Issue 6 - May 2021 - La Casa de las Lenguas

ISSUE NO.6 • MAY 2021

LA CASA LENGUAS

CONTENTS SOCIETY & CULTURE THE ROLE OF FRANCE AND BELGIUM IN

2 THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE: ETHNIC

CONFLICT OR IMPERIALISM? 5 HOLI: THE FESTIVAL OF COLOURS 7 THE MONTH IN FESTIVALS: MAY 8

PLACES YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED: "THE TEMPLE OF RATS"

IRAQ'S DISAPPEARING RELIGION: THE 10 YAZIDIS 13 NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE

THE ROLE OF FRANCE AND BELGIUM IN THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE: ETHNIC CONFLICT OR IMPERIALISM? The Rwandan genocide. A massacre of one ethnic group by another. At least that's what most people think. In reality, there is a complex story behind this genocide which relates back to the colonisation of Rwanda by Belgium and French neo-colonial involvement in the region, which persisted long after Rwanda gained independence in 1962. /pg2

WWII & THE NAZIS

14 DISH OF THE MONTH: KHICHDI 16

PHOTOGRAPHERS OF WAR: MARTHA GELLHORN

19

WWII & THE NAZIS: HOW GERMANY DEALS WITH ITS DARK PAST

HOW GERMANY DEALS WITH ITS DARK PAST The way in which Germany teaches about its past is in clear contrast to the way it is presented in other countries. The many museums and exhibitions seen in the US and the UK work on an emotional level, attempting to teach younger generations the atrocities of the wars and the Nazi regime through ways that evoke shock and despair. Germany, however, prefers to do things a bit differently. /pg19

LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS 22

THE HISTORY OF THE HINDI LANGUAGE

23

9 HINDI SLANG WORDS

24

LEARN BASIC HINDI

25

HANGUL: HOW AN ALPHABET UNITED SOCIAL CLASSES

27

LANGUAGES IN LOCKDOWN: WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE LEARNING LANGUAGES?

29

LANGUAGE LEARNING: AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO FEELS LIKE THEY ARE LACKING?

32

LANGUAGES ONLINE: THE MISSING LANGUAGES OF THE INTERNET

KOREAN

LANGUAGES IN LOCKDOWN

HOW AN ALPHABET UNITED SOCIAL CLASSES

WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE LEARNING LANGUAGES?

As well as being one of the world’s oldest living language spoken today, Korean is also renowned for its obscurity and the many misunderstandings and misconceptions that surround it. /pg22

How is it that when the world closes that we become more open? According to commercial providers, as the world has closed up over the last 14 months, an increasing amount of people have decided to take up learning a new language and embrace other cultures around the world. / pg25

LA CASA DE LAS LENGUAS

PAGE 2

Society & Culture

THE ROLE OF FRANCE AND BELGIUM IN THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE: ETHNIC CONFLICT OR IMPERIALISM? The Rwandan genocide. A massacre of one ethnic group by another. At least that's what most people think. In reality, there is a complex story behind this genocide which relates back to the colonisation of Rwanda by Belgium and French neo-colonial involvement in the region, which persisted long after Rwanda gained independence in 1962.

The key misconception surrounding this genocide is that the Hutus (majority of the perpetrators) and Tutsis (majority of the victims) were of different ethnicities and so were naturally hostile towards each other. A more in-depth investigation into the history of Rwanda reveals the opposite to be true. They were not from different ethnic backgrounds but were socio-professional groups; the Tutsis were cattle herders, and the Hutus were crop farmers. The Tutsis tended to be wealthier due to their ownership of cattle, so when a system of monarchy was established, they were in power despite representing the minority of the population.

There was no major conflict between these groups in Rwanda for centuries.

Indeed, they shared the same language (Kinyarwanda), religion, culture; intergroup marriages were commonplace; one could move from one group to the other simply by changing profession.

When Belgian colonists arrived in Rwanda in 1922, they were greeted with an organised and efficient monarchy, which, according to racist European ‘Hamitic’ theories, could only be attributed to European influence. These myths were particularly advocated by Belgian Christian missionaries, many of whom would go on to take active or passive roles in the genocide.

The Tutsis (in power) also 'appeared' more European with their slim and tall physiques compared to the shorter and stockier Hutus. Anthropologists have pointed out that in fact these physical differences were due to the different diets eaten; Tutsis consumed more dairy and nutritious foods due to their financial status. Indeed, the average height difference between social classes in Europe at the time was 12cm, the same as the difference between Tutsis and Hutus.

Whilst previous German colonisers may have held similar racist perceptions, Belgium intensified these divisions in more concrete ways. Hutus were eliminated from positions of power; from 1931 administrative documents recording the 'ethnicity' of people; from 1935 it was compulsory to carry an ethnic identity card. Unsurprisingly, this led to Hutu animosity towards the Tutsis, so when the Belgians withdrew, the Hutus took power, armed with a developed version of the Belgian attitude - that the Tutsis were European and so were unwelcome invaders.

Without Belgian influence in the region, France was keen to maintain Rwanda as a francophone country, therefore, whilst less focused on ethnicity than Belgium had been, France’s militant stance against anglophone influence deepened existing divisions. This tendency in

BY BETHANY HUGHES

French foreign policy to focus on regions susceptible to anglophone influence is known as the Fashoda Syndrome. France therefore supported whoever was in power —the Hutus at the time—offering economic and military aid.

During the takeover of power, 300,000 Tutsis fled to neighbouring countries, with many regrouping in Uganda to form the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

Uganda was anglophone, which was considered a threat to French influence in the region, and so France became involved in defending Hutu led Rwanda against an RPF invasion in 1990.

From 1990, French troops were present in Rwanda at all times, and the total cost of military equipment France provided to the Rwandan army between 1990-1993 amounted to 54.8 million francs. Despite a UN arms embargo, deliveries of weapons to the Hutus continued throughout and after the genocide, and whilst France may not have been directly involved in these, they did not prevent them.

Many would argue that no one can prevent a genocide and that France was not sufficiently prepared or warned. However, the accounts of key people involved tell us otherwise. Jean Varret, head of the military mission in Rwanda at the time, warned France of the risk of genocide as early as 1990, having met with the chief of the Rwandan Gendarmerie who requested heavy weapons for the “liquidation of Tutsis”. The French authorities were equally warned by the International Federation for Human Rights, as well as France’s foreign intelligence agency.

Yet Jacques Lanxade, head of the French army at the time, claimed that France feared a civil war rather than a genocide, so took action in the context of war. The testimonies of those defending France are however less likely to be reliable since they attempt to protect France’s reputation as a force for good in the world, a reputation which would be heavily tainted by accepting complicity in a genocide just 27 years ago.

It is true that France did act during the genocide, but it is important to examine the details. After the death of 10 Belgian peacekeepers on the first day of the genocide, the UN voted to withdraw 90% of their troops from Rwanda, leaving just 270

PAGE 3

men; France voted in favour of this decision. Yet after more than two months of genocide, France launched ‘Operation Turquoise’, creating a humanitarian zone to supposedly protect the Tutsis who were being massacred.

The first question to ask about this operation is why after two months? At this time, the defeat of the Hutu government who France had been supporting seemed increasingly inevitable, and the RPF had pushed the government to withdraw from the capital, Kigali.

Indeed, the word ‘genocide’ never appeared in the UN resolution authorising this operation. Because of the timing of Operation Turquoise, it seems that as soon as the Hutu regime seemed threatened by the anglophone RPF, France intervened as it was in her geopolitical interests.

