Lewis is a full-time "language hacker," someone who devotes all of his time to finding better, faster, and more efficient ways to learn languages. Fluent in 3 Months: How Anyone at Any Age Can Learn to Speak Any Language from Anywhere in the World is a new blueprint for fast language learning. Lewis argues that you don't need a great memory or "the language gene" to learn a language quickly, and debunks a number of long-held beliefs, such as adults not being as good of language learners as children.

    In the east these Northmen thrust down the great rivers of Russia to the Caspian & the Black Sea. In the west they sailed along the Atlantic coasts, past Arab Spain, thru the Straits of Gibraltar & over the Mediterranean. They reached out across the unknown Atlantic, to Iceland, Greenland & America. How did it happen? Why did Europe permit Danes & Norwegians to rule parts of England, Ireland & France, & Swedes to form a ruling class in Western Russia? Why was Scandinavia strong, the rest of Europe weak? What inner forces led to the Viking raids? Professor Brondsted's classic study examines the motives of their voyages & investigates the origin of the people, their industries & equipment, ships, armies, social organization, daily life & religious beliefs as they are reflected in runic inscriptions, burial customs & Icelandic medieval literature.Acknowledgements & NoteMap of ScandinaviaMap of the DanevirkeBefore the VikingsThe Viking RaidsThe 9th CenturyThe 10th CenturyThe 11th CenturyWeapons & ToolsDress & JewelleryTransportTowns, Earthworks & CampsCoins & Weights & MeasuresRunic InscriptionsArtThe Viking Way of LifeReligious Belief & Burial CustomsPoetry & the Viking SpiritThe Vikings' Place in European HistorySelect BibliographyIndex

    She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. Using examples from literature, history, neighborhood signage, and her own imagination, Truss shows how meaning is shaped by commas and apostrophes, and the hilarious consequences of punctuation gone awry.Featuring a foreword by Frank McCourt, and interspersed with a lively history of punctuation from the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, Eats, Shoots & Leaves makes a powerful case for the preservation of proper punctuation.

    Warriors, raiders, and rulers, Ragnar and his sons inspired unknown writers to set down their stories over seven centuries ago. This volume presents new and original translations of the three major Old Norse texts that tell Ragnar's story: the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, the Tale of Ragnar's Sons, and the Sogubrot. Ragnar's death song, the Krakumal, and a Latin fragment called the List of Swedish Kings, complete the story. Extensive notes and commentary are provided, helping the reader to enter the world of these timeless stories of Viking adventure.

    Suitable for raw beginners to intermediate-level language learners, this popular title features engaging readings of progressive difficulty that allow you to rapidly build your comprehension. Find out what unfamiliar words and phrases mean with the book's helpful glossary Discover the nuances of French language and culture as well as the country's history through engaging texts Get a feel for authentic French society with readings from contemporary literature

    Professor Lynne Murphy is on the linguistic front line. In The Prodigal Tongue she explores the fiction and reality of the special relationship between British and American English. By examining the causes and symptoms of American Verbal Inferiority Complex and its flipside, British Verbal Superiority Complex, Murphy unravels the prejudices, stereotypes and insecurities that shape our attitudes to our own language.With great humo(u)r and new insights, Lynne Murphy looks at the social, political and linguistic forces that have driven American and British English in different directions: how Americans got from centre to center, why British accents are growing away from American ones, and what different things we mean when we say estate, frown, or middle class. Is anyone winning this war of the words? Will Yanks and Brits ever really understand each other?

    Here are all the tools pastors and teachers need to mine the Greek text and other language resources for the enhancement of personal study and sermon content.

    What is good English, and why do we need it? The Queen's English shows how the English language, used properly, has great power to instruct, move and entertain people, but used incorrectly, can lead to a lack of clarity and confusion. This book informs in a light-hearted way, reminding readers how to use the basics of grammar, punctuation and spelling, as well as further teaching them new tips and tricks of style, rhetoric, vocabulary and the use of foreign phrases, to give their writing and speech a stylish and impressive flair. The book also shows the perils of using language incorrectly, offering extremely (if unintentionally) humorous examples of where bad English can cause one thing to mean something entirely different! Authoritative yet entertaining, and illustrated with pithy drawings, this is the ideal book for anyone who strives for clear, stylish and accurate communication.

