If you’ve ever wanted to add some more fun to your language learning journey, why not consider checking out one of the over 200 board games MacOdrum Library has on offer?

It’s a great way to get together with peers to practice your language, and, even better, it’s free!

Let’s say you’re learning Japanese, and you want to practice your vocabulary and speaking skills. Consider Hanabi (»¨»ð, Japanese for ‘fireworks’), a game perfect for beginner learners ¨C you only need to know colors and numbers!

Doesn’t sound like your kind of game? Well then visit the MacOdrum Library website to check out their extensive board game collection!

Here’s a quick guide on how to find a game that suits your fancy:

1. Log in to your account on the

2. Navigate to the three dots in the menu bar

3. Click on ¡°Featured Collections¡±

4. Scroll down until you find ¡°Board Games¡±

5. Search for the game you want, or browse around until you find one

6. Request to pick up the book at MacOdrum Library or get it delivered to you

7. Play!

The post Sign Out A Board Game! appeared first on Language Learning Resource Centre.

Welcome back to the Language Spotlight Blog, and congrats on making it through the term! As an ode to all things academic, I thought today would be the perfect opportunity to talk about Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), and the many ways it is used, or not used.

I have to admit, the title may have been a lie. It¡¯s not the case that nobody speaks MSA, but it certainly isn¡¯t any Arabic speaker¡¯s native language, nor does its name reveal exactly how it is used.

Perhaps we should begin with a brief introduction to Arabic (sorry to those of you less interested in diachronic linguistics than I am).

Arabic belongs to the Semitic group of Afro-Semitic languages, alongside Hebrew, Aramaic, and Amharic.¹

The earliest records of Arabic date back all the way to the seventh century BCE, and this form of Arabic, called Old Arabic, lasted until the second century CE, when it evolved into Early Arabic.²

However, it wasn¡¯t until about 300 years later that the Classical Arabic era began.³ This period is known for its refined poetic and literary language, which flourished all across the Arabic-speaking world.⁴

The seventh century writing of the Quran and the subsequent Islamic Golden Age cemented Classical Arabic as a language of great influence and prestige.⁵

The decline of the Islamic Golden Age led to a period of Middle Arabic, which is vaguely defined as a time when Classical Arabic remained the language of literature, science, and the arts, but vernacular (spoken) Arabic began shifting and evolving into unique regional varieties.⁶

From the 13^th century CE until now, we have been in the ¡®modern period¡¯, marked by the continued stratification of Arabic into the literary form, Modern Standard Arabic, and the spoken regional forms.⁷

In fact, Classical Arabic and MSA aren¡¯t exactly the same forms of Arabic, and there is some dispute as to the terminology used here, but because differences between the two are largely in stylistic use and vocabulary, there is a strong continuity between the varieties.⁸

Nowadays, MSA is used in Arabic media, including television and radio broadcasts, and in all forms of the written language, including books, newspapers, and street signs.⁹

At the same time, conversing with Arabic speakers requires the use of a regional variety of Arabic. No native speaker uses MSA in their day-to-day conversations, and, in fact, because there is no one standard form of spoken Arabic, many speakers are able to understand at least a few different varieties.¹⁰

Egyptian Arabic, for instance, is very popular among learners for its pop-culture influence and ability to be used throughout the Arabic-speaking world.¹¹

Maghrebi Arabic, on the other hand, has been heavily influenced by prolonged contact with French (the colonial language in many areas), distinguishing it from other forms of colloquial Arabic.¹²

In fact, the World Atlas of Language Structures (WALS) lists 20 varieties of Arabic outside of MSA,¹³ while Ethnologue lists 32 languages in the Arabic family, excluding MSA.¹⁴

So, it may feel overwhelming to choose just one of these varieties to learn. Even more so, classifying these varieties as ¡®languages¡¯ or ¡®dialects¡¯ is not so easy.

This is all the more so the case for Arabic, not in the least because of its millions of speakers, enormous geographical span, and long and complex history.¹⁵

Either way, if you want to get around in your day-to-day life in an Arabic speaking country, you¡¯ll need to learn vernacular Arabic.

In that case, is learning MSA just a waste of time?

Well, no!

