Language is not just a collection of words; it is a reflection of the culture, beliefs, and values of its speakers. When someone sets out to learn a new language, the journey begins with mastering the vocabulary. Without a strong grasp of the words, understanding a language is nearly impossible. Once vocabulary is acquired, learners […]
Author: morausky
Best Online TOEFL Courses in 2024
As the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) continues to be a key requirement for non-native English speakers seeking admission to universities and colleges around the world, choosing the right preparation course is crucial. With numerous online options available in 2024, it can be challenging to determine which course will best suit your […]
How can I learn English at home
Learning English, one of the most widely spoken languages globally, opens doors to communication, education, and career opportunities. While traditional classroom settings are effective, many individuals prefer the flexibility and convenience of learning at home. Fortunately, with dedication and the right resources, mastering English from the comfort of your own home is entirely achievable. Here’s […]
How I Find My Ideal Online Language Teachers
Some of you may have read my previous blog post I wrote after having 1000 lessons on Italki. After spending so much of my time learning languages online (on skype usually), I am now well aware of what kind of teacher I need and when it’s time to find a new one. My requirements for an online […]
History of languages: from Argh to Zillions of languages
Many thousands of years ago, on a bright Wednesday afternoon, we, little humans, have started uttering mumbles, grunts and groans. Meaningful ones, I mean. It was so long ago though that no oral tradition nor, even less, any written record of our speaking debut can be retrieved. As a matter of fact, if you ask […]
Language families: deep roots into our past
I firmly believe that at the beginning were several Babel towers. I trust our human ancestors for having invented language from scratch several times around in different places of the globe at about the same period of time. With the power of their awakening intelligence, several groups of humans must have each developed their own […]
The hardest language to learn depends a lot on who is learning
In French, you say C’est du chinois (litterally, ‘It’s Chinese’) when you want to express how much what you’ve heard or read is just so unintelligible. A few hundreds years ago, French people were saying C’est de l’hébreu (‘It’s Hebrew’). In English, you say ‘It’s all Greek to me’. In Swedish, you say Det är […]
Boustrophedon writing: an ancient, backwards way
Boustrophedon writing is a technique that consists in not starting every line over from the same side: the hand goes from left to right, then very logically from right to left on the next line, then again from left to right on the next line and so on. Boustrophedon was mostly used in ancient times. […]
Languages of the world: thousands of treasures to explore
More than six billion nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine other people than you live on Earth. Most of them are multilingual; they speak more than one language, but hopefully not all at the same time and everybody manages to understand each other even though sometimes there may of course be a few […]
Fictional languages: especially created for a movie or novel
Fictional languages are languages created from scratch for the sole purpose of being integrated into a book or a movie. The fact that some authors go to the length of creating whole new languages says a lot about their dedication to the rendering of the fictions. In the first decade of the 20th century, Marcel […]