PRI's The World - The World in Words Podcast
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The Music of Vanishing Languages
New York-based composer Kevin James's Vanishing Languages Project explores the musicality in four endangered languages: Ainu, Quileute, Dalabon and Jawoyn.
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Keeping Yoruba Relevant, and the Subtitled TV Shows...
Language news with Cartoon Queen Carol and Patrick: 1. Describing wine flavors in Chinese. 2. Bible translators avoid the words "Father" and "Son" in some cultures. 3. Fears for the future of Yoruba, one of Nigeria's most beloved languages. 4. Americans are missing out on some great subtitled TV dramas. 5. New Zealand issues a list of names you can't call your child.
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Recognition for the Woman Who Nearly Cracked the Linear...
For two decades at her Brooklyn dining room table, Alice Kober worked into the night to decipher a mysterious script. The script 'Linear B' had been discovered on clay tablets in Crete. It was finally deciphered-- but two years after Kober died.
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How Language and Culture Play into Phishing Scams
Chinese hackers are fast catching up with their global counterparts in producing linguistically localized phishing scams. Also, why does Glasgow produce so many successful soccer coaches? Is it to do with the city's impenetrable accent and slang?
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The Many Historical Twists and Turns of Spanish
A conversation with writer Julie Barlow. Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau are co-authors of "The Story of Spanish," their follow-up to "The Story of French." Though linguistically similar to French, Spanish has evolved with more freedom and variation, and is now far more widely spoken than French.
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Penmanship and Personality: An Ode to the Handwritten...
From a loved one's hasty scrawl to Jack Lew's "manufactured" signature, how much do people reveal about themselves in their handwriting? Author Philip Hensher says quite a bit, though not as much as handwriting experts sometimes claim. Hensher argues that digital communications deprive us of the intimacy of handwriting.
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How to Fake an Accent and Get Away With It
"Matilda," now a Broadway hit, has a cast full of Americans doing British accents. We usually think of actors as carrying off the best fake accents. But others do it, sometimes with great success. What's the secret?
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A Father's Lens and a Son's Songs Reflect on Irish Place...
A conversation with musician Steafan Hanvey about the history and memory that Irish place names conjure up. Hanvey's father was a photojournalist who has recorded moments in these places in recent decades. Now, Hanvey has written a song cycle inspired by his father's photography.
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A New, Protestant Beginning for the Irish Language
The Irish language used to be a symbol of Catholic nationalism. But it's gradually becoming de-politicized, morphing into just another minority language in need of saving. You can see evidence of that change in community halls in Belfast, where a few Protestants are learning Irish.
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Will New Words Change How We Think About Illegal...
The Associated Press is dropping the term, 'illegal immigrant.' Why? And what term to use in its place? We offer some suggestions from some non-English language media.
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A New Beginning for Kurdish in Turkey?
Incrementally, the Kurdish language appears to be making a comeback in Turkey. Official restrictions on the public use of Kurdish are easing, making it easier for schools to teach it. But some Kurds aren't used to speaking their own mother tongue.
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Sugar Sammy: Quebec's Multilingual Court Jester
Samir Khullar aka Sugar Sammy is the son of Indian immigrants who at home spoke Punjabi and Hindi, at school studied in French, and learned to tell jokes in English. He's now taking his native Quebec by storm with stand-up comedy delivered in four languages.
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What's the Matter With the Word "Amnesty"?
Should the proposed legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants be termed an amnesty? Does that suggest they would be receiving something for nothing?
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Hamas Puts Hebrew on the Curriculum
A few public schools in Gaza are offering classes in Hebrew to ensure that younger Palestinians can learn "the language of our enemy."
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Is French Still Vulnerable in Quebec?
A new round of skirmishes in Quebec's war over language has broken out. The province's largest party wants to further protect French, but some say "Non!" if that comes at the expense of English.
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What Beatboxing Tells Us About Language Acquisition
Beatboxers make sounds most of us think we can't make. Sounds that native English speakers usually have trouble making. Sounds sometimes borrowed from other languages. So say researchers at the University of Southern California.
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Foreign Language Movies Beyond the Oscars
A conversation with KCRW's Matt Holzman about the year's best foreign language movies. Some are Oscar-nominated. Many are not.
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Obama's Simple Rhetoric, and Rubio's Spanish Reply
Was President Obama's rhetoric "dumber" than that of George Washington, as The Guardian claimed after analyzing State of the Union speeches over the years? Also, was Senator Marco Rubio's Spanish language response effective in turning Latino heads and attitudes?
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Breaking News from the Vatican in Latin
He speaks Latin, he tweets in Latin, he even brought back the Latin mass. Now Pope Benedict has resigned in Latin, and not everyone understood what he was saying.
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Lost in a Sea of People and Languages
What happens if you get lost at one of the world's largest religious gatherings? Not only are there millions of people, but among them they speak hundreds of mutually incomprehensible languages.
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White Guys Talking Jamaican, and Icelandic Names
Some Americans think a VW ad to be broadcast during the Super Bowl is racist because it features a white guy speaking Jamaican patois. But Jamaicans seem happy that the ad is giving their nation and culture some free publicity. Also, will an Icelandic 15-year-old get to officially use the name her parents gave her? A court decides.
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Finnegans Wake in Chinese
The latest literary hit in China is a new translation of James Joyce's notoriously difficult novel, Finnegans Wake. The original English version of the book has defeated many readers, but Joyce's Chinese translator says Finnegans Wake is primarily a book about freedom.
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Quebec's Separatists On Charm Offensive with "Notre Home"
Quebec's new separatist government is promising to require French exams in English language schools and to ban bilingual newsletters in some municipalities. That's enraging many English speakers. So the government is bankrolling a province-wide tour by a pro-English musician.