One major advantage to learning MSA is that it allows you to work, travel, and study in Arabic-speaking countries much more easily.

For instance, a company or university may want require you to certify your Arabic proficiency, spoken and written, in order to work or study abroad there.

Proficiency tests will assess your knowledge of MSA, rather than the local dialect, as popular tests like the CIMA¹⁶  and ALPT¹⁷ show.

Even something as simple as reading street signs and newspapers will require some familiarity with MSA. In other words, you need MSA to be able to get around.

Of course, a big reason to learn MSA is that you simply may not have access to anyone who can teach you a different variety of Arabic!

If the only learning resources and teachers you have available to you are geared towards MSA, well then of course you¡¯re going to learn MSA.

For example, ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´¡¯s Arabic classes (which are unfortunately not offered this year), teach MSA, rather than any regional varieties. Naturally, a big part of this is the fact that all reading and writing is done in MSA.

That doesn¡¯t stop you from trying to find native speakers of, say, Moroccan Arabic on online chat groups or in your community as a way to supplement your learning! If you have the opportunity to travel and experience local dialects of Arabic yourself, then even better!

A final reason to learn MSA is simply out of interest. In other words, why not? Once you have a sufficient level of understanding of MSA, it can serve as a great stepping stone to diving deeper into the dialects and cultures you¡¯re most interested in pursuing in the long-term!

In fact, I think many people would argue that you definitely should learn MSA (to some extent), and focus on regional varieties to work on your conversational skills.

All of this might seem like a big hurdle for those of you hoping to learn Arabic ¨C not only do you need to learn to read and write in MSA, you need to learn to speak vernacular Arabic too!

And, true, this may be a challenge and take a lot of time, but fear not ¨C it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll be learning two radically different languages.

Indeed, Arabic is what we would consider a very typical case of diglossia.

Traditionally, diglossia has been defined as a stable stratification of related language varieties, whereby one of the varieties occupies a prestigious status, often being the language of literature, state, media, and schooling, while the other variety is used for spoken conversation and in informal settings.¹⁸

Sound familiar?

Because of this diglossia, learning Arabic won¡¯t be easy. But then again, learning a language never is!

As long as you¡¯re dedicated, have clear goals, and are willing to work hard to reach them, then you¡¯ll manage just fine.

Besides, you certainly aren¡¯t the first to learn Arabic, so don¡¯t be afraid to ask for help!

So, for all of you interested in learning Arabic ¨Cor any other language for that matter¨C it¡¯s important to take into account which variety you¡¯re choosing to learn, the various ways it might be used, and how you should expect others to speak out in the real world.

The case of Modern Standard Arabic is a great reminder that nothing can replace the value of actually engaging with a language¡¯s speakers outside of a classroom ¨C authentic input leads to authentic communication and a better understanding of the cultural practices that inform language use!

At the same time, standardized language varieties do serve a purpose, so don¡¯t overlook them either.

As a final note to aspiring Arabic learners, while we¡¯re not hosting an Arabic conversation group this term, the LLRC is always looking for passionate volunteers who¡¯d like to help others improve their conversational abilities. Learn more here!

References

1 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

2 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

3 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

4 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

5 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

6 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

7 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

8 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

9 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

10 Ryding, K. C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486975

11 Yasmin, K. (2024, October 11). Arabic dialects: Understanding the types of Arabic. Preply. https://preply.com/en/blog/arabic-dialects/.

12 Yasmin, K. (2024, October 11). Arabic dialects: Understanding the types of Arabic. Preply. https://preply.com/en/blog/arabic-dialects/.

13 Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) 2013. WALS Online (v2020.4) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13950591

14 Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2025. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-eighth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.proxy.library.carleton.ca

15 Morano, R., & Bettega, S. (2022). The Classification of Arabic Dialects: Traditional Approaches, New Proposals, and Methodological Problems. MDPI ¨C Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-0365-6140-0

16 Alliance Fran?aise Abu Dhabi. (2025). CIMA ¨C Arabic Certificate. https://www.afabudhabi.org/cima/#/.

17 Arab Academy. (2021). Arabic Language Proficiency Test. https://www.arabacademy.com/alpt/.

18 Bell, A. (2014). The Guidebook to Sociolinguistics. Wiley Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The post Nobody Speaks Standard Arabic appeared first on Language Learning Resource Centre.

