· December, 2009

Stories about Language from December, 2009

Japan: Spread the message, translate it

  29 December 2009

A video interview [en] of Kyo Kageura, head of the project Minna no Honyaku (みんなの翻訳, Translation for all) [ja], a new translation platform that helps NGOs and NPOs to spread their messages thanks to volunteer translators. Global Voices Japan asked him about the challenge of Minna no Honyaku [en], the...

Mozambique: How many languages are spoken in the country?

  28 December 2009

There are 20 languages spoken in Mozambique, according to the government website, apart from the official Portuguese. Carlos Serra [pt] wonders if there are more, according to two renowned linguists: “One told me that there were between 20 and 26; the other told me that there were 17 written and...

Armenia: Embracing multiculturalism

  19 December 2009

Ianyan hosts a guest post responding to nationalist perceptions of identity, culture and language. The entry concludes that all nations and ethnic groups absorb other influences, benefiting from such a reality greatly while also evolving into something with their own unique peculiarities.

Russia: “Anti-crisis” is Word of The Year

RuNet Echo  18 December 2009

Three most popular words dominated Russian society in 2009 according to a well-known “Word of the Year” contest on Imhonet.ru. Those words are “antikrizisniy” (anti-crisis), “zomboyashik” (zombie-box) as a description for TV, and “Medveputiya” (Medvedev and Putin).

Bangladesh: Independent media and Bangla blogs

  15 December 2009

Muktangan starts off an interesting freewheeling discussion about the role of Bangla blogs and why it is still not at par with some of the leading blog platforms around the world that have created equity for themselves as independent media.

St. Lucia: Considering the Blind

  14 December 2009

As new technology makes e-books accessible for the blind, St. Lucia's Caribbean Book Blog says: “It remains to be seen how the Caribbean will be able to justify the blind among us being left behind in the global quest for economic empowerment and basic human dignity.”

Tweets from Beirut: Day Two of the Arab Bloggers Workshop

  9 December 2009

The second day of the Arab Bloggers Workshop kicked off with a presentation about Herdict Web, a site which uses crowdsourcing to gather reports of Internet filtering from users around the world. Qatari workshop participant Muhammad Basheer tweeted a photo from the presentation: Following the first presentation, Egyptian blogger Manal...

Mexico: Learning and yearning in Spanish and English

  3 December 2009

Lesley from The Mija Chronicles writes in English about her difficulty to learn Spanish in her first 10 months living in Mexico. Conversely, Jennívora questions her yearning of Mexican rituals and festivities after living in Scotland [es] exercising her particular Spanish-pocho [es] writing style.