# second language (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover second language. Page: Feed: --- ## [1000 Hours to Understand](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/1000-hours-to-understand) _2026-08-18 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to understand a foreign language ## [Finding Your Voice](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/finding-your-voice) _2026-08-11 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to speak a new language faster ## [Essential Tools and Resources for Every Language Learner](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/essential-tools-and-resources-for) _2026-07-29 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ What are the best language learning tools? ## [Living in the Moment](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/presence) _2026-07-24 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to make the most of your study sessions ## [Habit Building](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/habit-building) _2026-07-21 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How fast can you learn a new language ## [Efficiency](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/efficiency) _2026-07-17 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to avoid redundancy in your language studies ## [High ROI English Concepts](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/high-roi-english-concepts) _2026-07-15 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to learn grammar concepts in a new language ## [That's not Noise, it's a Signal](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/thats-not-noise-its-a-signal) _2026-07-10 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to train your ear in a second language ## [Code-Switching for Robots - Language Mixing](https://www.acelinguist.com/2026/07/code-switching-for-robots-language.html) _2026-07-01 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ I promise I'll write about things besides Japanese and LLMs. But first, a brief word on "language mixing." I have occasionally encountered situations where LLMs suddenly and without warning begin mixing English and non-English words. Usually, the non-English language also has a non-English script. I've encountered Arabic , Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. The Japanese may be understandable in… ## [Running Out of Brain Space](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/full-brain-syndrome) _2026-06-30 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to learn a language as a busy working professional and parent ## [A Friend Gave You $30 (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/rG7M3EEQEYI0) _2026-06-30 · **Sponsored**_ Sign up, deposit $5 within 30 days, and start investing with expert guidance. ## [Connecting the dots](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/connecting-the-dots) _2026-06-23 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to learn a language fast by using things you already know ## [Comprehensible Input Made Easy](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/learning-languages-through-entertainment) _2026-06-18 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to avoid wasting your time when learning a new language ## [A Letter to Your Children](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/journal-for-posterity) _2026-06-09 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How does writing improve your ability to speak a new language ## [Read the Book Before Watching the Movie](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/the-originals) _2026-06-04 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How translation changes the meaning of works ## ["The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" - An odd translation myth](https://www.acelinguist.com/2026/06/the-moon-is-beautiful-isnt-it-odd.html) _2026-06-01 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ While watching a video, I encountered this anecdote: When the novelist Soseki Natsume (1867–1916) was an English teacher, one of his students translated the English phrase “I love you” as 我君を愛す / ware kimi o aisu. Soseki pointed out that Japanese people don’t say 愛す / aisu (to love), and that the best translation would actually be 月が綺麗ですね / tsuki ga kirei desu ne (the moon is beautiful, isn’t… ## [New Language Learning Worksheets](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/new-language-learning-worksheets) _2026-06-01 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ Language learning worksheets to use continuously ## [Advantages You Didn't Know You Have](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/advantages-you-didnt-know-you-have) _2026-05-28 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ Elasticity is important, but it is not the only thing that matters ## [Counterintuitive](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/counterintuitive) _2026-05-22 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ Why do some words mean different things at the same time? ## [Using Small Talk for Skill Development](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/small-talk-big-gains) _2026-05-12 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to break the ice in a foreign country ## [The Gremlins and Goblins in ChatGPT](https://www.acelinguist.com/2026/05/the-gremlins-and-goblins-in-chatgpt.html) _2026-05-01 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ In my last post on ChatGPT, I wrote about ChatGPT's love for 'gremlins': I would like to finish off with some random comments that I couldn't quite fit elsewhere. One is that most of the "ChatGPT" words, like 'realm', come from a business register or otherwise formal register. There are other ChatGPT words you can notice if you play around with its other registers. For example, if you attempt to… ## [Refer a Friend, Earn Rewards (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/6Mw0gxav5ZnW) _2026-05-01 · **Sponsored**_ Earn rewards when friends get the Graphite Business Card through your referral. ## [Understanding Receptive Bilingualism](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/understanding-receptive-bilingualism) _2026-04-29 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ Why You Understand a Language but Can’t Speak It (and How to Fix It) ## [Slowly, Then Suddenly](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/slowly-then-suddenly) _2026-04-21 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How learning a new language actually works ## [Cyrus: Perfectionistic, autistic?](https://www.acelinguist.com/2026/04/cyrus-perfectionistic-autistic.html) _2026-04-11 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ A leak from gaming company GameFreak had a curious note that caused fans to go wild. One Pokemon character, Cyrus, was described as “自閉的”. One of the earliest machine translations of this stated that this meant that the character is "autistic." This got a lot of attention and quickly spread throughout the fandom. The entire sentence is: 彼は自分が完璧でないことが大嫌いであり、いつしか他人をも嫌うようになっていた。