Cultures & Languages

Seen from space, Africa is one huge and undivided landmass.

But for some on the continent, however, the widely-held perception is of two very different regions; Africa south of the Sahara desert, or sub-Saharan Africa, and north Africa.

For some, the dividing line is more than the Sahara - it is culture, language and even skin tone.

North Africa is predominantly Arab and relatively more developed. Many residents identify more with the Middle East than they do with the larger part of the continent.

Hundreds of people from the south migrate to the north in search of greener pastures - but they are often met with hostility.

But when it comes to an African identity, some sub-Saharan Africans believe they have more claim to the continent than their northern counterparts.

On the other hand, the formation of the African Union in 2002 was a great leap forward in the effort to drive forward common action throughout the continent.

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English place names no longer have legal status in the Gaeltacht, where Gaelic is traditionally spoken.

More than 2,000 towns, villages and crossroads in the Gaeltacht are commonly known by both their Irish and English names.

But from Monday, only the Gaelic versions may be used in government documents or ordnance survey maps.

For example, two villages on the Dingle peninsula in northwest Kerry, generally known by their English names, Dunquinn and Ventry, must now be identified on signs and government documents as Dun Chaoin and Ceann Tra.

The Gaeltacht encompasses the most westerly parts of counties Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Mayo and their nearby islands.

Other regions affected include several pockets in County Meath, northwest of Dublin, and County Waterford in the southwest, where Gaelic is widely spoken.

A second law introduces for the first time official Gaelic versions and spellings of hundreds of place names outside the Gaeltacht, where English has long been prevalent.

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Italy angry at EU language curbs

In a letter to the president of the commission, the Italian ambassador to the EU asked why Italian was "relegated to a completely secondary division".

Some Italian newspapers have joined in the row and European Affairs Minister Rocco Buttiglione called the commission's move "unacceptable".

The EU denied Italy was being singled out and said the move was pragmatic.

Until now, EU Commission press conferences have been translated in the 20 official EU languages. Last week, it decided only English, French and German would be automatically translated.

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Italian royal in TV olive ad

The 30-year-old Emanuele Filiberto is starring in an Italian TV advertisement for a brand of olives that claims to make you feel "like a king".

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World: English Language Gets New Surge of Growth
By Don Hill

At the start of the last century and for decades before, French was the universal language of world diplomacy and often international society. In much of Central Europe in the past, German was frequently a common second language of educated people. During the Soviet years, Russian was necessary, even required, in the Soviet sphere. Now, however, English is speeding around the world as the "lingua franca."

Prague, 12 April 2004 (RFE/RL) -- You hear it on the streetcar and in the streets. You hear it in taverns and offices, on radio and TV, and at international conferences. You even hear it in the songs played for background music on the telephone while you're on hold.

What is it? The English language, of course.

In Europe, it's everywhere, especially as the 1 May date for enlarging the European Union draws near.

The Germans resisted it for a while but, mostly, have given in. The French still are fighting a rearguard action against it. Agence France Presse reports that French-language aficionados are actively promoting French speech at EU headquarters in Brussels, offering free lessons for newly arriving EU officials and diplomats. The idea, as AFP puts it, is "to ensure that the language of Moliere doesn't get left out."

But, AFP reports, even at the EU -- where nearly everyone is multilingual -- English increasingly is the default language in any gathering of more than a few people. Agence France Presse ought to know. The French news service distributes its news report in English as well as French.

Dana LeBherz, country manager of instruction in the Czech Republic for the language giant Berlitz, says record numbers of people are learning English -- not for convenience any more as they used to but out of necessity.

"It's become more and more important because of the extension of the EU. Before it used to be a tourist language and now it will become necessary for government, for industry. People who want to advance in their careers will have to speak a certain level of English," LeBherz said.

With 25 countries after 1 May, the EU's language task will be immense. The number of possible combinations in language interactions will grow to nearly 400. EU translation chief Karl-Johan Loennroth, in mock terror recently, urged a seminar to find him someone who can translate from Maltese, the tiniest official language in the EU, to Finnish, perhaps the most difficult.

The cost of the EU's translation services will go from 500 million euros ($603 million) a year to 800 million euros.

Eric Mamer, spokesman on administrative reform for the EU executive, the European Commission, says it's not a problem. He says the EU simply will use the solutions that it has been using all along -- only more so. For example, what to do about Maltese-Finnish: you use a transition language, Maltese-English, English-Finnish.

"It is undeniable that right across the world, and therefore also in Central Europe, English is the new lingua franca that people learn in school, and that German and French follow, but very, very far behind," Mamer said.

