My sites
Categories
- Afrikaans
- Animal communication
- Arabic
- Basque
- Bilingualism
- Breton
- Brighton
- Bulgarian
- Catalan
- Chinese
- Conlangs
- Cornish
- Czech
- Danish
- Dictionaries
- Dutch
- Education
- Endangered languages
- English
- Esperanto
- Estonian
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Film
- Finnish
- French
- Galician
- General
- Georgian
- German
- Grammar
- Greek
- Gujarati
- Hawaiian
- Hebrew
- Hindi
- Hungarian
- Identity
- Idioms
- Inuktitut
- Irish
- Italian
- Japanese
- Javanese
- Korean
- Language
- Language acquisition
- Language exchange
- Language learning
- Language revival
- Latin
- Linguistics
- Literacy
- Literature
- Luxembourgish
- Malay
- Manx
- Maori
- Memory
- Motivation
- Music
- Norwegian
- Occitan
- Old Norse
- Persian (Farsi)
- Poetry
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Pronunciation
- Proto-Indo-European
- Puzzles
- Quiz questions
- Romanian
- Russian
- Sanskrit
- Sardinian
- Scots
- Scottish Gaelic
- Serbian
- Sign language
- Similes
- Slovak
- Songs
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Swedish
- Taiwanese
- Technology
- Tibetan
- Toki Pona
- Translation
- Travel
- Turkish
- Typography
- Uncategorized
- Vietnamese
- Welsh
- Words and phrases
- Writing
- Yiddish
- Zulu
Archives
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
Meta
Monthly Archives: November 2006
Spot the difference
Can you spot the difference between the following two Urdu words? If your house was on fire and you had to jump out of the window, which of the above would you prefer to land on? One of these words means cushion (gadda), the other donkey (gadha), and they got mixed up in the Urdu […]
Share this:
Polyglot language exchange
I came across another useful site for language learners today – Polyglot, which describes itself as a ‘free language exchange community’ where you can ‘learn languages and make friends’. The site apparently has over 100,000 members. As well as finding online language exchange partners and penpals, you can also use the site to set up […]
Share this:
Head over heels
When you’re head over heels about something or someone it means that you’re very excited, and/or turning cartwheels to demonstrate your excitement. This idiom is often used in the phrase ‘head over heels in love with’. It was probably first used in the 14th century, when it was ‘heels over head’, which makes more sense. […]
Share this:
Name the language
As yesterday’s quiz question was too easy, I’ve decided to give you an extra one that’s a bit harder today. Here’s a recording of a different mystery language. Can you identify the language? No clues this time.
Share this:
Name the language
Here’s a recording of a poem in a mystery language. Can you work out what language it is? Clues: this language is spoken in Europe by a small number of people in a mountainous area.
Share this:
Fireworks
Tomorrow is Bonfire Night in the UK, a time when there are many firework displays, and large bonfires upon which we burn guys – effigies of Guy Fawkes, who was part of a failed plot to blow up the British parliament on 5th November 1605. Quite a lot of fireworks are being set off tonight […]
Share this:
Word of the day – rio
Today’s word, rio, means frost, freezing or ice in Manx, and river in Portuguese. In Spanish, río means river, stream, torrent, lengthy, long-lasting, epic or interminable. Related Manx words and phrases riojey = ice up, freeze, frost, icing rioeeagh = frosty rioghar = icicle rioee = glacial crammag rio = ice hockey (lit. “ice snail”) […]
Share this:
Fun languages
Many years ago while travelling in China, I heard Norwegian being spoken for the first time when I met some Norwegians in Guangzhou. To me their language sounded sort of familiar and quite funny – a bit like German being spoken by very drunk people. Danish and Swedish sound similar to me and I think […]
Share this:
Time capsules
A while ago I came across an interesting language learning-related idea but then promptly forgot where it was. I finally found it again today here. The idea is that you record yourself speaking the language(s) you’re learning every so often, then go back to the recordings later to see how much progress you’ve made. These […]