Knowledge base

Learning languages can be challenging – especially when we’re ambitious about it and acquiring just the basic skills is not enough. Discovering dialects can be surprising; Norwegian is particularly sneaky with this, as it can sound entirely different depending on the region you are visiting. Hence, being familiar with one dialect does not guarantee effortless communication anywhere else in the country. And how are things with English? Fortunately it’s not so complicated!   In the case of English, we can distinguish two main, basic varieties: British and American. And even though the accents can be quite messy and the attempts to comprehend and communicate with a native Scottish person can be discouraging for beginners learning English, the basic rules of the language remain the same and the differences will not be noticeable until much later during our language learning journey. There are, however, instances when this difference is crucial, e.g., when rendering localisation or proofreading services. British English: what are its distinctive features? So what is the easiest way to recognise we’re handling a text written using British English? A quick glance at words such as colour, aesthetics, demeanour or paediatric will tell us all. Color, esthetics, demeanor and pediatric are their American equivalents, so it’s easy to notice that British English stays closer to tradition and the original spelling of words borrowed from other languages, such as French, German, or Latin.   The use of “s” instead of a voiced “z” in verbs such as specialise, utilise or apologise is another characteristic of British English. They might be pronounced the same way, but the spelling is rather sneaky. A similar pattern can be observed with more complex words, such as British draught – in the American variety they are significantly simplified, as on the other side of the pond we will see it spelled as draft.   For many the British pronunciation is synonymous with that of the Royal Family; it’s worth knowing that you are unlikely to hear…

Hated in the past, offering various possibilities nowadays – is German hard to learn? This question becomes more and more common as people begin to notice the opportunities German speakers have and understand it can become an important asset.   Being a part of Germanic language family, German is one of the most popular European languages. But does it make it easy to learn? It is no mystery that Germanic languages usually stand out with their original phonology, which often raises certain concerns. If you take a survey and ask your respondents if German is hard to learn, many of them will probably say yes. This language is universally claimed to be difficult, with challenging grammar and pronunciation – not to mention its melodiousness, which is a questionable issue. German grammar and vocabulary The very first obstacle on your way will be a collision with the apparently easy German articles: der, die, das. For unknown reasons, articles seem to be one of the main factors that cause people to give up on their studies. What’s more, students usually commit many errors concerning articles, omitting them completely or matching German nouns with wrong articles. It is probably because German articles usually indicate a different type of noun than in our native language. And then, if you master the art of articles and hope you’ve started going the right way, another challenge appears – German declension. Many students desperately struggle to get the difference between Dativ and Akkusativ.   But let’s look at the bright sides: putting aside the complicated German word order and phrase formation, it is worth emphasising that the grammar itself is very logical and there’s a rule for everything – after all, as a German proverb says, Ordnung muss sein (Ger. “There must be order”). German pronunciation Someone once said you can confuse articles, but it is good pronunciation that is crucial to communicate properly, and there is reason behind that. Even if you manage to understand a…