LITTLE PIM BLOG
10 Words English Speakers Are Missing Out On
Uh um eh. We often find ourselves tripping on our words. This inability to articulate our thoughts can be the unfortunate side effect of nerves when addressing a crowd, discomfort talking to a stranger, or tiredness after a late night. However, it’s not always our fault at all. In fact, the English language is missing some words to succinctly describe a situation or feeling. Below is a list of just 10 of these words in foreign languages that efficiently express sentence-long concepts in English. Fun fact: the concepts that the English language doesn’t have words to describe are often unpopular, unaccepted or previously non-existent in our culture, which reveals how critical a role culture plays in language evolution. You may not want to integrate these words into your daily English conversation, but they are perfect for trivia or an icebreaker and they shed light on the power of language to provide speakers with the agency to voice thoughts.
1. German: kummerspeck
Ever drown your sorrows in chocolates after a heartbreak or dive into a pint of ice cream after a cruel day at the office? If you have fallen victim to the emotion-induced indulgence and seen progress in your cookie pack instead of six-pack, you can probably relate to this word, which directly translates to mean “grief bacon.”
2. Japanese: wabi sabi
In English, we sometimes call things “perfectly imperfect.” The Japanese have eloquently expounded on this oxymoron by giving a name to the ability to find the beauty in flaws and to accept life’s cyclic nature of growth and decay. American singer Lana Del Ray’s “Young and Beautiful” asks “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?” and is therefore somewhat of an ode to this this subject matter.
3. French: seigneur-terraces
In Starbucks, you can always spot the people who haven’t bought a lot but are really just there to hang out, read a book, research for a paper, answer emails, or just kinda people watch. You know who you are. Well, the French have ingeniously come up with a word to describe these individuals who should owe rent to the coffee shop.
4. Italian: slampadato
The girl or guy at the party who is just a little bit too orange for comfort and definitely owns a membership to the tanning salon is perfectly described by this one word.
5. Mexican Spanish: pena ajena
Overhearing the silence after a colleague makes a bad joke to a group of coworkers or watching on as a woman in heels trips down the steps to the subway can cause you to cringe yourself. This discomfort born of others’ actions and the natural human urge to sympathize is described by this Spanish expression. While there was never a way to describe this feeling in English, kids today have come up with the phrase “second-hand embarrassment.” This goes to show how our language is evolving to fill holes that other languages filled long ago.
6. Russian: toska
Friend: “Are you okay?”
You: “Not really.”
Friend: “What’s wrong?”
You: “I don’t know.”
Such a conversation might ensue when you feel an emptiness or lack of fulfillment that can’t be attached to anything specifically. You might desire something without knowing what that something is. We have all experienced it, but most of us bottle it up or sweep it under the rug, because it’s hard to communicate to those we trust and/or love. The Russians have crated a solution to this problem by having a word to describe this feeling.
7. Arabic: ya’aburnee
If you were assigned the task to write a paper analyzing Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, this Arabic word, meaning the desire to die before someone else, because life without him or her would be too difficult, could prove useful.
8. Portuguese: saudade
When your child loses his or her favorite stuffed animal to the devastating toilet plunge, he or she is suffering from this feeling: a yearning for something or someone that has been lost.
9. Chinese: yuan bei
The deal you have been staffed to at your job, the deal whose pitch you spent sleepless nights writing, you ran by seventeen different superiors, you revised thousands of times, and you cried about more than you would like to admit, just closed. That inexplicable sense of pride in yourself and the perfection of your work is no longer inexplicable thanks to this Chinese word.
10. Korean: dapjeongneo
When you ask your significant other, “Does this piece of clothing make me look fat?” or “Do you even think I’m pretty/handsome?” There is only one acceptable answer. If you have ever been on the receiving end of those questions, you know that. This concept of there being a “correct” answer that a person has no choice but to give has its own recently added word in Korean but no English counterpart as of yet.
Works Cited:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/more-languages-better-brain/381193/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/50698/38-wonderful-foreign-words-we-could-use-english
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-01/emotions-which-there-are-no-english-words-infographic
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170126-the-untranslatable-emotions-you-never-knew-you-had
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lingholic.com/15-untranslatable-words-wish-existed-english/amp/
Did You Know Every Parent is Bilingual?
