Hawaiian is often offered up as a language revitalization success story, a model for other endangered languages to follow. The decline of the language can be traced back to the end of Hawaiian royal rule. After a coup that dethroned the last Hawaiian queen, a law...
The first thing I’d like to say about mind mapping is how upset I am for not knowing about it sooner! Why wasn’t it taught to me in elementary school, junior high, high school, or even university? Why did I labour through so many classes,...
One of the best things about learning a new language is discovering words with no equivalent in your native tongue. After all, they end up teaching you a lot about the culture and priorities of the countries where that language is spoken. We especially love...
If you’re looking to learn a language for work-related reasons, whether it is business or governmental, it’s possible to infer what languages might be the most widely spoken during the middle of this century. While 2050 seems far off, it’s really not. Looking around the...
Idioms are those phrases that mean more than the sum of their words. As our Open Translation Project volunteers translate TED Talks into 105 languages, they’re often challenged to translate English idioms into their language. Which made us wonder: what are their favorite idioms in their own...
Inventing a language from scratch might seem like an odd way to spend your time, but there are good reasons to do it. People create languages for scientific, cultural and artistic purposes: to test theories about how the brain works, to help people communicate, to...
If you read a sentence (such as this one) about kicking a ball, neurons related to the motor function of your leg and foot will be activated in your brain. Similarly, if you talk about cooking garlic, neurons associated with smelling will fire up. Since...
In addition to making you a better communicator, problem solver and team player, emotional intelligence allows you to step into other peoples’ shoes and walk a few miles. This of course, is critical for entrepreneurs and innovators. In order for entrepreneurs to be effective and...
Being able to speak different languages is a coveted skill. It doesn't come easy to everyone, however. I've observed friends and family members learning Italian, Japanese, Spanish, German, Greek, French, and Irish Gaelic. Still, according to Gallup, only one in four Americans can hold a conversation in...
The opening song of "The Lion King" has some pretty distinctive lyrics, though few of us actually know what all of them mean. "The Circle of Life," starts out in Zulu before switching over to English. Here are the immortal words of Elton John, Tim Rice,...
