Tag Archives: Africa
Are Chinese Kids Losing a Part of Their Language?
In China, authorities are worried that the technical ease of typing Chinese characters means that people are forgetting how to write them. As a result, they are urging schools to re-introduce mandatory calligraphy classes. I’m learning Chinese, and so I … Continue reading
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Liberian proverbs, Ajami, and courteous interruptions
My colleague Jason Margolis recently went to Liberia to report a few stories for The World. While he was there, he spent some time with his childhood buddy Jason Hepps, who has lived and worked in Liberia for five years. … Continue reading
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Gaddafi’s translator, Swedish fury at UNESCO, and Nazi slogans in English
Here are the 5 stories Carol Hills and I selected as our top five language-related stories for the past month or two: 5. The sad tale of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s translator at the United Nations General Assembly. Gaddafi spoke … Continue reading
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Nasty speech in the Netherlands, bitter truths in South Africa, and goofy government speech in Denmark
After Joe Wilson’s “you lie!”, after Kanye West at the MTV awards, after Serena Williams’ outburst at the US Open, you may think: enough already with nasty speech! Well, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet. This week, a report on a … Continue reading
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podcast #44: Haruki Murakami’s fans, confessions of a kanji-holic, and kwassa kwassa
This week, we check out a claim that with the aid of a supercomputer, it’s possible to predict which words will become extinct in a few centuries. The word “dirty” apparently doesn’t have much staying power. Nor do “guts” and … Continue reading
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