Here's another brief thought. It's sometimes asked why it's so difficult to learn a new language (even though children, all children, are really good at it ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

Just spotted this over on OCremix:


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Via Twitter - why capitalization matters in German:

Die Spinnen

Die spinnen

Der gefangene Floh

Der Gefangene floh

Er verweigerte Speise und Trank

Er verweigerte Speise und trank

Der Junge sieht dir ungeheuer ähnlich

Der Junge sieht dir Ungeheuer ähnlich

Wäre er doch nur Dichter!

Wäre er doch nur dichter!

Vor dem Fenster sah sie den ( Read more... )

I thought about learning languages at the gym a while ago. In particular, why do children (regardless of intelligence) find it so easy to learn a language, and why do adults (again, regardless of intelligence) find it so hard?

I think this is down to one fact: adults already have a conceptual hierarchy for interpreting the world; children don't. ( Read more... )

I'm still amazed by how easy it can (sometimes!) be to pick up at least the general gist of something that is written in another Indo-European language, even if you don't otherwise know said language.

It only really applies to written text for obvious reasons, but it can work amazingly well there. For instance, take this tidbit from the Italian ( Read more... )