The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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thelinguist.uberflip.com JUNE/JULY 2017 The Linguist 25 OPINION & COMMENT In the media PHILIP HARDING-ESCH The press seems bewitched by advances in artificial intelligence and language. The New Scientist's piece on Google's application of neural networks principles to translation – cutting out the transcription stage of translation, was widely reported; and The Daily Mail told us "Don't Panic!" as it applauded new earpieces which claim to provide live audio translation to whoever has $249 to spare. I was fascinated by the philosophical discussions in The Guardian following the revelation that "machine learning algorithms are picking up deeply ingrained race and gender prejudices concealed within the patterns of language use" – and reinforcing these prejudices. There's still a long way to go. The real world bit back with Gizmodo alarmed at the "hilarious" (their sarcasm) revelation from the Civil Aviation Authority that pilots cheating in their English language tests cause some scary near misses; GP Online discussing the impact of one of the NHS's 14 approved translation agencies going bust; and several outlets reporting on the ongoing legal battle between Uber and Transport for London over cab drivers' English language skills. Good on outlets such as the London Economic, therefore, for reminding readers that services will "remain reliant on human translators, interpreters and transcriptionists". British Sign Language (BSL) had a rare moment in the sun with Dawn Butler becoming the first MP to sign her question in the House of Commons, calling for BSL to be given full legal status. BBC News asked, "should pupils have to learn sign language?" – BSL is not on the national curriculum in England. The big policy news was Ofqual's report looking at the impact on A-level language grades of the large number of native speakers taking the exams. Ofqual indicated that more top grades may now be awarded, which should address some concerns that the exams are too hard and unpredictably graded. Philip Harding-Esch is a freelance languages project manager and consultant. It was on the cards. The all too familiar old story: reams of political rhetoric, scant substance, smoke screens and mirrors, and then, inevitably, yet another primary school foreign language initiative fails through lack of resources. We were there in the 1960s and 1980s (my letter TL54,6) and now we're there all over again (several articles TL56,1). Of course, it's an admirable objective. The overwhelming evidence points to the huge advantages of taking up modern foreign language learning early. And if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well. A wing and a prayer are no good to teachers or pupils. If it can't be done properly, don't do it. Don't waste teachers' good will, time and energy and tax-payers money on projects that are doomed from the start. It only ends up in exasperation, frustration, even anger, and no little contempt for those who allowed these things to be set up at half-cock in the first place. And in the present climate of cuts in school budgets, with their inevitable pressures on the curriculum, and teacher retention and recruitment, the future for the teaching of languages looks bleak indeed, not only in primary schools but also in secondary schools. David Smith FCIL Primary MFL: doomed to fail? Email linguist.editor@ciol.org.uk with your views Continue the discussion online @Linguist_CIOL #TheLinguist How did the elephant become a bishop? A few days ago, I met a Spanish word, alfil, which was new to me. A quick look in the Royal Academy dictionary explained that its English equivalent was the chess term 'bishop'. As the first two letters suggest, the origin lies in the Arabic word meaning 'ivory' or 'elephant'. The Russian for 'elephant' is used to denote the same chess piece, which moves diagonally across the board. Bishops have not generally been known for their exploits on the battlefield. Elephants, on the other hand, were used in warfare well before the Carthaginian general Hannibal famously drove them across the Alps to attack Rome around 200 BCE, and very effective they must have been. How did this useful power on the chessboard come to be given an ecclesiastical title? The puzzle becomes more confusing when we consider that an elephant with a howdah on its back, a structure able to carry human beings, either warriors or dignitaries, begins to look very like a castle. The chess-piece known as a 'castle' is sometimes called a 'rook', which again is a word of eastern origin, meaning castle. The piece itself has a castellated top and bears the name 'castle' in most European languages. Why does the word connected with elephants not represent the piece that looks like the upper part of a war-elephant? I have no firm answer to this. However, the warriors on the back of military elephants were likely to have been archers; how else would they have engaged with the enemy? An archer's bow describes a graceful curve, and so does the upper part of the chess piece we know as a bishop. Is it possible that at some stage early chess pieces represented archers, a name that was given to this piece before around 1500? Further information would be welcome! David Leighton MCIL Chess moves and elephants