A Thing For Wor(l)ds

Menjar. /mən.ˈʒaɾ/ n. or v. Language: Catalan. Meaning: Food. The stuff you eat to live, or the stuff you live to eat. In Spain, it’s usually the latter.  Right alongside Basque food, Catalan cuisine is lauded as being the best in Spain, and a world standout. ...Read More

Each week on the Let’s Talk series, I’ll be featuring a language learner who will share their heroic process of mastering a foreign tongue. Next up, Trevor talks Galician. Xoubas “SHOW-vahs” /ˈʃow.βas/ n. Language: Galician. Meaning: What tiny sardines are called in the Rías Baixas ...Read More

Each week on the Let’s Talk series, I’ll be featuring a language learner who will share their heroic process of mastering a foreign tongue. Next up, Katie talks Russian. Страдание. /strɐˈdanʲɪjə/ n. Language: Russian. Meaning: Suffering. Like in English, this is a universal, existential, and therefore lofty ...Read More

Packing for Spain: The Essentials 1. Purse > moneybelt. You’re not a tourist, you’re an expat. Actually, even tourists shouldn’t wear moneybelts, but that’s beyond my reach here. Spain is a really safe place, though theft can occur, especially in Barcelona (possibly the pickpocketing capital ...Read More

Yosemite. /joʊ.ˈsɛ.mɪ.ti/ Proper Noun. “Not just a great valley, but a shrine to human foresight, the strength of granite, the power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra,” according to the National Park Service. Just don’t feed the ...Read More

Each week on the Let’s Talk series, I’ll be featuring a language learner who will share their heroic process of mastering a foreign tongue. Next up, Zack talks Turkish. Açgözlü. /ʌtʃgɜzlu/ adj. Language: Turkish. Meaning: Greedy—literally, “hungry eyed.” Gotta love the creativity of compound ...Read More

Each week on the Let’s Talk series, I’ll be featuring a language learner who will share their heroic process of mastering a foreign tongue. First up, Jessie talks Malagasy. Mahay. /məhaj/ v. Language: Malagasy. Meaning: roughly translates as “to know,” though it can be used ...Read More