If you¡¯re looking at the title of this blog post and thinking to yourself, ¡°what in the world is that monstrosity?¡± then don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re not alone. Even to a German speaker, such as myself, a word like this (which, by the way, refers to ¡°the law concerning the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and the labelling of beef¡±)¹ needs more than one read-through to be properly understood. Even so, long words are common ¨Cvery much so¨C in German, a fact that even non-speakers frequently recognize. Why is that?

Well, that¡¯s the magic of morphology. Morphology, in linguistics, is the study of how words are formed. We look at morphemes, the smallest units of language that carry meaning (smaller, even, than words!), and how they¡¯re put together to form the words and phrases we use in our speech. It¡¯s kind of like putting together a bunch of Lego bricks and ending up with a house.

English, of course, also makes use of morphology. You¡¯ll all be familiar with prefixes (morphemes that are attached to the beginning of a word) like un- in unhappy, or suffixes (morphemes that are attached to the end of a word) like -ness in happiness.

However, not every language is the same in this regard. English is a language that uses lots and lots of separate words to say what it means. Other languages have far more complex morphology than English, and combine all these morphemes into one word!

Neither of these strategies is better or worse, because at the end of the day everyone ends up saying what they need to; they¡¯re simply different ways of achieving the same goal. As they say (well¡­ as I say), one man¡¯s sentence is another man¡¯s extremely long compound word!

German is precisely one of these morphologically-complex types of languages (though there are a lot of languages out there that are even more complex than German!). German uses lots of prefixes, suffixes, and even circumfixes (a prefix and a suffix that have to go together) to communicate precise meanings. Simply put, German is a master at taking many little components and creating one big, meaningful word out of it.

So, let¡¯s take a look at how we would actually parse (break down) a word like ¸é¾±²Ô»å´Ú±ô±ð¾±²õ³¦³ó±ð³Ù¾±°ì±ð³Ù³Ù¾±±ð°ù³Ü²Ô²µ²õ¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²¹³Ü´Ú²µ²¹²ú±ð²Ô¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²µ±ð²õ±ð³Ù³ú:

First of all, we need to figure out what kind of a word this is. German compound words are ¡°right-headed,¡± which means the right-most part of the word tells you its basic meaning. Everything else is just there to give you extra information, making the word more specific.

The rightmost part of ¸é¾±²Ô»å´Ú±ô±ð¾±²õ³¦³ó±ð³Ù¾±°ì±ð³Ù³Ù¾±±ð°ù³Ü²Ô²µ²õ¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²¹³Ü´Ú²µ²¹²ú±ð²Ô¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õgesetz is gesetz, meaning ¡®law¡¯. So, now we know that this gigantic word just refers to one hyper-specific type of law.

So, then we go from right-to-left to figure out exactly what type of law we¡¯re talking about.

An ¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-gesetz is, literally, a ¡®transfer law¡¯. In legal speak, that gets translated as a ¡®delegation law¡¯.

Moving left again, an aufgaben-¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-gesetz is a ¡®law for delegation of duties¡¯ (or, literally, ¡®duties delegation law¡¯).

On and on we go:

¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-aufgaben-¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-gesetz

¡®supervision duties delegation law¡¯

Then:

etikettierungs-¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-aufgaben-¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-gesetz

¡®labeling supervision duties delegation law¡¯

And finally:

Rindfleisch-etikettierungs-¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-aufgaben-¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ-gesetz

¡®Beef labeling supervision duties delegation law¡¯

Which is most elegantly translated as the ¡®law for the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and beef labeling¡¯¡­ what a mouthful!

Et voil¨¤: we have broken ¸é¾±²Ô»å´Ú±ô±ð¾±²õ³¦³ó±ð³Ù¾±°ì±ð³Ù³Ù¾±±ð°ù³Ü²Ô²µ²õ¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²¹³Ü´Ú²µ²¹²ú±ð²Ô¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²µ±ð²õ±ð³Ù³ú down into its component parts, understood them all individually, and pieced them back together to read the word as a whole!

Now, I think it¡¯s time I let you in on a little secret¡­This post has been a lie.

