Ten American Idioms Used Around The World

by Dictionary Scoop     In different parts of the world, people often express the same ideas in very similar ways, while using different languages. Join us to discover the foreign counterparts of these 10 everyday American idioms. 1-Beggars can’t be choosers    When you’re faced with a situation where you have to take what is …

“Peanuts” First To Introduce Minority Character

by Kevin Burton    “At the time of Charles Schulz’s death he had produced 17,897 strips, and Peanuts had run in more than 2,600 newspapers worldwide and been translated into 21 languages,” reports http://www.interestingfacts.com.    Today we continue yesterday’s post, presenting more facts from that website.    I know for a fact that the Peanuts gang speaks …

The Hopes And Dreams Of Two Blind Students

by Kevin Burton    Those of us with limited vision don’t have to have limited lives. Often we do, for reasons to numerous to tackle today.    Today, stories of two blind students. The first has reached an important milestone to reach her educational goal. The second wants to fill her life with sights and …

Words Borrowed From Foreign Languages

by Kevin Burton    When I travel to foreign lands such as Mexico or Mississippi, I bring back souvenirs. I’m sure you do too in your travels.    Some of the souvenirs we bring back are words and phrases. Today we look at some favorites from the Merriam Webster dictionary. Their list is of words …

My Bilingual Doubletalk In Mexico

by Kevin Burton    My career as an English as a Second Language teacher came to an abrupt early end one night under the streetlights outside a small taco shop in Puebla.    To tell you how and why that happened, I first turn to BBC writer Nicole Chang, who recently wrote about what speaking …

Learning The Language Of Heaven

by Kevin Burton    It’s great fun to translate words and phrases into Spanish and then back into English.  Sometimes the result makes me laugh, sometimes it makes me think.     In Spanish you ask “How old are you?” by saying, “Cuantos anos tienes?” Translated back into English it means “How many years do you …