· January, 2007

Stories about Language from January, 2007

Haiti, France: Creole Language Catholic Mass in Marseilles

  31 January 2007

Collectif Haiti de Provence reports (Kr) on a Creole language mass that took place last Sunday in Marseilles, France for the Haitian community there: “More than 120 people showed up in their Sunday best. Restless young men weren't very excited about the music and hymns but they still showed up…...

Libya: To Return or not to Return?

  29 January 2007

The last weeks saw a variety of activities on Libyan blogs. It was the ‘end of term’ exams in Libyan schools and Khadijateri has devoted several posts to that. On the other hand, a hot topic was introduced by Nura on Ly-Hub. Ly-Hub is a blog connecting Libyan bloggers or...

Russia: Roma Wedding and Christmas

  26 January 2007

The flag of the Roma people. According to Wikipedia, it “was approved at the First World Romani Congress in 1971, held in London, UK. The flag consists of a background of dark blue and green, representing the heavens and earth, respectively. The flag also contains a red chakra, or spoked...

Russia: The Language Issue

  23 January 2007

Ruminations on Russia writes about the language issue in Russia: “The problem is apparently that the near abroad prefer their own language and English to Russian and Russian (strange that), and native Russians (whoever they may be – but that's a different topic altogether) have a nasty habit of eating...

Bahrain: Arabic Blogs Translated

  23 January 2007

Bahraini blogger Bint Battuta has decided to translate some of the Arabic Bahraini blogs for English-language readers. This week she translates two posts from the hilarious Zarnooq Bahrani and she promises more translations soon.

D.R. of Congo: the richness of Lingala

  23 January 2007

Blogging from the Democratic Republic of Congo, John writes about the richness and complexity of Lingala: Then there’s the word “poto” which I think is “mpoto” in the classic Lingala (but that’s a whole other discussion…). It means Europe, but I’ve discovered that it also means the U.S. I haven’t...

Nigeria/UK: wishing Big Brother was about racism

  21 January 2007

“I wish Big Brother was about racism,” writes Akin, “I have convinced myself that I do need to wade into this Big Brother saga because I have not seen much that addresses the fundamental problem that has been blanketed by racism and in doing so absolved us from identifying what...

Nigeria: Nigerian pidgin 101

  19 January 2007

Mama Junkyard's blogs about how people greet each other in Nigeria: How you body de? Pidgin English; often used when addressing someone who has been unwell. The first time I heard it was during my first week in Abuja. I was staying in a hotel and had just developed a...

The Hindi Blogosphere: Nithari and the New Year

  8 January 2007

With just about every person in Nithari village of Noida & news media in an uproar on the issue of missing children and the subsequent discovery of their skeletons, Hindi Blogosphere isn't far behind in expressing their reactions. Tarun was criticising the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh for not...

Toward a Francophone Global Voices

Tunisian blogger Sami Ben Gharbia on the Global Voices summit recently held in Delhi, India (Fr): “A will to build a francophone version of Global Voices and to spread the Global Voices China experiment was expressed. The first objective consists in translating in French what is written in English on...

Russia: Sorry State of North Caucasus Journalism

  3 January 2007

Timur Aliev – LJ user timur_aliev, editor-in-chief of the print/online weekly Chechen Society (Chechenskoye Obshchestvo) and the Chechnya editor of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) – is involved in a journalism education project that takes him to various parts of the Caucasus, where he conducts seminars to...