Do you feel – sophisticated, elegant, suave – when you speak French, or perhaps – curious, outgoing, and free – when you speak English? The results of the study published in the Journal of Research in Personality suggest that our perceptions of the culture associated with a given language can impact our behavior. READ MORE
There are plenty of museums that revolve around visual art — now words are finally getting their due. An interactive museum dedicated to words and language is opening on October 22, 2020, in Washington, DC. Planet Word is designed to educate visitors about language, with exhibits focusing on the spoken, sung, and written word. The 51,000-square-foot space is located inside the historic Franklin School in the heart of DC. READ MORE
It used to be – and not that very long ago – that the list of most important languages in the world to know would have been quite small. French, English, Spanish, and German would have made the list, plus a handful of others depending on where in Europe and Asia one lived. Accordingly, these were the languages most in demand by students across the world looking to extend their linguistic repertoire beyond their mother tongue either for career or cultural/personal reasons. READ MORE
Over the course of human history, thousands of languages have developed from what was once a much smaller number. How did we end up with so many? And how do we keep track of them all? Alex Gendler explains how linguists group languages into language families, demonstrating how these linguistic trees give us crucial insights into the past.
Love them or hate them, these are the newly created words and abbreviations on everyone’s lips, that is keyboards 🙂
Nowadays, our communication often happens online, so the Internet has developed almost its own language. This language is even more casual and has many abbreviations (shortenings of words and phrases). The English language on the Internet changes almost every day, as sayings, images and videos “go viral”.
Much of Internet slang is made up of abbreviations and shortenings, and some of the most commonly used Internet abbreviations are: READ MORE
“Before you visit Croatia you should know… Croatia will waste your time” is the message in the promotional video created by the Croatian Tourism Association, depicting the country’s national parks. The same message has been published on the Croatia Full of Life Facebook page, which has over 100,000 followers. Many have commented on the improper use of the English language by the administrators and the potential detrimental effect it may have on the image of Croatian tourism. READ MORE
Let’s zoom on the weirdest or most extraordinary languages of the real and fictional worlds. Discover the complexity of Yupik languages, the particularities of Caucasian Archi, spoken by only a thousand people, or dip into fantasy worlds through the Sindarin used by Elves or the Aklo of Lovecraft creatures.
A great way to travel from the upper to the lower worlds, via the two hemispheres of the real world! READ MORE