Russian ambassador in Tbilisi leaves Georgia / Rusya'nın Tiflis büyükelçisi Gürcistan'ı terk etti

Source: hurriyet.com.tr (Turkish)

Rusya'nın Tiflis büyükelçisi Gürcistan'ı terk etti

Russia's ambassador in Tbilisi leaves Georgia

A.A.

Rusya'nın Tiflis Büyükelçisi Vyaçeslav Kovalenko'nun Gürcistan'ı terk ettiği bildirildi.

Russia's ambassador in Tbilisi, Vyacheslav Kovalenko (Вячеслав Евгеньевич Коваленко), has left Georgia.

Kovalenko'nun, büyükelçilikte çalışan 22 Rus diplomatla birlikte özel bir uçakla Tiflis'ten ayrılarak Moskova'ya uçtuğu kaydedildi.

Kovalenko left Tbilisi on a specially arranged airplane with 22 Russian diplomats that worked in the embassy and flew to Moscow.

Rus Büyükelçi yaptığı açıklamada, Tiflis'te kalan birkaç diplomat ve teknik personelin çalışmalarını sürdüreceğini kaydetti.

The Russian ambassador mentioned in a statement that a few diplomats and technical personnel that remained in Tbilisi would continue their work there.

Gürcistan, Güney Osetya'da 7 Ağustosta çıkan çatışmaların ardından Rus askeri birliklerinin Gürcistan içlerine kadar ilerlemesi nedeniyle bu ülkeyle diplomatik ilişkilerini tamamen kesme kararı almıştı.

Georgia made the decision to completely sever diplomatic relations with Russia after Russian military units advanced into Georgian territory after the conflicts that broke out in South Ossetia on August 7th.

Gürcistan'ın Moskova'daki büyükelçiliği de tüm faaliyetlerini durdurmuştu.

Georgia's embassy in Moscow has also stopped all activities.

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No more dying in the Bow River in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The Bow River is the river that flows through the city of Calgary in Western Canada where I'm from, and I never really ever tried to go into it because I remember reading all the time about accidents happening there involving something called a weir, which apparently was built in the 1910s for irrigation purposes but also resulted in an undercurrent that sweeps people under the river and keeps them there for a long time, which is why a lot of people have died there.

At the time though I had no idea what a weir was, and was under the impression that it was something to do with the river itself; that you would be on a boat one day at any location along the river and then all of a sudden along comes the weir and you're dead. So it seemed wiser to just never go in the river.

I was just telling someone I knew about that and upon doing a search through Google News, it appears that the weir is going to be remade into something that doesn't kill people:

After 14 deaths and years of delays, renovations to the Bow River weir aimed at taming its deadly effects could start as early as next month.

The provincial government approved the $16.6-million construction project Monday, ending the wait for those who had long advocated for the elimination of the "drowning machine."

"The best news is that we can get going," said Norm Harburn, president of Parks Foundation Calgary, which has been involved in the project.

The cost is around 150 per cent higher than the original $6.5-million estimate given when the project was announced in 2005.

Rising construction costs have been blamed for the spike in the overall bill, but the father of one of the weir's most recent victims said it's worth it.

"If it can save more lives, all the better," said Marcel Bherer, whose 28-year-old son, Yan, died last summer after going over the weir.

Yan's friend, 28-year-old Remi Bouchard, also died that day. Bouchard's body has yet to be found.

"You have a pretty river right in the middle of the city," Bherer said. "You should enjoy it, but right now, it's dangerous."

The completion date: 2010 or so.

Work could begin as soon as next month, depending on river flows, and rafters could be floating past a new-look weir by the summer of 2010.

The full project, landscaping and all, is slated to be finished within three years.

Here's the page you want to reference for information on the weir as it currently stands:

What if I fall into the water?
Presently, a fall over the weir would almost certainly lead to death. Once the modifications are in place, falling into the water above the weir will be like falling into other sections of the Bow River. There will be areas of faster water separated by slow, deep pools from which most people can easily swim or walk to shore. As on the rest of the Bow River, all river users need to be aware of the hazards of falling in.

See, that's the type of info I read all the time as a child. Falling 'over the weir' means death, sans explanation of exactly what a weir was.

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Afrikaans.us also all spiffed up too

Looking at the site for the first time in a while I see that it's being moved to openlanguages.net, and it has a much better format than before which is good to see. The songs on the site are now available in a podcast-type format instead of the embedded Windows Media style it had before. Here's an example of Riku Lätti's song Maan that shows how that works, and another one here with the song Pretoria.

Here's another example of a page with sound that shows how to pronounce the glottal stop. As far as I know this is the best place to learn Afrikaans online.

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Afrikaans newspaper Sondag all spiffed up

Source

Afrikaans is great so it's always good to see positive news about it:

Consultations with international layout guru, Peter Ong from Australia, began the process of aligning Sondag's layout with its content. The younger, fresher and more contemporary layout is a move away from South Africa's traditional tendency to follow the format of an English tabloid with its inward-focused, ratty and often vicious temperament.

Ong suggested that Sondag look towards emerging trends from a country with a climate and sunny disposition more like that of South Africa, combined with forward thinking design.

Changes include a new layout that aims to be “clean, fresh and contemporary”. The newspaper will consist of approximately 64 pages every Sunday and was designed by Tip Publishing - a company with more than 30 years of South African journalist experience. The articles have a big emphasis on colour and larger graphics.

And as always, the Afrikaans Wikipedia has an amazing amount of detail for the relatively small number of articles it has. This week's featured article is Cité de Carcassonne, and part of it goes like this:

Die eerste vestingmuur, gebou op 'n rots dagsoom, dateer uit die Gallo-Romeinse tydperk; dit het dit moontlik gemaak om die vallei en die loop van die Aude te domineer. Die fondamente van die oorspronklike vestingmuur is steeds onder die dwingel sigbaar. Dit is uit groot klippe en 'n baie harde mortel gebou. Die muur van die vestingmuur was twee tot drie meter wyd. Hierdie vestingmuur het 'n omtrek van 1 070 m gehad en het 'n dorpie van sewe hektaar beskerm. Dit is gebou uit eenvormige klippe en steen rye. Die stene het die stabiliteit van die konstruksie verseker as gevolg van die buigsaamheid daarvan en opvul van moontlike insinkings.

Daar bestaan steeds 17 torings van Gallo-Romeinse oorsprong wat min of meer oor die dertig torings wat aanvanklik deel gevorm het vestingmuur. 'n Enekele toring het 'n reghoekige vorm, die Pinte-toring. Die ander torings, herkenbaar in die ringmuur wes van die Cité as gevolg van hulle hoefyster vorm aan die buitekant en plate aan die binnekant. Die onderste deel van die torings, waarvan die diameter tussen 4,50 en 7 meter is, bestaan uit soliede messelwerk wat 'n besonder soliede basis verskaf. Die boonste vlak het groot geboë openings gehad wat baie nuttig was vir die verdedigers se wapens. 'n Stelsel van kantellende vensters het beskerming en verdediging van die groot openinge verseker. Die torings is met dakke met dubbele rande bedek. Die hoogte van die torings is tussen 11,65 m en 13,70 m.

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Chinese in France (plus Basque, Breton and Catalan) / Le Chinois, langue émergente

Langues régionales de France.

Source: europe1.fr (French)

As always, my French translations are a little rough. Surely there must be some newer numbers on those studying Chinese than 2005 to 2006? The article also gives the false impression that Chinese people actually know 50 000 characters, when it's more along the lines of a few thousand, 5000 or so. They're not as bad as they might look at first considering how most of the time you can guess how they're pronounced by how they look.

Le Chinois, langue émergente

Chinese, an emerging language

Entre 2005 et 2006, le nombre d’élèves apprenant le Chinois en France a augmenté de 30%. Autrefois réservé à un petit nombre, aujourd’hui cette langue se démocratise et franchit les portes des écoles françaises.

