Does Banning Bilingual Education Change Anything?

In this week’s World in Words podcast, what happens after a state bans bilingual education? And toilet talk with a US vs UK English expert.

The English-only movement in America

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, a conversation about making English the only official language in the United States. Tim Schultz, lobbyist of US English makes the case for this, ahead of an English-only vote in Oklahoma. Also, an election ad in Chinese, aimed at Americans who don’t speak Chinese.
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Speaking in Tongues and Dreaming in Chinese

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, a PBS documentary follows four students and their families at dual immersion schools in San Francisco. Also, a conversation with Deborah Fallows on living in China and learning Chinese. In Chinese, she says, rude is polite, brusque is intimate. And then there’s the lousy Chinese name she was given. Download MP3

Spanish, pure and otherwise

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In this week’s World in Words podcast: you can hear Latin America’s clearest, crispest Spanish in Colombia. So, Bogota is now home to everything from call centers to telenovela production houses. Also, what the spread of Spanish in the United States is doing to both the language and the country. Finally, Dora the Explorer and Kai-Lan: two fictional TV characters who introduce American kids to their first words of Spanish and Chinese.
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Turkish, Stalin, and just say non!

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, the newest star of Germany’s national soccer team is an ethnic Turk. His popularity is one of the reasons why Turkish has become just a little more accepted in Germany today. Also, the Georgian government pulls down a statue of Joseph Stalin in his hometown, but people there use the language of extreme denial to describe the town’s most famous son. And a British politician calls French a “useless” language to learn. Download MP3

The multilingual census, and why Thais win at Scrabble

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In this week’s podcast, the U.S.Census Bureau is firing on all linguistic cylinders to ensure that non-English speakers are counted in this year’s census. Things don’t always go smoothly: in Vietnamese, the word “census” got translated into something closer to “investigation”. Also, how to pronounce that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano, Scrabble obsession beyond the English-speaking world, and five unique Japanese expressions.
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Packing flashcards, Pandas and Polyglotty Olympics

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Our top five language stories this month: why the disappearance of the Bo language is a big deal; the Olympics are being broadcast for the first time in, among other languages, Cree; when pandas move from the U.S. to China, do they have to learn a new language?; lawsuits concerning Arabic flashcards in hand baggage and speaking Spanish in English-only school; and the Pentagon’s latest attempts to equip soldiers with real-time speaking translator-bots.
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New York’s polyglot cops, Arabic online, and the planet’s most difficult language

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Our top five language stories this month: best and worst words of the year and the decade; Georgia launches a Russian language TV channel to counter the Kremlin’s message; new ventures and technologies give a boost to Arabic online; just how many cases, genders and moods it takes to make one Amazonian language the world’s most difficult; and the New York Police Department, now enforcing the law in nearly a hundred languages.Download MP3

Spanish prayers, Hebrew planet names and a Danish hangover

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We talk to the director and central figure in a PBS documentary about a Catholic church’s struggles with language. “Scenes From a Parish” follows the priests and parishioners of St Patrick’s in Lawrence, MA. The priests introduce more Spanish masses to cater to Lawrence’s predominantly Latino population. Some English-speaking parishioners are less than thrilled. Also, how do you say Neptune and Uranus in Hebrew? The answer used to be: Neptune and Uranus. Now the two planets have Hebrew names. Finally, a New Year’s Day hangover courtesy of the good people of Denmark
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Rosetta Stone: the method behind the hype, a spelling bee with a twist, and Hillary’s Congo adventure

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, the rise and rise of Rosetta Stone. With big government contracts and a huge advertising campaign, Rosetta Stone is now American’s #1 language teacher. If you learn the Rosetta Stone way, you’ll absorb a language an infant does. Well, that’s the theory. Also, non-native English speakers from around the world take part in an English Spelling Bee in New York. And, Hillary Clinton’s not-so-lost-in-translation moment in Kinshasa, Congo. Download MP3

Bilingual romance in Paris, “whatever” in Mexico, and the fog of Pentagon acronyms in Afghanistan

Novelist Vanina Marsot’s new novel “Foreign Tongue” is about French, English, being bilingual, and translation. If you’re a fan of false cognates, this one is for you. Also, a Spanish expression beloved by Mexicans, and the Pentagon latest acronyms. Listen