Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 August 1

= August 1 =

Spanish-language literature in Malayalam
Reading about a Kathakali version of Don Quixote, I read that the book had not been yet translated into Malayalam. On one hand, I can understand that, even if Don Quixote is considered a masterpiece of Spanish-language or even world literature, there are not many cultural links between Spanish language and Malayalam. On the other hand, I suppose that some Spanish-language books have been translated, but I cannot guess which. The question is: What translated books from Spanish language can a Malayalam reader find? Reading around, I find that missionaries translated some works from Latin, Portuguese and Spanish, but I suppose that those would be devotional books rarely read by modern readers. --Error (talk) 00:46, 1 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Can you read Malayalam? You could google for the Malayalam equivalent of the phrase "Translated from the Spanish" and see what comes up. Put the phrase in quotes and do the search in google books. 76.75.135.13 (talk) 12:59, 1 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Here's a 2007 translation.John Z (talk) 21:14, 1 August 2016 (UTC)
 * It seems that the Malayalam Wikipedia has an alternate cover. --Error (talk) 01:01, 2 August 2016 (UTC)
 * The bookshop you link to also carries Pedro Páramo, an autobiography of Luis Buñuel, Beauty Parlor by Mario Bellatin, classical stories, and selections by Cervantes and Lorca. So Malayalam speakers have at least some access to Spanish-language masterpieces. Thanks. --Error (talk) 01:07, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Did the British or French Empire have the larger colonial population in Africa?
At their peak say around 1920 which Empire controlled a larger part of the total continental African population, the British or the French?

--Gary123 (talk) 02:21, 1 August 2016 (UTC)


 * With Nigeria and Egypt both under British control, and much of French possessions being the Sahara desert, I would not think that they're even comparable... → Σ σ  ς . (Sigma) 05:14, 1 August 2016 (UTC)


 * population estimates by country for Africa in 1920 - see page 98 76.75.135.13 (talk) 13:13, 1 August 2016 (UTC)


 * This source https://www.jstor.org/stable/201369?seq=12#page_scan_tab_contents would indicate figures of about 80 million for the British territories in 1920, compared to about 40 million for the French ones. I wouldn't like to guarantee how accurate those numbers are - but the ratio between the two is probably about right. Wymspen (talk) 13:30, 1 August 2016 (UTC)

IMF. Reserve tranche positions
There is good explanation of IMF (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/finop/2015/pdf/finop2015.pdf). I drew attention to the Table 2.6 Balance Sheet of the General Department.

In other source (https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/pam/pam45/contents.htm translated ) there is same table TABLE II.1. BALANCE SHEET OF THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT, AS OF APRIL 30, 2001.

I don't understand "Reserve Tranche Positions" and "Credit Outstanding" lines. It looks like they are correlated: Credit Outstanding = Reserve Tranche Positions + Borrowings . If IMF have loaned credits on sum 55 228 million SDR (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/finop/2015/pdf/finop2015.pdf, Table 2.6, page 34), then IMF have spent same amount of usable currencies. But we see : Usable Currencies + Other Currencies = Subscription Payments . Why?

According Figure 2.3 on page 24, we see that "Reserve Tranche Positions" is obligatory 25-percent part of member's quota. Can IMF use it for crediting or it must use only 75-percent parts of USA, Japan, UK or Euro Union counties' quotas?

Question 2 What part of e.g USA quota is remunerated - 25-percent part or all 100 %?

Question 3 On figure 2.2 on page 23 is said "As of April 30, 2015, there were 51 member countries that had sufficiently strong external positions to provide usable currencies". How it is possible, as only USA, Japan, UK and EU central banks can issue freely usable currencies?

P.s. How to attach image here? Wikimedia requires explanation of each image, so suggest please easier way. 47.90.45.83 (talk) 10:29, 1 August 2016 (UTC)
 * If the image isn't entirely your own work, it'll be better if you upload it to an external site and link to it. There must be at least hundreds of sites designed for simple image upload which don't require registration or anything which any number of searches will find. Nil Einne (talk) 13:49, 1 August 2016 (UTC)

Actually when IMF takes some country's (COUNTRY1) currency for loan to debtor (COUNTRY2), COUNTRY1's taken currency is replaced by SDRs and COUNTRY1's Reserve Tranche Positions increases. If total quotas = 238 183 000 000 SDRs, then total Reserve Tranche Positions = 0.25 * 238 183 000 000 = 59 545 750 000 (suppose outstanding credit = 0). But if IMF loaned 55 228 000 000 SDRs, then total Reserve Tranche Positions = 59 545 750 000 + 55 228 000 000 = 114 773 750 000 SDRs. Inspectorate47 (talk) 15:54, 1 August 2016 (UTC)