Stories about Language from August, 2010
Thailand: Tweet Yourself Thai
Tweet Yourself Thai is a blog of “short, timely, thematic lessons for intermediate learners of Thai.”
Morocco: Hating TV Dubbed in Arabic
Moroccan blogger Mohamed Mouad explains why he hates television shows which are dubbed in Arabic.
Ukraine: Anthem in 14 Languages
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
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...
Thailand: Learn Thai language through Skype
Catherine Wentworth discusses the procedure and her experience of learning the Thai language through Skype.
Paraguay: Day of the Guaraní Language
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...
Malawi: Newest Edition of Chichewa Dictionary
Victor writes about the newest edition of Chichewa dictionary: “Foundation Heart for Malawi offers free access to the online Dictionary to everyone, though limited to 10 searches per day and...
Africa: The new direction for Maneno blogging platform
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...
East Timor: Raging debate on “culture”
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...
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
The Caribbean Review of Books acknowledges the passing of “Marie Selipha ‘Sesenne’ Descartes, St Lucian folk singer and ‘queen of folk culture’.”
Philippines: “Jejemon” Translator and the Global Voices Manifesto
Jejemon is a special combination of internet and mobile phone language which is popularly used by young Filipinos today. Using the Jejemon Translator, let us 'jejemonize' the Global Voices Manifesto.
Taiwan: Dear Premier Wu, Please Stop Calling People “Idiot”
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...
China: Foreigners’ Chinese Tattoos
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...
South Africa: The Liberation of Afrikaans
Sean Jacobs writes about a new film by a South African filmmaker Dylan Valley called Afrikaaps, which focuses on the neglected roots of the Afrikaans language.
Russia: Internet Trolls for the Good?
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...
Ghana: Translating constitution into local languages
Nana discusses the idea of translating Ghana's constitution, presently available only in English, into Ghanaian local languages.
Russia: Fires, Rynda and Putin Create Internet Meme
The coverage of Russian fires on the blogosphere took a different turn when notorious Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin replied to one of the posts on LiveJournal, popular blogging platform in the country, and, inadvertently, created a new Internet meme called "rynda."
Taiwan: Slogans to Encourage Childbirth
Micheal Turton translated some slogans, selected by the Ministry of the Interior, to encourage Taiwanese to have kids.
Hong Kong and China: Support Cantonese action
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...
Global: Mozilla Drumbeat Seeks to Expand the Open Web
Mozilla Foundation, creator of the internet browser Firefox, has launched Drumbeat, a project that seeks to gather people with the most diverse backgrounds and from many parts of the world to think up projects that promote the openness of the web.
