Latest Language News

Mexico's populist president held court each morning for 6 years. Now he's retiring from public life

Sep. 27, 2024 00:29 AM EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Every day at 7 a.m., President Andrés Manuel López Obrador strolls onto a stage in Mexico's National Palace, clad in a smart suit and tie, and peers out at a room of bleary-eyed reporters and social media personalities. “Buenos días, look alive!” the 70-year-old leader...

Trump tells women he 'will be your protector' as GOP struggles with outreach to female voters

Sep. 25, 2024 06:34 AM EDT

INDIANA, Pa. (AP) — From former President Donald Trump to Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno, male Republican candidates are struggling to speak to female voters, using language criticized as tone-deaf and patronizing as they try to win support from women and speak to issues important to them. ...

Unversed in UNGA? Stumped by SDGs? Here's a handy glossary of UN General Assembly meeting lingo

Sep. 24, 2024 20:02 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 is some key vocabulary, decoded. For starters ... UNGA: Acronym...

In Belarus, the native language is vanishing as Russian takes prominence

Sep. 14, 2024 00:22 AM EDT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When school started this year for Mikalay in Belarus, the 15-year-old discovered that his teachers and administrators no longer called him by that name. Instead, they referred to him as Nikolai, its Russian equivalent. What's more, classes at his school —...

All welcome: Advocates fight to ensure citizens not fluent in English have equal access to elections

Sep. 13, 2024 14:46 PM EDT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In the heart of Las Vegas’ Chinatown, on the second floor of a sprawling shopping plaza that serves as a hub for the city’s Asian community, residents gather for a celebration of the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Some stop in to grab shiny, red packages of...

Critics say a South African education bill on language in schools threatens new unity government

Sep. 11, 2024 13:06 PM EDT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An education bill that would give South Africa's government more control over white minority language schools is a threat to the country's new government of national unity, the second largest political party said Wednesday. The bill seeks to give the government...

Do you speak Gen-Alpha? Test your ‘skibidi’ knowledge with this vocab quiz

Sep. 05, 2024 15:56 PM EDT

As American kids head back to school, they’re likely to return home with an alien language their own parents may find befuddling. From TikTok to the kitchen table, words like “rizzler” and “skibidi” are finding a foothold in the lexicon of today’s tweens. ...

A Māori king who urged racial unity in New Zealand is laid to rest and a new queen rises

Sep. 05, 2024 01:55 AM EDT

NGĀRUAWĀHIA, New Zealand (AP) — They came in their thousands in the freezing dawn, parking cars far away and winding down rural roads on foot, children riding on their shoulders. They arrived in mourning black with crowns of ferns and kawakawa leaves, bone carvings or wedges of deep green...

Iran shuts down the last language institute recognized by the German Embassy

Aug. 20, 2024 10:40 AM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian authorities on Tuesday closed down the last language institute certified by the German Embassy, local media said, in retaliation for the shuttering of Islamic centers in the European country. A report by Nournews.ir, believed to be close to Iran's...

'Banksy woz ere.' London Zoo is the latest to remove street artist's animal mural for protection

Aug. 18, 2024 15:14 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — The gorilla and other animals that appeared to have escaped from the London Zoo in Banksy 's most recent work have been taken into safekeeping. The zoo said it removed the elusive street artist's mural on its gate Friday evening to preserve it and return its entrance...