For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere, today marks the autumnal equinox, otherwise known as the first day of fall (for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, the first day of Spring). While for many, the first day...
Episode 13: The Language News Report Welcome to ALTA’s Beyond Words Podcast. Our podcasts provide listeners with the latest language news, language-related interviews, and language lessons that can be applied to real-world situations. They’re always brief, always informative, and always...
What on earth is a paraprosdokian? From the Greek root words παρα (meaning “beyond”) and προσδοκία (meaning “expectation”), a paraprosdokian can be defined as a figure of speech that uses an unexpected ending that reflects upon the opening half of...
As a food writer, chef, and television guru Anthony Bourdain often points out during his show, No Reservations, that every culture has their “meat in tube form,” and, that more often than not, this meat product (i.e. hotdog, bratwurst, sausage...
Tonight at sunset marks the end of Rosh Hashanah (literally translated “head of the year”), the Jewish New Year celebration. Beginning at sunset on September 8, this is the 5771st year in the Jewish calendar — a lunisolar calendar used...
The UK Guardian’s Books Blog recently posted an interesting challenge to its readers for the beginning of September: share a bit of your own translated poetry with the other readers of the blog. The responses range from adaptations or translations...
Monterey, California, is a strange little town, comprised of a diverse, if often incompatible, array of people. In Monterey, you’re either a student, a tourist, a retiree, a soldier, or a sea lion. The city’s radius is only a few...
A monthly feature by Beyond Words, Now Playing highlights some of the best foreign films currently playing at the theater. American attendance at foreign language films dropped exponentially during the last decade, with foreign film ticket sales accounting for less...
Like the vast majority of language websites and blogs, Beyond Words’ language content mostly consists of writing, audio, and video. Given the nature of language, the way it’s formed, and the way it’s usually expressed, this fact shouldn’t come as...
For many immigrants with school-age children, parent-teacher conferences are a family affair. The student arrives with a slew of relatives in tow, all with varying degrees of English proficiency, and all working in tandem to fill out paperwork and make...
Linguaphiles and gadget lovers alike are waiting in anticipation for August 27th, when Amazon will finally release the latest version of its popular Kindle e-Reader. The third generation Kindle quickly sold out on Amazon.com, and the product is currently receiving...
Salish As a recently arrived transplant to Kalispell, Montana, I couldn’t help noticing that several of the road signs on Highway 93 are written in English and an interesting looking language that I later learned was called ‘Salish.’ Salish consists...
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