Search
Close this search box.

12 Amazing & Famous Palindromes from Around the World

A unifying trait of all cultures and languages is playfulness — a desire to have fun with language, to twist it this way and that, and to create out of grammatical rules and restrictions a game of words and sounds that renders communication a dynamic and living art. One way people have done this is […]

Etymology of Halloween

Like many modern holidays, the history of Halloween links an ancient pagan ritual with the Christian effort to eradicate it, ending in the repackaged consumer holiday we know today. Halloween began as the ancient Gaelic holiday of Samhain. On the 1st of November, the Celts celebrated the bittersweet end of the warm summer and autumnal […]

The 10 Most Useful Languages to Learn

Although there is no holistically objective way to quantify and rate the impact and import of world languages, there are several objective factors that contribute to creating a list of the world’s most useful languages to know. In his influential mid-90s survey of world languages, George Weber pinpointed several of these factors, ascribing a numerical […]

2008 International Year of Languages

With 2008 being the International Year of Languages, I thought I’d wish a happy birthday to the UN, and do my part to spread the word about their language initiatives. October 24, 2008 marks the 63rd anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, written in 1945 in San Francisco by UN delegate representatives from […]

Etymology of “Economy”

There is no doubt that when the candidates get together tonight for the third and final debate, they will focus on the state of the economy. Like many words frequently used in matters of state and government, economy has its origins in Ancient Greece. Eco is a derivation of the Greek oikos, meaning an extended […]

Etymology of “Campaign”

Now that the U.S. has entered into the final weeks of a long presidential campaign, let’s take a closer look at the language we use to describe the process. The etymology of the word campaign reflects a military history dating back to 17th-century Europe. The Latin campus — adopted in the French as campagne and […]

Ten Most Difficult Words in the World to Translate

Sometimes even the finest translators come up against words that defy translation. Many languages include words that don’t have a simple counterpart in another language. When translators come across such a word, they usually describe it so that it makes sense in the target language. But some words pose more difficulty than others due to […]

Traduttore, Traditore

The Italians and the French have a history of cultural rivalry that dates back to before the Renaissance, when scholars, philosophers, artists, and writers of the two countries held the reins of Europe. Fostering progress in tandem, European polyglots and translators found themselves translating the works of their neighbors. The cultural interchange spawned the Italian […]

Etymology of “Barbarian”

Who is a barbarian? The word barbarian was used originally by the Greeks to refer to any non-Greek: Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Celts, Germans, Phoenicians, Etruscans, Macedonians, Carthaginians, Vikings, Goths – all of these became known as barbarians. The ancient Greek word βάρβαρος (bárbaros) meant “babbler.” To the Greek ear, someone who did not speak the […]

How to Toast in 20 Languages

If there is one philosophy that transcends cultural boundaries and linguistic differences, it is “Eat, drink, and be merry.” From the tip of Chile to the top of Siberia, lengthwise and breadth-wise and zigzagging the globe, nations have developed a wide array of phrases and customs associated with drinking and toasting. Most cultures extol the […]

Preparing for your test?

View our test prep materials or FAQ’s for common questions about taking a test.