Tag: languagelearning
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Dialect and Dialectal Awareness
A common question in the language-learning world is “What is the difference between a language and a dialect?” There are many dictionary definitions of the term “dialect”. a variety of a language that is distinguished from other varieties of the same language by features of phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, and by its use by a […]
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Raising Bilingual Kids in a Non-Bilingual Household
I’ve always wanted my children to grow up knowing more than one language and now that River is here, it is time to rise to the challenge. As I progress with teaching her Spanish and French, I am realizing this is going to be harder than I thought, especially since English is my first language. […]
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Does Language Precede Thought or Does Thought Precede Language?
In the 2016 film “Arrival”, linguist Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is tasked with deciphering an alien language. (Spoilers ahead!) The circular, shapely language ends up being a gift from the “heptapods”, as the aliens are called, which allows humankind to perceive time differently, going so far as to even allow its speakers to […]
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And Let Them Learn Language
There have been numerous studies done on the benefits of learning a second language at an early age. In the United States, however, learning a second language is not required until high school. Many people have written arguments to include foreign language classes to be incorporated in primary schools, which I completely agree with, but […]
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Language Discrepancies
The other teacher working with me is from England, so over the course of the last week I’ve been hearing your typical British lingo: cheeky, rubbish, cheers, fancy that. Daniel has taught me two new ones though. The first is “madam” as in “a girl with a ‘tude…” She’s such a madam. The other one, […]