From this week, alongside more common languages such as French, English, Arabic and Chinese, Bing Translator users will also be able to convert text to and from Klingon. The fictional language, spoken by characters in the Star Trek movie and television franchise, was created by American linguist Marc Okrand, who, as well as consulting on the film series and serving as a voice coach for actors portraying Klingon characters, has also written two books, including a dictionary, about the language.

The Language Council of Sweden said Tuesday it had removed the word "ungoogleable" from its 2012 list of new words because it refused to give in to the US company's demands to include the word Google in the definition. The list of new words in the Swedish language came out in December, including the term "ogooglebar", which was defined as something "which cannot be found on the Internet with the use of a search engine." The Language Council said Google had since then repeatedly contacted it to insist that the definition include a mention of the company's name.

A T-shirt company has issued an apology for advertising tops with slogans such as "Keep Calm and Rape A Lot" and "Keep Calm and Kill Her", with its founder saying Wednesday the firm may go under. Solid Gold Bomb said the offensive lines were created via an automated computer process which relied on online dictionaries to create the versions of the slogans based on the British World War II motto "Keep Calm and Carry On".

Even before they can talk, infants as young as seven months who grow up in bilingual homes acquire a special ability to distinguish between languages, researchers said on Thursday.  Scientists are still baffled by the mechanics of language learning, and how bilingual infants master their mother tongues as efficiently as monolinguals do.