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Dim Sum Warriors: Bilingual Snacks With Attitude
Dim Sum Warriors is the world's only bilingual interactive comic book iPad app-- at least the only one with Chinese snack characters who practise kung fu. A conversation with the creators of Dim Sum Warriors and with some of its fans.
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Endangered Languages 3: Language Life and Death in New...
Linguist Mark Turin takes us on a whirlwind tour of New York to explore a few of its 800 languages. Some thrive, at least briefly. Some survive in spite of the odds. Some live on through the words they loan to English and other immigrant tongues. But nearly all of them eventually die.
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In South Africa, Language Revival and Rehab
Linguist Mark Turin reports from South Africa, whose post-Apartheid constitution designates eleven languages as official. English is more popular than ever, Afrikaans is re-inventing itself, while the government's efforts to raise the status of languages like Xhosa and Zulu have succeeded-- up to a point.
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Mexican Children Caught Between Two Languages
Many Mexican migrants are leaving the US and returning to Mexico. Their children often speak better English than Spanish. So back in Mexican schools, many struggle. In order to help these kids, some teachers in Mexico are now learning English.
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Endangered Languages 1: The Thangmi Language of Nepal
In the first of a three-part BBC series, linguist Mark Turin returns to Nepal, where he learned and documented the Thangmi language. Spoken by 30,000 people, Thangmi has many unique expressions. The Nepalese government is trying to protect Thangmi and scores of other minority languages by introducing them into schools, but it may be too late: the children of many Thangmi speakers are choosing to speak other languages.
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Boy sopranos and early onset of puberty
A new study finds that boys' voices are breaking at age 12, two years younger than in 1960. That's bad news for boy sopranos and the choirs they sing in.
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What's in a name in Ethiopia?
'House names' are nicknames that Ethiopian family members give each other. Traditionally multisyllabic and descriptive, house names are becoming shorter and more cutesy. Also, changes in Uruguayan surnames.
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Army Barters Citizenship for Language Skills
The US Army is reviving a program that offers immigrants with certain language skills a fast track to US citizenship. Many of the slots, including all those for Korean speakers, have already been filled.
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Beyond Elvish: invented languages in fiction
Forget Klingon, Na'vi and Dothraki, and consider instead the invented languages of novels: Elvish, Pravic, the language of the Ariekei and Wardwesan.
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Why I Like Catalan and Don't Speak It
The World's Gerry Hadden has lived in Catalonia for eight years. He speaks English, Spanish, French and German. But not Catalan. No matter that his kids speak it, his neighbors speak it, the stars of mighty FC Barcelona speak it. Gerry doesn't speak Catalan because he doesn't need to.
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The Case for Local Languages in Africa, and Food Idioms
Language news with Cartoon Queen Carol and Patrick: 1. South Africans debate whether they call President Zuma's newly refurbished home a residence, a compound or 'Zumaville.' 2. Uganda's President Museveni has co-written a thesaurus for his mother tongue, Runyankore/Rukiga. 3. Debates for Ghana's upcoming presidential election are all in English, to the annoyance of some. 4. Gabon is the latest Francophone country in Africa to consider switching to English. 5. A call for more bilingual...
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The Sweet Revenge of Recycling a Book Title, and Tom...
There is no copyright on book titles, which can lead to confusion. It's all too easy to mistakenly buy the wrong version of 'Pure,' 'Sweet Revenge' or 'Nemesis.' Also, novelist Tom Wolfe talks about his continued experimentation with punctuation.
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The Many Meanings of Chips Funga
'Chips Funga' is one of the most popular phrases in Kenya today. It means 'french fries to go'...and a whole lot more. We hear from musician Anto Neosoul who helped popularize the expression. He's also penned a song about deception on social networks called 'Qwerty Love.'
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Damon Albarn's Soundscape Gives the BBC Something to...
Its 90th birthday falls at an awkward time for the scandal-rocked BBC. But it is celebrating nonetheless, with an audio collage that harks back and peers forward, courtesy of musician Damon Albarn.
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The BBC and the Language of Responsibility
Is the BBC's huge well of public trust in danger of drying up? A veteran news anchor says its managers must stop speaking the 'gobbledygook' of bureaucratic jargon and start properly overseeing its output.
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Aramaic revival in the Holy Land
Israel's Maronites don't like being labeled as Arabs. They have gone to court for recognition as 'Aramaic.' The problem is, most of them don't speak much Aramaic. So now the language is being re-introduced.
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America's woes from the outside in
On the eve of the US elections, two people who know how to throw a phrase about offer their thoughts on America's troubles. Novelist Lionel Shriver is an American living in London. Journalist Edward Luce is a Brit living in Washington. They both care deeply about United States, and they're worried.
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Is language holding back New York's Bengali voters?
We visit a Bangladeshi-owned barbershop in post-Sandy New York. Tuesday's ballot was supposed to have been translated into Bengali-- a requirement under the Voting Rights Act-- but election officials missed the deadline. In the barbershop, though, voters are as divided between Obama and Romney as the country is.
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Wordplay, dance and a poetry cycle challenge China's...
An explanation of the pranksterish wordplay in Ai Weiwei's take on Gangnam Style. And a conversation with the translator of Liu Xiaobo's Tiananmen poems.
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What's in a street name? In Jerusalem, plenty
Many streets in Arab East Jerusalem are unnamed. Jerusalem's mayor has launched a campaign to name them and put up street signs. While many locals welcome this, some fear that it's part of an Israeli plan to annexe the Arab parts of the city.
