OpenDor Media ’s Post

We should not ignore the role of Social Media on the promotion and preservation of language and culture. In the new book, 'Digital Media and the Preservation of Indigenous Languages in Africa: Towards a Digitalized and Sustainable Society', I contributed a chapter titled 'Promotion Of Indigenous Languages and Culture through Social Media'. IndigenousLanguages Action Forum (ILAF) this might be a good read for you 😊

🇨🇾 An anti-British colonial sentiment has lingered in the Greek-Cypriot unconscious since Cyprus’s British colonial rule. This was made clear to me a few years ago by an administrator in the Ministry of Culture when I contacted his department about opportunities for Anglophone Cypriot writers.   I had raised the issue of the government not providing funding for translating works by Anglophone Cypriot writers in other languages just as it is done for works written in Greek. I also asked if Anglophone Cypriot works could be included for consideration of a State Literature Prize.   I was told that English is not an official language of the Republic of Cyprus and we are no longer a British colony.   I was also told that Anglophones have many more opportunities abroad. Sure (and huge competition) but for a State Prize?   This may sound harsh but it is a reality: Anglophone Cypriot writers are turned away from their own country and told to look elsewhere for support; they are not welcomed as contributing to the literature scene on the island; and they are not considered pure enough Cypriots to represent the island abroad.   I hope one day this outlook will change. In the meanwhile, we persist supporting our own community the best we can. 🌿 🍂 October is Global Diversity Awareness Month. 🍂 🌿   Consider sharing a time or a story with me here when you did not feel included/respected in your community.   Do this so that we can raise awareness of our differences and the exclusion that these differences can occasionally bring. #discrimination #diversity #Cyprus #government #dobetter #literature #poetry  

The significance of language is that it has roots deep in our DNA, it shapes our thoughts, depicts our cultural similarities, differences, peculiarities. It defines our perception of self and of community. Language is an amalgamation of all that we are and a herald of all that we will ever be. When I worked on my Bachelor Thesis with a dear colleague of mine, we focused on a local dialect, still surviving, but becoming rarer, found in her hometown and neighboring villages. As I went through lengthy bibliography I was suddenly accutely aware of how many of our world’s oldest and most beautiful languages have been lost to time and Western expansionism. The loss of native languages due to colonisation and globalisation is a tragic loss for humanity. We’ve been much too late in joining the race of preserving those important aspects of human history and society, but at least we’re in it now. Efforts to document and propagate native languages that are on the verge of dying out is vital. For the sake of mankind as a whole. #languagematters #disappearinglanguages #linguistics #appliedlinguistics #culturalheritage #culturalpreservation

I remain amazed at the media in the city of my birth, Montreal. For those not in the know, the provincial government has decided the native tongue, French, is under threat. Language stats are especially prone to manipulation, meaning that, on this issue, the media's role is critical. Alas, the baseline facts around this debate too often go underreported by both the English and the French press, in Quebec. They are as follows: 1) More people are competent speaking French than ever in our province. 2) It is a globalized world, wherein English remains the main language of commerce around the planet. Mandarin might be next up as the lingua franca - but it will never be French. Not ever. 3) The current provincial government is vulnerable to losing votes to harder line French political parties that advocate for Quebec to be a separate nation (and /or one with far greater autonomy within Canada). This - not reality, or any tangible threat to the French language - is what is behind the current ethnocentric pablum the government is using to whip up its base. It is dismaying to see that media, including the English press, fail to identify and contextualize these truths in their reporting. The above facts are not debatable and most everyone would, I suspect, accept them. They are important tidbits and should be mentioned in responsible reporting. The below is an egregious example of very shitty journalism that lacks proper context and balance. The editors at Xinhua, and their Party masters, would have been thrilled with the reporting below.

New book chapter is out. It is co-authored with Prof Hassan Belhiah, Dr Mohammed Guamguami and Dr Ahlam Lamjahdi. It is titled "Moroccan English through epistemological polylogue: Opportunity for speaking back, hopes for localization, and the postcolonial framework". This is the first work to present the notion of "Moroccan English". We attempt to materialize “Moroccan English” as a critical and ideological construct, but we also recognize its potential peripherality since inequalities among Englishes are anchored in linguistic, cultural and epistemic hierarchies among speakers rather than the Englishes per se. Moroccan English is imagined as the localized and situated understanding of the sociocultural and sociopolitical capital of English and how it shapes Moroccans’ engagement among themselves and with the international community. There are constant references to how social/hegemonic structures impinge upon the viability of Moroccan English; in other words, Moroccan English is a contested concept among the participants in the exchange for all sorts of reasons. We therefore focus on how the notion of Moroccan English as a form of postcolonial resistance and agency is not simplistic and/but is implicated in conditions of power and identity, and structures of social relations. https://lnkd.in/gBXpt8dU

Dear Community, I'm pleased to inform you that my article "Language Preservation and Revitalisation Strategies. The Case of the Norman Language in France" has been published in Białostockie Archiwum Językowe. The present paper examines the current situation of Norman - a severely endangered language spoken mostly in Normandy, France. I encourage all who are interested in language revitalisation and language planning to read it. #sociolinguistics #languageplanning #languagerevitalisation

Language is and has always been powerful. Check out my latest article in TIME about Palestine and the Power of Language. https://lnkd.in/gXbTgSmJ

"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Nelson Mandela https://joom.ag/GXZd/p8 Learn more about Verbio® and their language translation and international marketing services in this article. @VirginiaJoplin @KenKaprielian

Translation is more than just converting words; it's about breaking down barriers, fostering understanding, and creating connections across the globe .. #اليوم_العالمي_للترجمة #International_Translation_Day