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Scooped by Seth Dixon onto Geography Education |
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A few clips from flying in Switzerland the last two weeks, plus some old ones.. First shot is from Trond Teigen (http://www.youtube.com/JumpTeigen )
Beautiful physical geography and extreme sports with a video camera gives us a spectacular view of some glaciated valleys, cliff faces, fjords and mountainous terrain.
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France declares war on the English language. Erin Burnett reports....
Seth Dixon's insight:
France is famous for trying to slow the linguistic diffusion of globalization's most powerful online language (which also happens to belong to their age-old cultural and political rival). France has a commission dedicated to removing new words that have English origins since 1996 with the goal of introducing words with have linguistic roots in French. Recently then have done away with the Twitter term #hashtag to #mot-dièses. This video criticizes this cultural practice and it is also derided in this NPR article. However this does not mean that France is immune to cultural pressure to change linguistic traditions. There was been a movement to alter the term Mademoiselle on official documents with a new title that allows women the freedom to choose the form of address that they prefer (and not to force them to reveal their marital status--think Ms. vs Miss). Questions to Ponder: Why (and how) do languages change over time? Is it possible to keep a language 'pure?' Tags: language, culture, globalization, unit 3 culture, France, gender. 
John Peterson's comment,
April 30, 10:39 AM
This video shows how something as simple as a word can bring about some sort of action by a differing political and social group. While English has become the main language in the world, France seems to have a hard time accepting this fact and attempt to keep popular, worldwide, phrases from being said in their country. This petty attempt to keep French people using solely French words shows that language can be a touchy subject in some regions of the world. While this policing of words may be accepted in France, it would definitely not be accepted in other areas such as in the United States. While French civilians will accept this word policing, in the United States there is a much higher value in being able to speak in your own way and not being forced to change which words you use. This illustrates the very different social and political views and practices of different regions that may not be very acceptable in some other areas of the world.
Jess Pitrone's comment,
May 5, 5:16 PM
A war on banning American-English phrases? Obviously France didn’t get the memo about the growing global community, either that, or they are choosing to fight it tooth and nail (Whoa. Too many puns). The world today is more united then ever, whether it be economically, politically, or socially; everyone is connected somehow. We share everything; the whole world is sitting around eating sushi, wearing Northface jackets made in Bangladesh, watching their country’s version of The Voice (a show of Dutch origin), and i-chatting someone across the world. Needless to say, the world has become a very small place.
France has become known as a country that is steeped in tradition. The French are very sensitive about every part of their culture, and try very hard to preserve it. But why would they reject words that, yes, have American-English origins, but have distinct meanings across the world? I’d say that it’s just another attempt at the French to combat outside influence, and most notably, deter its society away from all things American. Let’s see how they feel the next time we change our language to include freedom fries! Ha-ha 
Sylvain Rotillon's comment,
May 5, 5:44 PM
It's not so simple ! You can't say "the French" as if everybody rejects english words. It's a national policy but in fact it's mainly a rearguard action denied everyday in the street.
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Born in the USA, Made in France: How McDonald's Succeeds in the Land of Michelin Stars by Knowledge@Wharton, the online business journal of the Wharton School.
While many portray McDonald's as the embodiment of all that is wrong with globalization, the diffusion of McDonald's is not a simple replication of the American fast food chain and exporting it elsewhere...a lot of local adaptations on a global model is part of McDonald's successful economic model. Although I'm not a fan of the word "glocalization" to describe how local flavor adds spice to globalized phenomenon, it most certainly fits here. Delete the scoop?
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Looking for Jim Morrison's grave? There are countless famous people buried in Paris' most famous cemetery. This virtual tour is as close as most of us will get to exploring it this school year. Delete the scoop?
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From the Eiffel Tower, you can pan and zoom to see the whole city. This could be a fantastic 'hook' for an urban geography class. Paris has been the model for so many urban restructuring projects, that this would work nicely as grist for discuss centering on ideas of urbanism (and it's just stunningly gorgeous). Enjoy playing with this as it is very easy to manipulate and control. Delete the scoop?
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