The Language Learning Specialists
All the reindeer may have laughed and called Rudolph names, but what about the strange names of Donner and Blitzen? Donner and Blitzen, together with Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, and Cupid, were all named by American writer Clement Clarke Moore in his 1823 poem, ‘The Night Before Christmas’. And the poet originally gave Donner … Read more
Spoiler alert: it was a mistake! Our Brit forebears got in a flap when it came to naming the festive feathered fowl because it didn’t come from Turkey. The story goes that they named it after the sea merchants from Turkey who imported the bird, incorrectly assuming that the bird originated from their country. But … Read more
Organisers of the competition – now called The uTalk Challenge – want to spread the word about languages to even more children. Language learning company uTalk is looking to stage the competition in other countries including India, where it’s already being trialled, as well as Greece and Nigeria. And it wants to make the competition better … Read more
Both the US and Britain took a leaf out of the same book back in the 17th century when it came to naming seasons. Thanks to British settlers in the New World, the two British names for our third season – Autumn and Fall (short for Fall of the Leaf) – entered the American language. … Read more
English speakers should be wary of receiving ein Gift from a German! That’s because Gift just happens to be the German word for “poison”! And more incredibly, both the English and German meanings stem from the exact same Proto-Germanic root – giftiz! Our friend and language guru Brian Loo Soon Hua explains all: The word … Read more
Why every language in the world uses the same two words for “tea” and why in fact, that assumption is wrong! (There’s actually only one word for tea!) Our friend and language guru Brian Loo Soon Hua explains all: The word “tea”, in almost every language in the world, is ultimately of Chinese origin. Whoever … Read more
By our multi-lingual friend Brian Loo Soon Hua aka uTalk’s Language Guru Did you know that Canada was almost named Efisga? Or, even more unusual, Hochelaga? Imagine the jokes Americans would have been making about their Efisgan or Hochelagan neighbours to the north! Thankfully, “Canada” came into official use in 1791 when the Province … Read more
Check out this quick guide to tennis terminology and where it comes from. (Answer: mostly French!) According to some experts, love in tennis may come from the French word for egg, l’oeuf, because an egg looks like a zero. Others insist it’s so named because the game is being played for love ie without any … Read more
This week we’re really lucky to have a guest post by the team at TakeLessons. Approximately one language dies every two weeks. Most of the 7,000 languages spoken worldwide are dialects, however that doesn’t make them any less important. Languages are tied to the culture of those that speak them and should be regarded as … Read more
Valentine’s day – a day for declaring your love in any way you can. But love can often be more tortured than a simple declaration. As Alfred de Musset said in his book “On ne badine pas avec l’amour”: “We are often deceived in love, often wounded and often miserable; but we love, and when … Read more