Over a midmorning breakfast of waffles with whipped cream and bananas, Sonja Elen Kisa provides a crash course on her invented language, Toki Pona - "the simple language of good." Take the phrase ...

In Chinese, the word computer translates directly as electric brain. In Icelandic, a compass is a direction-shower, and a microscope a small-watcher. In Lakota, horse is literally dog of wonder. These ...