There are dozens of different podcasts now available from the BBC, including news, documentaries,

science, business, arts and sport. The details of them all go to BBCWorldService.com slash podcasts.

You're listening to Cachin, one of the many languages spoken in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,

formerly known as Burma. I'm Mark Turin, and as an anthropologist and linguist, I study

the ways in which languages have come under threat in the 21st century. I now want to find out

more about how languages are surviving in the fast-changing country of Myanmar, and how ethnic

from other tongues help to define communities and their cultures. For the BBC World Service,

I am in the city of Yangon, finding that language is a hot political topic here, down to the name

of the nation itself. Historian Tan Mian-U is an advisor to the President of Myanmar.

I think it's okay to say Burma, I personally prefer Burma, but it's more proper here to use Myanmar.

Even in English, I think people are much more comfortable, or Myanmar is used much more frequently

now than it would have been even 10 or 15 years ago. Though in Burmese, it's very different.

In Burmese, we would never say Myanmar, because Myanmar is an adjective. It would be the Myanmar language,

the Myanmar country, the Myanmar people, but not Myanmar by itself.

You see, sometimes publications, or even the Lonely Planet, Burma slash Myanmar, is that an appropriate way

of doing it or is that just autologist? I think it's a bit clumsy. I think it's better either by

choosing one or the other. I think outside it's still fine to say Burma, but I think here people

have generally developed preference for using Myanmar in English.

In 1989, the military government here decided to pass a law saying that in English the country

should be referred to as Myanmar. However, that name in English is quite hard to pronounce.

It's unfamiliar to many people, and that causes a whole set of problems.

Justin Watkins is a senior lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies

...