Well, not entirely, since it is true that morphology really is all about the smallest meaningful components of language, German compound words really are right-headed, and ¸é¾±²Ô»å´Ú±ô±ð¾±²õ³¦³ó±ð³Ù¾±°ì±ð³Ù³Ù¾±±ð°ù³Ü²Ô²µ²õ¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²¹³Ü´Ú²µ²¹²ú±ð²Ô¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²µ±ð²õ±ð³Ù³ú really does mean ¡®law for the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and beef labeling¡¯.

However, the idea that German has ¡®long words¡¯ and English doesn¡¯t, is totally made up! English compounds actually work the same way German ones do!

The only reason German words seem ¡®long¡¯ to English speakers is because they¡¯re not putting spaces where we would expect them to.

There¡¯s no salient linguistic difference between ¡®lawforthedelegationofdutiesforthesupervisionofcattlemarkingandbeeflabeling¡¯ and ¡®law for the delegation of duties for the supervision of cattle marking and beef labeling¡¯!

I mean, try saying them out loud, and you¡¯ll see they¡¯re actually identical! So, the difference we perceive in the German version of an identical English word is just an artefact of the languages¡¯ different spelling conventions.

The crux of this issue really comes down to the fact that nobody knows what a word actually is! Trust me, ask any linguist what a word is, and they¡¯ll tell you that they don¡¯t have a clue.

Without getting too bogged down in the details and overwhelming you with jargon, it all deals with the fact that the domain of a ¡°word¡± is different in the semantics (meaning), phonology (sound), and morphosyntax (structure).

The main reason we think of words as special is because of the lexicalist tradition in linguistics (but that¡¯s a whole other can of worms!). Add in the fact that spelling conventions are an arbitrary mess, and it¡¯s no wonder that we¡¯re all confused.

At the same time, there seems to be something intuitively ¡®real¡¯ about the existence of words ¨C so, in short, it¡¯s a mystery, and I certainly won¡¯t be the one to solve it.

All of this is why there¡¯s so much disagreement about how to spell English compounds. Nobody seems to agree on whether it should be high school, high-school, or highschool ¨C and really, it doesn¡¯t matter! All three versions mean the same thing, the only difference is whether and how we¡¯re indicating boundaries between the morphemes in the word.

So, the next time you stumble across a suspiciously long German word with what seems like a few too many consonants (Dampfschifffahrt, for instance, which means ¡®steamboat ride¡¯), don¡¯t fret!

Remember: as an English speaker, your brain already knows how to do read these words! It may take some more time, but you¡¯ll be able to process these words much more easily once you break them down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

If all else fails, consult your nearest German friend (or one of ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´¡¯s very own German teachers), and I¡¯m sure they¡¯d be more than happy to help you translate!

References

1 Crace, J. (2013). ¡°The longest words in English: do you know what they mean?¡± https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2013/jun/04/longest-words-english-what-they-mean.

The post ¸é¾±²Ô»å´Ú±ô±ð¾±²õ³¦³ó±ð³Ù¾±°ì±ð³Ù³Ù¾±±ð°ù³Ü²Ô²µ²õ¨¹²ú±ð°ù·É²¹³¦³ó³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²¹³Ü´Ú²µ²¹²ú±ð²Ô¨¹²ú±ð°ù³Ù°ù²¹²µ³Ü²Ô²µ²õ²µ±ð²õ±ð³Ù³ú and Other Curiously Long German Words appeared first on Language Learning Resource Centre.

Chinese writing differs significantly from what we English speakers are used to, that much is no secret. How it got its start, and the underlying logic that drives millions of people to learn this written language is, on the other hand, something you may not know, and it¡¯s exactly what today¡¯s blog post is going to look at.

Familiarizing yourself with the basic principles of Chinese characters doesn¡¯t just improve your Chinese reading and writing, but if you¡¯re a bit of a historical linguistics nerd (like myself), then it¡¯s a boatload of fun too!

