Archive for September, 2010
Sep
Sep
Do you want to learn to swear in a foreign language?
Okay, we all know those cretins who seem to know the swear words in every language, but don’t know how to say hello, please, or thank you in even one foreign langauge. And we probably also know those judgmental prudes who refuse to ever learn any swear words because they don’t want to seem untame,…
Sep
Sep
Beginner’s guide to Russian nonsense
Into every conversation, a little nonsense must fall. And it should come as no surprise that a rich language like Russian is rich with nonsense!
Sometimes there’s just not a word to express what you want to say. Other times words are too long. And besides, when one little grunt can get your message across,…
Sep
Sep
Do fun things while you learn
One of the best ways to kill progress in a language is, of course, to make it boring. And likewise, one of the best ways to keep your interest in a language is to do things with it that are fun and/or interesting. Here are a few fun things I do in Italian.…
Sep
Sep
Ci, Vi, and Ne
We’ve learned about the reflexive pronouns ci and vi, and the partitive pronoun ne, but the Italian pronouns ci, vi, and ne… all have secret powers that other pronouns don’t have. Can you guess what it is?
Sep
Sep
Learning how to say thanks
One of the simplest things I do in foreign languages also happens to be the one that people seem to find most impressive: simply saying “thanks”. The trick is, doing it in their language.…
Sep
Sep
The next evolution of communication
Technology continues to reshape the way we communicate, and recently that has gotten me thinking about what that might mean for me. What’s coming? What’s already here? What else is on its way? The last month has seen big news from several different directions, all of which seem (at least to me) to be related.…
Sep
Sep
A fun way to strengthen your Italian speaking skills no matter where you are
One of my philosophies in life is the idea that doing things which are difficult makes it easier to do things that aren’t. And naturally this can be applied to tasks like learning a foreign language!…
Sep
Sep
Мои пальчики писали, мои пальчики устали!
Each language feels different when it hits your ear, and feels strange as it exits your mouth — often leaving your tongue twisted into a new, uncomfortable shape! But one other difference that might not be so obvious is the way it “feels” to type in that language.
I’m a touch-typist. I’ve grown up with…
Sep
Sep
Germanic languages – you might be surprised!
Learning a new language within the same language branch as another language you already know is much easier than learning something within a completely different branch or family. And knowing a central language in a language branch also makes it easier to understand things you see and hear in another language from that language branch,…
Sep
Sep
The worst language I’ve ever seen
I’ve complained about some other languages, and I’ve had a lot to say about one in particular, but there is one language I know of which is, in my opinion, worse than all others. When I think of all the ways to make a language difficult, this one has most of them, along with a…