language

WTF Fun Fact 13717 – Ties Between Norwegian and English

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Norwegian and English share a deep historical connection, making them more alike than many realize. These similarities stem from their roots in the Germanic language family, leading to parallels in vocabulary, syntax, and even phonetics. For learners and linguists alike, these connections can simplify understanding and learning these languages.

Vocabulary Overlaps and Shared Roots

One of the most striking resemblances between Norwegian and English lies in their vocabularies. Centuries of trading and Viking invasions left a significant imprint on the English language, embedding Old Norse words into its lexicon. Words like “sky,” “window,” and “knife” have direct counterparts in Norwegian: “sky,” “vindu,” and “kniv.” Such similarities extend to hundreds of everyday terms, making initial learning stages notably easier for speakers of either language.

Syntax also shows remarkable similarities. Both languages generally adhere to a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) sentence structure. This foundational grammar rule simplifies the transition for English speakers learning Norwegian and vice versa. Questions in both languages often involve a simple inversion of the subject and the verb, another parallel that facilitates cross-linguistic comprehension.

Phonetic Parallels Between Norwegian and English

Pronunciation between the two languages also shares some common ground. While each language has its unique sounds, the basic phonetic systems are less divergent than those found in many other languages globally. Both English and Norwegian use a range of similar vowel and consonant sounds, which can ease the learning curve for pronunciation.

Moreover, Norwegian’s consistent pronunciation rules mean that once learners grasp the basics, they can read and pronounce words more predictably than in English. This consistency is a relief for English speakers accustomed to the often irregular spelling-to-sound correlations in their native language.

Mutual Benefits for Language Learners

The structural and phonetic similarities between Norwegian and English provide mutual benefits for learners. English speakers find Norwegian grammar straightforward and its pronunciation rules logical, reducing the time it takes to achieve proficiency. Conversely, Norwegians typically learn English at a young age, finding it relatively simple due to these linguistic similarities.

This linguistic kinship not only aids in language acquisition but also enhances cultural exchanges and understanding. As globalization connects communities, the ability to communicate across languages becomes increasingly valuable. The relationship between Norwegian and English serves as a bridge between speakers, fostering deeper connections and mutual appreciation.

—WTF fun facts

Source: “Linguist makes sensational claim: English is a Scandinavian language” — ScienceDaily

WTF Fun Fact 13537 – Apologies in the Workplace

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In a study by the University of Arizona, researchers revealed that non-stereotypical apologies in the workplace can enhance communication. This study challenges conventional norms, emphasizing the power of breaking gender stereotypes in apologies to repair trust and foster collaboration.

Gender Stereotypes and Apologies in the Workplace

Sarah Doyle led a research team to explore the nuances of effective apologies in professional settings. Their focus? The impact of gender stereotypes on the perception of apologies. Traditional masculine language, characterized by assertiveness and confidence, and feminine language, known for its warmth and nurturing qualities, were used as benchmarks. Surprisingly, the research found that apologies that deviate from these gender norms were perceived as more effective.

Celebrity Apologies on Social Media

The research commenced with an analysis of celebrity apologies on Twitter. This platform, a hub for public statements, provided a rich dataset of 87 apology tweets from various celebrities. The response to these tweets revealed a pattern. Female celebrities who used masculine language in their apologies received higher engagement and more positive reactions.

The study extended beyond the virtual world into more relatable workplace scenarios. Researchers created situations involving accountants and nurses making mistakes and issuing apologies. Participants in these studies consistently found counter-stereotypical apologies more effective.

For women, using a counter-stereotypical apology increased the perceived effectiveness by an average of 9.7%, and for men, by 8.2%.

The Impact of Counter-Stereotypical Apologies

This research underscores the importance of moving beyond stereotypical patterns in our apologies. By adopting language and approaches that defy gender norms, individuals can enhance the impact of their apologies, leading to better outcomes in conflict resolution and trust-building.

The findings from the University of Arizona research team suggest that the way we construct apologies is as important as the frequency with which we offer them. This shift in focus from quantity to quality in apologies could pave the way for more effective communication strategies in diverse settings.

