Happy International Mother Language Day

I found out about International Mother Language Day around the time that I was chided by a stranger via email for my use of the word 'program' not 'programme' in one of our email marketing campaigns.

Weight loss programme surely. Assuming you are an English company?

It was simply an oversight because I sometimes forget that, although Australians and Britons speak the same language, we often speak very differently. 

Australians tend to blend British and American English. Some of us give such a vigorous "eff" when pronouncing 'lieutenant' and denounce 'different than' as treachery, while taking on American spellings when it suits us. 

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What's a little undergarment humour between friends?

Although it's rarely met with the joviality that I'm aiming for, I joke as much as I can about the fact that my fiancé intends to don "just a vest and pants" for our upcoming summer nuptials. 

To a Brit, this distressingly suggests that I'm the kind of girl who would marry the kind of guy who can't get enough of showing his undies in public. The necessary 'English-to-English' translation indicates that he intends to wear a waistcoat and trousers. Quite normal, really.

Given I work as a writer in England, I try to keep on top of these differences to avoid such embarrassing, potentially client-losing faux pas as to spell programme incorrectly.

How I am changing from Australian to British English

• I don't say "I'll put the jug on" anymore; I say I'll "put the kettle on."
• After a few hefty outcries in my first summer, I switched from "bringing my thongs" to "bringing my flip flops" on beach sojourns. 
• I acknowledge I'm losing what feels like a one-woman crusade to implement the serial comma, that bastion of all sense and sensibility in sentence lists. 

There are, of course, those unstoppable blustering blunders when someone politely (while stifling laughter) tells me that Keighley, a north west Yorkshire town, is pronounced Keithley, or that it might be for the best if I said "monj too" instead of "mainj toot" for what I would just call snow peas. Ah, the vegetables:

• you say courgette, I say zucchini
• you say peppers, I say capsicum
• you say aubergine, I say eggplant.

Sigh. Will the confusing Australia-to-British English differences ever end?

Share your English versus English

What joy has the cultural divide brought to you when speaking the same language with foreigners? Tell us in the comments. 

Celebrating cultural diversity and solidarity through language

In all seriousness, though, International Mother Language Day is not about the battle of the English-speaking wits. Wikipedia's article highlights that the day has been observed for more than a decade to "promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism". 

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue. -- United Nations

The UNESCO interactive atlas of endangered languages is populated with 2471 submissions of languages deemed to be:

• vulnerable
• definitely endangered
• severely endangered
• critically endangered
• extinct

Of those 2471 languages, 108 of them come from my 'English-speaking' motherland, Australia, submitted by Dr Michael Walsh, senior lecturer at the University of Sydney.

Talking language and culture on Google+

On 20 February 2014, we held a public Rocksalt Google+ hangout inviting people to join us to talk about their thoughts on language and culture, and IMLD. 

See all of the videos as we publish them by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

On this annual celebration of mother language, I will both laugh at the irony of the intercontinental nuances of my first language, and acknowledge with respect the diminishing Australian native languages and the associated loss. I will ask friends about their native language to learn more about their culture. 

I've already learned that the first language of certain regions of the Philippines is Tagalog, but that children are taught English from an early age. Roadworks signs such as 'stop', 'go', and 'men at work' are written in English because the Tagalog equivalent is too long. On International Mother Language Day, I will celebrate my friends' mother language, too. 

Banner image (cropped): Children Reading Pratham Books and Akshara by Pratham Books is licenced under CC BY 2.0

Word Love // Valentine's Day edition

At Rocksalt, words are at the heart of everything we do. Whatever the technology, whatever the platform or media, we are passionate about getting the message across clearly and in a way that’s relevant for the audience.

And, thus, the concept of #wordlove was born. In 2014, we highlighted words that we enjoy, that stand out, that make you think, or that just sound nice.

Here, we feature a special Valentine’s Day edition of #wordlove, where we have asked people to share their favourites. First up, the Rocksalt team of writers share their favourite words.

