 6/10 Very Good --- illinois.edu http://illinois.edu/blog/blogRss/25.xml
| Everything you wanted to know about language, and more. ... |
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 --- 113 days ago http://illinois.edu/blog/view?topicId=2080
 This week, as Afghanistan continued to outpace Iraq in the two countries' olympic race toward self-destruction, the Loya Jirga, or Afghan parliament, debated whether to use pohantun, the Pashtu word for 'university,' or daneshgah, the Dari word, in the new higher education law. Delegates also argued over which of the nation's two official languages should be used in class. Pashtu, the majority language, is spoken in most of the country by the Pashtun, the traditional rulers of Afghanistan. Dari, related to Farsi, or Persian, is used mostly by those in the country's northwest who live closer to the Iran border. A reporter for a state-run newspaper was recently fined for using the Dari word for 'university' instead of the Pashtu one which is on Kabul University’s official seal. The seal of Kabul University, which opened its doors in 1932, shows the name in Latin and Pashtu. Initially, KU's instructors, mostly from abroad, taught in a variety of European languages. It's not clear what language is used in classrooms today, but even though Afghanistan has two official languages, the government now favors the Pashtu word for 'university,' not the Dari one. Language has often been a flash point in Afghan education, though until recently, education hasn't been much of a national priority in a country known for the routine destruction of its own cultural heritage and whose national flower is the opium poppy. According to Mobin Sh ... |
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