“Don’t talk to me like a baby!” You might be familiar with this phrase if you have an older child or have gotten into a spat with a partner or colleague. While baby talk can be construed as condescending when directed at an older individual, it is actually critical to the cognitive development and language learning of infants and toddlers. Linguists and child psychologists refer to baby talk more often as child-directed speech. Many aspects of child-directed speech allow it to facilitate language learning, such as the following:
High-pitch and tone variation
These qualities characteristic of child-directed speech make it more stimulating, effectively causing the words spoken to be more memorable.
Repetition
Children’s first words are often the ones they hear the most often. This is because repetition is a key component that drives memorization. Thus, the repetition common in child-directed speech helps children learn the language.
Reduplication
When using child-directed speech, parents often say expressions like “woof woof” and “beep beep.” This specific type of repetition, called reduplication, also helps with memorization and language learning.
Isolation
Sentences and phrases formed when using child-directed speech tend to include the most important word at the end. For example, parents might say “oh look at the cute little doggy” instead of “there is a cute dog right over there.” This isolation of the word dog helps children learn the word, because they can separate the noises associated with saying the word from the rest of the phrase.
When children imitate child-directed speech, they are actually imitating and learning proper grammar.
One theory about language acquisition is that much of children’s knowledge is innate. Specifically, some linguists have asserted that children are born with knowledge of syntactic structures and then utilize imitation to learn words to fit into those structures. Complete foreknowledge of grammatical structure prior to birth seems unlikely, especially given this structure is unique to every language. In fact, a closer look at child-directed speech reveals that it is far more properly structured than casual, fragmented conversation between adults. When children imitate child-directed speech, they are actually imitating and learning proper grammar. While children’s capacity to learn may be innate, their language learning is in many ways an imitation game.
Each and every parent around the world is fluent in both his or her native tongue and child-directed speech.
Child-directed speech doesn’t just exist here in the United States and with English, but in a plethora of cultures and with a multitude of languages. Each and every parent around the world is fluent in both his or her native tongue and child-directed speech. This form of bilingualism is pertinent to infants’ and toddlers’ first language acquisition and cognitive development.
Just like child-directed speech improves cognitive development in infants and toddlers, so does learning a foreign language.
While parents adopt this child-directed speech with ease, infants and toddlers could also adopt another language with ease. Children can learn more than one language at a time without conflating the two or hindering their progress towards fluency in their native language. In fact, children are noted to become more native-like speakers in a foreign language if they learn the language at a very young age. Just like child-directed speech improves cognitive development in infants and toddlers, so does learning a foreign language. As it happens, children who learn another language at a young age are said to be able to concentrate better in spite of outside stimulus, an important skill in an age when technology, among other things, has become a huge distraction.
While all parents are fluent in their native tongue and child-directed speech, not all parents are fluent in other foreign languages… cue Little Pim.
In conclusion, while many people may not appreciate when you speak to them like a baby, your infant or toddler loves it. Your child’s engagement with child-directed speech makes it a useful tool to teach words and proper grammatical structures. Via aiding in first language acquisition, child-directed speech improves a child’s cognitive development, just as learning a foreign language can. While all parents are fluent in their native tongue and child-directed speech, not all parents are fluent in other foreign languages… cue Little Pim. Let us join you and your child on a path towards intellectual growth.
Works Cited:
http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test4materials/ChildLangAcquisition.htm
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-motherese-important-children-language.html
http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/05/learning-second-language-good-childhood-mind-medicine
Father's Day Language Learning Fun
Father’s Day is a time to celebrate family, love, and happiness. All of the warm sentiments conjured on this day will mirror the warm weather forecasted in New York, where Little Pim is based, creating perfect conditions to have a wonderful day. What could make the day any better? Foreign language. While a shared appreciation for a father figure unites a family, exposure to a foreign language can unite an immigrant or multicultural family with its roots and can unite a curious family around a common love for learning. Language learning can be seamlessly incorporated into your plans for the day, whether you are attending a barbecue, heading to the beach, or staying in the comforts of your own home. It’s not only easy but fun, so read on for some helpful tips.
Barbecue
As you are slicing the fruit for a platter or tossing the salad to kick off the barbecue, you can make use of the vibrant array of colors on display to teach your child another language. The Little Pim flash card sets include the words for colors for each language offered. Accordingly, even if you aren’t proficient in the language you would like to teach, the cards can provide you with the necessary vocabulary to turn this fairly boring task into a fun language learning opportunity.
