domenica 10 settembre 2017

The United Nations website

For general information go to:http://www.un.org/
Then choose a language (English, French or Spanish for the concorso!) So if you choose English you are inhttp://www.un.org/en/
Look at the 'latest news' section on the right. Is there anything that you want to read? If not, click on one of the other sections and explore the site. Is there anything you are interested in? Still nothing? OK, go to the UN News Centre:
or the UN Daily News
Now you can look at the latest issue of the UN Daily News or any issue from the last 13 years! So there must be something that you are interested in.

Print or save any article that you like and analyze the language, making notes, checking vocabulary and deciding which expressions are high frequency items (i.e. words or expressions which are repeated in various articles) that you want or need to learn.
More Translation
You may also want to look at an old 2005 document, l‘ONU in Breve on:
you can use this for translation. Here is the English version to check (The UN in Brief). If you don’t like translation, simply read the English version and take notes on useful language:
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sabato 9 settembre 2017

The European Union website

For general information go to:
http://europa.eu/
Then click on the language box, e.g. 'italiano' to go to the opening page. Then choose a topic to read about and click on it. You can click on the language box at the top on the right to change the language (if the text has been translated). So now you can try to translate a paragraph from Italian to English and check it. Make notes on any vocabulary, spelling or grammar mistakes that you make. The more you do, the better.
e.g. Frontex


of course you can also look at the text French, German or Spanish

For specific EU documents go to:
http://europa.eu/publications/
Then choose the language, e.g. 'italiano'. Now choose a subject - e.g. 'immigrazione' and type it into 'ricerca nel sito' and click on the arrow. Then choose a document from the list,noting down its title and reference number before clicking on it (the title may sometimes be in English though the document will open in Italian.) For many documents (those published on paper) the translation box will still appear in the top right corner, so you can translate the document and check your translation immediately. For other documents there will be no translation box and you will have to return to the opening page of
and choose 'English', type in the key word, e.g. 'immigration', or the exact title, and find the same document in English. So it may be easier to download, copy or print each version before you start translating rather than try to jump backwards and forwards from one to the other.

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS......

If you want to do lots of translation (!), go to the 2016 EU General Report in Italian and English on:

and then click on the language and pdf symbols:


Start from the Italian version, translate and then go to the English version to check. Or if you prefer, simply read the English version and take notes on useful language.

If you want the 2015 EU General Report in Italian go to:

in English:

and the huge 2014 EU General Report in Italian and English:






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Sources and Resources

Here are some useful websites, sources and resources for either language or content (or both)

Ministero degli Affari Esteri in inglese e italiano
(particularly to understand Italy’s position on specific issues)
http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/home.html

La Rappresentanza Permanente d’Italia presso le Nazioni Unite a New York

http://www.italyun.esteri.it/rappresentanza_onu/it/
The United Nations
http://www.un.org/en/ main portal in English
l‘ONU in Breve (to translate)
The UN in Brief (in English)
Italy on the UN Security Council 2017:

The European Union
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm main portal in English

Publications or Websites in English on IR
Foreign Affairs
International Affairs
The Guardian Weekly
The Economist
The Wall Street Journal
Foreign Policy
Global Policy
Global Policy Journal
The Global Policy Institute
World Affairs
Global Issues
International Crisis Group
Journals associated with the IR Department at the London School of Economics
Chatham House
Greenpeace
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
A Basic course book on IR in English (good for both language and content)
latest edition (11th edition)
10th edition
IR magazine in English (del Ministero degli Affari Esteri)
Longitude, The Italian Monthly on World Affairs, only in print format but to have an idea go to:
http://longitude.it/
http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/approfondimenti/2011/03/20110301_longitude.html
http://www.esteri.it/mae/en/sala_stampa/archivionotizie/approfondimenti/2012/05/20120531_longeurcomb.html

