James Dowling

The Business Language Company helps enterprises and organisations plan, develop and implement productive multilingual communication channels.

[Nick Kapur @nick_kapur]

This amazing website, called "Worse on Purpose," is cataloguing all the ways companies are deliberately and secretively degrading their own products

As usual, in most cases the culprit is private equity extracting enormous sums while everyone else is left worse off.

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

The 12 most spoken languages on Earth:

English: 1,500,000,000
Mandarin: 1,100,000,000
Hindi: 609,500,000
Spanish: 559,100,000
French: 309,800,000
Standard Arabic: 274,000,000
Bengali: 272,800,000
Portuguese: 263,600,000
Russian: 255,000,000
Urdu: 231,700,000
Indonesian: 199,100,000
German: 133,200,000

Note: number of speakers in 2023

According to Ethnologue

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

Executive Order Alert! 🇺🇸

ENGLISH IS NOW THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES.

America is SO BACK!

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

Pronunciation of 99:

🇺🇸: 90+9
🇩🇪: 9+90
🇫🇷: 4x20+10+9
🇩🇰: 9 + 4 ½ * 20

[English Grammar @GrammarUpdates]

Language Family Tree

[The Nordic Times @nordictimes_com]

Sweden now the most multilingual country in the Western world

More than 40% of all children and young people in Sweden now have a foreign background.
https://t.co/wd4wRnKt63

[English Grammar @GrammarUpdates]

In, On, By, and At

#vocabulary #grammar #amwriting

[Historic Vids @historyinmemes]

The evolution of the English language over a 1,000-year time span traces back to the 5th century when England was invaded by different tribes, including the Angles, Jutes, Saxons, and Frisians. Their languages produced what we know today as Anglo-Saxon or Old English, which sounded similar to German. In the 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries, invasions by the Vikings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden brought another form of the same Germanic language, Old Norse, which mixed with Old English.

In the year 1066, French forces led by William the Conqueror conquered England. Over the next 300 years, thousands of French words entered the English language, especially those related to governance and food. During the English Renaissance, many Latin-based words also entered the language, partly due to English poets, writers, and playwrights. Shakespeare, for instance, wrote plays set in Italy, such as "Romeo and Juliet," "The Merchant of Venice," and "Julius Caesar."

By the mid-1500s, a modern-day English speaker would be able to communicate with some patience and concentration. While there would be some archaic pronunciations, shifting meanings, and evolving figures of speech, the language overall would be recognizable.

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

% of the population that speaks fluent English:

🇨🇳 China - 0.9%
🇧🇷 Brazil - 5%
🇷🇺 Russia - 5%
🇮🇳 India - 10.5%
🇲🇽 Mexico - 12.9%
🇮🇹 Italy - 13.74%
🇹🇷 Turkey - 17%
🇪🇸 Spain - 22%
🇮🇩 Indonesia - 30.8%
🇿🇦 South Africa - 31%
🇷🇴 Romania - 31%
🇪🇬 Egypt - 39.9%
🇵🇱 Poland - 49.1%
🇵🇰 Pakistan - 49~58%
🇬🇷 Greece - 51%
🇳🇬 Nigeria - 51~57%
🇩🇪 Germany - 56%
🇫🇷 France - 57.2%
🇵🇭 Philippines - 58.2%
🇧🇪 Belgium - 60%
🇦🇹 Austria - 73%
🇫🇮 Finland - 75%
🇨🇦 Canada - 83%
🇩🇰 Denmark - 86%
🇸🇪 Sweden - 89%
🇳🇴 Norway - 90%
🇳🇱 Netherlands - 90.9%
🇦🇺 Australia - 92.8%
🇺🇸 USA - 95.5%
🇸🇬 Singapore - 96.4%
🇳🇿 New Zealand - 97.8%
🇬🇧 UK - 98.3%
🇮🇪 Ireland - 98.37%
🇬🇮 Gibraltar - 100%

According to Census, Crystal, Euromonitor, Eurobarometer, and other local sources

[James Dowling @TheBusinessLC]

The unexpected benefits of being #bilingual
https://t.co/r0325NiDAI

[World of Statistics @stats_feed]

🚕 The word “taxi” in different languages:

🇧🇷 táxi
🇭🇷 taksi
🇨🇿 taxík
🇩🇰 taxi
🇳🇱 taxi
🇪🇸 taxi
🇫🇮 taksi
🇫🇷 taxi
🇩🇪 Taxi
🇬🇷 ταξί
🇮🇪 tacsaí
🇮🇹 taxi
🇮🇩 taksi
🇳🇴 drosje 😳
🇵🇱 taksówka
🇵🇹 táxi
🇷🇴 taxi
🇷🇺 такси
🇸🇪 taxi
🇹🇷 taksi
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 taxi
🇺🇦 таксі
🇻🇳 taxi

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

King Charles delivers speech in German during state visit

https://t.co/l8tkIrp8hu

[Nrken19 @nrken19]

Short vid showing supposed Indo-European expansions based on recent studies.

[Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600]

Share of the of population that is able to hold a conversation in English. The difference between Germany and Austria is curious! Source: https://t.co/2c3V3SkRZg

[Ed West @edwest]

West Country English still contains (ed?) elements of old West Saxon, including 'bis' for 'are'. 'thee bis', related to German 'du bist' https://t.co/8lPIU9O3Xo

[Right Said Fred @TheFreds]

Get to f**k………………………🤣

[Multilingual Matters @Multi_Ling_Mat]

Languages could go extinct at a rate of one per month this century https://t.co/auBb8VKYNO

[NPLD @npldeu]

UK Gov refused to allow Cornwall to attend minority languages summit, says Drakeford https://t.co/tNoj5303PM

[James Dowling @TheBusinessLC]

#PrinceCharles speaks #French
https://t.co/sfRrkka479