Mamer insists that the cost of maintaining national languages within EU institutions is worth it. He says it amounts to only 2.50 euros a year -- less than a sandwich for lunch -- for each citizen of the EU.

"There would be no European Union without respect for the multilingualism of its people. You must be able to offer citizens, companies, associations the capacity to read the laws of the European Union in their own languages, or else there could be no acceptance of the European Union," Mamer said.

"You are never going to ask a Czech farmer," he says, "to have any dealings with the European institutions in anything but his own mother tongue."

"It's become more and more important because of the extension of the EU. Before it used to be a tourist language and now it will become necessary for government, for industry. People who want to advance in their careers will have to speak a certain level of English."

So now there's another place where you hear English: the commercial classroom. Around the world in recent years, English-language instruction has developed into a business worth thousands of millions of dollars -- supporting everything from Berlitz -- the world's largest language school -- to lone backpackers hoping to make some cash on their travels.

In some places it seems near a glut. Briton John O'Keefe has operated a language school in Prague since the early 1990s. His "Prague Language Center" now employs 100 teachers and is one of more than 100 enterprises offering English-language instruction in Prague.

He says the expansion of the EU and globalized business has led to an explosion in demand for English instruction, but that the peak may be past.

"Yes, I think it's still growing, although it has [leveled] off from how much it has grown in the previous few years. Because, well, the people are starting to come through the state system now with a decent level of English, so they don't necessarily have much need for language instruction privately," O'Keefe said.

But other language educators say that a new demand is taking shape for a higher level of instruction. While before most students were interested in attaining conversational ability, a new generation of students wants to master the language. Many want to be able to pass standard tests certifying their ability to use English professionally.

Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org

Full census figures published on Thursday reveal that more than 20% of people in Wales now speak Welsh. Figures revealed that 20.5% - more than one in five - of the population are Welsh speakers. This compares with 18.5% of Welsh speakers in the 1991 census.

In addition, more than 28% able to understand Welsh.

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Scotland - It's a sair fecht for Scots as native dialect dies out

Oct 19/04

SINCE time immemorial, the ability to say "it's a braw bricht moonlicht nicht the nicht" has separated the Scots from every other race on the planet. 

But no more. New research shows that, even in the north-east of Scotland, the heartland of the rich Doric dialect, the use of the velar fricative - the "ch" sound produced in the back of the throat for words such as loch, broch and fecht - is in danger of dying out. 

Young people either have a problem getting their tongues around the linguistic niceties of the Scots language or have just turned their back on tradition. 

The threat to Doric in particular, and the Scots language in general, was revealed by Dr Jennifer Smith, a lecturer in linguistics at York University, who conducted research into the use of various dialect markers in her native Buckie. 

She said that, while distinctive Doric words such as "fit" (what), "fan" (when) and "far" (where) were still being used by almost the whole population, the Scots "ch" sound is increasingly absent from young people's speech. 

"The velar fricative in words such as richt, which is so much a characteristic of Scots speech, definitely seems to be dying out, as are past-tense endings such as workit and sleepit, instead of worked and slept," she said. 

Dr Smith looked at three age groups - 20-30, 50-60, and the over 80s. She said: "While the over 80s use the velar fricative a lot, it drops to 40 per cent in the middle group and the younger speakers are using it only about 10 per cent of the time. So that particular form is definitely disappearing from our dialect. 

"There is something about the velar fricative that they are rejecting. Some younger speakers are saying they don't want to sound like their granny, but then others are embracing other forms and are quite happy to say 'far ye gaun' or 'fit ye deein'. 

"There must be something else, other than just standardisation of the language, as an argument for things disappearing or not disappearing."


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BBC- Feb 13/03 - The number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland has reached an all-time low, according to new figures.

Numbers from the 2001 census, released on Thursday morning, confirmed the language is still in decline.

The number of Gaelic speakers fell by 11% over 10 years to a figure of 58,650.

This is the first time that the number has fallen below 60,000, bringing Gaelic close to the figure at which it is thought a language can no longer survive.

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E.U. News

THERE IS NOT ONE CHRISTIAN NATION ON EARTH WHERE MUSLIMS ARE PERSECUTED.

Yet in most nations where the majority of the population are Muslims, there is systematic government persecution of Christians.

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."

--Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights--

Christian Conversions - According to the Bible - Can NEVER be forced.

Any Conversion to Christianity which would be "Forced" would NOT be recognized by God. It is in His True and KIND nature, that those who come to Him and choose to believe in Him, must come to Him OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL.



Don't Let anyone tell you that Christians support Forced Conversions.

That is False. True Christianity is NEVER forced.

Core Universal Rights

The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief

European Royal History http://www.eurohistory.com/main.htm