Between 2005 and 2006 the number of students learning Chinese in France increased by 30%. Once reserved for a small number, today this language is democratizing and is crossing the doors of French schools.

Avec pas moins de 50 000 sinogrammes, la langue chinoise a toujours été perçue comme une des plus difficiles à apprendre. Les salles de classe étaient peu remplies et les quelques rares courageux qui se risquaient à étudier cette langue étaient soit d’origine chinoise soit des élèves dits " brillants ". Aujourd’hui, ce constat n’est plus d’actualité et tous les préjugés volent en éclats.

With no less than 50 000 characters (hanzi), the Chinese language has always been seen as one of the most difficult to learn. The classrooms were barely filled and the few rare courageous students that risked themselves to learn this language were either of Chinese origin or were termed "brilliant". Today, that is no longer valid and all these prejudices have vanished.

Les chiffres sont là. Entre 2005 et 2006, le nombre d’élèves apprenant le Chinois en France a augmenté de 30 %. Du primaire jusqu’à l’université, les offres de cours de Chinois s’étendent sur toute la France. Le Chinois se démocratise si bien que l’apprenant n’a plus de profil type. « Langue poétique », « qui prend de l’importance » et passeport pour l’emploi, cette langue séduit désormais un large public.

The figures are there. In between 2005 and 2006, the number of students learning Chinese in France increased by 30%. From primary school until university, course offerings for Chinese extend all over France. Chinese has democratized to the extent that the learner no longer is of the profiled type. "A poetic language", "becoming important" and a passport to employment, this language now attracts a large audience.

Paradoxalement, les écoles françaises assistent également au retour des langues dites régionales. L’apprentissage du Basque, du Breton ou encore du Catalan est plébiscité par beaucoup d’élèves qui souhaitent découvrir ou enrichir leur connaissance sur la langue et la culture de leurs Anciens. Comme quoi, l’ouverture sur le monde n’empêche pas de cultiver ses racines.

Paradoxically, French schools also give assistance to the return of the so-called regional languages. The study of Basque, Breton or Catalan is favoured by many students that wish to discover or enrich their knowledge of the language and the culture of their ancestors. Which goes to show that opening to the world does not hinder the cultivation of one's roots.

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How to increase the number of military personnel in the U.S. that speak Arabic

Valletta, the capital of Malta. Malta speaks a language that is basically an Arabic base with a ton of Italian influence, and a lot like the Arabic spoken in Tunisia.

An idea I've had for some time now fleshed out in some more detail:

Ever since September 11th 2001 you can see every once in a while about how the military or the CIA or some other part of the government is having troubles creating fluent Arabic speakers within its ranks. The main problem here is a simple one: Arabic is hard to learn. It's easy to give up on Arabic, not because it's impossible to learn, but it can give that impression to people for the first few months before everything begins to click as eventually languages do. Here's one article from the New York Times yesterday about this:

Three years ago, the Defense Department set out to increase sharply the number of military personnel who speak strategically important languages. Progress has been slow, and the military has not determined how to reach its goal — or what exactly that goal is.

Figures from the department indicate that only 1.2 percent of the military receives a bonus paid to those who can speak languages judged to be of critical importance for the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other areas of strategic concern.

...

He noted that after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the United States urgently worked to develop a cadre of Russian speakers and scholars. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, he said, neither the military nor other government agencies executed a similarly ambitious program for Arabic speakers.

The services have adopted a number of programs that have had some success. The Army developed a program to recruit native speakers of strategically important languages to serve as translators; so far, more than 600 have graduated.

In short, there's some progress but progress is slow. The other problem with Arabic is that it's not really one language either:

The proficiency test was extremely rigorous -- the one thing people don't understand about Arabic is that it is not one language, but rather several different mutually unintelligible dialects resting under a literary language which is completely divorced from all of them. The literary language alone takes up to ten years to fully master. To gain even a passive understanding of these dialects takes several more years of intensive study.

In addition to this, the difficulty of conducting background checks on people that have Arabic as a first language makes it harder than would be expected to find good translators:

Many of these applicants still have relatives abroad, often in countries that raise alarm among security officers. Former intelligence officials say that besides the problems of conducting thorough background checks in those countries, the agency also worries that recruits could be blackmailed if their families were vulnerable.

So what is needed then is some way to make Arabic easier to learn for those that don't have it as a first language, and at the same time it can't just be standard Arabic either, and thus should incorporate learning regional varieties at the same time, a tall order.

So here is an idea to make this process somewhat easier. One four-year Arabic language training program for the military could be devised as follows:

• First four to six months: train the students in Interlingua for the first month or two, then spend the next months going over relevant texts about the Middle East to give the students a good background knowledge of what they are about to get into. Why Interlingua? Because the next step is to:
• Learn Maltese. Maltese is basically Arabic plus a huge amount of Italian influence (some 52% of the vocabulary comes from Romance sources) in the same way that English is a Germanic language plus a huge amount of influence from Latin and French, and is similar to Tunisian Arabic. The students, having already learned Interlingua (Interlingua is a constructed language that is a lot like Italian without any complicated grammar) will now be familiar with most of the vocabulary that comes from Romance languages (thus almost 50%) and will have a head start in learning it. Note that it also doesn't use the Arabic alphabet so there's no problem there. They then study Maltese for six months in class and then are sent to Malta for a year of intensive training. Malta is an island and a part of the European Union, which also makes it safer and less of a culture shock (it's 98% Roman Catholic for example) for the students who will still only be starting their second year.

An example of Maltese from the Wikipedia article on the demographics of Valletta:

Demografija

Il-populazzjoni tal-Belt Valletta naqset drastikament matul is-snin, u illum il-ġurnata l-kwota naqset għal madwar terz mill-perjodu bl-aktar popolazzjoni. Dan il-proċess aċċelera aktar wara t-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija hekk kif żvilupp ġdid fis-subborgi ra lill-popolazzjoni timxi 'l barra mill-belt kapitali, però l-Belt xorta baqgħet u għadha bħala ċ-ċentru amministrattiv u kummerċjali ta' Malta.

From this paragraph alone can be recognized the words demographics, population, drastic, quota (?), mill-period (probably millennium), process, accelerate, capital, centre, administrative, commercial. Some Italian words in there too like sviluppo (development).

• Now the students are familiar with a semitic language, and have a strong practical foundation that will enable them to understand through actual experience how regional varieties of Arabic differ from standard Arabic. Now they come back to the U.S. and learn standard Arabic, in an immersion setting like this one perhaps. The students will already know Maltese and will adapt very quickly to standard Arabic. Do this for a year or more. Then finally:
• Give the students training in one other regional version of Arabic, depending on which area they will be expected to start working in. By this time they should already have an idea of where they could make themselves most useful, and a decision will be made in accordance with that and which region has the largest need for them. Depending on the facilities available this could be done in the U.S. or may require sending them abroad.

These four years won't be enough to make the students capable translators from the start (translators need years of cultural experience anyway and this can't be rushed), but it will accomplish two things:

1) Make the language less intimidating by gradually moving towards standard Arabic only after Interlingua and Maltese instead of starting from day one with standard Arabic, complete with a different script and grammar and culture and everything else that combines to give the student the impression that "Wow, I'm seriously never going to learn this; time to give up and think about working in another field".
2) Give the students a better background in regional varieties of the language. There are a ton of articles that explain the problem agencies have with recruiting people that know Arabic but have no familiarity with any regional varieties, and are less useful than expected when listening to recordings / translating and analyzing documents.



Finally, Persian/Farsi is not as much of a problem considering how much easier it is to learn. The only problem there is the impression that Persian is as hard as Arabic, so this fact just needs to be made more clear when thinking about trying to train more people in the language in the long term. Persian is basically a language of no great difficulty, masked in a difficult-looking exterior.

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SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket makes it to space!

Holy f*&k they did it!

