Franglais

Lost in translation across the Channel

France might be just across the English Channel from Britain, but Emma Jane Kirby says both nations are still prone to the pitfalls of linguistic misunderstandings.

Last weekend, standing on Pegasus bridge in Normandy for the D-Day celebrations, I was touched to see two classes of French primary school children singing the British national anthem in honour of the veterans.

As I went closer, I realised with delight that while they had got the tune off pat, the words were just slightly off the mark.

Standing tall and proud, the children were calling on the Almighty to "sieve the Queen and her setter, Victoria."

It took me straight back to my own school days when I had learned to sing the nursery rhyme Frere Jacques.

For many years I had warned *Frere Jacques to wake up not because the morning bells were ringing (sonnez les matines), but because there was *"sunny semolina" to be had.

'Yoghurting'

Even in your own language, it is difficult to catch accurately the words of a song if they are not written down in front of you, and in France, which imports most of its music from the US or UK, there is even a word for the appropriation of lyrics.

It is "yaourt", or "to yoghurt".

You start singing confidently... and then trail off into inarticulate "yoghurting" when your lexicon runs dry.

As far as I understand it, so long as you look slightly pained and shut your eyes while you yoghurt, you seem to get away with it.

Some years ago, an Irish friend of mine was on a French exchange in Paris and was hanging out with some of the local teenagers.

Desperate to impress her, they began to reel off their repertoire of English songs.

They said their favourite was a hit by Queen that they had picked up on the radio - I believe the original version was called I Want to Break Free - but unfortunately, the boys knew only the yoghurt version.

Although retaining the original passion, it had lost a little of the sense. It went: I Want a Steak Frites, I Want a Steak Frites.

'Simply hysterical'

Mispronunciations can have embarrassing consequences.

A French friend of mine, preparing a few snacks to hand round at an English drinks party, implored her guests to help themselves to nipples.

My father once returned from a trip to France complaining bitterly that the French had just laughed at him when he had tried to ask for directions to the railway station.

A few probing questions revealed that he had not asked for la gare at all - he had asked for la guerre (the war) - and the locals were simply hysterical at the idea of this white-haired, would-be combatant showing up for duty 65 years too late.

But it can happen to the best of us.

Madame de Gaulle was said to have been lunching with the American ambassador at the time of her husband's retirement when she was asked what she was most looking forward to in the years ahead.

She thought for a moment before announcing boldly: "A penis". A startled hush fell over the table until the former president leant over and said: "My dear, I think it's pronounced 'happiness'."

Speak in French, wrote Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass, when you cannot remember the English for a thing.

But there are many faux amis (false friends) to be wary of in English and French.

'Slip of the ear'

You can flatter a French woman by telling she looks formidable in her new dress, but tell an English woman she looks formidable in her new frock and she will quickly go and change.

And that one wrong word can do untold damage.

In English, looking and watching are two different things. In French, one word - regarder - will cover you for both.

My American friend Janet, on holiday in Montana with her French husband Eddy, suggested he wandered around the shops while she tried on her zillionth pair of shoes.

After a few minutes spent in a bed linen store he was approached by the female assistant who asked him if he needed any help.

"No thanks, I am just watching," he smiled, and was puzzled as she backed off slowly, desperately fumbling for her phone.

The other day I was reading an article in a French newspaper about how we regularly mishear words, particularly in foreign languages, and how that completely changes our comprehension of the conversation.

The writer spoke of a British acquaintance of his who was struck when he arrived in France by how much the French seemed to talk about Johnny Marr, the Smiths' guitarist.

Until the writer realised what his friend was actually hearing was "J'en ai marre (I'm sick of it)".

He went on in his article to inform his readers that the English even had a phrase for such a misunderstanding. It was called, he said confidently, a "slip of the ear*".

Source: BBC News

Idioms:



The idiom is normally a "slip of the tongue". This means that you say something that you didn't intend to say; a mistake in speaking.

A Freudian slip is also something that you say by accident which is different from what you intended to say but seems to show your true thoughts.

Many slips of the tongue / Freudian slips can be heard on you tube; most of them a bit rude. Here is one from Gordon Brown when he was PM and he claims to have "saved the world".

I also made the same mistake as a child with the song "Frere Jacques" Another school favourite was "Alouette". Here is a clip from "Tom and Jerry" in French. I love when the little mouse says "Bonjour Monsieur Pussy Cat".

Never too old to blog

Spain's blogger granny dies at 97

A Spanish grandmother who billed herself as the "world's oldest internet blogger" has died at the age of 97.

Maria Amelia Lopez only began blogging from her seaside home in Galicia two years ago.

But her postings on international affairs, Spanish politics and old age quickly turned her into a celebrity, attracting followers around the world.

Towards the end of her life Maria Amelia used video rather than text to offer her thoughts.

'Elderly in action'

Maria Amelia Lopez only discovered the internet at the age of 95, when her grandson set up a blog (amis95.blogspot.com) as a birthday present.

But she quickly became a phenomenon.

A mix of opinions and nostalgia, tinged with a waspish sense of humour, her postings gave a deeply personal insight into the process of getting old.

She enlightened younger readers about her experience as an opponent of the Franco regime. And she blogged on modern-day politics ranging from the threat from Basque separatism to Iran's nuclear ambitions.

