Librarianna: Armchair Linguist

Before I decided to be a librarian, I wanted to be a linguist (and I'd be both if I had the time/ money/ inclination to go back to school).

I minored in Linguistics in college, and have kept reading about it since, because I love the way the study of language takes up both halves of my brain ... it's definitely science, all regimented and rule-bound, but it's very much also art, beautiful and beyond easy explanations.

I suppose most scientists must feel that way about their subjects, but I doubt they have as much fun ... because learning about other languages is really entertaining!

Here's some of the fun you can have with languages other than the one(s) you speak:

• Norwegian dogs say Voff! Listen to many more Sounds of the World's Animals in languages from Afrikaans to Vietnamese.

• Impress your friends in "unique New York" with the 1st International Collection of Tongue Twisters, where you'll learn tricks to trip your tongue in over one hundred languages!

• The BCC lets you listen to the News in 33 languages (most popular? Persian).

• The Speech Accent Archive records sound clips of representative speakers of the world's regional accents, with maps showing the speaker's place of birth.

And don't worry if, like me, you fear it's beyond your abilities to ever master another language ... we can still be armchair linguists and learn about all the languages of the world!