Stories about Language from July, 2009
Sri Lanka: English Language Standards
Niranjan Dias Bandaranayake at Groundviews discusses about the deteriorating standards of English teaching in Sri Lanka.
Jamaica: On Writing
More on what makes a writer, from Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp.
What is Team Building in the Filipino Language?
Letters to Mindanao looks for the Filipino equivalent of the word teambuilding.
The Balkans: Language Issue
Gray Falcon writes about the language issue in the former Yugoslavia – here and here.
China: Chinese Internet Memes For 2009
Fauna from ChinaSMACK translated a series of drawings that show some of the most popular terms in Chinese Internet 2009.
Turkey: The Turkish of Dr. Oz
Talk Turkey commends Dr. Oz (of Oprah fame) for his ability to speak perfect Turkish while lecturing to Turkish medical students. “Sure he has an accent. Sure he sounds like a ‘foreigner’ when he speaks Turkish. But the reality is; for a man born and raised in the U.S., he...
China: Memorable Quotations from Qin Gang
Qin Gang is the spokesperson of Foreign Ministry. C.A. Yeung from Under the Jacaranda Tree cites a number of memorable quotes made by Qin in his weekly press conference.
Syria: Focus on Ability
Syrian blog Common English Mistakes Podcast continues its series of podcasts [Ar]. This episode focuses on the use of the word ability.
Pakistan: Urdu Transliteration Tool
Saeed at PakFellows blog discusses about the latest developments in the Urdu transliteration tools for ease of computing in Urdu language.
Africa: Challenges for African language study in America
A podcast from African Online Digital Library about challenges and possibilities for African language study in America.
India: No shortcuts please, this is business!
The world is not Orkut, says Harini Calamur at POV, so people will do well to mind their language – especially when it comes to business communication.
India: How History helped shape ‘Indian English’
In this post, PNH at Desicritics reflects on the impact of Indian history and culture on the English language.
Arab World: Trouble for Gay Travels in the Muslim World
The first gay book to have been ever translated into Arabic after being originally printed in English has run into problems straight off the press. Katharine Ganly reports on blogger reactions to the book Gay Travels in the Muslim World, whose translation has spurred a heated debate.
India:Vandalism of Tamil-Brahmi sites
Varnam writes about the importance of conserving the ancient Tamil-Brahmi scripts and rues the vandalism of the historical Tamil-Brahmi heritage sites.
Guyana: Writing's Purpose
From Guyana, The Intellectual Elite finds himself “preoccupied with the purpose of writing.”
Russia-Ukraine: State, nation and language
Ukrainiana points out the basic flaw in Russian Premier Putin's pretensions of 17 million Russians living in Ukraine, by stating the fundamental difference between state- and nationhood, language and ethnicity in terms of citizenship.
Jamaica: Who's “Bad”?
Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp writes about “bad” words and the art of storytelling.
Morocco: Learning Arabic
Ahmed, at Moroccan group blog Blafrancia [ar], links to a news article which says that more foreigners interested in learning Arabic as a foreign language have started intensive summer classes in Morocco than in previous years.
Azerbaijan: Alphabet(s)
In Mutatione Fortitudo laments the state of the Azerbaijani alphabet and the various changes it has seen since the 1920s.
Japan: Eight endangered languages in the Japanese archipelago
In February UNESCO presented the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, giving an accurate and worrying description of the languages considered endangered (about 2,500). Among these eight belong to the Japanese archipelago. Not a big surprise if we think about the severe policies of linguistic and cultural assimilation carried...
Israel: Human Rights Activist's Sentencing Postponed
The Villages Group blog reports that the sentencing of Ezra Nawi, an Israeli human rights activist in the South Hebron area convicted of trying to prevent home demolitions, has been postponed – and for a strange reason.
