Comment Challenge Day 24- Comment in a Foreign Language
Day 24: Comment on a Blog Written in a Foreign Language
Today’s activity was suggested by both Sue Waters and Silvia Tolisano . Their idea is that we comment on a blog post in another language. For some of us, this may mean dusting off our foreign language skills from high school or college. If you’re like me, you’ll need something a little more heavy duty to figure this out. Sue suggests trying Google’s Translator, which should allow you to both read a blog post as well as translate your comment into the proper language.
To find an appropriate blog, try translation a keyword into the language you want to search for–for example, if you want to find a Spanish-language blog that discusses education, search for the keyword “educacion” in Technorati or Google Blog Search . Then copy and paste the post text into Google Translator, which should give you a reasonable idea of what the post says. You can then write your response and translate it into the other language. You might want to mention that you’re using Google Translator for this purpose because your comment won’t be perfectly translated.
Well…technically speaking….I have been commenting in a foreign language for the entire length of the Comment Challenge, since English is a foreign language for me. 
I decided to go hunting for a blog in my mother tongue, which is German. For the longest time, I have been wondering why I am lacking teachers from a German speaking country in my Personal Learning Network? Are German teachers simply not blogging? Are they not using technology in the classroom? No Web 2.0 tools?
I went to Google Blog Search and searched for “Technik”, “Grundschule” (Technology, Elementary School). A few clicks and links later I found a great blog called “Elefantenklasse”, an school diary of a 4th Grade class.
I left a comment, telling them where I was from and what a great blog they were writing.
Hallo Elefantenklasse,
Ich bin eine Lehrerin aus Amerika und bin auf eurem tollen Blog gelandet. Ich unterrichte auch an einer Grundschule in einem computer lab. Unsere Klassen haben auch blogs, leider sind sie hinter einem Passwort versteckt.
Viel Spass und bloggt weiter!
Mrs. Tolisano
While I was at it, I found another German blog “Online Grundschule” The author Michael Gros states that he is interested in the possibilities web.20 tools bring to the elementary school classroom. I left the following comment to introduce myself.
Per Zufall bin ich auf deinen Blog gestossen. Ich bin eine Technology Integration Facilitator an einer Grundschule in Florida/USA. Mich interessiert sehr wie man web 2.0 tools im Unterricht anwenden kann.
Ich frage mich seit einiger Zeit warum so wenig deutsche Lehrer mit ihren Klassen im Netz sind und von diesen tools Gebrauch machen?
Wuerde mich ueber einen Gedankenaustausch sehr freuen.
Viele Gruess aus Florida
Silvia
Hello! I’ve been following your blog for some time and haven’t commented. Well, today is the day.
I find it interesting that Americans use the term “foreign laguage”. The term foreign to me means other than, something “on the other side”.
In Canada, we use the term “second language” (or third, or fourth….). I think this is more inclusive and inviting a term; being bilingual/multilingual is desirable.
Love your blog.
Patricia,
You are right. The term “foreign” implies different things. It is not only the Americans who use this term though. In Argentina and Germany (where I am from) the term “Fremdsprache” and “Lengua extranjera” is also commonly used. I refer to my children’s knowledge of German as their second language, since they grew up with both languages (English and German) at the same time. German, not being the language of the country we live in, is the weaker language. I would never use the term “foreign language” for them when referring to German.
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