Lingonaut
@lingonaut.bsky.social
A volunteer made language learning platform built to teach and not to profit.
No ads, no subscriptions and no timers!
🔗 https://linktr.ee/Lingonaut
No ads, no subscriptions and no timers!
🔗 https://linktr.ee/Lingonaut
Pinned
Lingonaut
@lingonaut.bsky.social
· Sep 29
Lingonaut Build 25 is out and it's our biggest update yet!
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta
This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta
This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut
TIL ‘Robot’ is Czech! Karel Capek’s R.U.R. (1920) introduced it, from ‘robota’ meaning ‘forced labour’. His brother Josef coined the word. In the play the robots are lab-made biological workers rather than metal machines, that idea came later.
November 14, 2025 at 9:16 PM
TIL ‘Robot’ is Czech! Karel Capek’s R.U.R. (1920) introduced it, from ‘robota’ meaning ‘forced labour’. His brother Josef coined the word. In the play the robots are lab-made biological workers rather than metal machines, that idea came later.
Some languages don’t have exact words for exact numbers. Piraha in the Amazon uses words roughly meaning ‘small quantity’ and ‘larger quantity’ instead of ‘1' and '2’, and experiments found that speakers approximate amounts but struggle with exact quantities once sets get bigger or go out of sight!
November 13, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Some languages don’t have exact words for exact numbers. Piraha in the Amazon uses words roughly meaning ‘small quantity’ and ‘larger quantity’ instead of ‘1' and '2’, and experiments found that speakers approximate amounts but struggle with exact quantities once sets get bigger or go out of sight!
TIL Spanish ‘ñ’ began as shorthand for ‘nn’, kinda like ß being ss in German! Medieval scribes wrote an ’n’ with a small wavy line above it (the tilde) and ‘anno’ became ‘año’. The shorthand later became a distinct letter in Spanish and spread to Galician and Basque too.
November 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
TIL Spanish ‘ñ’ began as shorthand for ‘nn’, kinda like ß being ss in German! Medieval scribes wrote an ’n’ with a small wavy line above it (the tilde) and ‘anno’ became ‘año’. The shorthand later became a distinct letter in Spanish and spread to Galician and Basque too.
TIL Many languages don’t use the verb ‘have’! Instead of ‘I have a book’ they would say ‘at me is a book’.
Russian: u menya est’ king.
Irish: tá leabhar agam.
Hebrew: yesh li sefer.
They combine the verb for ‘to be’ with an adposition!
Russian: u menya est’ king.
Irish: tá leabhar agam.
Hebrew: yesh li sefer.
They combine the verb for ‘to be’ with an adposition!
November 5, 2025 at 9:35 PM
TIL Many languages don’t use the verb ‘have’! Instead of ‘I have a book’ they would say ‘at me is a book’.
Russian: u menya est’ king.
Irish: tá leabhar agam.
Hebrew: yesh li sefer.
They combine the verb for ‘to be’ with an adposition!
Russian: u menya est’ king.
Irish: tá leabhar agam.
Hebrew: yesh li sefer.
They combine the verb for ‘to be’ with an adposition!
Hindu and Urdu are one spoken language, Hindustani! They’re split apart by script and prestige vocabulary.
Hindi uses Devanagari and more Sanskrit loans while Urdu uses Nastaliq and more Persian/Arabic loans.
Colloquial speech is mostly mutually intelligible though!
Hindi uses Devanagari and more Sanskrit loans while Urdu uses Nastaliq and more Persian/Arabic loans.
Colloquial speech is mostly mutually intelligible though!
November 1, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Hindu and Urdu are one spoken language, Hindustani! They’re split apart by script and prestige vocabulary.
Hindi uses Devanagari and more Sanskrit loans while Urdu uses Nastaliq and more Persian/Arabic loans.
Colloquial speech is mostly mutually intelligible though!
Hindi uses Devanagari and more Sanskrit loans while Urdu uses Nastaliq and more Persian/Arabic loans.
Colloquial speech is mostly mutually intelligible though!
Now is the time to flex that pledge! (Or if you don't have one yet, to grab one!)
