The Navajo Code Talkers of World War II

Although it is a largely unknown story, August 14, 2012 is the day set aside to remember and give thanks to the Navajo Code Talkers of the second World War.

These young Navajo men changed the course of history by transmitting secret communications on the WWII battlefield, at a time when America’s best cryptographers were falling short. They came up with the most ingenious and successful code in military history.

At the beginning of WWII, Japanese intelligence was able to decipher every code that the US devised. With plenty of fluent English speakers among their ranks, the Japanese broke code at an alarming rate. They were also able to send false commands and sabotage messages. Due to this, increasingly difficult codes were produced which led to complaints that the codes were taking hours to encrypt. The military had to come up with a better way to communicate.

When a missionary’s son who grew up on a Navajo reservation named Phillip Johnson heard of the crisis, he remembered that the Navajo language had no alphabet and was impossible to decipher without early exposure. He led the first test group to try out this language for use as military code.

In 1942, 29 Navajo men of all ages were recruited for this mission. The code originated with 200 terms but grew to 600 by the end of the war. The Navajo men could communicate in 20 seconds what often had taken the coding machines 30 minutes. The code consisted of Najavo terms that were associated with the respective military terms they resembled. The Navajo word for turtle meant "tank," and a dive-bomber was a "chicken hawk."

In the first 48 hours alone in the battle for Iwo Jima, the Navajos coded over 800 transmissions with perfect accuracy.

Although their undecipherable code played a pivotal role in saving lives and helping to end WWII, the Navajo Code Talkers did not receive proper recognition when they returned home. Their secret was thought of as too precious to divulge. The code was declassified in 1968 but it still took many years to be officially recognized.

In 2001, almost 60 years after they created their remarkable code, the Navajo Code Talkers finally received their Congressional Medals of Honor.

Balinese, Bahasa and some other languages of Indonesia

Indonesia is made up of over 17,500 islands (6,000 of which are inhabited) which are home to over 300 ethnic groups. The Indonesian people are a mixture of Chinese, European, Indian, and Malay. 

There are at least 365 active languages spoken in Indonesia but the official language is Bahasa Indonesia. It is a relatively easy language to pronounce and understand and without verb conjugations or structures. Indonesian is a standardized dialect of the Malay language and became the official language during the start of the Indonesian independence in 1945. Malay and Indonesian remain very similar.

It may be the official language, but due to the size and island make-up of the country, most people speak regional dialects such as Minangkabau or Javanese. These languages are used informally at home and in the neighborhood but usually at work or at school, Indonesian is spoken. Interesting fact: Bahasa Indonesian actually has 12 ways of saying "No" and several other ways of saying "Yes" when the actual meaning is "No".

Most of the words in the Indonesian language originate from the Austronesian languages. Approximately 80% of the words come from Malay. There is also influence from Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Portuguese, Sanskrit and Tamil.

Balinese (simply known as “Bali”) is spoken by approximately 3.3 million people on the Indonesian island of Bali (the lesser Sunda island chain in the southern part of the archipelago of Indonesia) and is the colloquial language of the island. It is a Malayo-Polynesian language also spoken in eastern Java, western Lombok and northern Nusa Penida. Most Balinese speakers can also speak Bahasa Indonesia.

Unlike the relatively straightforward Indonesian language, Balinese is made up of lots of unusual sounds that can be difficult for foreigners to pronounce. Balinese also does without the verb conjugations and tenses but it does contain a sort of lingual caste system where your choice of speech is based on with whom you are speaking.

Some examples of other regional dialects or languages spoken in the archipelago of Indonesia are as follows:

* Rejang (South Sumatra)

* Dairi Batak (North Sumatra)

* Toraja (South Sulawesi)

* Lampung (South Sumatra)

* Makassarese (South Sulawesi)

* Toba Batak (North Sumatra)

* Sasak (Lombok)

* Banjarese (South Kalimantan)

* Acehnese (North Sumatra)

* Buginese (South Sulawesi)

* Minangkabau (Central Sumatra)

* Mature (Madura and Java)

* Sundanese (Java)

* Javanese (Java)

For the brave, here are some basic greetings in the Indonesian language.

Indonesian

Apa kabar? -how are you?