Moreover, as the adults surround the grill, and conversations about work inevitably ensue, your child might grow bored. To keep them happy and engaged, you can simply hand over your iPad. While this parenting move often leads to gaming, which isn’t necessarily intellectually challenging or fruitful for your child, you can use Little Pim livestream, to turn this moment into another language learning opportunity.
As the eating winds down and everyone is still gathered around the table or fire pit, you can introduce a fun language learning game to liven up the mood. In the game, you can choose a flashcard from the deck at random. You can’t let your child see it. Similar to the wildly popular game “Heads Up,” your child then holds the card to their forehead. Make sure to have the English translation side face the rest of the table. The other family members and friends have to give verbal hints or act out gestures based on which your child can guess the word in English. Once your child has successfully guessed the word, in order to earn a bonus point, he or she must translate the word into the foreign language of your choice.
Beach
As you pack your bag for the beach, make an assembly line with you and your child. As you pick up an item, pass it to your child and have him or her try to name the word in the foreign language. Many of the words that would likely be useful during this exercise are part of the flashcard sets, but below is a short list with translations into French and Spanish for your convenience.
The highly anticipated ocean entry is another chance for you to involve some language learning into Father’s Day fun. While some kids are hesitant to enter the cold water, you can make it less intimidating by turning it into a game. You can call out what is written on one side of the flashcard and have them translate into or from English. Each correct answer can be a step backward towards “safety,” and each incorrect answer can be a step closer to the waves, or vice versa if your child is excited to go into the water.
The car ride home is perfect chance to pop in a French Bop or Spanish Bop CD. More information and statistics encouraging listening to music sung in a foreign language can be found in a recent blog posting.
Day at Home
If Father’s Day will be low-key at home for you and your family, language learning might be the perfect stimulus to brighten the day. For example, while your child is writing that cute letter to Dad that you will save for years to come, you can teach them how to say some of the words in his or her letter in other languages.
While below is a short list of words and phrases your child is likely to use translated into French and Spanish, Little Pim’s content covers many more languages.
Happy Father’s Day from Little Pim to you and your family! We hope language learning can make an amazing day even better.
Learn a Language to the Beat of Your Favorite Song
You have all likely heard the song “Despacito” (lyric video below) recently, whether you know it or not, as it has been played on every radio station. Justin Bieber’s feature has helped the Spanish song rise to the top of the charts. Fascinatingly, a 2015 census confirmed that in certain Miami communities up to 90% of the population speaks Spanish, and 2016 data notes that nearly 70% of the county is Hispanic. Moreover, in 2015, half of New Yorkers were recorded to speak a language besides English at home. The success of the song coupled with these statistics demonstrate how culturally integrated our society has become. Whether or not you currently live in an urban metropolis, like Miami or New York, where cross-cultural interaction is extremely frequent, teaching your child foreign languages at a young age is not only fun but prepares them to thrive in an increasingly globalized world.
Knowing more than one language, which can start with learning a simple song, opens doors for your children in the classroom and in the workplace.
Let’s talk about some more boring statistics so that I can show you the value of turning on a song in a foreign language. Only 1.5% of the students enrolled in higher education in the 2014-2015 school year studied abroad. Each of these students, by immersing themselves in a different culture, often speaking a different language, propelled personal and future professional growth. The ability to recognize and appreciate cultural differences via an immersive experience motivates a certain respect that is often lacking among individuals in such a polarized political and social climate in the US. Additionally, the fluency in a language and understanding of cultural norms and traditions of a country brought about by a study-abroad also make an individual a greater asset to potential employers, as 95% of consumers across the globe live outside of the US. 95%! Learning the language of that culture prior to visiting maximizes the power of this experience to spur development. Afford your child the same personal and professional benefits as this mere 1.5% of students by teaching them a foreign language and exposing them to a different culture.
After being exposed to data that connotes language learning’s capacity to permit personal and professional growth, a parent is saddled with the question: how do I get my child excited about language learning?
You have likely subconsciously heard the answer to this question in listening to songs like “Despacito.” Kids respond very positively to music, and there are countless simple songs that can provide a perfect introduction to a foreign language. Little Pim, as a company dedicated to making language-learning fun and accessible, has compiled some of these songs into Spanish and French CD’s for kids. As the heat waves roll in and you and your family begin planning summer road trips or weekend getaways, these CD’s are the perfect in-car activity. If you are a bilingual family, you may be able to immediately pick up the lyrics and sing along with the CD as your child learns. If you are learning alongside your child, it can be a beautiful bonding experience.