also in Italian: Internazionale
Excellent text on Human Rights and International Law
Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice, Geoffrey Robertson, Penguin Books
Latest 2013 edition updated:
2013 edition
2012 edition:
Dictionaries
Monolingual Dictionary
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD)
www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com
This is the best monolingual learner’s dictionary of English. A learner’s dictionary gives special help with the things language learners need—irregular forms, dependent prepositions, formal/informal language, particular grammar, etc.
Bilingual Dictionaries
Use a monolingual dictionary to understand how to use new vocabulary (for example when you want to write). Use a bilingual dictionary when you need to quickly check the meaning of a specific term.
IL RAGAZZINI 2016, Dizionario Inglese-Italiano, Italian-English, Zanichelli (print version)
Dizionario di diplomazia e relazioni internazionali-
Dictionary of diplomacy and international relations.
inglese-italiano, english-italian dictionary
Buri M. Rosaria, Editore Argo, collana Quaderni Isufi, currently out of print, but maybe on Amazon or from IR students selling their books or in a library. Here are 2 possibilities:
https://www.ibs.it/dizionario-di-diplomazia-relazioni-internazionali-libro-m-rosaria-buri/e/9788882343514#
http://www.ibs.it/code/9788882343514/buri-m--rosaria/dizionario-diplomazia-relazioni.html
British National Corpus
http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/
A corpus is the raw material of dictionaries. Look up any word or expression to see examples of how it combines with other words in native-speaker English.

Grammar Exercise Books
Essential Grammar in Use – Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press
English Grammar in Use – Raymond Murphy, Cambridge University Press
Advanced Grammar in Use – Martin Hewings, Cambridge University Press
Grammar Reference Book
Practical English Usage – Michael Swan, Oxford University Press
Sites where you can study English
Here is a site where you can check and practice grammar structures:http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar
(from here you can also access reading and other resources)
There is also: http://vivquarry.com/wkshts/
e.g. http://vivquarry.com/wkshts/linkwd2.html
and http://esl.about.com/od/writingadvanced/a/wc_addition.htm
but the best sites are:
Exam English ✓Free Practice Tests for learners of English
http://examenglish.com/cambridge_esol.php
for lots of free practice material at different levels (about this more later) and BBC Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish new address
and http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/general/ old address (but still active)
you should explore the site. For example:
is for listening practice and dictation http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/
is for grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation
Other sites where you can practice English
iTunes U (via iTunes , which you must install)http://www.apple.com/it/education/itunes-u/
for video and audio podcasts of university lectures and courses and to see how your subject is taught in English.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design)
http://www.ted.com/
Fantastic presentations from some of the most innovative people in the world. Watching presentations is a really good way to practice comprehension.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab
TV Channels
The aim here is to listen and improve your comprehension, stay up to date (so you should also follow the telegiornale in Italian) and absorb some of the language.
BBC
France 24 in English
Aljazeera in English
You can also get a wide range of live TV channels on:
and shows on:
A little light translation!
Don’t forget, if you need to expand your knowledge of basic vocabulary, go to the EU site where you will find the new 2016 EU General Report (download the pdf format in both Italian and English).
This will give you more than 104 pages of Italian to translate into English! To check your translation just look at the Italian and English version (just click on the language and pdf symbols) and take notes on regular differences.
Or just use the links here to start:

If you prefer, go straight to the English version of the 2016 EU General Report or other texts on the EU site or UN site and simply start taking notes on common expressions used in diplomatic English. See my next post about the UN website for a little more information about how to get the document.


Sources for the 2016 preselezione texts


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giovedì 27 luglio 2017

China and the Death Penalty

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/04/Death-penalty-2016-Facts-and-figures/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/act50/5740/2017/en/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/04/chinas-deadly-secrets/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/04/china-must-come-clean-about-capital-punishment/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/11/amnesty-criticises-rogue-state-china-as-global-death-penalty-toll-falls
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/06/asia/china-death-penalty/index.html
https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=China



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