John Gordon Ross

Almost everyone uses language, so inevitably almost everyone thinks they are an expert in it. I don’t consider myself an expert, though most of my work requires at least language competence and sometimes actual skill, but I do follow the blogs featured on this feeds page.

(If you are wondering where the translation-related feeds have all gone, I have put them on their own page.)

Most of the blogs represented here are in English, most of the time, but don’t be surprised to find other languages used. Go with the flow – I occasionally find myself pleasantly surprised at how much I can grasp in languages I have never seen before.

Language On the Net

Omniglot blog » Why Staying Motivated When Learning a Language is So Hard

Monday 22 December 20:37:21 UTC 2014

Have you ever got excited about learning to speak a language? I mean REALLY excited. Maybe you met a beautiful girl or a hot guy from another country. Maybe you heard a song in a foreign language that sounds so good it touches your soul. Or maybe you bought this new language learning book/program that looks very promising. And every … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » baker's block

Monday 22 December 8:00:00 UTC 2014

When you want to bake everything, but can't decide on anything. -"Sweet or savoury?" -"I DONT KNOW!" -"You're not helping my baker's block!" [Link]

Language Log » Miracle

Monday 22 December 3:33:11 UTC 2014

This signpost is from a building near the subway station closest to Nathan Hopson's apartment in Nagoya: The bottom sign is for "Kitchen Miracle". I am impressed with the kanji chosen to be read mirakuru ミラクル: 味(mi み)楽(raku らく)留(ru る), which implies, "stay [a while] (留), [enjoy the] taste (=food) (味), and have fun (楽, here as 楽しむ (tanoshimu たのしむ), … [Link]

languagehat.com » Aksakov on Angling.

Monday 22 December 1:44:55 UTC 2014

When I finished Anastasia Marchenko (see this post), I started an early novel by Saltykov but found it tediously ideological and gave up after a few chapters. (I expect this to become an increasingly severe problem as I approach the 1860s; that’s one reason I’m happy to linger in 1847.) I then read Alexander Druzhinin‘s «Полинька Сакс» (Polinka Saks ); it … [Link]

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