National Museum of Language

We express our thanks to Maryland Humanities and The National Endowment for the Humanities for the SHINE grant which will allow us to continue with our work and grow in the coming year.

The National Museum of Language honors and supports language acquisition, utilization and preservation, along with linguistic and cultural diversity. Through our outreach activities and online resources, we celebrate the magic and beauty of human communication.

See our virtual tour here.

Language News

Our Language Leadership Council shares news from around the world. See updates here.

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Members receive our newsletter and a free language course from Transparent language. Sponsorships are also available. See our support page.

Speaker Series

Our next speaker is Dr. Stephen Krashen, who will talk about The Amazing Effect of Self-selected Reading. The virtual event is April 8, 2023, from 2-4 pm. See our Speaker Series page for details.

A Virtual Cruise to Puerto Rico

Use your imagination to travel to Puerto Rico and explore the language, culture, food, music, natural beauty, and visual arts of the island. Board here for A Virtual Cruise to Puerto Rico

Pen and paper

The Power of Poetry: Resisting Injustice with Language

Songs and poems from many languages address five themes: Authoritarianism, Colonialism, Economics, Gender, and Identity/Ethnicity. Read and hear the poetry here.

Sharing our Stories

We have collected stories in 17 languages. Choose a country from our map to hear a story from that place. Listen to the stories for all ages here.

Teacher and students

Teacher’s Corner

Help for language teachers navigating new methods and resources for digital instruction.
See the blog here

Language of the Month

Each month we explore a language that is in the news or relevant to current events. Read here.

Virtual Field Trips

Explore our K-12 resources here.

Contact Us

You can see our contact information here. You can also contact us through this form.

Virtual Tour

Hear Stories from around the world in Sharing Our Stories.

Click on a location shown on the map below to see the stories from that location.

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Fanni is RadnĂłti's wife
Located near the Tang capital city of Chang’an, site of the modern city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province, in central China.
Soldiers of that time commonly wore a white head cloth, similar to what is still worn by some peasants in China today.  The implication is that the conscripts were so young that they didn’t know how to wrap their head cloths, and needed help from elders.
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
The area of Guanxi, meaning “west of the passes”, refers to the area around the capital city of Chang’an.
This is an alternative name for a province in western China, now known as Qinghai, which literally means “blue sea”.  Kokonor Lake, located in Qinghai, is the largest saline lake in China.  
Before China’s unification under the Qin dynasty in 221 B.C. there were several competing smaller kingdoms.  Han and Qin were two of these kingdoms. Han was located east of famous mountain passes that separated that area from the power base of the Qin dynasty, with its capital in Chang’an. The Qin dynasty itself only lasted about 15 years after unification due to its draconian rule, but soldiers under Qin rule retained a reputation as strong fighters.
Oulart Hollow was the site of a famous victory of the Irish rebels over British troops, which took place on May 27, 1798. The rebels killed nearly all the British attackers in this battle. (Source: Maxwell, W. H. History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798. H. H. Bohn, London 1854, pp 92-93, at archive.org)
The phrase "United Men" is elaborated upon in the Notes section below.

Ghetto

An Italian word meaning “foundry.” It originally referred to a part of the city of Venice where the Jews of that city were forced to live; the area was called “the ghetto” because there was a foundry nearby. The term eventually came to refer to any part of a city in which a minority group is forced to live as a result of social, legal, or economic pressure. Because of the restrictions placed upon them, ghetto residents are often impoverished.

"You’re five nine, I am do-uble two"

A reference to the year 1959 and the year 2020.

"The Currency"

Meaning US dollars - this is drawing attention to the fact that Cuba is effectively dollarized.

"Sixty years with the dom-ino stuck"

This sentence is a reference to the Cold War notion that countries would turn Communist one after the other - like dominos. Cuba was the first domino, but it got stuck - no one else followed through into communism.

رحلنا

رحلنا, or "rahalna," means "we have left."

Habibi

Habibi means "my love."

Ra7eel

Ra7eel, or "raheel," means "departure."

3awda

3awda, or "awda," means "returning."

أهلاً

أهلاً, or "ahalan," means "welcome."

a5 ya baba

a5 ya baba, pronounced "akh ya baba," means "Oh my father."

golpe

Treece translates "golpe" as "beating", which is correct, however misses the secondary meaning of the word: "coup".

Carlos

The “Carlos” referred to in the poem is most likely Carlos Bolsonaro, a politician from Rio de Janeiro and the second son of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s current president. His and his father’s involvement in Marielle’s murder has been questioned and investigated.