Emanuele Marini

Have you ever wondered how would it be to speak more than one foreign language without any difficulties? Today we're introducing Emanuele Marini, a hyperpolyglot, who speaks 16 languages! We are jealous!!!



Hyperpolyglot

;)

Game Based Learning, anyone?

Is any of you interested in Minecraft? Because it can be actually very helpful in learning a language! Our team has made another project about that, which you can find here:

MINECRAFT VS. EDUCATION


Enjoy!

Steven Pinker - why does language help to understand the brain?

Below, there's a lecture of Steven Pinker, american psychologist, who states, that linguistics helps to understand the human brain. Enjoy!

Cat

Chomsky

I believe I don't have to ask if you heard about Noam Chomsky.
Everyone who is interested in linguistics heard/read about Chomsky at least once. For ignorants, so those who don't know the man, here's the photograph:

 

Well, Noam Chomsky  was born in 1928, on  the 7th of December, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, so in 9 days he celebrates his 85th bithday!

Why is he so important? 

He is called "father of modern linguistics" and he authored more than 100 books. According to the most reliable source, Wikipedia ;), "his work has influenced fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, logic, mathematics, music theory and analysis, political science, programming language theory and psychology.". He's also an activist, below you can find some short films with his lectures:

How language shapes thought?

Long, but very absorbing lecture conducted by Lera Boroditsky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPGpZp1pfQQ



Love it!
Cat

Do you read internet fora (or: forums, according to the www.oxforddictionaries.com)?  While researching for the first post, I found quite an entartaining teenage forum, where the question "What is applied linguistics?" appeared. Well, I was really impressed with the number of explanations:
1)  science about how language functiones
2)  science about how language originated
3)  science about practical manners of language
4)  studies (specialization)

In fact, all of these answers were correct. According to the Britannica, AL is "the scientific study of language" (for further information: HERE), but does it differ much from philology?
Let's compare these two:

                                                             Applied Linguistics:                    Philology:
 deals with language                                     yes                                       yes
 coveres practical manners of language         yes                                       yes
 includes many disciplines                             yes                                       yes

So where exactly is the difference?
Firstly, AL deals with real-life problems in using language, such as biligualism or multilingualism, second language acquisition, translation or even computer-mediated communication, whereas philology focuses on the study of texts (more: HERE).
Secondly, while AL includes subdisciplines like semantics, syntax or pragmatics, philology coveres literature, art, music, culture and so on.
Than, philology is about studying texts and treating them as a whole, whereas AL search for means, contexts of language  that has been used.
Here you can find brilliant paragraph about differences between a philologist and a linguist.

What does it all mean in practice?
Well, I can tell you from my own experience, that studying applied linguistics means concerning and focusing on practice - grammar, speaking, writing, translating. It requires staying open to both cultural and grammatical aspects of communication, treating language as a concept, not only as a way to communicate. Much more fun, huh?


Mouse

Welcome :)

Hi,
this blog was created to entertain you and give you some interesting and amusing information about Applied Linguistics (AL).
Although the reason of creating it is strictly connected with the task we were given ( in order to get a higher grade), we liked the idea of creating something that relates to our hobby. Believe it or not, after three years of studying AL (English+German) we still haven't found it boring!
The blog will be edited by three different students. Studying two languages is quite time-consuming, but even though we will try to post new sets of information regularly.
So... Enjoy!



Mouse, Cat, Puppy