Stories about Language from September, 2009
Japan: Lessons in Communication from the Hatoyama Essay
When an online Op-Ed piece by current Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appeared in the New York Times just days before the Lower House elections last month, national reaction ranged from surprise to consternation to pure mortification. “A New Path for Japan” was an abridged and translated version of “My Political...
Morocco: Teaching Tamazight
Jamal Elabiad, author of the blog A Moroccan Voice in English, discusses the limits of teaching the Tamazight language in Morocco.
Bangladesh: The Importance Of Learning A Foreign Language
“If manpower is our strength, proper foreign language training at home will be a small step in equipping them better to settle down in foreign territories. A change of perception at our language expertise and workforce, especially the young, is vital now,” comments Bangladesh Corporate Blog.
China: Crowd sourced translation and the issue of copyright
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated an article by Janson Yao discussing the crowd-sourced translation of The Lost Symbol in relation to the issue of copyright infringement.
Laos: Monk Chat Blog
The Monk Chat program in Vientiane is a venue where Lao monks and foreigners can exchange in dialogue about their culture and religion.
India: Bangla Blogs
Diganta at The New Horizon informs that two new Bangla (Bengali) blogging platforms have been launched by Bangla speaking people in India.
Dominican Republic: three poets
Repeating Islands features a new bilingual edition of poems by three women writers from the Dominican Republic: Aída Cartagena Portalatín, Angela Hernández Núñez, and Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo. “Each of them addresses shared political and cultural issues, illuminating what it means to be a woman living in the modern day Dominican Republic.”
Suriname: a word for freedom
“It’s hard for me to imagine a language or dialect without a word for ‘freedom'”: Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp reviews a new documentary film about the Surinamese poet Trefossa.
Hungary: Finno-Ugric or Indo-European?
Hungarian Spectrum writes about disagreements on the origin of the Hungarian people and the Hungarian language.
Moldova: The Language Issue
Scraps of Moscow writes about Moldova's “‘linguistic’ divides.”
Jamaica: Truth & Laughter
“If death is the closing parenthesis on the fiction of every human life, then humor is the asterisk that proclaims the dignity of human life despite the many absurdities”: Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp explains.
Jamaica, Barbados: Sandiford Speaks
Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp features writer Robert Sandiford in his own words.
Belarus: Google Translations
Siberian Light is testing Google's newly-added Belarusian language translation tool.
Maldives: Arabization Of Dhivehi Language
“I am against Arabising Maldives’ unique language and culture, and so I will never use ‘Dhivehi alphabets with dots’ in order to accommodate Arabic language,” vows Hilath.
Bahamas: International Literacy Day
Bahamian bloggers Womanish Words and tings mash dedicate their posts to the marking of UNESCO’s International Literacy Day.
Palestine: A Change Of Language
In Gaza, Abu el Sharif has decided to start blogging in English instead of Arabic: “I really need to be more rude, and talk a little more about the shit we live here, without thinking too much about the results!”
Myanmar: “I'm your doll” phrase
Dawn translates a song from Myanmar in English and explains that the “I'm your doll” part of the lyrics is a popular phrase in the country.
Translator of the week: Boukary Konaté in Mali
Boukary Konaté teaches French and English in a high school in Mali. Joining Global Voices in French has steered him onto a new path: he is now involved in Web projects to promote his native language, Bambara, and train rural communities in Mali to use the internet.
Morocco: Teaching “Berber” in Schools
A BBC News piece on the teaching of "Berber" languages in Morocco has got the blogoma talking. The article, which outlines the educational options for learning and studying the language, prompted a variety of posts. Jillian C. York has the story.
Jamaica: Reggae Shows Cancelled
As Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton suffers from the cancellation of international shows thanks to his homophobic lyrics, The Wickedest Time says: “I don't get offended by the music, mainly because its practically a cultural norm…but we have to think about the people we offend.”
