Tag Archives: Linguistics

come si dice?

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Brian D. Butler

James Trimble’s European word translator generates maps of Europe showing the word of your choice in the most common languages for each nation. It gets the job done nicely, though it only works for English words. This page was inspired by … Continue reading →

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Speaking Of

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

Posted in Asia, Europe, USA, Writing | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Sort of Untranslateable

Posted on February 4, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I recently fell down the rabbit hole of Untranslateable: “Untranslatable is an indie project that delves into the hidden aspects of languages by explaining words, idioms, and expressions contributed by native speakers. It goes beyond traditional translation, offering insights into … Continue reading →

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It’s all Greek to me

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I have to admit that I geeked-out on this fascinating website devoted entirely to global writing systems. During my life I’ve actually learned four writing systems, but in my old age I’m only fluent in one of them. World Writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, History, South America | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Words That Don’t Translate

Posted on June 13, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

I have often read that the English vocabulary has more words than any other language. That may or may not be true, but it certainly is a rich mash-up of so many other rich languages. We have a treasure trove … Continue reading →

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There are always exceptions

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Brian D. Butler

If you have ever traveled in the United Kingdom, or even read a British novel, it’s likely that you have been confused about the correct pronunciation of place names. I’m chagrined to admit that I constantly got location names horribly … Continue reading →

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Australia or New Zealand

Posted on November 24, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

I recently had the opportunity to spend three weeks roadtripping around New Zealand. While I was there, I discovered that there were quite a few Australians living and working in the neighboring nation. However, I frequently could not tell the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film, Tourism | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Sharing is caring

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

When I was scrambling to learn a little Russian last year prior to a trip, I naively thought that shared letters between the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets would somehow make the task a little easier. Of course that proved to … Continue reading →

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Mother Tongues

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

The National Geographic’s senior graphics editor Alberto Lucas López created this wonderful pie chart to illustrate the proportional representation of the world’s twenty three most spoken languages. López based the graphic on native speakers, with each language marked by black … Continue reading →

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Maps Clear Up Any Confusion

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Brian D. Butler

While visitors to the U.S. are often confused by the language that we use to describe commonplace things in our culture, those of us who were born here are frequently baffled as well by the linguistic choices of other Americans. … Continue reading →

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