Linguists Share Cool Facts About Languages That They Speak

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Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
May 7, 2023 12:30 PM EDT

Being able to read, write, and speak remains one of the greatest achievements human beings have ever had. We'd be nowhere without our communication skills, and indeed our failure to use them properly causes many of the world's problems. 

What's even crazier is how many languages we have developed over thousands of years, and all their different rules. It's a lot for us to try and understand, but thankfully there are plenty of polyglots out there who will happily help us in our quest to understand the ways in which different cultures communicate.

This has been underlined in a recent Twitter thread, where people have been sharing some cool information about the languages that they speak. There are so many facts out there that tell whole stories about different countries and communities. English has a lot of these, of course, but it's nice to have a focus on some others for once.

 

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  • 01
    Watch - Liam @LegoRacers2 You heard me. STOP SCROLLING TELL ME A FACT ABOUT A LANGUAGE YOU SPEAK
    via LegoRacers2
  • 02
    Font - Pericles 'Perry' Abbasi @Election Legal Replying to @LegoRacers2 The 2 commonalities between Spanish & Greek is that they have the same set of 5 vowel sounds and that the word for liver is derived from the word for fig
    via ElectionLegal
  • 03
    Plant - hum dunkin @hum_dunkin Replying to @LegoRacers2 The gaelic form of Charles is 'tearlach' which is why the Scots form of Charlie is Cherlie. It was also anglicised as Sherlock which is where the detective's name comes from
    via hum_dunkin
  • 04
    Font - Albert Gil @LarryAlbertGil Replying to @LegoRacers2 Catalan is the largest European language that's not an official language of the EU. To put it in perspective, it has a similar number of speakers as Swedish.
    via LarryAlbertGil
  • 05
    Font - i @i6659551192740 Replying to @LegoRacers2 igbo has such an incredible level of linguistic variation while being spoken in a region that's like less than 10% of nigeria's territory.
    via i6659551192740
  • 06
    Font - Paul Charming @The Tent Maker Replying to @LegoRacers2 In Shona there a set of syllables called whistling sibilants that include sv/tsv/ zv/dzv that you have to say with a slight whistle. Non-Shona speakers find this pretty difficult.
    via The_Tent_Maker
  • 07
    Font - Enoch | john -SLUT- mactavish @jinglyhatclown Replying to @LegoRacers2 In italian we have a whole section of bad words meant specifically to insult god
    via jinglyhatclown
  • 08
    Font - (they/them) Support B... @MishimaKitan If you see the word (kikumon) in Japanese, it doesn't mean "chrysanthemum gate" (which would be the direct translation). is euphemistic slang for the anus because buttholes look like chrysanthemum flowers.
    via MishimaKitan
  • 09
    Font - ICE must be destroyed @Itmechr3 English has an order you put adjectives in that no native speaker actually knows the rules for but does instinctively, which is why "Clifford is a fluffy red big dog" should grammatically work but is the verbal equilivant of nails on a chalk board
    via Itmechr3
  • 10
    Smile - RunnerBunny @RunnerBunny In Spain we don't say "I'm leaving" we say "I'm going to go going"
    via RunnerBunny
  • 11
    Font - O = ✓ TOUT BRÛLER ▾ @otoarte France and some parts of francophone Belgium use an azerty keyboard that is so badly designed that it has one entire key for the letter ù, that is used in literally one single word in the entire dictionary ("où", meaning "where")
    via otoarte
  • 12
    Font - Kartoplya (у фемцел ері) @kartoplya_bp In Ukrainian we have caress form almost for every word it makes language really soft
    via kartoplya_bp
  • 13
    Font - FreeKhalil# أيمن E2 == @bohemiandiamond In Arabic we have a root system, each root has a basic meaning or concept, you can derive many words from each root, so you can find many similar words that you would think have unrelated meaning but they all go back to the same concept
    via bohemiandiamond
  • 14
    Gesture - Amalas Rosa @AmalasRosa The best German word that has no translation in English isn't "Schadenfreude", or "Weltschmerz", or any of those, but it's "doch" If you know "doch" you know German
    via AmalasRosa
  • 15
    Font - Clegane @MrsClegane The word apron is the result of something called a transient n. It was originally a napron because it goes around the nape of your next but the n moved to the article and became an apron. a Napron > a N apron > aN apron
    via MrsClegane
  • 16
    Font - Балкански Janez @BalkanAvis If you just add "bre" (which cannot be translated to English and doesn't hold a meaning on its own) into any sentence in Serbian, it automatically sounds like you are more upset about what you are saying. If you add them twice it sounds like you are very upset/angry.
    via BalkanAvis

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languages twitter facts Twitter Thread interesting language different languages foreign language information linguistics fun facts
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