Stories about Language from November, 2009
St. Lucia, U.S.A.: New Book of Poetry
From St. Lucia, Caribbean Book Blog interviews Dr. Neal Hall about his new anthology of verse, Nigger For Life.
China: Chinese is the most difficult language
Uln has written three long posts to argue that Chinese is the most difficult language in the world. Part I, Part II and Part III.
Japanese concepts through images and videos
Lee at Tokyo Times defines the Japanese notions of wabi-sabi through photographs while the Through Eyes From Afar blog posts some videos to explain the concept of tsundere and yandere.
Russia: 6,5 percent of all Web sites are Russian
There are 15 million Web sites in the Russian segment of the Internet. They account for 6,5 percent of all Web sites available online. An average Russian Web site contains 255 pages, 159 thousand words, and 204 images. These facts were revealed in the latest research “The Runet Content” by...
Africa: Google sponsors Kiswahili Wikipedia Challenge
Google is pushing for more content on Kiswahili Wikipedia through Kiswahili Wikipedia Challenge: We invite you to take part in this challenge to create Wikipedia articles in Kiswahili. We hope to make the online experience richer and more relevant for 100 million African users who speak Kiswahili.
Taiwan: Introducing Best English Blogs
David on Formosa publishes a series of posts introducing some of the best Taiwan blogs in English(bridge bloggers).
Japan: Top 60 Expressions of 2009
Pink Tentacle has translated into English all of the “Top 60 Japanese words/phrases of 2009″, released by publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha: Included are plenty of references to Japan’s recent political shake-up, the ailing economy, and the blurring of traditional gender roles.
Guyana: Autobiographical
“I've always thought of autobiography as an attempt to leave behind–forever in memoriam–something more or less truthful about one's existence”: Signifyin’ Guyana wonders what the first lines of your autobiography would be.
Hungary: More on Imre Kertész's Interview
More on the Hungarian reactions to Imre Kertész's Die Welt interview – at Hungarian Spectrum. (Marietta Le's GV post about it is here.)
Japan: “Obamu”, Verb Form of “Obama”?
Anpontan‘s post about the word “obamu” (オバむ) , a Japanese word play that's a verb form of “Obama”, was picked up by James Fallows at the Atlantic and is making its way across the blogosphere, although very few Japanese people actually seem to have heard of the word, as Daniel...
Japan: In a World with Automatic Translation
In a post titled "I especially want to read 'trivial information", Japanese blogger Chikirin gives a fresh perspective on what's important or not and why in automated translation of the Web.
Finland: The Language Issue
Nordic Voices writes about Finland's “language issue.”
U.S., Europe: Immigrant Writing; Diaspora Mentality
Maud Newton writes about a newly-published anthology of immigrant writing, “Becoming Americans.” Sublime Oblivion examines the views of “Russian political analyst & nationalist Konstantin Krylov” on “international diasporas” and “the diaspora mentality.”
Guyana: Must Get Mosquito
Guyana-Gyal has it out with a mosquito.
South Africa: South African national anthem for English speakers
South African national anthem for English speakers: What a great way to visually explain the South African national anthem for those of us who firstly don’t know it by now, secondly know it but might not know how we are pronouncing it and thirdly don’t speak the languages in the...
Hungary: Comments on the Interview with Imre Kertész
The anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has inspired Hungarian bloggers, too: they are discussing an interview with Imre Kertész, a Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian author living in Berlin, which appeared in the German newspaper Die Welt.
Caribbean: French Literary Prizes
This week, two of the most prestigious French literary prizes were awarded to two French-speaking authors of African descent: The French-speaking Caribbean blogosphere has been buzzing over this double satisfaction, in this post from Haiti, this one from Guadeloupe and this one from Martinique [Fr].
Albania: Giving Directions
A Nevada Yankee in King Zog's Court writes that “Albanians are so poor at giving directions that it's easier just to take the lost soul directly to his destination than it is to give directions.”
Kenya: Are you Chikuyu or Ruo?
“Are you Chikuyu or Ruo?,” asks Proud Kikuyu Woman: “Lakini [lakini means “but” in Swahili] the one that initially used to surprise me is when I tell someone I’m Kenyan and they go , “Chikuyu or Ruo”. The letter K is often pronounced as ‘Ch’ in Luganda (and the G...
Russia: Snow and the Language
“In Russia Snow Walks…” – notes on the Russian language and the Russian winter, at Russian Blog.
Serbia: Scrabble
A Yankee-in-Belgrade writes about playing Scrabble in the Serbian language.
