I always feel a little embarrassed when I am followed on Mastodon by someone whose entire bio and posts are in a language I don't speak or understand, because I assume they speak or understand my language as well as their own.
I know some basic French and Spanish - enough not to starve - but not enough to converse freely. Not yet, at least.
#languages
#languages
64 innlegg63 deltakereett innlegg i dag
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'Language is “for” communicating, but when we come to such phenomena as #poetry and made-up names and languages, the function of communication and the construction of meaning become as impenetrable to intellect alone as the tune of a song. The writer has to listen. The reader has to hear. Pleasure in articulate sound, and in the symbolic use of it, is what moves the maker of a poem, and also the maker of a fictional language, even if her tongue is the only one that will ever speak it and her ear alone is tuned to it.'
- #UrsulaKLeGuin, Inventing #Languages (2014) #conlang #music
New instance, new #Introduction. Many of you may remember me as the #ActuallyAutistic weirdo from Dragonscave.space. For those who are first encountering me, hello! I'm Tarren, an #ActuallyAutistic, #Agender #SingerSongwriter/#composer and #VoiceActor with a passion for all things #Gaming, especially #TTRPGs. I'm also into #SciFi/#Fantasy, #Languages, and #Space.
Is it an apple? Is it a potato?
No, it’s an earth apple! 
#storySeedLibrary status update:
We have #English, #Polish, #Italian and #French . Some awesome people are working on #German, #Ukrainian , #Arabic and #Hindi. Today I was approached about #Esperanto :D
...is this a good moment to start exploring an open source translation software? I don't feel like building a pipeline auto-updating the page, but it's getting big.
Should I make a bpage comparing how #solarpunk is translated to different #languages ?
Story Seed LibraryWelcome to Story Seed Library!A library of Solarpunk art and story seeds helping you imagine a better climate future!
Why do I see more and more Swedish (or other Euorpean language?) words like gratis (free) and stark (strong) in posts that are in English? Anyone who knows the answer?
I don't complain, it is nice. But I can't help finding it... weird, somehow.
When you mix English words in Swedish it's called Swenglish. But for this... Engwish?
@beep https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep/114982892477557021
beepin’Ethan Marcotte (@beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com)man anxiously, desperately trying to sell snake oil insists that the people who refuse to drink snake oil are the real weirdos https://www.businessinsider.com/github-ceo-developers-embrace-ai-or-get-out-2025-8
As someone not from New Zealand and who doesn't live in New Zealand, does anyone know of any written resources for learning te reo Māori? For a very beginning beginner!
I can find plenty of courses for residents. I just want a book that explains the basics but isn't written by AI.
#TeReoMaori #languages
Okay let us talk #programming #languages as a little bit. Some people seem to be confused why I have my top three as #ruby #swiftlang and #cpp (unprioritised order).
Well honestly it is simply. I like languages that flows through me. Languages where i don’t feel like I need to think to express and these threes are the once for me at that. I know C++ might be a surprise for most. But for me it is a language I just get and I cannot explain it.
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To give a little context to the widespread among the English that there is no need to learn a foreign language because everyone (really) speaks English (usually as a second language), here's some data on the world's most spoken languages.... which perhaps is what lies behind the arrogance of the mono-lingual English speakers?
The most disastrous thing that you can ever learn is your first programming language.
— Alan Kay
words for shit
New version in large typeface bundling the three articles of the "Taxonomy of Bilingualism" series.
The author's original formulation analyzes bilingualism into five levels, the 1) individual (bilingual development), 2) family (bilingual child-raising), 3) societal (language groups and policies), 4) school (bilingual education), and 5) academic (disciplinary) levels. This series offers a taxonomy classifying phenomena of bilingualism according to the five levels, which have been useful for teaching university classes on bilingualism and bilingual education.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394120584_Taxonomy_of_Bilingualism_series
Publications on Bilingualism: https://japanned.hcommons.org/bilingualism
#bilingualism #BilingualEducation #linguistics #languages #language #bilingual #taxonomy #education #academic #Japan #Japanese
First Day in Finland 
Read full article on the blog:
https://linguistgoneforeign.wordpress.com/2025/02/09/first-day-in-finland/ 
Very few things annoy me more than people using grammatically incorrect Singlish. You can’t just add ‘lah’ to every sentence. People who want to show they’ve had one stopover in Singapore and know about Singlish often do this.
You gotta do it properly: https://medium.com/@visakanv/lah-leh-lor-and-so-on-d5ec2b258fd6
Medium · Lah, leh, lor, and so on. - Visakan Veerasamy - Medium
Can the English rely on foreigners speaking English?
It seems that most young people have reached that conclusion if A-level entries are a guide; only 3% of all A-level will be in modern languages this year.
This is not unconnected to a massive under-recruitment of language teachers for schools (reflecting earlier low levels of language learning).
This looks like a long term systemic failing in education & makes the prospect of a 'Global Britain' even dimmer....
#Languages #politics
h/t FT
No, I didn't just spend the last 10 minutes reading through this amazing list of #PIE cognates. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_language#Indo-European_cognates
en.wikipedia.orgArmenian language - Wikipedia
I’m looking to find international versions of the 1997 #edutainment game JumpStart Spanish that have not been preserved and uploaded to archive.org! Please hmu if you can help out. More info here: https://crittertime.fun/viewtopic.php?t=502
Please boost! 
Youxia (Chinese: 遊俠) was a type of ancient #Chinese #warrior #FolkHero celebrated in classical Chinese poetry & fictional literature. It literally means "wandering vigilante", but is commonly translated as "knight-errant" or less commonly as "cavalier", "adventurer", "soldier of fortune" or "underworld stalwart".
'Like our human families, they’re not together all the time — they may split up ... When family members reunite after having been separated, they greet one another with a special rumble and greeting ceremony.'
Great interview with Dr Joyce Poole about elephants calling themselves with names (yes, like dolphins do): https://bioneers.org/how-elephants-call-each-other-by-name-joyce-poole-on-a-lifetime-of-listening-zmaz2507/
More infos about the study (2024) on her website: https://elephantvoices.org/latest-news-updates/enewsletters/like-us-elephants-have-names-too
Bioneers · How Elephants Call Each Other by Name: Joyce Poole on a Lifetime of Listening - BioneersWhat if animals used names like we do — not just sounds, but unique vocal labels to call out to one another across the wild? A groundbreaking study recently confirmed that African elephants do just that, revealing one of the rarest forms of communication in the animal kingdom.