Whether you’re a native speaker of American English or you’re just starting to pick it up, you’ve likely noticed how common it is to hear references to sports in conversations regardless of whether the conversation was casual, formal, or even business-related. Americans who reference sports in conversations usually do so through the use of idioms – a phrase or [...]
Can Adults Learn a Second Language? The short answer is yes—adults can (and should!) pick up more than one language. The idea that a student is most receptive to information at a young age, and that the brain hardens against learning new information later, is largely a myth. What actually occurs is that adults leave environments such as schools [...]
Cockney rhyming slang to the untrained ear, can often sound like a different language altogether – instead of a unique variation of English. To outsiders, at first listen, this bizarre way of speaking may seem as if the speaker is randomly ascribing multiple words or phrases to a single noun or purposely rearranging a sentence beyond all recognition. But [...]
Affirmative action has been a contentious topic in the United States since its widespread introduction in 1965 at the hands of then-president John F. Kennedy. However, the US is not the only nation facing internal conflict about the viability of affirmative action as a policy in the workplace and academia. In 2012, Brazil implemented a nationwide mandate to implement affirmative [...]
For most people, learning a new language is a challenging, long-term commitment that requires daily dedication and air-tight focus. When you’re first starting out, you may notice that your train of thought “pauses” as it works to switch from your native language to your new language. As time goes on and you become stronger in your ability to utilize and [...]
The rich history of African American Vernacular English has endured and flourished, undoubtedly leaving an indelible mark on America and how it speaks, but AAVE’s origin, core features, and even very existence continue to be debated by professional linguists and everyday people alike. Despite the debate, and at times controversy, over what exactly AAVE is, there is a very [...]
Whether you’re a devout Catholic or just a fan of Dan Brown thrillers like The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, you’re likely familiar with one of the world’s most exalted and eccentric places – Vatican City. Despite its name, Vatican City is actually a tiny country, nestled in the heart of Rome, Italy. What it lacks in [...]
How could something so Plain Jane and American as apple pie like standard American English be controversial? Well, it’s because declaring that anything is standard or normal implies that everything else is not standard, and people tend to take issue with that, no matter what the topic. Standard English in the original thirteen colonies was what we would now [...]
Beautiful Boston figures prominently in US history and continues to stand tall as one of the East Coast’s major metropolises. Outsiders may traditionally know it for the food, beer, and passionate sports fans, but Boston has also gained a bit of recent notoriety for its unique accent. The Boston accent is of course nothing new, but it has enjoyed [...]
Just as some old-fashioned librarians and teachers decry the fact that the new generations no longer read (although people are reading MUCH more than previous generations, just usually online), some people also lament the increasing use of emojis, viewing it as a sort of regression back to the days of cave paintings. Is the internet not only shortening our [...]
