Ukraine

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 … ↪

Global Languages Day, Sept. 17, Dokk1, Aarhus, Denmark

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Researchers and teachers connect to Aarhus University (AU) who are interested in languages, are organizing Global Languages Day, an initiative aimed at showcasing the work they do with and about languages at AU to the general public, including gymnasium students. As many languages  as possible will be represented.
The event is planned in three parts:
  1. Short talks
  2. Small booths representing the languages we have at AU (sprogsmagning) – including snacks and possibility for 2-minute language dating
  3. Q&A session (with questions selected in advance for preparation: globallanguagesday@cas.au.dk)
Global Languages Day will take place on September 17 at DOKK 1.
We plan to have the talks (part 1) from 10:00 – 12:10, the sprogsmagning (part 2) from 12:10 – 13:30, and
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Free Ukrainian! Special linguistic operation for the Ukraine: Free Ukranian-Danish-Ukrainian dictionary for displaced Ukrainians and their helpers.

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(див. український текст нижче)

When I visited an old friend, a farmer, in the countryside, he told me that he had given a safe haven in his farmhouse to a couple of Ukrainians who had fled the violence in their homecountry. The ladies and their families were very happy with their new place. In the meantime, they have moved on to Horsens and Hammel.

The challenge was, that my friend and the Ukrainians could not communicate with each other, because they had no language in common. The Ukrainians only spoke Ukrainian. It is an illusion that “everybody” speaks English. I estimate that one in 30 of the refugees speak some (some) English.

Then I thought: there is a task for … ↪