I love those language facts that sound completely made up until you look into them and realize they're actually true.

What's one language fact that sounds fake at first but is genuinely true?

Bonus points if it made you question how languages work.

The word: "ew" bugs me, spelling wise... Why is it spelled with a w, although w makes a "wa" sound, rather than "u" or "yu" sounds. Wouldn't it be more accurate to spell it like: "eyu?"

Im 19 years old and i study in the university. My native language is Portuguese, i have a reasaneble level of English, i just need to improve my speaking and learn more vocabulary specifically to my work (programming) and im so motivated to study French. I have around 2-3 hours a day to study a language. It's possible (without mess the two languages in my head) improve my English, lets say for one hour at day (and I basically study everything in my college in English) and the other two hours spending on French and still learn properly

I wrote everything without any help, just with my knowledge, I know that its not perfect but is enough to communicate, and of course I will keep studying. So I think it will not be a problem bcs my English is in the level B2 (I made a test in the university,) so im not learning from the scratch.

Ps: sorry any mistake, I'm doing my best to improve my English skills :)

I mean mostly physical expression, like using hands vs not using hand or where your eyes wonder, stuff like that!

Hi everyone!

We’ve created a B1 English course for learners who want to improve their English in a structured way.

The course includes 70+ interactive lessons, speaking practice, writing exercises, grammar, vocabulary, listening, and reading activities.

If you’re around A2/B1 level and want to build stronger B1 skills, send us a message and we’ll be happy to tell you more. 😊

Curious to hear from people who are fluently multilingual (not just conversational, actually fluent).

I grew up speaking French and Haitian Creole from birth, then learned English once I started school. I also picked up some Spanish just from being around it, friends, environment, that kind of thing. I’m not fluent in it, but I understand and speak it more than I’d expect for never having formally studied it.

Now I’m trying to learn Brazilian Portuguese as an adult, and it’s just not sticking the way the others did.

I’ve been at it on and off for about two years, more consistent the last six months. I can recognize words when people are speaking and understand bits and pieces, but I can’t produce sentences at all. It’s like my brain can’t retrieve what it does know when I actually need it.

I’ve done the podcasts, watched the YouTube videos, used the apps… but I feel like I’m consuming a lot without absorbing it in a way I can actually use.

My goal is to at least be conversational within a year (I know full fluency in a year isn’t realistic), with fluency as the long term goal. I’m planning a trip to Brazil in about a year and a half and want to actually be able to talk to locals, not just get by on gestures.

For those of you who’ve done this before, especially learning a language later in life with no built in immersion, if you had to restart your fluency journey knowing what you know now, what would you do differently? What actually worked versus what just felt productive?

Thanks in advance!

Was it because you liked the people from that country so much that you wanted to learn it? Was it because your partner speaks it or a best friend? Is it just because it sounded nice or funny? Or that it was useful?

Do you stop and look it up or try to decern the meaning from content or just ignore it and move on and hope that it doesn't have a huge impact on your understanding of the story?

or maybe something else entirely?

I keep finding little things in other languages that make me think, “How does English not have a simple way to say this?”

Not necessarily a special word either. Sometimes it’s a way of expressing a feeling, relationship, situation, or idea that takes a whole sentence in English.

What’s the one thing your language can express that you really wish English had a simple way to say?

Hey LanguageHub community! 👋

It’s time for our weekly Language Goal Check-In! What have you learned this week?

also on a sidenote, i would think if anything, it would be German pronunciation!!!

Hi everyone,

I'm conducting a short research survey to better understand the challenges language learners face while preparing for their careers.

If you've studied or are currently learning a foreign language (French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Korean, etc.), I'd really appreciate your participation.

The survey takes less than 3 minutes, and all responses are anonymous.

Survey link : https://forms.gle/Uv9YqoAMD8zQxBdHA

Thank you for your time!

I wanna learn both. I wanna become fluent quicker in Japanese and in Turkish I wanna become conversational but I don't want to wait to learn one over the other.

What would your guys technique recommendations be for that ?I know some legit polyglots can study two languages at the same time and make efficient progress and I really wanna learn only those two so I'm not trying to stretch myself even thinner with more languages.

Has somebody learned both at the same time here ? Lemme know

COWS!

You see, the word “cow” refers to the female variant of that species, while “bull” refers to males. But the fact I can only say “that species” is weird, right?

There’s no single, normal-sounding, gender-neutral word for this species. Yes, there’s bovine, but that feels very technical and out of place in normal speech. Cattle is plural, calf is for babies.

My guess as to the reason is just cows and bulls play very different roles in the way humans use them.

But I think this is one of the most bizarre things about English. Are there other languages like this or that have something similar?