Starting this August, Mon State’s edition of the state-run newspaper Myanma Alinn Newspaper will include a new weekly section written in Mon and other ethnic languages that are spoken in Mon State.
According to Dr. Min Nwe Soe, Mon State’s minister of Planning and Economics, the weekly publication will be published in Mon, S’gaw Karen, Pwo Karen, and Pa-o languages, about one page per language, with story and text translated from the Myanma Alinn Daily Newspaper.
“It will start on this August 3rd. At first, it will be [published] weekly, with Mon language one page, Pa-O one page, and two pages for Karen [language]. Then, when it [be]comes better, it can be done daily. The pages published in ethnic languages will be in color,” said Dr. Min Nwe Soe.
The office of Mon State’s edition of Myanma Alinn Newspaper is located in Kyar-inn Village, Moulmein township, Mon State, and is set to distribute 30,000 copies of their newspaper across Mon State, with another 20,000 to be distributed in Karen State.
Employees will be appointed to type with computers and translate news stories from the government’s Ministry of Information, into the four ethnic languages.
According to Mi Mon Kyae, who has been appointed as a staff member for the Mon language publication, the newspaper plans to assign four staff members to each ethnic language publication; two staff members to translate the news, one to type the news, and another to supervise. If full-time staff is not available, volunteers will fill vacant positions.
“We will help publish [the] Mon language section as long as they cannot [find] employees for that. We will translate the information [from] government state news, and help type and do the layout,” said Mi Mon Kyae.
Since President Thein Sein took office in 2011, the government has expanded access to media, and this is the first time Mon language will be published in state-run media.
