In the past couple of posts, we have looked at the history, development and sounds of Gullah, drawing some influences from West and Central African languages, some of them noted by the father of Gullah studies, Lorenzo Dow Turner. Today, we will explore how Gullah grammar works, in brief, and try to draw similarities between … Continue reading Black History Month — How Gullah Works, Summarised
language learning
Black History Month — The Sounds of Gullah
Previously, we introduced the brief history, and current status of the lesser-known English creole spoken in the United States, Gullah. In this post, we will explore the sound system of Gullah, and how it blends in both influences of the English variants, and of the West African languages. The study of Gullah and its features … Continue reading Black History Month — The Sounds of Gullah
Black History Month — Introduction to Gullah (Sea Island Creole English)
Disclaimer: This post discusses the role of slavery in the origin and development of Gullah creole, we want to make this communication the least offensive possible. We welcome any feedback or comments on how further refine this communication, but still reflects the history of the creole in the most accurate way possible. Nestled in the … Continue reading Black History Month — Introduction to Gullah (Sea Island Creole English)
Writing in Africa — Modernising Nsibidi
Disclaimer: This post describes an ongoing project to modernise the Nsibidi script, which as of writing, is not the finalised form. The accuracy of information is true as of 29 July 2020, so several things would have changed in the project by the time of this post. We will update this post when more information … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Modernising Nsibidi
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Language Learning Challenges
If you have used social media as part of your language learning processes, or you are in language learning interest groups, you might have encountered various challenges that try to push you to speak or write in your target language. This includes the Lingua Franca Challenge, the 30-Day Record Yourself Challenge, and the 30 Day … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Language Learning Challenges
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — HiNative
So, you have started learning a language, setting out the goals of being able to converse with native speakers across some topics, or write short essays in that target language. You have your textbooks ready, perhaps coupled with flashcards and beginner texts, all set to start off on the rather subjective "right path". Textbook audio … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — HiNative
👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Enjoy Language Series
Teach Yourself has a diverse set of language courses for various learners of various proficiencies, from the Get Started series for absolute beginners to the Enjoy series for learners who want to perfect their various skills in their target language. Last year, we covered the main series of Teach Yourself language coursebooks, the Complete series, … Continue reading 👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Enjoy Language Series
Saying It Like It Sounds — Onomatopoeia
Language is actually quite a neat little concept, how it can be simplified to the expression of ideas, concepts, experiences and memories by the utterance of sounds that make sense to people who speak the same tongue. Sociology, human interactions with other humans and the environment, and the time-attested evolution could all impact a language's … Continue reading Saying It Like It Sounds — Onomatopoeia
Languages of Taiwan — Paiwan (Vinuculjan, Pinayuanan)
This language is so diverse, the dozens of dialects linguists seem to pick up are organised into geographical zones or other classification methods, making it a dialect cluster of rather immense proportions compared to the languages covered previously. Spoken by the Paiwan people, also known as Paywan, Kacalisian, or 排灣 (Hanyu Pinyin: pái wān), this … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Paiwan (Vinuculjan, Pinayuanan)
Languages of Taiwan — Seediq (Kari Sediq, Kari Seediq, Kari Seejiq)
Moving down the list of Formosan languages in Taiwan, we have the other member of the Atayalic branch, Seediq. Spoken in the mountains of Central and Eastern Taiwan by the Seediq and Taroko, this language is predominantly found in the counties of Hualien and Nantou. However, the number of native speakers prove concerning, although we … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Seediq (Kari Sediq, Kari Seediq, Kari Seejiq)
👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Routledge’s Colloquial Series
Like Teach Yourself, Routledge is also another powerhouse of language coursebooks, primarily through the Colloquial Series of Multimedia Language Courses, containing courses for at least 40-50 languages. Audio is available through CDs, or through external downloads. Alongside these courses, Routledge also has several Grammar series, and courses focused on the grammar side of things compared … Continue reading 👏🏻Method 👏🏻 Review — Routledge’s Colloquial Series
When Japanese Met Atayal — Yilan Creole Japanese
