Learn Japanese Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji: The Three Infamous Japanese "Alphabets" Do you remember your first day in Japanese class? I still do. All the excitement and expectations of how the class was going to be. After greeting us, our teacher’s first question
History Shibboleths: Words Intended to be Mispronounced Did you know that there are words which physically cannot be pronounced by speakers of other languages? And that these words can be used to identify such people in critical situations? These words
Learn Spanish Spanish Pronouns: When to use “Tú” and “Usted” You’re just starting out on your language journey… then you Google how to say “how are you?” and realize there’s more than one way to say you in Spanish. Fear not,
Productivity Mini Habits: A More Reliable Way to Build Good Habits So you’re trying to build a new habit, and it’s not going so well. But why is that?Many people learning a new language struggle to make learning a part of
History Why an Ancient Roman Wouldn’t Recognize Their Own Alphabet Today We’ve previously covered the history of the Latin script and how it came to life: How it evolved from the Greek alphabet, which in turn was derived from the Old Phoenician writing
Culture Phatic Expressions: The Importance of "Meaningless" Things In one of the dialogs from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”, Gandalf, despite having lived on Middle Earth for over 3,000 years, failed to understand the meaning of a simple
Vocabulary Language Learning Basics: How to Learn Vocabulary Learning vocabulary is a significant part of language learning. A lot of learners believe mastering vocabulary is the key to fluency, and thus spend most of their time on learning new words and
English Why English Spelling Is Such a Mess English is the most popular foreign language in the world. It is learned in nearly every country in the world, starting from the first grade, and it is the language most people resort
Grammar Grammatical Case: What It Is and Why English (Almost) Doesn't Need It Many languages of the world depend on a structural feature that you might never have heard of: a grammatical case system. If you’re learning such a language, learning it well is important,
History Volapük: The Would-be Language of the World In one of our previous articles, we discussed the most well-known and widespread constructed language in the world: Esperanto. Despite not achieving its initial goal of becoming the main means of international communication,
Learn Esperanto Esperanto: The Birth (and Failure) of a Language In one of our previous articles, we stated that languages are living organisms. They get born, they live, grow, and change over time. Eventually, they pass away, making space for others. This happened
Learn Spanish Spanish Impersonal Verbs: How, When and Why to Use Them Have you ever wondered if there’s a way to say something in Spanish without being too direct or hurting someone? Or how to hint to someone that something needs to be done
Learn Chinese 8 Great Movies to Learn Mandarin Chinese (plus quotes!) Many new language learners underestimate how much practice time they’ll need to master Chinese. You’re off to a great start if you’ve taken a course in Chinese or gone through
History Latin's Lifespan: How Do Languages Die Out? The influence of the Roman Empire on our modern civilization cannot be underestimated: Europe’s judicial systems, scientific traditions, and literature can all be traced back to the ancient world. Their language also
alphabet Your Alphabet: The History of the Latin Script The Latin script is the most commonly used writing system in the world. In brief:Most European languages use this alphabet A good portion of Asian and African ones do, tooMost Native American
