Stories about Language from January, 2008
Estonia: Fewer Stateless People
Itching for Eestimaa reports that the number of Estonia's stateless persons continues to decrease.
St Vincent & The Grenadines, Belize: Palacio Gone To Soon
St. Vincent blogger Abeni knew the late Belizean musician Andy Palacio personally and says: “News of his death…triggered all those memories of yesteryear. Gone at 47 which seems too soon.”
Armenia: Indigenous Language Blogs
While most blogging from or about Armenia has been in English or Russian, The Armenian Observer is pleased to discover that the number of Armenian language blogs is slowly but surely increasing. Observer commends the blogs for their quality and recommends his readers encourage their development by visiting and commenting...
Belarus, Latvia: “Ploshcha”
Marginalia watches Ploshcha (“The Square”), a film about the March 2006 mass protests in Minsk – “and watching it is a good way to mark Ceauşescu's birthday and Suharto's death” – and muses on freedom in Latvia and the lack of it in Belarus.
Jamaica: Greetings from Jamaica
Francis Wade blogs about the sweetness of Jamaican greetings.
Armenia: Language Problem
Armenia continues its reports on life as a volunteer from the Armenian Diaspora living and working in the country. In particular, the blogger says, knowing Russian can be a disadvantage for ethnic Armenians hoping to learn or improve their local language skills.
Tunisia: An Introduction
The "Tunisphere" is a group a passionate Internet users and bloggers even if their number is not as high as in neighbouring countries like Morocco. Naruto introduces us to some of his country's leading bloggers in his first post for Global Voices Online.
Jamaica, St. Lucia: Hardwick's Eulogy
“Derek Walcott's prodigious gifts, even in the face of tragedy, continue to amaze me”: Jamaican Geoffrey Philp links to the Caribbean writer's eulogy of Elizabeth Hardwick.
China: What are landlords like?
Joel from DANWEI translated local blogger 10 years chopping of timber's post on “What are landlords like?” The post touches upon the labeling of “Landlord” for political and ideological control.
The Balkans: “Jestdej”
Sleeping with Pengovsky posts a copy of the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ – spelled phonetically by Croatian musicians: “… For all of you native speakers out there – if you ever wondered how English sounds to people from the Balkans – take a look at the above picture. It just doesn’t get...
South Korea: Youtube Enters
Michael from Scribblings of the Metropolitician has been asked to make a welcome video for Youtube Korea. The slogan is YT Korea – fighting.
Belize: Mourning Palacio
As Belize continues to mourn the death of Andy Palacio, Belizean posts a short bio of the country's most iconic musician.
China: T-shirt with Chinese Character
Alpar shows a t-shirt with Chinese characteristic, with slogans and pictures of eight prides and eight shames, harmonious society, city management teams’ violence (zh).
Ukraine: Crimean Politicians
Orange Ukraine writes on how Crimean politicians “are asking for testing of Ukrainian language to be conducted in Russian” – or else they wouldn't let the country's PM enter the peninsula.
Japan: Language as Long-term Visa Requirement
Debito has an elaborated comment on the Japan government's proposal on making Japanese language a requirement for long-term visa. Ampotant criticizes BBC's report for creating an impression that Japanese don't like to talk to foreigners.
Japan: Japanese a Requirement for Residence?
James from Japan Probe asks whether Japanese language be one of the qualifications for obtaining long-term residence visas in Japan? The Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura thinks so.
India: Violence and Language
Arre Kya Baat Hai! reflects on language and violence after reading an article by Efraim Medina Reyes.
Singapore: No Fake Accents
Fauzirassul is gonna get cross at any fellow Singaporean faking their accents.
Mozambique: National languages and African identity
João Craveirinha debates national languages and African identity on Moçambique Online Blog [pt]. “The fear of the emergence of a pseudo-tribalism movement was the excuse for not to teach our language Banto alongside Portuguese and English. ”
Morocco: Arabic Classes
Cory, from Morocco, is taking Arabic classes. Read all about it here.
China: So yellow, so violent
Discussions between Chinese bloggers over what new online video regulations will mean if they are implemented later this month, have brought erotic and violent content, which are widely accessible on the Chinese-language internet, under the spotlight.
