If you’ve ever heard someone speaking in a language other than your own, it might have sounded like they were talking five times faster than you ever have. Or perhaps their language was slow and deliberate, maybe even poetic. Does that mean that “speedy” language speakers are more efficient at communicating more information in less time? Not necessarily. In [...]
The Bee Gees might once have suggested in one of their songs that words alone are enough to sway another person. But as it turns out, human beings use much more than just words to communicate in conversation. Rhythm is an equally important facet of conversation—the rate at which participants speak, how often they interrupt each other, and how much [...]
Have you ever overheard two people begin a sentence in English, slide into another language partway through, and then shift back again? If so, you've encountered code-switching. While some people assume that “needing” to switch back and forth between two languages indicates a person’s incomplete language proficiency, code-switching actually requires a high level of fluency. Code-switching is used to navigate [...]
For new language learners, one experience is common: dreaming in the language you are currently studying. Many people assume that dreaming in a new language is a mark of true fluency, but then you wake up to discover you're not nearly as skilled as you remember. Why does this happen? It can feel like a different version of you [...]
You probably know words like “tick-tock” and “wishy-washy,” but have you ever tried to use “tock-tick” or “washy-wishy” instead? Your brain instinctively knows that these aren’t right, and the reason why comes down to an unwritten rule about the English language called ablaut reduplication. You didn’t need to be taught this principle; rather, you absorbed it as part of your [...]
If you’re reading this sentence, you have at least some level of literacy. But did you know that learning to read is more than just a skill? When you learned how to parse the letters on the page, your brain was quietly reorganizing itself, not just conceptually, but at the physical level. This is demonstrable in brain imaging, but we [...]
Someone in Buenos Aires might sing a song that first became popular in Italy, then was adapted in the UK, and later rewritten in Spain. And yet despite these vast changes across cultures around the world, everyone knows the words immediately, no sheet music required. How does this happen? Football chants are unique among both music and speech in that [...]
We’ve talked about football kits and the anthems you’ll hear at the World Cup, but those aren’t the only things you might notice. If you listen to the crowd, you may hear talk of tiki-taka or the G.O.A.T on the field, and you might not know what to make of these terms. Football is so popular worldwide that [...]
Communication can cross borders in an instant nowadays, but it has not always been that way. How do people communicate when they speak different languages? Some choose to learn, but at sea, where sailors might encounter anyone of any nationality, it is simply not feasible to study enough languages. Instead, maritime crews developed an international communication system made [...]
Before every World Cup match, you’ll see the entire stadium rise for the national anthems of the countries taking part. What you might notice is the differences in approach: South Africa’s national anthem switches languages mid-song (from Xhosa to Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, and then English). Conversely, Spanish people fall silent during their anthem (because it has no [...]