Writing systems are generally divided into six types:?logosyllabaries, which represent sounds and meanings;?syllabaries, in which each character represents a syllable;?abjads, where every character is a consonant;?alphabets, where each character is a consonant?or?vowel;?abugidas, wherein characters stand for ¡°a consonant accompanied by a particular vowel,¡± with any other vowels indicated by additional symbols (diacritics) added to the consonantal characters; and finally,?featural scripts?(of which you¡¯re most likely to be familiar with Korean), in which the shapes of characters encode information about the phonetic properties of the sounds they represent.¹

Written Chinese is one of these logosyllabaries, combining sound and meaning into one, and can be traced back to 1400 BCE.^7?In the time since, they¡¯ve undergone some significant changes ¨C not in their underlying system, but certainly in their form.⁸

There is one minor complication with this simple story, and that is the fact that speakers of different regional languages often invented their own scripts. The Xixia, Bai, Zhuang, Miao, and Yao people, for instance, all had their own writing systems (albeit of differing complexities).⁹

I will be focusing on the evolution of Chinese characters (or ºº×Ö, H¨¤nz¨¬) as we know them today, since it is the most studied of these writing systems.

As you can see, the Chinese characters we know and love today barely resemble the original symbols they developed out of. Over time people have also brought a great number of calligraphic fonts ¨Csome more legible than others¨C into the mix, which leads to a truly diverse wealth of ways in which you can write Chinese.

Originally, written Chinese was accessible only to nobility, as its register is very different from any variety of spoken Chinese.^10?In its earliest form, writing was used primarily for divination and record keeping, and was carved on bamboo and animal bones, leading to a distinctive shape.^11?During the later Shang Dynasty, carvings on bronze were used in formal occasions.¹²

As time passed, scripts diverged and became more diverse, and in about 221 BCE, the first Chinese emperor, Qinshihuang, declared the ¡®small seal script¡¯ (С׭, Xi¨£ozhu¨¤n) the official writing system of China.^13?For reasons of ease and speed of writing, these characters were more abstracted compared to the early picture-like symbols, characters were made more symmetrical, and strokes were simplified.¹⁴

It wasn¡¯t until the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420¨C589 CE) that the so-called ¡®regular script¡¯ (¿¬Êé, K¨£ish¨±) overtook the small seal script in prominence.¹⁵

The next major development in Chinese writing was the 20^th?century?Chinese Characters Simplification Scheme. The government scheme was aimed at improving literacy by simplifying the writing system, and got rid of about 1000 characters, replacing these with simpler variants.¹⁶

That¡¯s why nowadays you¡¯ll be faced with the challenge of choosing between learning ¡®simplified¡¯ or ¡®traditional¡¯ Chinese characters, the former of which is used in Mainland China, and the latter of which is prominent in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

But don¡¯t worry, the vast majority of characters remain the same between the simplified and traditional scripts, so learning both variants isn¡¯t a big hurdle to get over!

Despite the fact that I¡¯ve been calling Hanzi ¡®Chinese characters¡¯, China certainly isn¡¯t the only place they¡¯ve made an impact.

Chinese characters were brought to Korea as early as 403 BCE, as well as Vietnam, and Japan.^17?For a long time, Korean nobility used Chinese characters to write, until 1486 when they were replaced with the Korean featural script called Hangul.^18?Nowadays, Chinese characters can be found at historical sites in Korea and are used (rarely) in certain official or formal contexts.¹⁹

Vietnam has adopted its own writing system by now, but relied on Chinese characters as its only official script for over a thousand years, from the 1^st?to 13^th?centuries.²⁰

In Japan, meanwhile, a large number of Chinese characters were borrowed and are still used in its writing.^21?Japanese uses Kanji (derived from Chinese characters) as content words, Hiragana ¡°for writing grammatical morphemes attached to Chinese characters¡±, and katakana for loan words.²²

How is it that written Chinese has been used across such diverse language varieties ¨Cboth within and without China¨C, and has remained so stable over time? To answer this question, we have to turn to the basic structure of Chinese characters.

Chinese characters are what we call ¡®morphosyllabic¡¯. Each character represents exactly one syllable worth of speech sounds, and corresponds to one?morpheme?(minimal unit of meaning).²³

Each individual stroke that makes up a Chinese character is meaningless, and doesn¡¯t give you any information about sound. But, Characters can be broken up into sub-components called ¡®radicals¡¯.

