There have been many different studies done around the subject of Extramural English, where researchers Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) have drawn the conclusion that there is a correlation between video games and learners of English improving upon their English vocabulary. This study focuses time spent on whether or not playing video games for an extended amount of time will help with a student’s English vocabulary. This was done by having the students answer a demographic questionnaire in which they answer whether or not they regularly play video games, and answers approximately how many hours a week they do play. The study is looking for a correlation between improved vocabulary scores and longer periods of time spent playing video games every week. The study also looks into specific vocabulary that is commonly found in video games and compares different groups which have spent different amounts of time each week playing video games. Do video games help a learner’s English vocabulary and if so, does an increased amount of time spent on playing video games correlate to a higher score on the vocabulary tests, and do students who plays video games have an easier time with some of the specific vocabulary? The study found that there is indeed a correlation and that if a student spends time playing video games their English vocabulary proficiency will most likely increase as well. A student who spends more than ten hours a week on playing video games had higher average scores than those who played less than ten hours a week. Incidentally the students who did not play video games at all had the lowest average scores in the vocabulary tests. Lastly students who spent time playing video games had an easier time answering the questions relating to words that are commonly used in video games. / Många olika studier har utförts kring lärandet av engelska utanför klassrummet. Forskare har bland annat undersökt möjliga samband mellan Extramural engelska och ett förbättrat engelskt ordförråd. Sundqvist och Sylvén (2012) visar t.ex. ett samband mellan ord inlärning och dataspel. Om det finns ett direkt samband mellan tid tillbringad framför dataspel och utökat ordförråd är vad som utgör fokusen för denna undersökning. I denna korrelationsstudie utdelades ett demografiskt frågeformulär till 60 elever i årskurs nio. Eleverna frågades om hur regelbundet de spelade dataspel och hur många timmar de spelade varje vecka. Eleverna svarade även på ett vokabulärprov där de fick lösa problem angående engelsk vokabulär. De elever som spenderade tio timmar eller mer per vecka med dataspel hade högsta medelvärde på vokabulärproven. De elever som spelade mindre än tio timmar per vecka hade lägre. Samtidigt hade de elever som inte spenderade någon tid alls på dataspel den lägsta medelvärdes poäng utav grupperna. Studien visar en koppling mellan tid spenderat framför dataspel och ett utökat engelskt ordförråd. Ytterligare undersöks möjliga samband mellan tid spenderat på dataspel och inlärning av engelska ord som ofta används i dataspel. I vokabulär provet som eleverna fick fanns det sex ord som eleverna behövde lösa. Dessa ord är vanliga att hitta inom dataspel. Resultatet visar att de elever som spelade dataspel presterade bättre med de dataspels specifika vokabulärproblemen. De elever som inte spelade alls presterade sämst av grupperna, medan elever som spelade lite dataspel varje vecka presterade sämre än de som spelade mycket dataspel varje vecka.

<p>This pre-study explores how the process of translating from English to Chinese may distort intended brand name messages, using Oriflame as a case study. The findings show that the brand name had a tendency to be perceived as phonetic rather than phonosemantic and that the character combination was perceived to make no clear sense. The study identified these as two main reasons to why Oriflame’s intended brand name messages did not get through.</p> / <p>Denna förstudie utforskar hur varumärkesnamnens avsedda budskap kan bli förvrängda genom översättningsprocessen från engelska till kinesiska genom att använda Oriflame som en fallstudie. Resultaten visar på tendenser för varumärkesnamnet att uppfattas som fonetiskt snarare än fonosemantiskt och att kombinationen av tecknen inte anses vara begriplig. Studien identifierade dessa två resultat som den främsta anledningen till att Oriflames avsedda budskap inte nådde fram.</p>

