Millionth English Word Declared

A US web monitoring firm has declared the millionth English word to be Web 2.0, a term used to describe the latest generation of web products and services.  Other recent additions include Jai ho and slumdog, obviously from the film Slumdog Millionaire.

Global Language Monitor (GLM) searches the internet for newly coined terms, and once a word or phrase has been used 25,000 times, it recognises it.

Read more about how English words are monitored and recognised on the web>>

Irish Language Newspaper Closes

Ireland’s largest Irish language newspaper, Foinse, has closed down.  The paper which was published weekly on Saturdays had been struggling since 2007.  It is the second Irish language newspaper to fail in the last seven months – Lá Nua was closed in December 2008.

Read more about the loss of Irish language media>>

Kylie is learning…. Spanish

Did you know that the Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue is learning Spanish? She  wants to learn  Spanish as she is in a relationship with the Spanish male model, Andres Velencoso.

Find out how to learn to speak  Spanish and get the  Spanish language advantage>>

European Music Day Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary in Greece

European Music Day is on 21 June 2009.   It is an annual event turning the streets in cities all across Europe into music stages – free for everyone.   European Music Day started in Greece ten years ago and now constitutes the biggest music event in the country, transforming over 23 cities with more than 70 bands all over Greece in 2009.   Read more

FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009

The FIFA Confederations Cup is being held in various towns and cities in South Africa, including Pretoria and Johannesburg. It will take place from the 14^th-28^th June 2009.   International teams playing this year include Brazil, Spain, Italy, USA, Egypt and South Africa. Read more

Tube Undergoes Language Upgrade

Ticket machines on the London Underground have been upgraded to operate in 17 different languages. Some of the touch-screen machines were already available in six languages – English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, but will now be available in many more languages to cater for both tourists in the city and London’s own population who speak over 300 languages. Read more