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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

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The Fifth Floor: New Names, Old Rivalries

Documentaries

new street name installed (credit: ADEM ALTAN/Getty Images)

23/02/2018 GMT

New Names, Old Rivalries

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, New Names, Old Rivalries

Why are Embassy streets being renamed in Washington and Ankara?

Undiplomatic street names; words lost in translation; Chile's anti-poet remembered; Afghanistan's Zhvandum magazine; China's fire-water baijiu; race in Brazil. With David Amanor.

Renaming the block outside the Russian Embassy in Washington DC, and the streets outside the United Arab Emirates and US embassies in Turkey.  Political point scoring with names, with Natalka Pisnia of BBC Russian and Aylin Yazan of BBC Turkish.  

How do you say...?  
This week was the UN's International Mother Tongue Day, a celebration of the world's languages.  But are there some words that just don't translate? We asked Joao Fellet of BBC Brasil, Jinxi Cao of BBC Chinese, BBC Mundo's Karenina Velandia, Enis Senerdem of BBC Turkish, and Prudent Nsengiyumva of BBC Africa Great Lakes.

Nicanor Parra, Chile's "anti-poet"
The revered Chilean poet Nicanor Parra died last month aged 103.  He was regarded as one of the greatest writers in Chile's history, and among his fans is Paula Molina of BBC Mundo.  

Afghanistan's Zhvandun magazine
Zhvandun was a popular Afghan magazine launched in 1949. It featured global news, and captured vivid images of Afghan life before its closure in the 1990s.  And included between its covers was BBC Afghan's Meena Baktash.

Baijiu 
It's the most widely drunk hard liquor in the world, but baijiu is a liquor few outside China know much about.  BBC Chinese Howard Zhang remembers his first encounter with the fire-water.

Mister Brau
Celebrity actors and real-life couple Lázaro Ramos and Taís Araújo star in the Brazilian hit comedy "Mister Brau".  The power couple are black and mixed race superstars, a surprisingly rare thing in a country where 50% of the population consider themselves black.  Luis Barrucho from the BBC's Latin American Service tells us more.

Image: new street name installed
Credit: ADEM ALTAN/Getty Images

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