language

When I worked in English-language education and visited an advanced young-adult class in San José, I asked them what their biggest challenge to language...

As a U.S. citizen living in Costa Rica, I’m thinking of this Valentine’s Day almost like another Thanksgiving. At a time in history when...

Katherine Stanley Obando discusses bicultural family life, writing as a new parent, and why "manda huevo" is her ultimate Costa Rican phrase. Meet the author of The Tico Times' new book, "Love in Translation."

The name of Florida Ice & Farm Company's new beverage "Spik Up" leaves an aftertaste, when flavored with the history of its derogatory origins.

“Who's on First,” the famous dialogue by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello about baseball players with funny names, was first used in 1938 and...

“What’s so funny?” my husband asked as I cleaned coffee off our morning paper – the coffee I’d just spit up all over the...

If I had to choose, I'd say that the most colorful turns of phrase in the languages I know and love can be found in...

Fred Benenson is raising funds for an online tool that could translate even complex English sentences into emoji. Unlike other efforts in this vein, Benenson's "Emoji Translation Project" won't just match keywords to their equivalent symbols and sub the symbols in. Instead, it will work much like Google's high-powered translation engine.

She speaks for the president but few have ever heard her voice. Estefanía Carvajal, 28, is the first official Costa Rican sign language interpreter for Casa Presidencial.

In English, I'm a crotchety old-school grump. I am an editor and a former English teacher, and happily embody the worst qualities of both, brandishing a red pen and waging a warring battle against change. In Spanish, I have no such loyalties. I have the tone deafness of the second-language learner.