The World in Words focuses on language. We cover everything from bilingual education to the globalization of English to untranslatable foreign phrases. You’ll learn how to insult someone in Icelandic, among other things. Hosted by The World’s Patrick Cox.
Subscribe and follow:
The World in Words
Killing Off a Metaphor With a Fresh Coat of Paint
A paint job on Scotland’s Forth Bridge is declared complete, and so a metaphor loses out.
Retweeting Bad Grammar
Is it wise to correct other people’s typos, misspellings and grammatical errors when retweeting?
A Right Brain Religion Translated into a Left Brain Language
Do the Bible’s roots in Ancient Hebrew and Ancient Greek mean that it combines right and left brain thinking?
A Dubious Award for the Squeezed Middle
‘Squeezed middle’ beats out ‘occupy’, ‘Arab Spring’ and ‘tiger mother’ to win the OED’s word of the year
Podcast: Australia Through its Languages
In this week’s World in Words podcast, 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.
Oh My Lady Gaga, and Other Linguistic Exchanges
Hengeilivable! Nonsensical English words and phrases are all the rage among young Chinese.
Translators Past, Present and Future
Why human translators aren’t afraid of machine translators. Also, a history of translation, and a new novel that draws on The Iliad.
Corporate Spelling Experiments and Fear of a Chinese-Speaking Planet
Corporations love to tinker with spelling, often with disastrous consequences. Also, a film explores fears about Chinese.
Does the Language You Speak Determine How Much Money You Save?
A controversial new study out of Yale concludes that people who speak languages without future verb tenses like Chinese are better at preparing for the future than people who use a future tense like in English, French, and Spanish for example.
Are Chinese Kids Losing Their Language?
In this week’s World in Words podcast, Beijing urges mandatory calligraphy classes for school kids.
Fry’s Planet Word, and the Rise of Belizean Creole
An interview with writer and actor Stephen Fry, who has made a series on language for BBC TV.
An Inuit Dialect, a Grammar for Cities, and Zappa’s Lyrics
Podcast: Almost no place on earth is remote any more, as a linguist discovers when he spends a year in an Inuit village.
Slipping in out of foreign tongues with Sherard Cowper-Coles and Yang Ying
Should diplomats learn the languages of the countries they’re assigned to? And how easy is it to learn a foreign musical language?
Does Banning Bilingual Education Change Anything?
In this week’s World in Words podcast, what happens after a state bans bilingual education? And toilet talk with a US vs UK English expert.
Twanging with Lynne Murphy aka 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.
Additional funding for PRI's The World is provided by:
