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Thursday, May 21, 2026
TopicLanguages

Topic: Languages

Why are humans able to speak & learn complex languages? The answer could be locked in a gene variant

ScientiFix, our weekly feature, offers you a summary of the top global science stories of the week, with links to their sources.

Hindi to English to Hungarian—why swear words sound obscene

The idea that the sounds in such words contribute to their offensiveness violates a linguistic principle—that the relationship between the sound and meaning of a word is arbitrary.

Korean is fastest growing language in India, thanks to Squid Game & K-pop, survey finds

English, Hindi, French and Spanish are the top four languages Indians are currently learning, according to survey by language learning app Duolingo.

Not just Sanskrit, Gujarati owes a lot to Arabic and Persian languages too

Words from ‘foreign’ languages like Arabic, Persian, and English used in spoken Gujarati were replaced with those derived from Sanskrit.

Iron tablets, polio-drug vials will soon come with labels in Hindi, other Indian languages

The proposal focuses on iron tablets and polio drops as they are the drugs most commonly administered to children at government centres.

Global Pulse: Bhutan’s balancing act, German party wants to defeat nativism with humour

While Doklam is diffused, it may well propel Bhutan out of its overreliance on India.

Nervous HRD ministry waves red flag as Niti Aayog panel stokes language row in Tamil Nadu

Panel appointed by Niti Aayog after a review of autonomous bodies by the Department of Education wants merger of Classical Tamil Institute with national body. ANUBHUTI VISHNOI

On Camera

Norway’s Modi cartoon was not satire. Just colonial laziness

Political satire is indispensable to democracy, racial caricature isn’t. If Europe’s liberal press still cannot tell difference, then decolonisation never happened in their imagination.

Recovery of unclaimed shares, dividends now takes days, not yrs. EAC-PM credits investor watchdog revamp

PM-EAC paper says overhaul of Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority system sharply improved processing speed and reduced paperwork for investors.

Dragon’s armour: How Xi reshaped China’s military with theatre commands a decade before India’s push

While India yet to set in motion theaterisation of armed forces, China's military reforms combined China’s Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force aimed at regional dominance & tight political control.

Pakistan is tactically brilliant, strategically disastrous. It’s primed for repeated blunders

Pakistan has ended up losing every war against India but that hasn’t prevented it from claiming victory. We will go over the evidence to anticipate what to expect next.