Languages of the World

Canali on Mars: The 19th-Century Mistranslation That Invented a World

This post explores how Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli's 1877 description of "canali" (channels) on Mars was translated into English as…

10 months ago

The Surgeon and the Lexicographer: The Unlikely Genius Who Built the OED From an Asylum

The creation of the Oxford English Dictionary relied on thousands of volunteers, but none were as brilliant or enigmatic as…

10 months ago

Reading the Knots: Quipu, the Inca’s Mysterious 3D Writing System

What if writing wasn't flat on a page, but a three-dimensional web of information you could hold in your hands?…

10 months ago

Punctuation Reimagined: Hervé Bazin’s Linguistic Innovations

Hervé Bazin (1911-1996), a famous French writer and essayist, is known not only for his literary contributions but also for…

3 years ago

Where is Esperanto Spoken?

Esperanto, the most successful constructed international auxiliary language, was invented in the late 19th century by L. L. Zamenhof with…

3 years ago

The Mystery of Rongorongo: Easter Island’s Enigmatic Script

Rongorongo, the written script of the native Rapanui people of Easter Island, stands as one of the most intriguing and…

3 years ago

Speaking with Angels: The Enochian Language

In the diverse world of linguistics, few tales are as captivating and mysterious as the story of Enochian, reputedly the…

3 years ago

Famous Mistranslations: The “Let Them Eat Cake” of the East

Just as the West has its infamous mistranslation of Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake", the East too has seen…

3 years ago

Famous Mistranslations: “Let Them Eat Cake!”

The phrase "Let them eat cake" is one of the most notorious remarks attributed to a historical figure. This sentence…

3 years ago

Old Hungarian Runes: An Insight into Magyar Prehistory

Introduction The Old Hungarian script, often termed as "runic" due to its superficial resemblance to the Germanic runes, offers a…

3 years ago

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