Stories about Language from November, 2012
Politically-Charged Questionnaire Triggers Tibetan Student Protest in China
On November 26, 2012 about one thousand Tibetan students protested in Chabcha County, Qinghai Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, against a politically-charged questionnaire on a Medical School campus .
The Lives of Hui Muslims in China
China’s Hui Muslims is second-largest ethnic minority, ChinaFile shoot a video about the lives of Hui women and what the religion means to them.
Spain: Catalan Elections – “We are all Garcia”
This Sunday, voters in Catalonia head to the polls . The electoral campaign, which has honed in on the question of independence, began last week with a polemic video posted on the Youtube channel of the unionist Catalan People's Party (Partit Popular de Catalunya or PPC). The video rapidly generated a negative reaction among Catalan netizens on Twitter, who created the hashtag #totssomgarcia or "we are all Garcia", expressing solidarity with "Spanish" Catalans and criticizing the divisive content of the PPC campaign spot.
An Initiative to Keep Portuguese Language Teaching in French Universities
Portuguese is the sixth most-spoken language in the world, and there are about two million Portuguese speakers in France. Geneviève Fioraso, the French Minister of Higher Education and Research, said that having rare disciplines such as Portuguese in all French universities may not be efficient.
Hay Festival Dhaka Is Back Again!
The 2nd edition of Hay Festival will be held on 15-17 November 2012 in the historic grounds of the Bangla Academy, Dhaka. It is hoped that through this event the new generation of Bangladeshi writers in English will be promoted to the global literary community.
Language Divide in Malaysia
Jerrenn Lam ponders upon the issue of language differences in Malaysia and how the schooling process can reinforce cultural divisions in the country.
Jamaica: Creole and Jamaican Identity
Our educators don’t seem to understand that as long as we tell children that they ‘chat bad’ when they use their mother tongue, we are planting the seeds of low self-esteem. And we will reap badness. Or, perhaps, we do understand and that’s why we refuse to acknowledge Jamaican as...