I denna rapport beskriver jag hur jag tagit mig an ett rumslig informationsproblem som grundar sig i personer med demenssjukdoms mentala förmåga att orientera sig. Min bakgrund som undersköterska i kombination med min kunskap i hur rum påverkar människans beteende gör att jag reagerat på de miljöer där dessa personer vistas. Studien är genomförd på Marielunds äldreboende och seniorboende i Eskilstuna kommun och syftar till att främja de boendes självständighet.Resultatet visar arkitekturens komplexitet och observationen av boendet avslöjar en mängd rumsliga hinder som påverkar orienterbarheten negativt för personer med demenssjukdom. Utifrån teorier om hur vi människor orienterar oss och hur demenssjukdom påverkar den kognitiva förmågan har ett gestaltningsförslag på ett vägledningssystem tagits fram. Forskningen visar på behovet av anpassning av boendemiljöer för personer med demenssjukdom och att en medveten färgsättning kan hjälpa dessa personer till ett mer självständigt liv. Vägledningssystemet är designat för att leda betraktaren med hjälp av referenspunkter i form av färgkodade väggmoduler och ledtrådar i form av linjer i golvet. Slutsatserna av studien visar att en tydligare översikt av miljön och visuella hjälpmedel kan göra så att de boende klarar sig bättre själv vilket i sin tur gör att de kan bo kvar hemma längre. / This report describes how I have engaged a spatial information problem based in the cognitive ability of people with dementia and their ability to orient themselves. My academic knowledge of how space affects people’s behavior in combination with my experience as a secondary nurse have made me react to the environments in which these people reside. The study was conducted at Marielunds nursing home and senior housing in the city of Eskilstuna and aims to encourage residents independence. The result shows the architecture’s complexity and the observation of the housing reveals a variety of spatial barriers that affect the ease of orientation negatively for people with dementia. Based on theories of how we orient ourselves and how dementia affects the cognitive ability I have developed a design proposal for a guidance system. The research demonstrates the need for adaptation of living environments for people with dementia and that a deliberate color scheme can help these people to a more independent life. The guidance system is designed to lead the viewer with reference points in the form of color-coded wall modules and visual clues in the form oflines in the floor. The findings of this study show that a more clear overview of the environmental and visual aids can help the residents to a more independent life witch will allow them to stay in their own home longer.

This pre-study explores how the process of translating from English to Chinese may distort intended brand name messages, using Oriflame as a case study. The findings show that the brand name had a tendency to be perceived as phonetic rather than phonosemantic and that the character combination was perceived to make no clear sense. The study identified these as two main reasons to why Oriflame’s intended brand name messages did not get through. / Denna förstudie utforskar hur varumärkesnamnens avsedda budskap kan bli förvrängda genom översättningsprocessen från engelska till kinesiska genom att använda Oriflame som en fallstudie. Resultaten visar på tendenser för varumärkesnamnet att uppfattas som fonetiskt snarare än fonosemantiskt och att kombinationen av tecknen inte anses vara begriplig. Studien identifierade dessa två resultat som den främsta anledningen till att Oriflames avsedda budskap inte nådde fram.

The present study examines possible effects of extramural English (EE) on oral proficiency (OP) and vocabulary (VOC). The study is based on data collected from Swedish learners of ESL in grade 9 (aged 15-16; N=80; 36 boys, 44 girls) over a period of one year. EE was defined as linguistic activities that learners engage in outside the classroom in their spare time. EE was measured with the help of a questionnaire and two language diaries, each covering one week. In the diaries, the learners recorded how much time they had spent on seven given EE activities (reading books, reading newspapers/magazines, watch­ing TV, watching films, surfing the Internet, playing video games, listening to music). There was also an open category. Speech data were collected with the help of five interactional speaking tests; learners were in random dyads on each occasion. Each student performance was assessed by three raters with the help of a profile scheme, resulting in an overall grade. Based on these grades from the tests, a mean grade for OP (the OP grade) was calculated for each student. OP was defined as the learner’s ability to speak and use the target language in actual communication with an interlocutor. Learners’ VOC was measured with an index variable based on the scores on two written vocabulary tests. For a selection of ten learners, additional analyses were made of oral fluency and the use of advanced vocabulary in speech. A mixed methods research design was used, but the lion’s share of data was analyzed using inferential statistics. Results showed that the total amount of time spent on EE correlated positively and significantly (p &lt; .01) both with learners’ level of OP and size of VOC, but that the correlation between EE and VOC was stronger and more straightforward than the one between EE and OP. The conclusion drawn was that although EE impacts both OP and VOC, the causal relationship is more salient in the case of VOC. Results also showed that some activities were more important than others for OP and VOC respectively; i.e., the type of EE activity mattered. EE activities that required learners to be more productive and rely on their language skills (video games, the Internet, reading) had a greater impact on OP and VOC than activities where learners could remain fairly passive (music, TV, films). An important gender difference was identified. Boys spent significantly more time on productive EE activities than girls; therefore, EE had a greater impact on OP and VOC for boys than for girls. Four background variables were also studied. The conclusion was that EE is an independent variable and a possible path to progress in English for any learner, regard­less of his or her socioeconomic background.

