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UN Global Engagement Summit

On February 16, 2024, our Language Leadership Council representative from New Jersey, Rosanne Zeppieri attended a meeting sponsored by The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA). Called the Global Engagement Summit, the conference was held at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York City. The theme of the meeting was Pushing

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Patreon

We are launching our Patreon community today. It’s a way to communicate directly with our audience through voice and text chat on our Discord server, live streaming events, and extra content for members of the group. You can try it free for seven days. Explore our community here.

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Language News from Indiana

Dr. Serafin Coronel-Molina is our Liaison from Indiana. Logansport High School teacher Chunmei Guan was awarded the 2023 Teacher of the Year by the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association at their Fall Meeting in November 2023. She is a past President of the Indiana Foreign Language Teachers Association and a prior Chinese teacher and Academic Affairs Director

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Language News from South Carolina

The North and South Carolina Association for Bilingual Education (CarABE), announces its inaugural event. It is an affiliate of the National Association for Bilingual Education. Across the two states, there has been a tremendous increase in bilingual students, families, and bilingual education programs. At this year’s Southeast Regional TESOL Conference (SETESOL) the organizers are hosting

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Interview with Maarit Jaakkola, Ph.D.

Interview conducted by William Zhang 1. Can you tell me about your language and education background? I’m originally a journalism researcher, with a doctoral degree from Journalism Studies from Tampere University in Finland. However, as a university student, I took a double Master’s: Besides journalism Studies, I studied German Philology, so linguistics has been important

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News from Texas

Our Washington state liaison Dr. Michele Anciaux Aoki recommended an innovative program implemented at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) which provides accelerated pathways for students proficient in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Russian, or Spanish to earn a Language Minor in under one year or a Language Major in two to three years. 

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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."

golpe


Treece translates "golpe" as "beating", which is correct, however misses the secondary meaning of the word: "coup".

Carlos


The “Carlos” referred to in the poem is most likely Carlos Bolsonaro, a politician from Rio de Janeiro and the second son of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s current president. His and his father’s involvement in Marielle’s murder has been questioned and investigated.