· August, 2010

Stories about Language from August, 2010

Ukraine: Anthem in 14 Languages

  28 August 2010

Ukraine's national anthem performed in 14 languages (Ukrainian, Greek, Tatar, Gagauz, Polish, Romanian, Georgian, Yiddish, Romani, Russian, Hungarian, Belarusian, Armenian, Azerbaijani) – at Ukrainiana.

Ethiopia/Eritrea: Languages spoken in Ethiopia/Eritrea

  28 August 2010

Learn about languages spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea:”Amharic is the dominant and official language of Ethiopia.Whereas Eritrea does not have any official languages but English, Italian, Tigrinya, and Arabic are languages which are commonly used in official communication.”

Paraguay: Day of the Guaraní Language

  25 August 2010

Juan Carlos Rodríguez writes [es] in his blog about the day of the Guaraní language. He says that on August 25, 1967, Guaraní was recognized as a national language. He also shares a short ebook on the “sacred book of the Guaraní”, Ayvu Rapyta.

Africa: The new direction for Maneno blogging platform

  19 August 2010

Miquel discusses new direction for multilingual blogging platform, Maneno: “…we will be stepping back from the active social media promotion of articles and content that people have been writing on Maneno. Additionally, we are also going to gradually stop hosting blogs on the system as well as not accept any...

East Timor: Raging debate on “culture”

  18 August 2010

Blog Timor News Network has republished a Facebook debate which was kicked off in late July by Augusto da Silva who posted a well-crafted essay by Fidelis Maglhães, challenging Timorese usage of “culture”. Magalhães was responding to a photo of the people of a mountain town carrying the PM.

Morocco: English as the Second Language

Said Bellari, a writer for Moroccoboard.com, advocates the gradual eradication of the dependence on the French language, and the introduction of English as the official second language of Morocco. In his essay, he introduces a newfangled concept known as “disliteracy.” reports Nabila Taj.

St. Lucia: R.I.P. Sesenne

  13 August 2010

The Caribbean Review of Books acknowledges the passing of “Marie Selipha ‘Sesenne’ Descartes, St Lucian folk singer and ‘queen of folk culture’.”

Taiwan: Dear Premier Wu, Please Stop Calling People “Idiot”

  11 August 2010

Enable talks about the recent case[zht] of Premier Wu Den Yih, who was sued by pro-independence group for publicly claiming that “only idiots would support Taiwan independence“. By citing the case of U.S. President Obama, the blog post criticizes Taiwanese politicians, entertainers and TV series for their usual usage of insulting...

China: Foreigners’ Chinese Tattoos

  11 August 2010

China Hush translated some Chinese character tattoos and advised that “if you don’t understand Chinese and ever were thinking about getting a tattoo of Chinese characters, the advice is to get a second opinion from your knowledgeable Chinese friend”.

Russia: Internet Trolls for the Good?

RuNet Echo  10 August 2010

Blogger fritzmorgen argues [RUS] in favor of Internet trolls [EN] in Russia. The bloggers claims that rolls help Russian bloggers improve their rhetorical skills, general knowledge and the ability to provide proper argumentation fast in the real life. In Russia, however, online arguments may lead to physical violence, he adds.

Hong Kong and China: Support Cantonese action

  3 August 2010

Michelle from interlocals translated an article explaining how citizens from Hong Kong and Guangzhou have informed each other in their civic action, such as the most recent cross border action in supporting Cantonese.