Category Archives: language

Leo

By nchenga | Published: July 24, 2010
I stumbled across this Swisscom poster showcasing Leo’s mobile app to sell a smart phone: I started using Leo’s English – German dictionary regularly long time ago – in the late 90s. I think it must have been about 1997 or 1998 at my first full-time job after uni. The vocabulary wasn’t as extensive as [...]
Also posted in General | Tagged dict.leo.org, dictionary, leo, smartphones | 2 Comments

Malawi Blog on Learning Tumbuka

By nchenga | Published: April 5, 2008
Monire monire! Muli uli? Tobias Kumwenda has started a blog to teach Tumbuka ( via Global Voices): The mission of this weblog is to teach those people who are not ChiTumbuka speakers located across the world, but have developed passion to learn this language. A great idea. Keep up the good work! See also Wikipedia: [...]
Also posted in Malawi | Tagged chitumbuka, malawian languages, tumbuka | Leave a comment

Most People Are Multilingual

By nchenga | Published: August 11, 2007
Here’s my comment I submitted a couple of minutes ago at Climb to the Stars on Most People Are Multilingual (cos I’m not sure if my comment wasn’t gobbled): In southern Africa (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, SA) most people are multi-lingual with varying levels of language competency in at least 3 languages. For example in Malawi, [...]
Also posted in Malawi | 2 Comments

double t

By nchenga | Published: July 5, 2007
Is it benefitted or benefited?
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TV documentary

By nchenga | Published: May 28, 2007
on Plattdeutsch speakers in South Africa: Südafrika op Platt.
Also posted in german | Leave a comment

pêle-mêle

By nchenga | Published: October 6, 2006
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything personal in my blog. Mostly because this isn’t a confessional blog. A couple of weeks ago I read thu all entries here at chiperoni.ch. And I like the nice side-effect that I can hold onto a fleeting moment by documenting it in words (even if it’s just [...]
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About the inhabitants of JavaPolis

By nchenga | Published: August 18, 2006
Linguistic nit-picking on a Friday afternoon: I noticed this phrase over at the JavaPolis 06 website (a login is required): 17 299 JavaPolians registered And I started wondering why JavaPolian, why not JavaPolitans? After all, people living in a metropolis are metropolitans or have metropolitan characteristics. The same applies for people from Minneapolis. Maybe the [...]
Also posted in General | 1 Comment

mouse potato

By nchenga | Published: August 7, 2006
Main Entry: mouse potato Function: noun Etymology: after couch potato slang : a person who spends a great deal of time using a computer Source: Definition of mouse potato – Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Also posted in General | 1 Comment

Writing Copy

By nchenga | Published: July 6, 2006
Couple of writing tips I found at MarketingProfs.com: Begin with a story Use short words Write shorter sentences Remove clichés Use bridges or connectors Use concrete examples rather than concepts Pay attention to your verbs
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MarComm Writing Tactics

By nchenga | Published: July 5, 2006
Can technical writers be good marketing writers – and vice versa? The above presentation notes are old (from 2002 i.e. definitely Web 1.0), but the question is interesting… what’s your opinion on this? (update: unfortunately the site seems to be down. Note to myself: write a short summary of the main points for future reference.)
Also posted in General, marketing, tech | Leave a comment

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