An Apple a Day Doesn't Keep the Pedant Away

Sorry but I'm going to be a little pedantic this morning. In the print version of this story in the Grauniad there is a picture similar to the above but from a different angle. However, it is labelled.

Apple's 300th store in Covent Garden will be a blend of modern and the
traditional, says Ron Johnson, senior vice-president for retail.

Now there are a couple of missing commas in the above, which makes the reading of the above say that Apple have just open another store to add to 299 others in the Covent Garden area of London. Now I know Starbucks and Costa Coffee go for a saturation policy but not even I reckon there is enough demand for iPhones and iPads etc for 300 stores not that far away from where I used to work in retail.

The above should of course read:

Apple's 300th store, in Covent Garden, will be a blend of modern and the
traditional, says Ron Johnson, senior vice-president for retail.

The in Covent Garden is a superfluous clause and the sentence reads fine without it, indeed the sentence without tells us that this the Apple's 300th store worldwide which is the correct reading. The additional three words only provide geographical information are not required for the sentence.

On a positive note I do like what Apple have done with the place looking at the two angles I have seen of the premises before it opens tomorrow.

You know you're from Belfast....

.....when.

Courtesy of the Belfast Telegraph.

Thankfully being from the burbs I haven't done or know all of these.

La Lingua Franca pour Fiona

The Scottish Education Minister Fiona Hyslop has been accused of letting down Scotland's future. It was announced that one in five schools no longer offer German at Higher Level and one in then fail to provide students an option for higher French. 'Scotland the Brave' is failing to educate to take our place linguistically in a modern Europe.



Le ministre de l'éducation écossais Fiona Hyslop a été accusé de laisser vers le bas futur d'Ecosse. On lui a annoncé qu'un dans cinq écoles n'offrent plus l'Allemand à de plus haut niveau et un dans puis ne fournissent pas des étudiants une option pour un Français plus élevé. 'L'Ecosse le Courageux' n'instruit pas pour prendre notre endroit linguistiquement en Europe moderne.



Der schottische Bildungsminister Fiona Hyslop ist von die Zukunft von Schottland unten lassen beschuldigt worden. Es wurde verkündet, dass ein in fünf Schulen nicht mehr Deutsches an hochgradigem anbieten und eins in dann Kursteilnehmer eine Wahl für höhere Franzosen bereitstellen nicht können. 'Schottland das Tapfere' das erziehen nicht kann, um unser in ein modernes Europa linguistisch stattzufinden.



Regular readers and my SNP rival out here in Linlithgow Ms. Hyslop will probably be glad to hear that I will not continue to write ever paragraph alternatively in my schoolboy French then German. Nor was I going to carry on in my University business Spanish and the smattering of phrases in Italian, Scandinavian language, Dutch or Polish that I’ve assimilated through work in Edinburgh just didn’t cut the mustard*. However, a Government spokesperson yesterday said:

"Modern Languages are key to creating a more successful Scotland. The changes the Scottish Government is bringing in through Curriculum for Excellence reinforce the expectation that schools will offer a modern language by no later than Primary 6 anddeliver relevant language learning."

However, the failure to not sustain that choice of language learning to students at Higher level is startling. Questions most be asked about how a government with aspirations to have be a strong, innovative, independent nation within Scotland seems incapable of standing up for language learning at this level. The above statement is fine in encouraging language skills are available at a young age but fails to promise too maintain a choice in the major languages without potentially changing educational establishment or alternative means.

*Update: It has been pointed out by a work colleague that I omitted Portuguese from the above list of languages. Obrigado. Aceite minha desculpa.

This Langauge is Dead - UNESCO

Not it's not! It's just had a nap.

That was the response from Cornwall and the Isle of Man to the United Nations Atlas of World Languages in Danger which branded both Cornish and Manx Gaelic as extinct, ex-languages, no more, gone to.....

OK you catch my drift.

Cornish may well have been dead in 1777 as a first language bit linguists claim that it is a language in revival over the past 20 years now with about 300 fluent speakers.

Meanwhile on the Isle of Man the language the UN claims died out in in 1974 when Ned Maddrell fell forever silent. However, the island claims there are 600 speakers of the language amongst it 80,000 residents. There is even a Manx language primary school of 50 pupils Bunscoill Gaelgagh.

Unesco admitted that certain languages shown as extinct in its atlas are being actively revitalized, and could once again become "living languages".

However, the label of extinct has angered my fellow Gaels in both regions. Jennifer Kewley-Draskau, author of the handbook Practical Manx said:

"Unesco ought to know better than to declare Manx a dead language.

"There are hundreds of speakers of Manx and while people are able to have productive conversations in the language then it is very much alive and well."

Of Cornish Jenefer Lowe, development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership added:

"Saying Cornish is extinct implies there are no speakers and the language is dead, which it isn't.

"Unesco's study doesn't take into account languages which have growing numbers of speakers and in the past 20 years the revival of Cornish has really gathered momentum.

"There's no category for a language that is revitalised and revived. What they need to do is add a category. It should be recognised that languages do revive and it's a fluid state."

Oh course I never really wanted to be a blogger writing about the extinction or otherwise of Gaelic languages. I always looked the sun on my back, the wind in my hair and the smell of trees. Cause I really wanted to be a lumberjack but that is something completely different.