Before 1916, the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, was called Berlin. Ten years ago in 2016, colleagues from the Waterloo Centre for German Studies and I organized a panel discussion that marked the 100th anniversary of that name change. This discussion took place and was recorded in the Kitchener Public Library. Carl Zehrs, the former mayor of Kitchener, was our moderator. The well known local historian, rych mills, the history professor and my colleague at the time, Geoff Hayes, and I were the panelists.
In 1916, 75% of the population of Berlin, Ontario, spoke German. They believed they could be both – loyal to the British Crown and to the German Emperor. This got very difficult in the middle of World War I. Two separate referenda determined to change the city’s name. 100 years later, the city of Kitchener still has a sizable German minority, the name change had become a part of local lore, but also – at times – of passionate debate.
I have dug up a couple of older videos on the internet. Some of them have to do with my current thinking about AI, this one and a few others are related to my research but not to AI and language and learning. The connection, as almost always, is language …
Panta Rhei Enterprise 