As her fame spread, the blog won rave reviews from as far afield as Alaska, China and Nigeria - and a prestigious international media award. There was even a meeting with Spain's prime minister.

This was one of her final postings, in February this year: "When I'm on the internet, I forget about my illness. The distraction is good for you - being able to communicate with people. It wakes up the brain, and gives you great strength."

Just three months before her death, Maria Amelia was introduced to the social networking site Facebook, where she set up a group called "the elderly in action".

Remembered fondly here as the "blogging granny" the internet has lost one its great characters.

Source: BBC News

'Welcome to Britain, a nation of binge drinkers'

Britain is becoming a nation of binge drinkers who like nothing more than "pigging out" on microwave meals in front of the television, according to the latest Lonely Planet guide to the country.

The eighth edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Great Britain, published today, warns those unfamiliar with life on what it calls "this damp little island" that we like to celebrate with "a big drink".

The authors write: "Across the country, alcohol consumption is on the rise, with the relatively new phenomenon of 'binge drinking' among young people a major concern for doctors, police and politicians."

And while Britons are obsessed with celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, our culinary habits "behind the scenes" are less appetising.

The guide comments: "Freshly created food sounds great in theory, but in reality the recipe for dinner is more likely to be something like this: open freezer, take out package, bung in microwave, ping, eat."

In fact Britons have developed something of a habit for self-delusion, the guide finds.

"Calmness in the face of adversity, a laconic sense of humour, a sense of decency and fair play, and mastery of understatement are all fundamental facets of the British character – at least, as seen by the British themselves.

"Ask the French, for example, and you might get a rather different list of attributes that includes stand-offishness, anti-intellectualism, public drunkenness and being **** at cooking."

David Else, lead author, said the purpose of the updated guide, which lauds the urban renaissance of many northern cities, was to give readers "the whole story" of life in Britain and not just the gloss.

Source: Telegraph

Do you agree with the travel guide's description of the British?

What is your experience of them?

Budget air-line?

Ryanair scraps check-in desks as it charges passengers £10 to print tickets at home (and a £40 fine if you forget)
Ryanair passengers face an automatic £5 charge to print out tickets at home as the budget airline moves to abolish traditional check-in desks, it has been revealed.

That means an ordinary round-trip ticket will carry a mandatory £10 surcharge.

And anyone who turns up at the airport without a pre-printed check-in card will have to pay £40 'boarding card re-issue fee'.

The new policy replaces Ryanair's previous practice of offering free online ticketing and charging £10 for anyone who opted for face-to-face check-in.

The old system discriminated against passport-holders from outside the European Economic Area, who were barred from checking in via Ryanair's website.

Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said the new system, to be introduced from next Wednesday, will further lower the airline's costs which will in turn allow it to drop prices for passengers by next winter.

'Passengers travelling without checked-in bags have already embraced our online check-in service and the extension of this service to all passengers, including those with hold luggage and those travelling with infants, will allow all passengers to forever avoid check-in queues,' he said.

'Ryanair's web check-in service allows passenger to check-in from 15 days to four hours before, and print, or re-print, their boarding card up to 40 minutes prior to their scheduled departure time. '

The new online check-in and 'bag-drop' system will be phased in at the 146 airports used by Ryanair by October 1.

The airline also announced it will no longer accept bookings for unaccompanied passengers under the age of 16 years from today.

All new bookings will require passengers - including infants and domestic flight passengers - to hold a valid passport or valid national identity card.

Mr McNamara said the new charges only apply to non-promotional flights and stressed 50 per cent of flights are offered on a promotional basis.

'We want to condition people to get into the habit of bringing their tickets with them to the airport, just as they would their passport,' Mr McNamara told Mail Online.

'It's a kind of a carrot and stick approach, and the stick is that people will get charged £40 if they forget their ticket. But if it happens once, they are sure not to forget it again.'

In-built restrictions on Ryanair's on-line ticketing system mean that many customers will be unable to print out their tickets at the time of booking, raising the chances for penalty charges from customers who think they've completed the process.

Ryanair says its computer system won't allow customers booking more than 15 days before their flight, or within four hours of one, to check in at that time.

So people booking farther in advance - common since Ryanair's cheapest deals often are offered months ahead and snapped up quickly - will have to get in the habit of revisiting the website again nearer the time of their trip.

European Union litigation has forced Ryanair to change the way it lists the costs of its tickets to include taxes and some - but not all - fees up front.

Advertised 'free' tickets can still end up costing £20 to £80.

For example, Ryanair adds £10 or more to each round-trip ticket per passenger if it's purchased with normal credit or debit cards, making the charge virtually impossible to avoid.

Nonetheless, this cost is omitted from the initial price. The airline defends this practice because it offers the option of free booking for holders of a restrictive, ill-marketed Visa Electron card that is not available in major countries.

Ryanair increasingly celebrates its penchant for imposing hard-to-avoid fees.

Chief Executive Michael O'Leary in recent months has alternately baffled, inflamed and amused press conferences with claims - now conceded to be sharp exercises in fanning free publicity - that he might introduce charges to use aircraft toilets and make Ryanair's fattest passengers pay extra.

He also has floated the idea of selling branded toilet paper with his own face on each sheet.

Source: DailyMail

Costa del Despair

They dreamed of an idyllic life in the sun. But thousands of expat Britons hit by the falling pound are caught in a terrible trap...

