the mediaphile

November 23, 2012

coffee-n-cats:

halloweenpenguins:

bloodonmytypewriterkeys:

hisnamewasbeanni:

mercy-misrule:

stvitussdance:

katkatmadkat:

Terra Nullius was bullshit.Check this awesome interactive map of Indigenous languages

So much important, ‘spesh the interactive map.

Reblogging this again because its always important
Terra Nullius was the justification for the genocide perpetrated against indigenous Australians.
It was also never ever true

Too important not to reblog.

Worth noting (if only because it’s COOL) that there are like eight bazillion different spellings of a lot of these language names. Like it took me forever to find Bunuba because on the map it’s Punuba. Both are entirely correct, it’s just demonstrates the huge difference in approaching that particular sound.
Because a lot of sounds from various languages don’t have English counterparts. It presents something of a problem even to say “bp” if you’re English. There’s a similar problem with “tj” as in Walmatjarri.
Also, fun facts, it’s not beyond reason to guess that there are people in central Australia who have still had no more interaction with Europeans than the coastal groups would have had in the late 1800s. i.e. “What the heck is that, is it a spirit, what the fuck language are they speaking?” Obviously it’s unlikely considering how well explored Australia has been since the whole mining boom thing, but it’s not beyond reason.
And we can say for certain that there are still people living in, for example, the Kimberley who never saw white fellas until after the whole stolen generation thing, so about the 70s ish. It’s a remarkable piece of good fortune that they escaped that, both for them and for those trying to preserve the culture.
Oh, and for non-Australians (since I think most Australians know this), there are no speakers of native Tasmanian languages left alive today. As in, the languages and the most part of the various cultures have been completely eradicated. There are bits and pieces remaining, but nothing like you’d find in Arnhem land or the Kimberley.

This map is also why I get really annoyed whenever anyone refers to ‘Aboriginal Culture’ (referring to the whole of Australia).
It’s cultures, dammit! Cultures.

This is amazing. I knew there were lots of cultures in Australia but wow. The amount of variation trumps Native Americans by far…. but I guess that makes sense if you have 40,000 years of cultural evolution (in one country) before whiteys took over.

I am always reminded of this map when people speak as if there is a single, unifying Aboriginal or Indigenous ‘culture.’ The truth is so much more complex and incredible than that. It boggles the mind to think of the complexity of this map and how these each interact/ed with one another!

halloweenpenguins:

bloodonmytypewriterkeys:

hisnamewasbeanni:

mercy-misrule:

stvitussdance:

katkatmadkat:

Terra Nullius was bullshit.

Check this awesome interactive map of Indigenous languages

So much important, ‘spesh the interactive map.

Reblogging this again because its always important

Terra Nullius was the justification for the genocide perpetrated against indigenous Australians.

It was also never ever true

Too important not to reblog.

Worth noting (if only because it’s COOL) that there are like eight bazillion different spellings of a lot of these language names. Like it took me forever to find Bunuba because on the map it’s Punuba. Both are entirely correct, it’s just demonstrates the huge difference in approaching that particular sound.

Because a lot of sounds from various languages don’t have English counterparts. It presents something of a problem even to say “bp” if you’re English. There’s a similar problem with “tj” as in Walmatjarri.

Also, fun facts, it’s not beyond reason to guess that there are people in central Australia who have still had no more interaction with Europeans than the coastal groups would have had in the late 1800s. i.e. “What the heck is that, is it a spirit, what the fuck language are they speaking?” Obviously it’s unlikely considering how well explored Australia has been since the whole mining boom thing, but it’s not beyond reason.

And we can say for certain that there are still people living in, for example, the Kimberley who never saw white fellas until after the whole stolen generation thing, so about the 70s ish. It’s a remarkable piece of good fortune that they escaped that, both for them and for those trying to preserve the culture.

Oh, and for non-Australians (since I think most Australians know this), there are no speakers of native Tasmanian languages left alive today. As in, the languages and the most part of the various cultures have been completely eradicated. There are bits and pieces remaining, but nothing like you’d find in Arnhem land or the Kimberley.

