Language Insights

When you boycott a business or play the saxophone, you’re putting eponyms to use! Here are 8 common words that derive from people’s names.

Esperanto is the most famous constructed language, and its popularity seems to be growing.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s life was deeply intertwined with constructed languages and the worlds he made with them.

We chatted about creating, deconstructing and learning languages with the conlanger who invented the fictional languages you hear in ‘Game of Thrones.’

Whether you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, Star Trek or 1984, you’ve been exposed to some of pop culture’s favorite conlangs. Here’s a guide.

Have you been asked, ‘Is a hot dog a sandwich?’ Before you laugh it off, we’ll tell you why that silly question actually poses an interesting problem.

And you thought your continent was linguistically diverse.

Have you always wanted to read untranslated versions of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy? Or are you just looking to add another alphabet to your repertoire? Whatever your motivations may be, here’s the lowdown on how hard it is to learn Russian.

•••• • •-•• •-•• — -•-•– If you didn’t understand that, there’s definitely something you can learn about Morse Code here.

If you don’t know what to call your new state, naming it after a mountain or river seems to be a safe bet.

Need a fun, creative idea for your language-learning endeavors? Look no further.

Does speaking a certain language alter the way you think and perceive the world? In this episode, we debate the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.