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Today, in the middle of a conversation, I forgot the word “organic”.  Funny thing is, I could say it effortlessly in my second language, French. This isn’t an isolated incident. I’ve spent most of my adult life in Paris, and while I do still speak, write, and work in my native English most days, when it comes to words related to everyday life, I have lapses in my native language from time to time. It seems weird – after all, isn’t your mother tongue supposed to stick with you

Being an American abroad has its challenges.  One you might not expect is how Americans are perceived outside the US.  Sure, we have this cool cachet – we’re the country of hip-hop and Hollywood, after all.  But you also get associated with a lot of negative stereotypes. A stereotype I hear a lot is that we’re stubborn monolinguals who expect everyone else to speak English.  In reality, an estimated 20% of Americans speak at least one other language (and the real number could

In a well-meaning opinion piece in James Madison University’s newspaper, The Breeze, sophomore Rachel Petty writes that after two months of living in Europe, “[t]he majority of European people [she’s] met speak at least (emphasis on the ‘at least’) three languages”. Petty chalks this up to European schools having curricula that favor language learning; the US needs to reconsider its own educational approach and start students learning foreign languages earlier. In Petty’s ide

When I first saw my new GP’s examining room, I gasped in grateful surprise.  Unlike my previous doctor’s office, this one looked clean and new, with freshly painted walls decorated with pleasant artwork.  If you live in the US, this may sound standard to you, and that’s exactly my problem; although France is known for its excellent medical care, the combination of French pragmatism and a lower budget means that doctors’ offices are often hygienic but unwelcoming environments.

A lot of us have grammar or spelling errors that we just can’t stand.  Bryan Henderson has this issue, too. But unlike most of us, he’s taken matters into his own hands. Henderson is a Wikipedia editor. These aren’t paid employees, but devoted site proofreaders who make edits so that an article is comprehensible and as error-free as possible.  Henderson says that after eight years, he’s gotten so proficient at Wikipedia proofreading that it only takes him 10 seconds to scan a

Do you ever wonder why languages sound the way they do?  Psychologist Iris Berent wanted to test whether we prefer some sounds because they’re physically easier for us to produce. While the theory makes sense, the experiment she and her team conducted shows it’s likely incorrect: it seems that humans will prefer and better register a difficult-to-pronounce combination of sounds if it follows their language’s phonological and grammatical rules.  Not only that; these rules prov

I’ve often written about how, when it comes to translation, nothing beats a professional, qualified human being.  There may be some advantages to using translation apps and bots, or amateurs, but you run a pretty solid risk of ending up with not-so-great results.  Still, like anything in life, there are exceptions.  Take “translating” old manuscripts and books to e-books. I say “translating” because it turns out that it’s more than just using technology to convert text from o

“You have an accent! Where are you from?” is a question that I get a lot here in France.  I’m not the only immigrant who’s come to learn this disappointing linguistic fact of life: Just because you speak a language fluently, doesn’t mean you speak it like a native.  But there are moments when you ask the universe, “Why?” It seems linguists and scientists have heard our foreign-accented cry.  A number of recent studies reveal some really interesting things about why we talk th

There is little doubt: we don’t slide into this world as beings capable of conversation.  We make lots of sound but no words until we learn the words to say and how to say them. Initiated by linguist Noam Chomsky in the 1960’s, science has purported our language development comes from instinct.  His initial theory suggested we have a hypothetical “language acquisition device” stored in our brains. Like alien pods from the War of the Worlds, its spontaneous activation lies in

Do we have a built-in linguistic instruction manual? For decades, linguists have been debating, well, a lot of things.  But one major issue is whether humans’ ability to construct and understand a language is inherent, or whether languages have evolved based on observation, imitation, and trial and error.  In other words, are we born with an innate knowledge of grammar and other linguistic elements, or do we acquire this knowledge by observation, imitation, and need? The inhe

At first, a doctor might believe I’m just an average patient. But the minute a needle comes out, all bets are off. A boyfriend of mine thought I was exaggerating when I told him about my needle phobia, saying what I’m sure just about anyone who suffers from this condition has heard a million times: “Well, nobody likes needles!” The next time I had to get blood drawn, I asked him to come with me. He thought I wanted him to hold my hand. He — along with an extra nurse who w

There are various reasons why. For one thing, you can rant and rave all you want to against the kids today and their pop music, but if you don’t want to have to learn another language, you should actually be grateful: because of the predominance of American pop culture (and commercial influence), people around the world have become exposed to – and often interested in or motivated to learn – English. Another reason for our language’s international popularity is that many peo

If you love impeccable grammar and feel conflicted about the song “Blurred Lines”, music parody superstar “Weird Al” Yankovic’s new single is for you. Called “Word Crimes“, it not only lists the verbal abuses of our time, but often corrects them, as well – all to a catchy tune. It’s well-done and may give listeners hope that “Weird Al” and the musical genius that is producer Pharrell Williams will be able to stop these errors from happening. But some people might just shrug

Nine out of ten journalists say that statistics are an important part of their research and reporting.  Okay, I made that up, but it seems like the truth.  Statistics are little bits of information that easily illustrate the scope of something. They also feel reliable. Maybe that’s because you can check who conducted a study or gave a poll, or maybe it’s because they’re expressed in numbers, which always seem sort of stable and less prone to trickiness than words. But, as thi

Do you read things even though you know they’ll make you angry?  I do sometimes, and apparently I’m not alone; a word has recently been coined for the phenomenon: “hate-reading”. The other day, I saw an article entitled Calling an Ordinary Health Problem a Disease Leads to Bigger Problems, and decided to do a little hate-reading. I’ve written about how life-changing it was for me as a teenager to learn that my strange digestive problems had a name – IBS — and, with it, suppor

Every year as February turns to March, my boyfriend starts telling me about colleagues who’ve found love.  “You know, it’s springtime,” he always finishes with a smile.  Springtime in Paris: The sun is warm but the air is crisp.  People go without the heavy winter coats they’ve likely been donning since October’s first chill.  The parks are blooming with vegetation – and lots more visitors.  Yes, it’s a lovely time to fall in love.  But could the annual outbreak of amour also

According to a recent Wired magazine article on how to create the perfect online dating profile, men who use the pronoun “whom” in their profiles get 31% more responses from women than those who don’t. Linguistics professor and Slate.com contributor Geoff Pullum took this concept and had a field day with it, pointing out that the study didn’t analyze whether or not “whom” had been used correctly – it just seems to be sexy on its own.  He goes on to (half-jokingly?) encourage

My name is Alysa, and I’m addicted to the website Buzzfeed.  If you are, too, I’m not judging you.  But sometimes other people are.  Little do they know, though, that as we’re doing silly quizzes and perusing lists of weird news stories from Florida, we may also be witnessing linguistic history. While Buzzfeed’s success has increased exponentially in the past few years, its founders haven’t decided to rest on their laurels.  A few months ago, they introduced Spanish, French,

Has a coworker ever said something that made you cringe?  I’m not sure what I was expecting when I read this list of phrases that business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter thinks should be taboo from the workplace.  Taking into account that she’s the author of The Power of Positive Confrontation, a book about being more assertive, I could better understand why she thinks saying things like “I’m sorry to bother you” and “Can I ask a question?” are big no-no’s.  But I still cou

Not fantastical entryways to alternate universes, patient portals are a new way to connect with patients on an individual basis.  A communication gateway for providers and patients, an encrypted and secure log in allows patients to make appointments, pay bills, ask questions about their health and access medical records on a confidential website. As electronic medical records become more common, patient portals are the next logical step.  Yet to be determined is how effective