Climbing out of the cockpit of his Spitfire after completing his final mission as an ace World War II fighter pilot, Ian Ross made a solemn promise to himself. Having cheated death countless times - on one occasion staging a dramatic last-ditch landing with black smoke billowing from a shattered wing - he swore that he would cherish every day of life as a civilian and never worry about anything again.

To the young RAF Flight Lieutenant, that simple philosophy seemed the most fitting way to honour the many comrades he had seen killed, and for 64 years he managed to adhere to it.

This week, however, at his retirement home on the Costa del Sol - a small, sparsely-furnished second-floor flat near Marbella, which vibrates to the traffic streaming incessantly along the nearby main road - Mr Ross confessed that his wartime resolution is being tested to breaking point.

For like tens of thousands of expats who left Britain in search of the Spanish dream, this 94-year-old war hero is facing an enemy so pernicious that even he can see no way of defeating it.

In the UK we face spiralling national debt, plunging house prices, sky-rocketing unemployment and the return of 50 per cent income tax - but for the British expats on the Costas the situation is even worse.

The Spanish economy is predicted to shrink by 3 per cent this year and one in five people is expected to be out of work - twice the EU average. Home repossessions have doubled, bankruptcies soared, and the bottom is fast falling out of the tourism industry.

All this means that the recession is bad enough for the Spanish nationals, yet, as I discovered this week, when visiting many embattled expat communities on the Costa del Sol, for a rapidly increasing number of the estimated 750,000 Britons who live in Spain it has become a fullblown catastrophe.

The broad reasons are well-documented. Barely six months ago, £1 bought about €1.4, but with the exchange rate now at virtual parity, the private and state pensions on which many expats depend - and which are paid in sterling - have lost almost one-third of their value.

At the same time, interest rates on their investments have fallen from around 6.5 to 1.5 per cent. To compound their problems, many are tied into long-term Spanish mortgages at much higher fixed rates, so they are not benefiting from falling interest rates.

For many, this seismic shift in their financial circumstances has left them so broke that the Spanish Dream has turned into a nightmare.

Even such essentials as paying the rent or mortgage and clothing and feeding their families are beyond them, and they are being forced to sell heirlooms and trinkets at car-boot sales and to second-hand gold dealers (one of the few new boom businesses).

As if their plight was not serious enough, in recent weeks the situation for many expats has worsened dramatically. With the property market in freefall, they are finding themselves trapped.

There are now an estimated one million surplus homes on the conspicuously over-concreted costas, many of them purpose-built for the British market, but estate agents are closing down all along the coast.

And as the only buyers are speculators making audaciously low offers (50 per cent of the asking price is not untypical), the villas and apartments expats bought for optimum prices during the recent property boom - in the belief their value could only go up - have become virtually un-sellable.

So, even if they want to start afresh in rainy old Britain, they can't - or at least not without losing their entire outlay. An increasing number are so desperate, though, that they are doing just that; handing back the keys to banks and mortgage companies, packing up and flying home.

Since the British community in Spain is so vast and diverse, the casualties span the social spectrum, and, of course, some cases are clearly more deserving of our sympathy than others.

In the upmarket Marbella suburb of Nuevo Andalucia, stamping ground of Premier League footballers and soap stars, I met Stan Cornell, a roguishly charming property speculator from Slough, Bucks, who still dances and drinks till dawn at 62 years of age and describes himself as 'a bit of a playboy'.

A couple of years ago, the entrepreneur snapped up a fabulous threestorey villa built with wrap-around views encompassing Gibraltar and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, intending to gut and revamp it and sell it for a handsome profit.

Mr Cornell paid €900,000 (£640,000) for the then-desirable property and has spent a further £300,000 on it so far. Only a few months ago he could have expected it to fetch about £2 million when it was finished, turning a profit of more than a million.

But the mortgage alone is costing around £90,000 a year to service, and, with a buyer nowhere in sight, the property is 'bleeding me dry', he says. He is so desperate to get rid of it that he would gladly drop the price by a million and write off his losses.

'I've lost everything in recessions before, so I'm not quite on the little green and black pills yet,' he joked. 'But at this rate you never know.

'The one thing I won't do is go home. You can't behave like a teenager in your 60s in Britain, but you can in Marbella. And anyway, in the pubs at home my girlfriend couldn't dance on the tables.'

If our hearts don't exactly bleed for characters like Mr Cornell, who are in it for a fast buck and know the risks, one finds all too many genuinely sad stories; and surely none more so than that of former Spitfire pilot Mr Ross.

An Ulsterman, he returned to County Antrim after the war, where he married happily and carved out a career as an auctioneer.

When he retired, during the early Eighties, he and his wife, Maureen, who had no children, moved to a golf course villa in Spain, living modestly but comfortably on his state and RAF pensions, together worth about £13,000 a year.

His wife died from cancer 15 years ago, whereupon he moved to a smaller home and stoically set about making the most of the life that had been denied to so many of his generation.

Even at his advanced age, and suffering from arthritis, he still shops, cooks and cleans for himself, swims twice daily, and stays mentally alert by doing Sudoku puzzles. The problem is that at 94 he knows he cannot remain self-sufficient indefinitely and will soon need to be cared for professionally.

'Until a few months ago, I had made plans for what I would do when things reached that stage,' Mr Ross told me, sitting in the communal garden at his apartment complex on a beautiful April morning.

