Language Log notes that Apple's Dictionary program (v. 1.02 running in Tiger) gave an interesting pronunciation for "Myanmar:" It's pronounced "Burma."
(Credit:
Language Log)
I would tend to think this is an accident, but it's an interesting one. I've edited articles that required the country to be called Burma for political reasons and others that follow the international convention of calling it Myanmar. Either way, if I were manufacturing this sort of thing I might flag all the controversial geographical terms for careful review.
Another reason it is probably an accident (and not someone's intentional statement) is that it only appears this way in one phonetic system. According to TidBits, a Mac blog that apparently first reported this, "Dictionary has three different options for displaying the pronunciation key, which you can select in the Preferences window: U.S. English (Diacritical), U.S. English (IPA), and British English (IPA). It turns out that only the two IPA (international phonetic alphabet) choices show the pronunciation of "Burma"; the U.S. English (Diacritical) pronunciation is correct."
Now, sitting as I am just a couple of kilometers from North Korea in Dandong, Liaoning Province, China, the question arises: Is it North Korea or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? China or the People's Republic of China? Am I American, U.S. American, "from the United States," or just a foreigner? Apple's dictionary has no help for me there.
The logo looks like something CNN would cook up at the dawn of a new military campaign, but this time the computer-generated bullet holes are in the CNN logo itself.
"Will" at Imagethief noticed this banner on a special page devoted to resisting "Western" media coverage about Tibet and China in general.
The text, according to Will's translation, which is about as good as I can do as well, reads: "Rise up! Angrily resist the demonization of the Tibet affair! / Chinese netizens roast CNN and other Western media!"
Here's a good Global Voices post on the general anti-CNN movement, which actually is more generally an anti-foreign-media campaign.
On a related note, I have previously reported on the patriotic "Red Heart China" campaign sweeping the Chinese Internet.
Shanghaiist had perhaps the most visually compelling post on the "Red Heart" campaign. It shows an MSN list full of hearts and a Twitter feed utterly concerned with spreading the word about the pride effort.
All this national sentiment is perhaps not unexpected, and this serves in my mind mostly as an example of the potential effectiveness of online peer pressure. Individuals not especially concerned about recent events may just be going along with the campaign. It would be awkward to be the only person on your friends' buddy lists not displaying the heart.
Sina's imagery takes it a bit further, however. I think it would have been possible to get across the point that CNN's reports have not been always the best informed--a claim I can neither confirm nor deny as I haven't been watching--without seeming to encourage individuals to turn guns on the network.
The story of Grace Wang, told in her own words in The Washington Post, should serve as a cautionary tale.
Xinhua and a Zhejiang province news website report on the spread of "Red Heart China" on IM and e-mail platforms.
A Chinese news story about the spread of patriotic and pro-Olympic symbolism on QQ.
(Credit: Zhejiang News Center)The Zhejiang News Center link, auto-translated here, says the word is spreading via QQ, a top instant message platform in China.
Hexun.com carries step-by-step instructions in how to inscribe your MSN account with slogans declaring "I love the Olympics" and encouraging them to go on strongly.
This is all part of an extensive reaction to foreign press coverage on the recent events in Tibet. Other websites, including anti-cnn.com, have emerged to point out examples of sloppy reporting by foreign media. A popular mistake: using pictures of Nepalese police and saying they're in Tibet.
The nationalist reaction online has been strong. In another example, online challenges to a pro-free-speech journalist led to a printed editorial denouncing him. But it's unclear how much this online passion reflects the opinions of less outspoken Chinese citizens. If we took everything on 2ch to be the gospel opinion of the "Japanese people" we'd have a pretty screwed up idea. Not to mention the U.S. blogosphere.
- prev
- 1
- next