In 1895, Qing China ceded Taiwan to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the first Sino-Japanese War. This began the five decades of Japanese rule of Taiwan. Although the administrative rule ended 75 years ago, the influence of Japanese culture on Taiwan still survives today. In Taiwanese Mandarin, Japanese loanwords are found, such as … Continue reading When Japanese Met Atayal — Yilan Creole Japanese
Languages of Taiwan — Atayal (Tayal)
Our next language to look at takes us to the Hsuehshan mountains, in the central-north region of Taiwan. The Atayal language, Tayal, or 泰雅語 (Hanyu Pinyin: tài yă yŭ), yet another member of the Formosan languages, is spoken by some 10 000 people, a very tiny proportion of the ethnic Atayal people. Despite the small … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Atayal (Tayal)
Languages of Taiwan — Amis (Pangcah)
Our first dive into the indigenous languages of Taiwan takes us to the Amis language, referred to as Sowal no Pangcah by the Amis people, and 阿美語 (Bopomofo: ㄚ ㄇㄟˇ ㄩˇ, Hanyu Pinyin: ā měi yǔ) by the Mandarin speaking majority of Taiwan. The largest of the Formosan languages, it is spoken as far north … Continue reading Languages of Taiwan — Amis (Pangcah)
What I Got Wrong — Revisiting Latin
In this post, I want to try something different. About five years ago, I posted a reflection post about my learning experiences in Latin, on Facebook, read only by my friends. As The Language Closet developed and became the main repository of my personal reflections, I want to revisit this post, and to dissect what … Continue reading What I Got Wrong — Revisiting Latin
Languages of Australia – Arrernte (Upper Arrernte)
Our first dive into the indigenous languages of Australia takes us into the Northern Territory, home of the Arrernte, Alyawarre, Anmatyerre, Ayerrereng and Yuruwinga peoples. Although these people groups are indeed diverse, they speak various dialects of a language, or dialect cluster, of a language known as Arrernte. With a total of 4 537 native … Continue reading Languages of Australia – Arrernte (Upper Arrernte)
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Short-lived Tinycards (2016 – 2020)
In 2016, Duolingo made a new application which functioned quite a bit like Memrise. Using aesthetics and assets similar or inspired by the main Duolingo project, the flashcard app, Tinycards, was unveiled. It tried to be like its cousin Memrise, using a similar flashcard method, but with their own user-created or Duolingo-style art attached to … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — The Short-lived Tinycards (2016 – 2020)
A Journey in Arabic (MSA)
It has been 10 years since I started learning Arabic, but never quite got to writing a full-length reflection on this journey thus far. I feel that it is time to share my experiences on the learning process, and the various challenges I encountered along the way. December 2009. I had only just completed my … Continue reading A Journey in Arabic (MSA)
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Memrise
The next review is yet another giant in the language learning industry. Like Duolingo, there is a focus on so-called games to teach languages to users. Since its release in 2013 onto the mobile market, Memrise has garnered more than 20 million users, learners of various languages to various subjects. Using flashcards as the main … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Memrise
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Complete Series
In this review, we will take a look at the various publications in the language learning industry, particularly the self-instruction book giant Teach Yourself. From languages to quantum mechanics, Teach Yourself has an extremely wide spread of subjects, but this being a language learning site, we will be reviewing the Complete, Get Talking, Get Started, … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Teach Yourself Complete Series
Te Reo Māori o Aotearoa — The Māori Language
Aotearoa, or New Zealand, is amazing. Uninhabited before the 13th century, the Eastern Polynesians settled here after a long series of voyages through the islands of the South Pacific. These early settlers would later be the Māori people, calling Aotearoa their home. Now numbering about 775 000 in New Zealand (as of the 2018 census), … Continue reading Te Reo Māori o Aotearoa — The Māori Language
Writing in Africa — Ńdébé
Using the Latin alphabet to write some languages brings a lot of challenges, since 26 letters may not always be enough to capture all the sounds in a language. Tones, nasal vowels, some consonants may be omitted, or have to adopt clunky digraphs like "gb", "ngg", and "ndl". This is true for many languages in … Continue reading Writing in Africa — Ńdébé
👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Duolingo
"No, you are an apple" "I am a horse" Most people who use Duolingo in their language learning journeys probably have encountered sentences like this, and wondered, how does this even make sense, or how does this even help me? Duolingo is one of the most widely-used applications that aid in learning foreign languages, released … Continue reading 👏🏻 Method 👏🏻 Review — Duolingo
The Language Closet Turns 4!
When I started out writing my experiences on this site back in 2016, I did not expect it to grow over time to have the reach it has today. Readers from all over the world, from Armenia to Zambia, and many places I wish to visit over time. Firstly, I would like to thank you … Continue reading The Language Closet Turns 4!
