Old Latin Radio

A Berlin radio station has an unusual programming plan for Sept. 26. It will broadcast its morning show entirely in Latin.

Trailers, news and weather will be translated into Latin for the Kiss FM show, listened to by around 4.2 million people daily, to raise awareness of the tragedy of dead languages.

A highlight is supposed to be a rap song written in Latin. Didn't they used to call those Gregorian chants?

World's Languages Disappearing

Slashdot had some interesting links about the current state of human languages. According to National Geographic, every two weeks another language dies:

By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth—many of them never yet recorded—will likely disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and how the human brain works.

And then the New York Times ran a piece about how 83 languages dominate modern communications.

Web Site Review: Wordsmith.org

This is a must stop for word junkies. Jeffrey Henning, a friend and creator of tools for creating your own language (and a spot worth going to in its own right), pointed me to the fun that is the A.Word.A.Day mailing list a good dozen years ago. The Wordsmith.org site lets you join the mailing list and offers a chat service, anagram server, and a project to donate books to libraries around the world. It's worth a stop.