The study’s results have significant implications for professional environments, where effective communication is crucial. By encouraging individuals to break free from stereotypical language patterns in apologies, organizations can foster a more inclusive and collaborative atmosphere.

Rethinking the Construction of Apologies in the Workplace

As we move forward, this research encourages a deeper consideration of how we construct our apologies. The study highlights the potential for nuanced, thoughtful apologies to make a substantial difference in interpersonal relationships and professional settings.

The University of Arizona’s study on apology psychology offers a fresh perspective on effective communication. By challenging gender stereotypes in the language of apologies, individuals can enhance trust and collaboration in the workplace. This research not only adds a new dimension to our understanding of apologies but also opens avenues for future exploration in communication dynamics.

—WTF fun facts

Source: “Apology psychology: Breaking gender stereotypes leads to more effective communication” — ScienceDaily

WTF Fun Fact 13566 – Can You Forget a Language?

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Can you forget a language? Can your brain really unlearn it?

If you took a high school Spanish or French class in which you spent the period reciting verbs and learning to ask for directions to the nearest beach, you may have no problem believing that it’s possible to forget an entire language.

But when it comes to our mother tongue, can it truly fade from our minds?

Can You Really “Forget” Your Native Language?

“Language attrition” is the phenomenon in which language proficiency slowly erodes from our brains over time. Professor Monika S. Schmid, a linguistic expert from the University of York, studies this, noting that an individual may experience bouts of hesitation, mix up expressions, or entirely forget specific terms sometimes.

While aging adults may find that certain words or phrases become elusive, they’re unlikely to completely lose grip on a language they once mastered. On the contrary, youngsters might experience a profound shift.

Kids can learn languages more rapidly than adults. But they can also lose it entirely if they aren’t continuously exposed to the language. For instance, a young Russian girl adopted by an American family demonstrated a rapid decline in her Russian vocabulary as she embraced English words.

The Brain’s Role in Language Retention

A lot revolves around the brain’s architecture. Interestingly, birds and their songs, especially those from the biological order Passeriformes, offer us a clue about retaining language.

These creatures are equipped with a dual-circuit system in their brains, first learning their song and then reproducing it later. A similar framework seems to exist in humans, particularly during early developmental stages.

In essence, by early adolescence, our first language gets imprinted in our brains. While we may overlook certain terms or expressions, the core structure remains intact. This also underscores why many struggle to shed their native accent, even after mastering multiple languages.

But most importantly, it suggests that we can’t entirely unlearn a language.

Avoiding Language Attrition

Contrary to what many might believe, staying connected with speakers of one’s native language isn’t always the antidote to attrition. An intriguing observation among Cuban immigrants in Miami highlighted this. Even while in a predominantly Spanish-speaking environment, they experienced a dilution in their native linguistic structures, largely due to their interaction with diverse Spanish dialects.

But that’s not a loss of language – it’s an evolution. And it’s pivotal to recognize that language change isn’t necessarily negative.

So, Can You Forget a Language?

Witnessing one’s primary language slip away can stir deep emotions, especially when one’s linguistic roots are linked to personal history and identity.

But here’s the silver lining: research continually reinforces the notion that our foundational language remains with us. While accents, dialects, and specific terms may evolve, the foundational structure remains.

So, while languages might fade, shift, or transform, they’re never truly forgotten.

—WTF fun facts

Source: “Can You Unlearn A Language?” — IFL Science

WTF Fun Fact 13249 – ChatGPT Consequences for Creatives

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ChatGPT is just a generative language model – a very fancy form of autocorrect, in some cases. And it doesn’t give answers that indicate it’s out to replace human writers. But we don’t yet know what the ChatGPT consequences for creatives are – and neither does the AI. When asked, ChatGPT spat out this answer:

“While AI-generated content may be able to produce work that is similar in style and content to that produced by humans, it is not a replacement for human creativity. There will always be a demand for unique and original human-generated content, and AI-generated content is unlikely to completely replace the work of human writers.”

The word unlikely is a bit eye-opening, but a machine can’t predict how humans may misuse it to replace other humans.

What are some of the possible consequences of ChatGPT for creatives?

