In this week’s World in Words podcast, researchers test the supposed link between reading fiction and empathy.
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Many people learned their first foreign words from their grandmothers. Marco Werman learned a Dutch curse. Nina Porzucki learned a Yiddish word that speaks to a certain Jewish mindset. Marilyn Chin learned insults, puns and tongue twisters, many of which later found their way into Chin’s poetry and fiction.
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