Stories about Language from February, 2015
Imported Bollywood Films Have Become Quite a Drama in Bangladesh
Popular Bangladeshi actor Shakib Khan joined protests against Indian movies being screened, arguing it would hurt the country's struggling film industry. Film distributors and cinema owners then banned his films.
French Teenagers Speak a Language All Their Own. Confused? Here's a Guide
Did you know "2m1" means "tomorrow"? Or that "C'est de la balle" means "That's great"? For anyone lost, we've collected some tips to help you understand the lingo.
Australians Shake Up Internet With Indigenous #MotherLanguage Tweets
Australians joined people from around the world for International Mother Language Day by tweeting in indigenous languages.
Tanzanian Schools Will Teach Students in Swahili, Not English
President Jakaya Kikwete launched a new education system in Tanzania last week that, among other changes, will introduce Swahili as the language of instruction in schools.
Indigenous Tweets Highlight International Mother Language Day in Australia
Wamut,aka @kriolkantri on Twitter, and blogger of ten years, shared indigenous tweets on Storify: “February 21 is International Mother Language Day and this year, Australians showed off Aboriginal and Islander languages in a spectacular way and highlighted the amazing-yet-fragile linguistic diversity found across the continent”. Happy International #MotherLanguage Day! We're...
The Translation Detail Everyone Missed in the China Internet’s Incredibly Surreal Anthem
Below is an edited version of “The Translation Detail Everyone Missed in the China Internet's Incredibly Surreal Anthem“ by Jason Li, originally published on the blog 88 Bar and republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement. In case you missed it, the New York Times, ProPublica, the Guardian and the Atlantic all wrote about...
Twitter Chatter About Putin and Poroshenko: The Language Breakdown
Tweets in Russian account for over half of the 6,342,294 tweets in our dataset. English, Spanish, Ukrainian, and French are the other common languages in tweets about Putin and Poroshenko.
Argentina Creates Registry of Interpreters of Indigenous Languages
Argentina creates the Registry of Interpreters of Indigenous Languages, following the case of Reina Maraz after being in prison for three years without knowing why, for not having Quechua language interpreter in the country.
Tweet in Your #MotherLanguage to Celebrate Linguistic Diversity Online
The world speaks thousands of languages, but you wouldn't know it by looking at Twitter. You can help change that by sending out tweets in your #MotherLanguage on February 21.
Are We Witnessing the Death of ‘Uh'? Um, Maybe — and Not Just in English
We humans have been using expressions of hesitation for a long time. Linguists are now noting a shift in usage across a number of Germanic languages from "um" to "uh."
The Tajik President's 82-Year-Old Former Maths Teacher Cannot Pass an Exam to Register as an Opposition Candidate
'All politics is local.' In Tajikistan, politics is even more local than usual.
