Erin Donnelly, Author at The Pimsleur Language Blog https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/author/erin-donnelly/ Learning another language doesn't have to be hard. Tue, 04 Jan 2022 20:59:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 Why Do People Mimic Accents https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/why-do-people-mimic-accents/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/why-do-people-mimic-accents/#respond Mon, 06 Dec 2021 22:16:31 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=27492 Have you ever caught yourself imitating someone else’s accent or speech mannerisms after spending time with them? This can be especially obvious when their accent and speech are very different from your own. Sometimes it can even be embarrassing- our friends might tease us if we come back from vacation with an ever-so-slightly different accent. Read More >>

The post Why Do People Mimic Accents appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/why-do-people-mimic-accents/feed/ 0 The Speech Sounds that Make English Hard to Learn https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/english-speech-sounds-phonemes/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/english-speech-sounds-phonemes/#respond Thu, 05 Aug 2021 14:38:07 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=27117 Uncommon English Speech Sounds that Make the Language Unique Learning how English compares to other languages can actually help us learn other languages.  And it can make us appreciate the wide diversity among the languages of the world. Using WALS, the World Atlas of Language Structures online, as well as this interactive chart of consonants Read More >>

The post The Speech Sounds that Make English Hard to Learn appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/english-speech-sounds-phonemes/feed/ 0 Do Animals Have Language? Differences Between Human Language & Animal Communication https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/do-animals-have-language/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/do-animals-have-language/#respond Thu, 30 Jan 2020 19:45:30 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=13584 How is Human Language Different From Animal Communication Systems In the 1960s, linguist Charles Hockett identified a set of “design features” to distinguish human language from animal communication systems. While there are ongoing debates about the usefulness of these design features, they do accurately describe the unique properties of human language. Let’s explore the wonders Read More >>

The post Do Animals Have Language? Differences Between Human Language & Animal Communication appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/do-animals-have-language/feed/ 0 How Language Shapes the Way We Think and See the World https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/how-language-shapes-the-way-we-think-and-see-the-world/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/how-language-shapes-the-way-we-think-and-see-the-world/#comments Thu, 02 Jan 2020 20:18:01 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=13154 How Language Influences The Way You See Colors, Space, and Time One day I was in my Kiswahili language learning course when my instructor taught us something profound about how language influences how we see other people. In the course, he taught us how a noun class identifier that was supposed to denote “things” was Read More >>

The post How Language Shapes the Way We Think and See the World appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/how-language-shapes-the-way-we-think-and-see-the-world/feed/ 6 Is Slang Destroying the English Language? https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/does-slang-ruin-english-language/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/does-slang-ruin-english-language/#respond Wed, 06 Nov 2019 19:48:34 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=12068 Is Slang Bad and Does Slang Ruin Language? Slang is inevitable in any language. While you probably won’t be using it in a job interview, here’s why it’s fine for language and here to stay.  What is Slang? Although we might think of slang as any nonstandard language use, it actually has a fairly narrow Read More >>

The post Is Slang Destroying the English Language? appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/does-slang-ruin-english-language/feed/ 0 Whistled Languages – Ultimate Guide to Long Distance Conversations https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/whistled-languages-ultimate-guide-long-distance-conversations/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/whistled-languages-ultimate-guide-long-distance-conversations/#respond Fri, 30 Nov 2018 17:00:30 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=1099 In some languages, whistled languages can be used as a fill-in for spoken language when a face-to-face conversation is not possible. Whistled speech is a form of communication that abstracts certain aspects of spoken language into whistles. These whistles languages can be understood by others in the speech community. Whistled languages can be found all Read More >>

The post Whistled Languages – Ultimate Guide to Long Distance Conversations appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/whistled-languages-ultimate-guide-long-distance-conversations/feed/ 0 Do Women Really Talk More Than Men? https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/language-ideologies-do-women-really-talk-more-than-men/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/language-ideologies-do-women-really-talk-more-than-men/#respond Mon, 19 Nov 2018 20:30:03 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=946 How Does Gender Affect Language Use? The opinions, attitudes, and beliefs that people hold about language are called language ideologies. Language ideologies affect how we talk and behave, as well as how we perceive others’ speech. Intuition tells us that men and women use language differently. Many people say they believe that gender affects language Read More >>

The post Do Women Really Talk More Than Men? appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/language-ideologies-do-women-really-talk-more-than-men/feed/ 0 National Museum Fire ravages Brazil’s Indigenous Languages https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/national-museum-fire-ravages-brazils-indigenous-languages/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/national-museum-fire-ravages-brazils-indigenous-languages/#respond Fri, 02 Nov 2018 16:00:34 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=938 In one sense, a fire can destroy only what is tangible, but in Brazil’s National Museum fire, languages also perished. The only existing records of several Brazilian indigenous languages went up in flames. For the majority of these records, there were no digital backups. They are gone forever. So are the indigenous languages they described. Read More >>

The post National Museum Fire ravages Brazil’s Indigenous Languages appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/national-museum-fire-ravages-brazils-indigenous-languages/feed/ 0 History of Halloween: The Origin of English’s Spookiest Words https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/history-of-halloween-spookiest-words/ https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/history-of-halloween-spookiest-words/#respond Wed, 31 Oct 2018 16:38:51 +0000 https://blog.pimsleur.com/?p=968 The end of October is approaching, making now a good time to brush up on the history of Halloween language. Let’s explore the twisted tales of how the spookiest words (including ’spooky’ itself) came to be.   The Origin of the Six Spookiest Words in English   1. Halloween The name ‘Hallow-e’en’ may have Christian Read More >>

The post History of Halloween: The Origin of English’s Spookiest Words appeared first on The Pimsleur Language Blog.

]]> https://www.pimsleur.com/blog/history-of-halloween-spookiest-words/feed/ 0