La Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura ha lanzado el año internacional de los idiomas, en el que habrá varias actividades para promocionar el concepto de la diversidad lingüística.
Esperemos no se queden sólo en buenas intenciones, aunque es un hecho que hay miles de idiomas que estána punto de extinguirse, dada la falta de hablantes.
In Finland it will be at 3 a.m., but heavy cloud cover won't allow us to see it. If you enjoy clearer skies tonight, it would be a nice experience.
Bear in mind that the next lunar eclipse to be seen in these parts will take place in 2010.
So, you might have read the presumed advantages of treating yourself as a branded product. Now, where do you start? I'd suggest your Facebook profile and your blog. I don't think you need to "spin" anything really, but be certainly aware that whatever you put in there will be visible to everybody, including co-workers and prospective (or current) employers. Therefore, less pictures of drunken parties might be in order.
Another key aspect is of course differentiation. What do you do/are/think that makes you different? Do you play in a band? Have you got a blog with a huge readership (that's definitely not me, LOL)? Were you born in a foreign country? Even seemingly minor details like the way you dress will make people remember you.
And of course, you have to build your brand. Trust and lots of hard work will take you far. Otherwise, it's got no substance.
You might have read it on the news, or on their blog, but it’s out there at share.ovi.com, and it’s been live for over a week. With support for storing and sharing over 100 media types, unlimited storage and bandwidth and posting not restricted to the PC, we’re very excited indeed, so please send your feedback this way!
We held a Q&A session in Barcelona with selected bloggers (video excrepts below).
And this is how a session like that looks from the other side:
Como he escrito con anterioridad, en España el nivel de uso del idioma inglés es francamente bastante malo (aunque tengo varios amigos que son bastante buenos, tienden a ser la excepción a la regla).
Lo que me vuelve loco es cuando algún español utiliza términos en inglés para referirse a lugares en México (que cabe recordar es el país hispanoparlante más grande del mundo) como "He ido a Mexico City" o barbaridades por el estilo.
La última que me pasó fue cuando estaba hojeando un libro en el aeropuerto de Barcelona. "Las 50 batallas que cambiaron el mundo", traducido por Gabriela Ventureira, tenía un capítulo dedicado a la batalla por México-Tenochtitlán entre los aztecas y los españoles. Lo que me sorprendió y me hizo dejar ahí el libro fue cuando me encontré a los totonacas referidos como "totonac" (su nombre en inglés), los nombres de los emperadores aztecas también en inglés y otros detalles por el estilo. Vaya, pareciera que la traductora no se dignó en checar que los sucesos a los que se refería tenían nombres en español.
In Europe, if you speak 3 languages you're trilingual. If you speak 2 languages you're bilingual. If you speak 1 language you're English, French or Spanish.
5 games, 4 wins, no defeats. And with goals like those below, we can dream of the title.
One thing that I couldn’t stop noticing when I was in Barcelona was the amount of foreigners and people from other parts of Spain who call the place home (which I personally think is a good thing). Whereas before Spain used to be a point of origin of emigrants (one only has to remember the large amount of people who fled the Civil War and the resulting Franco rule) now there is plenty of people from all over the world here, which doesn’t detract from its “Spanishness”. Now, the small neighbourhood stores are operated by Chinese or Pakistanis, many waiters are Filipinos, Ecuadorians or Argentines, and I have Mexican and British acquaintances who operate IT consultancy companies there.
Even though the immigration climate doesn’t seem hostile, it’s not all rosy and fine, as anybody who’s been shouted “sudaca” in the street will tell you. I was, however, pleasantly surprised with the relative peace I found between the different communities (then again, I was not there for long).
This week I was in Barcelona in a very important trade fair. I really enjoy visiting the city, as it is beautiful, has very pleasant weather, the food is generally good (but salty) and I have many good friends living there.
One thing that always surprises me a little bit of the city is the character of the locals: Barceloneses are generally proud Catalonians who have their own language and customs different to the rest of Spain (or, as they say, FC Barcelona is more than a club for a slightly less than a country).
Regardless, visit it when you have a chance, just don’t do it when there is a trade fair as the place will be absolutely full.
