What makes Japan so great? [more inside]
posted on Jul 23, 2008 - 24 answers

Learning Portuguese, I think I'm learning Portuguese, I really think so. : Or at least, I'd like to be. [more inside]
posted on Jul 15, 2008 - 9 answers

What do you think of a person when you find out that they are foreigners. I'm specifically asking if you have noticed yourself acting differently to a person with an accent. Lengthy description follows. [more inside]
posted on Jul 9, 2008 - 42 answers

I'm looking for pointers on whether TV programs which are subject to censoring of obscene language have to also look out for obscenity in foreign languages. [more inside]
posted on Jul 7, 2008 - 8 answers

I'm trying to research the equivalents of the English phrases "What can I do for you?" or "How can I help you?" translated into 10-15 other languages. (So basically, across cultures.) [more inside]
posted on Jun 5, 2008 - 25 answers

What are your favorite online resources for learning, practicing or getting exposure to the languages you speak? I'm looking for things that go beyond a textbook and a couple of CDs: things like interactive tools and study materials, well-written blogs written in / about the language, and especially audio, video or reading materials that people learning the language might not be able to find easily. [more inside]
posted on Jun 4, 2008 - 8 answers

What are the most multilingual websites on the web? [more inside]
posted on Jun 4, 2008 - 2 answers

Are some languages objectively harder than others? If so, which ones? [more inside]
posted on Apr 30, 2008 - 48 answers

Where can I buy the O'Reilly 'History of Programming Languages' poster? I checked ebay and googled around a bit, but couldn't find any for sale. I don't have plans to attend any of their conferences, is that really the only way to get one?
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - 8 answers

LinguisticsFilter: Why are the many Indo-European languages considered to have a common ancestor, whereas Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and other gramatically and lexically similar languages are grouped into separate language families? How did so many different language families arise in the Americas and Australia given that they were populated by the same groups of people? Much more inside. [more inside]
posted on Mar 18, 2008 - 46 answers

What programming suites are considered hot these days for for coding standalone Windows applications? [more inside]
posted on Feb 24, 2008 - 10 answers

What can I buy, download or find online to help me learn as much Polish as possible in the next ten days, with a budget of about £50? [more inside]
posted on Feb 20, 2008 - 9 answers

I'm starting to learn German, and I love it- I find everything about the language fascinating, and making my flashcards and doing my speech exercises about how Jan liebt Sara and how das Madchen ist glucklach is the funnest part of my day. I'd like to get good at it. Really, really good. Can you help me? [more inside]
posted on Feb 11, 2008 - 31 answers

What are the best (free) podcasts for learning languages? [more inside]
posted on Dec 15, 2007 - 10 answers

Children's books in Danish? Books on CD? I need Danish language resources! [more inside]
posted on Oct 27, 2007 - 9 answers

Help me type in Japanese! (Mac OS X) [more inside]
posted on Sep 20, 2007 - 3 answers

I'm studying to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December. I have a shitload to learn and it seems nigh insurmountable, but I can do it. What are the best ways to study for this? [more inside]
posted on Sep 9, 2007 - 8 answers

I need to review Russian badly (up to the speaking/writing/listening level of a minor in Russian). I have a semester (two is doable but pushing it) to devote to this. I need some kind of structured process to go about this--while I have textbooks and some materials from years ago it's not enough. Does anyone have any suggestions for other good tutorials? Syllabi? Quick-review websites?
posted on Sep 6, 2007 - 9 answers

Which famous people speak/have spoken other languages? [more inside]
posted on Aug 21, 2007 - 46 answers

This is a little esoteric (or silly), but does anyone know of a book that gives the words for various animals in multiple languages? [more inside]
posted on Jul 26, 2007 - 8 answers

How can I eliminate my American accent when speaking Spanish? [more inside]
posted on Jul 11, 2007 - 16 answers

Need to take a language next year; Japanese or Mandarin? [more inside]
posted on Jun 26, 2007 - 37 answers

CornballFilter : I'm trying to change the words of an old German song to make a German girl laugh. (Look .... you are just going to have to trust me on this) Need help making it rhyme. [more inside]
posted on Jun 18, 2007 - 8 answers

I came across this inscription in a small park near my public library yesterday. What does it say? [more inside]
posted on Jun 18, 2007 - 19 answers

How can I learn to recognise more languages? [more inside]
posted on Apr 12, 2007 - 20 answers