I'm mostly away from the computer right now but noticed this news and just had to write about it. It's going to be fun to take a look at the space.com forums later tonight. After three failures and a ton of nail-biting this first success is that much sweeter.

SpaceX has made history. Its privately developed rocket has made it into space.

After three failed launches, the company founded by Elon Musk worked all of the bugs out of their Falcon 1 launch vehicles.

The entire spectacle was broadcast live from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. Cameras mounted on the spacecraft showed our planet shrinking in the distance and the empty first stage engine falling back to Earth.

As the rocket ascended, cheers rang out during every crucial step of the launch sequence, and at the final stage their headquarters in Hawthorne, California erupted in excitement. (Wired.com viewed the launch over the Internet on SpaceX's live webcast.)

The tensest moment came just before stage separation. At that critical juncture, the third launch attempt had failed. This time, it worked out perfectly.

Eight minutes after leaving the ground, Falcon 1 reached a speed of 5200 meters per second and passed above the International Space Station.

"I don't know what to say... because my mind is just blown," said Musk, during a brief address to his staff after the successful launch. "This is just the first step of many."

Wow. This is a historic moment. The first privately-funded rocket to ever make it to space. My mind is blown too.

Here's a nice comment from reddit.com that says exactly what I'm thinking:

This is the beginning of cheap, abundant space travel. Right now, Space X can sell an orbital launch to anybody with a few million dollars lying around. Now that space is a competitive industry, the technology is just going to get better and cheaper over time. The day when you take a suborbital hop to visit grandma in China is fast approaching.

Science fiction is becoming science fact before our eyes. This is a kickass time to be alive.

Very well said. This is a kickass time to be alive.

Edit: Here's the video.

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History / etymology of the French word aujourd'hui (today)

From Auxlang, courtesy of Jens Wilkinson:

Actually, this reminds me of a great book that I recently read, called The Unfolding of Language. The author discusses how languages are both destructive and constructive at the same time, so there are always processes processes of shortening and lengthening going on at the same time. One example he uses is how in French, a lot of words are shortened from Latin. But there is really interesting word,"aujourd'hui" (today). The "dui" originally comes from Latin hoc die, meaning "this day". So the whole word means literally "on the day of this day." Presumably "dui" became too short in a way. According to the author (and maybe Olivier knows if this is true or not), some French people even say "au jour d'aujourd'hui".

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon loves French / Ban Ki-moon proclame son amour pour la langue française

An obsolete Lebanese "cent livres" (hundred-pound) bank note
(ليرة in Arabic.)

French for Koreans is like English, but with all the hard parts made even harder. Weird pronunciation that seems to have little to do with the actual spelling - check. Add to that grammatical gender and harder verb conjugation. Nevertheless, they still like it, just as with just about every other country in Asia.

Here's my rough translation of the article from canoe.com.

Ban Ki-moon proclame son amour pour la langue française

Ban Ki-moon proclaims his love for the French language

Canoë
25/09/2008 21h08

Le Secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a clamé son amour pour la langue française en marge du débat annuel de l'Assemblée générale de l'ONU qui se déroule actuellement à New York.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, proclaimed his love for the French language on the sidelines of the annual debate of the General Assembly of the UN which is currently taking place in New York.

«Petit à petit, je crois que je commence à me rapprocher du français», a déclaré M. Ban au dîner des pays francophones tenu mercredi soir et auquel participait le ministre français des affaires étrangères, Bernard Kouchner.

"Bit by bit, I think that I am beginning to get closer to French", declared Mr. Ban at the dinner of French-speaking countries held Wednesday evening and in which participated the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner.

D’origine coréenne, M. Ban parle l'anglais. Poursuivant en ce moment son apprentissage du français, il aurait également des notions d'allemand et de japonais.
Of Korean origin, Mr. Ban speaks English. Continuing at the moment his study of French, he also has knowledge of German and Japanese.

«Maintenant, chaque fois que je rencontre un responsable français – y compris Nicolas Sarkozy ou Bernard Kouchner – je m'arrange pour glisser de nouvelles expressions pour l'impressionner. Je dis par exemple à Nicolas Sarkozy que “nos montres marquent constamment la même heure”. Et je mets un point d'honneur à utiliser des constructions grammaticales de plus en plus compliquées», a laissé savoir M. Ban dans un communiqué de l'ONU.

"Now, every time I meet a French minister(?) - including Nicolas Sarkozy or Bernard Kouchner - I take time to go over new expressions to give an impression. I say to example to Nicolas Sarkozy that "our watches consistently mark the same time". And I feel proud about using more and more complicated grammatical constructions", Mr. Ban said in a UN release.

Le français qui est l'une des deux langues de travail de l'ONU avec l'anglais, est également l'une des six langues officielles des Nations Unies, avec l'anglais, l'espagnol, le russe, le chinois et l'arabe.

French is one of the two working languages of the UN with English, and is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations, with English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.

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Some more news from September on Celtic languages: Welsh, Cornish, and Manx

Celtic languages: Scottish Gaelic in blue, Irish / Irish Gaelic in green, Manx in red, Welsh in yellow, Cornish in orange, Breton in purple.

Some more news I've found from the past month on some Celtic languages after this morning's post on a demonstration for unification of Brittany where the Breton language is spoken.



Welsh:

Shoppers at Tesco will now be able to operate automatic tills in Welsh:

Friday, 26 September 2008 06:50 UK

Felix Gummer, the Tesco's corporate affairs manager for Wales said the change allowed the supermarket to "serve communities in the best possible way".

"In response to customer demand and multilingualism in Wales all our new stores signs have been fully bilingual for some time, but today is a further step forward as we have listened to the views of customers for more services to be in Welsh.

"This roll out programme which started this summer is now complete."

The change was also welcomed by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, the Welsh Language Society.

Dafydd Lewis from the society said: "We've been in discussions with Tesco and large similar companies and this is one of the things we've been asking them to develop. This is a first step towards developing a full language policy.

"What we'd really want is a language act that would mean all companies in the private sector developing a Welsh language policy without having to have any pressure put on them," he added.

Cornish:

Finally they've agreed on a single form for writing the language. I missed that news but it's great to see as all the strife over which form to use was weakening an already nearly-extinct language. You can download a pdf of the Standard Written Form --> here.

Tuesday, 16 September 2008

Is Cornish still spoken?

Increasingly, yes. The Cornish language, or Kernewek (various spellings), was spoken by an estimated 300 people in 2000 and struggled to get official acceptance because there were four different written forms. But this year the Cornish Language Partnership agreed a single form, paving the way for the language to be taught more widely.

Now Cornwall County Council wants the language recognised within the European charter for regional or minority languages. One survey now estimates the number of speakers at 2,000. "In my village they have evening classes that are always popular," says Bird. "And lots of businesses are choosing Cornish names to cash in on the resurgence of the language."

Manx:

Sep 10, 2008

Irish Government Minister Eamon O Cuiv will visit the Isle of Man and follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Eamon de Valera who helped save the native language 60 years ago.

De Valera stopped off on the island in 1947 when he was Taoiseach and was shocked to learn that the tongue was dying out. When he returned to Dublin he despatched Irish folklore experts to record the last native speakers of the Manx Gaelic language. The recordings sparked renewed efforts to preserve the language and it led to its revival from the 1950s onwards.

Gaeltacht Minister Mr O Cuiv has been invited by the Isle of Man government to advise it on the introduction of a new Manx Language Act. "Gaelic and Manx are actually very similar so it makes perfect sense to explore possibilities to share information and expertise with the goal of the preservation of both languages," Mr O Cuiv said. "My grandfather actually conversed with some of the old speakers and they could understand each other very well."