（完璧主義者、 自閉的 ） He hated… ## [Parsing Good and Bad Language Learning Advice](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/things-you-were-taught) _2026-04-09 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to separate the good language learning advice from the bad ## [Grammar Structures in Foreign Languages](https://www.secondlanguagestrategies.com/p/grammar-learning-finding-the-balance) _2026-04-03 · BowTiedOdin · Second Language Strategies_ How to master grammar structures in a foreign language ## [10 Years of Ace Linguist!](https://www.acelinguist.com/2026/03/10-years-of-ace-linguist.html) _2026-03-22 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Ten years ago, on this date and at this hour and minute, I wrote the very first post for "Ace Linguist." I was graduating college, planning to go to grad school, and thinking my resume really needed spiffing up. It was with this intention that I created 'Ace Linguist', with the name as an analogy to the game series 'Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney'. It would serve as a place to store my observations… ## [English Gerunds as Loan Words](https://www.acelinguist.com/2026/01/english-gerunds-as-loan-words.html) _2026-01-25 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ A casual observation. It seems English gerunds or present participles, such as 'streaming', 'jogging', 'rock climbing', are fairly popular as loan words in other languages. Of course, any part of speech can become a loan word (and English has been a fruitful source of nouns and verbs), but I'm particularly fascinated by the popularity of the gerunds. A handful of examples - my Russian professor in… ## [Link Haul - YouTube Edition](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/12/link-haul-youtube-edition.html) _2025-12-19 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Hello! December was a very busy and personally important month to me. While I am still working on some very big stuff behind the scenes, nothing is quite ready for publishing. What is ready is some interesting finds I've made. We've got a wide variety of languages covered today! If you're a millennial, you may recall the direct-to-video sequel "The Lion King 2," which featured a song titled… ## [Billy Joel](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/09/billy-joel.html) _2025-09-24 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Today's topic is Billy Joel and the inconsistent appearance of the New York accent in his music. Billy Joel, being born and raised in New York City, has some New York-ish features in his speech, such as a COT-CAUGHT distinction. Noticeably, his interviews don't seem to show any non-rhoticism. The beatles for a l\[ɔ\]ng time (source) Your browser does not support the audio element. Paul McC\[ɑɹ\]tney… ## [The Stylistics of ChatGPT](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/07/the-stylistics-of-chatgpt.html) _2025-07-15 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Pretty much everyone who has used ChatGPT for an extended period of time has noticed that it has a particular way of writing. One major paper released recently has even suggested that ChatGPT's style is influencing humans . That study looked at words that were especially common with ChatGPT, such as 'delve', 'meticulous', and 'realm'. 'Dive' is also common for copy, as seen in this video on… ## [Brisk AI News Briefings (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/bPbDEnkYjXhK) _2025-07-15 · **Sponsored**_ Read AI summaries and listen to audio briefings for top stories. ## [Phonology Games](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/06/phonology-games.html) _2025-06-18 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ I'm curious to know if anyone else likes to play 'games' with phonology every now and then. One thing I like to do is to take a sentence, replace every vowel with the same vowel, and see how comprehensible it is, as well as the aesthetic result. For example, you could replace every vowel with \[i\], which creates a really pinched sound but doesn't really make it difficult to understand the sentence.… ## [Layout Update](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/05/layout-update.html) _2025-05-09 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Added a new left navigation bar to the layout! This has major articles from the blog over the years. I've organized them based on whether they're part of the Dialect Dissection series, a major article, or broken down by linguistics subcategory. Not every article is here, just ones I liked enough to want to put on the sidebar. (Some of the early articles, for example, are not quite good enough to… ## [1 million views!](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/04/1-million-views.html) _2025-04-28 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Wanted to share this - on April 17, Ace Linguist passed 1 million views! Thank you to all the readers, past and present, who've come here! - Karen ## [Link Haul - Japanese Trilled R and the Yakuza](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/04/link-haul-japanese-trilled-r-and-yakuza.html) _2025-04-17 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ A reader sent me an email asking me for information on the relationship between the Japanese trilled R, yakuza speech, and working class masculinity. I found some posts which I thought might be interesting for readers of this blog, as well: First, this Stack Exchange post : If you're referring to the kind of allophone on /r/ that typically appears in yakuza speech, as you said yourself, it is… ## [Link Haul - Old English Mann and Japanese Long Vowels](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/02/link-haul-old-english-mann-and-japanese.html) _2025-02-28 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Some interesting links I've found this month. Old English Mann "Mann and Gender in Old English Prose: A Pilot Study" - A look at the use of the word 'mann' in Old English hagiographies and whether it was applied to mean "man" (as in male human) or "person." It appears that mann was often used in the same way we would use "person" today, though it had already begun taking on the implication of… ## [Party Games for Linguists](https://www.acelinguist.com/2025/01/party-games-for-linguists.html) _2025-01-10 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ I recently encountered the following party game: Mumbo Jumbo , based on trying to pronounce a word while wearing a mouth-stretcher. Basically, you wear a mouth-stretcher, and then you are asked to read out a phrase. Your teammate has to figure out the phrase you're trying to say. The mouth-stretcher means that you cannot make labials. Of course, the words are selected to take advantage of this… ## [Podcast Appearance: "In a Manner of Speaking"](https://www.acelinguist.com/2024/11/podcast-appearance-in-manner-of-speaking.html) _2024-11-01 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Hello, happy to report that I have made another appearance on Paul Meier's fantastic podcast, "In a Manner Of Speaking"! Paul, Cameron and I discussed British and American accents in popular music , which is a topic that I've been interested in discussing for a long time. I hope you'll listen and enjoy the podcast; we had a tremendous time making it. ## [Blog Update Schedule](https://www.acelinguist.com/2024/09/blog-update-schedule.html) _2024-09-30 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ Since September 2017, I've been updating posts to the site monthly. This was a way for me to both continue making content for the site to keep it on people's minds, and a deadline that would force me to work on content so things didn't slip out of my own mind. I used to be able to do these updates monthly with the occasional "no update this month" post. My life has changed substantially in 7… ## [What I'm Reading Now](https://www.acelinguist.com/2024/08/what-im-reading-now.html) _2024-08-30 · Unknown · Ace Linguist_ I'd been hoping to launch a better tool for lexical set analysis this month, but it didn't work out. Hopefully for September. I finished reading "Language vs Reality" by Nick Enfield, and I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the topic of limitations of language. I was especially interested by the idea that the purpose of language is to create different Schelling points (ways to coordinate…