Schools in South Africa will begin offering instruction in various African languages beginning next year. “This means that schools that previously offered English and Afrikaans will now be mandated to offer African languages from Grade 1 and continue incrementally year-on-year,” Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga told reporters in Pretoria. The minister also took the opportunity to clear up what she called misconceptions about the addition of Mandarin in schools. “Mandarin is now available to schools that wish to offer it at an optional third language level,” Motshekga said. “It will have no impact on our current compulsory curriculum in which it is mandatory to take two South African languages.”
South Africa’s Controversial Language Education
Namer of Thrones
Game of Thrones’ language creator, David J. Peterson, details his extraordinary career as Hollywood’s linguist-in-chief
Best known for creating the fictional languages for hit series such as Game of Thrones, Defiance, and The 100, Peterson talks to Judy Heflin about his journey to mainstream success in language creation and his upcoming book, The Art of Language Invention.
Texting in Cherokee
Cherokee language supporters collaborated with Google two years ago to launch a Cherokee language interface and Cherokee language version of Google’s email service. Whether it’s Cherokee YouTube videos or Skyping with native Cherokee speakers, getting the language into new popular mediums has been a large part of the movement to revitalize the language. Currently, Cherokee immersion programs are aiming to cultivate the next generation of Cherokee speakers as most of the native or fluent speakers are elderly. Retention of the Cherokee language after such immersion programs will rely on the ability for young people to use their language in everyday ways. The Cherokee syllabary has been adapting to new forms of media, such as the printing press and typewriters, for hundreds of years and there are now over 40 Cherokee word processing fonts to choose from.
Startup Finds Arabic Language Jobs for Syrian Refugees
NaTakallam (we speak Arabic) is a new platform aimed at providing employment for Syrian refugees in Lebanon through teaching remote classes to Arabic language learners. Over 25% of registered Syrian refugees reside in Lebanon, now making up over 20% of the country. However, refugees lack the same rights as Lebanese citizens and face many legal restrictions that bar them from work. “There’s this whole group of middle-class Syrians who were really on their way to completing their degrees – who might have had small businesses – a whole group of people that are also really in need of support,” NaTakallam co-founder Aline Sara told WorldPost.
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month
Today is the first day of U.S. National Hispanic Heritage Month which is marked by celebrating the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15 and ending on October 15. It was enacted into law on August 17, 1988. The day of September 15 is significant because it is the anniversary of independence for Latin American countries Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16 and September18, respectively. Also, Columbus Day or Día de la Raza, which is October 12, falls within this 30 day period.
Teachers can find lesson plans, student activities, collection guides and research aids (including some in Spanish) here.
#HispanicHeritageMonth
U.S. Businesses Need Languages & Multiculturalism
A recent survey of more than 2,000 U.S. Human Resources (HR) managers found that 70% of respondents indicate that higher education in the U.S. needs to do more to prepare graduates in terms of language skills and multicultural experience, while one in six say that their company has lost business due to a lack of personnel with language skills and multicultural experience.
The survey of 2,101 HR managers in mid- and large-size U.S. companies by the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL), along with the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), and the Collegiate Employment Research Institute of Michigan State University showed that:
Saving Scotland’s Gaelic Language
The cultural colonization of Anglo-American media has threatened countless languages, including the Gaelic language of Scotland. Not to be confused with the Irish language, which also descended from the Celtic language of the Gaels, Gaelic is slowly on the decline. Historic Scotland set in motion a Gaelic Language Plan to enhance the status of Gaelic, promote the acquisition and learning of Gaelic, and encourage the increased use of Gaelic. The first piece of legislation to give formal recognition to the Scottish Gaelic language was the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act of 2005, which aimed to put Gaelic at an equal status with English. Still, Gaelic faces many challenges in Scotland, and some say that the solution may lie outside the country with Scotland’s diaspora.
Japan Donates to Help Refugees Learn German
The Japan Art Association, an art charity under the patronage of Prince Hitachi, unveiled a donation of ¥100 million (about $829,000) to the Goethe-Institut. The institute teaches German to foreigners, and will specifically do so in an effort to support language education for refugees arriving in Germany, the German Foreign Ministry said. Germany is receiving a flood of refugees mostly fleeing from conflicts in the Middle East. Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, has been a strong voice in the refugees crisis conversation, insisting on the importance of “human and dignified treatment” of asylum seekers in the wake of political protests. “There will be no tolerance towards those who are not prepared to help,” she said.
English Now Second Place in Puerto Rico
The Puerto Rican Senate recently approved a bill declaring Spanish as the first official language of the country, moving English to second place. The 1993 law proceeding this new regulation put both English and Spanish on equal footing making both compulsory in executive, legislative and judicial matters. “By establishing Spanish as the first official language, we will strengthen our cultural identity and validate the reality that more than 80% of Puerto Ricans do not understand nor speak English,” said Fas Alzamora in an explanatory statement on the bill.
Was Cervantes Catalan?
Historians with the Catalan separatist-leaning Institute Nova Història say that for centuries, Castilian Spanish leaders have ignored or downplayed the role of Catalunya in the country’s history.
Jordi Bilbeny, director of investigations at the institute claims that Castilian leaders have for hundreds of years tried to take credit for the accomplishments of Catalan people. Last month, the institute held seminars in Montblanc, Tarragona including one which questioned whether Miguel de Cervantes’ famous Don Quixote—widely considered the first modern novel—was in fact actually originally written in Catalan.