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Britain's upper lip droops, but keeps calm and carries on
Britons used to impress the world with their displays of resilience and sangfroid. But recently, they express themselves as much by crying as by grinning and bearing it. Should the stiff upper lip be consigned to history? Plus, the origin of 'Keep Calm and Carry On,' and a Belgian take on that slogan.
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An Australian dictionary redefines misogyny
After Australia's prime minister accuses the opposition leader of misogyny, Australia's leading dictionary says the word has changed its meaning.
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Translating birth, love and death with Nataly Kelly
Translator and author Nataly Kelly talks about interpreting 911 calls and 'cupid calls,' as well as translating poetry from a hybrid of Spanish and Shuar, a mainly Ecuadorian tribal language. Kelly has co-written a book on the translation industry called 'Found in Translation.'
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Hobson-Jobson, a dictionary both enduring and...
Hinglish is a modern version of Indian English, spoken in various forms in India, Britain and elsewhere. You can trace its roots at least as far back as Hobson-Jobson, a nineteenth century dictionary that listed English words with South Asian origins. Unlike most dictionaries from that era, Hobson-Jobson is still in print, as poet Daljit Nagra reports.
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The Perils of Campaigning in Spanish
For Obama, Romney and many before them, speaking to voters in their native tongue is a great idea--until it goes wrong.
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Cairo's honking language
Learn Egyptian car horn code for expressions like 'Open your eyes!' 'You are no driver!' and, of course, 'I love you.'
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The language of disability in Ukrainian, Persian and...
At the Paralympics, the BBC is telling its journalists to use terms like 'person with disabilities' and not others like 'handicapped'. So how does that translate into Ukrainian, Persian and Uzbek?
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Haji Noor Deen's fusion of Chinese and Arabic calligraphy
Chinese-born Haji Noor Deen is a master calligrapher who uses a script that combines Chinese and Arabic, traditions that are "at once opposites and complements."
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Yiddish Rediscovery in Belarus and Poland
A group of Jewish American college students take a cultural tour of Yiddish Eastern Europe, and find out how their ancestors lived.
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Turbanology: a Sikh neologism
The Sikh turban: the meaning, the aesthetics, the turban rights movement, the music.
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Invented Languages from Hollywood to Bollywood
There's a long tradition of languages invented for fiction, from Elvish to Klingon. Now there's Dothraki, created for HBO's Game of Thrones, and Gaalaguzi, reportedly a language invented for the upcoming Indian sci-fi comedy Joker.
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Africa's Translation Gap
A new Translators Without Borders report says most African nations are in dire need of translation services. Report co-author Nataly Kelly talks about how that might happen, and how translation can save lives and foster democratic values.
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Olympic terminology and multilingual London's gift to...
1. If you're a retailer in London, the thing you fear most is a visit from the Olympic Brand Police. 2. A new app for Olympic athletes and tourists who don't speak English. 3. Archery terminology. 4. London's Poetry Parnassus brings together poets from around the world. 5. Reading Dickens in instalments online. 6. Boris Johnson makes the case for London as a multicultural hothouse that enriched the English language.
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The bimusical brain
We're just starting to learn how the bilingual brain works, but what of the 'bimusical' brain? Do the brains of people who grow up listening to say, Madonna and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, function the same way as those of people exposed to just one type of music? A new study offers some clues.
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How technology is changing Chinese, one pun at a time
As millions more Chinese access the web through their phones and computers, there have been some unexpected effects on the Chinese language. The changes come via slang, puns and other wordplay, but Nina Porzucki reports that they're affecting all Chinese discourse.
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A podcast that's literally exploding with court...
1. As US state governments tighten budgets, some courts are hiring unqualified court interpreters. That may result in miscarriages of justice. 2. Britons are again chortling over the misuse of the word 'literally,' after a prominent politician said: "You see people literally in a different galaxy who are paying extraordinary low rates of tax."
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The tribalism of language with Mark Pagel
A conversation with biologist Mark Pagel on human prehistory and language. Pagel says humans have been uniquely able to adapt to diverse environments because of their ability to retain and share information. Yet at the same they have also developed thousands of mutually incomprehensible languages-- not so good for sharing.
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Linguistic rectification for math terms, Chinese menu...
1. Beijing is urging Chinese restaurants to take more care in translating menu items into English. 2. Will an overhaul in math terminology in the US improve the performance of math students? 3. Learn to pronounce those pesky Euro 2012 host cities with the BBC Pronunciation Unit. 4. The idiosyncratic glory of unnecessary quotation marks. 5. Do biodiversity and linguistic diversity go hand in hand?
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The Sheng slang dialect, the rap, and the graffiti of...
1. A group of artists are daubing the walls and buildings of Nairobi with a series of murals and graffiti. The images are replete with political messages aimed at young people. 2. Kenyan pop star Juliani raps about climate change in a slangy English-Swahili mash-up known as Sheng .
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Burma special: learning English, speaking freely, and...
1.As Burma opens up, more of its citizens are learning English, sometimes in strange ways. 2. With the country in political transition, political speech is less restricted, but testing it is still a risk. 3. Some of Burma's punk rockers appreciate the right to express themselves, but they have other problems.
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A Tourette's superhero, Titanic subplots, and Planet...
1. An Indian boy's life changes forever when he is transported on a train to Bengal, where they don't speak his native tongue, and he can't figure out how to get home. 2. Morse code signals to and from the Titanic in the days and hours before it sank. 3. The Nazi film version of the Titanic. 4. A conversation with self-styled Tourette's Syndrome superhero Jess Thom, who refuses to shy away from the funny, surreal side of her verbal tics.
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In Vietnam, a nation learns English
Vietnam has a bad history with China, which is why most Vietnamese refuse to learn Chinese. Vietnam also has a bad history with the United States, but many Vietnamese are crazy about learning English. Reporter Jennifer Pak talks with a diva, an economist and a 10-year-old English-speaking prodigy.
