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 » Good to know
According to my iPhone-bearing sources, iOS 10.0.2 Addresses an issue that could prevent headphone audio controls from temporarily not working I hate it when audio controls are prevented from temporarily not working, don't you? The obligatory screenshot: 
[h/t Stewart Nicol] Update — turns out the confusing announcement may have been the result of cognitive overload caused by intense embarrassment: Last … [Link]
Language Log » Annals of Spectacularly Misleading Media
If you were scanning science-related stories in the mass media over the past 10 days or so, you saw some extraordinary news. A few examples: "Scientists discover a ‘universal human language’". "The hidden sound patterns that could overturn years of linguistic theory" ("In a surprising new study, researchers have uncovered powerful associations between sounds and meanings across thousands of unrelated … [Link]
Omniglot blog » Freshness
This week is Welcome Week at Bangor University when new students arrive for the first time, register, join clubs and societies, some of which they’ll actually go to, and so on. It’s also known as Freshers’ Week and the new students are known as freshers, though after this week, they’re generally known as first years. I understand that in the … [Link]
Urban Word of the Day » nfi
No Fucking Idea The manager has NFI of the work that goes on around here…
[Link]
Language Log » Chinese restaurant shorthand
Yixue Yang went to the Ting Wong Restaurant 天旺大饭店 in Philadelphia's Chinatown the other day. Here's the order the waiter took down: 
If you're not in the Chinese restaurant business, you probably won't be able to decipher what the two dishes Yixue and her friend ordered were: chāshāo yā fàn 叉烧鸭饭 ("barbecued pork and [roast] duck on rice") niúnǎn fàn … [Link]
Language Log » Changing usages in Japanese
[This is a guest post by Nathan Hopson] NHK reported yesterday on the recently released results of the Agency for Cultural Affairs' annual survey of the changing uses of Japanese. This year, the survey of 3500 men and women 16 and up received responses from 54%. The most interesting results reflected the impact of online and SMS language use by … [Link]
languagehat.com » Erard on Australian Languages.
My favorite reporter on linguistic issues, Michael Erard, has a fine Science piece about recent studies of Australian languages and the controversies they help address; after surveying some of the problems (the members of the hypothetical Pama-Nyungan family have lots of similarities but few cognates), he writes: Now, a new generation of researchers is attacking the problem, and a small … [Link]
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