'As I have no family in Northern Ireland now and virtually all my friends are here, I thought I'd move into the old people's home at the end of my street. It's very pleasant there, and there are all different nationalities - English, Swedes, Americans - so even though I don't speak much Spanish I'd have plenty of company.

'But I've looked into this carefully, and because my pensions are paid into my bank in sterling, and the pound has fallen so badly, I won't be able to afford the home's £500-a-week fees.

'The only way I'll be able to manage is by going into a home in Belfast and I'm dreading that.

'Spain is my home now and I feel quite apprehensive about the prospect of having to go back to a strange place. I think that, and the miserable British weather, might just do for me.'

Unlike many Britons caught up in this mess, Mr Ross, who has all but given up his little luxuries, pities himself not at all. 'It's just how things are,' he says resolutely. He smiles and adds: 'My mistake was that I never expected to live this long. If I had known, I'd have put a bit more money by to provide for myself. It's all a bit unfortunate.'

This is something of an understatement. The situation is also 'a bit unfortunate' for thousands of others, among them Andrew Anderson, president of the Marbella-based British Association.

Mr Anderson is in a reverse bind to Mr Ross. His pensions have also sharply declined in value - but he is keen to return to his native Dunfermline. With Se Vende (For Sale) signs sprouting up all over the area, however, the 73-year-old architect knows he has little hope of selling his apartment unless he slashes the €225,000 (£205,000) asking price.

Thus, at a time when he would like to be roaming the Scottish heather with his new Trinidadian wife, he is trapped. 'With climate change, even the weather here is not as good as it was,' he said ruefully. 'Now it rains in summer.'

The picture grows more depressing still when you drive 40 minutes along the coast to the cheap-and-cheerful British enclave of Fuengirola, with its brash, football-themed bars, and cafes serving English pub grub.

Strolling along 'Fish Alley', a gourmet thoroughfare for British stodge and lager guzzlers, it soon became clear that the glutinous gravy-train has well and truly hit the buffers.

Usually by late April, the canopied terraces would be filling up with the Union Jack shorts brigade; but on Tuesday afternoon, with the thermometer tipping 72 degrees, they were eerily deserted.

Indeed, a good many British landlords have thrown in the towel and gone home. Among those still struggling on gamely, I found former London publican Fred Hill and his wife Anne, who paid about £65,000 for the lease to Friar Tuck's restaurant almost three years ago.

Like most of his rivals, he is attempting to lure customers with cut-price meals. 'This is the REAL deal,' reads his latest sign. 'Fresh Icelandic fish, fresh chips and mushy peas - only €7.50.'

Since imported fish prices have risen five times since he took over, one wonders how he does it.

'Business was fantastic at first,' said Mr Hill mournfully. 'We only needed to open from 6pm till 10.30pm, and we would get 90 customers. Now we open for 13 hours a day, and we're lucky if we get 30.

'I know two people who've just locked up and gone, losing everything they invested - tens of thousands of pounds. But we haven't quite reached that stage yet. Besides, there's nothing to go home to, is there?'

Sadly, the experiences of those who have returned to Britain suggest he is right, and not only because there are so few job opportunities and the economy lies in ruins.

Although the Spanish welfare system is far less generous than ours, affording scant protection to incomers who lose their jobs or fall on hard times, unemployed expats actually often find themselves worse off when they come back home.

What they fail to realise is that, by switching their residency to Spain, they have forfeited the right to claim UK benefits. Before they can do so, they must go through a laborious reregistration process which can take months. They must do the same to become eligible for NHS treatment.

'It can often be very difficult for those who go home because they find that the UK is not the great benefactor people seem to think,' says Tony Aldous, of Age Concern in Estepona, near Malaga. 'There should be a cross-border arrangement whereby benefits are transferable, but that is a long way off.'

Among those to have discovered the harsh truth are Suzanne Carmichael, 38, and her partner Carl Butler, who were forced back to Britain recently with their children, Zoe, 11, and Luis, two. Five years ago they sold their townhouse in Rochester, Kent, for £229,000 and took out a whopping €795,000 mortgage (£709,000 at today's exchange rate) to buy the home of their dreams: a white, Moorish castle-style villa with sumptuous views of the Mijas costa.

When times were good, they had no problem meeting their €3,000 (£2,500) a month repayments. But when their fixed interest rate ended, sending the monthly instalments soaring to €4,700 (£4,200), and they lost their jobs - she as a software company executive and he in construction - they couldn't manage.

Falling on the kindness of Mr Butler's mother, who offered to put them up at her home in Chatham, Kent, at the end of January, they gave back their keys (in an arrangement which at least preserved their credit rating) and flew home.

Almost three months later, the family who once dined nightly on a starlit terrace scented with bougainvillea, and spent idyllic weekends picnicking on the playa, are still humble lodgers.

'Coming back has been quite an eye-opener,' says Ms Carmichael. 'The first shock came when we were told that our UK passports and the fact we were born here meant absolutely nothing. The woman at Jobseekers even said to us: "Can you not just go back to Spain?"

'Since we got back, all we've had to live on is the £90-a-week Jobseekers allowance. The system is so severely under strain with the number of new people on housing benefit that we are still waiting for our claim to go through. Our child benefit forms haven't been processed yet, either.