The other controversial element of the French intervention was whether it was effective. It is true that lives were saved— between 10,000-17,000 according to French newspaper ‘Libération’—however, many Tutsis were left to their own devices, for example in the Bisesero region where French forces hesitated for three days, resulting in 40,000 deaths. French troops who were stationed in Rwanda also recall being asked to prepare air strikes against the RPF—operations which had nothing to do with preventing a genocide but were political in nature.

Society & Culture The ‘humanitarian’ zone created as a safe space for the Tutsis, became a place of refuge for thousands of genocidal Hutus, including 17 government ministers and the Prime Minister, who fled to Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in fear of Tutsi reprisals. This raises many questions about the true intentions of French intervention and suggests the real reasons behind Operation Turquoise were to protect the Rwandan regime from the anglophone influences of the RPF. Within six years of the end of the genocide, Belgium, the UN and the US issued official apologies for their failure to respond to the genocide, however France did not. In 2019, President Macron commissioned a report to investigate France’s involvement; the Duclert Commission published their report in March 2021.

The report concludes that the French government under Mitterrand was “blind” to preparations being made for genocide; they were was not direct perpetrators of the genocide, but their continuation of support for the genocidal Hutu regime leaves the country with “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities”. The conclusions of the report have been welcomed by the Rwandan President Paul Kagame as showing significant progress in the attitudes of the French government, however it still did not go as far as admitting ‘complicity’.

BY BETHANY HUGHES

A subsequent report commissioned by Kagame concluded that France bears significant responsibility for having enabled the genocide and was “neither blind nor unconscious about the foreseeable genocide”. Whilst there are still disagreements regarding the extent of France’s role in the Rwandan genocide, there is certainly hope for future accountability and better relationships between all countries involved.

The Rwandan genocide is an event that many people have a vague awareness of, but very few know about its context and origins. The international community said ‘never again’ after the Holocaust, yet since then we have seen numerous genocides, in Rwanda, but also in Cambodia under Pol Pot (1975-1979); Bosnia (1992-1995); Darfur, Sudan (2003-); against the Uyghurs in China (2014-); against the Rohingyas in Myanmar (2016- ).

This is why it is important to learn about the history behind any genocide. We cannot prevent genocide without understanding the reasons and ideologies behind it, and the environment which has to be created to allow for it to happen. Genocide is very much a part of the history of humanity, but what we are seeing today is that it threatens to be part of our future.

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Society & Culture

BY LANGUAGETUTOR4U

HOLI: THE FESTIVAL OF COLOURS Holi, also known as the "Festival of Colours", "Festival of Love", or the "Festival of Spring”, is a popular ancient Hindu festival dating back to the 4th century CE. It celebrates the start of spring after a long winter, symbolic of the victory of good over evil.

Holi is normally celebrated in March, coinciding with the Phalguna Hindu calendar month. In 2021, it was celebrated on 29th March, although some villages in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh make the festival into a week-long affair rather than a single day.

While some families organise religious ceremonies to celebrate Holi, for most it is a time dedicated to fun and creativity, which is implied through the meaning of its name.

On the eve of the festival, many people light large pyres to symbolise the burning of evil spirits, celebrating the triumph of good over evil. People throw popcorn, coconuts and chickpeas into the bonfires.

The second day is the celebration of love, spring and new life. It is celebrated as an event that leads the world coming out of the darkness of winter into the light and renewal of spring. To symbolise this, people of all ages take to the streets to throw paint and coloured water at each other. Families also meet to enjoy festive meals.

Why do people throw colours at each other, or lit bonfires?

The meaning is hidden in the legends that surround this beautiful festival. The story behind it is generally connected to the God Vishnu as the festival celebrates

the love between Radha and Krishna, who are the incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

The legend of Krishna—Why is it called the festival of colours?

According to this legend, Krishna was quite rebellious. He did not like his dark blue skin and wanted to be fairer, like Radha. He was advised by his mother, Yashoda, to colour Radha’s face with any dye he wanted. After this, they were still in love with each other, meaning that Radha would not accept Krishna’s mischievous nature.

It is thought that this could be the reason why people today throw colours at each other during the second day of this celebration and why the festival represents the love between Radha and Krishna.

The legend of Holika and Hiranyakashipu The legend revolving around two demon siblings, Holika and Hiranyakashipu, is vital to understanding the significance behind the way Holi is celebrated, in particular the bonfires.

Hiranyakashipu was a demon King who had been given five special powers which kept him from being killed under certain conditions. He could not be destroyed by animals or humans, indoors or outdoors, during the day or night, on land, air, or water, by bullets, or with handheld weapons. Being

indestructible, he started believing that he was a God. Whoever worshipped other gods other than him were punished or killed.

Since Hiranyakashipu’s son Prahlad remained a worshiper of the Hindu god Vishnu instead of his father, the demon planned to kill him.

Hiranyakashipu bound his sister Holika into the scheme. By wearing a special coat that shielded her from the fire, she took Prahlad into a bonfire. The plan involved killing Prahlad in the fire, but instead her coat flew off and covered Prahlad instead, protecting him and killing her.

After having witnessed all these events, Vishnu was determined to put an end to this evil creature.

He smartly managed to bypass Hiranyakashipu’s five powers by: Taking the form of half-lion, half-human (so not animal or human) Arriving at sunset (not day or night) Showing on a doorstep (not outdoors or indoors) Placing the demon on his lap (which isn’t land, water or air) Killing Hiranyakashipu with his nails (which aren’t projectiles or a hand-held weapon) It is thought that Holika gave the name to this festival and is the reason why bonfires are lit during the first night of celebrations.

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What powder do they use and what is it made of?

Gulal powder is used for various festivals but mostly associated with Holi and it is made of a mixture of more than 95% corn-starch blended with food and cosmetic pigments.

The colours used have various meanings: Red represents love Blue is associated with Krishna’s skin colour Yellow is the turmeric which is used for most of Indian food Green is the colour of spring, youth and new life!

Of course, there are many more legends and hidden meanings that surround this beautiful and traditional Indian festival, but these are just a hint of the many stories there are regarding Holi.

Society & Culture

Instagram @languagetutor4u

Website langua

getuto r 4u.com

BY LANGUAGETUTOR4U

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MAY

Society & Culture

THE MONTH IN

festivals

1

5

6

12

Holy.

Saturday

Cinco de Mayo

Palm Sunday (Orthodox)

Eid al Fitr

Pascha (Orthodox Easter Sunday)

Twelfth Day of Rivdan

13 Ascension of Christ

20 Dehwa Daymaneh

22

23

Paniyiri Greek Festival

Pentecost

International Day for Biological Diversity

26

27

28

29

Vesak/Buddha Day

Pesach/Passover

Palm Sunday

End of Lent

Pretzel Sunday

Holi

PAGE 8

Society & Culture

PLACES YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED

PLACES YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED: "THE TEMPLE OF RATS" Karni Mata temple, also known as “the temple of rats”, is located in Deshnoke, Rajasthan. The temple that stands today was built in the early 20th century to pay homage to Karni Mata, a female Hindu warrior sage.

Karni Mata was born into the Charan caste in the 14th century CE and acted as a pillar of advice for other Rajasthani rulers. Legend says she led a celibate life after encouraging her husband, with whom she shared four sons with, to marry her sister. Following the death of one of her sons who drowned while drinking from a pond, Karni Mata begged the Hindi god of Death, Yama, to revive him.

