Literacy

The Power of the Written Word in the Mother Tongue

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Today it is Romani language day. Anastasiia Tambovtseva-Koval writes about her experience as an educator teaching the Romani language in a written form.

It is well known that while the mind can perceive many languages, the heart is most deeply touched by the native one. Good teachers understand this and take it into account when educating their students. However, an interesting phenomenon arises with so-called “non-written languages.” I would like to share my personal experience with this in relation to the Romani language.

Romani is often considered an unwritten language. Although no single official standard for Romani writing exists, a significant number of written sources in the language can be found. These are typically based on the local alphabet, the … ↪

Who Understands Comics? Or: How I learned that I don’t draw bad comics, I just read backwards

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To my delight and misfortune, I have been making comics since my 2017 Erasmus plus stay at Aarhus University.

I was never very good at drawing, but someone once told me that I was good at making circles, so I stuck with it. When I shared my early comics with my family, I got mixed reactions. In a WhatsApp correspondence, one family member resorted to “wow”, while the other offered their interpretation: “charming illustrations! I suggest not to try to understand the humor. It’s cool that there is a recurring character that repeats throughout. It creates empathy. Even if I do not understand the humor.” 4 years later I was still at it, and sent some more comics to my … ↪