10 reasons to learn Swedish on Duolingo

The Swedish for English speakers course is currently (as of the 12th of October) in the Duolingo incubator and 93% complete. It is estimated that it will be released on the 21st of October, this year. There are many people already excited about the release of this free course and here are ten reasons why. 

1. Pewdiepie
If you are part of the 'bro army', you can now understand what pewdie says in Swedish without looking at the subtitles. 

Creative Common by Sophie Fielding

2. Schengen Area
Sweden (Spain, France and Germany just to name a few) are part of the Schengen area, meaning they have abolished passport and other types of border control at their common borders. This means you can walk to Sweden from Norway or Finland without a passport. Now, that I made you want to travel to Sweden, start preparing by taking the Swedish for English speakers course.  

Creative Common by European Parliament

3. IKEA
Learn what the IKEA labels say in Swedish.

Creative Common by Gerald Stolk

4. Swedish meatballs
Learn to say delicious. 

Creative Common by Adam Kuban

2013 in 10 Events

Ten events in 2013 that made headlines in Australia. 

Image by Simon

1. Benedict XVI resigns as Pope, being the first since 1415 and the first to do so voluntarily since 1294. 

Image by Catholic Church (England and Wales)

2. Margaret Thatcher, the longest serving British Prime Minister, died at 87 years.

Memorial outside The British Embassy in Santiago.
Image by Rivera Notario

3. Edward Snowden was given temporary asylum in Russia.

Street art portrait of Snowden
Image by Thierry Ehrmann

4. Prince George of Cambridge was born. 

Image by Christopher Neve

5. Australia had three Prime Ministers in one year: Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott. 

Tony Abbott, the current Prime Minister of Australia.
Image by Troy Constable Photography™

10 reasons not to use statistics as evidence

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain or Benjamin Disraeli (Contestability)

Warning, do not read if you are a statistician. 

#1. 100% of all people who drink water die. Therefore, water is poisonous. (Definition of a poisonous substance is "causing or capable of causing death or illness if taken into the body")

#2. 100% of all male platypus are semi-aquatic, this means they partially live in water. Male platypuses are born with a venomous spur. Water is indeed poisonous and is capable of making you venomous. 

Creative Common by Leo (0ystercatcher)

#3. 100% of all mass murders consumed water within three days before killing someone and 100% of people who start fights consume within three days of starting a fight. Therefore, water makes you violent. 

#4. 100% of all tsunami are made of water. Water is indeed violent.

#5. 100% of cane toads drink water, adult cane toads are dangerous because they are toxic. Therefore, water is also capable of making you toxic and dangerous.

Creative Common by Ken-ichi Ueda

10 reasons to learn Auslan (BANZSL)

En español

Auslan or BANZSL (British, Australian, New Zealand Sign Language) is a sign language which originates from a deaf sign language used in Britain during the 19th Century. Contrary to a common belief, not all sign languages are the same. For example, ASL (American Sign Language) is very different to BSL (British Sign Language). Also, signed languages are not just word for word spoken language signed but they have their own syntax, grammar and word origins. Also, some countries actually have sign language as one of their official languages, for example: New Zealand. 

I'm going to give you ten reasons to learn Auslan (the sign language in Australia).

Creative Common by Deaf Action 

Creative Common by Wycliffe South Africa

10 iconic songs of 2012 in Australia

As this year comes to an end, reflect on the year by listening to 10 iconic songs of 2012. 

10. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

Every time I hear this song I think of the beach, maybe because I heard in February. 

9. Wild Ones - Flo Rida ft. Sia

I'm pretty sure Dubai sponsored the video... and Sia doesn't even appear in the video. She must feel ripped off. 

8. We Are Young - Fun. ft Janelle Monáe 

Because we are...

7. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

The first song meme of the year... sung by a Canadian.

6. You Won't Let Me - Karise Eden

If you're not from Australia, you probably didn't know that Karise Eden was the winner of Voice 2012 with the help of Seal (the singer, not the animal). 

5. Anywhere in the World - Mark Ronson, Katy B

I included this song because it was the promo for the Olympics.

