‘No ‘til we know.’ Fela ba a tseba naa? Using African languages to communicate about HIV and AIDS to young South Africans

Abstract

An experiment was conducted in order to determine the extent to which the presentation of HIV and AIDS messages in different languages would affect the appreciation and comprehension of these messages among young South Africans. Interviews were carried out with 60 learners in rural and peri-rural schools in Limpopo Province. Four messages (on posters or in radio advertisements), were presented in three languages. The interviews focused on appreciation (to what extent do the participants like the messages?), perceived comprehension (to what extent do the participants think that they understand the message?), and actual comprehension (to what extent do the participants really understand the message?). The language of presentation did not prove to have any influence on appreciation, perceived comprehension or actual comprehension. A considerable gap was found between perceived comprehension and actual comprehension; participants overestimated their level of understanding. Significant correlations were found between perceived comprehension and appreciation, indicating that the better members of this target group think they understand HIV and AIDS messages, the more they like them.     

素质教育与外语教学

素质教育不同于应试教育,没有固定划一的模式和体系,其实施需要一种环境、一种氛围和一片土壤。外语教学也不例外,要实施外语教学的素质教育,我们必须创造外语学习的先进的文化环境、温暖的人缘环境、丰富的资源环境、无限的创新环境和真实的外语环境。外语素质教育的实践必须以社会需求为中心,以学生为中心,培养学生的创新精神、实践能力和可持续发展能力,培养学生的语言知识、文化意识、跨文化交际能力、社交能力和心理素质,使学生成为素质优异的高层次人才。     

民族文化翻译策略的探讨

在对外文化交流过程中,民族文化的翻译起着不可替代的作用。应当认真研究民族文化中专有名词以及民俗文化的翻译方法。"民族语言语音拟声"、"图像、模仿、替代与阐释数法并用"等可以充分地传达语言中所承载的文化意义,对外文翻译的发展将起到积极的作用。     

对汉英翻译中冗余现象的透析

冗余成分是语言交际能够顺利进行的一个重要原因。语内交际时语言的冗余成分正适合该语言信息接收者的信道容量,足以保证交际的成功。然而,语际交际时,如果把源语的冗余成分照搬到目的语就会与目的语信息接收者的信道容量不符,从而影响交际的成功。翻译是语际言际,从信息论角度来看,翻译的任务之一便是调整变换源语中本属适度的冗余成分,使其适应目的语信息接收者的信道容量,保证交际的成功。     

中国境内德昂族汝买支系族群语言关系与语言自信研究

中国境内德昂族主要有布雷、汝买、梁三个支系。以往德昂族研究主要以布雷支系为主体研究对象,而其中偏居国境线一隅的点状散布居住的汝买人由于浸没于傣族、景颇族之中,几乎不被外界所熟知。以语言为核心对汝买支系族群语言关系与语言自信的研究不仅有利于解决当下境内濒危小语言现实社会处境、命运和语言归属问题,而且也是对濒危小语言活态的有利保护。     

网络聊天语与网民的身份建构

语言反映社会身份，在语言的选择中身份得到建构，语言与身份建构具有动态的、双向的特征。在网络虚拟语境中，网民运用聊天语来表达和建构他的身份，在聊天中随着语境的变化而不断表达自己、调整自己，在与他人的比较中类化自己、认同自己，即在语言建构身份的过程中，网民不断了解自我、认识自我。     

Miscommunication in the COVID-19 Era

This article discusses issues around the communication of preventive health messages related to COVID-19 to indigenous language-speaking communities in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Official communication is primarily in Spanish, and the many translation initiatives that have arisen do not always succeed in getting the message across due to the lack of cultural interpretation that needs to accompany the linguistic message. This situation compounds the vulnerability of indigenous peoples in the face of the crisis.     

Poets,culture and orature: A reappraisal of the Malawi political public sphere, 1953–2006

Mapanje and Mphande make a persuasive case for the significant role of literature in challenging Dr Banda's one-party hegemony. The contested terrain, as Mphande notes, was orality, the dominant medium in Malawi where literacy levels are low. It has been assumed, though, that orature did little to challenge Banda's hegemony. I argue that far from being silent, the popular musicians and dramatists (as orature) were much braver than the writers. While written poetry and prose was often presented in coded and dense texts, the musicians’ and dramatists lyrics and texts were usually much more explicit. And while writers used folk tales and appropriations from traditional culture as templates to critique Dr Banda's autocratic regime, oral practitioners went further, critiquing Dr Banda's regime using the same templates but also pointing out the socio-economic suffering of the peasantry.

Since 1994, as writers’ critiques have become muted and spasmodic in the ‘multiparty’, musicians have consistently been loud and forceful voices on behalf of the poor. From 1953 to 2006, orature has been a continuous tool of resistance whereas literature has been an intermittent response, often related to patronage, to political and socio-economic events. Further, while literature tends to be concerned predominantly with human rights and democracy issues, orature is concerned with these as well as socio-economic rights; a distinction reflective of class, the rural/urban divide and education in Malawi. The findings are generalisable to other Bantu-language-speaking countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Mozambique. I posit that assessments of Malawi's current and future socio-economic and political cultures that exclude oral critiques miss significant and critical factors impacting on developmental changes in these spheres.     

浅谈成人学习外语的方法

成人学习外语,因其自身客观上存在着的不利条件,更应该从主观上提高对外语学习艰巨性的认识,掌握科学的学习方法和遵守循序渐进的学习规律。学外语必须经历死记硬背的积累过程,同时应运用多种单词记忆法。     

论警察言语态度特征和社会道德评价

警察的言语态度具有三个方面的特征:一、礼貌文明,满腔热情,体现宗旨;二、掌握策略,谦让克己,化解矛盾;三、遵纪守法,尊重人格,有理有节。按照警察言语态度特征进行言语交际,能体现警察的职业角色特征,会得到较高的社会道德评价,有利于顺利完成《人民警察法》赋予的任务。