Is Beirut the codeswitching capital of the world?
At this high-end organic farmer’s market in downtown Beirut, buyers and sellers speak a mishmash of languages, usually Arabic and English or French. Just trying to pay for juice I have to switch back and forth from English to Arabic. The stand clerk starts in Arabic, “Here you go,” before switching in English, “these two [juices]?” Pia Bou Khater is at the market with me. At the juice stand, she switches too. Codeswitching this way is one of the characteristics that defines life in Beirut for visitors and for many Lebanese. “When I'm interacting with people, like buying things or trying to bargain, I rarely switch,” Pia explains. Multilingualism the way Pia knows it isn’t uncommon in Beirut. But that’s not the only reason she used “merci.” But another linguist, Lina Choueri, says the regular mixing of the three languages in everyday life actually didn’t happen until much later. Choueri’s dad’s generation just communicated in Arabic. Back at the market Pia agrees with Choueri’s dad.
English Grammar Online - free exercises, explanations, vocabulary, dictionary and teaching materials
5 Languages That Could Change the Way You See the World
I went to my neighbor’s house for something to eat yesterday. Think about this sentence. It’s pretty simple—English speakers would know precisely what it means. But what does it actually tell you—or, more to the point, what does it not tell you? The way that different languages convey information has fascinated linguists, anthropologists, and psychologists for decades. This argument was later discredited, as researchers concluded that it overstated language’s constraints on our minds. These five languages reveal how information can be expressed in extremely different ways, and how these habits of thinking can affect us. A Language Where You’re Not the Center of the World English speakers and others are highly egocentric when it comes to orienting themselves in the world. Linguist Guy Deustcher says that Guugu Ymithirr speakers have a kind of “internal compass” that is imprinted from an extremely young age. A Language Where Time Flows East to West A Language Where Colors Are Metaphors
#007 - The greatest mind ever (past tense - past perfect)
Complete the text with the simple past or past perfect (simple). Two verbs require the passive.If you need to look up some words, go to dict.cc (Link will open a new browser window).William James Sidis may have been the most intelligent person who ever lived, yet history hardly remembers him. The facts are true. His IQ was assessed at between 250 and 300. William James Sidis was born in 1898 to Russian immigrants, Jewish intellectual refugees with brilliant minds. In high school he (take) six weeks to complete the four year curriculum (Lehrplan). Up to now Sidis (drive) by his parents to become a mental giant, but he now (lead) a totally isolated life. In 1983 the physicist Chandra (win) the Nobel Prize for his work on the existence of black holes. Text adapted from 'William James Sidis' by John H.
Why Do Most Languages Have So Few Words for Smells?
Describe a banana. It's yellow, perhaps with some green edges. When peeled, it has a smooth, soft, mushy texture. It tastes sweet, maybe a little creamy. And it smells like... well, it smells like a banana. Every sense has its own “lexical field,” a vast palette of dedicated descriptive words for colors, sounds, tastes, and textures. All of our other scent descriptors are really descriptions of sources: We say that things smell like cinnamon, or roses, or teen spirit, or napalm in the morning. Some scientists have taken this as evidence that humans have relegated smell to the sensory sidelines, while vision has taken center-field. But not all of us. “These terms are really very salient to them,” she says. For example, ltpit describes the smell of a binturong or bearcat—a two-meter-long animal that looks like a shaggy, black-furred otter, and that famously smells of popcorn. These terms don't refer to general qualities that are the dominion of other senses, like edibility.
El Presente Perfecto Continuo en Inglés (Present Perfect Continuous) con 'The Beatles'
Hoy vamos a entrar un poco más en materia para que los intermediate no os aburráis con tantos posts sobre inglés básico. ¡Hay sitio para todos! Si todavía no tienes claro cómo se utiliza el Present Perfect, pincha aquí. Vamos a ver el Present Perfect Continuous: Cuándo se utiliza 1) Para hablar de acciones que empezaron en el pasado pero que continúan en el presente George has been living in London for twenty years–-George ha estado viviendo en Londres durante veinte años 2) O de acciones que empezaron en el pasado y puede que hayan finalizado o no: John has been dancing all night –John ha estado bailando toda la noche–(puede seguir bailando en este momento o no)She has been waiting for you all day –Ella te ha estado esperando todo el día (y todavía te está esperando ahora…o no)Samuel has been travelling since last August–Samuel ha estado viajando desde el agosto pasado (¿ya ha regresado? 3) Y también de acciones pasadas que justo han finalizado y estamos interesados en el resultado: 1. 2.
Why is English so weirdly different from other langu...
English speakers know that their language is odd. So do people saddled with learning it non-natively. The oddity that we all perceive most readily is its spelling, which is indeed a nightmare. In countries where English isn’t spoken, there is no such thing as a ‘spelling bee’ competition. Spelling is a matter of writing, of course, whereas language is fundamentally about speaking. There is no other language, for example, that is close enough to English that we can get about half of what people are saying without training and the rest with only modest effort. We think it’s a nuisance that so many European languages assign gender to nouns for no reason, with French having female moons and male boats and such. More weirdness? Why is our language so eccentric? English started out as, essentially, a kind of German. Crucially, their languages were quite unlike English. At this date there is no documented language on earth beyond Celtic and English that uses do in just this way.
Integrating pronunciation into classroom activities
In my work as a teacher trainer I have been surprised at how often experienced teachers are reluctant to tackle pronunciation issues in class. I can think of at least two reasons why pronunciation tends to be neglected: firstly, the lack of clear guidelines and rules available in course books, and secondly the fact that isolated exercises once a month do not seem to have much of an effect. This is not surprising, however; like all other areas of language teaching, pronunciation needs constant attention for it to have a lasting effect on students, which means integrating it into daily classroom procedures. Using student talk to teach pronunciationWord stressVowel soundsDiphthongsWeak formsSentence stressConclusion Using student talk to teach pronunciationPronunciation work can be kept simple and employ exercises which are both accessible and enjoyable for students, whatever their level. Word stressHere is a simple exercise I repeat regularly for work on word stress and individual sounds.
