As Europe's power grows, we need to cling to our separate languages

Language is at the core of our European identity. People don't give that up, whatever the ties between countries

Jonny Dymond
The Observer

Belgium: Attempt to ban Tintin in the Congo

A Congolese man living in Belgium is trying to have Tintin in the Congo banned in the boy reporter's native country, almost 80 years after Tintin first donned his pith helmet and headed for Africa to patronise its people, slaughter its animals, and spark an undying controversy.

The Guardian

CANADA: shop fined for selling English only sex toy

Distribution Percour Inc., owner of Boutique Séduction in Montreal North, has been ordered by a Quebec Court judge to pay $500 for selling an item called Sleeve Super Stretch whose packaging was in English only


Montreal Gazette

Practising the Japanese art of shodo

Sunil Manghani and his young daughter find quietude as apprentice calligraphers practising the Japanese art of shodo, the way of writing

Times Higher Education

USA: More Students Taking Arabic May Not Translate Into More Cultural Comprehension

Over the past decade, the federal government has provided resources to colleges to strengthen programs in Arabic and other languages deemed critical to the economy and security of the United States. That effort has increased the number of undergraduates whose first major was Arabic from 13 in 2002-3 to 57 in 2007-8, notes the Education Department's 2009 "Digest of Education Statistics," released on April 7.

And the number of students taking Arabic courses nearly doubled, to 24,000, between 2002 and 2006, according to the Modern Language Association.

But some scholars say that linguistic competence does not equal cultural competence—and that the latter is what is sorely needed.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

IRELAND: pupils with learning difficulties studying languages other than Irish

More than half of the students granted an exemption from studying Irish for the Leaving Certificate due to a learning difficulty over the last three years have sat or intend to sit other European language exams such as French or German, data from the Department of Education shows.

Provisional figures of this year’s crop of Leaving Certificate students show 2,297 students will not sit the Irish exam due to an exemption, but 1,326 of those intend to sit an exam in another European language.

Irish Times

Croatian teenager wakes from coma speaking fluent German

A 13-year-old Croatian girl who fell into a coma woke up speaking fluent German

Since waking up from her 24 hour coma however, she has been unable to speak Croatian, but is able to communicate perfectly in German.

The Telegraph