Long-form pieces on languages, learners, and the politics of what gets called a language.
What makes conversation practice work, a fair look at tutors, exchanges, clubs and AI chat, and a weekly routine that mixes them.
Does time in a language game count toward your comprehensible input hours? Why a play hour isn't a video hour, and a fair way to log it.
Can video games teach you English? What research says, how hard six popular games are for learners, and what a normal game can't do for you.
Which video games in French suit which level, rated for learners by text, voice acting and replay, plus what a game built for learners adds.
Which games help you learn Japanese, how hard each one is to read and hear, and what a normal game can't do for a learner that a game built for one can.
Which games in Korean are worth playing as a learner, how hard each one is, and what a normal game won't teach you about Korean speech levels.
Which games are worth playing in Spanish, how hard each one is for a learner, and what a normal game can't do that a game built for learners can.
A talk-to-play game is one you play by talking. What you say in your own words, by voice or typing, moves the story, with no menu of lines to pick from.
Comprehensible gaming means playing a game in the language you're learning, built so you can follow it and so understanding changes what happens next.
Conversational gaming means games where talking to characters is how you play. For learners, those conversations happen in the language you're learning.
Playable input is language you're learning that waits for you and responds to what you do with it, unlike a video that plays on whether you followed or not.
Virtual immersion means being surrounded by a language in a place you can move around, where people talk to you and you need it to get things done.
ChatGPT is great at grammar and fixing your writing. Here are prompts that work, and why chatbot speaking practice tends to fade after a week or two.
What comprehensible input is, where video input stops, and how games with characters who gesture and simplify let you use input before you start speaking.
Which languages let you talk to the most people? A look at speaker counts, geographic spread, and internet presence to find the best combination for global communication.
Across Africa and beyond, countries are dropping French as their official language and replacing it with indigenous ones. Nine languages worth learning in this context.
Grammatical gender has almost nothing to do with male and female. Some languages have 3 genders, some have 18, and one has up to 140. A tour of the most elaborate noun class systems on the planet.
China leads the world in manufacturing, renewables, high-speed rail, EVs, and AI. Its films break global records. Its apps have billions of users. Here's why Mandarin is the language of the 21st century.
North Korean Korean builds vocabulary from native roots, calls countries by their own names, and reflects a political project unlike anything else in modern linguistics. Here's why Munhwaeo deserves your attention.