Global Voices Online

This week, two of the most prestigious French literary prizes were awarded to two French-speaking authors of African descent: The French-speaking Caribbean blogosphere has been buzzing over this double satisfaction, in this post from Haiti, this one from Guadeloupe and this one from Martinique [Fr].

A Nevada Yankee in King Zog's Court writes that “Albanians are so poor at giving directions that it's easier just to take the lost soul directly to his destination than it is to give directions.”

“Are you Chikuyu or Ruo?,” asks Proud Kikuyu Woman: “Lakini [lakini means “but” in Swahili] the one that initially used to surprise me is when I tell someone I’m Kenyan and they go , “Chikuyu or Ruo”. The letter K is often pronounced as ‘Ch’ in Luganda (and the G as ‘J’ hence ‘Mijingo’-but not Ujanda). Like us Agikuyu, many Baganda (and I think Banyankole, too) replace the L with the R in many words. I haven’t come across an R in Luganda, and there is no L in Gikuyu.”

“In Russia Snow Walks…” - notes on the Russian language and the Russian winter, at Russian Blog.

A Yankee-in-Belgrade writes about playing Scrabble in the Serbian language.

Niki Cheong form Malaysia reacts to the statement of a government minister who appeals for a wider usage of the Bahasa Malaysia national language

Edward Lucas writes about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, including the “linguistic discontents.”

Albanian Blogger recommends scholar Robert Elsie's work to those interested in the Albanian language and literature.

In the midst of the International Creole Month, Guadeloupean blogger CaribCreoleOne discusses [Fr] the now official use of Creole language alongside French in all the administrative procedures and places, in the city of Le Port in Reunion.