    Combining linguistics and cultural history, Gaston Dorren takes us on an intriguing tour of the continent, from Proto-Indo-European (the common ancestor of most European languages) to the rise and rise of English, via the complexities of Welsh plurals and Czech pronunciation. Along the way we learn why Esperanto will never catch on, how the language of William the Conqueror lives on in the Channel Islands and why Finnish is the easiest European language.Surprising, witty and full of extraordinary facts, this book will change the way you think about the languages around you. Polyglot Gaston Dorren might even persuade you that English is like Chinese.

    Compiled by an international team of experts, each entry is given its complete range of interpretations - sexual and spiritual, official and subversive, cultural and religious - to bring meaning and insight to the symbol.

    Whether investigating the asterisk (*) and dagger (†)--which alternately illuminated and skewered heretical verses of the early Bible--or the at sign (@), which languished in obscurity for centuries until rescued by the Internet, Keith Houston draws on myriad sources to chart the life and times of these enigmatic squiggles, both exotic (¶) and everyday (&).From the Library of Alexandria to the halls of Bell Labs, figures as diverse as Charlemagne, Vladimir Nabokov, and George W. Bush cross paths with marks as obscure as the interrobang (‽) and as divisive as the dash (--). Ancient Roman graffiti, Venetian trading shorthand, Cold War double agents, and Madison Avenue round out an ever more diverse set of episodes, characters, and artifacts.Richly illustrated, ranging across time, typographies, and countries, Shady Characters will delight and entertain all who cherish the unpredictable and surprising in the writing life.

    The main features of the second edition are the inclusion of etymologies in the glossary and the edition of three complete texts by Chaucer: The Parliament of Fowls, The Reeve's Tale and The Prioress's Tale. Part One has been revised to cover English at the time of Chaucer, and suggestions for further reading have been updated throughout the book.

    But the Vikings were more than just marine warriors and this atlas shows their development as traders and craftsmen, explorers, settlers and mercenaries. With over sixty full colour maps, it follows the tracks of the Viking merchants who travelled deep into Russia, of Viking mercenaries who served in the emperor’s bodyguard at Constantinople, and Viking mariners who sailed beyond the edge of the known world to North America.

    I say potahtoAnd--wait a second, no one says potahto. No one's ever said potahto.Have they?From reconstructing Shakespeare's accent to the rise and fall of Received Pronunciation, actor Ben Crystal and his linguist father David travel the world in search of the stories of spoken English.Everyone has an accent, though many of us think we don't. We all have our likes and dislikes about the way other people speak, and everyone has something to say about 'correct' pronunciation. But how did all these accents come about, and why do people feel so strongly about them? Are regional accents dying out as English becomes a global language? And most importantly of all: what went wrong in Birmingham?Witty, authoritative and jam-packed full of fascinating facts, You Say Potato is a celebration of the myriad ways in which the English language is spoken - and how our accents, in so many ways, speak louder than words.

    It is equally suitable for quick reference to Details and for more leisured study of broad grammar topics.The book is trorough in its coverage but pays most attention to points that are of importance to intermediate and advanced learners of English, and to their teachers.• The emphasis is on meanings and how they govern the choice of grammatical pattern.• Each chapter starts with a summary which reviews the topic as a whole and shows readers where to find the particular information they need.• Authentic texts are used to demonstrate features of discourse.• Many single-sentence example are also authentic.• Wherever it is helpful, examples are marked as formal or informal, literary or conversational.• Dependable advice is give on the avoidance of non-standard and incorrect usage.• A chapter is devoted to differences between American and British grammar.• Technical terms are used sparingly, and defined in a glossary.