Friday, January 21, 2011

Interesting GEO 9 Team names

Wonder why the teams are named after different countries around the world? Why are the teams named Jamaica, Venezuela, Bermuda, New Zealand, Belize, Ireland, Samoa, India, Singapore, Botswana? Do you know the reason for this? (^_~)

Basically, this is because teams are named after countries with English speaking inhabitants. Most of us already know that citizens in countries like United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia speak English already. Unfortunately, we hardly know about other countries that has English as its official language. In addition, naming teams with country names gives the teams chance to talk about these countries and their culture. Team members get to learn about interesting country facts and at the same time discover about these cultures.

GEO 9 Teams
X League - Jamaica, Venezuela, Bermuda, New Zealand and Belize
Z League - Ireland, Samoa, India, Singapore and Botswana

Here are some interesting facts:

  • Do you know that a lot of the states in Caribbean which Belize and Jamaica is a part of, have English as its official language? These countries include Cayman Islands (where The Hollywood blockbuster, The Firm, was filmed) and The Bahamas (where a portion of the 2006 Casino Royale movie was shot), among others. In addition, do you know that Jamaica is the largest English-speaking island in the Caribbean and the third largest island in the Caribbean.
  • Samoa and New Zealand which belongs to Oceania region has a lot of English speaking neighboring countries too (ie. Guam, Palau and Papua New Guinea, etc). Interestingly, in Samoa, even if Samoan (Polynesian) is the native language, English is still widely spoken and it is the official language.
  • Bermuda is part of North American region. St. George, Bermuda is the oldest English speaking community in the western hemisphere.
  • Gaelic is Ireland’s national language. But English is their second official language. Another interesting trivia - Ireland’s most famous musical export would have to be U2, closely followed by The Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy and more recently Boyzone and Westlife.
  • Although Setswana is widely spoken across the African region’s Botswana, English is still its official language of Botswana.
  • Eventhough the predominant language in Venezuela is Venezuelan Spanish (a form of Spanish with influence particularly from the Spanish of the Canary Islands), English is valued particularly by professionals and academicians.
  • Singapore and India are both countries in Asia where English is used commonly. The Singapore government recognizes four official languages: English, Malay, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil; with English being the first language of the nation. On the other hand, in India, English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a 'subsidiary official language; it is also important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Do you know too that India is about 1/3 the size of the United States, yet it is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of 1,166,079,217. India is the seventh largest country in the world, at 1.27 million square miles. India is the largest democracy in the world.

by: Admin

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language