Catching up with the Language Portal of Canada

One can spend a LOT of time exploring the Language Portal of Canada

With 23,000 pages of content (which doesn’t include the mighty TERMIUM Plus®,) the Portal contains a vast collection of free resources to help Canadians communicate effectively in both official languages. Here are some of the Portal’s resources:

TERMIUM Plus® s one of the world’s most extensive terminology and linguistic data banks, including millions of terms, abbreviations, definitions and usage examples in a wide range of specialised fields.

Language Navigator is a search engine that allows you to search by keyword or by theme to quickly find answers to your questions about language or writing in English and French.

Our Languages blog, where Canadians can share their passion for language by writing, reading or commenting on posts about terminology, children’s authors, bilingualism and just about any other language-related topic you can think of!

Writing Tips Plus, which is the Portal’s primary English-language writing tool, contains hundreds of writing tips on grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other difficulties of the English language.

Word Tailoring helps you find English equivalents for French words and expressions that are hard to translate.

HyperGrammar 2 and Peck’s English Pointers offer articles on English grammar, punctuation, spelling and usage, as well as review exercises to test yourself on the concepts covered in the articles.

Favourite Articles is a collection of articles that take an in-depth look at difficulties related to the English language, translation and terminology.

The Collection of Canadian Language Resources  is a collection of links to writing resources, glossaries and dictionaries, language learning opportunities, organisations and events.

The Portal’s language quizzes allow you to have fun while putting your knowledge of English and French to the test.

So, what’s new at the Portal?

Caroline LeBouthillier, manager at the Language Portal of Canada, pointed me toward their recently-published Guidelines on inclusive writing, and their linguistic recommendations on the use of Inuk and Inuit. LeBouthillier says these resources have both been popular. The Portal is also discussing creating a podcast, which will surely be a hit.

Image: Language Portal of Canada

Catherine Fisher, blogger