If you have been concerned about the press reports about the purported discvery of Jesus tomb, then you should read this article by Brian Russell. Oh go on, read it anyway!
Month: February 2007
The Language of God
“If you really want to understand a culture, then you have to understand the language. It is no good visiting a country, looking at its historic sites, reading translations of its literature, finding out its history. That is why maintaing indigenous languages is so important to preserving cultural identity. The same is true of the […]
From the BBC: Teachers in Cameroon are concerned that the new language frananglais – a mixture of French, English and Creole – is affecting the way students speak and write the country’s two official languages. With more than 250 indigenous languages and both French and English as official languages, choosing the right vocabulary to convey […]
A Crowded Room
This is me, with too many other people in a small room in a hot climate planning for Bible translation work!
More on Language
From the Independant. Many animals and plants threatened with extinction could be saved if scientists spent more time talking with the native people whose knowledge of local species is dying out as fast as their languages are being lost. Potentially vital information about many endangered species is locked in the vocabulary and expressions of local […]
Twins: Who is the Oldest?
Which twin is the oldest; the one who is born first or second? To the Western mindset the answer is straightforward, but in Northern Ivory Coast things are seen a little differently – there, the second born twin is actually the older: The reasoning behind this is that the older is more important, so the […]
The Power of Language
When we worked among the Kouya we were always surprised at how family terms were fairly fluid. For instance any male of your own generation was a brother and a woman in your family of the generation above you could be called ‘mother’. People had no trouble recognising who their mother was, but family closeness […]
Birdwatching in Togo
I went birdwatching with some friends yesterday morning. I’m not quite sure why birds need to get out of bed quite so early, but they do seem to feel that it is needed and so birdwatchers are condemned to standing around with binoculars to their eyes at times of day when normal people are fast […]
Video of Togo
I’ve been trying out a camcorder here in Lomé, but I can’t get it to talk to my computer to load the stuff on to You Tube. In the meantime, here are some scenes from around the country shot by a US Peace Corps volunteer. I don’t know what they look like because the link […]
Sometimes when I’m facilitating a planning workshop, I find myself rushed off my feet. This week, has been rather the opposite, I give the group work to do and they just get on and do it without asking me lots of questions. This means I’ve had some time to catch up on my reading. I’ve […]