After initially refusing to do so, she incarnated him and her other male step-children as rats.

The temple is well known all over India for housing 20,000 black rats.

The rats, called “kabbas” or “little children”, are considered as holy with people coming from across the world to pay homage to them. In fact, the majority of those who visit the temple do so solely due to the presence of the rats.

The rats are fed by members of the Depavats family, of which there are 513 families and devotees to Karni Mata. The Depavats are believed to be families that have descended from Karni Mata, and they devote their whole lives to looking after the temple and the rats that inhabit it. It is believed that when they die as rats, they are reincarnated as part of the Depavats family. While some families live permanently in the

temple, others work in shifts that are dependent on the lunar cycle.

The water the rats drink is also considered to be holy. They are fed anything from coconut shells to milk or grains, which they eat from large metal bowls.

Eating the rats’ leftovers is believed to bring good fortune to those paying a visit to the temple.

The temple laws say that if any of the rats are accidentally killed, then they must be replaced by a rat made out of silver or gold. While these rats that live within the temple are viewed as holy and sacred, the rats that live in the town are not - they are seen as just regular rats.

Image credit: Working Traveller

Image credit: The Planet D

When visiting the temple, shoes are banned. It is considered auspicious if a rat runs over your feet, or if anyone catches a glimpse of an albino rat, which is hard to come by considering there are only 4 or five 5 out of the 20,000 that live in the temple. The best time to visit the temple is late at night or around the time of sunrise when the rats gather to eat their food.

The temple is a piece of Mughal architecture, with a marble facade which includes the works of Maharaja Ganga Singh. There are many silver doors with panels that portray legends of the goddess. In 1999, further work was carried out on the temple by the Hyderabadbased jeweler Kundanlal Verma who donated various marble carvings and silver rats.

The rise of IS in 2014 saw the persecution of religious minorities in their occupied regions with some of their worst crimes committed against the followers of the Yazidi faith, most notably those living in the region around the Sinjar Mountain.

The news, of what was later labelled a genocide, gathered much international attention to the Yazidi faith, leading to many questions about who they are and what the religion is all about.

Yazidis are a predominantly Kurmanjispeaking religious majority belonging to Yazidism, a faith with its roots in ancient Mesopotamian religions. They are considered an ethno-religious community, which means that their religion and ethnicity are so strongly intertwined with one another that it is not possible to separate them. For this reason, followers of the Yazidi faith are primarily found or have links to the Kurdish people of northern Iraq in regions like Sheikhan, the Sinjar Mountains, and in the region of Lalish.

While the origins of its name are disputed, some believe that it may stem from the Middle Persian word ‘Yazad’ which means ‘divine being’.

Other people, however, believe that it could stem from ‘Yazid ibn Mu’awiya’, the name given to the second Umayyad caliph, which is a group the Yazidis are said to have supported before officially becoming known as ‘Yazidis’.

The religion combines elements of many of religions, but the majority of its teachings incorporate those from Christianity and Islam.

Despite sharing many similarities with Christianity and Islam, there is a fundamental difference between these two religions and Yazidism in

the sense that the Yazidi faith has remained an oral tradition throughout its history. This means that it doesn’t have any sacred texts that form the basis of their beliefs and practices.

The way in which Yazidisim has been passed down throughout the centuries is through these beliefs and practices being orally transmitted by religious leaders. As a result, many elements of the religion differ from one another as each religious leader interprets them differently. While there are many religions in the world that follow the oral tradition, it is particularly the case for Yazidisim due to its complete lack of texts and its very strong commitment to maintaining its practice of the oral tradition.

There is no proclamation of faith that Yazidis have to affirm, and no universal way of performing rites or prayers.

The lack of consensus in the Yazidi faith makes it difficult to generalise aspects of their religion. However, there are aspects that remain core beliefs for all Yazidis, regardless of their different interpretations.

At the core of Yazidism is its classification as a monotheistic faith, meaning that they believe in

one God. This God is known by many names, including Zwedê and Allah, leading many to make the connection to the God seen in the Abrahamic faiths.

Yazidism has strong mythological connections to the 6 Abrahamic religions.

It is believed that their God has nothing to do with the workings of our everyday lives. Instead, this is left down to seven angels (Haft sur) while he focuses on ‘heavenly affairs’. The most important of all of these angels is known as Melek Taus, or “the peacock angel”, who is considered to be an ‘alter ego’ of God and is inseparable from his image. Melek Taus is the leader of the seven angels and is said to have been granted responsibility to carry out God’s work on Earth.

Melek Taus has become one of the most important symbols of the Yazidi faith.

The angels are also able to take human form and their incarnations are known as ‘Khass’. Some Yazidis believe that Jesus and Haan al-basri, an early Muslim theologian, are an example of ‘Khass’.

PAGE 11

Although Yazidism is classified as a monotheistic religion, it differs from the others due to its belief in reincarnation after death rather than adopting the concept of Heaven and Hell. The Yazidis believe that Hell is unnecessary as souls go through the process of transmigration, meaning that all wrongdoings can be gradually cleansed through rebirth.

The worst possible fate for a Yazidi is to be expelled from his community, as this means their soul can never progress. Conversion to another religion is, therefore, out of the question.

Due to the complexity and the secrecy of many of the teachings of the Yazidi faith, there have been misunderstandings that have led to increasing feelings of hostility towards its followers. Some have said that it has links to Zoroastrianism and sun worship, but for others the use of the word ‘Shaytan’, another one of the names used for their God, is the centre of much controversy.

‘Shaytan’ is Arabic for ‘devil’, which has led many to wrongly believe that Yazidis worship the devil. The idea of Melek Taus as a fallen angel on Earth to carry out God’s duty only adds to this as Christianity and Islam present the devil as a fallen angel.

Society & Culture ISIL members ‘justified’ the genocide of the Yezidis by saying they worship the devil.

In mid-2014, the followers of the Yazidi faith were victims of genocide carried out by ISIL. As a religious minority and a non-Islamic religion, they were perceived to pose a threat.

On 14th August 2014, the attack on the Yezidi community in Sinjar, Northern Iraq, resulted in thousands being imprisoned or killed and around 100,000 people fleeing to Mount Sinjar. The UN later referred to this attack as a ‘genocide’ on the Yezidi people. Those unfortunate enough to not escape were forced to convert, and if they refused to do so, they were killed.

The attack resulted in the death of almost 1300 Yazidis, leaving over 2500 children left behind as orphans. The effects are still felt today, with 1665 men remaining missing and there are believed to be many more women and children enslaved within ISIL, despite over 3000 already being saved.

Unlike other minority religions such as the Druze and the Alawais, what makes Yazidism different is its stance against conservatism. To be a Yazidi, both of your parents must also be Yazidis, meaning that the religion can only be

BY ELLA WILSON

inherited. For this reason, the rule also bans any marriage that is not interfaith.

This is a rule that has caused many problems over the last decade or so with the increasing persecution by ISIL. Although figures differ, it is believed that there are today just 70,000 to 500,000 Yazidis in the whole world, a number that has decreased greatly over the last century and has left many Yazidis worrying about the possibility of their religion becoming extinct.