This map is also why I get really annoyed whenever anyone refers to ‘Aboriginal Culture’ (referring to the whole of Australia).

It’s cultures, dammit! Cultures.

This is amazing. I knew there were lots of cultures in Australia but wow. The amount of variation trumps Native Americans by far…. but I guess that makes sense if you have 40,000 years of cultural evolution (in one country) before whiteys took over.

I am always reminded of this map when people speak as if there is a single, unifying Aboriginal or Indigenous ‘culture.’ The truth is so much more complex and incredible than that. It boggles the mind to think of the complexity of this map and how these each interact/ed with one another!

2:37pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZuvXYyXsr1ng

(Notes: 544)

April 24, 2012

The Top 10 Relationship Words That Aren’t Translatable Into English

EverAfterGlow - Flickr

Credit: EverAfterGlow/Flickr

I came across a fantastic compilation of 10 relationship words that do not have English equivalents.

One of the things that’s so fascinating about language is the extent to which it’s shaped by culture.

It’s not only words pertaining to relationships that reveal cultural distinctions - there are many concepts that we take for granted that are hugely influenced by the language that we speak, to name a few:

Colour - which BBC Panorama explored in a mind-boggling episode
Physics - see Steven Pinker’s The Stuff of Thought on this
Identity and Agency - Stephen B. Klein wrote about this in relation to Caribbean culture and the Creole language

Pamela Haag’s list is but one example of the many aspects of language and culture that we don’t often think about.

1.Mamihlapinatapei - Yagan (an indigenous language of Tierra del Fuego)

The wordless yet meaningful look shared by two people who desire to initiate something, but are both reluctant to start.

2. Yuanfen - Chinese

A relationship by fate or destiny.

This is a complex concept. It draws on principles of predetermination in Chinese culture, which dictate relationships, encounters and affinities, mostly among lovers and friends.

From what I glean, in common usage yuanfen means the “binding force” that links two people together in any relationship.

3. Cafuné - Brazilian Portuguese

The act of tenderly running your fingers through someone’s hair.

4.Retrouvailles - French

The happiness of meeting again after a long time.

5. Ilunga - Bantu

A person who is willing to forgive abuse the first time; tolerate it the second time, but never a third time.

Apparently, in 2004, this word won the award as the world’s most difficult to translate. Although at first, I thought it did have a clear phrase equivalent in English: It’s the “three strikes and you’re out” policy. But ilunga conveys a subtler concept, because the feelings are different with each “strike.” The word elegantly conveys the progression toward intolerance, and the different shades of emotion that we feel at each stop along the way.

6. La Douleur Exquise - French

The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone you can’t have.

When I came across this word I thought of “unrequited” love. It’s not quite the same, though. “Unrequited love” describes a relationship state, but not a state of mind. Unrequited love encompasses the lover who isn’t reciprocating, as well as the lover who desires. La douleur exquise gets at the emotional heartache, specifically, of being the one whose love is unreciprocated.

7. Koi No Yokan - Japanese

The sense upon first meeting a person that the two of you are going to fall into love.

This is different than “love at first sight,” since it implies that you might have a sense of imminent love, somewhere down the road, without yet feeling it. The term captures the intimation of inevitable love in the future, rather than the instant attraction implied by love at first sight.

8. Ya’aburnee - Arabic

“You bury me.”

It’s a declaration of one’s hope that they’ll die before another person, because of how difficult it would be to live without them.

9. Forelsket - Norwegian

The euphoria you experience when you’re first falling in love.

This is a wonderful term for that blissful state, when all your senses are acute for the beloved, the pins and needles thrill of the novelty. There’s a phrase in English for this, but it’s clunky. It’s “New Relationship Energy,” or NRE.

10. Saudade - Portuguese

The feeling of longing for someone that you love and is lost. Another linguist describes it as a “vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist.”