· December, 2006

Stories about Language from December, 2006

China: 2006 most popular Chinese word

  25 December 2006

Many Chinese bloggers are discussing the most popular Chinese word of 2006. Some of the suggestions are: Bo (as in Blogger), Gao (as in spoof) and Chao (as in argue). Gao is so far the most popular one (zh).

China: blogender

  22 December 2006

An online test (zh) about blogger's gender by analyising the language in the blogpost.

Taiwan: please speak Chinese

  22 December 2006

Holly blogs about her frustration in learning Chinese in Taiwan, and she hopes that her Chinese friends can speak Chinese to her.

Venezuela: Preserving Indigenous Languages

  21 December 2006

As many as thirty-four indigenous languages are spoken in Venezuela and a special committee of the country's National Assembly is drafting a law designed at preserving them. The Latin Americanist also reports that there are plans to have indigenous representation on the Assembly.

Estonia: Amnesty International Report

  19 December 2006

David McDuff of A Step At A Time (and Edward Lucas) – on Amnesty International's “report on Estonia which – almost incredibly – charges that country with “human rights abuses” allegedly committed against its Russian-speaking residents.”

The Esperanto Window Closes / La Esperanta Fenestro Fermiĝas.

15 December 2006

On Nov 29, 2006, Howard Dean addressed the Liberal Leadership and Biennial Convention. He gave an inspirational speech about the strategies that resulted in the Democrats retaking the US House and US Senate. It's a message that ought to resonate with people who want to advance the goals of Esperanto....

China and Japan: translating USA

  8 December 2006

The Japanese translation of USA is “rice country”, while the Chinese translation is “beauty country”. Zhaihua looks into historical documents and tries to explain why there is such a difference. One explanation provided by Chiang Kai-shek in 1934 was that “rice” is edible… (zh)

Malawi: language, politics, and development

  6 December 2006

Afrika-Aphukira writes about the intersection of language, politics, and development in Malawi, “The twin issues of language and politics are extremely important, and have consequences that affect the long-term development plans of any society.”