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

PAGE 13

Society & Culture

SOUTH KOREA

SOUTH AFRICA

STUDENTS SHAVE THEIR HEADS IN PROTEST AGAINST PLANS TO RELEASE FUKUSHIMA WATER INTO THE PACIFIC

WILDFIRE ON TABLE MOUNTAIN DAMAGES HISTORIC BUILDINGS

I

n mid-April, the Japanese

In protest against the move,

government shared its plans to

more than 30 South Korean

release more than 1 million

college students shaved their

tonnes of treated water from its Fukushima nuclear plant. It is

heads outside Seoul’s Japanese embassy.

expected to begin in just 2 years and is set to be released into the

Those who took part in the

Pacific Ocean over a period of

protests were dressed in

30 years.

protective sheets displaying messages denouncing the plans

Although the move has support from the International Atomic

and calling for them to be cancelled.

O

ne of the worst fires known in

efforts on the Sunday had to

recent South African history

abandon their efforts the day later

broke out on Sunday 18th April. due to the strong winds.

The first started close to a memorial for Cecil Rhodes,

No civilian was injured as a result of

former Prime Minister of the

the fire, but three firefighters

Cape Colony and colonial

required hospital treatment due to

leader, until it reached Devil’s

suffering serious burns.

Peak.

The fire also destroyed parts of the Although the fire was 70-80%

University of Cape Town’s historic

contained, the strong winds

Jagger library. The library housed

posed a threat that the fire

unique African literature.

could restart.

“The library is our greatest loss,” said

Energy Agency, fishermen from Over 200 firefighters and

the local area worry about its

emergency services attended

potential effects on marine life.

the blaze. Four helicopters and a spotter aircraft that aided the

the university’s vice chancellor, Mamokgethi Phakeng, “some of these cannot be replaced by insurance, and that is a sad day for us.”

EGYPT

BRAZIL

EGYPTIAN MUMMIES TRANSPORTED TO NEW MUSEUM

A

t the start of April, 22 mummies, which included 19 kings and 4

Each mummy was transported in a

queens, were moved from Egypt's

unique car which was equipped with

Classical Egyptian Museum to the

shock-absorbers and was followed by a

new National Museum of

procession, which included a model of

Egyptian Civilisation.

horse-drawn war chariots.

ão Paulo and Rio de Janeiro saw

of genocide and for ‘applauding’

1,000 black Brazilians march

the murders.

through the streets in protest

The protesters were also speaking

against racism and police

out against what they deem to be

brutality in the country.

the ‘false’ anniversary of the abolition of slavery in 1888. This is normally celebrated on 20th

signs reading, “Don't kill me, kill

November, which is also the

racism,” while other signs

anniversary of the death of Zumbi,

condemned the recent murder

a well-known figure who fought

interest in the future as a way of reviving

of 28 inhabitants of the

against slavery.

tourism in the country post-pandemic.

Jacarezinho slum at the hands of

It was a multimillion-dollar procession

just 3 miles away in Tahrir Square,

watched online by followers of ancient

is in a section of the museum

Egyptian history. The Egyptian

known as ‘The Pharaohs’ Golden

government hopes to capitalise on this

The mummies were transferred to

S

Protesters carried candles and

Their new resting place, which is

Parade’.

BRAZILIANS PROTEST AGAINST RACISM AND POLICE BRUTALITY

the police. Some of the

their new home in chronological

protesters also accused

order, starting with Seqenenre

Bolsonaro and his vice-president

Taa II, the 17th Dynasty ruler.

PAGE 14

DISH OF THE MONTH

Society & Culture

DISH OF THE MONTH: KHICHDI WHAT IS IT? Khichdi is a South Asian dish made with rice, moong dal, and spices. It is the most popular comfort food among Indians, and in the northern areas of India it is one of the first solid foods that babies eat.

THE ORIGINS OF KHICHDI Khichdi is known to be one of the oldest Indian dishes, with its origins seen in the gastronomic literature of ancient India where it is referred to as 'Krusaranna'. This is believed to be an early relative of Khichdi, but with Khichdi being a more salty version.

Archaeological evidence from 1200 BC also proves that rice and pulses were eaten together at this time, however it is believed that they were eaten separately much earlier than this. It was these rices and pulses that, when eaten together, formed the dish.

Ibn Batuta, the famous Moroccan traveller who visited India in 1350, mentioned the dish in his diary as 'khisrhi'. He described it as being made with rice and mung beans, and that it is eaten for breakfast every day.

THE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF KHICHDI

Moong Dal Khichdi Image credit: Spice Up The Curry

Bisi Bele Bath

Khichdi has even emigrated to Britain, where it is known as 'kedgeree'. In the 19th century, it became regarded as a sophisticated dish served at breakfast in England, and it still enjoys some popularity today.

Bisi Bele Bath is one of the most popular version of khichdi in southern India. It is made without any garlic or onion, meaning the only ingredients needed are toor dal, jaggery, vegetables and spices, rice and bisi bele bath powder.

Mong Khetchir is another variety of khichdi. It is traditionally given to the local deities of Khetsiavas to symbolise a sacrificial offering. This was made with rice and chilke wali moong dal.

Image credit: Dassana's Veg Recipes

The dish became very popular amongst the Mughals, which won it its place in the imperial menus of medieval India.

Fun Fact

Khichdi holds a Guinness World Record. In the 2017 World Food India event, 918 kg of Khichdi were prepared at once. In 2020, this record was broken at the Tattapani Tourism Festival where 1,995 kg of khichdi was made in one go.

Green Moong Dal Khichdi

Quinoa Khichdi

Image credit: Honey, what's cooking

Image credit: Indian Veggie Delight

PAGE 16

BY FRANCESCA WOHLERS

Society & Culture

PHOTOGRAPHERS OF WAR: MARTHA GELLHORN Martha Gellhorn was a wartime correspondent that reported most of the wars throughout the 20th century. She made her debut during the Spanish Civil War and continued to follow different conflicts as they reaped havoc around the world.

Gellhorn was born in 1908 in St. Louis, America. She would make her way to Europe with only $75 and her rucksack to start a career as a reporter. Throughout the 20th century she would witness multiple wars around the globe, including the Second World War, The Vietnam War, and numerous conflicts in Central America.

She, like many other reporters, was at the liberation of Dachau and would see many other harrowing atrocities of the time. She published many books, including The Face of War, which contains many of her pieces from the different wars she witnessed.

There are several aspects of Gellhorn’s writing that appeal. Firstly, although she was reporting major historic events, she covered the stories of the normal individuals that had found themselves caught up in these global events. She would relay their personal experiences often with quick-witted anecdotes or a different perspective from the more official version that can be found in history.

Her reports were real and about real people. For example, in her piece about the war in Spain in July 1937 she mentions a man who, instead of waiting for the bombs to stop falling, walks out into the street away from the safety of the hotel as he didn't

have the time or the patience to wait and how elsewhere in the city women continued shoe shopping. Both accounts demonstrate that even in a war zone life continues - she captures the essence of this in many of her reports.

Additionally, she would never shy away from the fact that a lot of the time she was scared by what was happening or what she was seeing.

She didn't seem to feel the need to detach herself from the situation around her, instead she would tell the reader what she could hear, smell, and also what she felt.

She was superb at helping to paint a vivid picture of what was happening without going into too much unnecessary detail. She had a knack for humanising events that have since become full of statistics and dates with no hint of human life or suffering. However, her work is not for the faint-hearted. She does not hold back when it comes to the more graphic details of what she saw, especially in her later work. She is direct, sometimes uncomfortably so although war is not meant to be comfortable. She saw it as her duty to educate those back home and throughout the developed world of what we were doing to each other.

