Have you ever wondered how to pronounce a word or a phrase in a language that you don't speak?  It happened to me recently when I went on Facebook to wish a friend a happy birthday. I saw that he had responded to earlier messages with "go raibth maith agat". I guessed that it meant thank you in Irish, but I knew I could never figure out how to pronounce it on my own. Trying to pronounce Irish, for those who have no familiarity with it, is like trying to guess how a word in Basque sounds.

Forvo is a pronunciation guide with words in 236 languages spoken by native speakers.  The coolest feature of all is that if the word you are looking for is not on the site, you can request that someone add the pronunciation.  You can also help other language learners by recording pronunciations in your native language.

Listen to "go raibth maith agat" here.

Image by runran under Creative Commons license.

How would you represent your country's flag using food?  The challenge is to depict the colors and design of the flag using ingredients that also represent the country.

Participants in last year's Sydney Food Festival were asked to do just that. Italy designed their food flag with basil, pasta, and tomatoes.  Other entries are not so obvious. Test your knowledge of world flags and cuisine and identify the 12 countries represented by these food flags.

How did you do?

Does your version of the truth depend on the circumstances, or where you are doing business? These are some of the questions raised in a blog on the Harvard Business Review website. 

If you are doing business in a culture where lying is expected, do you stretch the truth? If bribes are SOP, do you fight or follow along?

Doing business internationally brings its own set of challenges.  Knowing what is the truth is one of them.

Local nonprofit Conexión Américas and the Mayor's New Americans Advisory Council will welcome parents as they drop off their children at school this Thursday morning with live music, free coffee and a simple message in several languages: "Be counted! Mail your Census form today!"

Mayor Karl Dean will attend the event, and Metro Nashville Public Schools will be represented by Meredith Libbey, assistant to the director of schools. The event will  be broadcast live by two Spanish language radio stations, La Sabrosita and Activa.

Volunteers who speak Spanish, Arabic, Kurdish, and English will be available to help parents fill out the Census form. Cole Elementary School, located at 5060 Colemont Dr. in Antioch, is a diverse community of almost 800 children, who represent primarily low-income families historically missed by Census counts.

For more information, contact Renata Soto, Executive Director of Conexión Américas: renata@conamericas.com