Après Le Deluge: French Battle Anglo Terms in Web Age

Young people should be learning Chinese

(NEWSER) - Britain's former minister for Europe Chris Bryant—apparently feeling free to annoy the French now that his Labour party is out of power—described the French language as "useless" in a debate on language education yesterday. Young people, Bryant said, should be steered away from "useless modern foreign languages" like French and encouraged to learn Mandarin, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic. More»

Online options, from free to pricey, abound

(NEWSER) - The days of chanting vocabulary words in a classroom and dozing off in the language lab are fading from memory as language instruction becomes increasingly available on the Internet. Freestanding smartphone apps are one option, and more structured instruction comes at a price—and sometimes no price at all. The New York Times looks at some of the numerous options. More»

Dem's speeches good for language-learners, more inspiring than local pols'

(NEWSER) - The Japanese version of Amazon.com features an unlikely bestseller: the collected speeches of Barack Obama, with Japanese translation and accompanying CD, Reuters reports. Obama’s inspiring but straightforward rhetoric is perfect for teaching English in a country that hankers to learn the language. He “uses words such as ‘yes, we can,’ ‘change’ and ‘hope’ that Japanese people can memorize,” the publisher says. More»

Kummerspeck, and other great options

(NEWSER) - The German language is officially richer, thanks to its adoption of the English word "shitstorm." Now that we've given, it's time to take: Cracked argues that the English language is in desperate need of these nine foreign words, for which there is absolutely no English equivalent:

• Kummerspeck: Kicking things off with a word from our German friends, this literally means "grief bacon," or, in Cracked's translation, the extra pounds we pack on thanks to emotional eating.

Deserted hamlet of Courbefy has 19 buildings

(NEWSER) - Got $431,000 lying around? A deserted French village can be all yours. Courbefy, located in the Limousin region, comes with 19 buildings, including family homes, reports the Telegraph . Be forewarned: Neighbors say it's frequented by "thieves, drunks and squatters," and one dubbed it a ghost village. But it does have a swimming pool. The deadline for bids is Friday, and so far there are none on the books, notes Yahoo News . The village had about 200 people living there at its peak, decades ago. More»