She puts forward some interesting

questions and isn’t afraid to point a finger at those that she thought were to blame.

As she moved through the decades, her style shifted. Her earlier pieces come across as more personal as she gives conversations she has had with individuals and an insight into everyday life. However, later in her life she starts to become more vocal in her political opinions, expressing the problems she encountered and how they should be stopped. She starts depicting more graphic descriptions, particularly the reports from Dachau and El Salvador which are extremely insightful. Personally, I found them hard to read, even though they were extraordinarily written.

Even after all the years she dedicated to the reporting of war, she clearly held antiwar views, understanding that, while it is inevitable, it is still something to be greatly feared. With the advent of nuclear weapons, her words had never carried so much weight.

She dedicated her life and her career to warning people of the dangers because, as she said, “memory and imagination, not nuclear weapons, are the great deterrents” when it comes to war. Gellhorn hoped her work would allow people to see the problems and suffering that war brings, but she had

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Society & Culture

BY FRANCESCA WOHLERS

realised very early on that journalism didn't have the sway that she had expected.

We have more information than any other generation before us; we learn about all the death and destruction from the last century at school.

Gellhorn warns us about the threat of the nuclear weapon and how, although war is unavoidable as it has been a constant throughout human history, nuclear war is different. War may destroy the environment to some extent, but never before have we had such potential to wreak havoc on our world.

Authors such as Gellhorn really help us to put things into perspective, to glimpse at the horrors that people have lived through over the last century. Although not the most pleasant of content due to the nature of her work and the messages it holds, it is a good reminder to all of us of what can happen and the importance of peace.

D-DAY LANDING: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

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Society & Culture

WWII & THE NAZIS: HOW GERMANY DEALS WITH ITS DARK PAST The way in which Germany teaches about its past is in clear contrast to the way it is presented in other countries. The many museums and exhibitions seen in the US and the UK work on an emotional level, attempting to teach younger generations the atrocities of the wars and the Nazi regime through ways that evoke shock and despair. Germany, however, prefers to do things a bit differently.

Over the years, Germany has taken a more serious yet straightforward approach in teaching its younger generations about its past. They generally avoid elaborating or sensationalising certain elements or the teaching of aspects that are ambiguous or cannot be taught in detail.

"It is not always necessary to show big piles of corpses, the point is not to overwhelm people with history, but grant them access to it."

HANS-CHRISTIAN JASCH, FORMER GOVERNMENT LAWYER AND DIRECTOR OF THE HOUSE OF THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE MEMORIAL AND EDUCATIONAL SITE

Unlike many other countries around the world, the German government has been apprehensive to create a single place where you can go to learn more about Hitler out of fear that it would become a favoured place for Neo-Nazi groups.

However, in 2017 the German Government was expected to spend around $21 million ensuring the upkeep of the 2000 memorial sites linked to the wars and the Holocaust. The main difference between the running of these memorial sites and those in other countries is that those in Germany aim to engage people in a different way.

Instead of presenting it through text and pictures, it may be presented through firsthand accounts.

Another factor that differentiates Germany from other countries is that the curriculum is not set out by the government but by the 16 federal states. This was established as part of the efforts to break free from the centralisation of power created by the Nazis and instead leaving decisions surrounding post-war education to the federal states.

Consequently, there is no standardised curriculum to follow in the teaching of modern German history. However, in 1991 the federal Government’s agency, which is dedicated to moderate educational matters, said that the history of the Nazi regime is to receive “intensive and thorough treatment” in schools to ensure that “the memory of the Holocaust is kept alive”.

In schools, learning about World War II isn't limited to the history classroom. In literature classes, texts such as those by Bertolt Brecht and Thomas Mann are studied. Both authors produced anti-Nazi literature, some of which were burnt in the Nazi book burnings in 1933. Post-war plays such as Andorra by Max Frisch, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, and the Anne Frank Diary may also be studied.

However, issues arise when we consider

other pieces of literature that are not antiNazi yet are equally important in understanding and learning from the past.

After World War II, a scholarly annotated version of Mein Kampf was banned for 70 years out of fear that it could be used as a form of propaganda. Since its sale has been permitted, it has become one of the bestselling non-fiction books in Germany with 85,000 copies sold in 2016 alone.

"The number of sales has completely overwhelmed us. No one could have predicted it" ANDREAS WIRSCHING, THE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY HISTORY IN MUNICH, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE GERMAN NEWS AGENCY DPA

Despite worries about the motives behind those buying the edited version of Mein Kampf, the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich found that the book has mainly been purchased by those with an interest in politics and history as well as educators rather than right-wing radicals.

When it comes to the teaching of this type of material in schools, there has to be an absolute certainty that in no possible sense can its contents be taken half-heartedly, while also balancing the act of ensuring the students don't feel an overwhelming sense of collective responsibility for the atrocities carried out by their ancestors. For this reason, pro-Nazi texts are only studied when it's felt as though the students are mature enough to deal with its content and at a much later age than anti-Nazi texts.

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Society & Culture

In the immediate decades following the "It seems almost war, the views presented in the teaching of natural that we should the Nazi-era were limited. In West Germany, be able to talk about it was mainly teachers who lived during the our history now in a Nazi regime who wrote the history more lighthearted textbooks. This coincided with the general way" feeling of wanting to repress their past.

Today, German children tend to be taught TIMUR VERMES the bigger picture, and often from a nonbiased viewpoint. They are pushed to Timur Vermes, the author of the bestquestion why, how, and what happened selling book and film ‘Look Who’s Back’, a rather than naively learning statistics. satirical comedy film where Hitler wakes up in the 21st century, believes that humour A factor which has affected this change is can be used as a way of dealing with what many consider as being the main difficult situations. Unsurprisingly, it has factor in defining what is meant by ‘modern taken a while to get to this point in history’: those who witnessed it are still Germany due to the extent of the atrocities alive today. As the generations affected by carried out in their name, and it is clear that the war and Hitler’s dictatorship have ‘Look Who’s Back’ would not have been passed away, the feeling of the effects of acceptable a few decades ago. the war and the regime are different from what it once used to be. While before it was Although it seems that Germans are people's parents and grandparents who becoming more increasingly more were affected or had played a role in the comfortable in talking about their past, war, today it is their great-grandparents, some content, however, is often some of whom many Germans have not underplayed in their education system, even met. particularly that of the war. A key part often skimmed over is the role of 'lebensraum' According to historian Oliver von Wrochem, ('living space'). This term covers Hitler's aim as the years pass since the Hitler’s death for expanding German territory and of and the end of the Second World War, more becoming the next American superpower. and more Germans have become In-depth teaching of this raises fears that it increasingly open to exploring their family may encourage nationalistic ideologies and history. Over the last half of a decade, a so it is normally not studied in depth. higher number of Germans have reached out to him for help in finding out the role of One part that it is anything but overlooked their ancestors during the Second World in German schools is the Holocaust and the War. role played by Germans as a whole. It is a topic that is addressed by all students in

Germany. In much of the education about the Nazis, the emphasis lies in amplifying Jewish voices. This may include the study of Jewish poetry, reports from survivors or documentaries focusing on the long-term consequences of their experiences.

For those who still have grandparents or great-grandparents who were alive during the Nazi regime, their first insight into the war takes place at home. For others, it is the stories passed down through generations that form the basis of their early education.

