The Bible is being translated into Jamaican patois. For some, it’ll bring the scriptures alive; for others it’s just not how the word of God ought to sound. Then a longish segment on English that’s so bad, it’s rotten. Whether spoken by Joe Strummer, Linton Kwesi Johnson or Louise Bennett, this is the language of oppression, [...]
Entries from November 2008
November 20, 2008
podcast #31: Shakespeare’s appeal, Milton’s linguistic inventions and a Japanese naming ceremony
Which dead old writer coined the words eyeball, premeditated and jaded? Which one came up with embellish, sensuous and intervolve? (OK, so they didn’t all catch on.) And which one kept a diary – now online in blog form – whose most popular entry is One Egg? It’s part one of our look at writers [...]
November 14, 2008
podcast #30: One Bolivian language goes digital, another is good in road rage situations…and Zulu hip hop
First, how open source software is helping Bolivia’s Aymara language enter the digital age. Then, a nice turn of phrase in another Bolivian language, Quechua, as used by someone’s grandmother in moments of road rage. Finally, two South African hits – a proposed pledge of allegiance that has everyone in a tizzy, and a short history [...]
November 7, 2008
podcast #29: Misleading war metaphors, Rwanda rejects French, and the crimes of Franglais
We kick off the Globama era with a discussion of how we micharacterise wars, especially how and when they end. Did the American Civil War end at Appomattox in April 1865 or at the ballot box in November 2008? Also, we examine why Rwanda is switching its language of instruction from French to English. Finally, [...]