Language and my Personal Experiences
I remember being asked about why I had this passion for learning languages, and I kinda regretted not giving a complete answer, or a well-thought response, and having watched this enthusiast’s story, I think it’s about time I write about it. Having spent a considerable portion of my early childhood in the French province of … Continue reading Language and my Personal Experiences
Writing in North America — Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
In 1827, an English-Canadian missionary and linguist set foot onto Rice Lake, Ontario. By the turn of the 20th century, virtually all Cree speakers were literate in a new writing system. From the Nunavut Inuktitut languages in the north to Ojibwe and Cree in eastern Canada, this writing system certainly has made its mark, and … Continue reading Writing in North America — Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
Korea’s other language — Jejueo / Jejumal (제주어 / 제주말)
The Korean peninsula is one of the most linguistically homogenous regions in the world, with around 75 million people, almost all of whom speak Korean. Korean's status as a language isolate, unrelated to almost any other language currently spoken in the world, depends on who you ask. Korean is part of its own language family, … Continue reading Korea’s other language — Jejueo / Jejumal (제주어 / 제주말)
Rääkimine eesti keelt — A Journey in Estonian
When people talk about Estonia or Estonian, the first thing which usually comes to mind is, what is Estonia? Let me try to enlighten you in the most unbiased way possible. Estonia, or Eesti, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe (not eastern), just south of Finland and west of Russia. It … Continue reading Rääkimine eesti keelt — A Journey in Estonian
Puhuminen Suomen — A Journey in Finnish
Before starting on my reflections when learning Finnish, I would like to highlight the first impression other learners get from the language. Many memes have circulated here and there talking about the sheer difficulty in learning Finnish. Even I have rated it as among the most difficult foreign languages to learn as a [monolingual] native … Continue reading Puhuminen Suomen — A Journey in Finnish
A Non-Anglocentric Language Tier System?
1. How many languages do you know ? Okay, lemme define this question. To “know” a language, usually means to have the knowledge to speak, read, write, understand and communicate in a language. So yeah, as of now, I do know quite a bunch of languages to varying standards, like English, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, French, Japanese, […]
5 of the Most Interesting Languages I have Learnt so far
During my language learning journeys and escapades, I have encountered special sounds, special words and special ways to express ideas and concepts. These languages are mostly unique in this regard, but I will be showing you five of the most interesting languages I have learnt so far in this journey. 5. Mongolian Mongolian is the … Continue reading 5 of the Most Interesting Languages I have Learnt so far
On Learning Korean
The languages of north-east Asia are mainly split into a few families -- the Sino-Tibetan, Mongolic and Japonic. Of course there are language isolates scattered around the region, such as Ainu, but there is this language isolate which is heavily concentrated on the Korean Peninsula. Efforts to classify this language under a huge Altaic language … Continue reading On Learning Korean
Language Islands — On Language Isolates
Imagine a map showing the languages of the world, not in a 'where they are spoken' sense, but more rather, based on how closely is one related to another. We would see the vast continents of Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan and Niger-Congo, some large islands like the Eskimo-Aleut and Finno-Ugric, and then we have the remotest of … Continue reading Language Islands — On Language Isolates
Writing in Africa – A Korean-like Script?
When people talk about featural writing systems, almost all the time, the Hangeul writing system pops up. Its simple 40 letters (19 consonant and 21 vowel sounds) organised into syllable blocks form what is now the simplest writing system so far. Promulgated by Sejong the Great in the mid 15th-century, Hangeul has since been ingrained … Continue reading Writing in Africa – A Korean-like Script?