Although it is clear that Germany has moved on from the Nazi regime and the Second World War, many Germans still find it difficult to balance the act of dealing with the collective burden of their past while also remaining proud of their origins and nationality. Through surveys and interviews carried out in German schools, it seems that, although there doesn’t seem to be a sense of personal guilt held by young Germans, they do feel pressure to counter any revival of their country’s history. It is the balancing of this while also maintaining a sense of national pride that seems to be the most difficult, with many worrying about how their history could make their true intentions be perceived differently.

"The Americans can put their flag out in their own backyard, and no one says anything, but if we did that we'd be accused of being Nazis" CHRISTIAN KREUTZ, A 16-YEAROLD STUDENT AT KONRAD ADENAUER

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Hindi is the fourth most-spoken first language in the world after Mandarin, Spanish and English. It is thought to be one of the hardest languages to learn for English native speakers due to its enunciation.

While Hindi is the most spoken language in India, it is not the official language as India doesn’t recognise any languages at a national level. However, there are many official languages at state level. Alongside English, Hindi remains one of the two official languages of the Government of India, and is also an official language in 9 of the 28 states of India, and 3 of the 8 Union Territories.

Hindi is a language belonging to the IndoAryan language family that is mainly spoken in India. It is written in the Devanagari script, a script also used for Sanskrit, Marathi, Prākrit, and Nepali languages.

All Indo-Aryan languages, including Hindi, are a direct descendant of one of the early forms of Vedic Sanskrit through the Śauraseni Apabhraṃśa and Sauraseni Prakrit which came about in the 7th century CE.

Language & Linguistics

Two years after being granted independence in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India made Hindi written in the Devanagari script the official language of the Republic of India. In 1954, the Indian government set up a committee to deal with the grammar of Hindi.

Prior to Hindi being standardised on the Delhi dialect, many other dialects and languages belonging to the belt were prominent in literature - in particular, Braj Bhashaa and Avadhi. Early Hindi literature first emerged in the 12th and 13th century CE. As Modern Standard Hindi is based on the Delhi dialect, it replaced the presence of other dialects, such as Maithili and Awadhi.

As a result of the Islamic rule in Northern India, many loanwords were transferred into Old Hindi from Persian and Arabic. The fusion of these two languages with Hindi resulted in the development of Hindustani.

In the 18th century, Urdu emerged as a form of Hindustani that had been heavily influenced by Persian. As Urdu became associated with Muslims, Hindus decided to develop a Sanskritised version of Hindustani.

This led to the development of Modern Standard Hindi in the 19th century.

THE HISTORY OF THE HINDI LANGUAGE

Article 343 of the Indian Constitution states that the official languages of the Union are English, along with Hindi using the Devanagari script.

It was thought that Hindi would become the only working language of the Union government by 1965, however there was opposition to imposing the Hindi language on those who were not first-language speakers. This eventually resulted in the passing of the Official Languages Act of 1963, which meant that English was to be used for all official purposes. Despite this, the Union Government was still required to encourage the Hindi language.

According to the 2011 Nepal census, Hindi is spoken as a mother tongue by around 77,569 people. Another 1,225,950 Nepalese speak it as a second language.

In South Africa, Hindi is a protected language. The Constitution of South Africa says that it is the duty of the Pan African Language Board to promote and guarantee respect for the Hindi language, along with the other languages spoken in South Africa.

The Awadhi language, an Eastern Hindi language from the Indo-Aryan family of languages spoken in Northern India, is also spoken in Fiji. The 1997 Constitution of Fiji recognises it as an official language of Fiji, although it was referred to as 'Hindustani' rather than 'Hindi'. However, the 2013 Constitution of Fiji called it 'Fiji Hindi'. It is currently spoken by around 380,000 Fijians.

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Language & Linguistics

THE HINDI LANGUAGE

Pakau

Fattu

Ghanta

This can be used to refer to someone who is either very annoying or very boring.

This is used to described a person who acts like a coward.

'Ghanta' literally means 'bell' and is used to express disbelief. It context, it may translate as 'nonsense'.

Hawabaazi

Chalu

Kaand

'Hawabaazi' refers to someone who likes to show off.

This is used to describe someone who is intelligent but in a negative context.

'Kaand' refers to a serious matter or a serious mistake that someone has made.

Jhand Karna

Oye

Vella

'Oye' is the Hindi equivalent of 'hey', but can also be used in place of someone's name.

This is mainly used in Delhiand northern parts of India to describe a person who is lazy and purposeless.

This means to purposely embarrass or make fun of someone.

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Language & Linguistics

LEARN BASIC HINDI

Colours

General Vocab Thank you - Dhanyavad Sorry -Maaf kijiye Excuse me -Suniye Yes -Haan No - Nahi Good -Accha Bad -Bura Okay - Theek hai How much does this cost? - Ye kitne ka hai?

I’m hungry - Mujhe bhookh lagi hai I’m thirsty - Mujhe pyaas lagi hai

Months of the Year January - Janvaree July - July February - Farvaree August - Agast March - March September - Sitamber April - Apreil October - Aktuber May - Maee November - Navamber June - June December - Dicember

Black - Kala White - Safed Blue - Neela Yellow - Peela Green - Hara Pink - Gulabi Brown - Badami Orange - Narangi Red - Lal Silver -Chandi

Numbers 1 - Ek 2 - Do 3 - Teen 4 - Char 5 - Panch 6 - Cheh 7 - Saat 8 - Aath 9 - Nao 10 - Das

11 - Gyaarah 12 - Baarah 13 - Tehrah 14 - Chaudah 15 - Pandrah 16 - Saulah 17 - Satrah 18 - Atharah 19 - Unnis 20 - Bees

Introduce Yourself What is your name? (formal) - Aapka naam kya hai?

What is your name? (informal) - Tumhara naam kya hai?

My name is ... - Mera naam Peter hai.

Days of the Week Monday - somvaar Tuesday - mangalvaar Wednesday - budhvaar Thursday - guruvaar Friday - shukravaar Saturday - shanivaar Sunday - ravivaar Image credit: Cedar

Greetings Hello/Hi -Namaste How are you? (formal) - Aap kaise hain?

How are you? (informal) - Kya haal hai? /Kaise ho?/sab theek?

I’m fine. You? - Main theek hoon. Tum?

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Language & Linguistics

BY ELLIE PETERS

HANGUL: HOW AN ALPHABET UNITED SOCIAL CLASSES As well as being one of the world’s oldest living language spoken today, Korean is also renowned for its obscurity and the many misunderstandings and misconceptions that surround it.

Just like the origins of the Korean people themselves, the origins of the Korean language are just as obscure. 19th century Western scholars have put forward many theories that have made connections to Korean being an Ural-Altaic language, which includes a diverse offering of languages such as Turkish, Mongolian, Hungarian and Finnish.

Although it is clear that Chinese has greatly influenced the Korean language, it is linguistically unrelated, belonging to a completely different language family. Japanese, while appearing somewhat similar, also remains distinct from Korean.

Korean is a language isolate, meaning it doesn't have links to any other language on Earth.

Many believe that the Korean language originated from a single cultural source. However, just as the Korean people do not come from one sole homogenous race, the Korean language as we know it today has not evolved from one single source or language either.

One of the most obvious differences between Korean today and Korean in the past is its writing system, known as Hangul.

In the years before the introduction of Hangul, the alphabet used was Hanja, which was mainly made up of traditional Chinese letters.

However, it also included an amalgamation of other writing systems that had developed over the years. The mixing of these systems made the language extremely complicated to learn, resulting in dwindling literacy rates in the country.

