Language differences Archives

21 Phrases Americans Say That Make Zero Sense To Non-Americans.

You may have noticed that people in America do things radically differently. I don’t know if that’s a tendency or that Americans try so hard to distinguish themselves from the rest of the word. I mean why would you choose Fahrenheit over the much more elegant Celsius, mile over kilometer (and don’t get me started on how kilometer is pronounced over there), pound (which […]

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How different languages say “When Pigs Fly.”

Language diversity makes languages fun and interesting. It shows the varied potential of human genius and imagination. Imagine how much fun we would have been robbed of if we had only one language! Having different ways to say something across cultures is a great source of joy and fascination. We always ask our tremendously diverse

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How different languages laugh online.

Everyone on this planet laughs pretty much the same way. No human will fail to recognize a laugh no matter from what corner of the world it comes from. But there is an aspect to laughing that is incredibly diverse across languages and cultures. While the acoustics of laughing are universally fixed, there is a

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41 Fascinating words from other languages we should import to English.

No language has all of the words, and English is no exception. While you can express the complex feeling of “insecurity, fear, concern, and envy over relative lack of possessions, status or something of great personal value, particularly in reference to a comparator, a rival, or a competitor.” with one word (i.e. jealousy), some other

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24 Non-English Words That Sound Dirty But Are Actually Innocent.

What makes languages so amazingly different is that they use different words to describe the same things. When you speak more than one language, you realize that words mean different things in different languages. Sometimes an innocent word in one language can sound really rude in another, and that’s where the real fun is. All

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How Different Languages Say “Speak of the Devil.”

Speak of the devil is a fascinating idiom of itself. It is used when an object of discussion unexpectedly becomes present during the conversation. It’s even more fascinating to know how other languages express the same occurrence. We have asked our multilingual followers at The Language Nerds about the equivalent of speak of the devil

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58 Differences Between British And American English That Still Confuse Everyone.

To be honest, it’s starting to feel like British English and American English are not the same language anymore. To quote George Bernard Shaw, the United States of America and the UK are “two countries divided by a common language.” They can still understand each other, but the marked differences between the two varieties are

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How different languages say “it’s all Greek to me.”

It’s interesting how speakers of different languages have different perceptions about what is a difficult and inconceivable language. This is primarily shown in how they describe something they find difficult to understand. While English speakers use the phrase “it’s all Greek to me” to mean that they can’t understand something, speakers of other languages use

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27 Hilarious Non-English Phrases And Their Literal Meanings.

Geoffrey Willans said, “You can never understand one language until you understand at least two.” If you think your language is unique because it has sounds and phrases that other languages can’t possibly have, you’re in for a huge surprise. The beauty of knowing other languages is that it gives you a unique perspective on

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How Different Languages Say “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs”.

Idioms can tell us a lot about how speakers of a particular language express themselves. One interesting idiom that has an amazing and interesting variety across languages is the one describing rainfall. In English, “it’s raining cats and dogs” describes heavy rainfall. But what do speakers of other languages say when it’s raining cats and

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