These radical are further subdivided into two main types: phonetic and semantic.^24?As their names suggest, phonetic radicals tell you about the sound of a character, and semantic ones tell you about its meaning.

For example, the character Çç (q¨ªng, ¡®clear/sunny weather¡¯) is composed of the radical ÈÕ on the left side (r¨¬, ¡®sun¡¯), and Çà (q¨©ng, ¡®blue/green/black¡¯ ¨Cconfusing, I know¨C). Obviously, the left-side radical is semantic in nature, and the right-side radical is phonetic.

There is one minor (read: major) caveat to this system, and that¡¯s the fact that phonetic radicals are notoriously unreliable.

Not only is it impossible to know the tone of a word from its phonetic radical (if you didn¡¯t know already, Chinese languages are tonal), but it is rare to find a radical that consistently maps to one syllable.

Usually, only part of the syllable will be indicated by the phonetic radical, and sometimes none of the sounds match!

To add to this, a great many Chinese characters have multiple pronunciations, used in different contexts and to convey different meanings.

So, Chinese characters are primarily meant to encode semantic information. This makes sense, since (Mandarin) Chinese has a lot of homophones ¨Cwords that sound the same but mean different things¨C so having the meaning of a word represented by a character, rather than the sound, helps readers distinguish between homophonous words.

What this combination of phonetics and semantics allows, too, is that you can read written Chinese across a range of different regional varieties, all of which differ in their pronunciation!

If any given character is ¡°not directly related to speech sounds,¡± then it can be adapted to the pronunciation of different dialects and even different languages, without (significantly) affecting its meaning!²⁵

For those of you who are familiar with the IPA,ÈÕ has been variably pronounced [njit] (Old Chinese), [nyit] (Middle Chinese), [??⁵¹] (Mandarin), and [jaat³] (Cantonese), but has retained the same basic meaning of ¡®sun¡¯ over time and space.²⁶

So, despite adding to the difficulty of learning to read and write Chinese, the morphosyllabic nature of Chinese characters has given them their impressive longevity!

So there you have it, the history of Chinese characters¡­ albeit incredibly simplified! Language change is a wonderful and fascinating area of study, and that doesn¡¯t just have to include written language. But, there¡¯s no denying that having a strong grasp of a language¡¯s writing system is immensely helpful in your language learning journey. Happy reading and writing!

References

1 Daniels, P. T. (2001). Writing Systems. In M. Aronoff & J. Rees-Miller (Eds.), The Handbook of Linguistics (pp. 43¨C80). Blackwell Publishers. 44¨C45.

2  Wikipedia. (2025, February 10). Bopomofo. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bopomofo

3 Wikipedia. (2025, February 13). Hiragana. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana

4 Wikipedia. (2025, February 23). Arabic alphabet. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_alphabet

5 Wikipedia. (2025, January 20). International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliteration

6 Wikipedia. (2025, February 24). Hangul. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul

7 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 554.

8 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 558.

9 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 554.

10 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 556¨C558.

11 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 556.

12 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 556.

13 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 556.

14 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 556.

15 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 556.

16 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 558.

17 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 554-55.

18 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 554-555.

19 Kim, K. (2024, July 31). Understanding Korean Hanja. Busuu. https://www.busuu.com/en/korean/hanja.

20 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 555.

21 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 555.

22 Daniels, P. T. (2001). Writing Systems. In M. Aronoff & J. Rees-Miller (Eds.), The Handbook of Linguistics (pp. 43¨C80). Blackwell Publishers. 51.

23 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 555.

24 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 555.

25 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 559.

26 Wang, F., & Tsai, Y. (2015). Chinese Writing and Literacy. In W. S-Y. Wang & C. Sun (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (pp. 554¨C564). Oxford University Press. 559.

The post How Did We Get Here? The Fascinating Evolution of Written Chinese appeared first on Language Learning Resource Centre.

