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French Wine and Quality Language Learning Posted by Malachi Rempen on Mar 9, 2015 in Archived Posts
Everyone knows the French love their wine. When I lived in Lyon back in 2011, I was constantly surprised by the incredible care that even the tiniest corner store took to stock their shelves full to burst with the widest possible wine selection. In some places, I’d be willing to bet my baguette that over…
Singing the Tongue-Song: Accents and Cadence Posted by Malachi Rempen on Feb 16, 2015 in Archived Posts
I wonder sometimes whether skill with accents can be learned or if it’s just innate—you have it or you don’t, like the ability to keep a beat. If I were to guess, I’d say it has to do with a totally different part of the brain than grammar or vocabulary. Maybe the same part of…
Remember Better with Toons and Tunes Posted by Malachi Rempen on Jan 26, 2015 in Archived Posts
The comic above was a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. When I drew it, I thought I’d just get a laugh out of imagining what different Asian scripts might look like. Since then, though, it’s actually helped me out quite a bit identifying which written language I’m looking at. For instance, thanks to this comic, I…
English: Germany’s Unofficial Second Language Posted by Malachi Rempen on Jan 12, 2015 in Archived Posts
I’ve already written about the ubiquity of English around the world and what you, if you’re a native English speaker, can do about it, but I feel there’s more to say about Germany. Germany is a special case. Much like Holland, Finland, and the Scandinavian countries, Germans seem to inhale English like they do beer…
Entering the Grammar Cave Posted by Malachi Rempen on Dec 17, 2014 in Archived Posts
“Grammar Cave: Curse of the Syntax” should be an Itchy Feet-themed text-based adventure video game, don’t you think? Old timey graphics, midi music…the many sequels, including “Grammar Cave III: The Conjunction Malfunction,” and “Grammar Cave VI: Detective Dative Makes the Case”… Anyway, what were we talking about? Right, grammar. While speaking, grammar can be a…
Learning That There’s Always More to Learn Posted by Malachi Rempen on Dec 8, 2014 in Archived Posts
Starting a new language is fun and easy. Early on, you feel like you’re making so much progress, because from nothing, everything is 100% improvement. You’re still awkward and trembling, like a kitten stumbling around, trying to keep its balance. But it’s fun. Here you are, communicating with what to you are still essentially meaningless…
How to Keep Multiple Languages Straight Posted by Malachi Rempen on Nov 19, 2014 in Archived Posts
Learning a new language is an immense challenge, what with all the grammar, vocabulary, expressions and idioms, and pronunciation to deal with. If you then toss another language or two (or five or ten) on top of that, the challenges compound themselves into a heap. For me, vocabulary is the hardest—for every new language I…