The World in Words 51: The CIA’s foreign language deficit, a linguistic fantasy island, and learning Hawaiian in song
Add this to the CIA’s troubles: the agency is nowhere near multilingual enough. Despite urging from Congress and the 9/11 Commission, the CIA remains overwhelmingly English-only. Also, what Hollywood might make of one linguist’s social experiment: he proposed marooning six families who spoke mutually incomprehensible languages on an uninhabitated island to see if they would create a new language. Finally, Hawaiian language lessons from musician Keali’i Reichel.
The article you just read is free because dedicated readers and listeners like you chose to support our nonprofit newsroom. Our team works tirelessly to ensure you hear the latest in international, human-centered reporting every weekday. But our work would not be possible without you. We need your help.
Make a gift today to help us reach our $25,000 goal and keep The World going strong. Every gift will get us one step closer.