Archive for the ‘International’ Category
Turkish Girl Begum
See one part of the world in another part of the world.
This time, you’re landing on Turkey from UK and right in UK!
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Twisted Duet
This is a tango of tongue twisters
It is about left and right, voice and music
When language becomes an instrument, you won’t worry about the meanings.
Don’t click on it until you get a headphone.
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English in my Ears
This 5 minute programme is about my feeling when hearing English. To me, English, as a foreign language, is sometimes no difference than music. In my piece of work, I edited the clips to mimic the sound I hear in daily communication. I believe sound effect in a radio script takes an important role in story telling, and that’s the reason you won’t understand the programme by only looking at the script. At the same time, when record it, I have to bear in mind what sound might come out and to choose the right tone.
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The Seeds of Capoeira
Capoeira Professora Beatriz Viana Rosa discusses her life and practice of the Afro-Brazilian martial art.
Part 1:
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Part 2:
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Seeking Solace in a Foreign Land
Each Friday, on a busy tree lined avenue in central Southampton, over 100 refugees and asylum seekers are welcomed through the doors of a church drop-in centre. Here they receive a wide range of help and support from Southampton’s refugee support agencies ranging from English classes to welfare and legal advice.
I went along to find out more about what happens at the drop-in session and, whilst there, I heard one woman’s powerful story of her struggle to be granted leave to remain in Britain.
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With special thanks to City Life Education and Action for Refugees - clearproject.org.uk
Reflections on India
Lenny talks in more depth about his visit to India, how the people there have inspired him and how his visit has changed him.
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Making Connections in India
Lenny introduces his visit to India.
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Tang Dynasty Poems Reading—-written by Wangwei
Another well-known Chinese literary format, Tang Poem, is usually formed by 4 lines, five characters for every line or alternatively seven. The poem format emphasizes the maintenance of rhythmes, parallelism of characters, and the balance of “tones”. “Pinyin”(such as’Tang’ and ‘Wangwei’ in the title) together with four tones indicate the pronunciation of each character.
These 3 poems in this clip are masterpieces of Wangwei. Wang Wei(699-759) was a prestigious poet in Tang Dynasty, a musician, painter and statesman at the same time.
For his writing style….you will hear Mozart in his poems.
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Translations of the three poems:
Deer Park (Translated by Gary Snyder)
Empty mountains no one to be seen.
Yet - hear –
human sounds and echoes.
Returning sunlight enters the dark woods;
Again shining
On the green moss, above
Lovesickness (Translated by Wang Daoyu)
The berries red in the south land grow,
How many shoots in spring it brings?
May you gather as many as you can,
For my lovesickness these things best stand.
Untitled (Translated by Crystal)
Coming from our hometown,
You ought to follow all the news, my friend
Shall I ask about the plum flower by my window,
Any blossom on the branch?
Read and Produced by Crystal Zhang.
Song Dynasty Prose Reading—-Yueyang Louji
This famous prose was written around 1045 A.D. in Song Dynasty in Chinese history by Fan Zhongyan who was a prominent politician and literary figure at that time. Yueyang Louji is composed on occasion of the reconstruction of Yueyang Tower, a city gate by Dongting Lake. By listening to the second paragraph carefully, you will find the extensive usage of phrases in four even you can not speak Chinese at all. The music bedding is played by a Chinese string instrument: Guzheng, which is a parental invention of many Asia string instruments.
Enjoy this cup of tea flavored with Chinese culture.
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For the meaning of this prose,
The opening paragraph describes the occasion to write this prose. The second paragraph, at the beginning describes the grand view from Yueyang tower, then it sums up author's thought on nature scenery and previous viewers' reflections. Located in a water transportation joint, many talents arrived here either on the way to an appointment or get resigned on the way home, therefore, the scenery they see must be different due to different situations they are in. The following two paragraphs respectively depict two extreme moods by picturing the scenery and viewer's reaction in four character phrases: When weather’s terrible and the nature goes against people, people sign. Reversely, beautiful scenes bring in hope and happiness. At the end, it comes to the political ideal, culminating in the oft-quoted: “Feel worried before the world starts to worry, and feel happy after it has rejoiced. In all, take burden and take care of the state.”
Full translation of this paragraph is shown as follows: I used to seek the thought in the sage, which may be apart from both two feelings. That is, one should stand by his value preventing to be emphasized by outside material or inside mood. When he rose to an official, he cares about civilians and grass root. When hides and lives a common life far from power, he still worries about the manipulators and their policies. In that case, wherever he is, he shall care. But when ought the happiness to come to him? It goes without sayings that before all care should he care; after all gratify should he gratify. Ah! Were few people like this, whom would I go with? (Inteperated and translated by crystal)
For those of you who would like to check out the full English translation of this reading, please click here. Read and Produced by Crystal Zhang.
My home is…
Leaving away from home is not always easy, we all have our ups and downs. Join a group of students talking about the best things about their home countries.