Foreign Languages

How to Read Literature in Translation

January 30, 2017

If you’ve ever played a video game from the ’80s, you know that not all translations are created equal. Just see the humorous All Your Base Are Belong to Us meme for a taste of what I mean. Which translation of a classic you choose to read greatly affects your reading experience. Most classics have multiple …

Read the full article →

How to Learn Danish Online

February 26, 2016

Like my earlier post about learning Swedish, my motivation for attempting Danish also stems from a TV show. In fact, a TV show that is in both Swedish and Danish called The Bridge (Broen in Danish/Bron in Swedish). In The Bridge, a body is found on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, right on the …

Read the full article →

Adventures in Learning Swedish

February 20, 2016

tl;dr – I watched the Swedish sci-fi series Äkta Människor (Real Humans) and it’s now one of my favorite shows of all time. While the show had English subtitles, it inspired me to learn some Swedish for a more complete viewing experience. This post discusses the Swedish learning experience and links to some Swedish learning …

Read the full article →

Learning a Foreign Language: How Good Can You Really Get?

June 17, 2012

When I first started learning Japanese in high school I had one burning question, “how good can I get?” I wanted to know if I could ever sound like a native speaker or if I would always sound like some American version of a foreigner with a thick accent as parodied on TV. I also …

Read the full article →