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Partnership talks to high schoolers in their language By Katie Richards If you can't figure what these billboards mean, you're probably terrible at decoding emoji, and you're probably not a teenager. But that's OK, because the new campaign from the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids was designed to communicate with high schoolers, not adults.
02 August, 2015

A linguistic visionary is raising funds for an online tool that could translate complex English sentences into emoji.

Emoji Translation Project / THE WASHINGTON POST
Two sample emoji translations by Fred Benenson, who believes that he and his Emoji Translation Project can create a language made up of the images many of us use in tweets and phone mesages.
 
11 May, 2015
Medallions are discs, goujons become fish fingers, and locally sourced means 'bought round the corner': Translation tool changes pretentious food terms into plain English
  • Simpler Menus converts overblown language in menu into plain talk 
  • Tool developed by Great British Bake Off finalist Luis Troyano and Bosch 
  • Says home cooks scared to experiments as cooking terms are intimidating
11 May, 2015
Thinking in a foreign language is an important step in the long road that is fluency in a foreign language, but it’s a step that, for some reason, many language learners tend to ignore. Thinking in the language you are learning is not necessarily easy, but it’s something you can practice at any time of the day. Chances are you will NOT wake up one day thinking in a foreign language just because you’ve been learning it for X amount of months/years. Well, it can happen eventually, but I’d like to suggest an alternative that is a bit more, shall we say, efficient, and that will both jump-start your vocabulary acquisition and your fluency. What I’m proposing is that thinking in a new language is a decision you can make, and that you should make from Day 1.
21 April, 2015
An iconic foodie goes entrepreneurial and curates an amazing list of artisanal words she'd brand for banning in the New Year. (feuilllu/Flickr)
George Carlin was famous for his monologue, “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” The idea was valid and very funny at the time, although it seems quaint in these days of anything-goes cable. I do think there are some words we could do without, at least temporarily.
I was okay with curated fashions and even curated books in a home library. But when I read that someone was provided with carefully curated snacks, I’d had enough.
04 January, 2015
THE language of marketing usually promises wonderful things: whiter whites, sex appeal, adventure, excitement, a whole new you, just do it, I’m lovin’ it, have it your way, think different… Whether or not a shoe or a tablet computer can really transform our lives, the slogans briefly make us think they can. But other marketers and advertisers have to be cleverer still—for they sell products inherently connected with unpleasant topics. A colleague and former defence correspondent for The Economist describes a tour of a French arms factory. His guide, showing off a certain item, touted it as “highly efficient in the anti-personnel function”. In other words, very good at killing people.
18 December, 2014
Your Brand's Name Might Be a Liability Once You Cross the Border
What's the biggest change in marketing in the past 50 years? You could make the case for the Internet. Or Big Data. Or mobile marketing. Or PR. Or celebrities. Or a number of other revolutionary developments. But in our work as marketing consultants, we find the biggest change is the shift from national marketing to global marketing. Our clients are mostly focused on building global brands. When brands cross borders Problems can occur. Take the name of the brand. As long as a brand is a registered trademark in the countries you wish to do business in, you might assume everything is taken care of.
10 December, 2014
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