Bilingual comedian Joanna Hausmann (pictured with her mother Ana Julia Jatar-Hausmann) is sitting out the lockdown at her Venezuelan parents' New England home. She tells us of her love of outdated Venezuelan slang; also about parenting her parents (in both Spanish and English); and how the restrictions of quarantine are unleashing her creative instincts. Photo by Joanna Hausmann. Music by Podington Bear, Isobelle Walton, Nathan Welch, Flooaw, and Million Eyes. Read a transcript of this episode h...
Apr 29, 2020•23 min
In this episode, we talk with American medical student Esther Kim (pictured). She's trying to overcome her suspicion of people with a particular accent, one that she's come to associate with racist taunts. The COVID-19 wave of anti-Asian harassment has made things worse. Also, Stanford professor Seema Yasmin tells us why pandemics bring out the language of war. Photo by Esther Kim. Music by Bonnie Grace, David Celeste, Podington Bear, Philip Ayers, Craft Case, Airae, and Joseph Alesci. Read a tr...
Apr 15, 2020•20 min
We can't travel. We can't hug or visit loved ones. But we can talk our way through this pandemic — and we're doing just that, in most of the world's languages. In this episode we hear from Kavita Pillay's mother, who tells a story from her childhood in southern India. And a filmmaker in New York talks about her home quarantine activity, translating Russian video footage full of phrases from the past. Photos: Nola Cox and Sauli Pillay. Music by Podington Bear and Blue Dot Sessions. Read a transcr...
Apr 01, 2020•19 min
Hassnae Bouazza was born in Morocco. She didn't speak a word of Dutch when she immigrated to the Netherlands, though today it's effectively her mother tongue. The Dutch government now insists that would-be immigrants like Bouazza pass a Dutch language "entrance exam." Are Dutch officials using language to keep "undesirables" out? Or is speaking the local language an essential part of living in the Netherlands? Photo by Patrick Cox. Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Atisound, and Gridde...
Mar 18, 2020•21 min
If there are extraterrestrials out there, what kind of messages might they be sending us? How might we decipher those messages? And should we hit reply? Image by Mike Licht via Flickr Creative Commons. Music by Million Eyes, From Now On, Heath Cantu, Christian Andersen, Podington Bear. Read a transcript of this episode here .
Mar 04, 2020•25 min
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced tens of thousands of New Orleanians. Many never returned to the city. Others have since moved in, bringing with them different languages and dialects. Some locals now wonder if they have lost 'ownership' of New Orleans English. Has the linguistic footprint of one of America’s most historically rich and diverse cities changed forever? Read a transcript of this episode here ....
Feb 19, 2020•22 min
In folklore and fiction there's a rich tradition of trees that talk, from Greek mythology to The Wizard of Oz. But that's make-believe, right? Well, maybe. Many ecologists now believe that trees are in constant communication with their surroundings. Linguists may roll their eyes at claims of ‘talk,’ or ‘language.’ But observing how trees interact helps us understand the limits of language. Photo by David Baron via Flickr creative commons. Music by Josef Falkenskold, From Now On, Silver Maple, Im...
Feb 05, 2020•19 min
Susanna Zaraysky, speaker of nine languages, is one of those people who seem able to pick up French or Portuguese almost overnight. In reality, it's not so effortless—but is she cognitively predisposed to attaining fluency in so many languages? We follow her to an MIT lab where researchers put her through a series of tests. Photo by Patrick Cox. Music by Silver Maple, Lucention, Pause For Concern, Podington Bear and Blue Dot Sessions. Read a transcript of this episode here ....
Jan 22, 2020•23 min
Stereotypes about Mormon missionaries tend to overshadow their great success in foreign language learning. Why is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so skilled at teaching languages? We hear from missionaries, teachers and scholars, in Utah and Finland. Photo by Kavita Pillay. Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Booker and the Yeomans and Podington Bear. Read a transcript of this episode here ....
Jan 08, 2020•23 min
There's a new language class on offer at Harvard. Gullah Geechee is a creole language developed by enslaved Africans and still spoken today. As far as anyone knows, it's the first time it's been taught anywhere. Sunn M'Cheaux — native speaker turned Harvard instructor — tells his story and the story of Gullah Geechee, a language that is as African as it is American. Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear and Ranky Tanky. Photo courtesy Sunn M'Cheaux. Read a transcript of this episode here ....
Dec 18, 2019•22 min
'Real’ or ’synthetic’? 'Authentic' or ‘lab-grown’? 'Bloodstained' or ‘green’? The highly-regulated words that describe diamonds define their narrative — and maybe even their value. We take you to New York’s Diamond District to meet some of its most engaging characters as they struggle to come to terms with the new lexicon of diamonds. Music in this episode by Podington Bear and Blue Dot Sessions. Photo by Alina Simone. Read a transcript of this episode here ....
Dec 04, 2019•16 min
Are you repelled by certain words? Do you get that fingernails-on-chalkboard feeling when someone says 'moist,' 'dollop' or 'fascia'? In this week's episode Kavita Pillay, who has some word aversions of her own, seeks answers from linguists who study this phenomenon. Music in the podcast by Podington Bear, Kikoru and Blue Dot Sessions. Photo by Sauli Pillay. Read a transcript of this episode here ....
Nov 20, 2019•20 min
Want to say or write something anonymously? Or pretend you're someone else? Good luck. Linguists like Robert Leonard of Hofstra University are using evermore sophisticated means to figure out who you really are. In this episode we trace the rise of forensic linguistics, from identifying the Unabomber to the case of the Trump Administration's 'lodestar' insider. Read more about forensic linguist Robert Leonard here and here . Music in the podcast by Podington Bear, Blue Dot Sessions and T. Morri....
Nov 06, 2019•20 min
Coming up in the first season of Subtitle with Patrick Cox and Kavita Pillay: Words we love and hate. Words that solve crimes. Words we lose and find. Words that resist translation. Subtitle brings you stories about languages and the people who speak them, starting in November 2019.
Oct 25, 2019•55 sec
Ever wondered why language simultaneously unites and divides us? Mystifies and delights us? Patrick Cox and Kavita Pillay tell the stories of people with all kinds of linguistic passions: comedians, writers, researchers; speakers of endangered languages; speakers of multiple languages; and just speakers—people like you and me.
Oct 07, 2019•1 min
