Stories about Language from June, 2008
Hungary: “National Pride”
Hungarian Spectrum writes about the “puzzling” issue of “national pride.”
Russia: Facebook, Etc.
The Lede reviews the Russian-language versions of American search engines and social networking sites and their Russian counterparts.
Ukraine: Paul McCartney in Kyiv
Ukrainiana writes about and posts photos and video from Paul McCartney's concert in Kyiv.
China: Happy to Become Earthquake Ghost
A propaganda poem published in a Shandong newspapers has been called by netizen “the most shameless piece”. (via webbbs) The poem written by the vice president of Shandong Writers Association said that “1.3 billion people cried together, even one has become ghost, s/he should be happy”, “Wish the tomb can...
Lithuania: Lietuva
Bieksia’s Weblog suggests changing Lithuania's official English name to “Lietuva” – which is Lithuania's name in Lithuanian.
China: Learn Chinese for the Olympics
Via FreeLanguage.org we find that Chinese education 2.0 site ChinesePod.com has prepared a curriculum set especially for Olympic visitors, covering everything from dealing with mosquito bites to the Beijing dialect to getting around the Olympic Village.
Poland: The Language
According to Polandian, Polish language isn't hard.
Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago: Calabashing Walcott
Jamaican blogger Annie Paul quotes Guyana's Stabroek News on Walcott's anti-Naipaul poem, The Mongoose.
Algeria: Pork is a Sin to Eat
Pork is a sin to eat. Algerian linguist Lameen Souag invites his readers to share their ideas on why the above sentence seems weird.
Balkans: “National Science”
Say: Macedonia writes about the Macedonian language – and the “national science”: “This national science is exactly what we don't need anymore in the Balkans. Getting rid of our politically-influenced sciences (i.e. ‘scientific propaganda’) will help us exorcise our nationalistic demons from the past and start building tolerance and respect....
Trinidad & Tobago: Watch Your Contents!
“For the sake of my blood pressure, I try not to read the local newspapers”: The Liming House thinks that the redesigned Trinidad Guardian “needs more than a cosmetic change”.
China: Tearful Plea to Stock Holders
Daynews copies the writing style of Qiuyu's “Tearful Plea To Disaster Victims” and writes a piece on “Tearful Plea to Stock Holders” telling them that all their money has been vaporized to the heaven [zh].
China: Underlying Statements Behind the Tears
Liu Xiaoyuan interpreted the underlying statements of Yu Qiuyu's “Tearful Plea To Disaster Victims” [zh]. The blogger believes that Yu is spinning for the government and shedding crocodile's tears.
Algeria: Baby Talk
Algerian linguist Lameen Souag is busy studying Siwi – and notes that they have 40 words used in baby talk. “So what special words do you use in your language when talking to babies?” he asks.
Bahamas: Policing Poetry
Helen Klonaris at new Bahamian blog The Gaulin Wife is concerned that “two young poets are being investigated by the police because of the alleged sexual content of their poetry”, saying: “If the police are investigating poets and poetry, it is because they can: we as a society have agreed...
BlogCamp Delhi – Enlightening and entertaining!
24th May 2008 was sort of a remarkable day in the blogging circle in New Delhi and National Capital Region as Indian Blog and New Media Society, in collaboration with its local partners Delhi Blog and New Media Society, organised Delhi's first BlogCamp. Months of planning and organising didn't go...
China: Tibet Talk
Maryannodonnell blogs about how communication breaks down when talking about Tibet.
Russia: “I Blog” in Russian
Russian Blog explains how to say “I blog” and other related things in Russian.
Ukraine: The Language Issue
Ukrainiana writes about “the language issue” in Ukraine: “Russian as a Turkish dialect of Old Ukrainian vs. Ukrainian as a Polish dialect of Old Russian represent the two opposite poles in the oft-unprofessional debate among ultra-nationalists.”
Poland, UK: The Sun, in Polish
Scatts writes about the Polish-language Euro 2008 edition of the British tabloid The Sun – at Polandian and at 20 east.
Poland: Bilingualism
Scatts writes at Polandian about raising a child in “two languages and two cultures” – Polish and English.