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English is no longer top dog in Malaysia and Singapore
On the Malay Peninsula, the linguistic juggernaut that is English has hit a bump in the road. In Malaysia, schools have dropped English as the language of instruction for math and science. In Singapore, the business-minded government is urging its citizens to learn Mandarin. Reporter Jennifer Pak talks with Malaysians and Singaporeans about their attitudes to English.
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Mistaking Welsh for Hebrew, American creoles, and Old...
1. Libyan militiamen mistake Welsh for Hebrew, which is bad news for a couple of arrested journalists. 2. Gullah, Haitian Creole and other creoles spoken in the U.S. with Elizabeth Little. 3. Guitarist Wilko Johnson speaks mainly English but also Old Norse, both with a slayer of an Essex accent.
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A trip around America's languages with Elizabeth Little
A conversation with Elizabeth Little, author of "Trip of the Tongue: Cross-country Travels in Search of America's Languages." We talk mainly about Spanish, Navajo, Crow, and a language popularized by the Twilight series, Quileute.
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Hong Kong's war of words, translating jargon, and Adieu...
1. Hong Kongers and Mainland Chinese clash over language and politics. 2. Native speakers of Russian, Vietnamese and Arabic discuss how they translate English language news jargon. 3. The Sun, and the language of tabloid news. 4. France bids farewell, officially, to the term Mademoiselle.
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Chinese names for babies, American names for Asians, and...
1. Swivet, upscuddle and other words in the new volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English. 2. Don't bother learning a foreign language. 3. China directs orphanages to give babies common names. 4. Are linguistically stereotypical depictions of Asians making a comeback in the US? 5. The Academy bars a Spanish language movie from its foreign language category.
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Words of love in songs, and acts of love in the Peace...
1.How to construct a love song. 2. The inadequacy of the word love. 3. How love scrambles the message of the Peace Corps. 4. Operas that aren't about love.
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Segregating women in Hebrew, Iranian views in Spanish,...
1.Iran launches a Spanish language TV channel. 2. The origins of an oft-used Hebrew expression to describe the segregation of women favored by some ultra-Orthodox Jews. 3. Scientists at UC Berkeley unveil technology that seeks to put words to our thoughts. 4. Why songs get stuck in our heads.
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A translator disappears, myths about Chinese, and a new...
1. The Iran-based translator of Firoozeh Dumas' "Funny in Farsi" has vanished, probably arrested. 2. Debunking myths about the Chinese language and things Chinese leaders are believed to have said. 3. Suggestions for what to call someone who regularly comments on your friends' Facebook posts. 4. Multilingual Angolan singer Lulendo.
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Fear of foreign languages, and a Garifuna musical project
1. Some US Presidential candidates seem embarrassed by their ability to speak a foreign language. 2. Sounding presidential: a voice coach critiques candidates. 3. A hospital trains foreign nurses in local idioms. 4. A musician sings famous English language songs in Garifuna.
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Michael Erard's Hyperpolyglots Part 2
More with Michael Erard about his new book "Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners". Erard met with several hyperpolyglots and canvassed the opinions of many more. He talks about their lives and what drives them.
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Michael Erard's Hyperpolyglots Part 1
A conversation with Michael Erard about his new book "Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners". In describing hyperpolyglots, Erard has coined the term 'the will to plasticity': these speakers of dozens of languages seem to combine a fierce desire to learn with childlike brain plasticity.
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Names and jobs, the many Spanishes of the NBA, and the...
1. Usain Bolt bolts, Anna Smashnova was a tennis pro, Bob Flowerdew is a gardening expert. Coincidence? Criminal defense lawyer Frances Cook and vicar Michael Vickers discuss. 2. Clemson Smith Muniz, the play-by-play voice of Los Knicks en espanol on how basketball terms in Spanish vary from country to country. 3. Free speech on the Korean Peninsula. 4. The late Christopher Hitchens discusses the power of argument with his brother Peter Hitchens.
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How languages convey the future, a lost metaphor, and...
A Yale study claims that the language you speak may determine how much money you save. You're in luck if your native tongue doesn't have a future tense. Also, a paint job on Scotland's Forth Bridge is declared complete, and so a metaphor loses out. And South African pop sensation Zahara sings in English and Xhosa.
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Tamil, a Tanglish song, Roma in Romanian, and retweeting...
Tamil has more speakers than Italian or Turkish, but there are fears about its future. A dictionary editor and a singer are trying to popularize the language. Also, Romania's largest minority get a new official name. And a conversation about spelling, grammar and re-tweeting.
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The Bible and the Brain, Hebrew slogans, and Burmese song
The King James Bible gets all the accolades, but what of some lesser-known translations of the Bible? Also, Hebrew slogans at Tele Aviv protest, and Hebrew classes at a New York charter school. And, the songs of Shakira and others with new lyrics...in Burmese.
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Banned words, words of the year, and snowy words
The Oxford English Dictionary reveals its word of the year. Also, the Pakistan government's problem with rude - and not so rude - words used in text messaging. And Kate Bush, along with collaborator Stephen Fry, has come up with 50 real and invented words that evoke snow.
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Australia through its languages and rhetoric
A conversation with three Australians about language, culture and history. Thomas Keneally, Deborah Cheetham and Kate Grenville discuss the myths and secrets of Aboriginal languages, the rhetoric of official apologies, and the magnificent prose of legendary bush ranger Ned Kelly.
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San Francisco's Chinese press, a new alphabet in Zambia,...
Did San Francisco's Chinese language newspapers help elect a Chinese-American mayor? Also, a linguist creates a writing system for one of Zambia's 73 languages. Plus a conversation with David Brooks about language and emotion. And a 24-year-old American and her slangy online English lessons are a hit in China.