ChatGPT is already impacting writers’ ability to make a living. And because it’s not a very good writer, it’s affecting people’s access to good writing.

ChatGPT produces the following argument in favor of itself:

“..there is potential for generative AI to be used in collaboration with human writers, rather than as a replacement. For example, an AI language model could be used to suggest ideas, provide inspiration, or even generate a first draft of a piece of writing, which could then be refined and edited by a human writer.”

It “suggests” that humans will learn to work around it and develop new business models to make room for everyone. Of course, it is quite frequently wrong about things.

“The toasters look like us now”

Plenty of writers are having fun with ChatGPT, however. They’ve never written articles with its help while citing it as a resource. What a way to add to your word count!

And when pressed a bit on its ability to replace humans, it recites the same old line about the potential for collaboration before producing the following paragraph:

“Overall, it is important to approach the development of AI in creative fields with caution and a recognition of the potential risks and benefits. While AI has the potential to transform the creative process in many ways, it is important to find ways to ensure that it does not have a negative impact on the livelihoods of human artists and writers.”

Of course, that last part is up to humans. — WTF fun facts

Source: “ChatGPT isn’t putting me out of a job yet, but it’s very good fun” — TechCrunch (paywalled, sadly)

WTF Fun Fact 13195 – Tartle

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The Scots have some great words in their vocabulary. Take “tartle,” for example. Have you ever heard of it?

What is a “tartle”?

Tartle is a Scottish word. It refers to the feeling of hesitation or panic that one experiences when one can’t remember someone’s name. Scots also use it to describe the act of hesitating to introduce someone because you can’t remember their name.

When someone experiences tartle forgetfulness, it can be caused by a number of factors. These include age-related memory loss, lack of attention when the person was first introduced, or normal forgetting. It can also be related to a condition known as anomic aphasia. This is a type of language disorder that affects the ability to recall words, including names.

The word tartle is not widely known outside of Scotland, but it is a useful word to describe a common experience of social awkwardness. You can also use the word tartle to describe the general feeling of hesitation when you are trying to remember something (not just a name) or when you are in a situation where your memory failed.

According to The Scotsman (cited below): “What makes the word so special is that it doesn’t apply when you forget the person’s name entirely. Oh no. It exists only to encapsulate the brief awkwardness while you rummage around your brain for the answer.”

Describing social awkwardness

There are many words and phrases in the English language that describe social awkwardness, here are a few examples:

  • Inept: This word is used to describe a lack of social skills or ability.
  • Bumbling: This word is used to describe someone who is awkward, clumsy or inarticulate in social situations.
  • Tongue-tied: This phrase is used to describe the feeling of being unable to speak coherently or express oneself effectively in a social situation.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Scottish word of the week: Tartle” — The Scotsman

WTF Fun Fact 13145 – World Website Statistics

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While more people use the internet in Asia than anywhere else in the world, English is the predominant language of the world’s websites. According to First Site Guide (cited below): “25.9% of the internet is in English, 19.4% is in Chinese, and 8% is in Spanish.” Keep reading for more worldwide website statistics.

More world websites statistics

Asia has over 2.8 billion web users, with over 1 billion active users residing in China and 659 million in India.

Europe is the continent with the second most internet users, though they have under 700 million. The US comes in third with 307 million users (as of early 2022).

The age group with the most internet users (at least as of 2019) is 25 to 34-year-olds. They account for 1/3 of web users.

The majority of people also use Chrome as their browser. In fact, 65% of people use Chrome while the next most popular engine (Safari) is used by 16.82% of users.

According to First Site Guide: “The most connected region globally is North America, with over 75% of people having an internet connection. It is closely followed by Europe, in which over 68% of all people have internet access. The region with the least internet connectivity is Sub-Saharan Africa, with 24% of people having internet access according to internet usage statistics.”

Worldwide web searches

Google is by far the most popular search engine, holding 92.7% of the market share. In second place is Bing with just under 3%.

While DuckDuckGo is the search engine with the most privacy features, it’s used by only .5% of internet users.

