Stories about Language
Interview with Ukraine's most translated author, Russophone novelist Andrei Kurkov
Global Voices interviewed Andrei Kurkov, one of Ukraine's most prolific and translated authors, who writes his novels in Russian and his non-fiction in Ukrainian.
Russian diplomats react to a new law on language in Kyrgyzstan, bringing back colonial past
The Kyrgyz language is an integral part of national identity. It is vital for the survival of Kyrgyz people as a separate ethnic group and Kyrgyzstan as a nation.
‘Indigenous languages are asleep, not extinct,’ says Kokama linguistics researcher
The UN has instituted the period between 2022 and 2032 as International Decade for Indigenous Languages. In an interview for GV's partner Amazônia Real, professor and researcher Altaci Rubim, from the Kokama people, talks about the importance of it.
A documentary showcases why some Taiwanese consider Southeast Asia a land of opportunity
A documentary portraying a Taiwanese shrimp expert trying to find success in Myanmar tells in a very nuanced way the misperceptions many Taiwanese harbor about Southeast Asia.
How India's Ho- and Santali-language content creators are holding space for Indigenous linguistic assertion
A 2022 study conducted in Ho and Santali, Indigenous languages from India, found that 70.4 percent of creators use their smartphones to create and upload content, though monetizing remains a major challenge.
A rapper in Uzbekistan is challenging widespread social issues through his songs
Konsta’s songs focus on Uzbek society, its problems, and the role of each individual in unfolding events.
Undertones: If on welfare, better learn Dutch and be a man
Low education about AI tech leads to ill-informed narratives about algorithmic bias
A small dictionary of ‘Cha Bubo,’ a vernacular from Butembo in the Democratic Republic of Congo
In addition to the national languages in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cha Bubo is a specific linguistic entity spoken in Butembo, in Nord-Kivu province
How Africans are bridging the language digital divide
About 20 years ago, 80 percent of the world's online content was in English. Currently W3Tech estimates that 54.9 percent of websites with known content languages use English.
‘Pozor i styd': Russian has two words for shame
Russian often has two words where French has only one. One serves to describe the outer thing, while the other describes the inner thing.
A leaked report exposes government's cover-up of repressions against Uyghurs in China
The leaked document sheds light on the Chinese authorities’ comprehensive and intense efforts to cover up these violations and restrict access to information by international media.
Punjabi Wikipedia for 21 years: Celebrating 50,000 articles and looking ahead
The entire volunteer community came together for Mission 50,000, a call-for-action to reach 50k articles, in order to celebrate the 21st birthday of Punjabi Wikipedia.
Central Asian leaders sigh with relief as Erdoğan wins presidential elections in Turkey
After a cooling off in the relations in the 1990s and early 2000s, the blossoming of cooperation between Turkey and Central Asia has come under Erdoğan’s rule.
Can poetry in translation reimagine a free Belarusian–Ukrainian bridge?
Belarus is a victim of and a tool for Russia in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Can poetry and translation establish a fragile bridge between Ukraine and free Belarusians?
How I ended up despising my mother tongue in Ukraine
Attempts to explain our position to war supporters in Russia failed in the first months of 2022, and using Russian now evokes the trauma of that total non-understanding and aggressive denial.
Reporting from ‘the roof of the world': How Pamir Daily News works in Tajikistan
"I am sure that through such channels the decision centers receive a lot of things that they would never have been told through their official channels."
‘The task of achieving transitional justice in Taiwan remains unfinished': Interview with writer C.J. Anderson-Wu
Taiwanese translator turned anglophone writer C. J. Anderson-Wu explains in an interview how the need to convey Taiwan's experience of military dictatorship made her pick English as a creative language.
Interview with the author of “The Fugitive of Gezi Park”
Ten years ago, a group of environmentalists gathered at Istanbul's Gezi Park resisting the demolition of one of the remaining green spaces in the heart of this cosmopolitan city.
Who will this generation be after the war in Ukraine?
I never cared about politics. And now I am 37, I have a bunch of written books under my belt, also translations, depression, and a gun.
‘Central Asian literature exists regionally only in Russian': Interview with Russophone Uyghur writer Ramil Niyazov-Adyldzhyan
While the majority of Uyghur people live in China, a large Uyghur diaspora lives in Central Asia, including in Kazakhstan, where they are freer to express themselves.
ÒCTele, a private TV station broadcasting in Occitan brings the language to France's public space
In southern France, a private TV initiative takes the safeguarding of the Occitan language to the next level by mainstreaming Occitan content for all age-category audiences over traditional and social media.