Selamat pagi-Good morning

Selamat sore-Good afternoon

Selamat malam-Good evening

About Bahasa Iban

Iban is a tribal language of western Borneo, spoken in Malaysia's state of Sarawak, the Indonesian state of West Kalimantan, and Brunei.

A branch of the Dayak ethnic group formerly known as "Sea Dayak" who live in Sarawak, the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Barat and in Brunei, Iban (also known as "Bahasa Iban") belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.

It is closely related to Malay. Iban is also known as a the "headhunters language" in some, unflattering, circles. The language is mostly taught to students in rural areas with a large Iban population, such as Baleh (Kapit), Betong, Saratok, Lubok Antu and Pelagus (Kapit).

According to my research, during the colonial regime (1946-1963), the Iban language was recognized/used during the Council Negeri meetings.The Borneo Literature Bureau was set up to help popularize the language through its Iban magazine called Nendak and through the printing of Iban books. When Sarawak obtained independence through the formation of Malaysia, the Borneo Literature Bureau (BLB) was abolished and in its place, in 1978, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) took over. The abolishment of BLB saw several hundreds of Iban books and magazines destroyed.

The Iban committee tirelessly worked to get this language back in schools, although it is still difficult to find publications in the Iban language. However, just this month, an Iban dictionary was to be published containing "17,000 core words and over 60,000 imitatives from the different regions of Sarawak". "There are English-Iban, Iban-Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-English dictionaries, but as far as we know, it is the first of its kind. It is possibly the first in the country, if not the world", according to Dr Robert Menua Saleh (the research director at The Tun Jugah Foundation).

Some sample Iban phrases, courtesy of Omniglot, are as follows:

Welcome Selamat datai
Good morning Selamat pagi
Good afternoon Selamat tengah hari
Good night Selamat lamai
Long time no see Udah lama enda betemu

Ramadan

If you work in the localization industry and handle Middle Eastern languages, you quickly become familiar with Ramadan as it is the time of year when it is notoriously difficult to find an available Arabic translator. This year, Ramadan began on July 20 and will continue through August 18.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar and a time of spiritual reflection and increased devotion and worship. It is also the month believed to be when the Holy Qur'an was sent by God to the great Prophet Muhammad. There are a billion Muslims around the world, with approximately 8 million located in North America.

At many mosques during Ramadan, about one thirtieth of the Qur'an is recited each night in prayers known as tarawih. By the end of Ramadan, the complete scripture will have been recited.

During this month, from dusk to dawn, Muslims obstain from eating, drinking, sex, smoking and absolutely anything else that would draw their attention away from service. It is believed that fasting (sawm) teaches a number of virtues, including modesty and patience. Fasting means there is no eating or drinking while the sun is shining.


This type of fasting usually begins at 12 years of age for a Muslim. Fasting is considered to be one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The others being shahada (confession of faith), salat (prayer), zakat (almsgiving), and hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca).

Fasting serves to keep the focus off of the body and its needs and desires and place the focus on one's faith and otherworldly, spiritual needs.

Every part of the body must be restrained. One cannot take part in gossip (restraint of the tongue). The eyes must not look at obscene things. The hand must not touch anything that does not belong to it. The ears must refrain from listening to idle talk or obscene words. The feet must refrain from going to sinful places. In this way, every part of the body observes the fast.

At the end of Ramadan, a celebration known as Eid-ul Fitr (the Festival of Fast Breaking) takes place. During this time, the fasting comes to an end. This year, this will take place on August 19.

Ramadan is a time of self-restraint, a time to cleanse one's body and soul and to devote time to the worship of God.

The Chabacano dialect of the Philippines

I've met many people from the Philippines over the years that have a Spanish accent and I've always wondered why. The answer is simple; one of the languages spoken, along with Tagalog, is Chabacano or Creole Spanish.

The word "Chabacano" is derived from the Spanish word meaning vulgar or rude, so native speakers often refer to it as “Chavacano” or according to the location where it is spoken-Zamboangueño, Caviteño, Ternateño and the like.

This language is the only Spanish based Creole language spoken in the Philippines and has six dialects. Like all languages, these dialects were formed out of necessity. Today, the speakers of Chabacano speakers are a small minority usually found in Ternate, Cavite and Cavite City.

