English supposedly has the largest vocabulary of any languages in the world (7x more words than French !), and well-educated people typically know less than 10% of them. There would be too many English words and nuances that do not exist in other languages (thousands in French, Italian or Japanese), but much less the other way round. Here are examples of the occasional French words that do not have an exact translation in English, or not in a single word.
Friday, 21 December 2012
French Words that Don't Have an Equivalent in English
Saturday, 15 December 2012
Why is English the only language with a different word for pineapple?
Friday, 14 December 2012
The Top 10 Spanish curse words (not for children!)
The Spaniards have an alarmingly rich vocabulary of swear words and vulgarities – ranging from one-word cusses to full-sentence chants like 'me cago en todo lo que se menea!'. When speaking to a typical Spanish man, it's almost strange not to hear a full sentence with anything erm… crude. Mind you, I adore the Spanish language: combined with expressive hand gestures, it's full of vigor, passion and emotions. The Spaniards for one, have always captivated my heart with their sultry linguistic demeanours.
Monday, 10 December 2012
Interesting Blogs about Learning German
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Things Expats Find Weird About Germany
2. "Thanks" means "no"
Confusing, no? Let me tell you how! If you are at the bakery, and the person behind the counter asks you if you would like your bread sliced, make sure you say "Bitte" (please) or "Ja". If you go the (perhaps overly) polite Anglo-American route of saying "thanks", your bread will be handed to you, nicely wrapped, but whole.
Sunday, 9 December 2012
Interesting Blogs about People that Want To Learn French
Wailele a me Wailani » Blog Archive » Monolingual, Bilingual ... - I want to learn French because it is a nice language and has a rich cultural background. I want to learn Hawaiian because it is part of my cultural background. Latin would be a good language because most of the words we ...
I want to learn French/Italian…. | BreOfficialSite - The title says it. For the past few weeks, I have been wanting to learn a language so bad. I tried to learn online from videos but I find that I learn best when someone is actually teaching " me" and not a thousand other people as ...
I Want To Learn French - learnfrenchfastnow - Blog - One thing you will hear people saying is, "I want to learn French". Many people want to learn this language because they are going on holiday to a French speaking country, for fun or because they are going to live … Continue ...
*Competition* Learn French With Max and Mathilde « Writings ... - Follow me on Twitter and Tweet 'I want to Learn French with @MoolBoots and #win a Children's book http://wp.me/p14X28-11X ' (Again leaving a comment to say you have!) SO a possible four entries, you must do the first one ...
NaBloPoMo « My Present Self - I want to learn French. I took an introductory course during my second last semester of university, but had to drop it. I still have the books, though, so I'm going to try to teach myself. French is also, rightly or wrongly, one of ...
What language is hardest to learn? - The Hot Word - Dictionary.com - I speak english and I want to learn French so badly! I know German would be the easiest for me. The hardest language would probably be.. (if dead languages were included) Latin. FISH on March 27, 2012 at 6:16 pm ...
Win $500 To Les Composantes | theglitterguide.com - love! Karrieharper. All 3 done! How exciting :) Karrie harper. Mchris344. Awesome giveaway! http://waitforthesignal.blogspot.com Sabrina Heise. Yet another reason I want to learn French… waitforthesignal {at} gmail {dot} com ...
I Want to Learn French. Bonjour Monsieur Mademoiselle! | The ... - I Want to Learn French. Bonjour Monsieur Mademoiselle! UncategorizedJuly 24, 2012No comments · Tweet. In an interesting conversation with my friend yesterday, I was asked this: "If you wake up and discover that you can speak another ...
Another reason I want to learn French | Bark: A Blog of Literature ... - I've been reading books in translation lately, or by writers who are fluent in more than one language. One of my goals for this year is to broaden my.
Why It Pays to Learn a Language « Learn Native Language - The first benefit of trying to learn a language besides your native tongue is simply the ability to speak with people who also speak that language. This can include all the people from the language's native location, such as ...
Review: The Kids Can Press French and English Word Book | Tea ... - This book is a great introduction to French vocabulary and helps to lay a useful foundation for the formal study of French.
Poetry: Arthur Rimbaud, "Being Beauteous" « Colinology - Some poets make me want to learn a language because so much of the edge and power of poetry is lost in translation. Arthur Rimbaud is such a poet. I want to learn French just to be able to read his poetry. I think pieces like ...
A Case for Language Mangling | I'm Late for My Nap - Belgium, a relatively small country, has three official languages: French, Flemish (also called Dutch) and German, the first two being the most common. Three native languages squeezed into an area so small creates an ...
The Aztec Account of the Spanish Invasion
An Aztec account of the Conquest of Mexico? Preposterous.
It is common knowledge that those manuscripts that escaped destruction by the Conquistadors were gathered up under the direction of the first Archbishop of Mexico, Juan de Zumarrga, and reduced to ashes. In " The Conquest of Mexico," which remains the classic account of the event in English, William H. Prescott writes: "None of the Aztec compositions have survived." He does mention the name Sahagun and says that he is aware that some of his translations of Aztec prose still exist, but does not pursue the matter.