Rocksalt's favourite words

Pootle

You can’t hurry a word like pootle. If you do, it sounds like poodle. Which is no bad thing, as I can imagine going for a pootle with a poodle. To pootle is to travel in a leisurely manner, and that’s why I like this word so much. It’s the antithesis of commuting to work on the Northern line. For me, a pootle is about the freedom to venture out without a deadline or destination in mind. And with time to pootle, who knows what you’ll discover?  Especially with a poodle. Just don’t meet a cat along the way. -- Paul

Nourish

Because it's such a nice idea; it's always good to be nourished. Plus it's a fun word to say — I can't think of any other word that sounds like it. Also, if you use it with regards to anything other than food it makes you seem really poetic. -- Rob

Nincompoop

It makes you work to say it. Smile as the hard palate forms an "I" sandwiched between two "N"s, then quickly throw the sound back to the soft palate to make "C". Hum out the "OM", spit out a "POO", and smack your lips to form the last "P". Aerobics for the mouth. I also like its quaint British English harmlessness and satisfying rhythm. -- Cat

Indulgence

The 'ulgence' bit seems to go on forever, like dipping a spoon into a very rich pudding: you get a feel for the very thing it describes.

Rambunctious

It's got that in-your-face onomatopoeia (another great word) that almost bowls you over. I love the juxtaposition of negativity intended by the person doing the describing against the carefree, I don't-care-what-you-think attitude of they who are rambunctious. --Kate

Halcyon

Call me a sentimental fool but I just love the imagery this word evokes - bright blue summer skies, optimism and those moments of uncontrollable laughter as a child when happiness was all-consuming. I still feel a spark of this tremendous optimism whenever I hear the word. --Alison

Our friends' favourite words

Loved word	Why, oh why, they they love it so	Word lover
Serendipity	It's fun to say and has a wonderful meaning!	Beck
Archipelago	I love the sound, and how it looks. Plus, it makes me think of lovely things, like water and islands, and not being in stinky, rainy London.	Fiona
Kerfuffle	I was going to say Serendipity too! I love it. And I love Kerfuffle. I also like Weird.	Avril
Smote	"The knight smote the dragon because of his perpetual need to shack up with a princess."	Mitch
Lovely	Do you know what? I really love "lovely". It is a word that describes itself. How awesome is that?	Fiona
Mellifluous	Just fun to say.	Kari
Petrichor	For how it sounds, what it describes and what it evokes.	Kate
Superfluous	I like superfluous - more than enough is along my lines of thinking. I like fortuitous, too.	Peta
Voluptuous	Throw the word voluptuous into a sentence and you'll get everyone's attention.	Rachael
Tricksy	As Gollum said, the hobbits are tricksy.	Verdi
Vulnerable	But not vulnerable — I think because just being vulnerable isn't good, but showing or acknowledging vulnerability can provide a position of power.	Lyndell
Doovewacka	I love this word. It means have you seen my ? .? (Could be anything).	Wendy
Discombobulate	I think it's the 'combob' bit: it's so nice to say! You have to say the bob as Black Adder would...	Hannah
Schlepped	Is a great word - I just love the way it sounds. When moving is more difficult than normal - break out the word schlep / schlepping / schlepped	Miri
Bollocks	It's simultaneously innocuous and expletive.	Jess

Music makes words better

When I asked my friends their favourite words, I was surprised to realise how much of an impact music can have on how you feel about a word. I know that music is moving even when you don't know the words (refer to viral video of a baby crying when its mum sings, and four-year-old cries to "Say Something") — it's a sentiment, the feeling, the vibe — but I'd overlooked just how magical it is when a songwriter crafts an otherwise mundane word into the most exotic and eloquent context.

My friend, Mike, said he particularly liked "dithering" especially when used in a song, which reminded of my own favourite lyrical word. Paul Simon gives 'sloped' a new sense in Crazy Love II:

"Fat Charlie, the archangel, sloped into the room. He said, well, I have no opinion about that. I have no opinion about this." 

I have an immediate impression of Fat Charlie, one that I find particularly endearing. 

Language makes words...different

I can confidently and heartily laugh along when I watch this video making fun of the German language, having spent time learning (and falling in love with) the language when I was 17. Of course, I don't hear German the way non-German speakers hear it. I hear it with a lilt and rhythm that befits any French, Italian, or Spanish speaker. If those are your yard sticks of romantic languages.

