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Swearing in Irish, storytelling in Scots, rapping in Khmer
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Two takes on the Irish language: one from Patrick’s dad, who was a schoolboy in the early years of Ireland’s independence, when studying Irish was an exercise in nation-building. Then, an interview with Manchan Magan who made a TV series about traveling around Ireland speaking only Irish. Next, we hear from Alexander McCall Smith: his latest offering in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series is a children’s book in the Scots language. Finally, hip-hop artist Boomer Da Sharpshooter who grew up speaking English but now raps in Cambodia’s main language, Khmer. Download MP3
The Arab view of US-Israeli relations
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has dismissed the idea that US-Israeli relations are in crisis amid a quarrel over Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. The spat has certainly been getting a lot of attention in both the US and Israel. But what’s been the reaction in the Arab world? The World’s Jason Margolis has more. Download MP3
Developing Sudan’s Tuti Island
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Where the Blue and White Niles meet in Khartoum, Sudan, lies Tuti Island. While Khartoum developed into a modern city, Tuti retained its bucolic environment. But that may be about to change now that a new bridge has been built connecting Tuti to the capital city. Reporter Hana Baba has the story. Download MP3 (Photo: Hana Baba)
The East Jerusalem issue
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US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has postponed a visit to Israel amid a continuing quarrel over Israel’s decision to build more Jewish homes in East Jerusalem. The building announcement angered Washington. Tension remains high in Jerusalem, with more security forces moving in as rock throwing protesters vent their frustration. The World’s Matthew Bell chronicles the developing tensions over East Jerusalem. Download MP3 (photo: Matthew Bell)Palestinian business hampered by visa problems
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Vice President Biden’s Middle East trip could not change the impression that the peace process there is as stalled as ever. A viable Palestinian state is not imminent and developing the Palestinian economy remains difficult. Investors are even having trouble getting visas to the Palestinian territories – and that’s blocking economic growth in the West Bank. Daniel Estrin reports from Ramallah. Download MP3 (Photo: Daniel Estrin) Manny Pacquiao boxing and running for office
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Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is defending his title on Friday. And he’s also running for Congress back home. Just part of the Philippines tradition of choosing heroes for elected officials. Sunshine de Leon reports from Manila. Download MP3 (Photo source Wikipedia: Bret Newton)
Moorish grafitti and texting in Yiddish
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The Alhambra in Grenada, the crowning glory of Moorish Spain, has more than 10,000 prayers and poems in Arabic inscribed on its walls. We hear about an effort to catalog the inscriptions. Then it’s the second part of the BBC’s documentary on Yiddish. Reporter Dennis Marks takes us to New York, where the language is undergoing a modest revival: among Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights, with a family who text message in transliterated Yiddish, and with a musician a novelist who are re-interpreting the old language of Eastern Europe’s shtetls for new generations. Download MP3
World Books Review: African ‘Dreams in a Time of War’
A compelling African memoir whose unblinking candor about human behavior suggests the iconoclastic, unsentimental approach of such authors as Czesław Miłosz and I.B. Singer, writers whose recreation of a vanished world is tough-minded rather than sentimental.
Greece’s crisis and the generational divide
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Greece saw another day of nationwide strikes today. Tens of thousands went out to protest drastic wage cuts and pension freezes. Those government cuts are aimed at pulling Greece out of a debt crisis that’s threatening other countries in the Eurozone. But the Greek public says the plan is threatening Greece’s middle class. And as Joanna Kakissis reports from Athens it’s leaving a bleak future for young Greeks. Download MP3
Biden criticizes Israel over building project
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Vice-President Joe Biden has again condemned Israel over a controversial building project, saying approval had undermined trust in the peace process. Biden was speaking after meeting the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah (Photo: David Furst/AFP/Getty Images). Linda Gradstein reports. Download MP3
Somalia food aid reportedly bypasses needy
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Food aid to Somalia is being diverted and stolen on a massive scale, according to a leaked United Nations report. Anchor Marco Werman gets the details from Jeffrey Gettleman, East Africa correspondent for the New York Times. Download MP3 (Photo courtesy of World Food Program)
The BBC’s Koneksyon Ayiti + Yiddish forever
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In the latest World in Words podcast: Eleven days after Haiti’s earthquake, the BBC began daily radio broadcasts in Haitian Creole. We hear how the broadcasts kept Haitians abreast of the news and put them in touch with loved ones. Also, the past, present and future of Yiddish. Once spoken by millions in Europe, it was nearly wiped out in the Holocaust and through assimilation. Today it survives, and not only as the language that gave English klutz, kosher, kvetch and many other evocative expressions. Download MP3
Walking across the world’s deepest lake
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We’re tracking two Canadian adventurers for our Geo Quiz today. They’re attempting to cross a frozen lake in Siberia. It’s not just any lake – it’s about 400 miles across and its the deepest lake in the world. It’s the planet’s largest reservoir of fresh water. Download MP3
More violence as Iraqi vote begins
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At least 14 people have been killed in Baghdad on the first day of voting in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. On Wednesday, three suicide bombers attacked police and a hospital in Baquba, killing at least 30 people. Reporter Ben Gilbert accompanied an American embasssy election observer team in Kirkuk. Download MP3 (Photo: Ben Gilbert)
Packing flashcards, Pandas and Polyglotty Olympics
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Our top five language stories this month: why the disappearance of the Bo language is a big deal; the Olympics are being broadcast for the first time in, among other languages, Cree; when pandas move from the U.S. to China, do they have to learn a new language?; lawsuits concerning Arabic flashcards in hand baggage and speaking Spanish in English-only school; and the Pentagon’s latest attempts to equip soldiers with real-time speaking translator-bots.Download MP3
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