Subtitle

We can't travel. We can't hug or visit loved ones. But we can talk our way through this pandemic — and we're doing just that, in most of the world's languages. In this episode we hear from Kavita Pillay's mother, who tells a story from her childhood in southern India. And a filmmaker in New York talks about her home quarantine activity, translating Russian video footage full of phrases from the past.

Photos: Nola Cox and Sauli Pillay. Music by Podington Bear and Blue Dot Sessions. Read a transcript of this episode here.

Hassnae Bouazza was born in Morocco. She didn't speak a word of Dutch when she immigrated to the Netherlands, though today it's effectively her mother tongue. The Dutch government now insists that would-be immigrants like Bouazza pass a Dutch language "entrance exam." Are Dutch officials using language to keep "undesirables" out? Or is speaking the local language an essential part of living in the Netherlands?

Photo by Patrick Cox. Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Atisound, and Gridded. Thanks to Sara Wallace Goodman, Ben Coates, Jeremy Helton, Liesbeth Siers, Tracey Keij-Denton, Jos Beelen, Carol Zall, Clark Boyd, Laura Rumbley, and Rose Stories in Amsterdam. Read a transcript of this episode here.

If there are extraterrestrials out there, what kind of messages might they be sending us? How might we decipher those messages? And should we hit reply?

Image by Mike Licht via Flickr Creative Commons. Music by Million Eyes, From Now On, Heath Cantu, Christian Andersen, Podington Bear. Read a transcript of this episode here.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced tens of thousands of New Orleanians. Many never returned to the city. Others have since moved in, bringing with them different languages and dialects. Some locals now wonder if they have lost 'ownership' of New Orleans English. Has the linguistic footprint of one of America’s most historically rich and diverse cities changed forever?

Read a transcript of this episode here.

In folklore and fiction there's a rich tradition of trees that talk, from Greek mythology to The Wizard of Oz. But that's make-believe, right? Well, maybe. Many ecologists now believe that trees are in constant communication with their surroundings. Linguists may roll their eyes at claims of ‘talk,’ or ‘language.’ But observing how trees interact helps us understand the limits of language.

Photo by David Baron via Flickr creative commons. Music by Josef Falkenskold, From Now On, Silver Maple, Imprisoned, Josef Bel Habib and Podington Bear. Read a transcript of this episode here.