Words can make a difference

When a friend sent through a picture of the word courage tattooed on her foot, my first thought was admiring someone's commitment to a word. And then I realised that her commitment must be backed up by a pretty good reason to permanently etch it on her body. We had a chat, and I wasn't wrong: she loves that word.

After having a rough time throughout childhood, she saw a therapist in her 20s -- hoping to rid the physical symptoms manifesting as a result of psychological angst. Throughout the process, the word courage featured with regularity, nurturing a sense of strength and heart, of resilience, that she didn’t know as a child.

Courage became a word that she could use to shake her fear, and inspire her to try different things. It helped her to be courageous in big decisions, such as moving overseas, as well as little decisions. Her tattoo of the word courage is an easy visual cue to remind her how far she has come, and to move her swiftly through feelings of anger, sadness, and depression.

Words inspire action

I was overwhelmed by not just the response to my asking friends’ for their favourites, but also the swiftness with which they responded.

I posed the question on my Facebook page, and it was by far the most responded to post (image, link, or status update) in the last six months, with a response rate nine times the average, second only to news of my engagement with 15 times the average.

It tells me that people have a strong connection to language, and how powerful that is.

Share your Word Love

Do words jump out and grab you, or do you have an old faithful that you love to pull out a parties; you know, like 'epanorthosis'?

Share your favourites with us in the comments or in social media (#wordlove) and we'll aim to share it on Word Love Wednesday.

The frills of flying

I had a feeling that change was in the air at the king of the budget airlines when I spotted a competition. The prize was a flight for two on a flight simulator courtesy of Stansted Airport and Ryanair. As is the no-frills way, I imagined myself running into the simulator to claim my prize, only to find someone already at the controls. Don’t you just love priority boarding?

In reality, the dash for a seat on Ryanair is already history, as the airline embarks on a radical revamp of its customer service experience. With an enhanced range of services — from allocated seating and putting a sock in the ‘on time’ bugle for early morning flights, to a simplified online booking process — Ryanair is on the charm offensive.

After revolutionising the airline industry with the budget approach to flying and soaring to become one of the world’s biggest carriers, tough competition and market conditions led the airline to take a long hard look at its image and approach to customer service.

Never one to mince his words, the airline’s outspoken chief executive Michael O’Leary vowed to stop the things that “unnecessarily piss people off”. Like the ‘pay-per-pee’ saga, when the Ryanair boss famously toyed with the introduction of coin slots and credit card swipes on toilet doors. Perhaps it would have been worth it, if only to hear the crew announce: “Doors to manual and cross legs”.

While the idea eventually disappeared down the pan, it showed the airline was not afraid to trim the frills to maximise the economies of flying. Now the emphasis is on putting a few frills back to woo passengers — particularly families and business travellers who have grown weary with the pared-down budget model.

Of course the flight is only part of the experience and Ryanair has also made some significant changes online. Customer emails carry a crisp new look - they’re clean, clear and have a touch of class to them. They give you a twinge of excitement about forthcoming travels, beyond the fundamentals of the itinerary.

Ryanair itinerary emails: then and now

The new look extends to the Ryanair website, where the focus has been on simplifying the booking process. Ryanair says it has cut the booking path from 17 to five clicks. I certainly noticed the difference when I made a recent booking.

My biggest gripe in the past has been negotiating the range of extras, such as travel insurance and luggage, and paying only for the ones I really want. It all felt a bit like a game where Ryanair was trying to catch me out with add-ons, rather than delivering on my needs as a customer.

While I appreciate that add-ons are the lifeblood of budget airlines, it all comes down to balance. On the new site, I reckon they’ve got this about right. Sure, the extras are still being pushed, but I feel more encouraged and enticed to buy them now, rather than muddled into making a purchase.

And while you still have to actively decline the likes of travel insurance by scrolling down a long drop down list, a clear message pops up explaining what to do if you’re already covered.  There’s even the option of a live e-mail chat with a customer services rep to help with any queries during the booking process.

