The English language is both complex and quirky. Its idioms, words that aren’t pronounced at all like they’re spelled,  and confusing (or contradictory) rules, all from a part of the wonderful language we call English. So don’t be a nincompoop and stop your lollygagging, and read onto to learn about some of the craziest English(…)

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Aaron and I am an American living and studying in Barcelona, Spain.   Ever since moving abroad, my answer to the inescapable “de donde eres” question has strategically shifted from ‘the U.S.’ to ‘California.’ I must admit, it’s a great strategy. As soon as the word leaves(…)

That word. Yes, That word. The word we all love to hate, the world that has our inner squick surfacing, our faces grimacing, and our fingers curling for purchase into any reassuring comfort we can get our hands on. But what is it about that word that we currently can’t even bring ourselves to type(…)

Sean Patrick Hopwood is a language polyglot and a language enthusiast. His goal in life is to bring world peace through education, tolerance and cultural awareness. He is also the President and Founder at Day Translations, Inc., a global translation company. Day Translations has also created a free translation tool. Learning a language is a(…)

New dance trends are popping up all the time and with the unique names they’re given, it’s almost impossible to keep track of them all. Although seemingly non-threatening, this fact could have dire consequences. Imagine you find yourself in an unfamiliar club with new friends you desperately want to impress. You’ve heard them use some(…)

Even if you’re not a poker player, you’ve probably noticed the game’s exponential rise in popularity over the last ten years. From a relatively small back-room game to being featured on ESPN, Texas Holdem is a game that requires an incredibly high level of concentration and a deep understanding of strategy. Plus, there’s a lot(…)

The Super Bowl is sometimes called “the greatest sporting event in the world”. That’s quite a claim considering that the vast majority of fans hail from just one country. Baseball players dream of winning the World Series, which for a league including only one non-American team, is also absurd. Money is the primary driving force(…)

If you’ve ever spent any serious time playing video games, you should be able to translate the title. If not, there’s never been a better time to acclimate yourself with the lingo. Since video games are exponentially evolving in line with Moore’s law, they’re positioned to keep pace with computers and become an increasingly important(…)

HBO upped its game when they decided to hire David Peterson, language creator extraordinaire, to invent the Dothraki language. Here are some pretty interesting facts about the language: Contest First, Language Creation Second Creating Dothraki was the second step. The first step: winning an internal contest at The Language Creation Society (LCS). Although Peterson serves(…)

It’s not just us humble language learners that make the occasional faux pas in another language. World leaders do it too. The Guardian has put together this fun quiz of linguistic gaffes – can you guess the correct answers for all of them? In honor of the faux pas, perhaps you could try some French(…)