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Deutsch - Warum Nicht? in Turkish - 1.1 - Das ist ein Lied / Bu bir şarkıdır

Cologne Cathedral with Hohenzollern Bridge

Done the first one! And it only took six months. Since I put the project down for so long I should explain again what I'm intending to do here. Deutsch warum nicht is a course for learning German by Deutsche Welle that I love, and I used it a lot last year when learning Turkish because it's twice as fun to use a language to learn another one, as long as there isn't too much of the second one to get in the way. Deutsch warum nicht has just about the perfect amount of German, starting from the most basic of basics and eventually moving to more and more complex grammar, but not until part 4, and each part has 26 lessons so there are a lot of lessons to go through before it gets even remotely complicated.

I doubt that there are that many people out there learning Turkish and German at the same time, but there are a lot of people that know German and English and who want to learn Turkish, so this is probably who this will be the most useful for. Or someone who has a smattering of German from school and now wants to learn Turkish.

There will probably be some typos or small errors in the script below so let me know if you find them. The first part is from the post way back in March, and the part after 4:45 is what I did this week.

http://www.dw-world.com/dw/content/0,2144,293588,00.html

Listen

0:00 - 2:21

Lern Deutsch bei der deutschen Welle	Learn German with the German wave
Deutsche Welle - Almanya Sesi radyosundaki	Deutsche Welle - in 'German Voice' radio
Almanca dil kursları dizisinde	in its German language course(s) series
Deutsch - Warum Nicht?	German - why not?
"Almanca - neden olmasın" başlıklı yeni kursumuzu sunuyoruz.	We present our new course entitled "German - why not?"
Kursu hazırlayan Herrad Meese.	The person that prepared the course (=the author) is Herrad Meese.
...	...
Liebe Hörerinnen und Hörer	Dear listenerettes and listeners.
İyi günler, sevgili dinleyenler.	Good day, dear listeners.
Bugün, yeni bir radyo dil kursuna başlıyoruz.	Today, we start a new radio language course.
Kursumuzun adı, Deutsch - warum nicht?	The name of our course is Deutsch - warum nicht?
Radyoyla Almanca kursumuzun bugünkü ilk dersinin başlığı da şöyle.	The title of our first course through radio today is also like this.
Das ist ein Lied. Türkçesi: bu bir şarkıdır.	Das ist ein Lied. Its Turkish (in Turkish): This is a song.
Bu yeni kursumuzda,	In our new course,
ilginç bir değişik bazı yöntemlerle karşılaşacaksınız.	you'll encounter some varied methods.
Sözgelimi, işe hemen dersin konusuyla başlamak yerine,	For example, instead of starting work right away on the (course) subjects,
bütün bu kurs boyunca,	(for) throughout this whole course,
Almancayı daha kolay anlamanıza yardımcı olacak bazı yöntemler öğreneceksiniz.	you will learn some methods that will be a help to your easier German understanding.
bugünkü ilk dersimizde,	in our today's first course,
önce sizleri Almanca'nın rengi, edası, ve tınısıyla tanıştıracağız.	we will introduce you first to German's colour, its style, and tone.
İlk adımı, dersimizin başındaki selamlama cümlesiyle atalım.	Let's take our first step with the greeting sentence at the beginning of our course.
Liebe Hörerinnen und Hörer	Dear listenerettes and listeners.
Ne dersiniz?	What do you say?
Bu cümle, sizin için tipik Almanca öğrenim miydi?	Was this sentence typical German education for you?
Ama hiç merak etmeyin.	But don't worry at all.
Sizlere şimdi başka örnekler de sunacağız.	We'll provide you other examples right now.
Bu örneklerimizi dinlerken	As (you) listen to these examples of ours
lütfen şöyle bir deneme yapın.	please do a test like this.
Sözcüklerin anlamını kavramaya çalışmayın,	Don't try to comprehend the meaning of the words,
dikkatinizi yalnızca dilin tınısına, söylenenlerin melodisine toplayalım.	let's just gather your attention to the sound of the language, and the melody of the speakers.
İşte ilk örneğimiz.	Here's the first example.
(German talk radio)
Evet, işte size Almanca.	Yes, here's German to (for) you.
Bu, radyodaki bir konuşmanın başlangıcındaki selamlaşmaydı.	This was an exchange of greetings (selamlaşma) in the beginning of a conversation on the radio.
Seyircilerin telefonla katıldıkları,	A viewer being joined by telephone,
canlı yayın programlarından biri.	one of (other) live broadcast programs.

2:21 - 4:45

Şimdi, ikinci örneğimize kulak verelim.	Now, let's give our ears to our second example.
(German boy)
Evet. Almanca, çocukların dilinde böyle de olabiliyor.	Yes. German, in the words of children, can be like this as well.
Sanıyorum ki, dikkatinizi çekmişti.	I bet it caught your attention.
Bu, çocukların oynu oynarken kullandıkları tekerlemelerden biriydi.	This was one of the rhymes children used while they play games.
Şimdi, üçüncü örneğimizi dinleyelim.	Now, let's listen to our third example.
(German news)
Bu da Almancaydı.	This is German too.
Bir haber spikerinin konuşması.	The conversation of a news speaker.
İşte size, bir örnek daha.	Here for (to) you, one example more.
(German music - Berlin by Klaus Hoffmann)
Evet. Bu da Almancaydı.	Yes. This was German too.
Dinlediğiniz örnekler üzerine,	On the examples you heard,
Andreas birazdan açıklamalar da yapacak.	Andreas will do a few explanations. (?)
Andreas kim mi?	Who is Andreas?
Haklısınız.	You're correct.
Şimdilik şu kadarını söyleyelim.	Let's say this much for now.
Andreas, kursumuzda önemli bir rol oynuyor.	Andreas plays an important role in our course.
Kendisini üçüncü dersimizde daha yakından tanıyacaksınız	You'll learn about him from a closer perspective in our third lesson.
Andreas, şimdi sizlere Almanca olarak şu cümleyi söyleyecek.	Andreas will now say that sentence to you in (as) German.
Bu, bir şarkıdır.	This is a song.
Das ist ein Lied.	This is a song.
Andreas, şimdi de bu şarkının kime ait oldğunu söyleyecek.	Andreas now will talk of this song's belonging to who. (will say who the song belongs to)
Von Klaus Hoffmann.	By Klaus Hoffmann.
Şimdi bunla(?), arka arkaya yeniden dinliyoruz.	Now with that, we listen again one after the other.
Das ist ein Lied von Klaus Hoffmann.	This is a song by Klaus Hoffmann.

