affecting the Campania’s economy and life.

In this respect, at every European stop, Gigi D’Alessio will screen the documentary called “Malaterra” in which the artist personally promotes the treasures of Campania through a real and round reportage in his homeland.

Gigi D'Alessio looks back on a 20-year career with more than 20 million albums sold, a diamond and more than 100 platinum albums back. A concert not to be missed if you like Italian music.

Venue: Concerto Gigi d'Alessio
Where: Palazzo dei Congressi, Piazza Indipendenza 4, 6900 LUGANO
Date: Wednesday October 14th, 2015
Time: Door opens at 19:00 Concert starts at 20:30
Click here for tickets: http://www.ticketcorner.ch/gigi-dalessio-lugano

A world of languages

For a very long time I have been wondering what the most spoken language in the world might be and how this would relate to the other top spoken language across the globe but I was too lazy to do any research. Well, here is my answer nicely packaged in an infogram thanks to Alberto Lucas Lopez who created this interesting breakdown for the South China Morning Post. The world has truly become a village.

Around the world there are a total of 7,102 known languages, of this gargantuan amount twenty-three remain popular enough to be considered the most spoken languages of the world.

These 23 languages are considered the mother tongue for more than 50 million people and the native tongue for more than 4.1 billion people. To put this into perspective there are currently around 7.2 billion people living on planet earth.

The circle represents the 4.1 billion people around the world that speak one of the 23 most spoken languages. The graphic further breaks down these numbers by the amount of people that speak a given language according to country.

Free online multilingual support

Reading is so important for language learning and there are several fantastic websites that offer free books and activites in several languages.

Maria has collated and excellent list of websites where you can find a suitable children’s book in your language:
http://www.trilingualmama.com/online-stories-for-children/

Michele has found Spotify to be useful for finding audios of nursery rhymes and stories – note that the stories will be interspersed with adverts if you go for the free option:
http://intentionalmama.com/home/family-friendly-french-spanish-music-for-children-recent-finds

Frances uses audio books to teach her children to read Spanish:
http://discoveringtheworldthroughmysonseyes.blogspot.fr/2014/05/using-spanish-audio-books-to-teach-my.html

In Amanda‘s post you can find information about her five top favourite Chinese learning apps:
http://www.misspandachinese.com/5-best-kids-apps-family/

Annabelle writes about her family’s favourite iPad apps to support her childrens language development:
http://www.thepiripirilexicon.com/2013/04/our-favourite-multilingual-ipad-apps.html

Navigating the seven Cs of multilingual parenting

Did you know there are seven "C's" of successful multilingual parenting: communication, confidence, commitment, consistency, creativity, culture and celebration. These are core components for successfully passing on a family language to the next generation.

Rita Rosenback, spills her secrets in the book entitled “Bringing up a Bilingual Child”. Children and languages are her passion, and she has written this book for parents and carers in families with more than one language.

It is an easy-to-read guide with practical advice for parents raising bilingual children. In addition to the down-to-earth hints and tips, she also tells you about her family’s journey and how her daughters acquired their languages. The Special Edition contains two additional chapters – the first one list ideas on how to engage your child to speak your language and the second is a list of encouraging thoughts for when you need them the most.

If you would like to read more about bilingual child raising check out her blog: http://multilingualparenting.com/blog/