Showing results for "The State of the Language" in Education & Learning

American author, scholar, and satirist H.L. Mencken wrote The American Language in 1919, intending to defend American speech from prescriptivist critics. "America itself is unutterably vulgar. But vulgarity, after all, means no more than a yielding to natural impulses in the face of conventional inhibitions, and that yielding to natural impulses is at the heart of all healthy language-making."

The story of how English became American—and how it became Southern, Bostonian, Californian, African American, Chicano, elite, working-class, urban, rural, and everything in between.

In 2003, the book Nigger started an intense conversation about the uses and implications of that epithet. The N Word moves beyond that short, provocative book by revealing how the word has both reflected and spread the scourge of bigotry in America.

Though we're known as a nation of English speakers, the linguistic map of the United States is hardly monochromatic. While much ado has been made about the role that Spanish may play in our national future, it would be a gross misrepresentation to label America a bilingual country. On the contrary, our languages are as varied as our origins. There is Basque in Nevada, Arabic in Detroit, Gullah in South Carolina. We speak European, Asian, and American Indian languages; we speak creoles, jargons, and pidgins.

Erfahren Sie in der Ausgabe 2/21 von Spotlight Audio, dass höfliche Ausdrucksweise genau das Richtige ist. Key West ist ein tropisches Paradies an der Landspitze von Florida. Erkunden Sie die Insel im Reiseteil. Treffen Sie einen Oldtimer-Händler aus Kalifornien in A Day in My Life. Englisch lernen mit "Spotlight Audio". Inhalt: Audio-Download inkl. 24-seitigem Booklet mit allen gesprochenen Texten zum Nachlesen und zweisprachigem Glossar (PDF-Format), Sprache: Englisch. Hören und Verstehen ist der beste Weg zum perfekten Englisch.

Great Interviews with Great Artists. We’re talking Shakespeare.

Welcome to United States of English, the podcast that helps you improve your English by listening to real conversations with people across the U.S.! In each episode, we talk to everyday Americans—small business owners, artists, teachers, and more—about their lives, work, and culture. You’ll hear natural English, learn useful words and phrases, and get a better understanding of American life.