Turkish / German	English
Şimdi sizlere son bir örnek daha dinletiyoruz. Ondokuzuncu yüzyılın başlarında yaşamış ünlü bir yazarın bir yapıtında. Kim bilir? Belki de bu ünlü alman yazarını tanıyorsunuz.	Now we'll let you hear one last example. It's from a work from a famous writer from the 19th century. Who knows, maybe you know this famous German writer.
Habe nun, ach! Philosophie, Juristerei und Medizin Und leider auch Theologie Durchaus studiert mit heißem Bemühn. Da steh ich nun, ich armer Tor! Und bin so klug als wie zuvor;	From Goethe: see this page for an explanation.
Evet, sevgili dinleyenler. Almanca böyle de olabiliyor, bir tiyatro yapıtında. Şimdi dinlediğiniz bölüm Alman edebiyatının en önde gelen yazarlarından Goethe'nin Faust adlı oyunundan alınmış bir metindi. Andreas şimdi sizlere "bu bir metindir" diyecek.	Yes, dear listeners: German can be like this too, in a work of theatre. The part you just listened to is a text from a play called Faust by Goethe, one of the most prominent writers in German literature. Andreas will now say "this is a text" to you.
Das ist ein Text.	This is a text.
Metin anlamına gelen Text sözcüğü bildiğiniz gibi Türkçe'de de kullanılıyor. Andreas, şimdi de metnin kime ait olduğunu söylüyor.	You know that the word Text is used in Turkish as well. Andreas will now say whom the text belongs to.
Von Goethe.	By Goethe.
Şimdi de bu iki bilgiyi arka arkaya bir kez daha dinliyoruz.	Now we listen to these two pieces of information one after the other.
Das ist ein Text von Goethe.	This is a text by Goethe.
Andreas'ın kullandığı cümlelerin hep aynı biçimde başladığı dikkatinizi çekti değil mi? Andreas aynı cümle yapısını kullandığı da ondan. Şimdi gelin, bu yapıyı birlikte daha yakından inceleyelim.	Did you notice that the sentences Andreas used started in the same way? Andreas uses the same sentence structure there too(?). Now let's take a closer look at this structure.
Das ist sözcükleri bir şeyin ne olduğunu söylerken kullandığımız bir temel yapı. Bu bir şarkıdır ya da bu der metindir derken bu yapı kullanılıyor. Örnekleri yeniden dinleyelim.	Das ist is a basic structure when we say what something is. This structure is use when saying that this is a song or this is a text. Let's listen to the examples again.
Das ist. Das ist. Das ist ein Lied. Das ist ein Text.
Von sözcüğü de bir şeyin kime ait olduğunu belirtmek için kullanılıyor. Bizim örneklerimiz de şarkının ve metnin yazarını bildiriyor. Klaus Hoffman'ın ya da Goethe'nin anlamında.	The word von is used to clarify whom something belongs to. Our examples say that it's a writer of a song or a text, Klaus Hoffman's or Goethe's.
Von. Von Klaus Hoffman. Von Goethe.	By. By Klaus Hoffman. By Goethe.
Şimdi hepsini birlikte yeniden dinliyoruz.	Now we listen to them all again together.
Das ist ein Lied. Von Klaus Hoffman. Das ist ein Text. Von Goethe.	This is a song. By Klaus Hoffman. This is a text. By Goethe.
İki ayrı bilgiyi bir cümlenin içinde birleştirmek de mümkün. O zaman şöyle oluyor.	You can also combine the two different pieces of information in one sentence. This is what happens then.
Das ist ein Lied von Klaus Hoffman. Das ist ein Text von Goethe.	This is a song by Klaus Hoffman. This is a text by Goethe.
Ne dersiniz, sevgili dinleyenler? Almanca dilinin tınısı, edası ve melodisi üzerine küçük de olsa bir fikir edindiniz mi? Hayır mı? Birden biri çok şey dinlediniz, ve hepsi de çok çabuk geçti, öyle mi? Hiç merak etmeyin. Şimdi bütün örnekleri baştan bir kez daha dinleyeceksiniz. Ama sizden bir ricamız var. Geçiş müziği sırasında arkanıza yaslanıp rahat edin, ve aman bir şey kaçırır mıyım diye hiç telaş etmeyin. Şunu da unutmayın lütfen. Sözcükleri anlamaya gayret etmeyecek, yalnızca dilin melodisine kulak vereceksiniz.	What do you say, dear listeners? Even if small, did you get an idea of the sound, manner and melody of the German language? No? You listened to quite a few things one after another, and everything went by fast, didn't it? Don't worry at all. Now you'll listen to all the examples again from the beginning. During the crossover music sit back and relax, and don't worry about whether you're going to miss something. Don't forget this either. Don't try to understand the words, just listen to the language's melody.
Music, talk show, etc.
12:36 --> Evet. Bugünlük bu kadar, sevgili dinleyenler. Bir sonraki dersimizde buluşmak üzere, hoşça kalın.
Auf wiederhören.	Goodbye.
Deutsch - warum nicht? adlı radyoyla Almanca kursunun bir dersini dinlediniz. Yapım Deutsche Welle Köln ve Goethe İnstitusu Münich.	You listened to a lesson in the German course "Deutsch - warum nicht?". Produced by Deutsche Welle in Cologne and Goethe Institute in Munich.

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German song Die Gedanken sind frei (thoughts are free) with English translation and explanation

This is another good German song, not by Blumfeld this time but a much older song (apparently from 1810) about how thoughts are free and can't be contained. The English Wikipedia has a translation of the song and that's where the middle column comes from, but I've also added a few explanations for some of the words that appear there. Let me know if any of them are weird or if you think anything else should be added to the explanation on the right.



and another version:



As with all good songs about freedom and the rest, it's been banned a few times too:

During the German Revolution (1848/1849) and in Nazi Germany, the song was forbidden. It also was used by the White Rose anti-Nazi resistance movement in Germany.

Die Gedanken sind frei, wer kann sie erraten, sie fliehen vorbei wie nächtliche Schatten. Kein Mensch kann sie wissen, kein Jäger erschießen es bleibet dabei, Die Gedanken sind frei!	Thoughts are free, who can ever guess them? They just flee by like nocturnal shadows. No man can know them, no hunter can shoot them, with powder and lead: Thoughts are free!	die Gedanken: plural of der Gedanke, thought erraten - guess fliehen - fly vorbei - by nächtlich - like the night (lit. nightly) der Schatten - shadow der Jäger - hunter erschießen - shoot Pulver und Blei - powder and lead
Ich denke was ich will und was mich beglücket, doch alles in der Still', und wie es sich schicket. Mein Wunsch und Begehren kann niemand mir wehren, es bleibet dabei: Die Gedanken sind frei!	I think what I want, and what makes me happy, but always discreetly, and as it is suitable. My wish and desire, no one can deny me and so it will always be: Thoughts are free!	beglückt (beglücken) - make happy in der Stille - quietly, secretly sich schicken - be suitable der Wunsch - wish das Begehren - desire niemand - nobody wehren - deny/hinder
Und sperrt man mich ein im finsteren Kerker, das alles sind rein vergebliche Werke. Denn meine Gedanken zerreißen die Schranken und Mauern entzwei, die Gedanken sind frei!	And if I am thrown into the darkest dungeon, all this would be futile work, because my thoughts tear all gates and walls apart. Thoughts are free!	sperrt...ein (einsperren) - throw in finster - dark der Kerker - dungeon rein - simple/simply vergeblich - futile die Werke - plural of das Werk - work zerreißen - tear die Schranken - plural of die Schranke - gate die Mauern - plural of die Mauer - wall entzwei - in two
Drum will ich auf immer den Sorgen absagen und will mich auch nimmer mit Grillen mehr plagen. Man kann ja im Herzen stets lachen und scherzen und denken dabei: Die Gedanken sind frei!	So I will renounce my sorrows forever, and never again will torture myself with some fancy ideas. In one's heart, one can always laugh and joke and think at the same time: Thoughts are free!	drum - therefore, short for darum die Sorgen - plural of die Sorge, sorrow absagen - to renounce nimmer - never die Grillen - plural of die Grille, whim mehr - more plagen - torture, plague stets - always scherzen - joke

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Lingua Franca Nova - English dictionary now available as pdf

At this link. It's always nice to have a dictionary available as a pdf because it makes the language look that much more professional, which is important for a language like LFN which still has its request for its own Wikipedia pending.

Recently (for about two months or so) there has been a lot of activity on the LFN wiki about new words and syntax, which is really good to see as it gives the language a good hammering out, and also creates a lot of new words at the same time (but through actual use) which is necessary for a language that wants to have its own Wikipedia. I know the arguments about limiting vocabulary, but the only vocabulary that should be limited are duplicate words like dog and hound, or knight and cavalier. There's no sense in trying to use a language that isn't capable of being used in fields like science, medicine and astronomy for example.

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Breton speakers / supporters demonstrate for the unification of Brittany (Breizh)

Bretagne in blue, composing 80% of the former duchy and province of Brittany. Loire-Atlantique, in red, contains Brittany's historical capital Nantes.

Here's the article.

Over 10000 people took to the streets of the ancient Breton capital of Naoned/Nantes last Saturday (20th September 2008) to demand the reunification of Brittany.

