Johnson, our language columnist, reviews the attractiveness of speech

Experts air concern over AI lingo redolent of James Joyce’s prose that is creating barriers to monitoring and oversight

Government officials say documents aimed at helping Alaska Natives apply for aid following typhoon damage last fall featured nonsensical phrases instead of useful instructions.

At Roland Garros airport on Réunion island, the ceiling design funnels a light tropical breeze into the terminal

YouTube video by New York University

Our investigation suggests how

This Word Stories instalment investigates words rooted in proper names like

There are many tech irritants that are a scourge of modern life, yet we have lacked the vocabulary to describe them ... until now

People online are distressed at men butchering words such as ‘hyperbole’ and ‘hors d’oeuvres’ – highlighting a gender reversal in ‘intelligence gaps’

Despite being the subject of extreme beauty practices for centuries, more women are using the language of looksmaxxing in an effort to be taken seriously

Nearly a decade after her acclaimed first translation was released, Wilson is taking a fresh approach to Homer's ancient Greek epic

AI translation can be fast, convenient and fluent. But that does not guarantee people will understand each other.

Americans have been taken with scams for years. Now, the word is being used for any system that ends with somebody profiting at their expense.

Here’s your July and August 2026 round-up with the most interesting blog posts, articles and news about language and translation over the past two months. The ITI’s EX:CHANGE 2026 confe…

Guess the mystery language. Every guess shows where it meets the answer on the family tree of the world's languages.

Why Guaraní has become trendy in Paraguay

When it comes to emoji usage, we’re all just following teen girls.

A Māori word describing the responsibility to care for the natural world has been named the world's most beautiful word by language-learning platform Babbel.

The long read: Soon after my first visit to Ukraine four years ago, I began language lessons. It taught me more than I ever expected

Some call it the pig pen, others the octothorpe. Curious facts about the humble hashtag.

Bukhman Philanthropies has committed to providing £1.4 million annually over the next decade “to enable the Booker Prize Foundation to engage more readers with the world’s best translated fiction and ...

From Roman freedom to Viking happiness, the iconic words in the Declaration of Independence reveal thousands of years of humans wrestling with how to live well together.

Sacre bleu et zut alors! It's fun to pepper your speech with some French expressions, but be careful of inaccurate stereotypes.

In 1866, the topic became so controversial that the Société de Linguistique de Paris banned discussions about language origins altogether.

Discover how people around the world perceive different languages, from romance to complexity, and how Preply helps learners build confidence.

“We've hooked up some machinery,” said Tommy, “that amounts to a mechanical translator… When you're ready to talk to the skipper of the other ship, sir, I

YouTube video by ClubduTourisme

Here’s your June 2026 round-up with the most interesting blog posts, articles and news about language, translation and interpreting from the past month. “A bad meal gets one star, becau…

From global loanwords and garbled Italian, the slang of the children of millennials doesn’t just share elements with Minionese, it may have absorbed it

From translating Nobel laureate Mo Yan to herding sheep

Honey Honey has an interesting distribution of etymological roots across languages. Serbian med, or мед, is not etymologically connected to Portuguese mel, despite their apparent …

Sarah O'Connor's We Are Not Machines explores how we are contorting ourselves to fit AI into our working lives – and what to do about it, finds Tom Knowles

The tricks of the jail jargon Fenya were once used to bewilder guards in Stalin's Gulags. Now they are being used by Russian cyber-criminals.

This week, we step away from the headlines and out of the city to focus on French villages. There is a deeply rooted romantic image of village life: a stone church, a sleepy square, a small café. But…

The closures, so employees can watch a recorded lecture, will cost the company an estimated 2.1bn won ($1.4m) in sales

YouTube video by languagejones

Discover 50+ Germanic words in English — from “poodle” to “hamburger.” Learn their origin and how the German language shaped everyday English.

This word for outdoing or outshining others originated in the manosphere, but is now thoroughly mainstream. Why is it so popular – and should we be worried about slang that arises from toxic subcultur...

Ooh la la. This edition of Language Matters points out French-borrowed English terms that may not pass muster in modern French.

Researchers in the U.K. are working to document the country’s array of obscure invective.

"Sorry" is one of the UK's most overused and misunderstood words – here's how to decode the politeness minefield.

This week we’re taking a look at a much-loved pillar of French culture: apéro. This ritual gathering takes place before dinner, typically between 6pm and 8pm, it’s a moment when friends, family, neigh...