'Another thing we have found is that people have such a negative attitude towards us. I class myself as very intelligent and hard-working, but because we have to claim benefits, through no fault of our own, we are treated as scum.

'That's very hard to take, particularly when you walk down Chatham High Street and see how standards of behaviour have deteriorated here since we left for Spain five years ago.'

Even after all they have been through, the family haven't given up on their Mediterranean idyll. Ms Carmichael says they may move abroad again once their daughter's education is completed.

Meanwhile, we must hope the battered pound strengthens sufficiently for Spitfire pilot Mr Ross to avoid spending his final years among strangers in some draughty British old folk's home.

He surely deserves his place in the sun. And when it comes to helping hapless victims of the Costa Credit Crunch, the country for which he fought so valiantly is no longer a land fit for heroes.

Source: Daily Mail

Fat tax

Ryanair proposes 'fat tax' for obese passengers
Budget airline considers extra charge for overweight after a third of travellers back idea in survey

Not content with plans to scrap check-in desks, charge passengers for using toilets and clobber customers with a £30 charge if their duty free won't fit into their hand luggage, Ryanair has hit on a new scheme for increasing revenue: a so-called fat tax for overweight travellers.

In what appears as much a ruse to gain publicity as a serious policy, the Irish-based budget carrier said today it would impose an as yet undecided extra levy on passengers who weigh considerably more than average.

The charge, which could fall foul of discrimination laws before it ever takes effect, was proposed following a poll of passengers on the airline's website. It attracted more votes than other ideas, including a €1 levy to use onboard toilet paper, which would have the face of the airline's famously pugnacious chief executive, Michael O'Leary, printed on it. The fat tax gathered nearly a third of all the votes.

The airline now plans to poll passengers on how the charge should be calculated, with ideas including a per-kilo levy for all men weighing more than 130kg (20 stone) and women more than 100kg, or a fixed penalty if a passenger's waist touches both neighbouring armrests at the same time.

"In all cases we've limits at very high levels so that a 'fat tax' will only apply to those really large passengers who invade the space of the passengers sitting beside them," said Stephen McNamara of the airline.

"These charges, if introduced, might also act as an incentive to some of our very large passengers to lose a little weight and hopefully feel a little lighter and healthier."

Several US airlines already oblige very obese passengers who spill over into neighbouring seats to buy a second seat in some cases. Earlier this month, United Airlines said it would do so for travellers whose size made them "infringe on another guest's seat".

Source: The Guardian

Ever gloomier economic outlook

World growth 'worst for 60 years'

World economic growth is set to fall to just 0.5% this year, its lowest rate since World War II, warns the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In October, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 2.2% in 2009.

It now projects the UK, which recently entered recession, will see its economy shrink by 2.8% next year, the worst contraction among advanced nations.

The IMF says financial markets remain under stress and the global economy has taken a "sharp turn for the worse".

In another gloomy view of the UK economy, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Britain would be saddled with government debt for more than 20 years.

IFS director Robert Chote warned that spending would have to be cut or taxes raised by more than planned to allow public finances to recover.

The predictions came as Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organization, urged countries not to react to the global economic crisis by resorting to protectionism.

Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Lamy said such a move would be "a big mistake".

'Virtual halt'

According to the IMF, the outcome of the economic slowdown has been to send global output and trade plummeting.

"We now expect the global economy to come to a virtual halt," said IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard in a statement.

The IMF says that despite a number of policy moves, which have been carried out by many states, financial strains remain.

International co-operation is needed now to draw up new policy initiatives, and for capital injections to support "viable financial institutions".

Meanwhile, it predicts that the eurozone economy is poised to shrink by 2.0% in 2009 and the US economy by 1.6%.

Banking crisis

The report comes on the same day the International Labour Organization said that as many as 51 million jobs worldwide could be lost this year because of the global economic crisis.

It had been hoped that growth in developing nations would continue at a steady pace and help offset the recession in developed nations such as the US and UK.

But the seemingly endless crisis in the banking system has put paid to that notion.

Countries such as China are now struggling with a collapse in demand from their primary export markets.

Meanwhile, developed economies such as Japan, Spain, the US and UK are in recession, with new job losses being announced on a daily basis.

'Uncertainty'

The IMF says that growth in emerging and developing economies is expected to slow sharply, from 6.25% in 2008 to 3.25% in 2009.

It cites the main reasons for the drop as being falling export demand, lower commodity prices and much tighter external financing constraints.

The IMF points out that policy efforts to tackle the downturn so far - such as liquidity support, deposit insurance and recapitalisation - have been drawn up to address the immediate threats to financial stability.

However, it says that these emergency measures "have done little to resolve the uncertainty about the long-term solvency of financial institutions".

"The process of loss recognition and restructuring of bad loans is still incomplete," says the IMF's World Economic Outlook Update.

'Bad bank'

The IMF says future co-ordinated financial policies should concentrate on recognising the scale of financial institutions' losses and on providing public support to those institutions that are viable.

"Such policies should be supported by measures to resolve insolvent banks and set up public agencies to dispose of the bad debts, including possibly through a 'bad bank' approach, while safeguarding public resources."

The IMF says the global economy is projected to experience a gradual recovery in 2010, with growth picking up to 3%.

"However, the outlook is highly uncertain, and the timing and pace of the recovery depend critically on strong policy actions," it warns.