As Reading Week approaches, we¡¯re also getting closer to Valentine¡¯s Day. Regardless of whether you¡¯re planning to cozy up with your partner, a pint of ice cream, or a midterm exam (sorry) this Friday, it¡¯s hard to ignore Valentine¡¯s Day. Shops have been plastered in red and pink for weeks, and chocolate prices seem to have skyrocketed. So, there¡¯s no better time to ask ourselves about the connection between love and language!
Most people have some?language attitudes, ways they perceive certain languages or ways of speaking. For example, Spanish, Italian, and French are often said to sound ¡®romantic¡¯, due to the perceived pleasantness of their sounds and rhythm.1

In fact, a lot of people are studying foreign languages at least in part because they sound nice (guilty as charged!).²
Languages like German or Arabic, on the other hand, are described as ¡®harsh¡¯ more frequently than not.³

There¡¯s little science to support these views, though. A 2020 study found that cultural stereotypes played a big role in participants¡¯ language attitudes, but familiarity with the language, sonority (how loud a language is), and even a given speaker¡¯s voice were all factors in how positively a language was rated.⁴

So, for instance, if you grew up hearing German from your neighbors, listening to German music, and occasionally visiting Germany, then you¡¯re going to be more likely to find German a pleasant-sounding language than someone who¡¯s only just hearing it for the first time!

Of course, language attitudes are normal things to have. Even a trained linguist might think French sounds more romantic than German, despite knowing there¡¯s no scientific basis for this. But it¡¯s interesting to reflect on these attitudes; where do they come from, and are they actually true when you think about it in an unbiased way?
You might just find that ¡°every language is beautiful regardless of its phonetic properties and sociocultural background, and it is only a matter of time¡­ and willingness to discover its hidden gems before they are revealed in all their splendor.¡±⁵

Just because languages aren¡¯t inherently romantic, though, that doesn¡¯t mean language and love are entirely unrelated!

Romantic relationships can be extremely beneficial in your language learning journey. Whether you¡¯re learning a language your partner already speaks ¨Cin which case they can be a great source of native speaker input¨C, or you and your partner are learning the same foreign language together, having a supportive and encouraging language learning partner is key to improving your conversational skills and fluency in your target language!⁶

Online dating, for instance, often brings together people from different linguistic backgrounds, and can be a great motivation to learn other languages. Just be careful not to fall for a scam!

If romance isn¡¯t your thing, then finding the time to chat in your target language with a good friend, or brushing up your skills at the LLRC¡¯s conversation groups can be just as helpful!

Love can also influence the way we speak beyond foreign language learning. There¡¯s a natural tendency in humans to pick up the speech patterns of people we spend a lot of time with ¨C whether it¡¯s a prosodic template (a fixed intonation pattern used in particular types of sentences), accent, or frequently-quoted meme, the more time we spend with someone, the more likely we are to imitate their speech, and they are to imitate ours (through a process called ¡°language convergence¡±).

Alternatively, think about the ways our voices may change when speaking to someone we love. This can be something as simple as speaking more gently with a beloved grandparent, to convey care and concern. It can also look like unconscious changes to the phonetic qualities of our speech; in fact, multiple studies have found that people tend to speak with a lower pitch when they¡¯re speaking to someone they consider attractive!⁷

Perhaps one of the most profound effects of love on language, though, is its ability to determine the future of language ¨C which languages continue to be spoken (language maintenance), and which ones, regrettably, are forgotten (language shift and language death).⁸

Multilingual relationships and multilingual families are incredibly common, but they certainly don¡¯t all look the same! There¡¯s families who adopt the so-called OPOL (one-parent-one-language) method of raising their child, and those who freely mix their household¡¯s many languages; neither method is inherently better, and both will lead to bilingual children.

But, a belief in the disadvantages of bilingualism is widespread, and it is not uncommon for people in multilingual relationships to choose to raise their kids as monolinguals. This may be the language that both parents speak ¨C for example, a couple who both speak Mandarin, whereas only one of them speaks Hokkien, may choose to raise their child speaking exclusively Mandarin.

A large part of this lies in the common misconception that learning multiple languages will confuse a child or delay its development. Actually, bilingualism has cognitive?benefits, and even young children show an ability to differentiate between their native languages.⁹

However, there¡¯s also the consideration of English as a global language; as English continues to establish its position as the world¡¯s most powerful language, many parents may elect to teach their children English from an early age, in the hope that it will grant them more and better opportunities later in life. This will often be the case when the parents use English as the ¡°lingua franca¡± (a shared language used by people of different native languages) in their household. For instance, if one partner natively speaks German and the other natively speaks Hindi, they may use English to speak to each other, and also to their child.

