Do you remember what it was like to take your seat on your very first day in school, bright eyed and bushy tailed—eager to please?
Imagine, if you will, that once the teacher had gotten your class settled she had turned to you and your classmates and said, “Bonvolu malfermi viajn librojn.”
Imagine she stared at you. Expectant. Waiting…
Often in development work the approach can be very outside-in, where outsiders come into a community and dictate the sort of work that will be done, then micromanage that work to ensure that the outsider’s goals are achieved. But one of the most satisfying aspects of SIL LEAD’s approach is that we work hard to keep the focus inside-out. In fact, it’s baked into our DNA, with our stated goal of helping local, community-based organizations use their own language to improve their quality of life…
Read MoreThat’s a big title right there, and a question with an oversized philosophical pedigree. Especially considering that what we’re going to talk about in this post isn’t philosophy at all… it’s a relatively small literacy program in the Western province of Papua New Guinea (PNG), a country that many people probably couldn’t even circle on a map. Bear with us, though…
Read MoreOn a map of Central Asia, the country of Kyrgyzstan (officially, the Kyrgyz Republic) appears as a small, landlocked jewel. With more than ninety percent of its terrain sitting at over 1,500 meters (4,900 feet), it’s a beautiful paradise for lovers of epic mountain scenery.
As with all countries, one of Kyrgyzstan's greatest treasures is its people, and some of their greatest treasures are their languages, which inextricably contain and express the cultures of the people…
Read MoreI've heard literacy specialists denounce the translation of stories and other texts from one language to another and state rather proudly that they only promote original, creative writing. While it is essential to promote first language authors and create authentic cultural literature, many good reasons exist to translate other materials, such as multiplying the quantity of literature available in minority languages.
Of course, there are also valid concerns about translating text from one language and culture to another. A translated text can be more challenging to read than prose written naturally. Without care, translated texts can sound awkward and lack the natural discourse style to make them not only easier to read, but interesting, too…
Perhaps you’re excited for Sunday, February 21 this year because you’ve heard that it’s National Sticky Bun Day in the United States, and hey—we don’t blame you! Sticky buns are great! But there is another, much more significant day happening as well. A day on which we celebrate something so important that without it, sticky buns probably wouldn’t even exist…
Read MoreLanguage is not math, science, grammar, or even dancing… although it would be difficult to develop and grow in any of those fields without it, because language encompasses them all. It converses with them, with art—with every aspect of human experience—and this conversation affects what language becomes and (if it’s alive and in use) is perpetually becoming.
This means that when you translate a text from one language to another, you’re not just translating a static form of notation into another static form of notation… you’re translating a culture…
Read MoreIf you meet a Belarusian on the street and ask them their primary language, the majority will most likely tell you it’s Russian. As a proud international student from Belarus, I always take a deep breath and prepare my conversation partners for a mini-history lesson about a very interesting dynamic of bilingual life in Belarus.
Belarus, as a land-locked country in Eastern Europe, has two national languages: Russian and Belarusian. Belarusian or “biełaruskaja mova” is an East Slavic language, which has many similarities to Ukrainian and Russian. Most Belarusians can read, speak, and write in Belarusian, but they do not choose it as the language of everyday life. But why? …
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