As Hollywood embraces Hindi, we ask why so many recent Oscar-nominated movies include non-English dialogue. Also, Hillary Clinton grapples with Indonesian, Irish cops grapple with Polish, and UNESCO upsets Cornish speakers by declaring their language extinct. Finally, two items on Arabic in America: the centuries-old roots of Arabic in the United States, and teaching Arabic [...]
Entries from February 2009
February 19, 2009
podcast #42: potatoes, Welsh in the workplace, and a Jamaican anthem
We’re in the final days of UNESCO’s International Year of Languages (it’s also the end of the International Year of the Potato, but that’s another story). We find out how the year has been observed and whether minority languages are any better protected as a result. Then we check in on one big success story: [...]
February 13, 2009
podcast #41: speed-dating 37 languages, a woman’s voice during ovulation and a chant from Cameroon
Forget humans. Why not date a language? That’s what Keith Brooks is doing. He’s checking out 37 languages with a view to getting serious with one of them – after he’s played the field a bit. Also, strange things happen to the pitch of women’s voices during ovulation according to this study, and this one, [...]
February 5, 2009
podcast #40: Washington’s new tone, Updike’s French Africa, and Benicio del Toro’s many Spanishes
This week’s cast begins with reaction from the Arab world to Barack Obama’s embrace of a language of “respect” toward Muslims. Then, we accompany a group of Upper Midwest dairy farmers on a trip to Mexico, where they learn the languages and culture – and meet the families of their Mexican employees. After that, we [...]
