Critics accused Trump of being ignorant and offensive after he appeared surprised to hear the President of Liberia speak English well—despite English being the African nation’s official language.

The response to English-language remakes of foreign-language films is usually something along the lines of, "Why?" If there is already a great film that exists, why not just leave it as is ...

This is in part because of the language barrier for the Russian — although his English is better than ever — and in part because of his more guarded personality.

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with John McWhorter, Columbia University linguist and New York Times columnist about the recent Merriam-Webster declaration that English sentences may end with prepositions.

"If you try to learn to read in English, and you don't have a good phonological awareness – an awareness for the sounds of spoken language – it can lead to massive difficulties," says Landerl.