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Translators past, present and future, a new Iliad, and...
A translation special with the American Translators Association, David Bellos, author of a "Is That a Fish in Your Ear?", and a discussion of just what exactly Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles owes to The Iliad. Plus, a mode of speech that's always tough to translate: humor. And not just any humor. Greek humor.
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Accents, chatbots, and fear of a Chinese-speaking planet
Top five language stories this month with Patrick and Carol: City Sentral, riDQulous, and other nasty corporate spelling experiments...the expanding reach of English means more accents...for Singapore's Chinese, a challenge: speak English in public, Mandarin Chinese at home...a new Italian film explores fears about the global spread of Chinese...in Japan, English-speaking chatbots guarantee embarrassment-free conversations.
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From Boston to Kigali, Chinese goes global
In the past seven years, China has opened almost 300 Confucius Institutes around the world. We visit one such language center in Kigali, Rwanda. Meanwhile in the US, the government-run China Radio International is seeking out new audiences. But as Chinese language and culture expands abroad, it's a different story at home, where mastery of Chinese characters is declining. To combat that, some Shanghai schools require students to take calligraphy classes.
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Fry's Planet Word, Belizean Creole and Steve Jobs'...
An interview with writer and actor Stephen Fry, whose has made a documentary series on language for BBC TV. Also, 30 years after Belize won independence, Belizean Creole is winning respect alongside English. And how Steve Jobs' Macs and iPods helped globalize local speech and localize global ideas.
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A grammar of cities, a dying Inuit dialect, and Frank...
In Tanzania and South Korea, the grammar of urban organization is lacking a few verbs. Also, a Cambridge linguist returns from a year living with an Inuit community. And a visit to a Massachusetts elementary school that's become a model for teaching English to non-native speakers. Plus, Frank Zappa's surreal and profane lyrics as transcribed by a prim English secretary.
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Watch your diplomatic language! Plus, Yang Ying's...
Should diplomats learn the languages of the countries they're assigned to? Diplomat Sherard Cowper-Coles and translator David Bellos say yes...but try to avoid foreign faux pas. Also, teaching in two languages in a US state where bilingual education is banned. Plus, the children of Pakistan's Sindh province are learning Chinese, while a Chinese classical musician is learning rock and jazz.
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Toilet talk across the pond, and banning bilingual...
Nine years after bilingual education was banned in Massachusetts, educators are still arguing over the effect on students' language abilities. Also, more conversation with American linguist in Britain, Lynne Murphy. This time, we talk "toilets", "excuse me" and other key differences between American English and its British cousin. Plus girl pop from the 1960s, in Spanish.
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Separated by a Common Language with Lynneguist
A conversation with University of Sussex linguist Lynne Murphy aka Lynneguist. An American in Britain, Murphy maintains the Separated by a Common Language blog. Murphy's accent is soft, but that doesn't stop Brits from mocking it, and labeling it twangy. Among the many observations noted in her blog, Murphy has seen British English lose some of its status among Americans.
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In Britain, a new English test and a cuss box, and...
Britain now requires an English proficiency test for some visa applicants. There's already a legal challenge from the Indian husband of a British woman. Also, in Britain, a town has starting fining people for swearing in public. In Alaska, some children of Sudanese refugees are learning their parents' native Nuer language. And a conversation with Greg Barker, director of "Koran by Heart".
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The swirling rhetoric around Norway's tragedy, and Blitz...
How much we should blame extreme political rhetoric for the actions of Anders Breivik? Did words help pull the trigger so many times? Is it accurate to describe him as a lone madman, existing outside Norway's civilized society? What of Glen Beck who likened Breivik's victims at a political summer camp to the Hitler Youth? And what might the late Stieg Larsson have thought about this? Also, New York-based Ghanaian rapper Blitz the Ambassador.
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Punjabi immersion, Nigerian pidgin radio, and Annoying...
Top five language stories this month with Patrick and Carol: The first Punjabi language public school in the US is about to open...bad translations with bad results...a Lagos radio station broadcast in Pidgin expands to other Nigerian cities...a new book traces the rise and decline of French as an international language...and a British journalist rails against the invasion of what he calls Americanisms into British English.
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Re-learning Spanish, super-injunctions, and UK hearts...
Thousands of kids from the United States are enrolling in Mexican schools, often after their parents have been deported. These children are struggling to re-learn Spanish. Also, the language and politics of terms like illegal alien and undocumented worker. Plus, British gag orders aren't working, thanks to Twitter. And, does Obama heart Britain as much as Brits heart Obama? We have some takes on the so-called Special Relationship.
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Ai Weiwei's translator, Belgium during linguistic...
Arrested Chinese artist Ai Weiwei wrote a blog that was, if anything, even more provocative than his art. We hear from the woman who translated Ai's blog posts into English. Also, fellow Big Show podcaster Clark Boyd on the trials, tribulations and silliness of living in Belgium, where most people define themselves not by nationality but by mother tongue. And the latest children's TV hit in the UK features Jamaican-British musical mice, with dialects that offend English purists.
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The battle to own Bin Laden's story, the saddest...
Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, a new battle begins: the rhetorical fight to frame his legacy. The White House got off to a bad start, with its initial claims about the circumstances of the killing. Also, we try out a couple of instant translation devices that the Pentagon is considering for field operations. And a quixotic attempt to lighten up the lyrics to Peru's national anthem.
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The Pentagon's linguistic history, fictional job titles,...
