The World in Words

September 05, 2018

Ira Lightman is a hero to some in the literary world, a villain to others.

Will blind people use Braille in the future?

August 08, 2018

Some people believe technology will render Braille obsolete and that blind people will choose talking apps and audiobooks over embossed dots. But Braille has been written off many times before and each time, it has come back stronger.

The World in Words

How soccer became multilingual

The World in Words

June 19, 2018

Professional soccer used to export its English-language terminology, giving other languages words like "penalty" and "goal." But now, the roles are reversed. English-speakers use expressions loaned from other languages to describe skill moves: "rabona," "panenka," "gegenpress."

The World in Words

How the Basque language has survived

The World in Words

May 31, 2018

This week on the podcast we talk about Basque. How did this language survive the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco when speaking and writing and reading were illegal? With more than six dialects, how did Basque develop a language standard? And how has this minority language thrived and even grown in the years since Francisco Franco’s dictatorship ended?

Science and Creativity

This is your brain on improv

The World in Words

May 24, 2018

Ever wondered about people who can improvise on stage? Neuroscientist Charles Limb and comedian Anthony Veneziale did. First came the bromance, then Veneziale found himself improvising inside an fMRI machine.

The World in Words

The hardest question for a third culture kid: Where is home?

The World in Words

May 17, 2018

Karolina lives in Boston but grew up in several countries and speaks a bunch of languages. Her English is perfect but she doesn’t feel completely at home in it, or in American culture. Welcome to the world of third culture kids, a fast-growing group of people who fit in everywhere and nowhere.

The World in Words

Russian-speaking New Yorker would rather her daughter learn Chinese

The World in Words

May 09, 2018

Alina Simone was born in the Soviet Union to Russian-speaking parents. She has given up on passing the language on to her daughter.

The World in Words

If you could talk to the animals

The World in Words

April 25, 2018

What's the meaning of all those howls and growls? Is it language? This week on the podcast, NOVA's Ari Daniel explores how three species communicate.

Culture

Why we are so drawn to the letter 'X'

The World in Words

April 03, 2018

From X-rated to Gen X to Latinx, the meaning of "X" has shifted while retaining an edgy, transgressive quality.

Culture

The three-letter word that rocked a nation

The World in Words

March 27, 2018

In 2012, Sweden erupted in a national debate over the pronoun "hen." Traditionally, Swedish has gendered pronouns when referring to people. There is no gender-neutral pronoun for people. "Hen" was a new word meant to fill a gap in the language. This week on The World in Words podcast we explore how a little-known and little-used word went mainstream in Sweden.