It was only those who were able to access a high level of education, such as nobles or scholars, that were able to achieve a decent level of basic literacy, resulting in the country having an extremely high illiteracy rate.

King Sejong, who is recognised as being amongst some of the most influential Koreans in the history of the country, is best known for personally inventing Hangul. He lived from 1397 to 1450 and ruled as the 4th king of the Joseon Dynasty, beginning his reign in 1418 up until his death. The Hangul script was completed in 1443 and published three years later, just four years before his death.

King Sejong is one of only two Korean kings called "great".

The main motive behind the creation of Hangul was to make an alphabet that could be learnt by anyone, regardless of their

educational background or social standing. As a result, Korea saw an almost immediate increase in their literacy rates after its introduction.

Hangul was originally called Hunmin chongum, meaning ‘Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People’.

However, Hangul, which translates as ‘Korean writing’, didn’t instantly become the prominent writing system of the Korean language. A patriotic wave swept through Korea in the 1800s, which saw Hunmin chongum, renamed as kungmun or “national script”, and this became the version most readily taught in Roman Catholic and Presbyterian mission schools.

During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the early 1900s, using kungmun was made illegal as part of the aim to cancel Korean culture.

This resulted in increased curiosity in kungmun and led to more work being done to conserve it, which eventually resulted in the use of Hangul.

Hangul soon became a way of fighting back against the Japanese attempts at erasing their culture and became a regular occurrence in everyday life. At the end of the Second World War, Hangul became the preferred writing system, with Hanja used almost solely amongst academics.

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In North Korea there is a complete rejection of the Hanja writing script as it is viewed as a type of cultural imperialism.

For almost 600 years, Hangul has remained untouched by illegible dialects and, as a result, Koreans are amongst some of the most literate people on the planet with a literacy rate of 98%. Although the advantages of preserving some aspects of Hanja are still recognised, particularly in modern written Korean which is a combination of the two writing systems, most Korean’s knowledge of the script is limited to just 1,800 characters out of the over 50,000 present in Korean Hanja dictionaries.

Language & Linguistics Originally Hangul was a 28 letter alphabet, however, four of these letters (three consonants and one vowel) have since been dropped.

With the main purpose of developing Hangul to be simple to learn for anyone, it has been coined by some as one of the easiest languages to learn and can easily be learnt in just a few hours.

Today, Hangul remains the only alphabet to be celebrated with its own national holiday. On October 9th it is globally recognised for its inventiveness and originality. In 1989, UNESCO even established the ‘King Sejong literacy prize’, acknowledging governments around the world who have worked hard in contributing to the fight against illiteracy.

BY ELLIE PETERS

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BY JACK ROBERTS

Language & Linguistics

LANGUAGES IN LOCKDOWN: WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE LEARNING LANGUAGES? How is it that when the world closes that we become more open? According to commercial providers, as the world has closed up over the last 14 months, an increasing amount of people have decided to take up learning a new language and embrace other cultures around the world.

The first British lockdown in March saw an increase in members across all language learning apps, including Memrise, Duolingo and Rosetta Stone. Duolingo noted that their user numbers climbed dramatically, with a 300% increase in new users signing up. Compared to 2019, their number of users increased by 67% globally, however the biggest rise was seen in the number of new users in the UK, where the numbers soared by 132%.

The summer saw the numbers ease, but there was another rise during the second lockdown.

"The UK has really embraced language learning during the pandemic" DUOLINGO'S UK MANAGER COLIN WATKINS

Spanish remains Duolingo’s most favoured language, followed by French and German. The last year has also seen British people in particular become interested in a variety of other languages.

Languages such as Welsh and Hindi have seen thousands more people signing up to their course, citing cultural interests and family links as their main motives. Amongst these, Japanese has also received a boost in interest, with cultural curiosity pushing more people to learn the language.

Other popular language learning platforms have seen a similar growth. Busuu saw its global

membership numbers triple in 2020, with its UK statistics multiplying four times that of 2019 to see an increase of 312%. The platform now hosts more than three million British members.

The Berlin-based platform Babbel noted that their UK membership has grown by 80% in the last year. This sharp increase is 30% higher than that seen globally, which has seen a 50% increase. Although they did not release an exact figure for their UK users, Babbel now has 10 million users worldwide.

Babbel has, however, disputed the claim that the British are bad language learners, indicating that their data says otherwise.

"When a lot of Brits say that they are not very good at language learning, that's the first thing that we don't see in our data" BABBEL'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE ARNE SCHEPKER

For a country renowned for its lack of enthusiasm for learning languages, not only has there been an increasing number of people interested in learning them, but their motives to do so have also changed. Colin Watkins, Duolingo’s UK manager, said that while the motivation behind those learning languages was once to be able to travel abroad, most British people are now doing so for other factors.

With foreign travel prohibited,

the lockdowns have left many with more time than they would normally have, leading to a massive increase in those wanting to learn a language for reasons such as learning about a new culture, brain training, or simply as a way to keep active with their time.

“During lockdown, we weren’t able to travel, people’s holidays were cancelled, and so I think people were maybe pining after cancelled holidays and wanted to get a flavour of another country in their home" VICKY GOUGH, SCHOOLS ADVISER FOR THE BRITISH COUNCIL

A recent British Council survey looking at the habits of those taking up languages during lockdown suggests that there may be more emotional factors that have had an impact. The survey indicates that many British adults live to regret their lack of foreign language skills, with just 9% of those who took part citing that they had maintained any language they had learned at school. 64% of these wished that they had put in the work to do so.

It seems as though, for many, the pandemic has provided the perfect opportunity to take up one of many people’s neglected life goals.

Whether this heightened interest continues post-pandemic is another question to be reflected on in the next few years.

LANGUAGE SHAPES THE WAY WE THINK, AND DETERMINES WHAT WE CAN THINK ABOUT. Benjamin Lee Whorf

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Language & Linguistics

BY SOPHIE WILLIAMS

LANGUAGE LEARNING: AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO FEELS LIKE THEY ARE LACKING? If you have ever found yourself down the YouTube rabbit hole that is “Person/Child/Dog speaks 50 languages fluently”, I am almost certain that you have experienced some feelings of inadequacy throughout your language learning journey.

I am the first person to admit that watching those videos always seems to make me want to reevaluate my time spent learning languages to date. “Why am I putting myself through the stress of grammatical cases, new writing systems, and unfamiliar sounds to never be able to speak as many languages at the same level as this person/child/dog?!” I ask myself.

Despite the questions these videos ask of me, it would be unfair and naïve of me to say that a lack of confidence in my language abilities is simply down to the videos that happen to pop up on my screen and whet the appetite of this wannabe polyglot. Although it would be easy for me to point the finger and exclaim that the expectations and representations of polyglots as they appear online can be overwhelming and unrealistic, feeding into my insecurity, that is only a drop in the ocean.

My lack of confidence regarding my knowledge of the languages I speak and study is not one-sided but in truth, stems from a number of things. Feelings of insecurity are often a normal part of being human.

However, sometimes I think that there is no feeling of inadequacy quite like that which is associated with language learning.

Perhaps the multifaceted nature of language learning helps to drive these feelings of inadequacy. Even when you reach fluency (whatever

fluency is) in a language, there is almost always an aspect of the language that you feel could still use some work. Maybe you have the reading, writing and listening down, but your introverted nature just will not allow you to conquer the spoken side of things. Language learning requires such a wide variety of skills that it is easy for us to forget how much progress we have made in one area of the process by focusing on a lack of progress in another area.