Source: BBC News

English language domination

New lingua franca upsets French

That the French resent the global supremacy of the English language is nothing new, but as Hugh Schofield finds out, a newly evolved business-speak version is taking over.

They were giving out the annual Prix de la Carpette Anglaise the other day. Literally it means the English Rug Prize, but doormat would be the better translation.

As the citation explains, the award goes to the French person or institution who has given the best display of "fawning servility" to further the insinuation into France of the accursed English language.

Among the runners-up this year: the supermarket company Carrefour ­which changed the name of its Champion chain of stores to Carrefour Market, not using the French word "marche".

Also the provocatively-named Paris band Nelson (it is the Admiral, not Mr Mandela, that they have in mind) whose frontman J.B. sings in English because, he says, French does not have the right cadences for true rock.

Worst offender

But topping the poll for grave disservices to the mother tongue is France's higher education minister, Valerie Pecresse.

Her crime: proclaiming to the press that she had no intention of speaking French when attending European meetings in Brussels, because, she said, it was quite obvious that English was now the easiest mode of communication.

The rise and rise of the English language is a sensitive subject for many here in France, who believe that French has every bit as much right to be considered a global tongue.

Even conceding to English victory in the war for linguistic supremacy, the French believe that the least they can do is defend their own territory and keep the ghastly invader at a decent remove.

The same group that sponsors the Prix de la Carpette also brings legal actions against companies that, it says, breach the law, for example, by not issuing French language versions of instructions to staff.

Personally, I sympathise greatly with defenders of the French language. I think it is true that culturally the world will be diminished if one monolithic form of discourse squashes the rest. But then I am also a realist.

Recently I have spent a lot of time in French multinational companies, and what is inescapable is the stranglehold that English already has on the world of business here.

French executives draft reports, send e-mails, converse with their international colleagues - and increasingly even amongst themselves - in English.

It is of course a kind of bastardised, runty form of business-speak full of words like "drivers" and "deliverables" and "outcomes" to be "valorised", but is nonetheless quite definitely not French.

New language

This brings me to Jean-Paul Nerriere.

Monsieur Nerriere is a retired French businessman who one day in the course of his work made a fascinating observation.

In a meeting with colleagues from around the world, including an Englishman, a Korean and a Brazilian, he noticed that he and the other non-native English speakers were communicating in a form of English that was completely comprehensible to them, but which left the Englishman nonplussed.

He, Jean-Paul Nerriere, could talk to the Korean and the Brazilian in this neo-language, and they could understand each other perfectly.

But the Englishman was left out because his language was too subtle, too full of meaning that could not be grasped by the others.

In other words, Monsieur Nerriere concluded, a new form of English is developing around the world, used by people for whom it is their second language.

It may not be the most beautiful of tongues, but in this day and age he says it is indispensible. He calls the language Globish and urges everyone - above all the French - to learn it tout de suite.

In his book Don't Speak English, Parlez Globish, Monsieur Nerriere sets out the rules.

Globish has only 1,500 words and users must avoid humour, metaphor, abbreviation and anything else that can cause cross-cultural confusion.

They must speak slowly and in short sentences. Funnily enough, he holds up the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as an excellent exponent.

Many in France consider Monsieur Nerriere a traitor for promoting the dreaded Anglais, but he insists he is not.

He says the French have to recognise that the language war is lost.

"We're just urinating on the ashes of the fire," he says. We should look on Globish not as a triumphant cultural vehicle for les Anglo-Saxons, but as a tool, he says: essential but purely utilitarian.

For lovers of English there is another consideration, only half-serious I admit. But what if this were all a devious Gallic plot?

After all, if Globish really does take over the planet with its stunted business-speak, its bland insignificance, its cultureless access-for-all availability, then where does that leave the real English?

Will the language of Shakespeare suffer by association, leaving the field open one day for the resurgence of the other great tongues of the world ? Like French?

Source: BBC News

Over to Obama

What do you think of Obama's speech? Read and listen to it here.

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

Source: Telegraph

Bye bye Bush!

How do you think Bush will go down in history?

What are the images that come to mind when you think about his Presidency?

Here are a few reminders. Watch these videos: Part 1 and Part 2 and have a look at these photos to jog your memory.

Look at this humourous site which celebrates all things Bush.

Trendy pets

RSPCA says people who dress up their dogs could be prosecuted

The animal welfare charity claims that forcing pets to wear clothing could be harmful, and in some cases there may even be grounds to prosecute.

Canine couture has become fashionable in recent years and there is a dizzying array of products on sale, from bootees, pyjamas, all-in-one trousers and even hoodies for dogs.

Top fashion designers, including Vivienne Westwood and Ben de Lisi, have also created dog designs, while the London store Harrods has an annual fashion show called Pet-a-Porter.

Experts believe there are occasions where dog clothing is acceptable, such as with small dogs and short-haired varieties, and during cold weather.

Jess Bland, a professional dog walker and pet sitter, says: "Dog clothing certainly serves its purpose when it's cold and wet, but it has to fit properly.

"Although dogs would survive in the wild, they're generally used to being indoors. So there is a case that they need coats in the winter, especially shorter haired dogs and smaller dogs."

But the fashion for pet clothes angers Lynn Williams, founder of dog charity Happy Dogs. She said: "People love their pets and the retail trade has latched on to that.

