Language
Guess What? You Already Speak Some French!
French is an important world language. French Professor, Ann Williams shares her love of the French language and insights into the French you already know! […]
Language
Language
The Story of Hebrew
Professor Michael Carasik discusses how Hebrew has survived the ages as both a language, and an intrinsic part of Jewish culture. […]
Language
Learning Spanish: How to Understand and Speak a New Language
Think you’re too old to start learning Spanish? Don’t think you have a “language brain”? Think again! You may not have had the right method of instruction. Rote memorization and practice, practice, practice works for some, but not everyone learns that way. […]
Ancient History
Learn How To Write Your Name In Hieroglyphics
Ancient Egyptian civilization is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating chapters in human history. While remnants of the culture like temples, obelisks, and sarcophagi continue to mystify us, you can unlock their true meaning if you know how to read hieroglyphs. […]
Communication
What Did the Ancient Greek Language Sound Like?
The Ancient Greek language is a language like no other. It records an astonishing array of great works in different genres, stretching across a thousand years of history. Watch lecture 1 from the series Greek 101: Learning an Ancient Language, and you’ll learn the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet using the restored classical pronunciation. […]
Communication
What’s Wrong With This Sentence? — A Linguists View On Grammar Usage
I’m going to show you two sentences, and I want you to decide if there are any problems with them. Your decision shouldn’t be about the meaning of the sentence, but rather whether you think there’s anything wrong with the grammar usage. Are you ready? Here we go… […]
Communication
Wonderful Words: How to Describe Liars and the Lies They Tell
Unfortunately, we’ve all encountered someone who’s tried to con, lie, deceive, hoodwink, bamboozle, dupe, scam, bilk, or fleece us at one time or another in our lives. But fortunately, English has some wonderful words to describe these liars and the lies they tell. […]
Communication
The Japanese Language: Context Is Everything
Japanese language is highly contextual. It’s hard to know how to say something in Japanese unless you know the details of the social context. And that reflects a long-standing Japanese concern with order, with hierarchy, and with consensus. […]
Communication
Why The Word ‘Cool’ Has Stayed Hot For So Long
The word “cool” is used as a synonym for almost anything good. Music can be cool and restaurants can be cool. Every so often even a minivan seems cool. But why has its popularity lasted over hundreds of years? […]
Business Skills
The Social Context that Shapes our Talk
How you understand the messages sent to you is shaped in large part by your culture and subcultures—the contexts in which you learned “normal” ways of seeing and hearing the world around you. Grasp the key dimensions along which cultures can be compared […]