For more than 200 years, the Pentagon has been trying to gets its personnel to learn the languages spoken by friends and foes alike. For most that time, it's been an uphill struggle. Also, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is not amused at a Colombian telenovela which has named a badly-behaved dog after him. Plus, we learn about a 19th century English reverend who liked to invent the job titles of his parishioners. Finally, the word princess gets a workout, and not all for the good.
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English-only in the US, translating tweets in Japan and...
The English Only movement in the United States is always active during times of high immigration. Now it's got a shot in the arm from the Tea Party. Also, a conversation with Aya Watanabe, who has spent much of the past month translating earthquake-related tweets from Japanese to English. And we hear from Egypt about an instantly popular news satire show whose host is being compared to Jon Stewart.
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From Cicero to Lynne Truss with Robert Lane Greene
Robert Lane Greene's new book "You Are What You Speak" examines how language we speak is bound up in our identity. How much does our native language define us? How much does it set our ways of thinking? Can we think a different way in a different language? Why do people get so persnickety about punctuation? Why do grammar sticklers yearn for a golden age of usage that usually coincides with their school days? Do governments overstretch when they lay down alphabet and spelling rules?
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Dictators with dialects, universal Inuit, and finger...
Top five language questions this month with Patrick and Carol: Napoleon, Hitler and Gaddafi all grew up speaking a distinct dialect of their native tongue. Coincidence? Does Japanese have a word for looting? Is finger spelling a language? Is the language of cartoons necessarily harsh? And, should the many dialects of Inuit be standardized?
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Explaining the radiation threat to Japan's kids, and...
Japan has a whole lexicon of earthquake-related phrases. But the severity of this quake, and now the radiation threat, is expanding that lexicon. Also, a video explains the nuclear emergency to children with an analogy that kids understand all too well. In France, the government is battling newspapers and online outlets over probes into the practices of some politicians. And American brewers are giving reviving a centuries-old type of beer, Russian Imperial Stout, and plundering Russian...
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The vocoder, the linguistic robot and the dead rabbit
English teachers in South Korea don't come cheap. Schools often have to fly them in, and then house them. One Korean school is trying a cheaper alternative: a robot. Also, writer Dave Tompkins on how the sound-distorting vocoder morphed from a wartime security device into one of Hip Hop's favorite toys. Plus, new limits for foreign reporters in China, and the man who steered Jagermeister out of the forests of Saxony onto campus parties everywhere.
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Bilingual babies, consciousness, and poetry
We take a trip inside the mind in this week's pod. Rhitu Chatterjee takes us through some of the recent research into the bilingual brain, which has focussed on babies. Also, psychologist Nicholas Humphrey gives us his take on consciousness, and why language is only a small part of it. Then we consider poetry, which may be a bridge between consciousness and language.
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French learning English, Irish learning Irish, and...
In France, the Sarkozy government is proposing that children start learning English at age three. Good idea, say some French intellectuals, but why English? In Ireland, mandatory Irish learning in schools has become an election issue. In Tunisia, journalists are getting used to their new freedoms; some are clinging to the old ways. And Anglo-Middle Eastern singer Natacha Atlas is singing about free speech in Egypt and beyond.
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The past and future of pharaohs, Cantonese and the Gang...
Was Mubarak Egypt's last pharaoh? Maybe only if Putin is Russia's last Tsar. Names for strong men (and women: the Iron Lady) may say as much about what a nation's people expect as they do about a leader's style. Also, fears for the future of Cantonese, once the lingua franca of Chinatowns around the world. And British cultural revolutionaries Gang of Four talk about their name, their music, and phrases that include the word "farm."
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Eliminating an unwanted language, and Shakespeare in...
Top five language stories this month with Patrick and Carol: Shakespeare's plays will be performed in 38 languages next year in London; two new studies on texting focus on grammar acquisition and the habits of Australians; an effort to eradicate a Colonial-era pidgin still used by South African mineworkers; attempts to keep Russian and Chinese free of English words; and a new book by Nicholas Ostler sparks a debate about the staying power of English.
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At the BBC, fewer languages and perhaps less global...
Huge cuts have been announced at the BBC World Service: five language services to close, seven more cut back from radio to internet only, and six services ceasing short wave transmissions. It means an estimated 30 million fewer BBC listeners worldwide. Will people migrate to the web and to English language news, or will the BBC - and its news values - become less influential? We hear from the director of BBC global news, a former World Service director, the British foreign minister, and the...
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Beautiful code, ugly fonts, and the architecture of...
A new exhibit in Silicon Valley takes the long view in its presentation of the origins of computing and the language of computer programming. Also, new research suggests that hard-to-read typographical fonts may help us remember the ideas they spell out. And, the architectural grammar of the United Nations Security Council: the design layout of the council's chamber and adjourning rooms is considered so important that replicas have been constructed during refurbishment.
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Political language before and after Tucson
After the Tucson shootings, we hear from Dutch and German journalists about political discourse and violence in their countries. Also, Obama's oratory in Tucson gets high marks from commentators on both left and right. Plus, an exploration of the term "blood libel." If Sarah Palin had known exactly what it meant, would she still have used it?
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Teach yourself Babylonian, and teach the Ashes to the...
First, lost medieval songs sung by Louisiana-based descendents of immigrants from the Canary Islands. Then, the man behind a Teach Yourself book on Ancient Babylonian. That's followed by a conversation with a Squamish Nation chief on the original name for Stanley Park in Vancouver. Finally, the Ashes: a story of cricket, Twitter, and babysitting.
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Tuareg Storytelling, the Most Literary Bible, and the R...
In a decidedly non-festive podcast, we hear about an initiative in Mali to preserve the Tamasheq language, spoken by a dwindling number of the nomadic Tuareg people. Also, a conversation about the literary merits of the King James Bible, which turns 400 in 2011. And, the R word: rationing. Among some Americans, the rationing is R-rated when it comes to health care. But in Britain, rationing is part of the national psyche: it got the country through two world wars, and its collectivist values...