AbstractThis study deals with linguistic interference in abstracts of scientific papers translated fromPortuguese into English collected from the online scientific database SciELO. The aim of thisstudy is to analyze linguistic interference phenomena in 50 abstracts from the field ofhumanities, history, social sciences, technology and natural sciences. The types ofinterference discussed are syntactic/grammatical, lexical/semantic and pragmatic interference.This study is mainly qualitative. Therefore, the qualitative method was used, in order to findout what kinds of interference phenomena occur in the abstracts, analyze the possible reasonsfor their occurrence and present some suggestions to avoid the problems discussed. Besides, aquantitative analysis was carried out to interpret the results (figures and percentages) of thestudy. The analysis is aimed at providing some guidance for future translations. This studyconcluded that translations from a Romance language (in this case Portuguese) into aGermanic language (English) tend to be more objective and/or sometimes lose originalmeanings attributed in the source text. Another important finding was that abstracts from thehumanities, history and social sciences present more cases of interference phenomena than theones belonging to technology and natural sciences. These findings imply that many abstractswithin these areas have high probability to be subject to the phenomena discussed and,consequently, have parts of their original meaning lost or misinterpreted in the target texts.Keywords: abstracts, bilingualism, cross-linguistic influence, linguistic interference, linguistictransfer, non-native speakers of English, Portuguese-English interference, source text, targettext, translation. / Study on linguistic interference

Proper spelling is important for efficient communication between people with different first languages in the 21st century. While Swedish functions as an intranational language within Sweden, it sees little to no use outside of Scandinavia. English fills the role as a second language that all Swedish students must learn, yet more focus appears to be given to grammar rather than spelling. Spelling is important and knowing the kinds of spelling errors Swedish learners of English tend to make can help educators improve the spelling proficiency of their students. The aim of this study is to investigate the spelling errors made by senior high school students in Sweden by analyzing a collection of essays written by students and gathered in the Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC). The results of this study show that spelling proficiency nearly doubled for students in their third year in senior high school compared to their first year, yet the distribution of spelling errors remained the same. Additionally, some particular sounds that appear to be especially problematic for Swedish spellers were identified, such as /ə/, /l/, /s/ and /k/. / Korrekt stavning är viktig för effektiv kommunikation mellan människor med olika modersmål i tjugohundratalet. Medans svenska fungerar som ett språk mellan människor inom Sverige, ser det lite till ingen nytta utanför Skandinavien. Engelska fyller rollen som andraspråk som alla svenska elever måste lära sig, ändå sätts mer fokus på grammatik över stavning. Stavning är viktig och att veta vilka typer av stavfel som svenska elever brukar göra på engelska kan hjälpa lärare förbättra elevernas stavningskunskaper. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka svenska gymnasielevers felstavningar i Engelska genom att analysera en samlig essäer skrivna av studenter och samlade i Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC). Resultaten från den här studien visar att stavningskunskaperna hos eleverna hade nästan fördubblats när de gick det tredje år på gymnasiet jämfört med när de gick det första, men att fördelningen av stavfel förblev densamma. Dessutom har vissa ljud identifierats som verkar vara särskilt problematiska för svenska elever att stava, såsom /ə/, /l/, /s/ and /k/.

