Language tips

For English-speakers, Romanian is easier to learn than German. And you’ll be speaking Swahili sooner than Polish.

Full disclosure: My editor asked me to answer this question—“What’s the fastest language in the world?”—because I like writing about both language and strange, global superlatives. Pretty quickly I realized that there’s a basic problem (albeit a fun one!) with the question: We first have to determine what we even mean by “fastest.” Does that mean the number of words or syllables spoken in a set amount of time? The amount of information conveyed? The language with the fewest words or syllables to convey a set statement? The language that can be understood when cranked up to the highest speed? What even is English jacked up to 4x? 10x?

This themed crossword comes from Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel, who grew up in Xi’an, China, before moving to the United States in 2001. She’s the author of Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kelsey Frampton, a 21-year-old business student from Fresno, California, who's studying in Barcelona. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

With a new year approaching and new resolutions in mind, learning a language is one of those items that often appears on many personal lists. Travel experts and language institutions regularly publish surveys on the best destinations to do so, echoing the simple fact that in our interconnected, “globalized” world, the ability to communicate in more than one language opens new opportunities, experiences and understanding.

While accepting one of the many Oscars he received for the film Parasite at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020, South Korean director Bong Joon Ho advised that Americans would do well to “overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles” in order to discover an even broader swatch of amazing films than already available at our fingertips. Indeed, subtitles are nothing to be afraid of—but that doesn’t mean the movies they caption can’t be scary themselves. Amongst our editorial staff, in fact, there’s a consensus that foreign horror productions are actually much more terrifying than those produced stateside—bolder, bloodier, darkly funnier, and more haunting for their willingness to leave questions unanswered.

With a running time of more than eight hours, Andy Warhol's Empire is generally acknowledged to be the most boring film released in 1965. Four years later, a German artist named Hanne Darboven succeeded in producing a movie that was even more monotonous.

TUI has announced a partnership with SignLive to provide customers with the option to have their conversations with the firm interpreted into British Sign Language (BSL).

Albania is an often overlooked gem in Southeast Europe on the Balkan Peninsula, rich in history, natural beauty, and vibrant culture.