Language learning doesn’t have to be extremely serious or scary. It can start with a single CD and turn into a worthwhile investment in your child’s future.
The Advantage of Multilingualism
The traditional view of imposing language learning on children is that the two languages would interfere with each other and slow literacy learning. There is some evidence that learning two languages in early education does impose additional stressors on the brain.
New evidence suggests that this stress actually improves mental ability.
The demand forces the brain to solve some fundamental learning problems which monolingual children never have to face.
The key difference between monolingual and bilingual children goes beyond the ability to control the suppression of one language and select the other language at will.
It seems to be about improvements in ability to monitor surroundings and sensitivity to the environment.
New studies indicate that the multilingual exposure is manifest in improved social skills in children.
These particular cognitive abilities, are improved through multilingual education:
The ability to monitor the environment is especially important for social interaction.
Children who have learned how to select among learned languages are better at considering the point of view of others.
This is a critical developmental faculty that the pioneering developmental psychologist Jean Piaget called "decentering."
Children in multilingual environments have ample practice considering the point of view of others.
They are also more aware that there is more than one point of view.
Children who learn more than one language are often raised in environments surrounded by multiple languages and cultures.
They learn early how to see the world through widely varied eyes, a range of different perspectives.
They learn to account for other perspectives in their communication and their attitude development.
Not only do they become more decentered (in Piaget's terms) but they become less "egocentric" as well.
At Little Pim, we believe that all children deserve to learn a second language. We use a natural immersive method of teaching. Please contact us to learn more.
Simple Ways to Introduce Your Kids to Foreign Languages
Introducing children to foreign languages is not a far cry from encouraging kids to try sports. However, so long as our parental motives are pure, foreign languages are the simpler of the two! The following list includes unique ways to introduce your kids to foreign languages. You can integrate these ideas into Spring/Summer plans already made, and don't you worry, no athletic ability required!
Travel
Are you taking a trip via plane, car, or bike? Invite your child to be the guide! Previously teach and discuss key vocabulary words used when traveling through the foreign country. Make your tiny guide a badge, and write in the language he/she is learning. If your child is too young, then it's you! Role play as a pilot, taxi driver, or tour guide. Use new, simple vocabulary, and be sure to note the scenery you spot! If your child is just beginning, have him/her repeat the key words after you. You can also use music CDs and videos found here to keep them learning on-the-go.
Travel Vocabulary (English to Spanish)
Airport -----> el aeropuerto Plane -----> el avión Trip -----> el viaje Suitcase/bag -----> la maleta Bus -----> el autobús Train -----> el tren Ticket -----> el boleto Pilot -----> el piloto
Go all out: Dress the part, and pack along common snacks or candies found in your country of study.
Stuck Indoors
Whether you've been quarantined for days, or a few hours which feel as long, Little Pim offers of award-winning language learning videos and companion products to bring foreign languages into your home. Make a game with the flashcards and allow your child to quiz you! Read board books before nap time as your child snuggles a Little Pim panda plush.
Do you have any bilingual friends? Invite them over for a multicultural meal and let them know you're interested in introducing your child to the foreign language and culture. Request for this friend to speak only in the language new to your child. Before your guest arrives, discuss with your child a few questions to ask. If your child is a bit older, he/she can even conduct an interview.
Go all out: Prepare a cuisine native to the foreign country of study.
Outdoor Games
Plan a scavenger hunt! Using the foreign language of choice, give direction and leave clues for your child. Allow your child to invite friends to help solve the mystery of lost treasure. As for the treasure itself, pick up a new video, book, or tickets to a cultural experience; anything to further teach in an unforgettable way.
Pack a picnic! Bring along library books, trinkets, and colorful pictures of foods served in the appropriate country. Have your child make labels for each food item before you pack them. Play foreign music as you eat.
Go all out: Dine at the same time persons native to the country of study are also eating. As you eat your meal, excite your child, "It's as if we're really there!"
Need more resources, products, or help choosing which foreign language is best to introduce to your child? Please check out our language guide or email us at help@littlepim.com with any question. Little Pim is grateful to help!
The Benefits of Starting Early: Why Your Kids Need to Learn Another Language Now
Our world is no longer constrained by the borders on a map. It has become increasingly global in every realm from business to social relationships. For a child to flourish in this new and diverse climate, it's important that they get multilingual exposure and begin learning a foreign language before age 6 to experience the most benefits. In most non-English-speaking nations, particularly in Europe; instruction in another language is mandatory. Not only are children taught a second language, but they are often are raised in an environment where they are exposed to multiple languages; necessitating the acquisition of multiple tongues.
