My sites
Categories
- Afrikaans
- Animal communication
- Arabic
- Basque
- Bilingualism
- Breton
- Brighton
- Catalan
- Chinese
- Conlangs
- Cornish
- Czech
- Danish
- Dictionaries
- Dutch
- Education
- Endangered languages
- English
- Esperanto
- Estonian
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Finnish
- French
- Galician
- General
- 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
- Music
- Norwegian
- Old Norse
- Persian (FarsI)
- Poetry
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Pronunciation
- Proto-Indo-European
- Puzzles
- Quiz questions
- Romanian
- Russian
- Sanskrit
- Scots
- Scottish Gaelic
- Sign language
- Similes
- Slovak
- Spanish
- Swedish
- Taiwanese
- Technology
- Tibetan
- Translation
- Travel
- Turkish
- Typography
- Uncategorized
- Vietnamese
- Welsh
- Words and phrases
- Writing
- Zulu
- Zulu
Archives
- 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: October 2007
Young polyglot
According to a Press Association article, a 10 year old British school boy has mastered ten languages, and is working on his eleventh. He grew up speaking Hindi and English, learnt Spanish, Italian, German and French at school, and has taught himself Thai, Swahili, Mandarin and Polish using CDs and DVDs, as part of a […]
Learn vocabulary in your own language
Today we have a guest post from James in Chile: I came across this website which helps the hungry as you build your word power and have been playing on it. It’s quite fun (I am at the level 45/46 out of 50 levels) and is the sort of thing I would LOVE to see […]
Language quiz
Here’s the first verse of a well-known song in a mystery language. Do you know or can you guess which language it is? Clue: this language is spoken in parts of North America.
Language quiz
Here’s a recording of part of a song in a mystery language. Any ideas which language it is?
Online language tests
Most online language tests I’ve come across seem to use be of the ‘fill in the blanks’ variety. Today I found an online Chinese test with some interesting variations on the theme. It’s divided into three sections, the first of which asks to choose where to place words, which you are given, in sentences. The […]
Give peas a chance
An interesting article in the Washington Post that I found today describes one way of encouraging kids to learn languages – through a shared task, in this case, shelling peas. The article’s author explains that her son was reluctant to learn her mother tongue, Hindi, until a visit to India when he was four years […]
Word of the day – holistic
I’ve just been listening to a very good radio adaptation of Douglas Adam’s novel, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and that got me wondering about the word holistic. In the novel, Dirk Gently explains that holistic refers to his belief in “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things”, a belief he applies in his work. He […]
Word of the day – fey
One of my correspondents asked me today whether I knew of any suitable translations of the English word fey, which has a number of meanings, including: – Having or displaying an otherworldly, magical, or fairy-like aspect or quality – Having visionary power; clairvoyant – Appearing touched or crazy, as if under a spell In Scots, […]
Language quiz
Here is a recording in a mystery language and in an unusual style. Can you name the language and/or the style of singing?
Name the language
Here is a short text in a mystery language sent in by Shair Ahmed. Do you know or can you guess which language it is? Tíobáhai hi báaiso kohoaihíaisóogabagaí. Tí ‘ísi báaiso ‘ogabagai, gíiai ‘ogihíaihiaba. Tíobáhai hi ‘ísi báaiso ‘oaboihaí. ‘Ahoakohoaihio ‘ísi kaopápihaí. Clue: the name of this language looks a bit fishy.