il peut être difficile voire impossible de l'exprimer dans une autre langue

Un idiotisme est une construction ou une locution particulière à une langue, qui porte un sens par son tout et non par chacun des mots qui la compose. Il peut s'agir de constructions grammaticales ou, le plus souvent, d'expressions imagées ou métaphoriques. Un idiotisme est en général intraduisible mot à mot, et il peut être difficile voire impossible de l'exprimer dans une autre langue.

Find your pace

Find Your Pace

If you are learning another language outside of the structure of a classroom, one important rule to remember is that you should proceed at your own pace. This does not mean that you should not schedule your time and follow that schedule! This does not mean that you should study whenever you feel like it! It means that you should not feel pressured into thinking that you only have one chance to digest the information in the lessons before moving on to the next lesson.

Allow me to explain this in further detail.

Fifteen Simple Rules

Japanese Alphabet and Charts in Photos

 When I was at George Mason University I took a class called Japan at War. My professor was a fifty two year old Australian woman. She had a tramp stamp on her lower back. She was only our teacher for a few weeks because she developed spinal cancer. I do not know what happened to her, but she was a great teacher.

Anyway, what I remember about her was that she first worked as a nurse in Australia. I believe that down under, this was a five year degree. Then, she went back to school and became fluent in Japanese. I believe she earned two more degrees in Japanese. Other than being a professor at GMU, she also ran a consulting firm, helping others do business in Japan.

I learned a great deal from her about Japanese culture. It is amazing how they industrialized, and reverse engineered British, German and French technology. This was how Japan became a super power in Asia - reverse engineering. They would buy something, take it apart, learn how it worked, rebuild it, making it better.

Sverige - Swedish Radio and Television Live Stream

One of my friends from Live Mocha hooked me up with some great websites for listening to Swedish radio. She also gave me some links for watching Swedish television, news, and soap operas.

Thank you Kim!

French Language Materials

Everything you could possibly need to learn French fluently.

Are Bilinguals and Polyglots More Intelligent?

Intelligence and Bilingualism

This is a big topic. I know that the monolingual (Americans and Brits) are going to take offense to this. But there is significant evidence that people who are bilingual and polyglots are more intelligent than monolinguals. 


The research indicates that this difference is not genetic. ( Bilinguals and Polyglots are not born smarter.)  


Remember that IQ is both genetic and environmental. One can be born with great smart genes...yet little drive to improve oneself in this world. How much will they really amount to? Although I do not personally subscribe to the believe that all bilinguals are smarter than monolinguals, I do think that on average, they are smarter.


The choice to be bilingual is a life changing choice. It is a choice that will make you a smarter person. I have made it one of my life goals to encourage and support others who want to become polyglots. This blog entry, however, asks that age old question - are bilinguals and polyglots smarter than monolinguals? Anytime we talk about intelligence, feelings get hurt, so I will look at this question with as much grace as I can.