The Language Portal of Canada “is a Web site that showcases Canadian expertise in the area of language.” According to the About page, it offers:
* free access to language tools online;
* articles and writing tips, word games and exercises (the Well Written, Well Said section);
* a collection of links to language-related works and sites (the Discover section);
* Canadian writing tools and content produced by governments, universities, and others;
* language-related articles signed by our contributors;
* information in English and French, and in some Aboriginal languages;
* and much more.
The French equivalent is Le Portail linguistique du Canada. I don’t have time to investigate it thoroughly now, but it’s clearly packed with goodies. Thanks, Paul!
I was surprised to see that there is, among other things, an English-Inuktitut-French Glossary of Mining Terminology. Unfortunately, the definitions are given only in English and French….
Heh.
Heh, indeed. Be not surprised that Canajun imperialism is alive and well, after 147 years of experience.
I find the shiny surface of this website not exactly pleasant to skate over and through, even with my few years of Beecee bureaucratic experience. Termium: the neuter gender is rather appropriate.
If I feel like being fair, I’ll explore it a bit further sometime, but I think I’d rather go play interactive go.
147 years? What happened in 1863?
Personally I date Canadian imperialism either from 1713 (The British takeover of Acadia) or, if feeling generous, from 1755, the beginning of La guerre de la Conquête.
The most interesting part about the Language Portal is access to TERMIUM, a trilingual terminology database that’s been around since 1975. It contains a lot of Canadian government terminology, as that was its primary focus until it became freely available to everyone last fall. If you have any questions about how TERMIUM works, I’d be really happy to discuss them (over email or Twitter – @kimlacurieuse).
Kim, a terminologist and former terminology teaching assistant working for the Canadian government
(Must add that I don’t actually work for the Translation Bureau that is responsible for updating TERMIUM, I just know it well).
Sorry, Vanya, my lazy brain betrayed me. I see Sir John A(lcoholic) sending the troops to the Prairies in 1869 as the first Canajun imperial act, the year before they became ‘legally’ Canajun. But this is not a political forum.
Sorry, I think I screwed up my address. Now corrected.
Probably the most useful resource here is the excellent Termium dictionary:
I would not want to translate from French without it.
Paul
Iakon, the Canadian move West may have been done to preempt the Americans. The Metis developed a trade route to St. Paul – Minneapolis Minnesota, and after the Civil War some in Minnesota were talking about occupying that area. It was only talk and the Canadians made it moot pretty quickly.
I picked that up while researching my piece at the link, and didn’t note down a source.
John Emerson: Yes, as I wrote my comment I recalled a teacher mentioning that, lo! these many years ago. Forestalling ‘manifest destiny’ was also the reason for establishing the Crown Colony of Vancouver Island, then British Columbia and then confederation of the latter with Canada. Expansion across North America was very much a Go game. Canada was outflanked, which is why our West Coast is so narrow. We just missed having the mainland portion of the Alaska Panhandle because the Hudson’s Bay Co. didn’t renew a lease from the Russian American Co. at a critical time because of lack of political foresight. Of course the reason was economic, and that particular Go game eventually nullified the political one.
OK,Kim, I’ve check through TERMIUM as far as I can go without thinking of any examples to persue. Unfortunatelly it’s not as easy to browse as a book; f’rinstance, there’s no list of article titles that I can find, and I might enjoy reading those articles. Looks like TERMIUM for Dummies is needed.
Wallace Stegner, who grew up half in Canada and galf in Montana, has contrasted the Canadian westward move (where the law and government went first, and population followed) to American (where the area was populated first and pacified later.) Though neither formula quite covers the fate of the original peoples.
In Minnesota French surnames are scattered here and there, and I’m sure that some of them trace to the Metis.
Wallace Stegner, who grew up half in Canada and galf in Montana, has contrasted the Canadian westward move (where the law and government went first, and population followed) to American (where the area was populated first and pacified later.) Though neither formula quite covers the fate of the original peoples.
In Minnesota French surnames are scattered here and there, and I’m sure that some of them trace to the Metis.
@iakon
It’s definitely not intuitive. Think of it as searching a database, not a book – it’s not set up that way.
The basics of searching are: (a) select the language you’re going to be searching in by clicking on the Search Keys button, then (b) type in your term(s) in the search bar and hit enter.
(I don’t know why that Search History button is right up there next to Search Keys… I didn’t design it!)
Try searching for “email”, for example.
Entries are divided into columns by languages. All of the terms you see are synonyms, the first one in the list being the “recommended” one.
There’s more in the user guide, which you will find by clicking on the “Help” button at the top of the page.
Thanks, Kim. I’ll follow your lead when I have some time — and a full moon is upon us!
No, I’m not being sarcastic.