Author: 101translations

The life quality of people with intellectual disability depends to a great extent on their ability to communicate. Research shows that children with intellectual disabilities like Down Syndrome don’t just acquire language more slowly than other kids, but also in a different way. 

Often their speech development is slower than their cognitive development, and they may be good at using body-language such as eye contact and gestures to communicate their feelings and needs. Educators working with young people with these conditions focus on helping them to translate gestures into the sort of spoken language that will make it easier for them to live independent lives.

The Olmec people were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization, reaching their peak during the period 1500-400 BCE. It is well-known that the cultures that succeeded them, such as the Maya, had sophisticated writing systems, but although the Olmec people inscribed hieroglyphs, scholars have not reached a consensus as to whether these represent language, or are even an early example of writing.

“X marks the spot”. Even though, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, just 366 mostly rather obscure words begin with the letter X, it’s widely considered the most powerful, exciting letter in the alphabet. What would have become of Malcolm X if he’d been just plain old ‘Malcolm’? Would the B-files have sounded as thrilling as the X-files? And so on. Millions of products and businesses have been given the ‘instant cool’ effect through the prominent use of the letter X. X is more than just a letter, but a symbol that people have been making for thousands of years; it’s one of the earliest symbols found in cave art, and a highly recognisable symbol of algebra. Somehow, the mystique of X has never worn off. 

Wife-carrying races are thought to have been part of Finnish culture for many generations and they’ve been practiced as a sport in the community of Sonkajärvi since 1992. 

The concept is simple: men race while carrying a female partner over the age of seventeen in a piggyback, over the shoulder, or upside-down with her legs over the runner’s neck and shoulders. The winner receives a prize of the wife’s weight in beer. 

The sport has become so popular that now it’s held in various locations around the world. Competitors are generally required to buy their own health insurance!

Star Trek nerds make a big deal about making utterances in Klingon, but did you know that there are at least twenty-seven known languages in the Star Trek universe? The ‘Federation Standard’ is (conveniently) American English, but others speak languages including: Tamarian, which relies heavily on metaphor and allegory; Vulcan, whose writing system resembles musical notations on earth, and Ferengi, from the wet, humid planet of Ferenginar, in which there are said to be 178 words for rain. 

The baby-jumping festival takes place in Sasamón in the Spanish province of Burgos, where it’s been celebrated since the early 1600s. Babies born over the previous twelve months are lain on mattresses in the street, and men dressed as devils and carrying whips and castanets jump over them. According to tradition, the ‘devils’ carry away the babies’ original sin. 

While nobody takes the festival very seriously, Pope Benedict XVI instructed Spanish priests to distance themselves from the tradition, citing the Church’s teaching that original sin is cleansed by baptism.

You’re probably familiar with the fictional Smurf community invented by Belgian cartoonist Pejo in the 1950s and the subject of many filmed adaptations, but perhaps you are unaware of a raging linguistic debate between two rival camps of the mostly-male, all-blue society. 

Smurf language is characterised by the use of the word ‘smurf’ in place of many common nouns and verbs. For example, one smurf might say to another: ‘Let’s go smurfing in the smurf,’ and the other will, apparently, understand. Context means everything. 

However, in what might or might not be a parody of tensions between French- and Flemish-speaking communities in Belgium, a 1972 publication, Smurf Versus Smurf, revealed that residents in the north of the village and those in the south frequently argue over precisely how the term ‘smurf’ should be used in language, claiming not to understand one another’s usage. 

Linguistics is truly everywhere!

Speaking backwards has been associated at various times with witchcraft and other nefarious purposes: spells often incorporate words uttered backwards. 

In an area of Argentina and Uruguay, locals use a type of slang called Lunfardo, which uses backwards words from the various languages spoken by immigrants to the country. These are used in tango lyrics and in everyday speech and can be utilised in creative writing to evoke the atmosphere of the street. Similar slangs are found in other countries, including France, where speaking backwards is known as “Verlan”.  In San Cristóbal de la Laguna in the Canaries, enthusiasts campaign to have their local version of speaking backwards recognised by UNESCO as an example of “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”

Yrev gnitseretni!

Every year, the community of Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon Territory holds a hair-freezing contest. Competitors sit in a hot spring in cold ambient temperatures and sculpt their hair as it freezes in the gelid air. Hair freezes in about a minute, and the shape competitors’ hair takes comprises their entry. 

With substantial cash prizes for the winners, there are always plenty of contenders!