Mat, språk och kultur är tätt sammanlänkade, och i matlagningsprogram förekommer en rad olika sorters kulturspecifika referenser. Kulturspecifika referenser definieras som ”any reference to a cultural entity which, due to its distance from the target culture, is characterized by a sufficient degree of opacity for the target reader to constitute a problem” (Mailhac i Ranzato 2015:54) och kan vara sådant t.ex. som måttenheter (pint), märken (Tabasco) och maträtter (surf and turf). Denna undersöknings fokus är översättningen av kulturspecifika referenser i matlagningsprogram, och eftersom merparten av de matlagningsprogram som översätts för svensk tv är på engelska består denna studies material av 21 engelskspråkiga matlagningsprogram och deras svenska översättningar. De matlagningsprogram som undersökts är Det goda livet, Jamie Olivers smarta rätter, David Roccos ljuva matresa – Italien, Kitchen Hero och Hela England bakar. Genom att att konstruera en korpus och analysera de kulturspecifika referenserna har normerna för översättningsstrategier gällande kulturspecifika referenser i matlagningsprogram kartlagts, och jämförts med resultaten från Pedersens välkända undersökning av primetime-TV (2011). Resultaten kategoriserades sedan enligt Pedersens taxonomi. Resultaten visade att normerna för matlagningsprogram liknade dem för primetime-TV, trots att det fanns ett par domänspecifika skillnader. Eftersom språk formar hur vi ser världen är det intressant att se hur kulturspecifika referenser översätts från en kultur till en annan, eftersom det formar hur den kulturen ses och värderas, eller åtminstone dess matkultur. / Food, language and culture are closely linked and cooking shows are peppered with culturally specific references. Culturally specific references are defined as “any reference to a cultural entity which, due to its distance from the target culture, is characterized by a sufficient degree of opacity for the target reader to constitute a problem” (Mailhac in Ranzato 2015:54) and can be things such as measurements (pints), brands (Tabasco), and dishes (surf and turf) to name a few. This study focuses on the translation of culture specific references in cooking shows. Since most of the cooking shows translated into Swedish are in English, the material for this study consists of 21 cooking shows in English and their Swedish translations. This study will look at the shows 3 good things, Save with Jamie, David Rocco’s Dolce Vita, Kitchen Hero and The Great British Bake off. By constructing a corpus and analyzing the culturally specific references, the norms regarding translation strategies for the translation of culturally specific references in cooking shows have been mapped out, and compared to the results of a well known study on primetime TV by Pedersen (2011). These were categorized in accordance with Pedersen’s taxonomy (2011:76). The results showed that the norms were very similar to those of primetime TV, with the exception of some domain-specific norms. Language influences how we see the world. Thus, the way culturally specific references are translated from one culture into another is important because it affects how cultures are viewed and interpreted, at least within the food community.

Studien undersöker hur de engelska slanguttrycken och talspråksmarkörerna i ungdomsromanen Paper Towns av John Green översatts till nederländska och svenska. En analys av slanguttrycken och talspråksmarkörerna i romanens första kapitel, utifrån Lambert &amp; van Gorps modell (1985), visar vilka översättningsstrategier som översättarna valt och vilka översättningsnormer dessa är ett uttryck för. Resultatet visar att översättningarnas preliminära data pekar mot en adekvansinriktad översättningsstrategi. På mikronivå visar resultatet en mer acceptansinriktad översättningsstrategi vid översättning av slang och talspråksmarkörer, med en något större källspråksinriktning i den nederländska översättningen. / The study investigates how slang and spoken language markers in English in the Young Adult novel Paper Towns by John Green have been translated into Dutch and Swedish. An analyse of the expressions found in the first chapter of the novel, based on the method created by Lambert and van Gorp (1985), shows the translation strategies and the underlying translational norms. The results of the analysis of the preliminary data of the translations points towards adequate translation strategies. At a micro level, the results indicate more acceptable translation strategies regarding the translation of slang and spoken language markers, with slightly more source-orientation in the Dutch translation.

This paper was aimed at researching the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in a business context by the use of linguistic ethnography (LE). Previous research has been primarily either survey- or interview-based or strictly qualitative in its investigation. Using shadowing observations of three employees at a Swedish multinational company and subsequently interviewing the participants about their use of Business English as a lingua franca (BELF), the present study set out to investigate for what kinds of functions and how often these employees use English on an everyday basis. English was shown to be the default language of the multinational company and the findings suggest that employees’ use of language is not only determined by the nature of their work and the business setting, but also by their personal backgrounds. Their education, upbringing, and social experiences since moving to Sweden have come to shape their language use at work and in everyday life. Moreover, there could be subsequent implications for them not only in work-related functions and activities at the company but also in their integration and immersion in Swedish society. Using LE to investigate language choice and use in a corporate setting allows for a more nuanced collection of data, providing a context to linguistic research.