Knowledge base

The methods of learning a foreign language undergo dynamic changes and succumb to viral trends; over the years we would collect subscription-based foreign language materials at the newsagent’s, listen to cassettes and CDs, then we would compete with our friends on various apps. The popularity of online language courses and apps is still growing; today we will learn which methods of language learning available on the Internet are the best.   More and more of our daily errands are handled virtually – and in some cases it turned out to be a blessing. Language learning is no different; a wide range of courses, classes and conversations is now at our fingertips. Just open your laptop – that’s all it takes. Still, it’s not the only way to hone your skills; a daily habit of devoting a few minutes of social media for learning in an app helps you significantly broaden the lexicon in another language. The methods of learning English – and not only! Most often, we seek help while learning English, focusing particularly on expanding our vocabulary and exploring the ways to hold a smooth conversation. Currently we can choose from offers of language schools and teachers from all over the country. And while we might have struggled to find anything good in the tough times of the pandemic, the possibility to take part in language classes organised across the country or even abroad is a blessing. All you have to do is to join a meeting on one of the popular platforms!   We also tend to use streaming services on a daily basis – we can also mix business with pleasure here. Just sit down comfortably, tune in to your favourite show and turn it into another opportunity to learn languages. Here plug-ins for popular browsers come in handy, as they add subtitles in a selected language to our favourite shows available on the most popular streaming services. So if you ever felt guilty after chugging a…

As Asian languages gain popularity, many people turn to Japanese. Is Japanese hard to learn? Is translating from Japanese hard?   Around 130 million people around the world speak Japanese, most of whom live in Japan. It is difficult to pinpoint the origins of the Japanese language, but it has been proven that in the eighth century A.D. people had already been writing novels in it. Over the centuries it was influenced by other languages: Chinese (from which it borrowed its alphabet), Portugese (also known as the language of the missionaries), as well as English (a source of many contemporary borrowings). The Japanese script What usually terrifies people when it comes to learning Japanese is the seemingly complicated system of alphabets. Luckily, after a closer inspection it becomes apparent that the Japanese script is much easier than the Chinese one and has far less signs. On an everyday basis Japanese use a mixture of three systems: two syllabaries (sets of symbols where each sign equals one syllable), hiragana and katakana, and the Chinese kanji. How did the Chinese alphabet end up in the Land of the Rising Sun? The answer is simple: it came with Buddhist texts in the first millennium A.D. The Japanese did not have their own script at the time, so they borrowed it from the Chinese and keep using it until this day.   Hiragana and katakana both have 46 signs and each of them represents one syllable (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko etc.). By using just these two syllabaries you would be able to communicate in Japanese. Those who aim for more can learn around two thousand kanji signs which are the required minimum for every adult Japanese. It is not, however, necessary – simple conversations can be made with one hundred most commonly used kanji. Communication and translating from Japanese Polish and Japanese differ greatly from one another. From grammar and sentence structure (Japanese always places the verb at the end of the sentence),…