The French are renowned for their zero tolerance towards borrowing words from other languages. Previously I have regarded this as an extremist position but I am beginning to think they have a point. Italians are not so up tight on this issue and the consequences are plain for all to see.
Many schools have ‘Open Days’ , numerous companies adopt tiresome variations of Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ slogan and my local gym is peppered with motivational missives like ‘Never Give Up’ and ‘Impossible Is Nothing.
Using such phrases is presumably intended to show that corporate Italy takes an all-encompassing Anglo-American attitude to business, education and leisure pursuits.
Near where I live, the successful Technogym gym equipment company calls itself ‘The Wellness Company’™. Their ‘Technogym Village’ is a poncey name for their spanking new HQ which opened in 2013 and is located in what founder Nerio Alessandri has recently named ‘Wellness Valley’. His stated aim is to single-handedly create a sporty equivalent of Silicon Valley in the heart of Emilia-Romagna. Continue reading
Yesterday I was happy to complete another year of language teaching. Now I can enjoy a brief respite from having to tackle the thorny topic of English pronunciation.
At the weekend I had an interesting discussion with a musician friend about the similarities and differences between teaching music and teaching languages.