Make no mistake, linguistic prestige is alive and real. It is undeniable that there are concrete advantages to being a native English speaker. Nonetheless, there is great value in choosing to raise one¡¯s children speaking two (or more!) languages, even if neither of these is English!

More languages always means more opportunities, which can have social, educational, cultural, and economic benefits.

Being raised bilingual also allows children to stay connected to their cultural heritage and have a sense of cultural belonging, improves their self-esteem, allows them to communicate with distant relatives, and increases their sources of learning and culture-specific knowledge!¹⁰

Perhaps the most profound, though least salient, reason for raising bilingual children is to do it for the love of the language ¨C in other words, if you?can?raise your child speaking a language, why not? It might be the linguist in me, but I think languages are one of the most beautiful, fascinating, and complex phenomena out there ¨C the thing is, though, they don¡¯t exist outside of their speakers! A language?is?the community that speaks it, and so if we want to preserve the wealth of linguistic diversity we see in the world, then?we?have to be the ones to keep speaking and promoting the use of those languages.

The decision of which languages to raise your child speaking is not an easy one; it is fraught with family-internal as well as societal considerations.¹¹

What is clear, though, is that we have the power to affect not only the ways future generations speak, but the existences of our languages themselves ¨C all it takes is a little bit of love.

So, who knows, maybe you just need to fall in love with a foreign language speaker for you to fall in love with their language too¡­ or vice versa. Either way, love and language are both indispensable features of human life ¨C¨C it¡¯s no wonder the two affect each other in profound ways.

References

1 Reiterer, S. M., Kogan, V., Seither-Preisler, A., & Pesek, G. (2020). Foreign language learning motivation: Phonetic chill or Latin lover effect? Does sound structure or social stereotyping drive FLL?.?Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 72, 165¨C205.https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2020.02.003.

2 Reiterer, S. M., Kogan, V., Seither-Preisler, A., & Pesek, G. (2020). Foreign language learning motivation: Phonetic chill or Latin lover effect? Does sound structure or social stereotyping drive FLL?.?Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 72, 165¨C205.https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2020.02.003.

3 Reiterer, S. M., Kogan, V., Seither-Preisler, A., & Pesek, G. (2020). Foreign language learning motivation: Phonetic chill or Latin lover effect? Does sound structure or social stereotyping drive FLL?.?Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 72, 165¨C205.https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2020.02.003.

4 Reiterer, S. M., Kogan, V., Seither-Preisler, A., & Pesek, G. (2020). Foreign language learning motivation: Phonetic chill or Latin lover effect? Does sound structure or social stereotyping drive FLL?.?Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 72, 165¨C205.https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2020.02.003.

5 Reiterer, S. M., Kogan, V., Seither-Preisler, A., & Pesek, G. (2020). Foreign language learning motivation: Phonetic chill or Latin lover effect? Does sound structure or social stereotyping drive FLL?.?Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 72, 165¨C205.https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.plm.2020.02.003.

6 Geacone-Cruz, J. (2018). 4 Benefits to Learning a Language with Your Romantic Partner.?Lingvist. https://lingvist.com/blog/4-benefits-to-learning-a-language-with-your-romantic-partner/#:~:text=If%20you¡¯re%20learning%20with,together%20as%20a%20learning%20pair

7 Hughes, S.M., Farley, S.D., Rhodes, B.C. (2010). Vocal and Physiological Changes in Response to the Physical Attractiveness of Conversational Partners.?Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 34, 155¨C167. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10919-010-0087-9

8 De Klerk, V. (2010). The Cross-Marriage Language Dilemma: His Language or Hers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 4(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050108667728.

9 Lightbown, P. M. and Spada, N. (2021). How Languages are Learned (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

10 Lightbown, P. M. and Spada, N. (2021). How Languages are Learned (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

11 De Klerk, V. (2010). The Cross-Marriage Language Dilemma: His Language or Hers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 4(3), https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050108667728.

The post Can Languages Really Be¡­Romantic? appeared first on Language Learning Resource Centre.