Re-learning Spanish, and Super-Injunctions

In this week’s World in Words podcast, kids raised in the US are enrolling in Mexican schools, often after their parents have been deported– and they’re struggling to re-learn Spanish. Also, the politics behind the language of terms like illegal alien and undocumented worker. Plus, British gag orders aren’t working, thanks to Twitter. And, does Obama heart Britain as much as Brits heart Obama? Is the relationship still special?

Twitter freedom, a zeitgeisty Chinese word, and Lakota immersion

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Question: what happens when a court gags a newspaper? Answer: The gag sags, 140 characters at a time. That’s what happened this month when microbloggers tweeted what The Guardian couldn’t report. Also, a group of Beijing and expat artists discover a Chinese word that seems to convey the state of China today; and the near-death – and possible rebirth – of the native American Lakota language, with an assist from a German rock star.

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Tech Podcast: Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

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The highlight of our technology podcast this week is an interview with author Viktor Mayer-Schönberger about his new book, called Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in The Digital Age. It’s a fascinating look at how digital technologies, and especially the growing capacity for storage, has made us forget how to forget. Listen in, and then weigh in with your comments. Download MP3

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Twitter campaign

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In an historic case of internet people power, Twitter users were able to bypass lawyers’ attempts in Britain to stop the Guardian newspaper’s coverage of a major scandal. We talk with writer and fundraiser Richard Wilson who started the Twitter thread. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• Guardian coverage of twitter thread
• Richard Wilson’s Twitter feed

Ivory Coast toxic waste lawsuit near settlement

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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the BBC’s Liz MacKean about a possible settlement in a class action lawsuit against multinational company Trafigura. The company is accused of illegally dumping toxic waste in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, making tens of thousands of people sick.