languages

Women who can read have children who live longer.

by Eddie 19.08.2010

My friend Dave has written an extremely powerful piece for the Wycliffe Bible Translators Magazine; Words for Life. Anée wept bitterly as she held her baby close to her chest. She was filled with a confusion of anger, grief and guilt. She was supposed to have taken the medicine herself and the baby would have [...]

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Car Ice Cream for Dogs

by Eddie 29.07.2010

This fascinating (and potentially useful) headline comes from an Indonesian newspaper after Google Translate had finished with it. There were a number of fascinating other things to read, including: Train Miniature Rooms Success Plastiki Skip the Pacific Ocean Salad Dressing Women Arrested Police Japanese PM Leadership Doubtful Wife Elvis Autopsy Equipment Sale The car is [...]

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Learning from the Stranger

by Eddie 17.07.2010

There is a disturbing tendency within Christian mission circles to organise activities purely on a pragmatic basis. We do things because they can be demonstrated to produce certain results. In and of itself, pragmatism isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we don’t want to waste our time in ineffective and futile action. However, I would identify [...]

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In Everything…

by Eddie 16.07.2010

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:12) “In everything” says Jesus (offering no wiggle-room whatsoever that his words do not apply in this particular case), “do to others what you would have them do to you”. (Perhaps [...]

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Local Languages in Education

by Eddie 15.07.2010

This is a fascinating article on the use of local languages in Africa: Brazzaville, Congo – A United Nations education expert on Thursday told a conference of top African education officials in Brazzaville that countries on the continent need to switch from foreign to local languages as a medium of instruction in elementary school to [...]

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Multilingual Milkman!

by Eddie 12.07.2010

I love this story from the BBC: “Cemcho bhai, harisani, ano chokra kabar?” That is Gujarati for: “Hello brother, how are you? Any news about your son?” Not too unusual as the start of a conversation in the heart of the Asian community in Blackburn, apart from the fact that the words are being spoken [...]

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Measured by Opposition

by Eddie 11.07.2010

My emotions are well and truly mixed. It is, of course, flattering that no less a personage as the well renowned Revd. Drayton Parslow has condescended to take note of this humble blog. On the other hand, it does give me great concern that such a well-renowned scholar has taken issue with something that I [...]

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Translators or Missionaries

by Eddie 09.07.2010

The Denver Post recently had an article on Bible Translation which went on to appear all over the internet including on at least one British Website. I did think about commenting on some of the issues that the article raised, but decided not to. However, today I noticed that Daniel Midgely (who describes himself as [...]

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Listen to the Patois Bible

by Eddie 22.05.2010

I have commented on the translation of the Bible into Jamaican Patois on a number of occasions (here, here and here, for example).  The project is making good progress and the Gospel of Luke has been published and is now available in an audio version. The project was discussed on the prestigious Radio 4 Today [...]

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Blogging in Guarani

by Eddie 21.04.2010

In Paraguay, where only 3% of the population has access to internet [es] and where the indigenous language of Guaraní is spoken by 88% of the population and also an official state language, Mirta Martínez saw an opportunity where nobody else did. A journalist and a Guaraní teacher, she became the first and only blogger [...]

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Science and African Languages

by Eddie 12.04.2010

I’ve just come across a fascinating report about the impact of African languages on scientific progress on the continent. Africans have a rich cultural heritage and a wealth of traditional knowledge on topics ranging from agricultureand forestry to medicines and medical practices — all of which could make valuable contributions to modern science. For example, [...]

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Plane Talking

by Eddie 29.03.2010

Language is incredibly important to us and touches us at a very deep level. This is wonderfully illustrated by this story from today’s Telegraph: Four-out-of-five airline passengers feel more at ease if their pilot speaks with a “posh” voice, according to new research. And while air travellers are also reassured by Scottish and Newcastle accents, [...]

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