And while you might think iPhones are ubiquitous, they’re also expensive. That’s probably why most mobile internet users (nearly 75%) use an Android OS.

And time spent on smartphones is rapidly increasing. 12 years ago, we spent less than an hour a day looking at the internet on our mobile devices. Today, we average about 2.8 hours. And this is only expected to increase. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Internet Statistics 2023: Facts You Need-to-Know” — First Site Guide

WTF Fun Fact 12949 – 200 Invented Languages

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Writers and linguists have created over 200 entirely new languages over the millennia for use in literature, films, games, comic books, television shows, etc.

According to TranslationDirectory.com (cited below), here is a list:

Literature

  • AdunaicfromJ. R. R. Tolkien’s works
  • Aklo,Tsath-yo, andR’lyehianare ancient and obscure languages in the works ofH. P. Lovecraft,Clark Ashton Smith, and others. Aklo is considered by some writers to be thewritten languageof theSerpent People
  • Amtorian, spoken in some cultures on the planetVenusinPirates of VenusbyEdgar Rice Burroughsand several sequels. Judged by critic Fredrik Ekman to have “a highly inventive morphology but a far less interesting syntax.”
  • Ancient Language in theInheritance TrilogybyChristopher Paolini(although this is considered to be a cipher of English by many)
  • Angley,UnglishandIngliss– three languages spoken respectively at Western Europe, North America and the Pacific in the 29th Century world ofPoul Anderson’s “Orion Shall Rise”. All derived from present-day English, the three are mutually unintelligible, following 800 years of separate development after a 21st centurynuclear warand the extensive absorption of words and grammatical forms fromFrenchin the first case,Russian,ChineseandMongolianin the second, andPolynesianin the third.
  • Anglic, the dominant languague of the declining Galactic empire depicted inPoul Anderson’sDominic Flandryseries, is descended from present-day English but so changed that only professional historians or linguists can understand English texts.
  • Anglo-French, in thealternate historyworld of theLord Darcystories byRandall Garrett– where England and France were permanently united into a single kingdom byRichard the Lionheartand their languages consequently merged.
  • asa’pili (“world language”), inbolo’bolo, by Swiss authorP.M..
  • Atreides battle, inDunebyFrank Herbert
  • Babel-17, inBabel-17bySamuel R. Delany
  • Baronh, language of Abh inSeikai no Monsho(Crest of the Stars) and others, byMorioka Hiroyuki
  • Black Speech– language ofMordorinThe Lord of the Rings
  • Bokonon– language of the Bokononism religion in Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle”
  • Chakobsa, a language used in theDunenovels byFrank Herbert
  • Codex SeraphinianusbyLuigi Serafiniappears to be written in a constructed language which is presumably the language of the alien civilization the book describes
  • CommonThe language spoken in a wide variety of fantasy fiction, particularlyDungeons and Dragons.
  • D’HaranThe ancient, dead language of pre-Great War New World (D’Hara, Midlands, and Westland) in Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” series.
  • Drac, language of the alien species inBarry B. Longyear’sEnemy MineandThe Enemy Papers
  • Kad’k, the language of theDwarfsinTerry Pratchett’sDiscworld
  • Earthseabooks (byUrsula K. Le Guin)
  • Language of the Making – the basis of all magic, spoken byDragonsas their native tongue and learned with considerable effort by human mages
  • Hardic– linguistically descended from the above
  • Osskilian, andKargish– a different family of languages, distantly related
  • Elemeno, language of two sisters inCaucasiabyDanzy Senna.
  • Fremen, language of the native people of Arrakis, inDuneand other novels byFrank Herbert
