Documenting India’s languages

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India has hundreds of languages and dialects. Audio recordings were made a century ago in an attempt to document them and they have just come to light. Bruce Wallace reports. Download MP3

British English as it is, was, and could have been

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In the latest podcast, an audio archive of British World War One POWs recorded by a German linguist. That’s followed by the story of how British convenience store chain Spar is re-writing wine labels in Scottish, Liverpudlian and other UK dialects. Then, how English might have sounded had the Saxons won the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Then, back to the the present day, as an ATM company uses cockney rhyming slang to dispense cash. Finally, American anglophiles on lorries, cricket bats and other linguistic oddities.

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Understanding Chinese, birds and Glaswegians

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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.

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“Eers one helluva Merlot!”

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Not sure if “long legs” are a good thing in a glass of wine? Well, a supermarket chain in Britain wants to make it easier for customers unfamiliar with wine speak. Spar is experimenting with wine labels written in local slang so shoppers are not intimidated by the usual flowery language. Download MP3

• Guardian newspaper story
• Our weekly language podcast: The World in Words