Do languages affect the way we see the world?
Language by some may be perceived solely as a method of direct communication, utterly disregarding the possibility that it might convey much more information than that. In the episode ‘Watch Your Mouth’ of the podcast Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam interviews a cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky and a linguist John McWhorter, who share with the listeners […]
Judicial and legal translations
Every type of specialised translation requires excellent knowledge of terminology and phraseology, and in the case of such a responsible task as document translation, its reliability is even more important. In order to appropriately prepare for such work, it is not enough to learn the relevant vocabulary, but it is also necessary to find out […]
The Curious Case of Michał Perliński
Speaking only one foreign language, which is most often English, can bring about feelings of monotony, boredom and lack of progress in terms of learning. On the other hand, it may give rise to a desire to start studying a new language. There are numerous ways to learn and perfect it. These techniques can be […]
Challenges in comic book translation
Translating comic books may seem an uncomplicated task. After all, there are helpful illustrations at our disposal and there is relatively little text. However, it is not so simple. The aspects which may have seemed to make things easier, turn out to pose biggest difficulties. Limitations Rarely do the word balloons containing the text stretch, […]
The magical Valyrian language
A few years ago, a certain pop culture era came to an end. In May 2019, the last episode of the iconic TV series Game of Thrones aired. Fans must have found it difficult to say goodbye to their beloved characters, and finding a worthy substitution for such a solid, elaborate story was also a […]
The simplicity of animals’ signals in comparison to the beauty of human language
Animals, similarly to humans, use various non-verbal signals to communicate. However, what separates Homo Sapiens from other living beings, is the ability to use both verbal communication, as well as the written language, which together offer the complexity and beauty unobtainable by other species. Primitivity and complexity Animals are controlled by instincts, which is why […]
The learning plateau, i.e. great frustration
The learning plateau is probably a concept that doesn’t say much. However, we can assure you that everyone who has studied a foreign language has experienced this phenomenon in their lives. The plateau phase can be encountered in many fields, although the one we are interested in concerns a problem that is easily experienced when […]
Is the process of learning to code similar to learning a foreign language?
In one of our previous posts, we mentioned the idea of Louisiana senators who wanted to allow kids at school to choose whether they want to learn a foreign language or a programming language. Despite the fact that the idea has been disapproved by the scientists pointing out the differences between those two abilities, it […]