Subtitle

Why doesnt Ciku Theuri sound Black? Her friends wanted to know. Eventually, she wanted to know. Ciku tells the story of how she came to speak the way she does—and how others, from Ohio to Kenya, perceive her speech. (Spoiler alert: she does sound Black.)

Verónica Zaragovia lives in Miami but she was born in Colombia. Although she has a Colombian passport, her Spanish doesnt sound Colombian— at least thats what people tell her. During a recent stay in Bogotá, she decided to change that: she took lessons i

We are how we speak, right? Well, its complicated— enough so to spend Subtitles next four episodes on this question. Well tell the stories of a diverse collection of people, tracing how each came to speak the way they do. Along the way, well ask: Is

In 1986, Nicaraguan officials invited American linguist Judy Shepard-Kegl to observe a group of Deaf children. The kids were using an unrecognizable signing system. Over the following years, Shepard-Kegl and other linguists found themselves uniquely plac

Finland has been named the happiest country in the world. So why is sisu the word that best describes Finns? Associated with war and endurance, sisu means stoic perseverance against almost insurmountable odds. But this small, cold nat

In unsettled times, we reach for metaphors. They help us make sense of the nonsensical—or at least thats what we tell ourselves. In this episode, we hear from linguist Elena Semino, editor of a crowd-sourced publication called the Metaphor Menu intended

Joe Wong is a brilliant bilingual comedian. In the US, he does standup. In his native China he hosts a popular TV game show. Recently his comedy has become more political: he is confronting US racial tensions head-on. In quarantine, Joe is writing a book

Bilingual comedian Joanna Hausmann (pictured with her mother Ana Julia Jatar-Hausmann) is sitting out the lockdown at her Venezuelan parents New England home. She tells us of her love of outdated Venezuelan slang; also about parenting her parents (in bot

In this episode, we talk with American medical student Esther Kim (pictured). Shes trying to overcome her suspicion of people with a particular accent, one that shes come to associate with racist taunts. The COVID-19 wave of anti-Asian harassment has ma

We cant travel. We cant hug or visit loved ones. But we can talk our way through this pandemic — and were doing just that, in most of the worlds languages. In this episode we hear from Kavita Pillays mother, who tells a story from her childhood in southe