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The World’s Carol Hills reviews the week’s news through political cartoons from around the globe. This week: the Earth fumes, economic giants continue to belch c02s, and Copenhagen produces an agreement that’s about as helpful as half a life raft.
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December 15 is the most important day in the calendar for people who speak Esperanto. It is Zamenhof Day, named after the man who dreamed up the idea of a language that the entire planet would one day speak. L.L. Zamenhof was born 150 years ago, and though his dream was never realized, Esperanto is still spoken — in fact it’s undergoing something of a revival in the internet age. We consider the failure and success of Esperanto. Also, why the Irish parliament bans words such as guttersnipe and brat, but permits certain swearwords. Finally, if your name is Mark, expect to be teased in Norway.
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In the latest podcast, an audio archive of British World War One POWs recorded by a German linguist. That’s followed by the story of how British convenience store chain Spar is re-writing wine labels in Scottish, Liverpudlian and other UK dialects. Then, how English might have sounded had the Saxons won the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Then, back to the the present day, as an ATM company uses cockney rhyming slang to dispense cash. Finally, American anglophiles on lorries, cricket bats and other linguistic oddities.
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Our top five language stories this month: African languages get their versions of Windows; the government of Moldova changes the name of the country’s official language; South Korean birthing centers go multilingual; unfortunate foreign meanings of baby names and how you can protect yourself; and Na’vi, invented for the silver screen, hopes to emulate Klingon.
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Many people learned their first foreign words from their grandmothers. Marco Werman learned a Dutch curse. Nina Porzucki learned a Yiddish word that speaks to a certain Jewish mindset. Marilyn Chin learned insults, puns and tongue twisters, many of which later found their way into Chin’s poetry and fiction.
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For today’s Geo Quiz — think Genghis Khan. You have to marvel at the sheer size of his Empire. The 13th century Mongol ruler oversaw what’s considered the largest contiguous empire in history.
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We select our top five language-related stories from the past month. Among them: Some birds develop distinct dialects based on the decibel levels of their habitats; Companies doing business in Glasgow are offered interpreters to translate the local dialect; And Chinese expats do battle over which script U.S. schools should use to teach Chinese – traditional characters, favored in Taiwan and Hong Kong, or simplified characters, used in mainland China.
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