Language supposedly has all these rules.

Most of us never have to think about those rules, but the hidden hand of language guides

nearly every interaction we have with other people, determining whether we connect, entertain,

confuse, insult, or dazzle the people we communicate with.

In Radio Lingo, the new podcast from Duo Lingo and Crooked Media, we explore how language

shapes our world and how our world shapes language.

I'm Amadella Yuckbure.

I'm an audio journalist and James Beard Award winning writer.

I am an awe-v language.

It's complexity and it's simplicity.

The way we can use it to create both distance and understanding.

I'm going to be your guide.

Join us as we take you on a linguistic journey.

From Crooked Media and Duo Lingo, this is Radio Lingo.

New episodes of Tuesdays on your favorite podcast apps.

It was September 2019 and 17-year-old Leticia Dubois was in her classroom, anxiously waiting

for a guest teacher to show up.

That day, Leticia and her classmates would find out everything about the big exam they

had to take to graduate high school, the baccalaureate, or as the French say, le bac.

Leticia felt that her entire life depended on this exam.

A lot of French students feel this way.

In France, teenagers have to pick a path in life really young and there aren't a lot

...