Lecturers at Liverpool John Moores University yesterday protested against plans to close the institution’s language and business information schools. University management recently told staff that German and Chinese would no longer be offered and the BSc in e-business would also be axed. At least 41 academic and administrative jobs will be lost.
Read more in the EducationGuardian article. 
The Daily Telegraph reports that the formal “vous” is dying, according to reports from Paris.
Like most European languages, French maintains the distinction between the formal and the informal in the second person. Those one does not know, or whom one has as a mother-in-law (or, rather confusingly, for whom one harbours a passionate desire) are addressed as “vous”.
One’s youngers, intimates, domestic pets and God are “tu”, though we are reliably informed that Mme Chirac vousvoyered her husband even before he reached the Elysée.
Now, we hear from Paris that the formal “vous” is dying, and one can find oneself addressed as “tu” even by those to whom one has not been properly introduced.
The loss of this distinction is painful; there is nothing more annoying than assumed intimacy, which suggests lack of respect. France should be advised to rescue this usage – and Anglophones should regret that their own tongue no longer allows for such a nicety
I think this is great – a student is asked to set up a blog for the Spanish class at King’s School, England, after their teacher saw a Scotsman talking about them at a languages conference. What does the student, Fiona, use? MSNSpaces, of course. Go and take a look at a growing and already quite rich resources at King’s School Spanish on MSNSpaces.
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