NPR Podcasts
@nprpodcasts·2.4K videos

Make life harder (and better): Learn another language. | It's Been a Minute

Posted

February 16, 2026

Views

6,553

Likes

279

Comments

22

Engagement

4.59%

Search the Record

Indexed

Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.

Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.

Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line

YouTube Description

as posted by the channel

Translation tech has improved a lot. So why learn a language?

A lot of people around the world speak English. For those who don’t, AirPods offer live translation and Google Translate can fill in gaps, too. So as Englishspeakers, why learn a second language? Well, it’s hard but translation can miss a lot of cultural understanding. Brittany is joined by Emily Kwong () , cohost of NPR’s science podcast Short Wave () , to explore why putting your brain through learning a new language offers surprising benefits and opportunities for connection.

Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus. ()

Follow Brittany on Instagram@bmluse ()

For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub () .

See pcm.adswizz.com () for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy ()

Guests & Subjects Covered

Make life harder (and better)English ForGoogle TranslateEmily KwongShort WaveFollow BrittanyNPRs Pod ClubNPR Privacy Policy

Sentinel Indexing in Progress

Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.

All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.

Make life harder (and better): Learn another language. | It's Been a Minute · NPR Podcasts · Sentinel