Why you need to stop whining about grammar

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about grammar which stirred a lot of reactions from people, accusing me of everything from being misleading to using scare tactics! And of course, since I'm making millions of dollars from people being afraid of grammar, I can totally see where they got that idea from. (Irony, anyone?) But the thing is, it's not scare tactics, because I don't have to scare you. You're already scared.

Here's the problem. The age old grammar debate is fundamentally nothing... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Am I spiritual or religious?

In spite of being raised in a Christian family, I am a firm atheist.



I have, at several times in my life, tried to believe in a god, or a supernatural power, or a spirituality, but any time I did, it always felt instinctively dishonest. And not matter how hard I wanted to believe, I have never witnessed anything in my life which could not be explained my a basic understanding of science.



I do miss church, though. Don't get me wrong, I'll never go back to another church, because I believe that what happens there is abusive and dishonest. I see it as a form of government-sanctioned brainwashing. But, I do miss it. Churches are communities, where many friendships can be born. And there's something nice about seeing people dressed nicely -- these days, everyone (even well-to-do people) seems to make an art form of looking like a slob who just rolled out of bed.

Language profile: Toki Pona

It's been a while since I've done a language profile, so today I've chosen a particularly interesting language to profile. It's a constructed language called Toki Pona.

Linguistic minimalism
Probably the most interesting detail about Toki Pona is its minimalism. The language is built on an amazingly scant 125 root words, formed using a mere 14 phonemes: p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w, a, e, i, o, and u.

That's it! Nine consonants. Five vowels. All of them part of the standard Latin character... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Vital information, in Lithuanian

As I'm learning about my Lithuanian heritage, I am also learning about the language. So far I have looked at Lithuanian greetings, some common courtesies, how to ask questions, numbers, directions, basic verbs, descriptive words, and parts of the body.

An upcoming trip to Lithuania was going to provide a really good opportunity to test out these 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language for myself and see how good my advice is! Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen medical issues... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

What is a partitive? The Italian word "ne".

While the partitive exists in English, it goes mostly unused. Like so many other things in English, we understand it by implication. But as with so many other languages, implication alone isn't good enough for Italian grammar.

What is a partitive?
The partitive is a special kind of pronoun which functions as a back-reference. It refers back to a direct object specified in a previous sentence - or possibly later in the current sentence.

Observe the following examples:-Do you want some coffee?
-No,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

What I would say to my 16-year-old self

If I could travel back in time and give advice to myself when I was 16 years old, my advice would be to get a passport, save some money, and leave the country after high school.



I was 34 years old when I finally travelled to another country for the first time. That's more that 16 years ago! I should have done it much sooner.



I always wanted to travel the world, but I allowed myself to spend too much time believing it wasn't an option for me, having grown up poor. The only person in my family who ever traveled to another country did it via military service... until I finally started my adventures.



Now, I can look back at the past 16 years (since the end of high school) and imagine how much of the world I might have already seen if I hadn't waited so long.



Oh well. There's no sense regretting the past. What's done is done, and I'm traveling now. A lot! I've done more in this year than the average person would do in a decade. And I'm still just getting started. The future is ahead of me.

Che cosa dicono gli animali? Animal noises in Italian!

Did you know that humans aren't the only creatures with different languages? One of the more enjoyable details about learning a new language is learning how animals talk.

Pigs, for instance, say "oink oink" in English, but they say "groin groin" in French and "хрю хрю" (khryu khryu) in Russian. Dogs say "vau-vau" in Hungarian, "guk guk" in Indonesian, and "ham ham" in Romanian!

Today, we're going to learn how animals speak in Italian.

Bees
Le api ronzano. Fanno il suono "zzzzz."

Birds
Gli... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Colloquial Lithuanian

... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Don't think grammar is important? Think again!

I'm noticing a troubling theme in the language-learning and language-blogging community: people who are looked to as subject matter experts, time and time again, encouraging their readers and followers to forego grammar.

I'm deeply troubled by this.

A common piece of advice I see from many sources is, "Don't waste your time on all that frustrating grammar, just learn the words and the grammar will work itself out. Besides, you don't have to speak perfectly... people will understand you."

I'll... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Moving abroad: the small print

Moving abroad can be some tricky business; once you've decided whether you want to work, study or volunteer, you need to tackle the biggest task of them all: the red tape.

