It’s crazy to think my website has turned 9 years old, isn’t it?

Looking back, it is pretty humbling to see how The Language Closet has grown. From being reached out to do reviews for language learning methods and materials, to crossing readership milestones, we have a lot of reasons to celebrate. We talked about different topics in linguistics, introduced ourselves to various languages that most people have never heard of, and broke down several pieces of linguistics research to convey their findings in a more communicable manner to the average reader. From the deepest of my heart, I would like to thank you for your readership and support, which have helped The Language Closet grow.

The road ahead is a little less certain, however. Since January this year, I have been busy with my doctoral studies, and balancing my studies and work with my creative endeavours has been rather tricky. I really enjoy reading up and doing research when writing about the language and linguistics topics I cover on this website, though my doctoral studies generally leave my mind fried towards the end of the work day. As such, I want to take the time to find a balance on managing this workload, and optimise my time management here. I would want to maintain my weekly content schedule here on out, but expect me to take some time off to rebalance or recalibrate between my work and creatives. Don’t worry though, we will see the 10th anniversary milestone for The Language Closet next year, and more anniversaries down the line, I promise.

In terms of content direction, I would want to maintain essays and introductions of this length in the coming posts, and perhaps maintain the balance between reviews, journal clubs, introductions, and reflections, you know, the general content types I have been doing. Another content idea on my mind is to try out the so-called ‘AI-powered’ language learning methods, since this ‘AI’ buzzword has been making the rounds in language learning applications, and I want to provide my two cents on these methods. Despite the negative connotation this buzzword has right now, and deservedly so, I hope that making reviews for applications like this, like the reviews I have done before, would provide my experience and opinions on these methods, so readers like you can make an informed choice.

Lastly, I have been having a lot of fun learning Northern Sámi, and I have been documenting my experiences as I pick up the language. I will put out my thoughts and reflections (alongside my delayed handwriting update) on 13 December 2025, so save the date. And as always, thank you so much for your readership, and here’s to another year of language blogging!

– Cheers,
Zui