科学趣闻
What Kind of Word Is It—and What Is It Doing?
A noun is not the same as a subject, and a verb does not always tell the whole story of a sentence. This guide explains the two basic levels of grammar—what kind of word something is and what role it performs—then sho
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?
我们为什么会遗忘——间隔重复为什么有效
每位学习者都遇到过这种现象：今天还清清楚楚的新单词，一周后却完全想不起来。虽然这常常让人沮丧，像是个人学习失败，但认知心理学揭示了另一种事实：遗忘是人类记忆中基本且正常的功能。新信息的长期保持并不是一次性事件，而是一个不断衰退与巩固的动态过程。通过了解记忆保持背后的认知科学——从经典的遗忘曲线，到现代的间隔重复与主动回忆模型——可以重新思考学习方法。理解这些机制，不仅能打破不现实的期待，也能为持久学习提供有科学依据的框架。
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.