· April, 2012

Stories about Language from April, 2012

Martinique: Where has Creole gone?

  30 April 2012

On Martinican collective blog Montray Kreyol, a recent post [Fr/Fr Cr] wonders why Martinique 1ère [Fr], which is the local relay of the French National Broadcast Network, Fance Television [En], has almost no Creole language spoken on air.

Trinidad & Tobago: Grammatically Correct

  27 April 2012

“I know that I would really judge someone who couldn’t construct a sentence properly. I write for a living. Can you blame me if I think that great grammar skills are sexy?” Karel McIntosh, writing at Outlish, says that “if a guy has poor grammar skills, that’s a deal breaker.”

Jamaica: Literary Festival Founder Gets Guggenheim Fellowship

  23 April 2012

Nadine, Unscripted says that “kudos are in order for poet, author and co-founder of Calabash International Literary Festival Trust, Kwame Dawes, who has been awarded a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship for Poetry, one of the most prestigious of its kind in the world.”

Bulgaria: “Why Should We Read Books?”

  23 April 2012

As many in Bulgaria fear that there are fewer people reading books now than in the past, Ognyan Antov of Anapest offers [bg] three answers to the question “Why should we read books?”: 1. Because thus we absorb the language and its grammar and spelling; 2. This way, we come...

Ghana: Shinning Light on Akan/Twi Movies

  18 April 2012

African Movie Critic shines light on Akan/Twi movies from Ghana: “I have always said local movies in both Ghana and Nigeria (e.g. Yoruba movies) ALWAYS seem to have a better story line. Why is that? Is it because the actors and actresses are able to perform better and let the...

Argentina: Documentary on Urban Natives Looking for Subtitles

  11 April 2012

The previously featured Creative Commons documentary Runa Kuti on the identity of urban dwelling indigenous descendants in the city of Buenos Aires is looking for volunteers to help them subtitle the documentary into indigenous languages found in Argentina such Quechua, Aymara, Mapuche and Guaraní as well as into English.

France: Taking a Stand for Regional Languages

  11 April 2012

On March 31, several simultaneous events took place in France's major cities, driven by the overarching goal of showing support to regional as well as indigenous languages. Rayna St. reports.

Azerbaijan: Anti-virus software and machine translation

NetProphet comments on the release of Azerbaijan's first domestically produced anti-virus software, named after the country's capital, B.A.K.U. Launched at an expensive hotel, the event was not without its glitches, however, and most notably with invitations plagued by grammatical errors from what appeared to be machine translation. Amused, social network...

Haiti: Women & the Spoken Word (Part 2)

  4 April 2012

Haitian-American spoken-word artist Melissa Beauvery talks to Global Voices about the inspiration for her first project, the importance of oral tradition and the close-knit community that is the Haitian diaspora.

Haiti: Women & the Spoken Word (Part 1)

  3 April 2012

Francesca Andre is a Haitian photographer who has directed a new video about spoken-word Haitian-American artist Melissa Beauvery. Andre talks to Global Voices about her work, how this video fits in to the bigger picture of amplifying the voices of Haitian women and the significance of Haitian art and culture.