Israel: Cãozinho faz cocô em cima da bancada durante programa ao vivo (em hebraico): Um filhote de cachorro protagonizou uma cena inusitada durante um programa ao vivo da emissora de TV israelense Canal 10. O cãozinho fez cocô em cima da bancada, provocando gargalhadas dos participantes do programa. O vídeo foi parar no YouTube (assista aqui).
Aurora (12/11/2009):El hebreo sigue siendo la lengua del enemigo: Quince años después de haber firmado la paz con Israel, un gran número de intelectuales jordanos siguen considerando el hebreo como la lengua del enemigo. Muchos se niegan a traducir cualquier obra en este idioma y otros, lo promueven, pero sólo como medio "para conocer mejor al enemigo sionista". Un gran número de intelectuales y expertos en asuntos israelíes respaldan una traducción selectiva que ayude a revelar la "ideología sionista" de los gobernantes de Israel. Y es que para ellos, algunos textos hebreos traducidos pueden contribuir a que los dirigentes árabes adopten políticas que frustren las maniobras israelíes en la región. >>> Leia mais, clique aqui.
Aurora Digital (09/08/2009):La empatía con el otro reduce el acento al hablar su lengua:La fuerza del acento cuando se habla una segunda lengua está vinculada a la falta de empatía e identificación sociopolítica con sus usuarios nativos, según un estudio de la Universidad de Haifa.
Los investigadores Rafiq Ibrahim y Mark Leikin, del Departamento de Trastornos del Aprendizaje, y Zohar Eviatar, del Departamento de Psicología, han estudiado este fenómeno desde el enfoque socio-lingüístico, que estudia el acento como una especie de tarjeta de presentación del hablante en presencia del grupo mayoritario.
"Israel es un perfecto laboratorio para estudiar el tema de las segundas lenguas por la compleja composición de su población, formada por emigrantes que aprenden hebreo a una edad avanzada; una minoría étnica árabe, algunos de los cuales aprenden hebreo a una edad temprana y otros ya como adultos; y un grupo mayoritario de hablantes nativos de hebreo", explican los científicos.
Los investigadores dividieron a los participantes (estudiantes de la universidad de Haifa procedentes de ámbitos socio-económicos idénticos) en tres grupos de veinte personas: hablantes nativos de hebreo, hablantes de hebreo que aprendieron la lengua con 7 u 8 años y emigrantes rusos que lo hicieron con al menos 13 años de edad.
La voz de árabes y rusos fue grabada mientras leían un texto y describían una imagen en hebreo, antes de rellenar un cuestionario de 29 preguntas que medía su grado de empatía.
Después, los veinte hablantes nativos de hebreo escucharon las grabaciones y las ordenaron por "fuerza" del acento, de forma que los investigadores pudieran cruzar las puntuaciones sobre el acento y la empatía.
El resultado mostró que rusos y árabes tenían un acento casi igual de marcado, pero en el primer colectivo había un nexo directo entre la fuerza del acento y la falta de empatía que, sin embargo, no se daba entre los árabes.
"Creemos que el patrón entre los hablantes árabes muestra su sentimiento hacía el grupo mayoritario de hablantes de hebreo, y consideran su acento como algo que les distingue de la mayoría", apuntan los autores del estudio, publicado en el "International Journal of Bilingualism".
Ese factor de identidad no se da entre los emigrantes judíos de la antigua ex Unión Soviética, entre quienes impera un sentimiento nacionalista del que carecen los árabes, pese a que ambos colectivos comparten ciudadanía israelí y -si bien en distinta medida- sufren discriminación. EFE
The Education Ministry is to ban Bible aid booklets that help elementary and junior high school students by "translating" the text into simple Hebrew. Private publishers defend the booklets by arguing that biblical Hebrew is a foreign tongue to young Israelis.
Teaching experts lambast the booklets, warning that children will skip reading the Bible and opt for the simplified version. This will not only deteriorate Bible studies but also impact the Hebrew language, which is based on the Bible, they say.
The idea of translating the Bible into simple contemporary language is "scandalous," Drora Halevy, the ministry's National Supervisor for Bible Studies, told Haaretz. The booklets present the text in "skimpy slang" that cheapens the Bible, she added. "It's a purely marketing initiative intended for the below-average; it's a disaster," says Professor Yaira Amit, a Bible instruction expert.
Booklet publishers Rafi Moses and Reches Publications say the Bible is a foreign language to Israeli children, who need to read it in simple language to understand it.
Halevy and other Bible and Hebrew language experts fear that children will simply not bother to read the Bible, but use the simple language version instead.
"The Bible is the Hebrew language's dictionary. It's the foundation of everything," says linguist Zvia Valdan. "If you read it without the original expressions and rhythms, it will lose its impact and power."
It is no secret that parents and children are confused when it comes to studying the Bible. Parents have difficulty explaining biblical texts to their children and might be tempted to buy the simply-worded, NIS 20 booklets. They are easy to read, with the original text on one side of the page and the simplified version opposite it.
But beyond that, the furor over the Bible Lite text highlights the fact that Israeli schoolchildren cannot cope with biblical Hebrew. "This is a colossal failure of our education system that defies description," says Professor Amit. "How come children used to be able to read the Bible? How come they used to be able to learn sections by heart? It was hard for them then too, but they dealt with it because they were told it was important. Religious schools wouldn't dream of simplifying the Bible," she says, adding that if you cannot handle the Bible's language, you will not be able to understand Bialik and Tchernechovsky's poetry.
Amit, who admits to feeling like the last guardian of the seal, is outraged that shallow instant culture has now dared to "simplify" the Bible. "We give precedence to shallowness and shortcuts in many areas of modern life. It's OK in e-mails in which the message is the main thing. But where is the boundary? You cannot do away with cultural values."
She believes that students should study the Bible for more hours and be required to quote from memory.
Reading the Bible Lite version shows that while it may not be slang, it is problematic. There is something discordant in the simplified version of the familiar, seminal Genesis text. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" is translated to "in the beginning God created the world."
"Why change the expression 'the heaven and the earth?'" asks Amit.
The expression "chaos" has been replaced by "the earth was empty and deserted."
Surprisingly, the man behind the Bible Lite version is a former Bible teacher and headmaster. "When they first suggested [making the booklets] I was astonished. Why should we rewrite the Bible in a simple tongue?" says Avraham Ahuvia, 87, of kibbutz Netzer Sereni. "But on second thought I was convinced that we teachers already translate the Bible orally in class for students who don't understand its sublime language."
He accepts that children may read only the simplified version, "but if there were no simple version, would they like the Bible better?"
Halevy is convinced that using the simple-language Bible will lead to the loss of Biblical expressions and idioms that are used in contemporary Hebrew. She asserts that the booklet's meager language drives children away from the Bible, rather than bring them closer.
Moses says "this is an important project that fulfills a real need. The booklet's language is first-rate. Our children deserve to understand the Bible, love it and savor its language without suffering."