Blog

Stories about how languages work, why they're strange, and what makes learning them fascinating.

Top-down minhwa view of a Joseon writing desk: an unrolled rice-paper scroll painted with stacked geometric block shapes, a bamboo brush, and a carved wooden seal

Korean Invented the World's Most Logical Alphabet in 1443, On Purpose

Most writing systems are accidents of history. Korean's was engineered on purpose — by a king who wanted everyone to be able to read.

·4 min read
A tiny figure at a small desk holds a single flashcard while an enormous teetering tower of cards rises behind them

Spaced Repetition Is Overrated (And Underrated)

Every word of the SRS gospel is true. And it leads people spectacularly astray.

·7 min read
Nordic living room at dusk: a silhouetted viewer leaning toward a small TV showing a Danish anchor with a glowing subtitle bar beneath

Swedish vs Danish: Almost Identical on Paper, Incomprehensible When Spoken

Swedes need subtitles to watch Danish television. The two languages are close enough on the page to share a newspaper — but the moment a Dane opens their mouth, the Swede is lost.

·4 min read
Mirrored Ottoman miniature: warm amber Iznik tilework on the left, cool turquoise tilework on the right, divided by an arched mihrab

Turkish Vowel Harmony: Your Mouth Decides the Suffix for You

Most grammar rules add complexity. Turkish vowel harmony removes it — your mouth decides the suffix for you.

·4 min read
Split scene: a teacher with an open glowing book on one side, an overwhelmed learner surrounded by papers on the other

Comprehensible Input and Its Discontents, or How I Learned to Love Reading

The theory is right. The science is settled. The advice, however, is useless.

·8 min read
A figure standing on a warm golden plateau, head down, a winding path leading to a distant peak

The Intermediate Plateau: Why You Feel Stuck (And What Actually Helps)

You finished the tree. You kept your streak. You can order coffee and ask where the bathroom is. And then... nothing.

·3 min read
Split scene: Mount Fuji at dusk on the left, Lisbon rooftops at sunset on the right, connected by a fading sound wave

Whispered Vowels: Why Japanese and Portuguese Sound Alike

Japanese and European Portuguese sound nothing alike. And yet both languages do the same strange thing: they whisper their vowels.

·4 min read
Aged manuscript with irregular verb forms: go, went, gone, sein, war, gewesen

Every Language Has Irregular Verbs. They Exist for the Same Reason.

"Go / went / gone." Every learner has stared at an irregular verb table and thought: why can't they just be regular? The answer is frequency.

·7 min read
A leather glove, a glowing pear, and an armored frog by a stream

Hand Shoe, Glow Pear, Shield Toad: How German Names Things

Germans looked at a glove and thought: that's a shoe for your hand. Which is, frankly, more logical than whatever English was thinking.

·2 min read