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The Technology of LinguistsThe New York Times discusses the tools linguists use in their attempts to document and preserve language. The relationship between linguistics and technology goes deeper than what format the sounds are recorded in. Dr. Childs, who remembers working with computers as large as a room when he was a doctoral student, said that theories of language often shaped themselves to resemble the tools at hand. In the beginning, he said, linguists imagined that the mind processed language with many rules and little in storage. “What happened over time was that more and more stuff was moved into the lexicon, was listed there, and that sort of paralleled developments in the computer industry of storage getting cheaper,” he said. Tags: linguistics, technology
Learning the Cyrillic AlphabetMany students of Russian find themselves immediately challenged by the Cyrillic alphabet. It’s an important obstacle to overcome, so here are some tips to help make Cyrillic a little less intimidating.... More Tags: alphabet, Cyrillic, newsletter, Russian, tips
The Two Food Phrases You Should Know in ChinaThe phrase How are you? is so boring, no? And really, who ever answers that truthfully? No, I’m terrible actually, thanks for asking. Instead, try out this common Mandarin Chinese greeting (click on the Play button for audio):... More Tags: Chinese, etiquette, food, vocabulary
When a “Rainy Day” Is a Good Thing …Did you know that water holds a significant place in Iranian culture? Most of central Iran is arid; therefore most Iranian cities are built on the edge of deserts near rivers. Still, the dry climate has made Iranians appreciate water. Some Iranians even celebrate Jashne Tirgan (The Rain Festival) on July 1st.... More Tags: culture, Farsi, Iran, newsletter, Persian
That “Aha!” MomentLanguage learning can be hard work, with plenty of frustrating times when you just feel like you’re not making any progress at all. But every once in a while, you have what we like to call an “aha!” moment, when something just clicks, and you know you’ve actually crossed some threshold, large or small. Here are two examples:... More Tags: France, French, newsletter, story, Zulu
Yamli: A Great Tool for Typing in ArabicIf you’ve ever tried to type in Arabic, you know it’s not necessarily the easiest thing in the world. You can insert Arabic letters using the Insert Symbol menu in Word, but that’s pretty tedious. There are also virtual Arabic keyboards out there, such as this one, which allows you to use your own keyboard, or this one, which allows you to use your mouse to click on virtual keys. In both cases, you can copy the text you produce and paste it somewhere else.... More Tags: Arabic, Arabic script, learning Arabic, Yamli
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