"To see a little dog dressed up in boots, I think, is a little over the top.

"You can buy anything fashion wise for your dog. I have an extreme love of the dog, but I don't like to see them dressed up as little human beings. I don't think they like it either. It's unnatural."

Earlier this week animal welfare officers also warned that dog clothing could cause the animals to overheat.

Jo Barr, RSPCA spokeswoman, said: "Dog owners should be aware that under the Animal Welfare Act that came into force in April 2007 they have a duty of care to ensure that all of their pets' needs are met.

"One of those needs is to express normal behaviour and it could mean that with restrictive clothing they are not able to do that properly.

"We're concerned that any pet should be viewed as a fashion accessory. Taking on an animal is a long-term commitment. It's quite humiliating and sends out the wrong message about pet care.

"We've seen trends in recent years brought about by the rise in celebrities with 'handbag dogs'.

"This usually leads to people taking on pets because they are 'fashionable' and sadly that means many are neglected.

"We've had similar problems with popular films like Harry Potter, with parents wanting to buy owls as pets for their children.

"Going back further to the 1990s, we saw people unable to cope with turtles and terrapins that they'd bought due to the popularity of the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."

Source: Telegraph

That's bloody awful!

SWEARING NOW THE BLIGHT OF BRITAIN

Swearing has become the curse of modern British life, with the vast majority of us no longer offended by bad language, according to shocking new research.

Influenced by television, more than nine out of 10 adults now admit to swearing every day. And those who do not are often too fearful to challenge those who do.

The average Briton now swears a staggering 14 times a day, with 90 per cent of the adult population no longer fazed by the use of expletives. Our behaviour is heavily influenced by the increased use of bad language on television, say critics. They want the Government to tighten controls.

Broadcaster Esther Rantzen said last night: “Every body would agree that there is too much swearing on television and something has to change.”

Esther, who is patron of the Campaign for Courtesy, added: “It is becoming ludicrous and banal. We don’t want society to go that way too.”

John Beyer, of Mediawatch UK, said: “This sort of language is damaging our culture and the way we speak to each other. Children as young as four, five and six are copying it and it is undermining our language. There is no place for unnecessary swearing on television.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay and controversial presenter Jonathan Ross are among the worst culprits. And just last week chef Jamie Oliver had to apologise for swearing during an episode of his Ministry of Food series. He used the F-word no fewer than 23 times in 50 minutes.

Conservative MP and Daily Express columnist Ann Widdecombe said: “I think it is clear that the amount of swearing in society has been enormously influenced by the amount of swearing on television, in films and even in books. The fact remains that there are many people who do not like casual and consistent swearing and are offended by it when they hear it in public. But these days sometimes all you can do is stare in disbelief when you hear this kind of language.”

Peter Foot, chairman of the Campaign for Courtesy, said there was still an appetite for good manners.

“Swearing has become too habitual, but I think if you walk down most suburban streets and knock on the door, people are actually generally still polite.”

Britain is generally seen as a conservative nation but a survey of more 2,000 people found that just eight per cent are now offended by swearing, as long as it is in an adult context.

The detailed study by the Aust ralian company www.Nulon-uk.com found a clear link between a person’s age and their views on swearing.

Ninety-four per cent of those aged 18-30 said bad language was no longer even an issue, while just 79 per cent of people aged 50-60 agreed.

According to the research, men are more foul-mouthed than women, with 90 per cent swearing on a daily basis compared with 83 per cent of women.

Perhaps most shockingly, some 78 per cent of people admitted to swearing regularly for no reason whatsoever, while the overwhelming majority – 98 per cent – admitted they swore when they lost their temper. William Findlay, who compiled the report, said: “This survey clearly shows that British people accept that swearing is a fact of life in today’s society. The fact that nearly every one of the 2,319 people polled has sworn while angry shows that British attitudes towards conservatism in public are changing.”

Greg Simons, joint managing dir ector of Nulon, said: “To find out that the average Briton swears 14 times a day is a real eye-opener. The results clearly show that swearing is a fact of life in today’s society, both at home and in the workplace.

“I have witnessed swearing at all times of the day at all levels of society, from children to police officers. Britain seems to be a nation that just can’t be shocked.”

Source: Daily Express

What's your opinion on the level of swearing in society? Do you think there is too much unnecessary bad language on TV? Do you think that the article is all just a fuss about nothing?

I personally dislike it when females swear. Am I old fashioned?

I usually only swear when I am angry. I often swear when I am driving as it really stresses me out. When do you use bad language?

Economic pain in Spain

Spanish economy woes

Spain, which has enjoyed 14 years of consecutive growth, has gone into sudden reverse.

Analysts expect figures to show that the country is already in recession, with GDP falling since the middle of last year.

The gloomy statistics are building up. Last week, they showed that industrial output had tumbled by 15.1%, the biggest fall on record, and the country's unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in 2008 of three million.

BBC News website readers in Spain have been sending their stories about how the slowdown is affecting them.

ELISA ARIAS, JOURNALIST AND PR, MADRID

I came back to Spain after two and a half years living in the UK because the credit crunch prompted me to do it earlier than I expected to - and the situation cannot be more devastating.

I was hired by an online newspaper and was promised a one-month contract but when I arrived there was no contract, so I worked there on a temporary basis for three weeks.

The newspaper closed down this week and 40 people, some with young children, will lose their jobs.