The demonstrators - a large proportion of which were young people - were calling for the re-unification of Breizh/Brittany, in addition to increased rights for the Breton language and more legislative powers. Chanting slogans such as « Justice for the Bretons », « One solution : autonomy for Brittany » and « We want it, we'll have it - re-unification », the protesters showed the strength of feeling for re-unification that continues to grow (five years ago a similar demonstration attracted 5000 supporters) for this part of the French administrative region of Loire-Atlantique, which was cut off from the rest of the Breton nation in 1941.

So what exact increased rights and legislative powers would this entail? Public funding for Breton in every school? Ability to enact laws to create bilingual signs throughout the area, something like that?

Bilingual sign in Quimper.

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150 years (and 31 or so days) since the birth of the Italian Mathematician and creator of Latino sine Flexione / Interlingua Giuseppe Peano

The scenery in Cuneo, where Peano was born.

Doing a search on Google News for Interlingua turned up this article (and another one) about the birth of the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano, the creator of Latino sine Flexione (see also a Yahoo Group for the language here). Italian looks a lot like Interlingua (both Interlinguas) so with some of Google's help I think I can muddle through a rough translation.

Cuneo commemora il matematico Peano

Cuneo commemorates the mathematician Peano

Cuneo commemora domani Giuseppe Peano, nel 150° anniversario della nascita. L’ autore del "Formulario Mathematico" e una delle menti matematiche italiane piu' apprezzate, anche all'estero, nacque il 27 agosto 1858 nella frazione cuneese di Spinetta, da cui, per frequentare le scuole elementari situate nel capoluogo, percorreva ogni giorno cinque chilometri a piedi. Nel 1870, visti i brillanti esiti scolastici, venne portato da uno zio sacerdote a Torino, dove a soli 22 anni si laureò in matematica. In quell'ateneo trascorse tutta la vita, prima come assistente e dal 1890 come docente di calcolo infinitesimale e poi di matematiche complementari.

Cuneo commemorates Sunday Giuseppe Peano, on the 150th anniversary of his birth. The author of "Formulario Mathematico" and one of the most appreciated Italian mathematical minds, even abroad, was born 27 August 1858 in the hamlet of Spinetta in Cuneo, from which, to go to elementary school located in the capital, he walked five kilometres every day on foot. In 1870, seeing brilliant scholarly results, he was taken by a priestly uncle of his to Turin, where at just 22 years of age he graduated in mathematics. In that university he spent all of his life, first as an assistent and in 1890 as a professor of infinitessimal calculus and then in complementary mathematics.

Nel 1889 pubblicò in latino un saggio che gli diede fama mondiale, "Arithmetices Principia nova methodo exposita", in cui espose i suoi celebri cinque assiomi per l'aritmetica.

In 1889 he published in Latin an essay that gave him worldwide fame: "Arithmetices Principia nova methodo exposita", in which he exhibited his famous five axioms for arithmetic...





...and then a lot more about his work in mathematics and a small mention of Interlingua (= Latino sine Flexione) at the end. Actually, this other link has more on that so I'll use it.

E per una volta, non si tratta qui di un caso della scarsa cittadinanza internazionale della lingua italiana, perché il cuneese aveva scritto il Formulario nella sua Interlingua, chiamata a volte anche “latino sine flexione”, che restò la sua ossessione per il resto della sua vita. Il più grande progetto di Peano restò infatti la fondazione di una lingua universale, semplice da imparare e tale da non dare adito ad ambiguità. Gli “Arithmetices Principia” cominciano così: “le domande riguardanti i fondamenti della matematica, sebbene recentemente assai dibattute, restano ancora senza riposte soddisfacenti. L’ambiguità del linguaggio è la causa principale dei problemi del filosofo. È per questo che è della massima importanza esaminare attentamente tutte le parole che usiamo”. Dopo il 1900, Peano si dedica quasi esclusivamente al Formulario e all’Interlingua, e non produce più memorie matematiche di rilevanza assoluta.

And for once, this is not a case of poor citizenship (think this means ability) in the Italian language, because the man from Cuneo had written the Formulario in his Interlingua, sometimes also called "latine sine flexione", which remained his obsession for the rest of his life. The largest project of Peano remained in fact the foundation of a universal language, easy to learn and one that does not give rise to ambiguity. The "Arithmetices Principia" begins so: "The questions regarding the fundaments of mathematics, although much discussed recently, remain still without a satisfactory reply. The ambiguity of language is the principal cause of the problems of the philosopher." After 1900 Peano dedicated himself almost exclusively to the Formulario and to Interlingua, and did not produce any more mathematical memories (?) of absolute importance.

Il segreto è dunque nel linguaggio, sembra volerci dire Giuseppe: i problemi nascono dal linguaggio ambiguo, e di conseguenza la soluzione dei problemi deve trovarsi nella creazione di un linguaggio non più ambiguo. A differenza di altri, che combattono la stessa battaglia (Frege, Russell, Whitehead) mirata alla creazione ex-novo dei principi fondamentali della matematica, Peano è così convinto dell’importanza del linguaggio da ritenere che debba trascendere i puri limiti della logica, e si getta totalmente nel progetto di una lingua comune a tutta la razza umana. Come se prima ancora della lingua matematica ritenesse fondamentale rifondare la lingua comune, per rimuovere alla radice le possibili ambiguità.

The secret is therefore in language, Giuseppe seemed to want to say: the problems arising from ambiguous language, and therefore the solution of the problems should be found in the creation of a language no longer ambiguous. Unlike others, who are fighting the same battle (Frege, Russell, Whitehead), who aim at a creation from scratch of the fundamental principles of mathematics, Peano was so convinced of the importance of language in believing that it should transcend the pure limits of logic, and he threw himself totally in the project of a common language for the entire human race. (guessing a bit at this last sentence) As with the beginning of the language of mathematics considered essential he would refound a common language, to remove all roots with possible ambiguity.



Basically I think that last sentence means that he was focused on a language that had a strong and unambiguous foundation just like mathematics, but please check it over if you're Italian to let me know if I missed the point or not.

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Kurdish government has new agreement on oil with South Korea / Kürtler'den Güney Kore ile yeni petrol anlaşması

Source: ihlas.net.tr (Turkish)

Kürtler'den Güney Kore ile yeni petrol anlaşması

New agreement from the Kurds on oil with South Korea

Kuzey Irak Kürt yönetimi, Bağdat Hükümeti''ne rağmen Güney Kore ile yeni bir petrol çıkarma anlaşması yaptı.

The Kurdish government in north Iraq has made a new agreement with South Korea on oil drilling in spite of the government in Baghdad.

Irak'ın kuzeyindeki bölgesel Kürt yönetimi, Güney Kore Milli Petrol Şirketi (KNOC) ile yeni bir petrol çıkarma anlaşması yaptı. Bölgede petrol sondaj çalışması yürüten Güney Kore Milli Şirketi ile, Kürt hükümeti ve Bağdat yönetimi arasında petrol krizi yaşandığı sırada varılan anlaşmanın, 2,1 milyar dolar değerinde olduğu kaydedildi.

The Kurdish administration in the north of Iraq has made a new agreement with the Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC, 한국석유공사). KNOC has been driving oil sounding in the region, and the agreement, which is worth 2.1 billion dollars, has come in the middle of an oil crisis between the Kurdish administration and the one in Baghdad.

Anlaşmaya göre Güney Kore şirketi, Erbil ve Kerkük arasında bulunan Kuştepe ile Sinca bölgelerinde tespit edilen 6 ayrı petrol yatağında sondaj çalışması yürütecek. Yapılan anlaşma çerçevesinde çıkarılan petrolün yüzde 15 ila 20'si, Güney Kore şirketine verilecek.

According to the agreement the South Korean company will carry out sounding work in six different oil fields determined to be in the regions of Kushtepe and Sinja, between Arbil and Kerkuk. In the terms of the agreement between 15 and 20 percent of the oil drawn out will be given to the Korean company.

