GTC French Blog

Doing Maths in Indonesian!

2010-01-26T05:30:00.000-08:00

The process of forming numbers in Indonesian is not difficult to understand. With only one word translated into English, your task is to work out some simple arithmetic statements to build a vocabulary of the numbers. Where blanks are provided, fill them in with the correct answers, based on what you learn as you go along. Beware - one of the statements contains an intentional error. Find the error and make the necessary correction. Stumped? Check out the solution at www.naclo.cs.cmu.edu.

Definition: satu = 'one'
A. Satu ditambah satu menjadi dua.
B. Dua ditambah dua menjadi empat.
C. Satu ditambah dua menjadi tiga.
D. Dua dikalikan dua menjadi empat.
E. Enam dikurangi tiga menjadi tiga.
F. Sepuluh dikurangi enam menjadi empat.
G. Dua dikalikan tiga menjadi lima.
H. Sepuluh dibagi dua menjadi lima.
I. Tiga dikalikan enam menjadi delapan belas.
J. Delapan belas dikurangi satu menjadi tujuh belas.
K. Tiga ditambah empat menjadi ___________.
L. Tiga dikalikan tiga menjadi sembilan.
M. Sepuluh ditambah sembilan menjadi ___________.
N. Dua puluh dibagi dua menjadi ___________.
O. Tiga puluh dibagi lima menjadi enam.
P. Enam belas dibagi dua puluh empat menjadi dua per tiga.
Q. Tujuh puluh dibagi dua menjadi _________.
Now write out these numbers (and one fraction) in Indonesian:
7
12
19
23
39
3/4
Which statement (A-Q) contains an error? ______.
Rewrite the statement correctly (2 possible answers):

by Raymond Weisling (Copyright  1999-2007. Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon)

UK Linguistics Olympiad 2010

2010-01-26T05:09:00.001-08:00

Have a go at doing some Maths in Indonesian! (see next post)

Colour Poems by Y8 (beginner)

2009-12-18T05:44:00.000-08:00

Mais qu'est-ce que c'est ? (What on earth is that???)

2009-12-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

If you can identify this picture, e-mail Mrs. Arnett to

by Friday 8th of January 2010.

The first correct entry wins a £5 WHSmith voucher.
Bonne Chance!

Learn a language and experience the world!

2009-12-17T10:24:00.002-08:00

Speaking another language is increasingly cool these days. Barack Obama speaks Indonesian, Johnny Depp has learnt French, tennis star Roger Federer speaks fluent German, English and French, and brainbox actress Natalie Portman can chat comfortably in no less than six languages. No matter whether it’s sport, fashion, travel or acting that gets you buzzing, speaking another language is a huge advantage.

Football - Josué Duval & Adrian Camacho

2009-12-17T10:24:00.001-08:00

Josué Duval and Adrian Camacho are currently studying at the Madrid Football Academy and in the next few years may well take the world of football by storm. For these two, football is their lives and their biggest hobby, but they'd like to travel too and one day would love to play for a UK team - so watch this space! They admire Zidane and believe that languages are very important; especially if you're hoping for a future sporting career.

Indie band - Fotos

2009-12-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

Who are Fotos? They're only the most vital band in Germany right now, the leading lights of the new wave of German indie. The band consists of singer/guitarist Tom Heßler, bassist Frieder Weiss, Deniz Erarslan on lead guitar and drummer Benedikt Schnermann. The foursome hail from all across the country (Hamburg, Cologne and Wuppertal); bringing the best of those locals scenes together to create something unique.

Fotos released their self-titled debut in 2006, which spliced Britpop together with post punk and emo to create something The Libertines would have been proud of. The gig-tastic band became known for their frenetic live shows. Touring their debut album, Fotos played more than 100 shows across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, France and the UK. This packed schedule culminated in wild scenes during the band's homecoming slot at 2007's Hurricane Festival in Scheeßel near Bremen. For such a well toured band with such diverse influences (not to mention the fact they sing in their native tongue) language is very important to Fotos.

The band believe communicating in other languages is the best way to get to know different cultures. Their second album - the Neil Young indebted 'Nach dem Goldrausch' (translation 'After The Goldrush') found the quartet ditching their more angular edges in favour of a poppier sound. The laid back funk of the title track recalls Maroon 5, while 'Ich hang an Dir und Duh angst an Mir' has a Timbaland-esque r'n'b edge to it. First released in their homeland, the album has drawn critical acclaim from all quarters.

Hip Hop band - Disiz la Peste

2009-12-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

It's hard to pin Disiz la Peste down; he has roots in Senegal and Belgium but grew up in the rough suburbs of Paris. He burst onto the French music scene with his streetwise hip hop eight years ago.

Taking his cue from the great writers, he raps intelligently about the social problems such as rioting and racial conflicts faced by the French youth. He makes his music about breaking down barriers between countries, races, rich and poor. He combines techno and rap and is known as one of the pioneers of 'Electro rap'. He thinks languages are really important too, because they help people connect with others from all over the world.

Pop singing - Nubla

2009-12-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Nubla comes from a musical family in Spain and has been singing all her life, releasing her first album five years ago with her second coming out this summer. She loves all kinds of music but prefers to develop her own unique style; a mix of trip hop and lounge pop.

Nubla has toured all over the world and considers language and a love of culture an important asset for aspiring musicians – as without an understanding of the places you visit, you won't gain as much from the experience. She believes being a musician is a great way to see the world and spread her own culture as well as learn about others, and her favourite cities so far are Stockholm and Berlin.

Street dancing - Clara

2009-12-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

Clara comes from Paris but now lives in South London. She's been dancing since she could walk and claims not to be influenced by other dancers, believing that everyone should cultivate their own unique style. Instead, she takes her inspiration from people she meets in everyday life and things that happen to her. Clara loves Londoners because of their open-minded attitude to life and she thinks languages are incredibly important: "in this life, you never know where you're going to land or who you're going to meet," she says.

Blog Feedback

2009-12-17T04:07:00.000-08:00

Please send us your opinions of our blog so far.
Is there anything that you would like to see on here or anything that we could improve?

Celebrating other nations and cultures: Grange International Day videos

2009-06-19T07:12:00.000-07:00

Some Years 7 to 11 at Grange had an International Day during the Immersion Day in April 30th to celebrate Multiculturalism.

They learnt to work with others when planning and carrying out the challenge to get things done and achieving shared objectives, which was to present and demonstrate the dance, music and costume of a given country. This involved working with a group of people who had never met before.

These video shows the activities in which they took part. Have a go at guessing which country they research.