Will Pakistan’s Urdu Script Be Lost in Texting Translation?

The young generation in Pakistan, that has grown up using SMS as the predominant means of written communication, is using Latin script to write Urdu.

Linguistic Respect for the People Once Derided as Gypsies

The Roma in Romania have long been called Tigan or Gypsy. Now, the country has made Roma the official term and hopes to reduce stereotypes and discrimination.

Singing to Save Garifuna

James Lovell grew up in Belize and heard Garifuna spoken by his parents and grandparents. He didn’t really want to speak the language until he heard music of a local musician. Now, James Lovell wants to spread the language of Garifuna through song. Reporter Nina Porzucki brings us his profile.

Pakistan Province Makes Learning Chinese Mandatory

The Geo Quiz is looking for a Pakistani province which has announced plans to make learning Chinese mandatory in schools.

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.

Science podcast: alien invaders

Alien species can sometimes become invaders and wreak havoc in their new environment. For example, the Burmese python is taking over the Florida Everglades. What makes some species become invasive? That, and two studies on the evolution of human language, in this week’s World Science Podcast.

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From Cicero to Lynne Truss with Robert Lane Greene

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Robert Lane Greene’s new book “You Are What You Speak” examines how language we speak is bound up in our identity. How much does our native language define us? How much does it set our ways of thinking? Can we think a different way in a different language? Why do people get so persnickety about punctuation? Why do grammar sticklers yearn for a golden age of usage that usually coincides with their school days? Download MP3

Hiroshima, Nagasaki and self-censorship

As Japan faces its biggest crisis since World War Two, here are two takes on self-censorship from those war years. A child survivor of Hiroshima explains why she kept quiet about her experiences for so long, through the pain and guilt of survival. And a Japanese examination of the self-censorship of American newspaper reporters and editors in the weeks after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[...]

Consciousness, Poetry, and Bilingual Babies

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, we take a trip inside the mind. Rhitu Chatterjee takes us through some of the recent research into the bilingual brain. Also, theoretical psychologist Nicholas Humphrey gives us his take on consciousness, and why language may be only a small part of it. Then we consider poetry, which offers a bridge between consciousness and language.
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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.”

Pharaohs, Cantonese and the Gang of Four

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In this week’s World in Words podcast: why did British band Gang of Four name themselves after China’s notorious cultural revolutionaries? Also, was Hosni Mubarak Egypt’s last pharaoh? Or is that just a cute turn of phrase? And is Cantonese, once the lingua franca of Chinatowns around the world., imperiled by the steady march of Mandarin?

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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

Cantonese: a Dialect in Peril?

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In official China, Mandarin is favored over all other dialects. That has had a knock-on effect here in the US, where Cantonese used to be the dominant Chinese language. Reporter Nina Porzucki reports from New York on how Cantonese is faring. Download MP3

Cantonese Social Club

Tuareg tales and the R word

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, we hear about an initiative in Mali to preserve the Tamasheq language, spoken by a dwindling number of the nomadic Tuareg people. Also, a conversation about the literary merits of the King James Bible, which turns 400 in 2011. And, the R word: rationing. which among some Americans is R-rated when it comes to health care. But in Britain, rationing is part of the national psyche: it got the country through two world wars, and its collectivist values are at the core of Britain’s government-run health service. Download MP3