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Çapuling
(Apologies for being slow in taking account of this important neologism.) Connor Adams Sheets, "What Is Capuling? 'Everyday I'm Çapuling' Turkish Protest Video Goes Viral", International Business Times 6/4/2013: "Everyday I'm Çapuling!"...Show More Summary
Why I’m a Humanist after a decade of serendipitous and wonderful travel experiences
I’ve hinted to it in various blog posts, and said it directly in my most recent travel one; I’m not religious or an “atheist”. Since the word atheist gets a little bad rep (it sounds to some like anti-theist or that your life philosophy revolves around opposing religion), the title I prefer is Humanist. This [...]Show More Summary
Mandarin by the numbers
As spectacularly demonstrated by this YouTube video, it is amazing how much one can say in Mandarin simply by punning with numbers alone: We've heard about speaking in tongues or glossolalia. Perhaps we could call this "speaking in numbers" or "numerolalia". Yet this is not babbling in numbers; it really conveys intelligible meaning. I doubt that [...]
The 23 strangest habits you’ll pick up after living in 23 different countries
I have lived in twenty one countries; that's lived as in, spent at least a month (usually three, and over a year in some) in the country where I invested serious time into speaking its language (or already spoke its language on arrival)...Show More Summary
The Art of Making Mistakes – How and why mistakes help you to learn languages (Guest post by Luca)
“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.”
—Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM
Making mistakes is a fundamental part of every cognitive process, whether solving a math...Show More Summary
The bouncer at the national door: the Australian citizenship test
The Australian citizenship test has been with us since 2007, but is it doing more than just quizzing future Aussies on their knowledge of our form of government, our sporting legends and our public holidays? Linguistics student Ben Purser asks some questions of his own.
Fused relative clauses with who
While exploring the history of "hippie punching", I came across this passage: One day when I was but a young boy, I was walking down the street with my dad to the hardware store. He suddenly stopped, crossed the street and punched a man. When he returned, I ask, "Father, why did you punch that man?" He [...]
Schibboleth
STORIES say that during the second world war, Dutch soldiers used the name of the seaside resort Scheveningen as a shibboleth to identify German soldiers in their midst. German soldiers would pronounce the first three letters "sch" as "sh", following German sound rules. Show More Summary
Sound Rehab: A 5-Point Program for Kicking Your Visual-Addiction
It’s time for another post from Fi3M’s most regular guest contributor, Idahosa Ness! In today’s post, he tackles this “I’m a visual learner” claim that many, including myself, have made and gives some great ideas to make the switch and embrace the beautiful audio-based aspect of language learning and helping us break our “addiction” to [...]Show More Summary
‘What did you see? I didn’t quite hair you...’
even toddlers can understand a foreign accent We all know how difficult it can be to understand somebody who is speaking in a different accent to our own. This is hard enough as an adult at times, but imagine what it must be like for a child who is just in the process of learning language and pronunciation. Show More Summary
#TEDLesson – Jay Walker: The world’s English learning mania
Talk Summary:
Is learning English so important? Why? How come the Chinese are obsessed with improving their English? What opportunities does it bring? Jay Walker discusses.
To view the official TED transcript of Jay Walker’s speech please click here.
Lesson Material:
‘Let’s talk about manias.’
1. “Mania” is a noun. Show More Summary
Biden at Penn: did the Vice President insult the Chinese nation?
The Tea Leaf Nation online magazine posted this article on May 19, 2013: "VP Biden’s Penn Commencement Speech Inspires Viral Rant by ‘Disappointed’ Chinese Student." The article, by Xiaoying Zhou, offers an excellent account of this tempest in a teapot (as it were), and the comments that follow it are also germane. Still, a [...]
“Hacking language learning”: My new and improved TEDx talk that includes the best polyglot videos online. Please share!!
I really hope this new and improved TEDx talk will get lots of views, inspire many new language learners and even be considered to be used in the main TED stream to ultimately reach millions!
Even though you may be well aware of my language...Show More Summary
The enigmatic language of the new Windows 8 ads
Everybody has been puzzling over the language of the series of online ads for Windows 8 that it recently released in Asia. Seattle Times: "Those weird and wacky Windows 8 ads: What language are they in?" Forbes: "Microsoft's Asian Windows 8 Ads Are Relatively Insane" Mashable: "Windows 8 Releases Kooky Ads in Asia — But in What Language?" Native [...]
Newt Gingrich, Whorfian theorist
Barbara Scholz died exactly two years ago today. Had she lived, I would have been drawing her attention to Newt Gingrich's latest YouTube video "We're Really Puzzled". Not because she would have liked this latest Gingrichian piece of Republican-oriented self-promotion (she would have hated it), but because he appears to be flirting with what [...]
#TEDlessons – Susan Cain: The power of introverts
Talk Summary:
In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and...Show More Summary
THE QUEST FOR G.
A Wordorigins.org thread started with the simple question: "The song, Sidewalks of New York has the line Some are up in 'G,' meaning, apparently, successful. What might be the origin of this phrase?" An excellent question to which you'd...Show More Summary
40+ FREE online language learning resources: Most comprehensive and up to date list of courses, communities, exchanges and more!
The great thing about blogging, compared to traditional print media, is that you can update posts as often as you like. With that in mind, I've decided to make this the go-to page for the most comprehensive list of completely free online...Show More Summary
The performing black folks next door
INTERNET memes rarely hit and then provoke counter-reaction to this fast. First, watch this video, whether or not you know the context. Now, the context. Three women had been missing in Cleveland for a decade. The man here, Charles Ramsey, rescued them after hearing a cry for help from a front door in his neighborhood. Show More Summary
#TEDlessons – Steve Jobs: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.
Talk Summary:
In his famous speech to Stanford University graduates in 2005, Steve Jobs talks about three different stories from his life: Connecting the dots, Love and loss, and Death. English Trackers highlights some of the notable vocabulary Jobs uses in his speech. Show More Summary
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