Languages6 min read
Tracing Practice: Learning to Write Khmer, Not Just Recognise It
Tracing teaches the stroke path for Khmer letters, but research suggests it is a scaffold, not the finish line. A sequence that moves you past it.
120 articles · page 3 of 5
Languages guides, page 3
Articles 49–72 of 120, newest first. The introduction to this reading list, its topic hubs and the guides other articles cite most are on the first page.
Languages articles 49–72
- Languages5 min read
Where Marathi Is Spoken, and When Knowing It Actually Helps
Marathi's official standing, the region it belongs to, and an honest account of the situations where speaking it changes the interaction and where it does not.
- Languages5 min read
Learn Lao App: Building a Course for a Language Most Apps Skip
What it takes to build a Lao course when the big language apps do not offer one, and the decisions we made about script, sequencing and scope.
- Languages6 min read
Russian Verbal Aspect: How to Choose Perfective or Imperfective
A practical way to pick between aspect pairs based on what you mean, rather than translating from English tense and hoping for the best.
- Languages6 min read
Is Khmer Hard to Learn? What Actually Slows English Speakers Down
Khmer has no tones, which helps, but the script and vowel system do not. Here is what is genuinely hard and what is easier than expected.
- Languages5 min read
Is Lao Hard to Learn? The Script Is the Real Question
What makes Lao difficult for English speakers, what makes it easier than you would expect, and which parts take the longest to get comfortable with.
- Languages6 min read
Is Malay Easy to Learn? The Honest Version
Malay is often called one of the easier languages for English speakers. Here is where that is fair and where it quietly stops being true.
- Languages4 min read
Is Marathi Hard to Learn? A Straight Answer
What makes Marathi demanding for English speakers, where it is more forgiving than expected, and roughly how long the early stages take.
- Languages4 min read
Is Shanghainese a Dialect or a Language?
Why Shanghainese gets called a dialect, why linguists usually do not, and what the answer changes for someone trying to learn it.
- Languages6 min read
Khmer Fonts on Android: Why Text Breaks and How to Fix It
Khmer text that renders as boxes, stacks marks in the wrong place or clips subscripts usually points at font fallback. Here is what to check.
- Languages5 min read
Khmer Greetings and Honorifics: Getting the Register Right
Chum reap suor, suosdei and the sampeah, plus the honorifics that decide which greeting is appropriate for the person in front of you.
- Languages5 min read
Khmer Phrases for Travellers: A Short, Usable List
The Khmer phrases that actually come up on a trip to Cambodia, grouped by situation, with notes on where English will not get you there.
- Languages6 min read
Khmer vs Thai Script: Shared Roots, Different Rules
Khmer and Thai writing come from the same ancestor but diverge on tone marking, vowel placement and consonant series. What transfers and what does not.
- Languages5 min read
How to Say Hello in Lao: Greetings, the Nop and Politeness
Sabaidee and the greetings around it, how the nop gesture works, and the politeness particles that change how a Lao greeting lands.
- Languages5 min read
Basic Lao Phrases for Travellers: What Actually Gets Used
A short list of Lao phrases that earn their place on a trip, grouped by the situation you will need them in rather than by grammar topic.
- Languages5 min read
Lao Tone Rules: Consonant Classes, Tone Marks and Vowel Length
How a Lao syllable gets its tone from consonant class, tone mark and vowel length together, and why you cannot read tone off the mark alone.
- Languages5 min read
Learn Marathi for Beginners: Where to Start and What to Skip
A starting route into Marathi for complete beginners: the script first, then the vocabulary and grammar that unlock everyday conversation.
- Languages5 min read
Learn Shanghainese for Beginners: A Route Into Wu Chinese
How to start Shanghainese when almost every resource assumes Mandarin: what to learn first, what to ignore, and where the real difficulty sits.
- Languages7 min read
Malay Affixes: meN-, ber-, -kan and -an Without the Jargon
Malay builds most of its verbs and nouns with affixes. What each common prefix and suffix does, and how the sound changes actually work.
- Languages6 min read
Malay Phrases for Travel: What to Learn Before Malaysia
A practical set of Malay phrases for arriving, eating, shopping and getting around, plus an honest note on where English is already enough.
- Languages5 min read
The Marathi Alphabet: Reading Devanagari From Scratch
How Devanagari works for Marathi: vowels, consonants, the matras that attach to them, and the letters Marathi uses that Hindi does not.
- Languages5 min read
Marathi Numbers 1 to 100: The Part Nobody Warns You About
Marathi numbers are largely irregular up to 100, which is why rote counting fails. How the system works and how to practise it sensibly.
- Languages5 min read
Marathi Phrases Worth Learning First, With What They Literally Mean
A short set of Marathi phrases for greetings, food, transport and shopping, each with its literal sense so the grammar starts making sense early.
- Languages5 min read
How Long Does It Take to Learn Marathi? Planning a First Month
What a realistic first month of Marathi looks like, how to split time between script and speech, and what you can honestly expect at the end of it.