Studying an Inuit Language Threatened with Extinction

We’re heading north for the Geo Quiz this time. Way north, to one of the globe’s northernmost inhabited settlements.

Yang Ying’s Jazzy Take on Chinese Folk Music

Chinese musician Yang Ying has played the traditional two-stringed erhu for many dignitaries, including American presidents. Later she founded China’s first all-girl rock band.

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.

At the BBC, fewer languages and less influence?

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In this week’s World in Words podcast: after the BBC World Service announces huge cuts, what’s next for global broadcasting? Five language services are to close, and seven more will become internet only, resulting in 30 million fewer BBC listeners worldwide. Will people migrate to the web, or will the BBC – and its news values – become less influential?
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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.[...]

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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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

Rationing Health in disasters

Medical rationing sometimes seems inevitable during disasters. Major earthquakes, floods, and pandemics can leave health workers scrambling to care for all the patients who need attention and can force some patients to go without. But even in such dire circumstances, can rationing be avoided? Sheri Fink found a doctor in India with a hopeful tale.

Part 4: India: Rationing in disasters

Discuss medical rationing in the US

For some perspective on medical rationing in the US, we invited Dan Wikler. He’s an ethics professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and former staff ethicist for the World Health Organization. You can join the conversation with Dan Wikler and Sheri Fink at theworld.org/rationinghealth

The discussion is live through next week.

Rationing Health Care in Zambia

The rationing of health care is not always obvious or explicit. Implicit factors may determine who receives care and who does not.One such factor may have imposed a form of unintentional rationing on AIDS care in the Southern African nation of Zambia, as David Baron reports.

Part 3: Zambia: Rationing health by queue

Rationing Health Care in Britain

Some argue that the goal of medical rationing should be to focus resources where they will offer the greatest health benefit to the greatest number of people.That is the aim of the UK’s rationing plan but Britain’s plan is now under fire. Patrick Cox has part 2 of our series. (Photo: Mark Wessels)

Part 2: United Kingdom: Rationing health by cost

English sources, Italian renaissance, Spanish rebellion

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In this week’s World in Words podcast: With budgets tight at American schools and colleges, and with a growing interest in Chinese, what happens to a language like Italian? Also, Latin America is livid with the Royal Spanish Academy, which has decided to remove two letters from the Spanish alphabet. And the relaunched online version of the Oxford English Dictionary: now with detailed word histories and sources.
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Rationing Health series

In South Africa, the government puts limits on life-sustaining kidney dialysis, and that puts medical professionals in a difficult position. They have to decide who lives and who dies. Reporter Sheri Fink has the first in a four-part series on health care rationing around the world.

Part 1: South Africa: Rationing by Committee

Rationing Health: Who Lives? Who Decides?

As medical costs rise and budgets tighten, some fear the United States will be forced to ration health care. Starting Tuesday, PRI’s The World will take a global look at the controversial issue with perspectives from four countries.

Part 1: South Africa: Rationing by Committee

The events of English and the future of Tibetan

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, Tibetans protest over the potential loss of their language in some schools. Also, Spain re-orders its family names (under the new rules General Franco might have been General Bahamonde). Plus, historical events that have shaped the development of the English language. And how do you know when you can speak a language?
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