Archive of posts about Introduction
Posted on May 22, 2015
You’ve probably heard the joke:
A person who speaks two languages is bilingual. A person who speaks more than two languages is a polyglot. So what do you call a person who speaks just one language? Answer: An American.
The joke is funny because it contains an element of embarrassing truth.
Continue reading `No hablo español: How I failed to learn Spanish. Twice.` →
Filed under:
Introduction
language learning
portuguese
spanish
Posted on May 12, 2015
Pardon my French Last week my brother was telling me a story that took place at his work. Somebody had, jokingly, insulted a coworker using a long string of profanity.
“What did you say?” the recipient had retorted, pretending to be offended.
“Oh nothing. That’s just the Portuguese word for ‘sauerkraut’.
Continue reading `Why there is no Portuguese word for "Sauerkraut"` →
Filed under:
etymology
french
german
Introduction
loanwords
portuguese
Posted on May 7, 2015
Editor’s note: This article is also available in Spanish. Nota del editor: Este artícolo también está disponible en español. ¿Glosófilo? ¿Gloso-qué?
As I was thinking about launching this blog, I knew I would need to come up with name. I wanted something short. Something memorable. Something meaningful. I spent several days brainstorming with my wife and some friends, and we had come up with a few ideas.
Continue reading `Glossophile? Glossa-what?` →
Filed under:
etymology
faq
greek
Introduction
latin
neologism
spanish