Or how I fell out of love with Duolingo. Years ago, I really loved the design of Duolingo. Particularly Duo, the Owl. I regularly played that game, translating phrases, so that I wouldn’t see the saddest owl reminding me that I hadn’t done my studies. I picked it up again a while ago to push […]
Tag: learning

Distance brings focus. From Korea, the languages of Europe seem much more of a piece, much more related to one another. From today, the troubles of yesteryear seem much more of a story, much more linked one after another. In Slovenian, there is a phrase, “zvrhana mera”, which precisely but dully translates as “a full […]
Wrong Is All Right

My father was a man who was never wrong. Growing up in that kind of shadow was a strange thing. Life, after all, was not all sweet pears and cheese platters. There were hard times. Conflicts, fights, bitterness, and loss. Every life has those. But if he was never wrong, then who was? Ah, long […]
6 Our Golden Age: Podcasts

Ours is a golden age. I know. It’s hard to believe. We have orange goblins and secret policemen and climate cooks and kooks. Bear with me. I listened to the BBC World Service on shortwave radio in Dar es Salaam in 1990. The radio ran, I drew, and I thought received pronunciation was normal. In […]