The Millions

11 min. di lettura

The older I get the more I am drawn to books I know I haven’t the faintest tool to conceive of writing myself. The post A Year in Reading: Salar Abdoh appeared first on The Millions.

The Atlantic

2 min. di lettura

The number of people who speak a language seems to affect how new words and structures spread.

The Millions

6 min. di lettura

In Hamid Ismailov’s book The Devil’s Dance, one Uzbek prisoner says to another, “It’s time for afternoon prayers, I think. Are you a believer, or one of the moderns?”—a familiar and false dichotomy that intellectuals in Muslim countries have had to c

Art & Antiques

4 min. di lettura

WHILE PERSIAN (or Farsi) is the national language of Iran and originated there, it is also an international language. Today, its reach extends into Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and in previous eras it had an even bigger footpr

Global Voices

5 min. di lettura

"The language categories we are more or less stuck with are organized vertically by nation-state."

Global Voices

3 min. di lettura

Azerbaijani folk art based on the Layla and Majnun novel by Nizami Ganjavi. CC BY 3.0. How might someone in Tajikistan, the only Persian-speaking republic in the former Soviet Union, describe a beautiful and lively night spent in the company of famil

NPR

6 min. di lettura

The demand for "proper" English can be used to shut people out of spaces and opportunities. The folks at NPR's "Rough Translation" podcast have a story to tell.

The Caravan

5 min. di lettura

Every Saturday, Chander Shekhar, a professor of Persian at Delhi University, meets old friends at the Iran Culture House, opposite the Supreme Court. Over many cups of tea and gentle banter, with Abida Parveen’s ghazals playing in the background, the

NPR

1 min. di lettura

The Brooklyn-based band doesn't need to speak English to pack a punch. Frontwoman Rahill Jamalifard talks about songwriting in Farsi and how Middle Eastern rock emboldens her.

Guernica Magazine

16 min. di lettura

Motherland was something without content or form, something utterly abstract — something that, in relation to a country like this, could only occupy the minds of those who’d never had it.

WellBeing

7 min. di lettura

Words MEGAN BLANDFORD I have vivid memories of being read to in my childhood. My sister and I would snuggle up on either side of our mum as she read aloud books that are still among my favourites: The Secret Garden, The Magic Faraway Tree, Matilda an

Italia magazine

1 min. di lettura

Published six times a year by an experienced team in Rome, Tutto italiano not only helps you improve your fluency, it also helps you underst and what it is to be Italian. The glossy magazine is packed full of lively articles and the latest news cover

The Atlantic

3 min. di lettura

No matter how many words you can define, your vocabulary isn’t like a dictionary. Your mind stores language not as a list of words, but as a network of categories, properties, and meanings, with stronger connections between related words, like newspa

Mother & Baby India

4 min. di lettura

While researching for this article, I came across so many questions and doubts about raising a bilingual child in the US or Europe. “Bilingual?” I thought to myself. “They’re concerned about their children learning two languages? They should look at

Futurity

2 min. di lettura

People are more willing to eat foods that they find disgusting if those foods are presented in a foreign language, new research shows. The finding could help win acceptance for environmentally sustainable foods that many people are unwilling to try.

NPR

1 min. di lettura

On-air Challenge: Every answer today is a four-letter word that is composed of two consecutive state postal abbreviations. Ex. Similar --> AKIN [Alaska + Indiana]1. What a volcano spews2. Mineral that comes in thin layers3. Breeze4. Like moist

The Atlantic

8 min. di lettura

Rebecca Palacios on the importance of including parents in their children’s earliest schooling

The Guardian

8 min. di lettura

June Spence remembers when she lost hope in the US military intervention in Afghanistan. Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Spence graduated from high school in 2009, during the economic recession. “You couldn’t find a job, so the Army was a pretty sa

Your Pregnancy

3 min. di lettura

Protecting our children from child abuse is no longer an issue for over-fives. We need to give our children as many skills as we can to reduce their chances of abuse –from the time they are born. Here are some suggestions. Infants cannot speak to tel

Futurity

4 min. di lettura

New research suggests that people think about the question, “If you could save the lives of five people by pushing another bystander in front of a train to his death, would you do it?” differently if they hear it asked in a language other than their

Literary Hub

8 min. di lettura

Salvatore Scibona, whose new novel, The Volunteer, is available now from Penguin Press, had a proper writerly conversation with Victor LaValle in which, among other things, they discussed grad school, the infinite past vs. the skimpy present, war, an

Your Pregnancy

4 min. di lettura

Children usually start Grade 1 in the year they turn seven, but the journey towards this big milestone starts much earlier. To ensure that your child is ready for the pressures of big school life, it is useful to know what the required level of biolo

Literary Hub

5 min. di lettura

One of the very first questions I wrestled with as a writer was this: Why write in English, the colonizer’s language, when I have others at my disposal? I grew up acquainted with three languages; my grandparents immigrated from southern China to Mala

Futurity

3 min. di lettura

Songbirds are minimalists when it comes to learning a new song, research shows. The birds’ learning strategy resembles the methods that computer scientists use for document comparison. For a songbird, learning a new song is akin to a child learning a

Tribune Content Agency Opinions

2 min. di lettura

As the new year unfolded with horrifying images of fire, drought, earthquakes and the threat of war with Iran, the Facebook post of a dear friend caught my eye. She is a linguist, fluent in five languages, and smart enough to know the trouble that hu

Business Traveller

1 min. di lettura

Idioms from around the world that have us scratching our heads. This issue, it’s a French expression. Phrase: Literally: Meaning: Origin: Les carottes sont cuites The carrots are cooked It’s no use crying over spilt milk Supposedly began in the 1

TIME

1 min. di lettura

In Wordslut, linguist and reporter Amanda Montell delves into the complex relationships women have with words—both the ones they can be criticized for using too often (like, you know and kind of) and the ones used to diminish them (bitch, slut and wh

NPR

3 min. di lettura

As we kicked off our weeklong language series, we asked you what questions you've got on the subject. You responded. Now, we have some answers.

Global Voices

6 min. di lettura

"Obviously, the influence of pop culture and traditional Persian calligraphy are at odds with each, but their combined visual impact is harmonious."

The Atlantic

4 min. di lettura

Court stenographers often misunderstand Black English, and their mistakes could affect people’s lives at crucial junctures.