Out goes the choice of priority boarding or dashing for a seat, replaced with a more equitable approach. You can either check in and choose a seat for free from 15 days before departure or pay between £5 and £10 to secure the one you want at the time of booking.

So I’ve bought my ticket, checked in and am all set to fly.  I’ll be one of an estimated 81 million plus people who’ll be boarding a flight with Ryanair this year. If you stop to think about the sheer number of passengers and the airline’s astonishing growth, it is nothing short of a revolution.

Yet despite a recent six per cent rise in passenger numbers (buoyed by a record December with 5 million fliers), this week saw Ryanair announce a 35m euro loss for the last quarter of 2013. It goes to show that change is always on the horizon in the airline industry. But now it feels more like evolution rather than revolution is in the air. Time to see if easing on the T&Cs with a bit of TLC will do the trick. 

I'll let you know how my flight goes.

Banner image: P1080866 by Curran Kelleher is licenced under CC BY 2.0

Slow down, oblivion ahead

For most of us, motorway journeys are a humdrum and predictable segue in our lives. Those lost hours where we eat too many mints, fill the car up with styrofoam, and discover that Alan Partridge is alive and kicking on regional radio.

Feeling bored and frustrated, our horizons barely widen beyond the next contraflow. That’s until the unthinkable happens, and the banality of motorway travel is shattered when someone travels in the wrong direction.

Like most weary motorway travellers, it was the last thing on my mind as I drove down the M11 after Christmas. I’d just waved goodbye to family at Stansted airport and, with the holiday lull, all was quiet on the motorway.

A flashing ‘20MPH’ traffic sign was the first warning of problems ahead. Then the overhead gantry signs lit up with the words ‘ONCOMING VEHICLE’. Unsure of the situation, I hit the brakes and moved over to the slow lane.

The message was lost on most of my fellow travellers. The ‘ONCOMING VEHICLE’  warnings kept flashing; the cars kept zooming.  

After a nervy 10 minutes, I watched the warning signs blinking into oblivion as I branched off the motorway to continue my journey home. I’d witnessed no screeching of brakes or hurtling of metal but felt rattled.

The experience got me thinking about the times when you only have a split second to communicate a crucial and potentially life saving message. In this case, while you may never stop the car careering in the wrong direction, if you can get the majority going the right way to act the right way, then maybe you’re in with a chance of averting a collision.

Use your words wisely

Are we wired by human nature to need to see before we believe? Or can we use language more effectively to evoke the necessary reaction?

All I know for sure is that ‘ONCOMING VEHICLE’ didn’t slow drivers down. Reports of other experiences of the ‘ONCOMING VEHICLE’ message posted on the web, including  Honest John forum, HotUK Deals forum and a BBC news article, point to a similar trend.

Is it a case of the term ‘oncoming’ being too obscure or lightweight in this context, resulting in extra time for the brain to process the message and see red?

In a fast moving motorway situation, could simpler or more emotive words be effective in quickly turning thoughts into actions to prevent an accident?  

What words would you use in that split second to slow motorists to a safe speed? We thought of the following, which you'll note we've formatted using Title Case, rather than ALL CAPS, not because they're not shoutworthy, but because there is a common theory that it takes the brain longer to process capitalised words:

• Crash Hazard - Car Approaching

• Look Out - Collision Danger

• Hazard Ahead - Be Alert

• Extreme Hazard - Car Approaching

• Car Approaching - Dead Slow

Or as a last resort, if all else fails and the traffic keeps on speeding, how about: ‘Grit Teeth and Prepare For Impact’.

Slow Down by Thomas Hawk is licenced under CC BY 2.0

How to put some pizzazz in your post

I just heard word that it's Universal Letter Writing Week (8 - 14 Jan) as promoted by the International Society of Friendship and Goodwill. I've been looking for a letter writing excuse all year. That's right, for the nine days since making my new year's resolution to learn calligraphy and four days since buying a comprehensively nibbed calligraphy pen set, I have been yearning to get down and inky with my comms. 

On that note, I heartily invite you to answer one question and go in the running to receive one of five letters -- all of which I will hand write personally.