Geçtiğimiz Şubat ayında Güney Kore'ye bir ziyaret gerçekleştiren Irak Bölgesel Kürt Yönetimi Başbakanı Neçirvan Barzani ile KNOC önderliğindeki Güney Kore enerji şirketleri arasında anlaşma da imzalanmıştı. Güney Kore'ye beraberinde çok sayıda işadamını da götüren Barzani, Cumhurbaşkanı Lee Myung-bak ve Genelkurmay Başkanı ile de görüşmelerde bulunmuştu.

Last February the president of the Iraqi Regional Kurdish Authority Nechirvan Barzani (نێچیرڤان بارزانی) met with KNOC leaders where an agreement was signed between South Korean energy companies. Barzani has since sent a number of businesspeople to South Korea, and has had meetings with President Lee Myung-bak (이명박) and the head of general staff.

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Turkish prime minister to visit Turkmenistan and Mongolia in early October / Erdoğan, Türkmenistan'a gidecek

Source: samanyoluhaber.com (Turkish)

Personally I find the visit to Mongolia to be much more interesting considering some of the less obvious cultural and linguistic similarities between the two. Turkish and Turkmen are basically dialects of the same language but Mongolian has a lot of similarities that lie just below the surface.

Erdoğan, Türkmenistan'a gidecek

Erdoğan to go to Turkmenistan

Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Türkmenistan ve Moğolistan'a resmi ziyaretlerde bulunacak.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will officially visit Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

Başbakanlık Basın Merkezi'nden yapılan yazılı açıklamaya göre, Başbakan Erdoğan, Türkmenistan Devlet Başkanı Gurbangulu Berdimuhamedov'un daveti üzerine 3-4 Ekim 2008 tarihlerinde Türkmenistan'a, Moğolistan Başbakanı Sanjaa Bayar'ın daveti üzerine de 4-6 Ekim 2008 tarihlerinde Moğolistan'a resmi ziyaretler gerçekleştirecek.

According to a written statement by the Prime Minister's Press Centre, Prime Minister Erdoğan will go to Turkmenistan from the 3rd to the 4th of October at the invitation of Turkmenistan's president Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow, and to Mongolia from the 4th to the 6th of October at the invitation of Prime Minister Sanjaagiin Bayar (Санжаагийн Баяр) for official visits.

Açıklamada, şunlar kaydedildi:

The following was mentioned in the statement:

''Türkmenistan ziyareti sırasında yapılacak ikili ve heyetlerarası görüşmelerde, Türkiye ile Türkmenistan ilişkilerinin gündeminde yer alan konular ile her iki ülkenin ortak ilgi alanına giren bölgesel ve uluslararası gelişmeler ele alınacaktır.

"There will be bilateral and interdelegational meetings in the visit to Turkmenistan, where relations between Turkey and Turkmenistan as well as regional and international developments in the two nations' areas of common interest will be taken up.

Ziyaret esnasında Türkiye-Türkmenistan İş Konseyi Toplantısı yapılacak, Sayın Başbakanımız bu ülkede bulunan vatandaşlarımız ve iş adamlarımızla da bir araya geleceklerdir.

In the course of the visit a Turkey-Turkmenistan Work Council Meeting will take place, and the Prime Minister will meet with Turkish citizens and businesspeople in the country.

Sayın Başbakanımızın ziyareti, geçtiğimiz ayda gerçekleştirilen üst düzey ziyaretler ile ivme kazanan işbirliğinin ve kardeşlik ilişkilerimizin daha ileri düzeylere taşınabilmesi yönünde bir fırsat teşkil edecektir.''

Last month's top-level visits accelerated cooperation and friendship, and the visit by the prime minister will constitute an opportunity to move these forward to a new level."

-ORHUN ANITLARI-

Orkhon monuments

Başbakan Erdoğan'ın, Moğolistan'a gerçekleştireceği ziyarette, TİKA tarafından yapımı üstlenilen ve Orhun Anıtları'nın bulunduğu Hoşo Saydam ile Karakurum'u birbirine bağlayan 46 kilometrelik Bilge Kağan Karayolu, Orhun Anıtları'nın korunması için inşa edilen Orhun Müzesi, başkent Ulanbator'da ismi ''Mustafa Kemal Atatürk'' olarak değiştirilen okulun önündeki Atatürk büstü ve Ankara Caddesi'nin açılışlarını yapacağı da bildirildi.

In Erdoğan's visit to Mongolia he will also carry out openings in a number of areas:

• the 46 kilometre long Bilge Kağan Railway constructed by TIKA connecting Hosho Saydam - where the Orkhon script monuments are found - with Karakurum.
• the Orkhon Museum constructed for the preservation of the Orkhon script monuments
• a bust of president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in front of a school in the capital of Ulanbataar which had its name changed to that of the president, and
• Ankara Street.

Açıklamada, Moğolistan'a gerçekleştirilecek ziyaret esnasında ikili ve heyetlerarası görüşmelerin yapılarak Türkiye-Moğolistan ilişkilerinin gündeminde yer alan konular ile her iki ülkenin ortak ilgi alanına giren bölgesel ve uluslararası gelişmelerin ele alınacağı belirtilerek, ''Sayın Başbakanımızın bu ziyareti, zengin bir tarihi ve kültürel ortak mirası paylaştığımız ve 2009 yılında diplomatik ilişkilerimizin kuruluşunun 40. yıl dönümünü kutlayacağımız Moğolistan ile gelişen kardeşlik ve işbirliği ilişkilerinin daha da derinleştirilmesine imkan sağlayacaktır'' ifadelerine yer verildi.

The statement said that there will be bilateral and interdelegational meetings in the visit to Mongolia, where relations between Turkey and Mongolia as well as regional and international developments in the two nations' areas of common interest will be taken up, saying that "the visit by the prime minister will provide the possibility to deepen friendship and cooperative relations with Mongolia, a country that we share a rich history and cultural heritage with, and one with which we will celebrate 40 years of diplomatic relations in 2009."

Başbakan Erdoğan'ın Türkmenistan ve Moğolistan'a gerçekleştireceği resmi ziyaretlere, Devlet Bakanı ve Başbakan Yardımcısı Hayati Yazıcı, Devlet Bakanı Said Yazıcıoğlu, Sanayi ve Ticaret Bakanı Zafer Çağlayan ile Enerji ve Tabii Kaynaklar Bakanı Hilmi Güler de eşlik edecek.

In the visits by Prime Minister Erdoğan to Turkmenistan and Mongolia, he will be joined by deputy prime ministers Hayati Yazıcı and Said Yazıcıoğlu, Industry and Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan, and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler.

AA
26.Eylül.2008 12:24:34
26 September 2008 12:24:34

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Nigerian Akwa Ibom state may make French language compulsory

Nigeria (red) and Cameroon (green):
and the location of Akwa Ibom in Nigeria:
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Here's some more evidence that influences on language are generally more local than global:

Akwa Ibom government may make French Language compulsory for secondary schools in order to ensure effective communication with the people of Cameroun and new owners of the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula. Governor Godswill Akpabio gave the indication while receiving a report of a six-man committee, set up to assess the impact of the ceding of the region to Cameroun on the state.

The Governor expressed concern that French language had not been taken seriously despite the state’s proximity to French-speaking countries. He promised to discuss the issue with the Commissioner for Education.

“I think we can make the study of French compulsory and see how far we can go with it. I hope the students will take it seriously”, he said.

Wikipedia on Bakassi:

Bakassi is the peninsular extension of the African territory of Calabar into the Atlantic Ocean. It is currently ruled by Cameroon following the transfer of sovereignty from neighbouring Nigeria as a result of a judgment by the International Court of Justice. On 22 November 2007, the Nigerian Senate rejected the transfer, since the Green Tree Agreement ceding the area to Cameroon was contrary to Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution. Regardless, the territory was formally transferred to Cameroon on August 14, 2008.

