Stories about Language from October, 2009
Slovakia, Hungary: “Linguistic Discontents”
Edward Lucas writes about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, including the “linguistic discontents.”
Albania: Robert Elsie's “Albanian Dialects”
Albanian Blogger recommends scholar Robert Elsie's work to those interested in the Albanian language and literature.
Reunion: Creole becomes second official language
In the midst of the International Creole Month, Guadeloupean blogger CaribCreoleOne discusses [Fr] the now official use of Creole language alongside French in all the administrative procedures and places, in the city of Le Port in Reunion.
France: Language Lessons in the Park
Sarah Hay blogs about the French lessons she gives to a group of young Afghan asylum seekers in a park in Paris. “They’re incredibly keen that I learn the Pashto for everything I teach them to the point of comical mishap, for example when I taught them the word metro…”
Myanmar: Gay slang
Writing for New Mandala, Violet Cho and Dave Gilbert observe that “Gay people in Burma are resisting homophobia and marginalisation through the creative use of new communication codes.”
Global: International Creole Month
October has become the month of the worldwide celebration of Creole language and the Creole blogosphere is paying attention.
Taiwan: Future of the Taiwanese language
Stocks and Politics discusses the fate of the Hoklo Taiwanese language and expresses concern about its decline. There are also some comparisons with the use of Cantonese.
Morocco: Education Under Bloggers’ Scrutiny
Torn between insistent calls for modernization and a powerful conservative drive; caught in an excruciating debate over which languages to include in its programs; overburdened by an opaque and centralized administration, the Moroccan education system has long been the target of passionate critiques, not least among bloggers.
Russia: Kindle
Profy reports on Amazon Kindle's “international expansion”: “This decision is obviously good at least because I personally don’t like any limitations and opening yet another window to the huge Russian market is hopefully a wise decision for Amazon. […] At the same time I myself suspect that the vast majority...
Israel: Exploring Hebrew's Latin Roots
BaLashon (On the Tongue) explores the Hebrew term kalgas קלגס, meaning soldier. He discovers Latin roots: “Caliga- Roman sandals, secured with nails (which made quite a bit of noise)- were apparently frightening enough to give their name to the Roman soldiers.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Set Up?
Jumbie's Watch is “vex enough to fart fire” over developments in a court case involving the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, which he believes “was a set up designed to have the case thrown out.”
Safeguarding the world's cultural heritage
Many organisations working to preserve global cultural heritage - both tangible and intangible - have been using online media to support their efforts.
Lebanon: Right to Left
Lebanese NightS remarks: “It has always bothered me the very limited collection of RTL(right-to-left) blog templates/themes..whether it’s for Blogger, WordPress or Drupal or any other Blogging platform or CMS.”
Trinidad & Tobago: What Town Say…
A new literary magazine, based in Trinidad and Tobago, also has its own blog, here.
Estonia: Apples
Itching for Eestimaa writes about October, “the month when people are busy trying to think of creative ways to get rid of the avalanche of apples in their backyards.”
Jordan: Arabic TV Shows for Children
Jordanian Ahmad Humeid discusses television programmes available for children in Arabic in this post.
Tajikistan: Me No Speak the Tajik
Vlad reports that Tajikistan has adopted legislation to downgrade the official status of the Russian language in a move that has reportedly had the country’s minorities up in arms.