Should we go with the Android client next or the Web client? You decide!
www.patreon.com/posts/142398...
Thank you to our patrons for helping keep lingonaut free for everyone!
Should we go with the Android client next or the Web client? You decide!
www.patreon.com/posts/142398...
Thank you to our patrons for helping keep lingonaut free for everyone!
Poll: Web or Android, we can have one by the end of the year | Lingonaut
Get more from Lingonaut on Patreon
www.patreon.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Now is the time to flex that pledge! (Or if you don't have one yet, to grab one!)
Should we go with the Android client next or the Web client? You decide!
www.patreon.com/posts/142398...
Thank you to our patrons for helping keep lingonaut free for everyone!
Should we go with the Android client next or the Web client? You decide!
www.patreon.com/posts/142398...
Thank you to our patrons for helping keep lingonaut free for everyone!
Sick of the energy update? lingonaut.app, has infinite energy, infinite hearts and is made with infinite heart ❤️
Free for everyone, no paywalls, no mtx and no AI. Join the beta now! lingonaut.app/beta
Free for everyone, no paywalls, no mtx and no AI. Join the beta now! lingonaut.app/beta
Lingonaut – A language learning app to teach, not to profit.
Lingonaut.app
October 25, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Sick of the energy update? lingonaut.app, has infinite energy, infinite hearts and is made with infinite heart ❤️
Free for everyone, no paywalls, no mtx and no AI. Join the beta now! lingonaut.app/beta
Free for everyone, no paywalls, no mtx and no AI. Join the beta now! lingonaut.app/beta
Icelanders don't really use family surnames! Names are patronymic or matronymic, Jon Einarsson's daughter is Anna Jondottir and his son would be Olafur Jonnson!
People are listed and addressed by their first name, and a state Naming Committee approves new given names.
People are listed and addressed by their first name, and a state Naming Committee approves new given names.
October 22, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Icelanders don't really use family surnames! Names are patronymic or matronymic, Jon Einarsson's daughter is Anna Jondottir and his son would be Olafur Jonnson!
People are listed and addressed by their first name, and a state Naming Committee approves new given names.
People are listed and addressed by their first name, and a state Naming Committee approves new given names.
TIL That Korean Hangul was designed, not naturally evolved.
In 1443 King Sejong’s scholars made an alphabet where consonants mirror your mouth and tongue, and vowels combine three marks for heaven, earth, human.
It was published in 1446 and was built to be easy to learn!
In 1443 King Sejong’s scholars made an alphabet where consonants mirror your mouth and tongue, and vowels combine three marks for heaven, earth, human.
It was published in 1446 and was built to be easy to learn!
October 20, 2025 at 4:32 PM
TIL That Korean Hangul was designed, not naturally evolved.
In 1443 King Sejong’s scholars made an alphabet where consonants mirror your mouth and tongue, and vowels combine three marks for heaven, earth, human.
It was published in 1446 and was built to be easy to learn!
In 1443 King Sejong’s scholars made an alphabet where consonants mirror your mouth and tongue, and vowels combine three marks for heaven, earth, human.
It was published in 1446 and was built to be easy to learn!
AI-First has always been the same as People-Last
October 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM
AI-First has always been the same as People-Last
English ‘I’ wasn’t always capital. Old English used ‘ic’.
When it shrank to a single ‘i’ in Middle English, scribes wrote it as a capital ‘I’ so the letter wouldn’t get lost in manuscripts, not because the self is special!
When it shrank to a single ‘i’ in Middle English, scribes wrote it as a capital ‘I’ so the letter wouldn’t get lost in manuscripts, not because the self is special!
October 19, 2025 at 1:41 AM
English ‘I’ wasn’t always capital. Old English used ‘ic’.
When it shrank to a single ‘i’ in Middle English, scribes wrote it as a capital ‘I’ so the letter wouldn’t get lost in manuscripts, not because the self is special!
When it shrank to a single ‘i’ in Middle English, scribes wrote it as a capital ‘I’ so the letter wouldn’t get lost in manuscripts, not because the self is special!
We don’t trust mass produced AI generated language learning slop and you shouldn’t either.