There's also a BBC article on the handover here.

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67 million dollars of trade between Senegal and Turkey in 2007, 2008 sees 50% increase / Les échanges commerciaux se chiffrent à $67 millions

Here's a page from a Senegalese newspaper in French on trade between Turkey and Senegal. It's a bit long so here are just the important parts:

Les relations commerciales entre le Sénégal et la Turquie se portent relativement bien, si l’on en juge par le montant des transactions commerciales qui ont atteint la barre des 67 millions de dollars par an.

The commercial relations between Senegal and Turkey are doing relatively well, if one judges by the amount of commercial transactions, which have reached 67 million dollars per year.

Pour 2008, le représentant de la Turquie à Dakar espère une augmentation du volume des échanges commerciaux. ‘En 2008, il y aura une augmentation de 50 %’, certifie le diplomate turc. Toutefois, selon lui, les échanges commerciaux entre nos deux pays ne sont pas à la hauteur de nos ‘relations politiques’ qui, elles, remontent aux premières années de notre indépendance.

For 2008, the representative of Turkey to Dakar expects an increase in the volume of trade. "In 2008, there will be an increase of 50%", certified the Turkish diplomat. However, he said, the commercial exchanges between our two countries are not up to the heights of our 'political relations', which go back to the early years of our independence.

Pour Makhary Diakhaté, président de l’association ‘Pont de fraternité et d’échanges Sénégal/Turquie’, il y a beaucoup de ressemblances entre nos deux pays. C’est pourquoi, il considère que ‘la Turquie peut être un modèle de développement pour le Sénégal parce que nous avons beaucoup de ressemblances, notamment sur le plan religieux. Mieux je peux dire que les problèmes qu’il y a au Sénégal, nous avons les solutions en Turquie.

For Makhary Diakhaté, president of the association "Bridge of fraternity and exchanges Senegal/Turkey", there are many commonalities between our two countries. That's why he considers that "Turkey could be a model of development for Senegal as we have many similarities, notably regarding religious. The best I can say is that for the problems that are in Senegal, we have the solutions in Turkey."

On Tika (l’Agence de coopération turque pour le développement (Tika) -- The Turkish Cooperation Agency for Development):

Dans le domaine agricole, la Tika exécute un projet d’amélioration de la pomme de terre pour une valeur de 400 millions de francs. En outre, la coopération turque se signale par l’envoi de spécialistes surtout dans le domaine de la santé. L’année dernière, par exemple, 24 médecins turcs ont séjourné au Sénégal pendant un mois. Durant cette période, cette équipe pluridisciplinaire s’est déployée à l’intérieur du pays, comme à Touba, Guédiawaye, Saint Louis et Kaolack. Les médecins turcs avaient effectué 8 300 consultations, plus de 100 circoncisions et distribué trois tonnes de médicaments.

In the domain of agriculture, Tika has been implementing a project to improve potatoes with a value of 400 million Francs. Moreover, Turkish cooperation is shown in the sending of specialists especially in the domain of health. Last year, for example, 24 Turkish doctors visited Senegal for a month. During this period, this multidisciplinary team was deployed at the interior of the country, such as Touba, Guédiawaye, Saint Louis and Kaolack. The Turkish doctors had completed 8 300 consultations, more than 100 circumcisions and distributed three tonnes of medicines.

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European Union wants to send 300 new observers into Georgia / AB, Gürcistan’a 300 yeni gözlemci göndermek istiyor

Source: Deutsche Welle (Turkish)

25.09.2008 | 06:00 UTC

AB'den Gürcistan'a 300 gözlemci

300 observers from the EU to Georgia

AB, Gürcistan’a 300 yeni gözlemci göndermek istiyor. Fransa Dışişleri Bakanlığı’ndan yapılan açıklamada gözlemcilerin Tiflis ve Moskova arasındaki ateşkesin korunması için görev yapacağı belirtildi. AB tarafından Gürcistan’a yollanması planlanan gözlemci sayısı şimdiye kadar 200 olarak açıklanmıştı. Almanya AB’nin Kafkaslardaki gözlemci misyonuna 20 polis ve 20 sivil uzman ile katılıyor. AB’nin Gürcistan’daki gözlemci misyonu 1 Ekim’de başlayacak.

The EU wants to send 300 new observers to Georgia. An announcement from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that observers would work to make sure the ceasefire between Tbilisi and Moscow was being kept. The number of observers from the EU planned to be sent to Georgia until now has been 200. Germany is participating in EU's observer mission in the Caucasus with 20 police and 20 civil experts. The EU's observer mission in Georgia will begin on the 1st of October.

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Adults in the U.K. (and probably other places too) forgetting the languages they learned in school

Dieu et mon droit (God and my right), the motto of the United Kingdom. Remembering that gives students four free French words.

Here's another article on the foreign language ability of people in the U.K., and I'm sure a number of other places such as Western Canada and the U.S., and perhaps Australia and New Zealand too (I'm just guessing at those though so leave a response below if this is wrong).

As always, people forgetting languages doesn't mean they think them to be unimportant:

Two fifths of the 1,000 people polled by ICM regretted not keeping up their language skills after leaving school.

Most people thought languages were important in everyday life and 52% said they were important to a career.

Most languages are declining in popularity in school:

The latest figures show the number taking French has slumped by a third in four years, although language experts say they hope the trend is now slowing.

German has also continued to fall - from 81,061 in 2007 to 76,695 this year - a drop of 5.4%. In 2004, 122,161 students sat a GSCE in the subject.

It comes after the government scrapped the requirement to take a language in England's schools from the age of 14 in 2004.

Spanish has been steadily growing in popularity, but from a lower base. Entries rose by 4.9% on last year - from 63,978 to 67,092.

Other modern languages - such as Chinese and Arabic - are also growing in popularity although the totals are comparatively small.

I like this part:

And more than two thirds (69%) said they were jealous of people who were able to speak another language fluently.

Of those who can speak another language, 61% said it had been of benefit to their career, with a third (34%) saying their language skills have given them opportunities to travel and work abroad.

That first point is actually what got me interested in languages for the first time. Not French in school or anywhere else, but the scene in Braveheart where it turns out that he is also fluent in Latin and knows exactly what the two people in front of him are saying:

King's Advisor: [to Princess] Sanguinarius homo indomitus est, et se me dite cum mendacia.
[He is a bloody murdering savage. And he's telling lies]
William Wallace: Ego nunquam pronunciari mendacium! Sed ego sum homo indomitus.
[I never lie. But I am a savage]
William Wallace: [to Princess] Ou en français, si vous préférez?
[Or in French if you prefer?]

Zing! That scene alone trumped anything school ever did to try to get us to learn French.


Given the fact that foreign languages never used are easy to forget, I'm more or less convinced that the best way to get people to study a language in a place where there's pretty much no chance of having to use a language besides English is to focus on the etymology and history of English words, giving the students a much firmer basis upon which to later embark upon other European languages. It's easy to forget words in other languages when you never use them, but not so easy when you've tied them into your mother tongue.

Take for example the following:

• grenade is related to the word pomegranate, and the Spanish word is grenada.
• doppelganger (doppelgänger) literally means "double walker" in German.
• the were in werewolf is cognate with Latin vir for man, and the word virile
• all the words related to ally: from Latin alligare, to bind to, from ad, to + ligare, to bind. Compare alligate, allay, alloy and ligament.

There are thousands and thousands of words that can be learned without ever having to leave the comfort of the English language, and learning them this way makes them both harder to forget, and makes the idea of learning a foreign language that much more interesting. Another approach that can be taken is adopting more foreign language terms when talking about world history. The word Anschluss is a German word that some might know because of Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938, so there's a free German word there. Also think of the Beer Hall Putsch. Add to that questions on what other terms like coup d'état mean (lit. strike of state) and there is a lot of room in other subjects to get people used to the idea of learning other languages.

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