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Ich bin ein Hamburger (and Other Delicious German Demonyms) Posted by on May 23, 2016 in Archived Posts

Itchy Feet: Hamburgite

As you probably know, the English word “hamburger” has long caused confusion among children and the geographically impaired. After all, there’s no ham in a hamburger – it’s made of beef! How does that make sense? And what about wieners and franks? Why do hot dogs have so many odd names? The answer is both in…

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Ain’t Not Nothing: Double Negatives Posted by on May 16, 2016 in Archived Posts

The comic above is essentially a recreation of a true story, one which occurred in the 1950s at Colombia University. Renowned philosopher J.L. Austin was giving a lecture, and explained exactly what my coffee bean-shaped friend above explains: that in many languages, double negatives create positives, and in some, double negatives create negatives; but in…

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In Defense of Fearlessly Making Things Up Posted by on May 9, 2016 in Archived Posts

Itchy Feet: Frigid Consequences

Speaking a language is about communication, and communication is about successfully conveying a message. Ergo hence therefore (yes, I may have taken Logic 101 in college), speaking a language, foreign or not, is generally about finding the easiest way to deliver a message. Words in a language are specifically designed to be mutually comprehensible – the…

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Twist Your Tongue in 17 Languages Posted by on May 2, 2016 in Archived Posts

Lots of people have asked me for translations for the tongue twisters in the above comic, so before we continue, here they are, including transliterations so you can twist your tongues yourselves (remember to say them five times fast!): 1. French: Les chaussettes de l’archi-duchesse, sont-elles sèches ou archi-sèches? (The socks of the arch-duchess, are they dry…

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Staying Positive While Learning a Language Posted by on Apr 25, 2016 in Archived Posts

Itchy Feet: Relativity

There are lots of reasons to be negative when learning a new language. It takes too long, it’s too hard, other people are better than you, none of the software or products or apps or methods you’ve bought are working, nobody wants to talk to you, the language is hard to pronounce, nobody understands you…

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Amuse Your Friends: We’ve All Got to Do It Posted by on Apr 18, 2016 in Archived Posts

We’ve all been here – we’re learning a language, our casual friends or distant relatives learn about this and are tickled pink to hear us say something in that crazy, weird foreign language. Either it goes like in the comic above, or it goes something like this: Your friend: “Say something in [language you’re learning]!” You: “I…

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Language and Body Language Posted by on Apr 11, 2016 in Archived Posts

Itchy Feet: Cheer Up

Now, this may come as some surprise to you, but I suppose everyone’s got to learn sometime, so here goes: languages come out of a person’s mouth, and a person’s mouth is attached to their body. Furthermore, if you can believe it, the way the person poses and positions the various appendages and external parts of their body…

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