Studying languages and being a linguist

Twitterfeed @SpeakinFluently on Twitter

My background is in foreign languages. I have studied them at university and had courses in various other aspects of the language world. However, I am not a linguist, translator or interpreter and would not describe myself as such. In this video I talk to Danny Ferguson, who does research in the field of linguistics, to highlight this important difference between the science of languages (linguistics) and speaking foreign languages (as I do).

If you have some good links to share, please include them in the comments below to be added to this description.

African-American Vernacular English:

Geoffrey K. Pullum - "African American English is not Standard American English with Mistakes"

African American English

UMass Associate Professor Lisa Green:
All sources listed here:

Don Winford

Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English

Tedx Talks on Different Facets of Linguistics:

Language and Thought:

Neuroscience + Brain Plasticity:

The Linguistic Genius of Babies:

Metaphorically Speaking:

The Birth of a Word:

The ancestor of language:

The joy of lexicography:

[irishpolyglot]

It was great to meet up with Danny at the polyglot conference! He is definitely the kind of linguist the world needs, and I love his enthusiasm in talking about collaborating with language learners.

His field of study is interesting, and the example he gave actually has a parallel in Ireland, where we say "do be (+gerund)" for habitual "be", since it's a back translation from Irish (Gaeilge). It's great to see recognition for dialects, and documenting this, since everyone speaking one standard dialect would be very boring indeed.

[AnthonyLauder]

After suffering from videos by a self-claimed linguist has been giving the field a bad name with his angry rants,  It is great to now see a real linguist, who is actually pleasant and helpful.

[ConorClyneNewEurope]

Great overview on linguists v language enthusiasts Danny! Looking forward to more videos on linguistics from you in the future. ;)

[nicholashethersay]

Wow im so glad you posted this thankyou !!:) x

[languagelearningaddiction]

Ainda bem que decidiste fazer este vídeo, Richard! Il est très important que les gens apprennent ce qui les linguistes faisent réelement. La mayoría de los poliglotas de Youtube/comunidad no son linguístas, mismo si algunos decidan emplear erroneamente esa palabra. 即使看完这个视频的人不都彻底了解什么是语言学，我还是觉得我们要保存正确的知识。Pertanto, sono molto soddisfatto con questo video! Congratulations and thank you for the interesting explanations you have provided :)