When do you use i.e., and when do you use e.g. and what do they mean?
Question: When do you use i.e., and when do you use e.g., and what do they mean? Answer: The Latin abbreviations “i.e.” and “e.g.” come up very frequently in writing and would probably come up more often if people were more sure of when it is right to use “i.e.” and when “e.g.” is required.… Read More
Confusing words: Latter and Former
Former comes before latter. The word itself means “coming before in time” or “preceding in place or arrangement”. If you were to say George Bush is the “former” president of the United States, the word has the same meaning in that sentence… He came before the current president. If I say, “I like apples and oranges, but I prefer… Read More
BIRD GEI: Pesquisa de Proficiência em Inglês no Brasil – 2013
A BIRD GEI | Consultoria e Gestão de Idiomas está divulgando a 9ª Pesquisa de Produtividade no Aprendizado de Idiomas no Brasil. Acompanhamos anualmente o desempenho, indicadores e resultados de aproximadamente 3.000 funcionários patrocinados pelas mais diversas empresas, mapeando e quantificando o aproveitamento e a produtividade dos alunos. Na pesquisa atual, que abrange o ano de 2013,… Read More
Do infants judge others’ language proficiency?
Monolingual infants expect others to understand only one language, an assumption not held by bilingual infants, a study by researchers at New York University and McGill University has found. “Our results not only offer insight into infants’ perception of linguistic abilities, but, more importantly, may help us better understand whom they see as good communication… Read More
How information moves between cultures
Networks that map strength of connections between languages predict global influence of their speakers. By analyzing data on multilingual Twitter users and Wikipedia editors and on 30 years’ worth of book translations in 150 countries, researchers at MIT, Harvard University, Northeastern University, and Aix Marseille University have developed network maps that they say represent… Read More
BIRD GEI: Research reveals panorama of English language acquisition in Brazil in 2013
BIRD GEI | Consultoria e Gestão de Idiomas is releasing its 9th Productivity Research in Language Acquisition in the Brazil. We follow the annual performance indicators and test results of approximately 3.000 employees sponsored by several companies, mapping and quantifying the progress and productivity of students. In the current research, which covers results from 2013, we… Read More
After controversial call, and a misunderstood preposition (over), Djokovic beats Andy Murray
If you are not familiar with tennis rules: Djokovic’s racquet crossed the net as he hit the ball for an easy point, a violation that the chair umpire missed, allowing Djokovic to keep the 0-15 lead. Murray didn’t seem that upset initially, but after the shot was shown on the big screen at the Sony… Read More
New Study Shows Brain Benefits Of Bilingualism
by BARBARA J. KING The largest study so far to ask whether speaking two languages might delay the onset of dementia symptoms in bilingual patients as compared to monolingual patients has reported a robust result. Bilingual patients suffer dementia onset an average of 4.5 years later than those who speak only a single language. While knowledge… Read More
Auto-antonym: words that are their own antonyms
An auto-antonym (sometimes spelled autantonym), or contronym (also spelled contranym), is a word with a homograph (another word of the same spelling) that is also an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning). Variant names include antagonym, Janus word (afterthe Roman god), enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy, addad (Arabic, singular didd). It is a word with multiple meanings, one of which is defined as the reverse of one of its other meanings. This phenomenon is also… Read More
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