Stories about Language from February, 2008
Japan: the First English Teacher
Peter Payne from Japundit traces the history of the first English Teacher in Japan.
China: Thoughts and debates on the name-calling professor
The start was in fact very simple. In 2007, Professor Zhong Hua at Sichuan Normal University issued an article entitled Cultural Studies and the Lost of Literary Theory in the 11th issue of “Literature and Art Studies”, one of the core academic journals in China, criticizing an academic work entitled...
South Korea: Lee Myung-bak’s English Education Policies
Korea Beat has a post on local reactions concerning the President Lee Myung-bak's English education policies.
Estonia: National Identity
Itching for Eestimaa marks Estonia's independence day (Feb. 24) by writing about Estonian national identity.
Burkina Faso: teachable moments, missing bathrooms and road rage
Pity the school teachers of the Peace Corps. While their compatriots toiling in health clinics or with micro-credit programs pretty much work loose hours and come and go from social events in the capital city at their leisure, teachers are stuck at home with a inflexible schedule, classrooms full of hundreds of students and loads and loads of homework to correct each night.
Lusospheric Literature: Sabedoria de Improviso
Czarina writes in short, razor-sharp, words in her Sabedoria de Improviso [Makeshift Wisdom, PT] about what she may or may not have learned, and maybe about what she lived. She renders no explanations [PT] for those who need it.
Japan: Charisma Man
James from Japan Probe traces the origin of the term “Charisma Man” which is used for describing foreign man with many girlfriends.
Morocco: Learning Arabic
Evelyn in Morocco shares her struggles of learning Arabic.
Jamaica, Haiti: Haitian Creole
“I learned many things from Felix Morisseau-Leroy and one of the most important was his commitment to the Haitian Creole language”: Geoffrey Philp posts one of the writer's poems.
Africa: Interrogating the blogosphere
Koluki interrogates the blogosphere by looking at the Globl Voices Online coverage of “Portuguese-speaking African countries”: “The most striking observation from this graph is that OC appears not only, as we have seen before, as the “undisputed champion” of GVO reporting about the “Angolan blogosphere”, but also as the “champion”...
Are languages free? Thoughts on the International Mother Language day
Today is the International Mother Language Day, an annual event in UNESCO member states to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This is mostly the international recognition of the Language Movement Day called ‘Ekushey February’, which is commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952. The date of 21st February was chosen...
Jamaica, USA: Obama the Orator
“No, this isn’t an endorsement for Barack Obama—this is a literary blog after all,” writes Jamaican Geoffrey Phlip, as he examines the text of a speech that the Democratic presidential candidate gave in Wisconsin.
Hong Kong: Suspected to Resemble Gillian Chung
Duimanpark discusss about the funny language in the recent sex photo scandal and wonders if English speakers would understand the commonly used phrase in local mainstream media: “nude photographs of a woman suspected to resemble Gillian Chung.”
Afghanistan: London's Afghans Rally for Freedom of Expression
Mohammad says that Afghanistanis, the citizens of U.K., have demonstrated to condemn reprisals against those who are speaking Persian language. The protesters marched in front of the Afghan Embassy in London last Friday.
Afghanistan: Journalists fined for language debate
Sanjar reports that three Afghanistani journalists working for government-owned media have been fined for using Persian words that are not approved by cultural policy.
Sudanese Blogosphere Reaches New Milestone
The Sudanese blogosphere is starting to build momentum. Blogs written in English are quite active now, showing the genuine, diverse and raw face of Sudan to the world. On the other hand, blogs written in Arabic have mushroomed at another corner of this vast online space.
Amit Gupta: A self confessed geek
Amit Gupta is a software engineer who works as a web applications architect in India and is a self confessed geek, in other words, someone who literally lives, breathes, sleeps and talks the Internet. With such a high tech profile, it doesn't come as a surprise that he has been...
In Madagascar, bloggers debate abortion and women's rights
With a Valentine's Day performance of the controversial Vagina Monologues and a human rights committee's decision to call for a review of Madagascar's abortion ban, gender issues are a hot topic in the Malagasy blogosphere.
Kyrgyzstan: Debates over Alphabet
Asel says that following the similar debates in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz politicians also raise the issue of possible switching the Kyrgyz alphabet from Cyrillic to Roman.
Latvia, Russia: Ambassador Veshnyakov
Latvian Abroad is pleasantly surprised with Russia's new ambassador to Latvia – Aleksandr Veshnyakov, former head of the Central Election Committee: “He was interviewed by Echo of Moscow radio station before leaving for Latvia and he declared that he will learn Latvian because he considers that as a measure of...
Mozambique: People out of the bottle
Carlos Serra [pt] has discovered a new popular expression circulating among Mozambicans: ‘people are out of the bottle’. He provides interpretations in the face of protests against the cost of living that have taken place in the country: “It seems that the term refers to the won sense of freedom,...
