Languages
Personal History
Of Yiddish, Litvaks, and the Evil Eye
A smattering of Yiddish happens to be all the Yiddish I have.
Cultural Comment
“Dune” and the Delicate Art of Making Fictional Languages
The alien language spoken in Frank Herbert’s novels carries traces of Arabic. Why has that influence been scrubbed from the films?
Culture Desk
A Question of Language in Ukraine
I learned Ukrainian just like my grandparents learned Russian—only there was no shame or pressure for me. I was restoring what my family had lost.
This Week in Fiction
Han Kang on How Language Misses Its Mark
The author discusses “The Middle Voice,” her story from the latest issue of the magazine.
Culture Desk
Learning Farsi Like an American
A son of Iranian immigrants hopes to bestow upon his young daughter a bilingualism that has eluded him.
Annals of Inquiry
DeafBlind Communities May Be Creating a New Language of Touch
Protactile began as a movement for autonomy and a system of tactile communication. Now, some linguists argue, it is becoming a language of its own.
Page-Turner
The Book That Taught Me What Translation Was
In its attention to substitution, Domenico Starnone’s “Trust” embodies the joy of moving words from one language to another.
Personal History
Forgetting My First Language
When I speak Cantonese with my parents now, I rely on translation apps.
Under Review
What We Can and Can’t Learn from a New Translation of the Gospels
Sarah Ruden aims to return familiar texts to the fresh clay from which they were made.
Elements
The Challenges of Animal Translation
Artificial intelligence may help us decode animalese. But how much will we really be able to understand?
Letter from Maine
How Did a Self-Taught Linguist Come to Own an Indigenous Language?
The Penobscot language was spoken by almost no one when Frank Siebert set about trying to preserve it. The people of Indian Island are still reckoning with his legacy.
Shouts & Murmurs
Stages of Language Learning
When you know enough to confuse, enough to be polite, and enough to disappoint.
Culture Desk
Can Film Save Indigenous Languages?
Films like “SG̲aawaay Ḵ’uuna,” the first to capture the language and culture of the indigenous peoples of Haida Gwaii, are giving new life to dying tongues.
Page-Turner
Amos Oz and the Politics of the Hebrew Language
The novelist delighted in Hebrew’s expanding resonances, but he was also alive to the ways in which language can be abused.
Culture Desk
New York: En Español
My teacher believes that Spanish helps New Yorkers “feel the warmth of the people”—that is, “sentir el calor de la gente.”
Double Take
Sunday Reading: In Another Tongue
From The New Yorker’s archive: a selection of pieces that offer an intriguing look at what it means to find a new voice.
Comma Queen
Lessons on the Royal We, from “Mary Queen of Scots” and “The Favourite”
“The Favourite” has kinkier sex scenes, but if there were a special award for use of the royal we, “Mary Queen of Scots” would triumph.
