Languages - OU Community Online

A feature on distance-learning in Germany mentions The Open University, Fernuniversität Hagen and OnCamus (a group of German and European institutions). It is said that studying with the OU enables students to have an international qualification, and the OU’s free educational opportunities (YouTUbe and iTunes U) are praised as providing opportunities for people to sample OU study before committing.

Find out more:

• Read the full article
• OpenLearn: free learning from the OU

The good news is that more than ten years of open2.net content has been moved to a new website at open.edu/openlearn, creating one home for all the Open University's free online learning for the public. 

The new site continues to support OU-BBC broadcasts, but also gives access to iTunes U podcasts, YouTube videos, free study units taken from OU modules and topical content, arranged under subject areas relating to the OU curriculum. 

There's lots to do - you can watch Evan Davis exploring the state of British manufacturing; explore the frozen planet; get to know the science and history of the Olympics or have a look at our study units in LearningSpace.

Any existing links that direct people to open2.net content will automatically send people to the relevant pages on the new site.

You’ll find more information at open.edu/openlearn. 

Henry Stead, Research Student (Classical Studies) has won third prize in the prestigious The Times Stephen Spender Prize 2011, awarded for an original translation of poetry into English. His winning entry is a translation from Latin of an extract of Seneca's powerful tragedy, ‘Medea’.

The prize set up by the The Times and Stephen Spender Trust, hopes to encourage and stimulate a new generation of literary translators. Stephen Spender was himself a fine translator of poetry.

Email to request a free booklet containing the winning translations and commentaries.

One of the judges, Prof Edith Hall, comments: "As a theatre enthusiast, I was delighted with the taut speakability of Henry Stead’s excerpt from his version of the grim Senecan Medea. I hope that it will encourage others to submit translations from verse drama, a category of translation in which poets such as Ted Hughes and Tony Harrison have recently shown English can be most effective."

Find out more:

• Henry's winning poem
• Classical studies at the OU
• The Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation 2011
  
   

The Open University is celebrating 20 years of languages.

The Department of Languages in the Faculty of Education and Language Studies (FELS) marked the milestone on 29 September 2011 with an event in the Berrill Lecture Theatre at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, that brought together past and present members of staff, colleagues from across the University, external guests and speakers.

The programme included a wide range of contributions, including a message from the Vice Chancellor who emphasised the importance of languages for social cohesion and creating a better understanding between people, cultures and societies.

Professor Alan Tait, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Curriculum & Qualifications) paid tribute to the challenges that the Department had to overcome and the innovations that resulted from meeting these challenges. Professor Tait talked about the "skill of working in another language" and the possible threat that the increasing monolingualism in the UK poses for the country.

Dr Adam Marshall from the British Chambers of Commerce stressed the importance of languages for trade and commerce and focused on three areas: recruitment, international trade, and British involvement in international institutions. He also made the case for language departments refocusing on equipping students with the language skills that they need to compete in an increasingly international workplace.

Professor Marie-Noëlle Lamy and Margaret Nicolson provided an overview of the history and development of the Department of Languages since 1991, both from a Walton Hall campus and a regions/nations perspective.

Dr Regine Hampel presented an overview of how the research and scholarship of the Department of Languages had evolved since its inception. Her focus was on the use of technology to overcome the possible isolation of the distance language learner.

Recorded contributions from Associate Lecturers, students and colleagues from around the world also featured in the programme which ended with a demonstration of some of the new technology that is used in the department, followed by a drinks reception.

The event is now available to watch online.

Useful links

• Study Languages with the OU

Speakers for Schools are offering state schools the opportunity to access a fantastic network of speakers who are willing to give inspirational talks to young people for free.

These speakers have kindly agreed to give at least one talk per annum in a state school and will address the big subjects: technological, scientific, political, economic, historical, cultural, artistic, ecological and ethical. They are people who will be able to explain the latest developments in areas such as business, cosmology, biology, medicine, linguistics, history, engineering, inter alia.

Speakers include: Honorary graduates Baroness Tessa Blackstone, Sir Peter Bonfield, Sir Christopher Bland, Sir William Castell, Evan Davis, Sir Richard Lambert and Martha Lane Fox. As well as David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Lord Sebastian Coe and other well know faces.

 For further information or to apply for a speaker, visit the Speaker4schools website: http://www.speakers4schools.org/

• Discover the Open University on ITunes U

The BBC has highlighted research which reveals the big divide between British and German conversational habits.

According to Professor Juliane House of Hamburg University, the British like to use lots of phrases like "how's things" and "lovely weather, isn't it?" which don't convey hard information but suggest empathy and make other people feel good. Linguists call this 'phatic' communication. But to the Germans, these empty words make the British sound insincere and devious.

Germans don't do small talk. They favour a more direct communication style – but by leaving out polite nothings such as "nice to meet you" and "could you do me a favour?", they come over as rude and abrupt to Britons.

The Germans also fail to understand the British habit of using understated phrases like "there seems to be a little bit of an issue with this" to describe serious problems, says Professor Derek Bousfield, the head of linguistics at the University of Central Lancashire.

When Germany company BMW bought British car firm Rover, the Germans initially failed to appreciate how serious Rover's problems were, because it took British managers' understatement at face value.

The moral of the story seems to be that neither nation's communication patterns are superior – but it pays for both sides to understand them before opening a dialogue. Read the full story here.