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Alphabet

Scientist Joshua Miele demonstrates a virtual wireless Braille keyboard attached as an input device to an Android phone.

Will blind people use Braille in the future?

The World in Words

Some people believe technology will render Braille obsolete and that blind people will choose talking apps and audiobooks over embossed dots. But Braille has been written off many times before and each time, it has come back stronger.

An illustration image shows the new Latin-based Kazakh alphabet published in a newspaper in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Oct. 27, 2017.

Kazakhstan’s switch from Cyrillic to Latin is about more than just alphabets

Culture
A news conference of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is screened on televisions at an electronics shop in Istanbul September 30, 2013. Erdogan announced a so-called "democratization package" that would allow for education in languages other than Tur

Turkey is set to end a ban on several letters of the alphabet

Conflict & Justice

Some Turks reconsidering Arabic connection to Turkish language

Global Politics

Pakistani scholars concerned that Urdu script being lost to technology

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The World

The Flame Alphabet

Arts, Culture & Media

William S. Burroughs famously said that “language is a virus.” Novelist Ben Marcus took Burrough’s line as inspiration for The Flame Alphabet.

The World

Podcast: The Perfect Love Song

Global Hit

A love song comprised only of words from an international spelling alphabet.

The World

Chinese bilingual ballots

Arts, Culture & Media

The World’s Alex Gallafent explores the complexities of Chinese bilingual ballots. Transliteration into Chinese is a complicated, sometimes confusing business.

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