First and foremost, you'll need to check out whether you need a visa. A good place to start is here, though it's always highly recommend to check with your chosen country's embassy, too. If you're stopping over in certain countries, make sure you know the score about visa waivers etc.  Speaking from experience, I can tell... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Lithuanian body parts

As I'm learning about my Lithuanian heritage, I am also learning about the language. So far I have looked at Lithuanian greetings, some common courtesies, how to ask questions, numbers, directions, basic verbs, and descriptive words. This week, I'll talk about parts of the body.

An upcoming trip to Lithuania will provide a really good opportunity to test out these 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language for myself and see how good my advice is! This week I'm on the ninth item... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Everyone should stand for something!

When I look back at all the people in life who have inspired me, or who still do inspire me, there is one thing that's true about all of them: they all stand for something. Interestingly, this can be a great language learning tool.

Those people who are most meaningful and inspirational are that way because we associate an idea with their identitity. And its always their idea. They've given us this message through their actions, their attitude, and their words. It's the identity that they have... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

What is my stance on "swear" words?

Studed Silence

No person, act, or word has the power to offend. The only power anyone has over you is the power that you give them.



When people are offended by swearing, they are really only offended by their own lack of control over what you say. They have an idea of how they think you should talk, and they are offended by your refusal to follow their plan.



But who are you to tell me what I'm allowed to say?



A word is only considered a "swear" word when a significant enough number of people agree that they do not want to hear it. But each group of people is subjective. In different company, that word holds absolutely no power to offend.



In fact, often, in the right company, a "swear" word has the power to amuse, to entertain, occasionally even to enlighten.



I believe that the best option is to choose the words that best reach the audience with whom you want to communicate. If you are talking to people who don't like "swear" words, your message will be better heard if you avoid suchs words. Once someone is offended, they stop listening to anything else you're saying.



But if your audience does not respond negatively -- or indeed, responds favorably to such language -- by all means, I'm in favor of their use. Effective communication means choosing the best word for the situation. And yes, sometimes, that's a "swear" word.

More Italian patterns

Staying on a recent theme, I intend to continue focusing on useful word patterns in Italian. While one should never stop learning vocabulary, my attention during the second half of my year of Italian will be focused more on learning words as part of common phrases, rather than simply as vocabulary words without any context.

Today, we'll look at a few more Italian word patterns I've found.

andare in giro — go around
Example:
Non si può andare in giro senza vestiti.
You can't go gallivanting... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Impressions of Catalan

A few weeks ago, I wrote a basic introduction to Catalan, having never heard it spoken before. Now, after spending a week immersed in it, I have a few new impressions.

As I mentioned before, it's common to think of Catalan as a dialect of Spanish. In fact, I've though that myself. But I can say confidently that anyone who thinks that has never actually heard it spoken. It's definitely not Spanish.

If you made a triangle between Rome, Paris, and Madrid, Catalonia would be close to the center,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Why I don't pinch my travel pennies

I just returned from my week in Barcelona, and the trip was quite enjoyable. However it was also a very interesting lesson in contrasts. Different carriers provide a very different experience.

Before I continue, let me be clear: I don't like to waste money, or throw it around frivolously. But I hold value as much more imporant than economy in my travel decisions — especially with regard to carriers.

Eyjafjallajokull
During the volcano debacle this summer, I remember thinking to myself... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Learning a new language is like learning to walk again

When you're learning a new language, it can be very frustrating. In the beginning, the first thing you become aware of isn't how fun it is, or how much potential there is... The first thing you become aware of when learning a new language is exactly how much you can not do.

Sure, you know how to say "hello", or ask someone their name, but when you want to share an opinion, or ask an important question, your mind goes over every bit of vocabulary you know, looking for a way to express the though,... continue reading at Fluent Every Year

Descriptive words in Lithuanian

As I learning about my Lithuanian heritage, I am also learning about the language. So far I have looked at Lithuanian greetings, some common courtesies, how to ask questions, numbers, directions, and basic verbs. This week, let's learn some descriptive words.

An upcoming trip to Lithuania will provide a really good opportunity to test out these 10 most important things to know, to get by in any language for myself and see how good my advice is! So this week I'm on the eight item — descriptive... continue reading at Fluent Every Year