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The World in Words 111: Studying Italian, rebelling in...
With budgets tight at American schools and colleges, and with a growing interest in Chinese, what happens to a language like Italian? Once a heritage language, Italian is now more of a lifestyle choice. Also, Latin America is livid with the Royal Spanish Academy, which has decided to remove two letters from the Spanish alphabet. And the relaunched online version of the Oxford English Dictionary: now with detailed word histories!
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The World in Words 110: How events shaped English, the...
Top five language stories this month with Patrick, Carol and Rhitu: Tibetans protest over the potential loss of their language in some schools; Spain re-orders its family names rules; a list of historical events that have shaped the development of the English language; how do you know when you can speak a language?; and new research out of Australia on how the languages we speak may determine how we think.
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The World in Words 109: Supermarket French, Chanson...
The French of Anna Sam and that of Juliette Greco could hardly be more different. Sam records the mendacious and the mundane that she overhears at the supermarket checkout. The French of Greco is moody and melodramatic, as befits this veteran chanteuse. Also, what got lost in translation in the UN Security Council's most famous resolution, the so-called land-for-peace concept in the Middle East. And we hear from the founders of Meena, an Arabic-English bilingual poetry journal.
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The World in Words 108: Voting in a foreign language,...
There are times when it's helpful to understand a foreign language: during an election campaign, for example, if you're a naturalized citizen. And there are times when it's essential: during a ceremony to renew your wedding vows. We find out in both cases what can happen if you don't have the linguistic tools. Also, an Islamic calligraphy master offers classes in his Arlington, Virginia home. And Broadway star Amra Faye-Wright talks about learning Japanese so she could perform "Chicago" in...
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The World in Words 107: The English-only movement in...
A conversation about making English the only official language in the United States. Tim Schultz, lobbyist of US English makes the case for this, ahead of an English-only vote in Oklahoma. Also, an election ad in Chinese, aimed at Americans who don't speak Chinese.
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The World in Words 106: Indian English, Aussie English,...
English is so widely and variously spoken that it barely can be called a single language. That hasn't stopped grammar stickler Simon Heffer from trying to re-establish order. Also, poet Les Murray describes some of the colorful phrases of Australian English. And we check in on a language school in India where the teachers have a strong sense of what constitutes proper English.
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The World in Words 105: Genders, geniuses, and Tamil...
Another top five language stories: A new line of Tamil pulp fiction translated into English keeps the magnificent onomatopoeia of the original; new research shows that no matter you much some Germans try, they can't make their language gender-neutral; a Belgian video pokes fun at the country's linguistic battles; we hear more about two linguists who won MacArthur genius awards; and Carol Hill's adventures among the Swedes.
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The World in Words 104: Ajami, Liberian proverbs and...
Every year, 4,000 staffers at the United Nations in New York sign up for language classes. There they learn not just languages but how to use them diplomatically. Also, reporter Jason Margolis visits Liberia and ends up judging a competition to determine the country's most inventive proverb. And, is it a language? No! Is it a dialect? No! It's Ajami: Arabic script used as a writing system for many African languages.
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The World in Words 103: Speaking in Tongues and Dreaming...
A new PBS documentary follows four students and their families at dual immersion schools in San Francisco. The film offers evidence that the study of math, science and other subjects in more than one language gives students an edge, despite what some disapproving relatives might think. Also, a conversation with Deborah Fallows on living in China and learning Chinese. In Chinese, she says, rude is polite, brusque is intimate. And then there's the lousy Chinese name she was given.
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The World in Words 102: Learning in two languages, and...
A back-to-school edition about learning in a second language. We hear from an elementary school teacher in Downey, CA on the challenges of teaching English language learners. Also, a Creole-speaking Haitian girl newly arrived in New York City enrols in a high school. Then it's back to California as an Arabic immersion program gets underway at a charter school in Fremont, CA. Finally, the first Zulu-English dictionary in 40 years has just been published in South Africa.
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The World in Words 101: A grammar hotline, rapid...
Forget their laidback image, Brazilians care about grammar. One city has a long-established grammar hotline staffed by Portuguese language experts. Now the state of Rio de Janeiro is following suit. Also, an interview with the newly-crowned world record holder in speed-texting. And the art of performing magic in a language that's not your own.
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The World in Words 100: A Persian insult, the planet's...
Iran's leader Ahmadinejad is known for his fruity prose, and this month he outdid himself with a new anti-American insult. Also, we hear from a linguist who's spending a year in Northwest Greenland, documenting Earth's northernmost dialect. Then, a survey of how foreign language movies in the United States are seeking new ways of finding their audiences. Finally, getting from Point A to Point B in Urdu, a language that has the same word for "go straight" and "turn right".
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The World in Words 99: Self-censorship over Hiroshima...
Two takes on self-censorship. A child survivor of Hiroshima explains why she kept quiet about her experiences for so long, through the pain and guilt of survival. Late in life, she tells her story, in the presence of her daughter and granddaughters. Then, a Japanese examination of the self-censorship of American newspaper reporters and editors in the weeks after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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The World in Words 98: Deciphering, refudiating, and...
Another top five language stories: an Israeli study shows bilinguals respond differently depending on the language of the questions; new research points to a possible breakthrough in deciphering ancient scripts; Sarah Palin compares her coinage of new English words to Shakespeare's; a science writer argues that language diversity condemns a society to poverty; and Clark Boyd's adventures in linguistically confused Belgium.
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The World in Words 97: Colombian Spanish, U.S. Spanish,...
