Tag: language
British Sign Language to become recognised language in the UK
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British Sign Language (BSL) is on course to become a recognised language, after the government backed a proposal by a Labour MP. The private member’s bill, introduced by Rosie Cooper, aims to improve accessibility for...
Tell us: share your experiences of dating someone who didn’t speak the same language as you
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A new show on Channel 4 which puts single people who speak different langauges together on an island starts on Tuesday evening. The Language of Love hopes people will be able to get on with one another on dates despit...
Louisiana judge on unpaid leave after home video shows racist language
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A Louisiana judge is taking an unpaid leave of absence and is facing growing calls for her resignation after a video surfaced of people in her home using racist language, including the N-word. Dan Ciolino, an attorney...
Can you say Squid Game in Korean? TV show fuels demand for east Asian language learning
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Whether it’s down to Squid Game or kawaii culture, fascination with Korea and Japan is fuelling a boom in learning east Asian languages. Japanese is the fastest growing language to be learned in the UK this year on th...
EU advice on inclusive language withdrawn after rightwing outcry
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An internal European Commission document advising officials to use inclusive language such as “holiday season” rather than Christmas and avoid terms such as “man-made” has been withdrawn after an outcry from rightwing...
‘We feel pride’: old Western gets new life dubbed in Navajo language
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Manuelito Wheeler isn’t sure exactly why Navajo elders admire Western films. It could be that decades ago, many of them were treated to the films in boarding schools off the reservation decades ago. Or, like his fathe...
English exam boards may be asked to avoid ‘complex language’
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Exam boards could be asked to avoid using “complex language” including colloquialisms, sarcasm and idioms in assessments to make them more accessible for pupils. Ofqual, the exams regulator in England, has published d...
Salty language: why are UK and France fighting over fishing licences?
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Britain and France have been at loggerheads over post-Brexit fishing licences for UK waters since the start of the year. Both sides are now threatening imminent action – and mistranslations have not helped. Under the...
Language used to describe the climate becoming more urgent, study finds
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When people spoke of a “climate refugee” in the 19th century, they would be describing someone who had moved to a place where the climate is healthier or more congenial. But in modern parlance, the meaning has shifted...
Language evolves to reflect society – trans people are part of that society
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Perhaps this is only true of the middle-aged but the social hiatus caused by the pandemic, coupled with the acceleration of discord in a few key arenas, means that you can meet a friend with whom you’ve agreed all you...
Yurok people see victory in decades-long effort to revive language
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Skip Lowry interacts with nature much like his Yurok ancestors did – in the Indigenous Yurok language. There’s the original name for a purple flower, low-slung Yurok homes and sweet huckleberries. “Our worldview is ha...
Britons getting less tolerant of racist language on TV, Ofcom finds
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Britons are increasingly concerned by the use of racist and transphobic language on television but much more tolerant of swearing, according to the media regulator’s latest investigation into changing social attitudes...
How Māori women have reshaped New Zealand’s media through their native language
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Early this week, Māni Dunlop, presenter of RNZ’s Midday Report Te Pūrongo o te Poutūtanga, sent out an astonished tweet: “It’s a record whānau (family) – no racist messages or texts on the show … is this what progress...
‘It restores my soul’: pandemic offers unexpected boon to Guam indigenous language learners
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Antoinette Charfauros McDaniel, a 58-year-old retired professor in Ohio, is trying to study her mother tongue. CHamoru, Guam’s indigenous language, is dying, with just 20,000 of the 168,000-strong population of the is...
‘Powerful experience’: Lorde releases mini-album in Māori language
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Lorde has released a mini-album of tracks in Māori, describing the project as “powerful” and a “starting point” of a journey. The New Zealand singer re-recorded five tracks from her Solar Power album in te reo Māori, ...
Passing the ‘chimp test’: how Neanderthals and women helped create language
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How and when did human language evolve? Did a “grammar module” just pop into our ancestors’ brains one day thanks to a random change in our DNA? Or did language come from grooming, or tool use, or cooking meat with fi...