The grey area surrounding fluency can exacerbate language learners’ feelings of inadequacy. Some learners view themselves as speakers of a language after learning the go-to phrases such as “hello” and “how are you?”, while other learners are still reluctant to admit they speak a language having studied the language for most of their lives.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in a situation where a group of people were discussing their command of the Irish language. Despite having learned Irish since the age of 5, as well as the fact that I use Irish almost every day and study it as part of my degree, in that moment, I did not say that I could speak Irish.

Even though I love the language and know that I can speak it whenever someone asks about my level of Irish or hits me with the dreaded “Are you fluent?”, I get transported back in time to moments of mix up and

misunderstanding, my mind reminds me that my genitive case needs work, my Irish spelling is far from perfect and that I have no command whatsoever of direct and indirect relative clauses! My Irish is by no means foirfe (perfect), but should I allow this lack of confidence to eat away at me to this extent? Surely not.

Many things in life require practice, and language learning is no different. It is this practice, or lack thereof in my case, that further feeds into my feelings of inadequacy regarding the languages I speak.

To tell you the truth, I have not kept on top of my language learning recently. I have not actively studied any of my target languages for at least two months now. A few weeks ago, I lost my longest ever Duolingo streak of only 135 days (I have never been a big fan of that green owl) and have not even glanced at the app since. Can I still call myself a language enthusiast? Am I still allowed to mention ‘language learning’ as a hobby if somebody asks? Questions I asked myself earlier this week. Questions that inspired this article.

“The more you know, the more you realise how much you don’t know.”

DAVID T. FREEMAN.

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And of course, the answer is ‘yes’.

My current lack of commitment, my rusty grammar and my absence of new vocabulary do not and should not take away from my love of languages. It is my responsibility to remind myself of how enjoyable and rejuvenating learning a language can be. We should focus on everything we know and not all that we do not, something easier said than done!

We must also remind ourselves that even native speakers experience blunders every now and again. Only last week I said “good morning” to someone despite it being quite late in the afternoon. My English grammar is questionable at the best of times, not to mention the general

Language & Linguistics confusion that Hiberno-English (the English spoken in Ireland) can cause for other English speakers. Yet I never stop to think “I should have used that verb instead of that verb” or “that structure was incorrect” when speaking English, so why beat myself up over similar slip ups in my target languages?

We might not be where we want to be with our target languages. We might not have time to put as much energy into language learning as we would like. We might feel like giving up. Remember that every new skill requires time and dedication and that everyone has off days. If things aren’t going to plan or you make a mistake in your target language, think of the time

BY SOPHIE WILLIAMS

when I was having a conversation in French and instead of saying a certain Russian president’s name, I accidentally said a French curse word (if you know, you know…).

That YouTube rabbit hole that we were talking about very rarely features the days when language learners struggle with pronunciation or commit common language-related faux pas or fail to remember the vocabulary they spent an hour memorising the day before. Never let feelings of inadequacy or a lack of selfconfidence get in the way of your language goals.

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BY EMILY THOMAS

Language & Linguistics

LANGUAGES ONLINE: THE MISSING LANGUAGES OF THE INTERNET It is almost impossible to imagine picking up our phones and not having an English keyboard or not being able to simply googling something in English and to have an infinite number of websites to choose from. For speakers of indigenous languages/dialects, however, the reality is very different.

A survey carried out by UNESCO in 2008 discovered that 98% of websites are in only 12 out of the nearly 7000 languages that exist.

Over half of these are in English with 60.4% (around 6 million) of the top 10 million websites using English as their primary language.

Russian is the second most used language online appearing in 8.5% of the top 10 million websites, a stark drop from that of English.

Russian’s presence online is mainly due to Runet, the internet’s Russian language community, and Russian being an official language of countries once considered part of the Soviet Union.

There seems to be little correlation between the number of speakers of a language and its prevalence online. For example, although Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world, other languages such as Vietnamese and Persian are more commonly found on the top 10 million websites.

English is thought to have been the first language used on the Internet and, by 1980, it made up 80% of online content.

Perhaps it's good news that English’s influence online has shrunk over the years. From once being the sole dominant language of the internet, its competition from French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin has decreased its

presence online by about 30%. In particular, Mandarin has experienced a massive growth of 1277.2% between 2000 and 2010. It is this growth which has pushed it firmly into the rankings of one of the top 10 most used languages on the internet.

Although English may not be as prevalent online today as it once was in the past, the lack of linguistic diversity online continues to pose a great threat to the existence of indigenous languages, making it increasingly harder for speakers of these languages to access material online in their mother-tongue. While there may be around 6000 languages actively spoken today, the top 10 most spoken languages in the world make up 82% of all material on the internet, rendering linguistic diversity online as almost nonexistent.

Facebook is the most multilingual social media platform, offering 111 different languages.

The process of creating a healthy balance between the different languages used online will take decades if not centuries to transpire - some, however, aren’t willing to wait this long. In 2018, the French President Emmanuel Macron made it clear that there needs to be more use of French online and pledged to spend hundred of millions of euros to encourage the use of French online.

Unfortunately, for those that speak one of the many thousands of languages that are scarcely found online, preserving and speaking their language is even harder.

"The Web does not just connect machines, it connects people," TIM BERNERS-LEE

The lack of linguistic diversity online is highlighted through the fact that, while Google recognises 30 different European languages, only one African language makes the cut while Indigenous American and Pacific languages miss out completely.

You can only Google search in just over 130 different languages.

For the last 18 years, UNESCO has dedicated their time to encouraging multilingualism online. Its primary focus has been on introducing more indigenous languages to the internet. However, there are undoubtedly many obstacles in their way to achieving this goal.

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Many lesser-known languages don’t have an oral form and consequently lack a standardised orthography, which, quite obviously, makes it very difficult to provide materials online for such languages.

Consequently, those who speak lesser known languages face a decision: they could either not use any form of technology, or they use another language which is supported by technology. The problem with the latter is that it only exacerbates their situation.

“When I get on the internet I find more than 90% of the content in English and a significant percentage in Spanish and other languages, what I have to do is to move to another language, and that favours the displacement of my own language. It discredits my own language, because—as it is not on the internet—then it is not valid, then it does not work, therefore why am I going to continue learning it?

Why am I going to teach it to my children if, when I turn on the internet or television, I cannot find it there?”

MIGUEL ÁNGEL OXLAJ KUMEZ, MEMBER OF THE KAQCHIKEL MAYAN COMMUNITY FROM GUATEMALA AND AN ORGANISER OF THE LATIN AMERICAN FESTIVAL OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ON THE INTERNET

Language & Linguistics More than 80% of articles on Wikipedia are written by people from Europe and North America Another problem is the limited access to the internet in certain parts of the world. According to Internet World Stats, just 58% of the population of the world are able to successfully access the internet.

Although around 76% of those who have access to the internet live in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and the Caribbean, the vast majority of online material does not originate there.

It is believed that less than 5 percent of all languages will ever be regularly used online.

A study carried out to analyse the languages of the internet predicted that English’s hold on the position of being the lingua franca of the internet is not set to last. With 1 billion people yet to access the internet, languages such as Chinese and Arabic are anticipated to experience growth, further diluting the presence of English online.

BY EMILY THOMAS

As for the thousands of minority languages around the world, their existence relies on a variety of factors, but one of the most crucial ones relies on their presence online, which is becoming increasingly important in a world driven by technology.