Stories about Language from November, 2006
Syria: Direct Idiom Translation
“One of the funniest things for any bilingual person to do is to directly translate idioms from one language into another,” Omar said. Check out some of these from Arabic...
Nigeria: Nigerian unwords
Ijebuman's Diary posts a list of Nigerian unwords and examples of how they can be used in a Nigerian context.
Tanzania: IT related words in Swahili
Jesp wrote about the difficulties of accumulating a proper Kiswahili vocabulary as an IT professional in Tanzania. This is what he did not know when he was writing his post,...
Albania: Ismail Kadare
Wu Wei writes about a talk given by Ismail Kadare in Oxford.
Syria: Study in Japanese
How to explain Newton's law in Japanese when your mother tongue is Arabic and you are fluent in English, but not that comfortable in Japanese? Yazan, seems to be struggling...
Esperantoland through Pictures / Esperantujo tra Bildoj
Only one more month until Esperanto Day! If you would like to participate you can sign up here, especially if you would like help with translation. Nur unu monato ĝis...
Albania: Kadare's Novel
Music and Life – Everywhere! reviews Ismail Kadare's ‘Broken April’ and writes about Kanun, the Albanian blood feud laws.
Estonia, Latvia: Soviet Nostalgia and Citizenship
Itching for Eestimaa writes about nostalgia for the Soviet Union and citizenship issues in Latvia and Estonia.
Reunion: “Our Creole Stolen By a Guadeloupean”
Blogger Pierrot Dupuy laments (Fr) that Reunion will be represented by a Reunion-based Guadeloupean professor at an International Creole Festival taking place in Mauritius from December 1st to 3rd. Adds...
Kazakhstan: Kazaksha
KZ Blog has a lengthy report on the Kazakhstani government's Kazakh language promotion policies and the anxieties felt by the large population that only uses Russian.
Voices from Kazakhstan
Kazakh President in Aralsk by lambro “Kazakhstan invented a national chess game. Introduced a new chess piece “President”. It can go as it wishes and take whatever it wishes to...
Estonia, Russia: “The Bronze Soldier Disease”
Itching for Eestimaa writes about “the Bronze Soldier disease” that “has spread from Tallinn to Moscow, where officials and analysts are now weighing in on the issue like it would...
Romania: Language-Free Enclave
Andy H of Csikszereda Musings posts a language distribution map of Romania, which shows that he lives in an enclave where Romanian isn't the dominant language.
Estonia: Statues and the Identity Crisis
Itching for Eestimaa writes about the identity crisis of the Baltic Russians.
Croatia: Japan in Zagreb
Neretva River writes about Japan's growing popularity in Croatia's capital.
Nigeria: Yoruba keyboard
The Yoruba keyboard: a photo posted by Naija blog.
Belarus: Country Name Gaffe
TOL's Belarus Blog catches the Economist on a country-naming gaffe.
Hong Kong: cantonese soundbite
Alex was surprised by both the Hong Kong reporter and Margaret Chan, the newly elected WHO Director-General's performance in the official press conference (zh): a Hong Kong reporter insisted to...
Moldova: Help Kids Learn English
Mihai Moscovici reports on how anyone can help Moldovan kids learn English: send children's books to Moldova-based Peace Corps Volunteer Andy Buchanan (who blogs at Random Musings on a Moldovan...
Romania: Spelling Changes
The spelling of the Romanian word for “scissors” has been changed by a committee, and many people learn about it from their kids, the hard way, reports Andy H of...
Russia: Dostoyevsky's Translations Re-Designed
David McDuff of A Step At A Time announces that his “translations of Crime and Punishment and The Idiot are among five titles chosen for recovering by design artists to...
