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The Fifth Floor

Factual: Life Stories

Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

The Fifth Floor: Who to vote for in Brazil: Mr Bean, Hamburger Face or Bin Laden?

Mr Bean

05/09/2014

Who to vote for in Brazil: Mr Bean, Hamburger Face or Bin Laden?

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Who to vote for in Brazil: Mr Bean, Hamburger Face or Bin Laden?

The politicians with odd nicknames contesting in Brazil's elections

Mr Bean, Barack Obama and Spider-Man - just some of the politicians with odd nicknames standing in Brazil's elections.

Brazilians will head to the polls on the 5th October to elect their president, congress and state governors. There are a lot of people to vote for and some colourful looking names on the ballot papers. For example there are no less than four Barack Obamas running for lower office and there is also a Bin Laden (he's Catholic and running for the Green Party), a Spider-Man, Hamburger Face and Mr Bean to name a few. It is not the first time that Brazilian elections have been populated with so many unusual characters. From Rio, BBC Brasil's Jefferson Puff explains the country's love of nicknames.

After the Siege: Diary from Amerli
We saw the pictures of celebration as cameras entered the besieged town of Amerli in northern Iraq last Sunday. Islamic State fighters had been holding the town for two months before Iraqi forces, helped by local militia, broke the siege. PTV's Nafiseh Kohnavard travels the dangerous road there to find out how people had survived when they thought the world had forgotten them. 

How Did You Learn English?
For many kids around the world it is the start of a new school year, and classrooms will be resounding with the noise of pupils chanting, reciting verbs and memorising spellings during their English language lessons. But do not fear, there is a more interesting way to learn English - so for a moment, forget about textbooks, teachers and verb conjugations and embrace the teaching method that involves talking dogs, astrology and pop songs. Language service journalists from Iran, Russia, Afghanistan and Venezuela share memories of how they first learnt English.  

Online Greatest Hits 
Digital diva Fifi Haroon gives the low down on the top-hitting stories across the web, including lizard sex in space and sniffing poo to detect infection. 

100 Days of Modi
Satellites, toilets and sisters are just some of the words used by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speeches this year. To asses what he has done in his first 100 days, BBC Monitoring's Vikas Pandey has been looking at the most predictable and unpredictable phrases used by the new Indian PM. This is his sound word cloud.

Gaza in Sound
Is normalcy finally returning to Gaza after 50 fearful days? BBC Arabic's Adnan Elbursh recorded a soundscape of life in Gaza - a sweet potato seller, men smoking shisha pipes, pomegranate sellers and children playing on a beach.  

The Exponential Growth of the Piano in China
One of the orchestras which made its first appearance at the BBC Proms this year was the China Philharmonic Orchestra. That is not surprising when it is estimated that almost 100 million people are learning a classical musical instrument in China. Fifty million are learning the piano alone. So why are all these Chinese children learning Western Classical instruments? Chinese Service Fifth Floorers Carol Yarwood and Raymond Li explain.

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