Category: world languages (page 4 of 4)

207: Language Learning App Road-Test

2 June 2015 / / Comments Off on 207: Language Learning App Road-Test

More and more of us are turning to our phones to learn a new language, or brush up on an old one.

And with so many apps available, there have never been so many ways to learn. But what do …

193: The Bilingual Advantage

25 February 2015 / / Comments Off on 193: The Bilingual Advantage

Speaking another language is good for your brain — at least that’s what we’ve heard.

But some new research paints a less-positive picture. Should you learn another language? And how?

Linguist Daniel Midgley gets bilingual on this episode of Talk …

185: Listener Questions

25 November 2014 / / Comments Off on 185: Listener Questions

We get questions from our many listeners. And we have answers.

Do the languages of the world form a continuous chain? And isn’t it possible that language influences thought by the words we use?

Linguist Daniel Midgley tells all on …

Midyear hiatus, 2014

24 June 2014 / / Comments Off on Midyear hiatus, 2014

Ben and I are taking a break, getting ready for the next round of language science, news, and interviews. So we’re in repeats for the next few weeks.

But I’m still talking to James Hall every Tuesday.

Promo, 24 June

…

157: Digital Extinction

1 April 2014 / / 2 Comments

Will the Internet save minority languages, or kill them?

Many small languages lack an online presence, as only a handful of languages dominate the Web. On the other hand, we’ve never had so many tools to include other languages in …

127: English Is Weird

9 July 2013 / / Comments Off on 127: English Is Weird

It’s official: English is one of the weirdest languages in the world.

No matter how normal it seems to you, it engages in a variety of bizarre activities compared to the world’s other languages. What makes English so unusual? And …

124: Sound Reasoning

18 June 2013 / / Comments Off on 124: Sound Reasoning

Why do languages contain some sounds, but not others?

An anthropological linguist has recently claimed that geography is a key factor. But over the years, people have also suggested psychology, or accidents of history. What’s really behind the sounds?

Linguist …

111: All the Words in the World (featuring Robert Munro)

19 March 2013 / / Comments Off on 111: All the Words in the World (featuring Robert Munro)

There’s a lot of language out there on the Internet.

But how does the volume of language on Twitter, web pages, and the rest of the Internet compare with the amount of face-to-face conversation?

Computational linguist Robert Munro has taken …

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