National Dec 2, 2018
To pass the test, applicants will need to have Japanese skills good enough for daily life.
NEWSWORTHY
World Nov 24, 2018
Canada francophones gear up for fight over education, rights
A French-language university canceled by Ontario's government this month has kindled the passions of Canada's francophone minority, who are set to replay their historical rights struggle. In addition to nixing the proposed university that was to open in Toronto in 2020, the province with the ...
World Nov 20, 2018
French universities to offer more courses in English to attract foreign students
France wants to boost the number of foreign students at its universities by more than half over the next decade and will offer more courses taught in English to attract them. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, announcing the plan on Monday, said increasing the number of ...
Asia Pacific / Social Issues Sep 25, 2018
Te reo, New Zealand's Maori language, comes back from the brink
Beneath the carved timber roof of a traditional "marae" meeting house at Wellington High School, dozens of students watch entranced as a play performed entirely in the Maori language unfolds. Many only understand a smattering of the indigenous language, but pick up emotional cues from ...
Business / Tech Sep 3, 2018
Facebook adds Alaska's Inupiaq as language option among community translation tools
Britt'Nee Brower grew up in a largely Inupiat Eskimo town in Alaska's far north, but English was the only language spoken at home. Today, she knows a smattering of Inupiaq from childhood language classes at school in the community of Utqiagvik. Brower even published an ...
Commentary / World May 15, 2018
America is one of the few cultures with insults for smart people
by Ted Rall
Americans enjoy the dubious distinction of having a high degree of linguistic diversity it comes to mocking the smart and the educated.
World / Politics Apr 14, 2018
Trump calls Comey a 'slime ball,' sparking rush to dictionaries
U.S. President Donald Trump's denunciation of former FBI Director James Comey as a "slime ball" on Friday triggered a jump of 60,000 percent in look-ups for the word on the website of dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster's. The disparaging term was among the top words looked up ...
National Mar 9, 2018
English school chain ECC Co. will launch a Japanese course in the Philippines in June in partnership with a local college amid growing interest in the language among Filipinos. The Osaka-based firm and the University of Perpetual Help plan to provide a 6-month e-learning program, ...
Asia Pacific / Social Issues Jan 29, 2018
Two Koreas' Olympic ice hockey team faces unexpected challenge: language
The unified Korean women's ice hockey team faced an unexpected challenge at their first joint training session, reports said Monday — vastly different hockey terminology on either side of the divided peninsula. Seven decades of almost total separation after the 1950-53 Korean War, with all ...
World / Social Issues Jan 8, 2018
Iran bans English in primary schools after leaders' warning of 'cultural invasion'
Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools, a senior education official said, after Islamic leaders warned that early learning of the language opened the way to a Western "cultural invasion." "Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum ...
National Jul 29, 2017
Rural Gunma city to start English-immersion program targeting urban students
A rural city in Gunma Prefecture will launch a program next year offering a year-long English-immersion dormitory experience for junior high and high school students. A three-month trial course set to run from this August has attracted more than 1,900 applications from across the country, ...
Business / Tech May 19, 2017
'Gamified' language app Duolingo finally adds Japanese
by Tom Hanaway
Just as many readers are swapping paperbacks for tablets, many language learners are trading in their textbooks for apps so they can study on the go. One of the most popular language applications on the market is Duolingo, a program that "gamifies" learning by rewarding ...