Vid slutet av varje år publicerar språkrådet en lista med ord som har blivit uppfunna eller har ökat i användning under året. En titt på dessa ord och deras förklaringar är alltid ett trevligt sätt att sammanfatta året och dess händelser. För en svensk gör igenkänningsfaktorn att det blir en underhållande läsning och för en [...]

At the end of each year, the Swedish language council conducts a list of words that have been invented or increased in use during the year. A glance through the words and their explanations is always a nice way of recapping the year that has passed. So, what’s on 2011’s list?

Isn’t it rewarding to master a foreign language? So many years spent reading grammar or learning vocabulary and finally you are there! or almost? It’s time to put an end to the age of doubts; here comes the era of certainties and bab.la is ready for it!

Hace algunos meses decidí aprender alemán. Siempre pensé que dominar un idioma aparte del nativo facilita el proceso de aprender uno más. ¡Estaba tan equivocada! Eso no quiere decir que sea más dicífil porque en realidad todo depende del tiempo que se invierta en el estudio y práctica. Regresando al tema del alemán, noté que [...]

German is known for its long compound words. But also other languages can be a challenge for the beginner learner!

Ci sono parole che sentiamo tutti i giorni. Ad esempio, se vi capita di trovarvi in Italia – circondati dalle colline toscane e dalla lingua di Dante – sentirete spesso le persone rivolgersi le une alle altro con parole quali “ragazzo” o “idiota”. Siamo talmente abituati a sentire queste parole che non ci chiediamo mai [...]

How well do we know…the words we know? There are some words that we are used every day. For example, if you are in Italy – surrounded by Tuscan hills and the Italian language – you will often hear people addressing each other as “ragazzo” (boy) or “idiota” (idiot). We are so used to these [...]

Come ogni altro essere vivente di questo pianeta, le lingue nascono, crescono e muoiono. Lasciamo da parte per il momento il discorso sulla nascita e la morte delle lingue e l’annosa questione relativa alle lingue in via di estinzione, e concetriamoci sulla fase di crescita e di sviluppo di una determinata lingua. Un’introduzione generica e [...]

As every other living thing on planet Earth, languages are born, grow and die. Here we speak about Italian. What about your language? Are there any new words in your language that you like? Are there any old-fashioned words you would like to save?
Share your ideas in the comments!

Have you ever wondered what the most beautiful word of the English language is? I have. In fact, many of us have and what spontaneously occurred to me was that, beauty being subjective, there is no answer to that question. And yet, after some research on the Internet, I realised that there has been a [...]