Just let us know how you feel when you receive an old-school letter in the post. I don't mean run-of-the-mill birthday, celebration, or festive season cards. I'm talking about the unexpected, uniquely crafted, quietly unassuming but startling refreshing handwritten letter.

Beautify your mailbox

Submit your answer below before 14 January 2013 for your chance to receive one of five handwritten letters. We'll announce the winners on our Facebook page on Monday 14 January.

If you'd like to join our mailing list for a more modern form of communication, you have the option to add your email address as well. 

Letters by Lachlan Hardy is licenced under CC BY 2.0

All in all, it’s just another bloody brick in the wall

Blood.co.uk

As someone who is O- blood type, the ‘give-to-all’ kind, I’m a passionate advocate for donating blood (and passionate advocate against campaigns that deter people from donating blood). That doesn’t mean that I do it regularly, though. 

Numerous factors conspire to preclude me from the process: thin veins, a tendency to faint if I haven’t eaten enough, and, on occasion, a trip through Asia. Mostly though, it just hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind since moving to the UK three years ago. So when a great campaign comes along, such as the current NHS Blood and Transplant Christmas campaign, I take notice and prepare arms to give the “must-have gift” this year.

However, as inspiring as the video and images of white-robed santas was, when I started the process of making an appointment online, I found the lack of obvious reference to either campaign on the Blood.co.uk website a marketing miss (it’s hidden in the second tab in a non-rotating slider), and the usability of the appointment system frustrating.

I could see how someone had worked hard to integrate a back-end database to create a useful experience for booking an online appointment but, ultimately, relevant or substantial user testing had been overlooked.

Every day for the week in which I was looking to donate noted three things: 0 appointments, a walk-in service, and, most confoundingly that ‘appointments can be made’. All of this created more questions than answers; mainly, is there any point in walking in if there are no appointments? How can appointments be made if there are no appointments available? What’s the usual waiting time for walk in service? What kind of snacks can I look forward to? Okay, that last one is not a deal-breaker, but thinking about post-donation treats could be enough to push me into the unknown at my local donation centre, prepared with up to four spare hours and a good book...

Hadrian's Wall Trust

As you wade sluggishly through the recesses of your thoughtfulness to find the perfect gift for a loved one this Christmas -- having exhausted the possibility of a personalised domain name (well, at least until new gTLDs are released next year -- more on that one later) and waved off the mysteriousness and intangibility of naming a star -- you might be ready to hear about Hadrian’s Wall Trust’s campaign to fundraise to accommodate a financial shortfall in maintaining the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Adopt A Stone campaign website features a fun, easy-to-use interface that allows you to interact with the wall virtually to choose your perfect stone (or to locate a stone belonging to someone you know). You can easily adjust your geographical position on the wall if a particular town through which the wall traverses, from Browness-on-Solway to Wallsend, has more meaning than another to you. I particularly love that as you drag the toggle along the wall, you’re provided with a little bit of history about that location.

Even the payment provides a bit of fun with the option for one-off payments of £3, £10 or £15 or, more spectacularly, the chance to receive a bronze, silver or gold stone replete with a virtual Legionary, Centurion, or Tribune soldier.

The Adopt a Stone concept is certainly not the first first of its kind (see Peterborough Castle and Exeter Cathedral, for example), but it is the most innovative campaign using the concept that I have found. And I know what my loved ones will be getting from me this year. 

Word Love // Preponderant

Adj: Having greater influence, power, or importance; predominant.
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary

The thrill of learning a new word regularly punctuated my childhood and teen years. My mum, then a teacher, now a teacher-librarian, fed me a steady diet of books and I devoured them, buzzing with enthusiasm and excitement at every new addition to my vocabulary. In those days, the buzz was frequent. And on slow days, I was known to make up my own.

Now, I receive a new word daily, delivered to my inbox via A Word A Day. But it takes a fairly magical concoction for this somewhat staid approach to vocabulary building -- devoid of the creativity, context, nuance, and adventure of a robust novel --  to make me stop and take notice. Not since “epanorthosis” in 2009 have I felt compelled to bring a word into my daily chat.

