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Culture news

What the skibidi? Five key new words added to the Cambridge Dictionary

The Cambridge Dictionary has officially added more than 6,000 new words this year, including a lot of new slang inspired by social media – which continues to shape everyday speech.

Tech News

Microsoft to make Notre-Dame ‘digital twin’ in Europe AI push

The project will also digitise historic opera sets and millions of artefacts with leading French cultural institutions.

Travel News

Welsh tourist tax to launch in 2027 to keep native language alive

The new fee will help to fund the government’s aim to have a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Culture news

Swada x Niczos: Discover the new twist to traditional Slavic music

At the crossroads traditional music, electronic beats and a language that is still only spoken in villages, Swada x Niczos is bringing Slavic folk traditions into the present day.

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Culture news

Presidential profanity: Donald Trump and the politics of the F-bomb

Euronews Culture delves into the usage of the word 'fuck' by politicians and the history of the swear word, following Donald Trump's recent and colourful comments on the White House lawn.

Culture news

Celebrated Kenyan author and dissident Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o dies aged 87

Widely regarded as east Africa's most influential writer, Ngũgĩ’s fiction and nonfiction books traced his country's history from British imperialism to home-ruled tyranny and challenged not only the stories told but the language used to tell them.

Culture news

Gigil or a ludraman? Clue yourself up with the dictionary's new words

Lacking a word for that sensation when something is so cute you just can't handle it? Missing that special term for the moron in your life? Well, the new additions to the Oxford English Dictionary are here to help.

Europe News

Euronews launches Polish language news service

According to Euronews, the milestone event, which coincides with Poland's presidency of the European Union, offers a unique moment to reflect on Warsaw's role in shaping Europe's future.

Culture news

Why has Malta’s Eurovision entry sparked a 'C-Word' scandal?

Malta’s Eurovision entry has been ruled inappropriate by the EBU due to its phonetic link to the C-word. But how did the four-letter word go from a medieval medical term to the most taboo word in English?

Business

Nothing lost in translation as Duolingo sees robust growth in 2024

Duolingo has continued to make significant investments in improving user engagement through new artificial intelligence features in 2024, while also having more courses lined up for 2025.

Europe News

Catalonia's president seeks EU recognition for Catalan language

The leader of the Spanish region, Salvador Illa, is fighting for Spain's regional languages — Catalan, Basque and Galician — to be recognised as official EU ones.

Culture news

New tongues and gay classics: International Booker Prize longlist out

11 novels and two short story collections are in the running for one of the most prestigious prizes in literature.

Europeans' Stories

Estonia phases out Russian as a language of instruction

The Republic of Estonia is reforming its school system. Russian will gradually be phased out as a language of instruction by the year 2030. Soon all children will only be taught in Estonian – even children in the predominantly Russian-speaking areas in the North-East.

Culture news

India offers $1million to whoever deciphers this 5,300-year-old script

Archeologists and linguists, assemble! An eye-wateringly huge prize awaits whoever can decipher a 5,300-year-old Indus language.

Climate

How deaf educators put tricky climate change terms into sign language

British Sign Language is expanding so a new generation can discuss climate change and environmental issues.

Culture news

Brian Friel's plays return to Irish roots in cross-border project

To mark the centenary of Brian Friel’s birth in 2029, a five-year project will bring his works to the communities, landscapes and even seasons that inspired them.

Culture news

By royal appointment: New English entries in 2024 Spanish dictionary

Spoiler, granularity and wasabi are among the new foreign terms chosen by Spanish academics to join the new words in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española.

Lifestyle

Man wins Spanish world Scrabble title – without speaking Spanish

The player from New Zealand, Nigel Richards, speaks no Spanish and started memorizing the language's Scrabble word list a year ago. He beat defending champion Benjamín Olaizola of Argentina - who does speak Spanish.

Culture news

What links Kamala Harris, Chappell Roan and mascot Phryge this year?

A list of mispronounced names and words provides a retrospective of 2024, from Kamala Harris to Chappell Roan, via French Olympic mascot Phryge, Barry Keoghan and weight-loss drug Semaglutide. Which ones have you been struggling with?

Culture news

'Demure' named 2024 Word of the Year by Dictionary.com

Its exact meaning is hard to pinpoint, as a word once associated with shyness and modesty has taken on a whole new life through internet fame this year. Another case of TikTok recontextualizing language - which can be both fascinating and confusing.