The World in Words The World in Words with Patrick Cox focuses on language. We decode diplospeak and lay bare nationalist rants. And as English extends its global reach, we track the blowback from world's 6,000 other languages, in the form of hybrids like Chinglish, Hinglish, Singlish and Binglish. Binglish???
Haruki Murakami: AFP/Getty ImagesHaruki Murakami is one of the most widely read novelists in the world. Novels like "Norwegian Wood" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" have sold millions of copies. And they're translated from the original Japanese into nearly 40 languages. Here in the U.S., Murakami's rare public appearances are greeted with great excitement and reverence. The World's Patrick Cox has this report on the people who read and follow Haruki Murakami.
The answer to today's Geo Quiz is the town of Obama in Japan. In Japanese, Obama means "little beach." The city's residents have cheered on US President-Elect Barack Obama. The World's Patrick Cox tells us more.
Despite efforts to limit bilingualism in classrooms, more and more American parents are raising their children to speak two or more languages. And as The World's Patrick Cox reports, there's a fast-growing industry of nannies, preschools and books to support them.
Oregon voters will decide next week whether to ban bilingual education in favor of fast-track English learning classes. Over the last ten years, voters in three states have passed laws tightly restricting how much help students can get in their native languages. From Oregon Public Broadcasting, Rob Manning reports.
Rwanda to switch from French to English (4:30) October 16, 2008 |download |permalink | email |
Rwanda has decided to change the language of instruction for its entire educational system from French to English. The World's Jeb Sharp explains.
When Spanish collides with English, the result is Spanglish. It's a language that comedian Bill Santiago knows well. So much so that he's written a book called "Pardon My Spanglish." Anchor Marco Werman speaks with him.
Modern Jewish New York humor has its roots in Eastern Europe. It's said if you want to go to where funny was born, go to Odessa, the Ukrainian city on the Black Sea. That's what The World's Jason Margolis did recently.
An appreciation of author David Foster Wallace (4:30) September 15, 2008 |download |permalink | email |
The American writer David Foster Wallace died on Friday at the age of 46. His death is presumed a suicide. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with translator Ulrich Blumenbach, who has been working on a German edition of Wallace's novel "Infinite Jest" for the past five years.
It's not that easy being a Muslim teenager in the United States. Now two Muslim teens and their Pakistani-born mother have a written a guide. It's called "The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook."
Esperanto didn't really catch on as a global spoken language. Maybe Nol will. It's a new universal language designed for the text message generation. The World's Gerry Hadden has the story.
Bill Marx's review of Murakami's most recent novel, After Dark