So I was surprised when I recently read a business book, of all things, to have “preponderant” thrust into the spotlight. Late one night, as I delved into Fowler’s 40 Lessons Learnt in 40 Years of Business, I sat bolt upright and said aloud, “what a brilliant word” to an empty room.

Taking a look at Google’s Ngram viewer, I can see why it’s taken so long for me to find “preponderant”. After a heavy use between 1836 - 1860, the word then laid low but slowly climbed its way back to reach a crescendo of use in 1945. Since then, preponderant’s use has been in decline -- ironic, really, given its meaning. That’s something I aim to change.

We have lift off: the Rocksalt website takes to cyberspace

“Just a quick note to say ‘thank you very much!’ for Tuesday – it was a really great evening. Let’s meet-up soon and discuss possibilities.”

Our journey to launching this website has been an adventure that began in August 2012, when our website hosted on the Wordpress platform was hacked. As a result, we lost visibility of our online presence (unless you knew our URL), and we reverted to a static site as an interim measure.

If you’ve ever tried, you’ll know that there’s nothing fun about managing content for consistency on every individual page of your website -- we even had to make do with temporarily putting a static Twitter ‘feed’ in place purely from an aesthetic viewpoint (yes, we had to hard code it on every page, and when I later found a spelling mistake in one of the tweets, I had to update 20+ pages).

I’d be understating it if I said that finding a new sturdy content management platform (Squarespace) and someone to work with to help with the design and layout (Steve Williams) was a relief. It was with a lease of new life that we toiled for months on the content, design, and producing the company video as we prepared to launch.

Core elements of a successful website launch

I got a lot of satisfaction from the diverse amount of skills that I used to help launch the website. I wrote copy, I briefed designers, I coded CSS, I liaised with our video producer, I project managed, and I asked the right questions about cPanel and ANAME Records.

One of the key aspects of successfully launching the new Rocksalt website, like any good goal, was to articulate a time frame and commit to the deadline. Once we’d set a date, and arranged the party, the website was going to have to go live.

And go live it went. Cutting it fine changing the DNS settings less than 24 hours before the party (you should really give it 72 hours), the website was ready for viewing at our launch party.

Hosted at ClubWorkspace Kennington, we celebrated with clients, co-workspace members, and friends. As the wine flowed, and the canapés diminished, we enjoyed a relaxed and informal presentation of our hard work.

Onwards!

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Rocksalt | Making a corporate video

Creating content that rocks

As part of a greater content strategy, video — as a means of providing content — is an essential tool for engaging an audience, and so we started our production journey with our own company video.

Why is video is an important part of content strategy?

Video provides a way to engage more directly with people, to tell a story, and to make information more accessible.

• Individuality and personality: video is a great way to bring content to life
• Engaging and creative: we live in a visual world and video provides a way to tell the story.
• Accessible: video makes the people behind the business more approachable, which encourages more open conversation
• Multi-sensory: video allows people to have different ways to engage online
• Enriching: video gives the online experience a different rhythm; it shakes up the content
• Shareable: video lends itself to being easily shared via online channels
• Complementary: video works alongside written content and images to create a rich story.

You’ve gotta have a plan

Work with a video producer to incorporate everything you need. At Rocksalt, we follow established production techniques to create, deliver and distribute high quality video.

• Determining the theme and overarching content, and how the video will fit with the business strategy
• Creating interview scripts and coordinating film production
• Developing 'on brand' visual design and art direction 
• Creating animated storyboards for more complex productions
• Undertaking location and studio filming, editing, web and TV distribution
• Distributing video effectively via social media channels.

Find out more about our video production service.

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In support of video

Axonn Media’s 2013 report on Video in Content Marketing supports our theory of integrating video in a content strategy, highlighting statistics from a survey of 600 people that indicate the benefits of video in a digital marketing strategy.

“Seven out of ten people said their perception of a brand was positively altered after seeing interesting video content.”

“A massive 75 per cent of people now share video content, and usually do so using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.”

“Almost one in five people are watching daily videos that are to do with their work.”