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The 3 things you need to learn a language … a teacher isn’t one of them.
In my previous blog post, I offered a sort of treatise on the theory behind what language is and how it impacts our daily lives. To build on that, I'd like to offer the language-learning philosophy of Babble On. You need three things to learn a language, and a teacher...
A Brief Intro to Language
Language is more than a code. It impacts every part of our lives. If you’ve ever tried to speak another language, you may have run into trouble. Some personal stories: Story 1 One time, I was a tourist in Poland and managed to ask a shopkeeper for a raincoat. After...
The History of English, part 2: How this helps.
In my previous blog post, I talked about the history of English and just barely discussed why it may be useful information. At first sight, something like history doesn't seem immediately applicable: how does knowing English language history help me write a good...
The History of English (and how knowing that improves your English), part 1
In this blog, I wanted to share the way I start every single course: the history of English. Knowing the history of English gives you a new look at what sort of language English is, but it comes with some practical uses (particularly for Dutch speakers!) So, what is...
Engels voor Nederlanders: How to improve your English writing
So, you can hold a conversation in English. You can interact with international colleagues socially and professionally, attend meetings in English, and you can even do research in English. Great. But now you need to write. Here are three tricks to improve...
Meta-language #2: Subject, Verb, Object
So now that we've defined what Meta-language is, let's get down to learning the basics: Each sentence must have two things: A 'thing' (Subject) that does something (Verb) SUBJECT: This is a noun, meaning 'person, place, thing, or idea.' In essence, a subject is...
Meta-language 101: What is it? How does it help?
Meta-language is both the most difficult part of grammar and the most useful. To help you begin, here's a bit about meta-language. First, what are you talking about? What is meta-language? Meta-language is language about language. Basically, meta-language is the kind...