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

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.”

Peepli Live

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The Hindi film Peepli Live is about two brothers in the heart of rural India who seek the help of a local politician because of fears they will lose their farm. Unconcerned the politician mockingly suggests that the brothers commit suicide and benefit from a government scheme that aids the families of indebted farmers who have done so. Anchor Jeb Sharp speaks to the film’s producer Aamir Khan. Download MP3

• Video: Watch scenes from Peepli Live
• Peepli Live official site
• Photos: See images from the film
• Twitter: Join the conversation happening around the world about Peepli Live

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

Your brain on language

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, a mom-and-pop effort to restore Arabic script to street signs in Israel. Also, author Katherine Russell Rich on learning Hindi at a language school in Rajasthan. Her book “Dreaming in Hindi” is also an investigation into what happens to our brains when we learn a learn a language. Plus, a somewhat shameful expression in Spanish.Download MP3