Curiosités scientifiques
The Science of Language Retention
Most language learners aren't lacking discipline or talent — they're up against a well-documented feature of how memory works. This piece breaks down what 140 years of research actually says about forgetting, and the
Quelle est la nature d’un mot — et quelle est sa fonction ?
Un nom n’est pas la même chose qu’un sujet, et un verbe ne raconte pas toujours toute l’histoire d’une phrase. Ce guide explique les deux niveaux de base de la grammaire — la nature d’un mot et la fonction qu’il rempl
Who Did What to Whom? How Languages Signal Roles in a Sentence
English relies heavily on word order. Japanese places particles after noun phrases. Hungarian uses case endings. Spanish combines several signals, while Mandarin often depends on word order, constructions, and context
A Word Is Not the Same as Its Role: Understanding Parts of Speech and Sentence Functions
Why can the same noun be the subject in one sentence and the object in another? Is the subject always the person who performs an action? And does every word belong permanently to a single part of speech?
Pourquoi nous oublions — et pourquoi la répétition espacée fonctionne
Toute personne qui apprend a déjà vécu ce phénomène : un mot nouveau, parfaitement clair aujourd’hui, devient totalement inaccessible une semaine plus tard. Souvent ressenti comme un échec personnel frustrant, ce phén
Does “Knowing 5,000 Words” Mean the Same in Every Language? - Part 2.
Does knowing 5,000 words mean the same thing in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic or Japanese? Learn why vocabulary size depends on word families, grammar, morphology and writing systems.
How Should Language Learners Count Vocabulary? A Practical Global Guide
Vocabulary size is useful, but it does not mean the same thing in every language. Learn how to think about words, word families, roots, characters, suffixes and real usage when learning a language.
Vocabulary in Agglutinative Languages: Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish and Korean
In agglutinative languages such as Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish and Korean, words can become long and complex. Learn why vocabulary learning is not just about counting words, but recognizing roots, suffixes and pattern
Vocabulary in Arabic and Semitic Languages: Roots, Patterns and Dialects
Learning Arabic vocabulary is not just about memorizing words. Discover how roots, patterns, Modern Standard Arabic and dialects change what it means to “know” a word.
Vocabulary in Mandarin and Japanese: When “Words” and Writing Systems Do Not Match
Learning Mandarin or Japanese is not only about counting words. Discover why characters, kanji, kana, tones, compounds and word segmentation change how vocabulary knowledge works.
Vocabulary in European Languages: Why Spanish, French, German and Russian Feel Different
Does learning 5,000 words mean the same thing in Spanish, French, German or Russian? Learn how grammar, word families, cognates, cases and compounds change the way vocabulary works in European languages.
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Does “Knowing 5,000 Words” Mean the Same in Every Language?
Does knowing 5,000 words mean the same thing in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic or Japanese? Learn why vocabulary size depends on word families, grammar, morphology and writing systems.