Latest Language News

UN summit of world leaders, by the numbers: The longest speech, the language that dominated and more

Sep. 27, 2023 11:59 AM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly all the world's on stage, and all the men and but 20 women merely players. That's what a less-inspired Shakespeare might have written about this year's U.N. General Assembly meeting of leaders, which concluded Tuesday. Over six days, a cavalcade of...

Ohio high school football coach resigns after team used racist, antisemitic language during a game

Sep. 26, 2023 13:27 PM EDT

BROOKLYN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football coach resigned Monday after his team used racist and antisemitic language to call out plays during a game last week. Brooklyn High School coach Tim McFarland and his players repeatedly used the word “Nazi” as a play call in a...

Ahead of abortion vote, Ohio Supreme Court has ordered a rewrite of some misleading ballot language

Sep. 21, 2023 13:08 PM EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A wildly divided Ohio Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday that only one element of the disputed ballot language for describing a closely watched fall abortion rights question is misleading and must be rewritten. The decision lets stand most of the word choices...

Southern Baptists expel Oklahoma church after pastor defends his blackface and Native caricatures

Sep. 19, 2023 19:05 PM EDT

The Southern Baptist Convention has ousted an Oklahoma church whose pastor defended his blackface performance at one church event and his impersonation of a Native American woman at another. The Executive Committee of the nation's largest Protestant denomination voted Tuesday that...

Spain allows Catalan, Basque and Galician languages in Parliament. EU ponders use in Brussels

Sep. 19, 2023 08:55 AM EDT

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In a victory for millions of Spaniards who speak a language other than Spanish, the European nation's Parliament allowed its national legislators to use Catalan, Basque and Galician for the first time on Tuesday. The reform of the linguistic policy of...

Unversed in UNGA? Stumped by SDGs? A glossary of UN General Assembly meeting lingo

Sep. 18, 2023 20:33 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly's yearly meeting of world leaders is here — and with it, an array of acronyms, abbreviations, titles and terms that can be confounding to observers. Here's some key vocabulary, decoded. FOR STARTERS... UNGA: Acronym...

Ohio attorney general rejects language for political mapmaking reform amendment for a second time

Sep. 14, 2023 18:54 PM EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Attorney General’s Office again rejected petition language Thursday for a constitutional amendment aimed at remaking the state's troubled system for drawing political maps, frustrating the effort's backers. In his rejection letter, Republican Dave...

Fan ejected from US Open match after German player said the man used language from Hitler's regime

Sep. 05, 2023 10:26 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A fan was ejected from a U.S. Open tennis match early Tuesday morning after German player Alexander Zverev complained the man used language from Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Zverev, the No. 12 seed, was serving at 2-2 in the fourth set of his match against No. 6...

West Virginia University recommends keeping some language classes, moving forward with axing majors

Aug. 29, 2023 20:04 PM EDT

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia University plans to eliminate its world languages department but is recommending retaining five teaching positions and letting students take some language courses as electives, the university announced Tuesday as it faces a $45 million budget shortfall. ...

A Hong Kong language group shuts down after police allege one of its essays breached security laws

Aug. 28, 2023 10:22 AM EDT

HONG KONG (AP) — A group that promotes the Cantonese language shut down Monday after Hong Kong authorities said a fictional essay depicting a decline in liberties in the city on the group’s website violated the national security law, in the latest example of the city’s erosion of freedom of...