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Chinese students visiting Monday with President Barack Obama during a town hall-style meeting wanted to show off their language skills. The U.S. ambassador to China did the same.
Here are the 65 foreign-language contenders for the 82nd Academy Awards, along with the names of the directors and countries of origin:
Top prize-winners from the Cannes and Berlin film festivals are among 65 movies competing for the foreign-language honor at the Academy Awards next March.
For all his flourish, President Barack Obama sure falls back on a few familiar phrases.
A West African college student who was learning English was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in which he could not understand a gunman who confronted him in a southwest Philadelphia park, police and family members said.
Malaysia announced Wednesday it will abandon the use of English to teach math and science, bowing to protesters who demanded more use of the national Malay language.
NORTH LAKELAND, Fla. - One person was killed and 18 others were injured by a lightning strike at a church function in North Lakeland, Fla., on Saturday.
Listen up: If dangerous weather is on the way, the National Weather Service wants you to pay attention. So it plans to change the way some local weather warnings are worded to emphasize just how dangerous a storm can be. National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said authorities hope to revamp guidelines for local forecasters to include more detailed language before the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins June 1.
When archaeologists on a dig in southern Portugal last year flipped over a heavy chunk of slate and saw writing not used for more than 2,500 years, they were elated.
The top Cannes Film Festival prize winner and a key Golden Globe honoree are among contenders for the foreign-language prize at the Academy Awards.
Mark Twain famously dissed it, legions of Hollywood "bad guys" have hissed it and now Tina Fey has definitively pronounced the German language "so uncool."
The Welsh language, which dates back to the 6th century, got a major boost Thursday when the European Union formally recognized it as a minority tongue.
France's education minister says the secret to success is speaking better English.
Manuel Castillo was driving a truck through Alabama hauling onions and left with a $500 ticket for something he didn't think he was doing: speaking English poorly.
- The United States military has a strategic shortfall — not of bullets or ballistic missiles, but of soldiers and Marines fluent in Dari, Pashto, Uzbek, and Turkmen — the languages spoken in Afghanistan.
Two years ago, Aida Torres rushed her feverish daughter to the emergency room. Doctors at the Brooklyn hospital tried telling Torres that her mentally retarded daughter, Madayeli, needed surgery for an ovarian cyst, but the scared mother didn't understand them because she doesn't speak English.
A convenience store chain's billboard advertising its fried chicken sandwich is ruffling the feathers of some residents. Sheetz unveiled the "Crispy Frickin' Chicken" billboards at the beginning of February.
Nine movies are in contention for the foreign-language Academy Award.
A new Wikipedia-style online tool designed to help the world's nearly 400 million Spanish speakers consult on proper use of their language launched officially on Thursday.
Foreign language courses are booming on American college campuses, a new study finds, with enrollment in Arabic more than doubling from 2002 to 2006.
A panel discussion titled "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?" drew more than 400 people Saturday — a sign that the furor that erupted over Don Imus' comments isn't over yet.
In the wake of Don Imus' firing for his on-air slur about the Rutgers women's basketball team, a high-powered group of music-industry executives met privately Wednesday to discuss sexist and misogynistic rap lyrics.
A state senator used foul language in a talk to high school students in his district, but defended himself by saying he was just repeating what some students wrote about him on a Web site.
School Report Cards to Start Making SenseAfter more than a decade of incomprehensible and indecipherable comments, Ontario student report cards are in for an overhaul. A memo from the Ontario education ministry says a new assessment policy to be released next year will address report card comments.
You can tell a lot about our relationships with people through the different conversations we have with them. There are those who we seem to pass only tidbits of information, like the good weather we've been having or a brief synopsis of what we did on the weekend.
Memo to Grammar Cops: Back Off!"Passions run hot when the discussion turns to language," writes Rutgers English professor Jack Lynch in his sprightly new history of the notion of "proper" English, "The Lexicographer's Dilemma."
You say erudite, I say pretentious: N.Y. Times mines its data to identify words that readers find abstruseThe New York Times ever strike you as an abstruse glut of antediluvian perorations, if the newspaper¹s profligacy of neologisms and shibboleths ever set off apoplectic paroxysms in you, if it all seems a bit recondite, here¹s a reason to be sanguine With a top ten list!
Avoid the Question - the Politician's SpinThe art of evading difficult questions is a time-honoured tactic by politicians in Australia and the world over.
Father spoke only Klingon to child for baby's first three yearsIs this taking the whole Star Trek thing a teensie weensie bit too far? d'Armond Speers spoke only Klingon to his child for the first three years of its life.
Hébert: New citizenship guide: Good, bad and ugly - thestar.comMONTREAL Reading the 1995 edition of the federal Citizenship guide, an immigrant to Canada might have been forgiven for thinking he or she was signing up to join the Boy Scouts or the Girl Guides.
When everyday expletives aren't good enoughA few alternatives to our most popular obscenity
The day my name got changedA good commentary on culture, balance and succeeding in the United States.
Massachusetts principal bans students from saying 'Meep!'Who knew "Meep!" was a four-letter word? The utterance favored by bungling lab assistant Beaker of "The Muppet Show" has been banned at Danvers High School in Massachusetts after students said it to repeatedly interrupt school.
Babies May Pick Up Language Cues In WombA new study of over a thousand recorded cries from 30 French newborns and 30 German newborns found differences in the cries' melody patterns.
Newborn Babies Cry in Native TongueFrom their very first days, the cries of newborns already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, scientists now find.
Outsourcing SEO – Yes or No?If you're following business trends with any level of interest at all, you'll have noticed how many opportunities there are to outsource your business processes. SEO is no exception.
Macquarie brings the bling to dictionaryA record 5,000 words have been added to the latest edition of the Macquarie Dictionary.
Obama regulatory czar Sunstein urges: Abolish marriage"Under our proposal, the word marriage would no longer appear in any laws, and marriage licenses would no longer be offered or recognized by any level of government," wrote Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler in their 2008 book, "Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth …
In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin He grew up playing in the narrow, crowded streets of Manhattan's Chinatown. He has lived and worked there for all his 61 years.
Problematic Words: Facts, Theories, and ProofWhat is a theory and how do you prove it? This article gets at the the underlying language of science and its philosophy.
The death of language?Asking them to hold onto languages they no longer want is more for the linguists' sake than for the communities themselves.
Texas schools saying auf Wiedersehen to German programsPosters of snow-capped castles, Oktoberfest revelry and Albert Einstein decorate the walls of Claudia Keller's classroom in Frisco. She's only missing students. Six attend her AP German class, the only one in the school district.
What's with all the @#%! language?Those who pay attention to political rhetoric say an unusual amount of profanity has emanated from this White House – even without counting famously colorful White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Beauty Running Dry as Children Take Eyes Off PensThe rise of computers and mobile phones means children are no longer taught the techniques required to write properly. For the Italian author and philosopher Umberto Eco, this is a bad thing.
Eastern Detour to Build Life Skills: Teaching English in AsiaThere are more benefits to teaching in Asia than simply learning a new language – you'll also pick up many skills valuable to potential employers on your return.
'Whatever' voted most annoying word "Whatever" has been voted the most annoying word in American English.
Don't say 'whatever' NEW YORK - IF YOU want to be a great conversationalist, whatever you do don't use the word 'whatever'. It topped a US survey as the most annoying word.
Buzzwords from the McDonald's bucketThe jargon-infested public pronouncements of modern political and financial leaders are all potato and no meat. Whatever the shape of the new economic order, the language is sure to continue on its present depressing course.
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