- Mondecast
- Posts
- Flash and thunder
Flash and thunder
Simon Forbes
June 20, 2025
In today’s newsletter:
🔸 Why does learning a language take so long?
🔸 Interesting shibboleths
🔸 An interesting video on weak forms and how they affect the rhythm of English
Hey Reader. I’m back from my holiday, a time that brought incredible experiences, but also the untimely death of my laptop, whose battery expanded and ended up frying all the internal circuitry. Fantastic.
No matter! I’m back now (on a different computer) and ready to get back to filling your lives with random language facts.
Simon
Did you know you can reply to this email? I read every response, and interesting responses can be featured in future editions.
Mondecast Feature 💡: Why Does Learning a Language Take So Long?
In another feature from the archive, I talk about why learning languages seems to take such a damn long time, and, more importantly, why you should take heart and still do it!
Spotlight 🔦: Why did the Allies say “flash”, “thunder”, and “welcome” to identify each other in WW2?
If you’ve watched any movies or TV series (such as Band of Brothers), you might recall them call-response line being used by the solders when identifying each other was otherwise difficult. But why use these specific words? The answer is that this is a specific example of something called a “shibboleth”. These are any custom or tradition, usually a word or phrasing, that allows people to distinguish one group from another. In this case, the th and w sounds are difficult for Germans to pronounce, and would be hard to fake even if they were made aware of the correct call and response.
There are plenty of other interesting examples here.
From around the web 🌐
Languages
Why do so many languages use double negation? (video)
Can you figure out what these foreign language idioms mean?
English weak forms and how they can help you understand the rhythm of the language (video). I wish there were someone who could break down all my target languages like this.
Learning
What is a “beginner’s mindset” and how can it help you learn?
Language learning
Luca Lamperiello’s bi-directional translation method (48 minute talk) - an interesting way of approaching language learning
Mondecast is a bi-weekly newsletter about people: their lives, their languages, and their cultures
Follow Mondecast