Hi, everyone. From today I will no longer be posting here at this site – Lingual Life has a new home. Head over to http://www.linguallife.com to check out the new site. Let me know what you think of it! Everything from here has been moved over there, so there’s no need to ever come back here … Continue reading
Author Archives: Liv | Lingual Life
Language quote
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Continue reading
When you should translate literally
On Saturday we spoke about how translating literally makes things harder when learning a new language. Today I wanted to share one time when I think literal translations can actually be helpful to a language learner. This is mainly useful in the very early stages of a new language, and should only be used when needed. … Continue reading
Wednesday Word – Boxing Day
Okay, so this week’s Wednesday Word is two words. Today is Boxing Day here in Australia, and I believe in most Commonwealth countries. The term originated in England in the 1800s, but the exact origin is unknown. What is known is that people would give presents to their equals on Christmas Day and the lower … Continue reading
Quick language tip – instruction manuals
With Christmas tomorrow, a lot of people are going to wake up to new electronics and the like. Chances are, these were made for companies who trade in lots of different countries and – see where I’m going with this? – in lots of different languages. If you’re learning a popular language like Spanish chances … Continue reading
The trouble with translating literally
When I asked a week or so ago on Facebook for everyone’s struggles with learning languages, Chirag mentioned he had trouble when trying to translate between his native language and his target language. I wanted to talk a little bit about that today. Often when translating from one language to another, the impulse is to … Continue reading
Language learning at school needs an overhaul
It’s no secret that school language classes suck. I’m yet to meet someone who finished high school and had any sort of proficiency in the language they’d spent the last six years ‘learning’. If I had anything to do with it, the way we go about teaching kids languages would change dramatically. I don’t know … Continue reading
Our Language in Your Hands
Our Language in Your Hands is a three part series on BBC Radio that concluded yesterday. Its host, Mark Turin, is a linguist and anthropologist who visits different places, studying and bringing awareness to endangered languages. Most endangered languages are indigenous languages that have very few speakers. This makes it very difficult to save these … Continue reading
Swedish language update
It’s been about three weeks since I decided to tackle the Swedish language. So far it’s going pretty well. Slowly, but well. I don’t mind at all – I’m not trying to become fluent in three months, or six months, or twelve months. I’m just going to spend as long as it takes and not … Continue reading
Language quote
You can never understand one language until you understand at least two Geoffrey Willans Continue reading
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