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Latin: 'Dead' language returns to school curriculums
More and more students in the US are embracing Latin. a language that was once rejected as outdated and useless.
Many students seeking to increase SAT scores or to stand out from their friends choose to study Latin while others simply harbor a fascination for the ancient language after reading Harry Potter’s Latin-based chanting spells.
The number of students in the United States taking the National Latin Exam has risen steadily to more than 134,000 students in each of the past two years, from 124,000 in 2003 and 101,000 in 1998, with large increases in remote parts of the country like New Mexico, Alaska and Vermont. The number of students taking the Advanced Placement test in Latin, meanwhile, has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, to 8,654 in 2007.
Latin is also thriving in New York City, where it is currently taught in about three dozen schools, including Brooklyn Latin, a high school in East Williamsburg that started in 2006. Four years of Latin, and two of Spanish, are required at the new high school, where Latin phrases adorn the walls and words like discipuli (students), magistri (teachers) and latrina (bathroom) are sprinkled into everyday conversation. “It’s the language of scholars and educated people,” said Jason Griffiths, headmaster of Brooklyn Latin. “It’s the language of people who are successful. I think it’s a draw, and that’s certainly what we sell.” More and more students in the US are embracing Latin. a language that was once rejected as outdated and useless. ... more -
Me No Speak
"Me No Speak" is a phrase book that uses pictures to help travelers communicate.
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Belgian King Wants to Try Again - Leterme's Resignation Rejected
Earlier this week, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered to resign. But on Thursday evening, King Albert II asked him to stay on for one last try to solve the country's political crisis.
As recently as Tuesday, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme had thought he was out of a job (more...). But on Thursday evening, Belgium's King Albert II decided against accepting Leterme's letter of resignation and asked three other senior politicians to explore ways to solve the ongoing crisis that threatens to break the 177-year-old country apart.
Leterme had offered to quit after failing to solve an ongoing dispute between parties from either side of Belgium's linguistic divide. He said in his letter that "communities' conflicting visions of how to give a new equilibrium to our state have become incompatible" and that the "federal model has reached its limit."
King Albert II, however, wants politicians representing the country's 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4 million French speakers to try again. "The king has refused to accept the resignation of the government and has asked the government to promote the chances of success of this mission as much as possible," the palace said in a statement issued to the media.
The king has also appointed two senior Francophone politicians Francois Xavier de Donnea and Raymond Langendries along with Karl-Heinz Lambertz, who leads Belgium's small German-speaking community, to try and find a way out of the country's political dead-end.
Read more... Earlier this week, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme offered to resign. But on Thursday evening, King Albert II asked him to stay on... more -
Awkward signs from around the world... lost in translation
Ever been in a foreign hotel and seen a sign that directed you to "Slip carefully"?
We've been there. English is a tricky language, and translating it can be just about impossible.
We're all for being worldly, but we're also amazed and amused by the wonderful mistakes people around the world make with that verbal stew known as English.
Here are some of the best we found on the Web, but feel free to send us your own discoveries. Ever been in a foreign hotel and seen a sign that directed you to "Slip carefully"? ... more -
Judge to man: 'Learn English or it's jail for you buddy'
A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail.
The men, who faced prison for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, can remain on parole if they learn to read and write English, earn their GEDs and get full-time jobs, Luzerne County, PA Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said.
The men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario, all needed translators when they pleaded guilty Tuesday.
"Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?" the judge asked them.
What do you guys think...Outlandish or progressive? YOU decide?! A judge known for creative sentencing has ordered three Spanish-speaking men to learn English or go to jail. ... more -
2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit at Northern Michigan University: Proposal deadlin...
Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit
EXTENDED DEADLINE!
Northern Michigan University is seeking presentation proposals for the 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit to be held at NMU April 22-23.
This summit is made possible by the Center for Native American Studies, the Environmental Science Program and the Office of International Programs.
This summit will function as a call to action on Indigenous environmental issues in the Great Lakes area, on Turtle Island and around the world.
An Aboriginal Australian delegation from the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project will be featured as keynote presenters and will provide musical entertainment.
http://www.tkrp.com.au
Presentations should ultimately include ideas on how to address Indigenous environmental concerns. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following.
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (T.E.K.)
- Education and Indigenous environmental concerns
- History of industrialism, industrial threats, Indigenous peoples and the Earth
- Economic globalization and Indigenous peoples
- Indigenous languages and the Earth
- Solutions in Indigenous cultures to environmental problems
- Indigenous subsistence rights and protection of sacred land
- Global poisoning and the impact on Indigenous peoples
- Climate change and its impact on Indigenous peoples
A variety of presentations are encouraged (music, art, films as well as papers and panels).
Activists, Native elders and Native community members are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.
Proposals should be 150-300 words in length. Deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday, March 17, 2008.
Send to:
cnas@nmu.edu
(attachments should only be in Microsoft Word or as a PDF)
Subject line: Indigenous Earth Day Summit Proposal
-or-
Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette, MI 49855
For more information call 906-227-1397
http://www.nmu.edu/nativeamericans Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit EXTENDED DEADLINE! ... more -
Where the buffalo roam
With the knowledge that my father's side of my family is part-Cherokee, I've always been somewhat fascinated with the plight of Native Americans. That led me to a pow-wow in Denver, Colorado at the end of November, where I met Ralph, a well-respected elder member of the Kiowa Indian tribe.
The old American Western song goes: 'Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play.' The song is an idyllic image of the American West.
Likewise, Ralph paints an idyllic past of American Indians, lamenting their loss of innocence and current state. Ultimately, he believes, American Indians are endagered, just as the American buffalo once was. With the knowledge that my father's side of my family is part-Cherokee, I've always been somewhat fascinated with the plight... more -
Assuring Diversity Online: All Languages, Cultures and Abilities
The internet was invented in the Western world, and it is currently dominated by Western culture and languages. How can we expand the scope and diversity of content online? How can we support more local, user-generated content? How can we assure that content reaches disabled people? The elderly? The illiterate? This video about assuring diverse Internet content and access for people of all abilities, languages and cultures features interviews shot at the 2007 Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio IGF was the second of five annual global events that attract stakeholders from all walks of life who gathered to discuss issues tied to the future of information and communications technologies.
This documentary was produced for Imagining the Internet http://imaginingtheinternet.org , an online resource exposing future possibilities while simultaneously providing a peek back at the past. In it, you will find the words of thousands of people from every corner of the world, from today and from yesterday, making thousands of predictive pronouncements about the future of humankind.
The multimedia section of the site includes short films and dozens of video interviews - all of them about the hopes and fears for the future of networked communications. Imagining the Internet is a project based at Elon University. The internet was invented in the Western world, and it is currently dominated by Western culture and languages. How can we expand the ... more -
Coming Soon... http://例子.测试
The Internet is in the process of a fundamental transition, expanding from the traditional ASCII character URLs to include scripts of many world languages. Creating a true multilingual Internet is a monumental technical challenge that also brings up some important issues about the future of networked technology. This piece, produced by Imagining the Internet http://www.imaginingtheinternet.org , a project of Elon University's School of Communications, includes voices of many of the world's top experts, who discuss the advent of Internationalized Domain Names. The Internet is in the process of a fundamental transition, expanding from the traditional ASCII character URLs to include scripts of ... more
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I Have A Bad Case Of Diarrhoea
At least I *think* that's the message behind this video...
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Pig Latin for dummies.
Now I can finely email my friends goofy Pig Latin messages. I'm sure they'll be ecstatic, not!
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