Advisory Council

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

The National Museum of Language is delighted to announce that the following individuals have agreed to join our newly created National Advisory Council: Dr. Joan Houston Hall, Dr. K. David Harrison, Dr. David Crystal, Dr. Charles Stansfield and Senator (and former Ambassador) James Rosapepe.   A recent initiative, the National Advisory Council is intended to tap the knowledge and experience of the most successful in their fields for Museum purposes.  Welcome aboard all!

 David Crystal

Dr.  David Crystal is honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Bangor, UK, and since 1984 has worked from his home in nearby Holyhead, North Wales as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. Before that he was professor of linguistic science at the University of Reading. He is the author of over a hundred books on a wide variety of linguistic subjects, including The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (3rd edition 2010) andThe Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (3rd edition 2019), and in the 1990s and early 2000s was editor-in-chief of the Cambridge and Penguin families of general encyclopedias. Many of his books are written for a general audience, such as Language Death, Internet Linguistics, The Stories of English, and Let’s Talk: How English Conversation Works. He received an OBE for services to the English language in 1995, and has been a member of the British Academy since 2000.He lives online at www.davidcrystal.com, where there is a full biography, and at two specialised sites: Shakespeare’s Words, a glossary and language companion, co-authored with his actor son Ben, at www.shakespeareswords.com, and the reconstruction of the pronunciation of Old English and Early Modern English at www.originalpronunciation.com.

Charles Stansfield 

Dr. Charles Stansfield is an authority on second language testing. During his 30 year career, he has been a secondary school teacher of Spanish, a tenured professor of Spanish and teacher trainer at the University of Colorado, a test program administrator at Educational Testing Service, director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, and director of the Division of Foreign Language Education and Testing at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC.
He has developed and published proficiency tests in English as a second language and in 15 other languages.  He is the author or editor of over a dozen books and research monographs and 50 research articles published in professional journals. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of Language Testing and the Journal of Second Language Writing. Since 1994, when Second Language Testing, Inc. (SLTI) was incorporated, Dr. Stansfield has devoted himself full-time to the management of SLTI projects.

James Rosapepe

Jim Rosapepe is a public servant who has worked at the international, national, and state levels for over twenty years.

For eleven years in the Maryland House of Delegates representing College Park, he fought to protect open space, improve the public schools, boost the University of Maryland, hold down taxes on middle class working and retired families, and protect neighborhoods from drugs and crime.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton asked him to join his administration as U.S. Ambassador to Romania, where he worked to win friends for America and make the world a safer place.  Returning in 2001, Governor Glendening appointed Jim to a five year term on the Board of Regents of the University

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Fanni is Radnóti's wife
Located near the Tang capital city of Chang’an, site of the modern city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province, in central China.
Soldiers of that time commonly wore a white head cloth, similar to what is still worn by some peasants in China today.  The implication is that the conscripts were so young that they didn’t know how to wrap their head cloths, and needed help from elders.
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
The area of Guanxi, meaning “west of the passes”, refers to the area around the capital city of Chang’an.
This is an alternative name for a province in western China, now known as Qinghai, which literally means “blue sea”.  Kokonor Lake, located in Qinghai, is the largest saline lake in China.  
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
Oulart Hollow was the site of a famous victory of the Irish rebels over British troops, which took place on May 27, 1798. The rebels killed nearly all the British attackers in this battle. (Source: Maxwell, W. H. History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798. H. H. Bohn, London 1854, pp 92-93, at archive.org)
The phrase "United Men" is elaborated upon in the Notes section below.

Ghetto

An Italian word meaning “foundry.” It originally referred to a part of the city of Venice where the Jews of that city were forced to live; the area was called “the ghetto” because there was a foundry nearby. The term eventually came to refer to any part of a city in which a minority group is forced to live as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure. Because of the restrictions placed upon them, ghetto residents are often impoverished.

"You’re five nine, I am do-uble two"

A reference to the year 1959 and the year 2020.

"The Currency"

Meaning US dollars - this is drawing attention to the fact that Cuba is effectively dollarized.

"Sixty years with the dom-ino stuck"

This sentence is a reference to the Cold War notion that countries would turn Communist one after the other - like dominos. Cuba was the first domino, but it got stuck - no one else followed through into communism.

رحلنا

رحلنا, or "rahalna," means "we have left."

Habibi

Habibi means "my love."

Ra7eel

Ra7eel, or "raheel," means "departure."

3awda

3awda, or "awda," means "returning."

أهلاً

أهلاً, or "ahalan," means "welcome."

a5 ya baba

a5 ya baba, pronounced "akh ya baba," means "Oh my father."