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Lost In Translation: American Decodes Weird Spanish Slang

Learning a foreign language is hard enough. But if that language is riddled with weird slang terms and ever-changing funny phrases, you may wind up lost in translation. That's exactly what happened to former Maryland resident Jared Romey, author of Spanish slang books "Speaking Argento," "Speaking Boricua" and the most...

'Pants' Up, 'Trousers' Down on Google's Ngram Viewer

(Dec. 17) -- Never one to be caught resting on its laurels, Google has released a massive, searchable database that will give linguists and historians a new tool for quantitatively understanding how language and culture have changed over time. It also makes for a good time-waster on languishing Fridays before the...

Study: Mom's Voice Has Unique Effect on Baby's Brain

(Dec. 16) -- There's nothing like a mother's voice. New research from the University of Montreal shows that a newborn's brain responds differently to its mother's voice than to the voices of others. The mother's voice can spark activity in the parts of the brain responsible for learning language. When the child hears...

Study: Mimicking Accent Makes It Easier to Understand

(Dec. 8) -- Having trouble untangling someone's heavy accent? Imitating it could clue you in, a new study shows. According to research published this week in the journal Psychological Science, mimicking the way someone talks makes it easier to discern what he or she is saying. "When listening to someone who has a really...

Brit Dailies in Kerfuffle Over OED Bragging Rights

LONDON (Nov. 30) -- British newspapers are battling it out for the title of greatest contributor to the English language. "You read it here first: words the Telegraph lexiconated," announced today's Daily Telegraph. The Times of London similarly crowed, "You read it here first: The Times is biggest source for OED."...

Background on language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication.

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