Culture

Your Ultimate Guide to The Languages of France
Culture

Your Ultimate Guide to The Languages of France

France is known for many things: Its art, its culture, it cuisine etc. The languages of France, are not that famous, yet from a linguistic standpoint, it's a true work of art (no pun intended!) When you picture the languages of France, chances are that you only think of French, a language you may have learned at school. However, there are so many more languages spoken in France, that you've never thought about. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Official Language As of the time of writing, at least according to the French Constitution, there is only one official language of France: French. However, there are a number of different dialects of what we call "French". As such, the language was standardized long ago. This variant is called Par...
Your Ultimate Guide to The Languages of Switzerland
Culture

Your Ultimate Guide to The Languages of Switzerland

Today, Switzerland is known for a lot things. Primarily, it is the country's fierce neutrality, or the Swiss Alps. To most linguists, however, it's actually the various different languages of Switzerland! If you were to ask some from Spain or from France, or from Germany, what their national language was, it wouldn't be too difficult for them. If you were to ask a Swiss person, it would be much more difficult for them... (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Official Languages According to the Swiss Constitution, there are a total of four official languages in Switzerland, which all Swiss citizens need to speak at least two of... German Currently, German is the most spoken language in Switzerland, being spoken by an estimated 62.6% of the popul...
Your Ultimate Guide to The Languages of Spain
Culture

Your Ultimate Guide to The Languages of Spain

In recent years, it seems as though Spain is struggling to keep itself together. Primarily, this has been due to the numerous different languages of Spain, which often cause tension between the central and local governments. From a linguistic point of view, Spain has some of the most diverse languages on the planet, ranging from Slavic, to Semitic, to Germanic, to Romance languages. It even has a language isolate too! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Official Languages of Spain Although a number of languages hold varying degrees of "official" status, Spain currently only has one official language: Castilian Spanish According to the Spanish Constitution, the only official language of Spain, is Spanish. To be more specific, this is the varia...
15 Puerto Rican Slang Words to Sound like a True Boricua!
Culture

15 Puerto Rican Slang Words to Sound like a True Boricua!

Puerto Rican slang is some of the most diverse, original and interesting slang on the planet. It is also one of the most widely used, being used not only on the island of Puerto Rico, but also all throughout the US! As of the time of writing, Spanish is one of the world's most spoken languages, being spoken by around 580 million. Of that 580 million, six million speak Puerto Rican Spanish, mostly in Puerto Rico. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 15. Boricua - Puerto Rican In several other languages' slang, there is a slang way of describing what nationality you are. In Australia, it's Aussie. In New Zealand, it's Kiwi. Whilst in Canada, it's Canuck. For Puerto Ricans? The term they often use to describe themselves is boricua. The term itse...
15 Greek Slang Words to Sound Like a True Greek!
Culture

15 Greek Slang Words to Sound Like a True Greek!

Many people will tell you that the Greek language is one of the coolest and most sophisticated languages on the planet. As such, it stands to reason that Greek slang would similarly be as sophisticated and as cool! As of the time of writing, only 13.4 million people speak Greek, mostly confined to Greece, a few Greek islands. There are also large Greek-speaking minorities in the US, UK and Turkey. Looking at Greek, you'll notice that it doesn't use the Latin alphabet that English does. Instead, it uses the Greek alphabet. For the purposes of this article, all slang terms will be transliterated for you to use easily! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 15. Télos - Whatever For the most part, Greek slang has remained mostly the same, even with the ...
15 Brazilian Slang Words You Need to Start Using!
Culture

15 Brazilian Slang Words You Need to Start Using!

Brazilian Portuguese is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. As such, it would stand to reason that Brazilian slang is incredibly rich and diverse, borrowing words from a number of different foreign languages. As of the time of writing, in excess of 252 million speak Portuguese as either a first or second language, making it one of the most spoken languages on the planet. Of this, 209 million people speak Brazilian Portuguese! (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 15. Topar - To agree When you were learning Portuguese, you were likely taught that concordar is the only verb you could use to mean "agree". In many ways, your teacher was right, but in other ways, they were wrong. In Brazil, they also have a very colloquial verb, topar, whi...
15 Best (European) Portuguese Slang Words to Sound Like a Native Tuga!
Culture

15 Best (European) Portuguese Slang Words to Sound Like a Native Tuga!

Portuguese is one of the richest languages on the planet. As such, it should stand to reason that Portuguese slang is similarly diverse. Thanks to the old Portuguese Empire, many of their slang words are found in other languages too! As of the time of writing, in excess of 252 million people speak Portuguese, as either a first or second language. This fact alone helps to make it one of the most spoken languages on the planet. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 15. Buba - Drunk For as buba is perhaps one of the most common Portuguese slang terms that you'll ever hear. Depending on the context, it could mean one of many things, all of which are commonly used. Perhaps the most common use of buba is to mean "Drunk". Portuguese people will use this...
15 Argentine Slang Words to Sound Like a Proper Argentine!
Culture

15 Argentine Slang Words to Sound Like a Proper Argentine!

As with most other countries, Argentina has its own slang. The overwhelming majority of Argentine slang words actually have Italian, not Spanish origins, however, a few do have Spanish origins. Both Spanish and Italian are among the world's most spoken languages, with roughly 450 million and 63 million speakers respectively. Of this, 42 million people speak the Argentine Spanish dialect of Spanish. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 15. Tener mala leche - Bad luck Literally speaking, tener mala leche means "To have bad milk" in English. However, in Argentine slang, it is used to mean the same as mala suerte - bad luck. It's generally the sort of thing you'll hear moms and grandmas say to their small children and grandchildren when they do thing...
15 Peruvian Slang Words to Sound Like a Native!
Culture

15 Peruvian Slang Words to Sound Like a Native!

As with most other countries, Peru has its own slang. The overwhelming majority of Peruvian slang words have Spanish origins, however, a few do have native origins. This gives Peruvian slang some of the coolest and strangest slang words of any language on Earth! Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the world, currently spoken by around 450 million people. Peruvian Spanish on the other hand, makes up roughly 26 million of these speakers. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); 15. Mañoso - Slime bag  At some point in time, you've probably met a guy who is a bit handsy with people. For some unknown reason he feels the need to touch you and hug you and whatever, even when you don't really want him to. In English slang, we have many...
15 South African Slang Words You (Might) Want to Use!
Culture

15 South African Slang Words You (Might) Want to Use!

As with most other countries, South Africa has its own slang. South African slang has some of the coolest, weirdest and down right confusing slang words of any language I've ever seen! Many South African slang words have their origins in English, others have their origins in Afrikaans, others in Zulu, others in Xhosa, whilst a few have their origins in many other languages. Before you go around using these South African slang words, I feel the need to warn you. If you're white, or have any near European heritage (two generations), you may be told by locals not to use it. For the most part, this is due to racial tensions between the white South Africans and black South Africans. A very minute number of black South Africans will get confrontational if a white person uses the...