Stories about Language from September, 2007
Poland: Football, Language, and Journalism
Our Man in Gdansk writes about one Argentine football player's attempt to learn Polish.
Mauritius: Is Kreol inferior in Mauritius?
Mauritian blogger, Jean Lindsay, asks: “How can I accept that Kreol, my mother tongue, is inferior to other languages spoken in Mauritius?”
The Baltics: Unity Day; Latgallia
Marginalia writes about Latgallia, and the history and politics of the Baltic Unity Day, marked on Sept. 22.
Ramadaning in Kuwait
Ramadan, food and shopping were top priorities among Kuwaiti bloggers last week. Abdullatif AlOmar takes us on a tour of Kuwaiti blogs which include a shopping trip at a hypermarket where even the shampoo looks interesting when you are fasting!
Ukraine: The Language Issue
Victor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions is pushing for a referendum on granting Russian official status as a national language, in addition to Ukrainian. Below is a selection of views on the "language issue" from the Ukrainian blogosphere.
Lebanon: Language Differentiating Islamic Movements
Bech raises this question among others: “Is there something that differentiates Islamic movements from other movements?“ And he answers, tentatively: “The difference is in the language used as representative of a different ‘form’ of consciousness (culture, etc.) shaped by different institutions and power relations in place.”
Who Owns the African Blogosphere?
The second Digital Citizen Indaba took place on September 9, 2007 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Discussions during the Indaba centered on issues of blogging, cyber-activism, language and identity.
China: Boboing
Yee introduces a Chinese version of boing boing called boboing. It's news are translated from boing boing.
Blogging in Neo Patwa
When bloggers want to reach a wider audience for their message, there is a strong incentive to post in English in order to cross the global language divide. Blogger Jens Wilkinson, however, offers another alternative in the form of a simple pidgin he created called Neo Patwa, a language that features regularly in his blog.
Egypt: Arablish?
Blogger Arima from Egypt talks about Arablish in this hilarious post. Arablish is a “form of speech that mixes Arabic with English. It is widely used among Arab Western-educated elites.”
Latvia: N. Irish Football Fans and Russian Nationalists
All About Latvia writes about an encounter between Northern Irish football fans and Russian nationalists in Riga.
China: Has Crazy English gone crazy?
“Stand up, those who refused to be slaves……,” This is what Chinese national anthem tells. But in a class by Li Yang in Crazy English, over 3000 students kneeled down to their teachers. Is this a real thanksgiving or just a brainwashing of how to be a slave?
Russia: “Putin's Plan”
A few days ago, LJ user drugoi photographed a political ad on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow and posted the picture on his blog. The ad read: "Putin's Plan - Russia's Victory!" The blogger asked an obvious question: "What's the plan, does anyone know?" And received 150 comments from his readers, some of which are translated here. (Plus, a bonus translation: the story of Victor Pipiskin.)
Japan: NOVA unable to pay its employees
James at Japan Probe reports the news that NOVA, Japan's largest chain of English schools suffering from a deepening financial crisis, has postponed paying its English teachers this month.
Africa: The challenge of non-profit incubation
Ethan writes about the Kamusi Project: “Evidently, Kamusi has had a conflict with Yale, which hosted the project. According to the Kamusi website, the project “has been ordered to remove all links to the sites that the project has relied on to raise revenue for project maintenance and improvement.”
Introducing Global Voices in Malagasy
The Malagasy language is spoken by 17 million people, and is the national language of Madagascar. It is only the 55th most spoken language in the world, but it is still one of the 69 macro languages. Welcome to the latest new Global Voices language in the Lingua translation project. With the Global Voices amin’ny teny Malagasy project we hope to reach even more previously "unheard" voices.
China: River Crab With Three Watches
Rebecca explains the political meaning of “river crab with three watches” in China in RConversation.
Latvia, Russia: Language Issue
Marginalia writes on the “language issue” in Latvia – and in Russia: “Over at the corner store, after years of learning to shop in Russian, I finally asked whether the cashier ever planned to learn the word for milk in Latvian (it being emblazoned in large letters on every carton...
Estonia: Setumaa; Kevade
Itching for Eestimaa visits the border region of Setumaa and watches Kevade, a 1969 Estonian film.
Estonia: Nashi-in-Estonia Interview
Itching for Eestimaa translates an interview with a “Nashi-in-Estonia Kommisar.”
Estonia: Marju Lauristin's Piece
Itching for Eestimaa translates and comments on an opinion piece about Estonia's Russians by a Tartu professor Marju Lauristin.
