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In this week’s World in Words podcast, 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.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In this week’s World in Words podcast: you can hear Latin America’s clearest, crispest Spanish in Colombia. So, Bogota is now home to everything from call centers to telenovela production houses. Also, what the spread of Spanish in the United States is doing to both the language and the country. Finally, Dora the Explorer and Kai-Lan: two fictional TV characters who introduce American kids to their first words of Spanish and Chinese.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
In this week’s World in Words podcast, 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 world. Also, health care access for non-English speakers in the United States. Plus, a conversation with Gregory Levey, whose book “Shut Up I’m Talking” has more Facebook fans than Bill Clinton. Download MP3
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Once in every while, a “parents group” complains about the content of kids TV, whether it’s a gay Teletubby or single-sex parents of a Postcards with Buster episode. The most recent controversy involving Spanish-speaking Dora the Explorer, which prompts the question: is it confusing with TV characters sprinkle their English with Spanish (Dora) or Chinese (Ni Hao Kai Lan). The World’s Alex Gallafent reports. Download MP3
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Scientists from China are on the way to East Africa in June, to prepare for a massive archaeological excavation. The Chinese government is funding a three year search for Chinese cultural heritage on the coast of Kenya, in some half-dozen sites both underwater and on land. China is highlighting the ancient cultural ties between the two countries as its commercial power blossoms across the region. Matthew Brunwasser reports from Lamu, Kenya. (Photo: Matthew Brunwasser) Download MP3
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Translators are proving their worth twice in this week’s World in Words podcast: in New York, they’re helping elderly Russian speakers fill out their census forms; in Louisiana and Mississippi they’re interpreting for Vietnamese-American fishermen whose livelihoods are threatened by the big oil spill. Also, which tastes better: Silverfin, Kentucky tuna or Asian carp? Plus, a conversation about counting: some languages are more numerate than others.Download MP3
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Anchor Marco Werman speaks to Dave Liang, a Chinese-American who helped compile a CD of the best DJ’s and electronic artists China has to offer. It’s called “eXpo.” Download MP3
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Arab nations are leading a “historic” charge to make the world wide web live up to its name. Net regulator Icann has switched on a system that allows full web addresses that contain no Latin characters. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the first countries to have so-called “country codes” written in Arabic scripts. Marco Werman has more. Download MP3Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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A new opera will premiere in Boston on Friday. It’s a piece that was written, and developed in the city over the past four years. But its story is over a thousand years old. It’s based on the ancient Chinese legend that has never been brought to a Western audience. Sung in English with projected English and Chinese titles. The World’s Adeline Sire has more. Download MP3
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Hundreds of language programs at public schools have become victims of shrinking budgets. Not Chinese. We visit an inner city high school where 400 students are learning Chinese. Also, don’t be fooled: the language of love is not universal, not unless you keep you mouth shut. That’s the view of an American woman who endlessly misunderstands the amorous words of her German-speaking lover. Plus, bodice-ripping our way out of the recession: romance novels are more popular than ever.Download MP3
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Medgar Evers College Preparatory School is a public school in central Brooklyn, NY. Most of its student population is African American and Afro-Caribbean. The school runs one of the largest Chinese language programs for students not from a Chinese background in the US. The World’s Alex Gallafent went back to school for us. Download MP3
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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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We select our top five language-related stories from the past month. Among them: Some birds develop distinct dialects based on the decibel levels of their habitats; Companies doing business in Glasgow are offered interpreters to translate the local dialect; And Chinese expats do battle over which script U.S. schools should use to teach Chinese – traditional characters, favored in Taiwan and Hong Kong, or simplified characters, used in mainland China.
