What if the biases and prejudices that are so often wrapped up in languages could be circumvented? Well, that’s exactly what Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof sought to do by creating Esperanto. Esperanto is a language that was invented by L.L. Zamenhof in 1887.[1] He intended for it to be used as an international auxiliary language. This means basically that Esperanto would [...]
While the precise number cannot be determined, around 300 Native American languages are purported to have once been spoken in North America when the Europeans arrived. These languages were “mutually unintelligible”. Meaning, these 300 respective groups could not speak to one another if they had so desired.[1] Each of these languages are tied to a unique cultural heritage, and deserve [...]
Humanity has always needed to communicate cross-culturally. This need is often motivated by scientific research, commerce, political negotiations, or the translation of religious texts. Yet, the different languages of the Earth have always posed potential problems for mistranslation. There are times when these mistranslations have inconsequential results, and there are times when these mistranslations have nearly catastrophic results. Here, we [...]
Although it is hard to get an exact number, it is estimated that half of the world’s population is bilingual.[1] The estimate of trilingual people in the world is around 1 billion.[2] If you speak 3 or more languages, you’re known as “multilingual” and you’re much more rare among your fellow humans.[3] No matter what your title is, the cognitive [...]
Have you ever heard someone say, “they really went the extra mile” when referring to a job well done? If so, you might not have realized this idiom was extracted directly from the mouth of Jesus. This is not the only religious phrase that’s infiltrated our vernacular. Before we delve into more examples, let’s back up. Whether you are [...]