  • Galactic Standard SpeechinAsimov’ “Foundation series”. Inhabitants of the planetFomalhautspeak “an extremedialect” of it.
  • GalacticspeakfromThe Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  • Gobbledygook, the language ofgoblins, in theHarry Potterseries. Noted speakers includeAlbus DumbledoreandBarty Crouch.
  • Glide, created byDiana Reed Slattery, used by the Death Dancers ofThe Maze Game
  • Groilish, spoken bygiantsinGiants and the JonesesbyJulia Donaldson.
  • High Speechof Gilead from Stephen King’sThe Dark Tower (series)
  • Ilythiiri, the language ofdrowelves inForgotten Realmssetting.[2]
  • Kesh, inUrsula K. Le Guin’s novelAlways Coming Home
  • Krakish, inGuardians of Ga’HoolebyKathryn Lasky
  • Láadan(ldn), inSuzette Haden Elgin’s science fiction novelNative Tongueand sequels
  • Lapine, inWatership DownbyRichard Adams
  • LilliputianfromJonathan Swift’sGulliver’s Travels. Further samples of the language are provided inT. H. White’sMistress Masham’s Repose. InGulliver’s Travels, other fictional languages, spoken in other places Gulliver visits, are also presented, e.g.Brobdingnagian,Laputan,BalbinarbianandHouyhnhnmlanguages.
  • Mando’a, created byKaren Traviss, used by theMandaloriansin theStar WarsRepublic CommandonovelsHard ContactandTriple Zero
  • Manganiin theTarzannovels ofEdgar Rice Burroughs
  • Marain, inThe Culturenovels ofIain M. Banks
  • Thelanguages of Middle-earth(most notablySindarin(sjn),Quenya(qya) andKhuzdul) byJ. R. R. Tolkien, partly published inThe Lord of the Rings, and posthumously discussed inThe History of Middle-earthandother publications.
  • MolvanianfromMolvania, A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry
  • Nadsatslang, inA Clockwork OrangebyAnthony Burgess
  • Newspeak, inNineteen Eighty-FourbyGeorge Orwell(fictional constructed language)
  • The “NautilusLanguage”, spoken on boardJules Verne’s famous fictional submarine, in token of crew members having completely renounced their former homelands and backgrounds. Every morning, after scanning the horizon with his binoculars, Nemo’s second-in-command says: “Nautron respoc lorni virch”. The meaning of these words is never clarified, but their construction seems to indicate that the “Nautilus Language” (its actual name is not given) is based on European languages.
  • Old Solar, inOut of the Silent Planet,Perelandra, andThat Hideous StrengthbyC. S. Lewis
  • TheOld TonguefromRobert Jordan’sWheel of Timeseries
  • Paluldonianin aTarzannovel,Tarzan the Terrible, byEdgar Rice Burroughs. Used by the inhabitants of the realm of Pal-ul-don in Africa, separated from the outside world by impenetrable marshes.
  • Parseltongue, the language ofsnakes, in theHarry Potterseries. The ability of humans to speak it is considered amagicability.
  • Pennsylvanisch, fromMichael Flynn’sThe Forest of Time
  • PravicandIotic, inThe DispossessedbyUrsula K. Le Guin
  • Ptydepe, fromVáclav Havel’s playThe Memorandum
  • QuintagliofromRobert J. Sawyer’sQuintaglio Ascension Trilogy
  • QuenyafromJ. R. R. Tolkien’s works.
  • QwghlmianfromNeal Stephenson’sCryptonomiconandThe Baroque Cycle
  • Rihannsu, spoken by the Rihannsu (Romulans) in theStar Treknovels ofDiane Duane
  • Spocanian, inRolandt Tweehuysen’s fictional countrySpocania
  • Stark(short for Star Common), a common interstellar English-based language fromOrson Scott Card’sEnderseries
  • Starsza MowafromAndrzej Sapkowski’sHexer saga
  • Trolllanguage fromTerry Pratchett’sDiscworld
  • Utopian language, appearing in a poem byPetrus GillesaccompanyingThomas More’sUtopia
  • Whitmanite, spoken by members of a radicalAnarchist-Pacifistcult of the same name inRobert Heinlein’The Puppet Masters. “Allucquere” is a female given name in Whitmanite.
  • Zaum, poetic tongue elaborated byVelimir Khlebnikov,Aleksei Kruchonykh, and otherRussian Futuristsas a “transrational” and “most universal” language “of songs, incantations, and curses”.