Because I had no contract, I have no unemployment benefit or social security. I lived in Madrid, but was forced to go to Malaga to my parents' house.

Many magazines, websites and local televisions have closed down, so it is almost impossible to get a job.

I feel ridiculous leaving CVs everywhere, because I know it's not worth it, it just doesn't make any sense.

It is almost impossible for highly-educated job-seekers like me to find a job. The problem in Spain is that almost everyone has a university degree, so you have to do something else, like a masters or doctorate degree. But in this situation, it doesn't even help.

The figures given yesterday by the government were depressing: three million unemployed - one million more than last year. And the figures may rise one more million in 2009.

Many young people are like me, they don't have any proper contracts or social security. That's why we all live with our parents until we are 30 years old.

You usually have to stay and put up with almost illegal contracts until they finally hire you, and this happens very frequently with journalists.

I think for employers it is too expensive to hire new people, because they have to pay many benefits. This should be regulated in a different way so that more jobs are created.


RICARDO, COMPANY DIRECTOR, BARCELONA

The economy here is at its worst, hundreds of jobs and companies disappearing every day and prices rising.

From the point of view of operating a business in Spain, it is unsustainable in the long run. Spanish legislation is so rigid and in favour of employees, that it is hard for businesses to restructure and adapt to the crisis.

If you need to restructure and cut jobs or change the salaries, even if it is temporary, you are not allowed to do so. So you can't save your business and end up in bankruptcy.

This affects employment because as an employer, when I want to hire people I would rather employ them as freelancers because it is too expensive to give them a contract.

Credit is very difficult to get and it is not easy to get credit cards or get in debt. So people are not heavily indebted, but they are definitely poorer because the salaries are low and haven't gone up in line with prices.

People are not buying and demand has certainly gone down. Demand for our products has fallen by 50%.

If the current situation persists and the government does not change its legislation I do not see many companies staying in Spain or investing in the future. The outlook is definitely gloomy.


LOUISE BRACE, ADVERTISING, MALAGA

I live in Malaga province and have been running a small advertising agency for five years. Our agency tries to help Spanish business communicate with the ex-pat market and we also help the British connect with the local businesses.

We have been exceptionally hard hit here, because of the crash in the construction and real estate market and of course the bad publicity that we have received, because of the ongoing problem of fraud within local councils.

This region relies a lot on real estate and tourism and this is what has kept the southern region of Andalucia going.

Now it's all drying up and business is next to nothing. We try to find jobs to supplement our business and pay our mortgages, but there are no jobs.

Our bank has now frozen our overdraft and asked for the money back immediately. They just told us that we should try to find the money from another bank to pay it off, or ask my family.

The treatment of small to medium-sized businesses by the banks here has had a huge effect on the crisis. With nearly 90% of the business population in this category, they are literally wiping us out with their lack of support in times of crisis. They are taking away loans and overdrafts, not helping to fund our survival.

As much business from ex-pats has been going badly many people, including ourselves, are trying to sell their properties, but it's difficult.

Everybody is selling their properties on the Costa del Sol well below what they are worth, because of the recession and because of the drop in foreign buyers.

Brand new developments with gymnasiums and pools are selling at half-price. There are many empty buildings and empty complexes without a licence. It used to be said that Spain's emblem was the crane, but I think promoters and builders just built and built and now not enough people are buying their properties.

I think they built to satisfy a market of people who were trying to get away from built-up areas and then ruined it by overbuilding.


NEIL SCOTT, CONTRACTOR, SITGES

We live and work in Spain and have been here for the last ten years, my brother and I have a company that does renovations. Around 60% of our clients are from overseas and the rest are residents.

We haven't been affected particularly as our client base is strong and in the upper market level and people are still doing renovations, but construction has taken a nosedive.

We have seen expensive properties which were started a couple of years ago and now just standing partially completed and the machinery abandoned.

We didn't notice the downturn until September, as we usually rest for two months during the summer. Spain shuts down in that time.

But when we came back to work and went to buy materials, we found out that all our credit accounts had been suspended. We usually buy all the materials, put a deposit down and then pay the rest over the next six weeks, but that has stopped.

I didn't know it, but this credit line is debt factored by an insurance company which guarantees the money, and they just stopped the credit.

We managed to survive doing private arrangements because we have been living here for ten years, always pay on time and have a good track record. But many contractors now can't get any credit and this dries up construction.

What is really noticeable now is that shops are starting to close in the towns, and the once busy bars and restaurants are also closing and are virtually empty in the evenings.

Sitges on a Friday night is now totally dead - this was unheard of before.

You have to remember that here in Spain the personal debt problems that people experience in the UK just don't exist to the same level. Here, if you haven't got money in the bank they won't let you spend it and credit cards are paid at the end of the month in full. It is very difficult to rack up a large personal debt.

Source: BBC News

Has the economic downturn affected you or the sector where you work? How do you see the economic situation evolving? What do you believe should be done?

Looking back and looking forward

What are some of the events that you will remember from 2008? What happened? Why do they stand out? Who are some of the personalities that helped shape the year? Think locally, nationally and internationally. What about some of the memorable films and songs from the year that has just passed?

Apart from looking back through the blog, this review of 2008 may help jog your memory.

What do you predict will happen in 2009?

On a personal level, what are your hopes for the next twelve months? Have you made any resolutions?