Planet Word

The latest "museum" to open in DC is called Planet Word and is completely dedicated to language(s).  We visited it today and it was wonderful: every exhibit is fully interactive, responds to inputs or uses multimedia. 

The main pic is of the talking wall of words, which explores the forces that shaped today English language. Early on, it was influenced by 1/3 Germanic words and 1/3 French words: no wonder English seemed easy to me (I grew up bilingual French/German) :) 

There are exhibits that explore how we learn language; some that allow you to test out other languages; some reveal the secrets of language in advertising; some explain how words can be humorous; and, some which depict the power of words (mis)used in the context of today's current events (see extra)

It was a fun and educational outing that I'd recommend to anyone in DC area :)