People who are bicultural and speak two languages may actually shift their personalities when they switch from one language to another, according to new research in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that children as young as six are as adept at recognising possible verbs and their past tenses as adults.

If anything sets humans apart from other animals, it must surely be our way with words. For something so ubiquitous, our gift for gab still has strangely obscure roots. The appearance of language has been ascribed to factors ranging from finer control over our voices, the evolution of a grammar module in the brain, even the shift to a meat-based diet that fuels more gray matter.

An analysis of Milwaukee County pharmacies shows that about half don’t provide prescription labels and instructions in languages other than English, and almost two-thirds are unable to communicate to patients who don’t speak English. The study, included in the upcoming edition of Pediatrics, is unusual in that its lead author is a Medical College of Wisconsin 4th-year medical student.

In our global world, writer David Burke says, Americans must improve their language skills, and should start at an early age. VOA's Mike O'Sullivan spoke with the author, who has taught American slang to foreign English learners, and is now using fairy tales to teach foreign languages to American children.

Toddlers learn their first words better from people than from Teletubbies, according to new research at Wake Forest University.