Writing in Africa – Mandombe
Now that we're back to introducing writing systems of Africa, this one takes us to the southern region of the African continent, intended to represent kiSwahili, Kikongo, Tshiluba, and to a limited extent, Lingala. Invented in 1978, this script appears to be a robotic mess of lines, an alphabet which is organised into syllabic blocks. … Continue reading Writing in Africa – Mandombe
Speaking “Indian”–My First Impression of Tamil
So it's been about a couple weeks since I started learning Tamil, and I thought that it would be nice to share my first steps in language learning. My focus here would thus be the sounds and script used in Tamil. Tamil is among the longest-surviving classical languages in the world, with literature dating back … Continue reading Speaking “Indian”–My First Impression of Tamil
Speaking “Indian”- A Reflection on Learning Experience in Hindi
India- A huge country with a massive population, and home to a whole bunch of languages. In fact, India recognises 23 official languages, including Hindi, English, Urdu, Panjabi, Gujarati, Tamil and Malayalam, just to name a few. Yet, some people refer to these diverse group of languages as just Indian, like "Do you speak Indian?" … Continue reading Speaking “Indian”- A Reflection on Learning Experience in Hindi
Writing in Africa – I say N’ko (ߒߞߏ)
Solomana Kante, a Guinean writer and an inventor of a writing system, but most importantly, a man who was determined to change the beliefs that Africans were a cultureless people. The Manding languages lacked an indigenous writing system at that time. And so, after a night of deep meditation, Kante went on to create an … Continue reading Writing in Africa – I say N’ko (ߒߞߏ)
Writing in Africa – The Vai Syllabary (ꕙꔤ)
Our next writing system takes us to the West African country of Liberia and Sierra Leone, in which lie some 120,000 native speakers of this Mande language called Vai. A tonal language of 12 vowels (of which 5 are nasal) and 31 consonants, using a syllabary to represent the sounds of this language surely is … Continue reading Writing in Africa – The Vai Syllabary (ꕙꔤ)
Singaporean Portuguese – A Brief Post on Kristang
While surfing the web looking through various creoles spoken in the world, one of them caught my eye. A creole spoken in Singapore and Malaysia, but not Singlish nor Manglish. Instead, it was a Portuguese creole, spoken by only a handful of people in the Malayan Peninsula. This is Kristang, known as Portugis to the … Continue reading Singaporean Portuguese – A Brief Post on Kristang
Writing in Africa
Africa, a continent of thousands of ethnic groups, the most among all continents. Alongside these ethnic groups lie the linguistic diversity, rivaled only by the language diversity of Papua New Guinea. Many of these languages are still vulnerable to endangerment and extinction, and many of these also lack a written form to document their language. … Continue reading Writing in Africa
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – More Particles
We're finally back after the brief intermission where we talked about one of the most well-known indigenous languages, Inuktitut. Now, we will be discussing the hallmark features of Singlish particles, the use of particles like lah, leh, loh etc. We hear it quite often, they're normally used at the end of sentences, and they can … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – More Particles
Intermission – The Beauty of Nunavut Inuktitut
So last year I did a little segment on learning the lesser known languages and I did cover a bit on Nunavut Inuktitut. And now, here is a post dedicated to the wonders of this poly-synthetic language. Many people have heard of this language because of its alleged diversity of words to mean snow and … Continue reading Intermission – The Beauty of Nunavut Inuktitut
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – The curious case of “already”
Singlish particles truly define this creole, giving it its identity, making it stand out as much as Bislama and Tok Pisin, both of which are other creoles of English spoken in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea respectively. Singlish particles draw influence mainly from Chinese (and its dialects) and Malay (and one from Tamil). This post … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – The curious case of “already”
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Verbs
Verbs. You know, those action words that bring life to sentences. Some languages conjugate by number, some by tense, some by aspect, mood, gender... yeah you get the point. Some don't even conjugate it at all. This post brings you verbs in Singlish, and how they differ from Standard English. One of the most prominent … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Verbs
Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Topicalisation
Singlish, or more formally known as Colloquial Singaporean English, is an English creole which closely resembles that of Colloquial Malaysian English, drawing influences from the languages represented by the ethnic groups that make up the speakers' population. It's something I encounter almost every day, and I thought it would be good to make some observations … Continue reading Adventures in Colloquial Singaporean English (Singlish) – Topicalisation
Interesting Things to Note in Austronesian Languages
At the start of this year I started to have a certain craving to learn some Austronesian Languages. We're not only talking about Malay and Indonesian, but also languages of the Polynesian and Micronesian Islands like Gagana Samoa, Niuean and the like. There were some nice observations I made when studying some of these (I'm … Continue reading Interesting Things to Note in Austronesian Languages
Learning the Lesser-known Languages
I believe some of us have always wanted to learn some cool languages like Nunavut Inuktitut, Nahuatl or Gagana Samoa, but where are the resources? Anyway, this post is about my journey in learning the rather lesser-known languages, where resources may be few and far out of reach (like books which I can't buy anywhere … Continue reading Learning the Lesser-known Languages
The Language Closet 