In Colombia, you can hear Latin America's clearest, crispest Spanish. As a result, Bogota is home to everything from call centers to tele novela production houses. Also, a conversation with philosopher Oscar Guardiola-Rivera about what the spread of Spanish in the United States is doing to the language, and to the country. Finally, Dora the Explorer and Kai-Lan: two fictional TV stars who introduce American kids to their first words of Spanish and Chinese. In Dora's case, she also introduces...
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The World in Words 96: Russian spy accents, Manute Bol...
Our top five language stories this month: A translator recalls the Nuremburg Trials; sign languages that don't have signs for some Islamic words; the phrase that Manute Bol didn't invent; a controversial move in Southern India to make Tamil more official; those Russian spies and their faux Euro/Canadian accents.
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The World in Words 95: Globish, health care, and a...
This week, the case for and against Globish. A group of writers and artists debate the proposition that a simplified version of English is uniquely equipped to take over the linguistic world. Also, now that millions more Americans have health insurance, there's pressure on clinics and hospitals to make their services more accessible to non-English speakers. Plus, a check-in on World Cup TV viewing in English and Spanish, and a conversation with Gregory Levey, whose book "Shut Up I'm Talking"...
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The World in Words 94: Talking Turkish, saluting Stalin,...
The newest star of Germany's national soccer team is an ethnic Turk. His popularity is one of the reasons why Turkish has become just a little more accepted in Germany today. Also, the Georgian government pulls down a statue of Joseph Stalin in his hometown, but people there use the language of extreme denial to describe the town's most famous son. And a British politician calls French a "useless" language to learn. He and a German diplomat debate which languages may be more useful.
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The World in Words 93: Belgian adoption, Montenegrin...
One group of Belgians has had enough of the endless battles between the country's Dutch and French speakers. The group is trying to get people to adopt families from across the language divide. In Montenegro, there's virtually no divide between the Montengrin and Serbian dialects -- but the government says there is. It is promoting what it calls the Montenegrin language. Finally, a discussion on what happens to spelling in the age of Spell Check and Google.
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The World in Words 92: The language of the beautiful game
At the World Cup in South Africa, it's not just Brazil vs Spain and Argentina vs Everybody Else. It's Bafana Bafana vs Les Elephants, soccer vs football, cleats vs boots and the coach vs the gaffer. We have stories on the new adidas ball and its globally correct corporate name; on the race to rename streets in South African cities; on a few words rooted in South Africa's eleven official languages that may go global after this tournament; and on the US-English confrontation off the field: the...
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The World in Words 91: In every word, a...
Anamika Veeramani won this year's National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word "stromuhr". It's one of many English words in the contest that sounded decidedly unEnglish. After a report on some of those words, we speak with David Wolman, whose book "Righting the Mother Tongue" traces the anarchic evolution of English spelling. Unlike some languages, English is barely policed: foreign words -- often with strange foreign spelling intact -- migrate unhindered into English. Also, we...
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The World in Words 90: Bilingual tots in the Middle...
Not many parents in Israel make the choice, but a few send their kids to Arabic-Hebrew bilingual preschools. The World's Jerusalem correspondent Matthew Bell is one of them. Also, a Seattle rabbi visits the Cairo Genizah, and explains why so many sacred Jewish texts were written in Arabic. Plus, a report from Syria on book-publishing and reading in the Arabic-speaking world. And we hear from experts at the New York Public Library on the secrets that a book's smell will reveal to an educated...
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The World in Words news: Icelandic's new words, teachers...
Our top five language stories this month: translating Iceland's collapse into English, document by document; magnificently bad translations on Shanghai's streets and at the Eurovision Song Contest; coming up with a language for communication with extraterrestrials; Arizona moves against accented schoolteachers; and Costa Rica's new president Laura Chinchilla is one of millions of people worldwide who after named after animals.
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The World in Words 89: Translators working overtime,...
Translators are proving their worth twice in this week's podcast: in New York, where they're helping elderly Russian speakers fill out their census forms; and in Louisiana and Mississippi where they're interpreting for Vietnamese-American fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened by the big oil spill. Also, which do you think tastes better: Silverfin, Kentucky tuna or Asian carp? They are one and the same fish. And finally, a conversation about counting: some languages are more numerate...
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The World in Words 88: A language speed-dater gets...
A language-learning marathon is over, as the author of a blog called 37 Languages decides which one to learn for real. Also, a new film documents a year in the life of an elementary school in Turkey. The kids speak only Kurdish, their teacher only Turkish. And we profile one of Ukraine's most beloved performers: the cross-dressing Verka Serduchka, who is popularizing a hybrid Ukrainian-Russian dialect.
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The World in Words 87: Census-taking,...
The U.S.Census Bureau is firing on all linguistic cylinders to ensure that non-English speakers are counted in this year's census. Things don't always go smoothly: in Vietnamese, the word "census" got translated into something closer to "investigation". Also, how to pronounce that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano, Scrabble obsession beyond the English-speaking world, and five unique Japanese expressions.
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The World in Words 86: An American family, an Indonesian...
In 1973 Sue and Peter Westrum and their baby went to live among an indigenous tribe, the Berik, in Indonesian New Guinea. Their aim was to learn the oral Berik language, develop a script for it, and then translate the Bible into Berik. They spent more than 20 years there. It was a time of great transformation for the Berik people, their beliefs and their language.
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The World in Words news: Google's humanoid translator,...
Our top five language stories this month: Why Google Translate rules, and why human translators shouldn't feel threatened; a weight-loss company advertizes for Product Testing Associates, whose sole task is to eat more food -- not the first time an employer has over-egged the job title pudding; there's evidence that certain accents are less welcome than others in corporate boardrooms; India's economic rise and linguistically mixed marriages mean that fewer young Indians speak the languages...
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