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
Language Log » Tones and the brain
People are always trying to exoticize things Chinese. Now comes this article with the sensationalistic and patently suspect headline: "If you speak Mandarin, your brain is different" (2/24/15) This is based on the following paper: Jianqiao Ge, Gang Peng, Bingjiang Lyu, Yi Wang, Yan Zhuo, Zhendong Niu, Li Hai Tang, Alexander P. Leff, and, Jia-Hong Gao, "Cross-language differences in the … [Link]
Wordorigins.org » National Grammar Day
I don’t celebrate National Grammar Day. I think the idea is silly and anathema to true language lovers, and I don’t think I’ve ever even mentioned it on this website before. But Dennis Baron at the University of Illinois has a blog post that I think perfectly captures the true meaning of National Grammar Day. [Discuss this post] [Link]
Language Log » Autocomplete strikes again
I think I know how an unsuitable but immensely rich desert peninsula got chosen by FIFA (the international governing body for major soccer tournaments) to host the soccer World Cup in 2022. First, a personal anecdote that triggered my hypothesis about the decision. I recently sent a text message from my smartphone and then carelessly slipped it into my pocket … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Building up gradually
I often see that when starting a new project, such as learning a language, we often commit ourselves to studying of a certain amount of time every day or every week – it might be an hour a day or at least 10 hours a week, for example. There’s nothing wrong with this, and if you’re very self-disciplined and consistent … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » captain's call
A decision made unilaterally by a team leader without consulting colleagues, often a massive clusterfuck. Malcolm: Shouldn't we have a discussion about big decisions like this? Tony: Nope, it's my call, I'm captain. Malcolm: Yeah that's a right captain's call that is.
[Link]
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.