Languages

Supporting less commonly taught languages

Recently elected president of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, Turkish Language Program coordinator Feride Hatiboglu discusses the value of learning languages beyond Spanish, French, German, and Italian.

Erica Moser

Simon Richter on animating climate change

The professor of Germanic studies works with colleagues and students to create animated videos to explain the risks of climate change in the Netherlands and Jakarta.

From Omnia

Translating Russophone poetry of resistance into English

A poetry translation symposium organized by Kevin M.F. Platt of the School of Arts & Sciences and colleagues, in partnership with PEN America, brought a group of Russian-language poets and American translators and scholars together in Armenia last fall.

Kristen de Groot



In the News


The Wall Street Journal

‘Everyday Utopia’ review: The road to nowhere

“Everyday Utopia” by Kristen Ghodsee of the School of Arts & Sciences is reviewed.

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Psychology Today

Correcting non-native speakers may hinder their learning

In a co-authored Op-Ed, Benjamin Franklin Scholar Sangitha Aiyer writes that well-intentioned grammatical corrections can induce unintended negative effects on non-native English speakers.

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WBUR Radio (Boston)

What makes the world’s first bar joke funny? No one knows

Phillip Jones of the Penn Museum explains the history behind a Penn Museum collection of Sumerian tablets, including the world’s first documented bar joke.

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The Washington Post

Family is ‘my chittis’: Kamala Harris puts her Tamil roots on the prime-time stage like never before

Vasu Renganathan of the School of Arts & Sciences commented on Kamala Harris’ use of the Tamil language on the campaign trail.

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The New York Times

Peru’s queen of Quechua rap fuses the transgressive and traditional

Américo Mendoza-Mori of the School of Arts & Sciences translated the lyrics of a song by Renata Flores, a Peruvian musician who writes in Quechua.

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Vice

Renata Flores brought Quechua to YouTube, and then everything changed

Américo Mendoza-Mori of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the need to bring the Quechua language into contemporary art forms. “The stereotype where indigenous people are seen as timeless or pure must be challenged. When native people are put in that box, we are fossilizing them,” he said.

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