4. One More Night - Maroon 5 

She even took the fish!

3. Boom Boom - Justice Crew

Finally a dance song that's not American but by an Australian and New Zealand boy band.

2. Battle Scars - Guy Sebastian ft. Lupe Fiasco

This song was number 1 in Australia, number 2 in New Zealand and Norway and... number 73 in US Billboard Hot 100. 

1. Gangnam Style (강남스타일) - PSY 

This was the first K-Pop song to become popular internationally, Psy has been to many countries 
for interviews and performances. With more than 1 billion views, this is without a doubt, the biggest song 
of 2012. 

I wish I could include more but I had to stick to 10 songs. What's your opinion? What songs would you change?

10 Cute Animal Facts: Photo Blog

#1 Sea Otters hold hands when sleeping together. I guess they didn't want to wake up to find, one's in Japan and the other in Alaska. :)

Photo by Sarah Kim

#2 Nose-to-nose touching, following social grooming is a common greeting between two cats.

Photo by Whitney Gallien-Hedges

#3 Each dog has an individual nose print.

Photo by Jen Waller

#4 A young rabbit is called a kitten, like cats.

Photo by Debi Cohen

#5 When happy, guinea pigs may perform little hops in the air. This is called 'popcorning'.

Photo by joffreylacour

#6 The King Quail is the smallest 'true quail'. 

Tambako The Jaguar

#7 Cats purr at 26 cycles per second. The same frequency as an idling diesel engine, so it is fair to say that cats have their 'motor' running. 

Photo b Monica

#8 Butterflies can only see red, green and yellow. 

Photo by Emmett Tullos

#9 Bumblebees have hair on their eyes, also known as: hairy vision. 

Photo by Dave Young

#10 'Jaws' is the most popular name for a goldfish.

Photo by josullican.59

10 reasons to learn Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) and how

En español 
Em Português

Currently, I am trying to become fluent in Indonesian and want to encourage you to learn the language as well. 

Photo by Mr. T in DC

Here's 10 reasons why:

1. It's easy. Indonesian is VERY easy compared to European languages. There is no word for 'to be' and 'have already' is one word, 'sudah'. To make a word plural you say it twice.

2. The vocabulary is diverse (which can help you learn other languages). Most of it's words come from Malay but there are also some words from Dutch, Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese languages (like Hokkien), Portuguese and Spanish. 

3. Many words are sound similar to English. E.g. Filem (movie), telivisi (TV), gelas (glass), polisi (police), kelas (class), musik (music), buku (book).

4. There are many people who speak Indonesian and it is the 14th most spoken language (by number of native speakers). Indonesia is the 4th most populous country with over 238 million people. 

Population map of Indonesia by Worldmapper.org

5.  You will be able to haggle in Indonesian. You can bring prices down just by knowing what to say. 

Photo by clairerowland

Photo by IronChefBalara

 

6. You can on a holiday to Bali or a business trip to Jakarta without much trouble.

7. Indonesia is the 2nd closest country to Australia (after Papua New Guinea). 

8. You can speak it in any island in Indonesia. Each island in Indonesia has it's own culture and language but Indonesian is the Lingua Franca that unites the country.

9. It's phonetic. Every word is spelt the way it sounds. 

10.  You can see tigers, elephants, orang-utans, sun bears, tapirs and rhinoceroses in the wild all in the same island, Sumatra. 

Photo by Peter Lee

Photo by Christine Majul

Photo by cskk

Photo by Robert Goodwin

Fun and creative ways to learn a language:

- Audio lessons (I reckon learningindonesian is one of the best)

- Indonesian music (download TurnInRadio app on your Apple device and search for Indonesian radio or listen to it online)

- Indonesian movies (world movies channel and YouTube)

- Talk to Indonesians on Skype 

- Indonesian Social Network sites

- Write on Lang-8

- Buy an Indonesian phrasebook and read it when you have a spare moment

- Indonesian flashcards (The Gengo flashcards app is a good way to learn)


Selamat Belajar! (Happy Studying)

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