麻豆社

For half a century, Myanmar was cut off from most of the outside world. As a result, censorship and limited access to global media stunted the evolution of the Burmese language, leaving it without many words. Now, as the country embraces change, many foreign words are being imported, but their meanings are getting lost in translation. Justin Watkins is professor of Burmese at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London

(Photo: Buddhist devotees at Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon, 2015. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images)