Stories about Language from March, 2010
China: Characters in leaders’ names made sensitive search terms on Google
Beginning Wednesday and continuing today, Chinese Internet users have discovered that Google searches containing the Chinese characters for the surnames of China's top leaders (ie. the ‘hu’ [jintao] in carrot, ‘huluobo’) are resulting in a reset connection to the website. Isaac Mao has made a screencast showing how this works.
Translator of the week: Audrey Lambert and her students in France
A faithful volunteer translator for Global Voices in French since 2008, Audrey Lambert is also a pioneer of using Global Voices in the classroom at the Lycée Ozenne in Toulouse, France.
Guyana: I & I
Guyana-Gyal has a theory about “how tongues all over the world latch on to the I-Talk.”
China and U.S: Rhetorics on Google's Exit
Kai Pan from china / divide criticizes western rhetorics in discussing Google's exit from China. The blogger in particular comments on Nicole Kempton piece on the Huffington Post that neglects democratic countries’ role in advocating Internet censorship.
St. Lucia: Literary Festival
Caribbean Book Blog is excited about St. Lucia's upcoming WORD ALIVE International Literary Festival, “the first full-scale international literary event of magnitude to be held in the island.”
Belarus: “Less Pro-Russian” Than Eastern Ukraine
Belarus Digest writes that, unlike in Ukraine, “groups potentially advocating a unification with Russia have never been too active in Belarus.”
East Timor: Portuguese Language Under Attack
In what is a dramatic reversal of official position Timor Hau Nia Doben reports that the President of the National Parliament agrees with recent statements by General Taur Matan Ruak that Portuguese language should be removed from Timor-Leste. [Addendum 16 March: a reader very correctly point out an error, Ruak...
Qatar: Paper Apology
‘The local paper, The Peninsula, has just had to issue an apology for a news headline last week which referred to people with Down Syndrome and other genetic disorders as “the ‘lesser people'”‘ writes Marjorie in Qatar.
China: Zola's English blog
Well known citizen reporter Zhou Shuguang starts to blog in English as he wants to be more international. Here is his first post.
What is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test?
The NihongoUp Blog gives an in-depth explanation of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) – “It is a Japanese language test for non-native speakers, held twice a year in East Asia and once a year in the rest of the world.”
China: Petty bourgeoisie
Elliot Ng from CN Review looks into the Chinese modern usage of the popular term “xiao-zi”, which originated from Karl Marx's “Petty bourgeoisie”.
Japan: Manga Newspaper
According to Anime News Network [en], Manga No Shimbun [ja] (漫画の新聞), the first web newspaper that reports daily news in a manga format, will be soon available also in English, French and Korean.
Guyana: Death of a Language
Repeating Islands notes that “Berbice Dutch, a Dutch Creole spoken in part of Guyana, has been declared officially extinct.”
Dominica: Pick Up A Book
“The book is not only the door to other wonderful world[s], but it is the best teacher, university and source of wisdom”: Dominica Weekly extolls the benefits of reading.
Trinidad & Tobago: Going to Town
Online literary magazine Town has just published its third issue: Trinidadian bloggers Nicholas Laughlin and Pleasure comment.
China: Invented English words with Chinese characteristics
Lightson gathered a list of newly invented English words for describing the specific Chinese Context.
Cambodia: Yuon, a racist term?
Erik W Davis discusses whether the Khmer term ‘Yuon’ has a racist connotation.
Global Voices in Spanish on jury for Bottup citizen journalism award
Spanish citizen journalism site Bottup is accepting entries to the II Citizen Journalist Award until March 15. The winner will be awarded free travel to any destination from where they would like to report.
