Chinese Learning American English With ‘OMG! Meiyu’

Lisa Mullins talks to Jessica Beinecke, who hosts “OMG! Meiyu,” a video show produced by Voice of America that helps Chinese speakers learn American English.

Learning The Language In North Dakota

In Fargo, North Dakota adult refugees are having trouble learning English. Their kids are not. This is creating major problems in the family dynamic, problems that local North Dakotans are trying to correct with language learning software.

iPhone App Helps With Incomprehensible Dialect

The Geo Quiz visits a town only about 30 miles from Manchester, yet the local dialect can be pretty incomprehensible to the folks in Manchester.

Podcast: Memorizing the Koran and a New ‘Speak English’ Test

A Spelling Bee for Muslim World, a language proficiency test for immigrants to Britain, and Alaskans learn an African language.

Tamil Language Trying to Keep Up With the Times

The language is having trouble keeping up with the times without the help of English.

A Challenge to Britain’s new ”Speak English” rule

A British citizen is suing the UK government over a new requirement that her husband must speak English to qualify for a residential visa.

Manga Artist’s First Foray into English

The “manga” legend has published one of his stories from World War II for the first time in English.

South Korean students learn English from robot

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Learning English is the norm for most South Korean grade school students. But it’s expensive to bring in native English speakers. So the government is starting to experiment with another kind of English teacher: robots. Jason Strother reports. Download MP3
Video: See the Engkey robot in action

The Bilingual Brain

I have always considered myself a linguistic mutt. I grew up speaking Bengali (my mother tongue), Hindi (India’s national language), and English (a legacy of India’s colonial past). So I was thrilled to learn that the 2011 annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) had a session on bilingualism. It was titled “Crossing Borders in Language Science: What Bilinguals Are Telling Us About Mind and Brain.”

French not happy about English language proposal

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France’s education minister says everyone in France should learn English, starting at age 3. But as Anita Elash reports from Paris, the idea is provoking resentment. Download MP3

Globish, and faux Facebook fans

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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

Kid’s TV in more than just English

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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

• Dora The Explorer
• Dora La Exploradora (in Spanish)
• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
• Sesame Street

In every word, a microhistory

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, Anamika Veeramani won the National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word “stromuhr”. It’s one of many English words in the contest that sound decidedly unEnglish. After a report on that, we speak with David Wolman, whose book “Righting the Mother Tongue” traces the anarchic evolution of English spelling. English is barely policed: foreign words, often with foreign spelling intact, migrate unhindered into the language. Download MP3

Google Translate, accent phobia, and job titles

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Our top five language stories this month: Why Google Translate rules, and why human translators shouldn’t feel threatened; a weight-loss company advertizes for Product Testing Associates, whose sole task is to eat more food — not the first time an employer has over-egged the job title pudding; there’s evidence that certain accents are less welcome than others in corporate boardrooms; India’s economic rise and linguistically mixed marriages mean that fewer young Indians speak the languages of their parents; and French citizens vote on new words for “buzz”, “chat”, and “newsletter.” Download MP3

Madame White Snake

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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

• Opera Boston
• Facebook Madame White Snake: World Premiere
• Madame White Snake’s study guide
• Cutler Majestic Theatre