I've always wanted to spend some time living/working abroad, preferably Spain. However I'm from the UK, and like many of us, I speak practically no languages other than English. [more inside]
posted on Mar 27, 2007 - 12 answers

What do you think is going on here? [more inside]
posted on Mar 17, 2007 - 8 answers

Can anybody recommend a school to study intensive, intermediate-level Spanish in Cuba for two weeks? [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2006 - 2 answers

I'm using a friend's Mac, and I need to use Office, but he is Dutch and all his Office 2004 menus are in Dutch. How do I switch to English? m.i.
posted on Nov 30, 2006 - 10 answers

Hawaiian has only eight consonants. Pirahã purportedly has even fewer phonemes and no numerals. What other languages have properties which would be considered unusual by Indo-European language speakers?
posted on Nov 16, 2006 - 33 answers

I have an embarrassingly parallel problem for which I currently have a working algorithm prototyped in a relatively high level language (IDL). It's time I properly parallelised it however, and also rewrote it with something I can optimise a bit more easily. What languages and resources are available? [more inside]
posted on Sep 20, 2006 - 10 answers

How do I learn what goes on "under the hood" of programming languages? [more inside]
posted on Aug 14, 2006 - 34 answers

Ukrainian or Polish: What language should I learn? [more inside]
posted on Jun 22, 2006 - 16 answers

Do you know any words which are common to many languages? [more inside]
posted on May 16, 2006 - 52 answers

I've just been rejected from ALI. How am I ever going to get fluent in Arabic? [more inside]
posted on May 14, 2006 - 16 answers

LinguisticsFilter: There are a lot of resources explaining how to transcribe a language into IPA, but I don't have any that get into the nitty gritty of how one language pronounces a given consonant compared to another. Are there good resources on this front? Are there resources on how to speak in various foreign accents? [more inside]
posted on Apr 27, 2006 - 8 answers

I'm at a stage where I need to memorize vocabulary in a foreign language, and I am looking for advice, tips & useful software. [more inside]
posted on Feb 24, 2006 - 19 answers

Post Pimsleur Spanish III Learning? [more inside]
posted on Feb 23, 2006 - 6 answers

WindowsFilter: how can I install complex language support on my PC without a CD? [more inside]
posted on Feb 15, 2006 - 2 answers

I'm hoping to start learning a middle-eastern language [more inside]
posted on Jan 28, 2006 - 8 answers

I'd like to get the most out of my Rosetta Stone software. Any advice? [more inside]
posted on Jan 12, 2006 - 8 answers

What dialect of Lisp should I learn? [more inside]
posted on Dec 20, 2005 - 14 answers

objective caml - is it worth learning? [more inside]
posted on Nov 29, 2005 - 9 answers

Good french books by good french authors? [more inside]
posted on Nov 28, 2005 - 34 answers

I want to create a MS Word master document with the subdocuments as different translations.... [more inside]
posted on Oct 27, 2005 - 7 answers

I am seriously considering moving to somewhere in Latin America to teach English and learn Spanish. [more inside]
posted on Sep 7, 2005 - 10 answers

Has anyone learned a language using Rosetta Stone software, or something like it? Does it work?
posted on Jul 11, 2005 - 12 answers

Languages: I would like to teach myself a foreign language with the primary motivation of reading literature written originally in that language. (Italian, in this case.) For now, speaking and pronunciation are not as important as learning grammatical rules, sentence construction, and growing my vocabulary. Ideally, I would like to learn at my own pace, without having to hire a tutor or enrol in language classes, and I would prefer to skip general phrasebook greetings. Apart from a dictionary, what should I arm myself with? Are there any good resources on the web for this? How should one go about teaching oneself to read a foreign language? Thanks!
posted on Jul 6, 2005 - 18 answers

For those of you fluent in Japanese, I'd like to hear your best advice on the subject. I've studied for about 4 years, and have been living in Japan for nearly a year, but despite this, achieving true "fluency" still seems like an insurmountable task. Although I am conversationally fluent, at times I become incredibly frustrated. How long do you think it takes to become fluent? And now for the oh-so-impossible question: what should I do to speed up the process? Advice, experiences, suggestions would be welcome from any students of foreign language.
posted on Feb 13, 2005 - 9 answers

What are some good strategies for studying language with notecards or flash cards? Anyone have experience with the so-called Leitner system? Are software/online notecard systems any better than the real thing? Vocabulary-building tips are appreciated, as well.
posted on Feb 10, 2005 - 3 answers