In places such as Switzerland and Belgium, there are many recognized languages and dialects, and therefore it is not uncommon for someone to speak three or four different languages. Meanwhile, the vast majority of English-speaking countries have no national mandate for teaching children a second language.
In the United States, foreign language instruction is lacking. According to an article in The Atlantic, only 1% of American adults were proficient in a foreign language. Many aren't exposed to a foreign language until their college years.
The United States isn't the only nation that fails to expose students to foreign languages at a critical age. According to Arlene Harris in her article, Learning the Lingo: Taking up a Foreign Language Before We're 3?; Ireland "lags behind the rest of Europe and should be starting kids off before they're 3."
It is a predominately western problem, perhaps because we are leaving an era dominated by English-speaking business and culture. With the advent of the Internet, success has spread in every direction; including eastward, with the future of industry looking strongly toward Asia and the Pacific. Children must learn languages early to stay ahead of the competition.
Most countries in Europe begin language instruction around the age of seven or earlier. It's not only possible, but beneficial for the budding mind. According to Dr. David Carey, "“All The children can learn another language at an early age [...] [The] young brain, before the age of 5, is able to learn to speak another language without developing an accent — to speak it like a native."
Starting language learning early has documented benefits. The childhood brain is elastic and able to learn and retain a multitude of information that someone in their early 20's would struggle with. It's been documented that it's easier for children to learn a second language than adults, so why wait until college to begin learning such an important skill? Exposing your children early is critical, and Little Pim has the resources you need to get them going!
Learn a New language in Record Time? Por supuesto, bien sûr, sì certo!
It doesn’t matter which language you want to learn, the answer is the same if you understand how to set about the task, of course you can! Many parents who choose Little Pim to teach their child a second language may not speak the language themselves, which is why we developed this parent guide to include information and tips so you can become your child’s first language tutor. Why not take it one step further? Make it your 2017 new year's resolution to learn a new language alongside your child.
This infographic below from UpgradedPoints shows you how you could achieve a level of fluency in most languages in record time, in fact it suggests that three months is all you need to make significant progress.
What you will discover is that there is a technique that allows your brain to retain more information and if you follow that path to learning a new language, you are more likely to succeed than spending hours trying to remember in a way that is highly inefficient. If you're interested in high quality resources to help yourself learn using similar techniques as Little Pim, but for adults, check out the Pimsleur Method, which was established nearly 50 years ago by our founder, Julia Pimsleur's father, Dr. Pimsleur.
Infographic: The Benefits of Early Language Learning
Below is an infographic on some of the many benefits of teaching kids a second language at the age they learn best which is before the age of six. Give a child the gift of a second language and watch it pay off over a lifetime! Share this infographic with parents and teachers and explore more of the benefits of bilingualism on our website.
Brain Research: The Benefits of Bilingualism
Growing up knowing more than one language offers many benefits. Just knowing the language is the most obvious one, but the benefits extend to the way we think. An article on the NPR website by Anya Kamenetz, "6 Potential Brain Benefits of Bilingual Education," discusses these advantages. The article focuses on non-English speakers learning English, but English speakers who pick up a foreign language benefit too. The younger they start, the better, but children of all ages stand to sharpen their minds.
Keeping two languages separate in their heads exercises brain skills. The bilingual student has to know when to use one language, and when to use the other. Developing this skill helps in task switching, and spotting the social cues promotes empathy.
Another big benefit is "metalinguistic awareness" — the understanding of how language works. Learning more than one language means learning there's more than one way to say things. They learn about different ways to put words and ideas together. German doesn't have a word for "mind," but that's only because it doesn't draw the sharp distinction among "spirit," "mind," and "sense" that English does. That didn't stop Jung and Freud from going deep into the study of psychology.
A study at American University found that dual-language students outperformed English-only ones on reading. They could pull as much meaning out of sentences as students with better English skills but no foreign-language skills. They generally knew fewer English words, but their awareness of language made up for it.
The benefits may extend into old age. Kamenetz cites a Canadian study which finds that bilingual people with Alzheimer's disease don't suffer from cognitive impairment as early as monolingual ones. This could be because bilingualism gives a "cognitive reserve" that makes up for loss of brain function.
Learning a second language is a great way to expand a child's understanding of the world. Visit our website to learn how children can learn languages through Little Pim.