Comic books

  • Bordurianin some ofHergé’sThe Adventures of Tintin, mostly inThe Calculus Affair
  • Interlac, the universal language spoken in the 30th century in theLegion of Super Heroescomics
  • Kryptonese, or Kryptonian, the language of Superman’s home planet ofKrypton
  • Syldavian, in some ofHergé’sThe Adventures of Tintin, mostly inKing Ottokar’s Sceptre
  • Movies and television
  • Two kinds ofalien language, termed “Alienese” and “Beta Crypt 3” appear quite frequently in background sight gags inFuturama.
  • Ancientin theStargateuniverse (i.e.Stargate SG-1andStargate Atlantis) is the language of the Ancients, the builders of theStargates; it is similar in pronunciation toMedieval Latin. TheAthosianssay prayers in Ancient.
  • Atlanteancreated byMarc Okrandfor the filmAtlantis: The Lost Empire
  • Cityspeak, a “mishmash of Japanese, Spanish, German,” plus Hungarian and French, spoken on the street of overcrowded and multi-lingual Los Angeles of 2019 inBlade Runner. Similarly, used in manycyberpunkgenrerole playing games.
  • The Divine Languageis a language invented by directorLuc Bessonand actressMilla Jovovichfor the 1997 movieThe Fifth Element.
  • Enchanta, in theEncantadiaandEtheriatelevision series in the Philippines, created by the head writerSuzette Doctolero
  • Gelfling, spoken inJim Henson’s fantasy epicThe Dark Crystal
  • Goa’uld, the galacticlingua francafromStargate SG-1, supposedly influencedAncient Egyptian
  • Huttese, language of both alien species and people in some ofGeorge Lucas’sStar Warsfilms
  • Irken, inInvader Zim, byJhonen Vasquez,et al.
  • Klingon(tlh), in theStar Trekmovie and television series, created byMarc Okrand
  • KrakozhianfromThe Terminal
  • Ku, a fictional African language in the movieThe Interpreter(2005)
  • Linguacode, a universallanguagecode sometimes used by theUnited Federation of Planetsin theStar Trektelevisionseries.
  • Marklar, spoken by the people of Marklar in aSouth Parkepisode.
  • MinbarifromBabylon 5, three related languages used together, corresponding to the areas of expertise of the three societal castes.
  • Nadsat, the fictional language spoken by Alex and his friends inClockwork Orange
  • Nellish, a personal language from the main character ofNell
  • PakufromLand of the Lost
  • PortuGreek, the trade language featured inWaterworld
  • The pseudo-Spanish/Greek/Arabic language of Republica, as used in the fictionalChanel 9program within the British comedy sketch show theThe Fast Show
  • Quenya(qya) andSindarin(sjn), the two Elven languages, spoken in theLord of the Ringsmovies.
  • Slovetzian, the fictional Slavic language ofSlovetziain the movieThe Beautician and the Beast
  • TheStar Warsseries features several fictional languages.
  • Tenctonesefrom theAlien Nationmovie andtelevision series, created byVan LingandKenneth Johnson
  • UnasinStargate SG-1, supposedly the first hosts of the Goa’uld
  • Ulam, language spoken by the prehistoric humans inAnthony Burgess’ movieQuest for Fire, created by melting roots of European languages.
  • Vampirelanguage used in the movieBlade.
  • Vulcan languagefromStar Trek
  • Unnamed languages
  • In theJanissaries seriesofscience-fictionnovels byJerry Pournelle, the human natives of the planet Tran speak a language apparently derived fromMycenaean. A form of Latin is also spoken in an empire resembling ancient Rome’s, but only by scholars.
  • Riddley Walker, a 1980 novel byRussell Hoban, set in a post-apocalyptic future, is written entirely in a “devolved” form of English.
  • Writer/directorLuc Bessoninvented aDivine LanguageforMilla Jovovich’s character “Leeloo” to speak in the filmThe Fifth Element.
  • Music
  • Gulevache: fictionalRomance Languageof the kingdom of Gulevandia on the bilingual operaCardoso en Gulevandiaby the comedy groupLes Luthiers
  • Kobaian, the language used by 70’s French rock groupMagma.
  • Vonlenska, sometimes known as “Hopelandic”, the language sung byJón Þór Birgissonof theIcelandicband “Sigur Rós” on many of their songs.
  • Loxian, featured on theEnyaalbumAmarantine.
  • Unnamed language by Yves Barbieux, used in his song “Sanomi” and performed by the Belgian groupUrban Tradin the Eurovision Song contest in 2003.
  • Mohelmot, a forbidden language used byThe Residentson the albumThe Big Bubble: Part Four of the Mole Trilogy.
  • Unnamed language by Emmanuelle Orange, used in her song Pialoushka and performed by Montreal bandEden106.
  • Unnamed language featured in thechorusof2NU’s 1991 trackThis is Ponderous.
  • Unnamed language featured in the soundtrack to the film1492: Conquest of ParadisebyVangelis.

