Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

China

The State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) last month announced rules requiring China's major television stations to broadcast only “main theme” television during prime time hours. Ming Dynasty 1566 is one of the main theme.

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated an interview with the T.V programme director, Zhang Li, from The Economic Observer which tells the production process of the historical drama.

Hungary

Pestcentric writes this about Budapest's current image: “Sure, Budapest now holds the dubious distinction of being Europe’s porn capital, (to be addressed at a later time), but its public face doesn’t need to show it.”

Croatia

Pestcentric discovers that, due to the recent football scandals in Italy, Hungary (together with Croatia) may have a chance to win the bid to host Euro 2012: “Sure, Hungary has seasonal rioting, but it should be brought to the attention of those voting that there are no public holidays tied to a revolution in the summer months.”

Hungary

Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar points out that the Hungarian government is suggesting the wrong motivation for studying English: “[…] achieving the rather lofty (and therefore completely unmeasureable) objective of increasing the ‘mobility of upcoming Hungarian generations' and improving ‘their options on the labor market.' Think about the logic of that statement. If everybody, as the government wishes, learns English, then the mobility and options on the labour market remains exactly as they are now; we’ll just have higher qualified street-cleaners that are able to watch BBC World.”

Hungary

Hungarian prime minister recently compared the Hungarian and British health care systems. Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar responded with a mock comparison - and here's the first item: “In Hungary, the patients have to bring their own toilet rolls.”

Hungary

“Since the riots last September, Kossuth ter - the square where parliament is situated - has been closed to the public. […] On Friday, the opposition party thought it would be a good idea to remove the barriers themselves,” writes The Hungary Years. Pestcentric also covers the initiative.

Estonia

Itching for Eestimaa has moved to live in Estonia: “So we are finally here in our new home of Tartu, Estonia. I've been here many times before, but never to live. In the past my “home” in Estonia was in Tallinn. Now I will get used to living in Tartu, which is a university town, and largely devoid of the large crowds of wandering Brits in search of their next drink.” He posts two entries of observations of everyday life in Tartu and Estonia - here and here.

Estonia

Itching for Eestimaa writes about the history of Estonia's Jews.

Estonia

Itching for Eestimaa mentions the Estonian president's position on the Bronze Soldier scandal.

El Salvador

Ethel from San Salvador is now officially an economist. But where to from here? “I know I wanna make positive changes in my society, in my country, etc, etc, etc, that is why I joined and mostly why I've stayed in AIESEC. My real problem is that I haven't find what am I really good at? So how can I cause positive changes if I haven't find my biggest strength? and how do I find it?”