Nee's Language Blog

Esperantists from around the world have once again gathered online in an event. It was a much bigger event this time, in fact, it is one of the biggest events in the Esperanto community. The 52nd Opening Day of UEA and TEJO took place online on April 25th.

The Iranian Esperanto Association (IEA) has organized this year's Iranian Esperanto Congress from April 16-19th. The IEA organized the congress online because of the unfortunate situation caused by the coronavirus that we are having now. The advantage of having the congress online is that anyone with the limitation of traveling to the country of the congress can participate in it online. This is certainly good news for many people!

Let's meet Ermira B Gashi from Kosovo
1. Could you tell us about yourself, including the languages you know? My name is Ermira B Gashi. I am doing my Master in Mechanical Engineering – Road Transport department at the University of Prishtina ”Hasan Prishtina” here in Kosovo.  I do speak a few languages as well. Besides my mother tongue Albanian language, I also speak English, Spanish, Turkish, Brazilian Portuguese, a little German and Italian.

2. Why do you think languages are important to you? Speaking another language allows you to connect with people and exchange experiences, cultures, languages, information that you want to know and you get closer with people speaking their language.

3. Which language are you learning and how do you learn? At the moment, I am focusing on improving my Turkish and German. I listen to a lot of songs in Turkish, and also watch their movies, I also watch a lot of videos with conversations in the German language, read articles in German and I try t…

The relationship between language and culture is one that cannot be unpicked. Culture and language are so inextricably entwined that in order to fully understand each, one must have a grasp of the other.

How are language and culture related? The language that society speaks is part of its culture. Likewise, its culture is reflected in its language. The two have developed together over hundreds if not thousands of years, meaning that the language and culture relationship runs deep. Without language, human culture would be impossible to fully understand. Everything from individual words to figures of speech showcase the cultural connection between a society and its language.

Another year, another celebration. This time we had our Zamenhof Day celebrated at Pingtung Park on Sunday, December 22nd, 2019. Pingtung Park is located about a 10-15 minute walk away from Pingtung train station. It was held in a nice and cozy cafe that sells various delicious creative food, such as curry rice, pizza, and cakes. I ordered curry rice because, to be honest, that is my favorite!