—WTF fun facts

Source: “List of constructed languages” — TranslationDirectory.com

WTF Fun Fact 12932 – Nigel Richards, French Scrabble Champion

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Nigel Richards is from New Zealand. He’s a worldwide Scrabble champion, but his most impressive feat may just be winning the French-language Scrabble World Championship without actually knowing how to speak French.

Memorizing vs learning

If you’ve ever tried to learn a language, you know that there are two parts to success – grammar and vocabulary. You can be great at grammar, but if you can’t memorize new words then it doesn’t do you much good. Equally, you can know lots of vocabulary words, but if you can’t put them together in a sentence (or even pronounce them), you can’t actually speak the language.

Nigel Richards memorizes the dictionary

Before trying his hand with French, New Zealander Nigel Richards won a couple of English-language Scrabble championships. But that clearly wasn’t enough of a challenge. That’s when he decided to tackle French.

But when you’re playing Scrabble, grammar doesn’t matter, only the words in the dictionary do. So Richards decided to try and memorize as many words as possible from the French dictionary.

Clearly, he did a great job, because he beat all of the actual French speakers in a 2015 tournament.

According to NPR (cited below): “It was only in late May [of 2014] that Richards began his quest to win the French world title, according to theFrench Scrabble Federation. That’s when he set about memorizing the French Scrabble dictionary.”

Richards obviously has an impeccable memory. After all, there are 386,000 words in French Scrabble and only 187,000 in North American Scrabble.

Scrabble expert Stefan Fatsis told NPR: “Basically, what he does is, he looks at word lists and looks at dictionary pages… he can conjure up the image of what he has seen. He told me that if he actually hears a word, it doesn’t stick in his brain. But if he sees it once, that’s enough for him to recall the image of it. I don’t know if that’s a photographic memory; I just think it’s something that his brain chemistry allows him to do.” —WTF fun facts

Source: “Winner Of French Scrabble Title Does Not Speak French” — NPR

WTF Fun Fact 12768 – English as a Second Language (ESL)

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Technically, English is the most commonly spoken language in the world. However, that’s only because of the number of non-native speakers who learn it as a SECOND language.

In fact, English is more popular as a second than it is as a first language.

If you count only native speakers then Mandarin Chinese is the spoken language in the world.

How many people speak ESL?

There are roughly 378 million people who speak English as their native language. That sounds like a lot, but compare that to the roughly 995 million people who speak some form of Mandarin Chinese as a native language (that’s about 71% of China’s population).

However, due to the number of people who learn ESL, including many Mandarin speakers, English has become the most widely spoken language in the world.

There are around 743 million non-native speakers who learn ESL in the world. So if you add those to the native speakers, that tops the number of Mandarin speakers.

In 2022, surveys found that 1.5 billion people worldwide spoke English either natively or as a second language. Mandarin dialects still come in a very close second.

Second-language speakers

Native English speakers, particularly in the U.S., tend to be less likely to become fluent in a second language (despite learning a bit in school).

In Europe, people are more likely to truly learn to speak a second language. An EU survey found that 56% of Europeans speak a second language. The number of Americans who are bilingual hovers around only 20%.

Interestingly, even though many people the world over speak some English, the country with the highest level of proficiency when it comes to ESL is The Netherlands. Their citizens are more likely to be fluent. They’re followed by Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

In nearly every country surveyed, women had better ESL skills than men.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Which countries are best at English as a second language?” – WE Forum