Stories about Language from December, 2013
Dishing on Sino-American Relations
Chinese food culture constitutes a significant part in the Chinese language. Below is a part of an online fictional story on a conversation between Obama and Xi Jinping on Sino American relation explained and translated by Mary Ann O'Donnell: With respect to the importance of Sino-American relations, we will eat...
Innovation: A Spell Checker for Bambara Language
Fasokan in Mali reports on the creation of an app to help spell check texts in Bambara [fr] : Il est disponible sur les traitements de texte et outils bureautiques libres et gratuit : Open Office, Libre Office, Néo Office, et sur les ordinateurs Windows, Mac, et Linux. Qu’est-ce qui...
Do You Speak Nouchi? Ivorian Politicians Would Like to Know
What is Nouchi [fr]? Let's start with what it is not: it is not Creole and it is not a dialect. Nouchi is a coded language that originated in the 70's on the streets of Abidjan, the capital city of Côte d'Ivoire. It's a mix of French language and West...
The Fake Interpreter at Mandela's Memorial Service
The Mandela memorial sign-language interpreter, Thamsanqa Jantjie, didn’t use any known sign language. He is now known all over the world as the "Fake Interpreter".
The Caucasus Network: In Blogs, Russian is the Common Language
No indigenous languages dominate any of the blogging platforms in the North Caucasus. Even the forums dedicated exclusively to local issues operate in Russian.
Introducing the Blogosphere of Russia’s North Caucasus
Our new study explores the people and culture of the blogospheres of Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Ossetia.
Ukraine: Translators Organize on Facebook to Provide Live #Euromaidan Updates
Volunteer translators following the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine have organized on Facebook, setting up pages like Maidan Needs Translators and Euromaidan Translators where urgent news from the protests that require translation to reach a wider international audience are shared and Euro-Maidan As It Is, where translated content is published. The...
Facebook in Guarani: What is Facebook Doing in Paraguay?
What is Facebook looking for in a market of just 6.9 million inhabitants? Gabriela Galilea talks with Laura Gonzalez Eestéfani, Facebook's Director of Latin American Growth.
China Downplays English-Language Education With Series of Reforms
"How many Chinese have been hurt by the English education? It should have been abolished long ago."
Top 4 Buzzwords that People in Japan Couldn't Stop Saying in 2013
"Imadesho", meaning "how 'bout now?!", and "baigaeshi", meaning revenge, are at the top of the list of popular buzzwords in Japan this year.
A Pastebin for Arabic Content on the Web
“Arabic is the seventh most spoken language by Internet users but only three per cent of digital content on the web comprises of Arabic material,” estimate experts. Among the most frequent web usages is sharing text, through Pastebin and similar services. Yet these do not properly support Arabic text. Developed...
Blogging the Simple and Impossible Task of Literary Translation
British writer, editor and translator Daniel Hahn is blogging his progress as he translates Blue Flowers, a novel by Brazilian writer Carola Saavedra, from Portuguese into English, a process that “is both simple and impossible”: So over these next couple of months I’m going to try to articulate what for me are the delights...