Chabacano is a type of Creole (a language that is formed when two or more languages mix together). It contains a large amount of Spanish vocabulary but does not follow Spanish gender rules and is also influenced by the local Filipino languages. The Chabacano grammar is based largely on Tagalog and Cebuano.

On June 23, 1635, Zamboanga became a permanent foothold of the Spanish government known as San José Fort. Language and cultural differences made it impossible for intertribal communication. To add to this, work instructions were issued in Spanish.

Since the majority of the natives did not speak Spanish, a lingua franca (a language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different) developed and became a full-fledged language still in use today, mainly in Zamboanga City.

Differences and similarities between Spanish and Chabacano can be seen below (thanks to Wikipedia):

Donde tu hay anda?

Spanish: ¿Adónde vas?

(‘Where are you going?’)

Ya mirá yo con José.

Spanish: Yo vi a José.

(‘I saw José.’)

Ele ya empezá buscá que buscá con el sal.

Spanish: El/Ella empezó a buscar la sal en todas partes.

(‘He/She began to search everywhere for the salt.’)

Ele ya andá na escuela.

Spanish: El/Ella se fue a la escuela.

(‘He/She went to school.’)

Dragon Boat Festival 端午节

The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday celebrated in China and the one with the longest history. After Chinese New Year, it is considered to be the second biggest holiday in China. This year, the festival falls on Saturday, June 23.
 

Known as Duānwǔ Jié in Chinese, Jié means festival. The festival was long known as a cultural holiday in China. In 2008, the Dragon Boat Festival was recognized as a public holiday in the People's Republic of China. 

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in the shape of dragons. Each team rows their boats and hopes to reach the finish line first while a drum beats. An actual dragon boat is traditionally made of teakwood and is similar to a 22 seat canoe.
 

According to custom, the poet Qu Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. He supposedly tied a large rock to himself and committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River at the age of 61. The boat races are meant to symbolize the rescue of Qu Yuan. Bamboo leaves filled with rice (known as zongzi) are thrown into the water in the hopes that the fish will eat the rice and not Qu Yuan. 

A type of realgar wine (known as xionghuangjiu) is also enjoyed. Realgar contains arsenic sulfide which was believed to be an antidote for poisons, thus driving away evil spirits, insects and other poisonous animals. 

During this celebration, several rituals are performed for protection from evil and sickness for the reminder of the year. Hanging herbs on the front door, drinking certain elixirs and hanging pictures of Zhong Kui (who is supposedly evil’s archenemy and a mythical figure). 

And if one manages to balance a raw on its end and it is exactly 12:00PM, this will also ensure that the following year will be lucky.


 

Persian or Farsi?

I recently received a request for the localization of a project into “Persian”. Typically, I receive requests for “Farsi”. It seems there is quite a debate on which term is the correct term to use for the official language of Iran (and also spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and other neighboring countries).

Originally know as Persia to the Western world, the country of Iran was always known as Iran in Persian (only Western culture referred to it as Persia). However, in 1935, it has been said that the suggestion to change the name from Persia to Iran was proposed by the Persian ambassador to Germany. Being that he was a Nazi sympathizer and believed that Persia would be well served being an ally to Germany, he become convinced that the country should be known by its Persian name “Iran” in Western languages. The name Iran is word that has a common etymological origin of the old word Aryan (derived from the Sanskrit "Arya" meaning "Noble").

To add to the confusion, Farsi (which is the Persian word for the Persian language) was now being used in Western languages instead of  Persian. "Farsi" (an Arabic adaptation of the word "Parsi"), is the indigenous name of the Persian language. Just as the Greek refer to their native language as “Ellinika” and the German “Deutsch”, “Farsi” or “Parsi” is how the language is referred to by native speakers.

However, after the 1979 revolution, many Persians moved to the West and began referring to their language as “Farsi” and it has been used in Western countries ever since (for the most part).

Since we never refer to Japanese as “Nihongo” in English or Spanish as “Espagnol” in English, technically, we should be referring (in English) to the official language of Iran as PERSIAN.

Personally, I've always thought it made much more sense to refer to countries and language names using the proper native pronunciation and not the English equivalent. On second thought, imagine a world where China was referred to as Zhōngguó!