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The Curse of the Lingua Franca Posted by on Jun 5, 2017 in Archived Posts

Life is hard for native lingua francans learning new languages. But why do they do it at all? I mean, the reason for this should come as no surprise. English is the current lingua franca of the world, and so any American, Brit or other native English speaker that wants to learn a foreign language is essentially doing…

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Thé Jøy öf Dîáçrïtícs Posted by on May 29, 2017 in Archived Posts

Getting to write with new accent dashes, dots and squiggles is part of the fun of language learning. But is it even better when writing whole new alphabets? Well, they’re all real, but a lot of them are just math symbols and not used in any actual language. Still, the heart of the comic is true…

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Into the Linguistic Wild Posted by on May 22, 2017 in Archived Posts

Reaching further than your grasp can give you a handful of stardust, or it can leave you flat on your face. The risk is worth it. Sometimes my eyes are bigger than my stomach. When traveling, it’s easy to get yourself lost in the middle of backwater nowhere, on the hunt for an “authentic” travel experience. I…

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When is a Language “Done”? Posted by on May 1, 2017 in Archived Posts

How much of a language do you need to learn before you can “finish” it? Or is that an absurd idea altogether? It’s ridiculous, sure, to say that you “did” a country. That somehow implies that a country is one single object, like a roller coaster or a fruity cocktail or a Snuggie. Yes, you…

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The Real French Posted by on Apr 19, 2017 in Archived Posts

The French are stereotyped as being snooty about their language. But is that all of France? Or just a certain capital city that casts a long shadow? I’ve made fun of the French a lot, both in my comic and in my articles on this site. Part of it is that they’re just fun to make…

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Who Exactly Are “Americans,” Anyway? Posted by on Apr 12, 2017 in Archived Posts

There’s a lot of disagreement about the term “American.” To whom does it refer, exactly? And why is there this controversy in the first place? Who would have guessed that a somewhat obscure Italian cartographer’s first name would, five hundred years after his death, be such a point of contention across half the planet? In the…

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The Trouble With Tonals Posted by on Apr 5, 2017 in Archived Posts

Learning a tonal language is both frightening and very tempting. But which one to choose? Man, I’m so glad I haven’t learned a tonal language yet. Actually, I’m both glad and sad. I’m glad because from what I can tell (my brother Erik, who lives in Bangkok and speaks fluent Thai, and has learned some…

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