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BRAVE Blog

Fear and Loathing in Linguistics: 5 Videos About Language

"buy this new thing, suckers"
With the right language, Keynotes could still get interesting.

Learning languages seems to be a very popular topic with book writers and advertisers (remember to check out my language school commercial post) – but fortunately, many people have recently taken to producing videos about language. “Fortunately” – because for a visual and impatient learner like me, a good video and a good presentation can often make learning much more interesting. If you’re keen to discover some of the most exciting language videos available on the intertubes, meet me after the jump.

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BRAVE Blog

Language Learning and The Myth of Sustainable Immigration

20%
What goes up, must come down.

What happens when your country becomes to popular for its own good? What would you do if your language turned out to be a huge crowd puller? Would you try to make the most of it, and get through the hard economic times by playing to your strengths?
Or…would you do what the British Government so triumphantly announced on Wednesday, and start systematically shooting yourself in the foot?

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BRAVE Blog

Why You Are Sabotaging Yourself By Not Learning a Language

For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree.
"Being monolingual is so 1980s, man. You might as well cut your arm off."

There are thousands of languages being spoken in the world every day. Learning them all would be impossible; in fact, most people find it hard to learn more than one. But the point I want to make today is this: If you’re not learning a language now, you’re shooting yourself in the foot, and quite badly. It’s a strong statement, but I will stand by it – and if you read on, I will explain myself.