It’s concerning to see them pop up by the dozen on #langsky overnight by people looking to make a quick buck.
Easier to just learn what’s correct in the first place!
It’s concerning to see them pop up by the dozen on #langsky overnight by people looking to make a quick buck.
Easier to just learn what’s correct in the first place!
October 18, 2025 at 10:31 AM
We don’t trust mass produced AI generated language learning slop and you shouldn’t either.
It’s concerning to see them pop up by the dozen on #langsky overnight by people looking to make a quick buck.
Easier to just learn what’s correct in the first place!
It’s concerning to see them pop up by the dozen on #langsky overnight by people looking to make a quick buck.
Easier to just learn what’s correct in the first place!
‘Huh?’ is near-universal. Across unrelated languages, people use almost the same little word to request a quick repeat. It isn’t innate though, likely convergent evolution under the pressure to get the conversation back on track.
October 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM
‘Huh?’ is near-universal. Across unrelated languages, people use almost the same little word to request a quick repeat. It isn’t innate though, likely convergent evolution under the pressure to get the conversation back on track.
English has one 'blue.' Russian splits it into two basic colors: siniy (dark blue) and goluboy (light blue).
Experiments show Russian speakers are faster at telling apart blues that cross this boundary, a power that weakens when verbal rehearsal is blocked!
Experiments show Russian speakers are faster at telling apart blues that cross this boundary, a power that weakens when verbal rehearsal is blocked!
October 8, 2025 at 1:13 PM
English has one 'blue.' Russian splits it into two basic colors: siniy (dark blue) and goluboy (light blue).
Experiments show Russian speakers are faster at telling apart blues that cross this boundary, a power that weakens when verbal rehearsal is blocked!
Experiments show Russian speakers are faster at telling apart blues that cross this boundary, a power that weakens when verbal rehearsal is blocked!
TIL You can whistle a language!
On La Gomera (one of the Canary Islands), Silbo Gomero encodes Spanish into whistles that carry across valleys for kilometres!
It’s taught in schools since 1999 and considered a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO
On La Gomera (one of the Canary Islands), Silbo Gomero encodes Spanish into whistles that carry across valleys for kilometres!
It’s taught in schools since 1999 and considered a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO
October 7, 2025 at 2:00 PM
TIL You can whistle a language!
On La Gomera (one of the Canary Islands), Silbo Gomero encodes Spanish into whistles that carry across valleys for kilometres!
It’s taught in schools since 1999 and considered a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO
On La Gomera (one of the Canary Islands), Silbo Gomero encodes Spanish into whistles that carry across valleys for kilometres!
It’s taught in schools since 1999 and considered a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO
TIL: Sign languages aren’t universal!
American Sign Language is historically related to French Sign Language not British Sign Language.
That means ASL and BSL are not mutually intelligible, even though both countries use English.
American Sign Language is historically related to French Sign Language not British Sign Language.
That means ASL and BSL are not mutually intelligible, even though both countries use English.
October 5, 2025 at 4:38 PM
TIL: Sign languages aren’t universal!
American Sign Language is historically related to French Sign Language not British Sign Language.
That means ASL and BSL are not mutually intelligible, even though both countries use English.
American Sign Language is historically related to French Sign Language not British Sign Language.
That means ASL and BSL are not mutually intelligible, even though both countries use English.
Some languages don’t use left/right. They default to cardinal directions!
In Guugu Yimithirr from Australia, people describe everyday locations with north/south/east/west e.g. ‘shift a bit to the east not ‘to your left.’
In Guugu Yimithirr from Australia, people describe everyday locations with north/south/east/west e.g. ‘shift a bit to the east not ‘to your left.’
October 4, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Some languages don’t use left/right. They default to cardinal directions!
In Guugu Yimithirr from Australia, people describe everyday locations with north/south/east/west e.g. ‘shift a bit to the east not ‘to your left.’
In Guugu Yimithirr from Australia, people describe everyday locations with north/south/east/west e.g. ‘shift a bit to the east not ‘to your left.’
Not every language counts by tens. Some count by twenties!
French 80 = quatre-vingts (4x20).
Danish 70 = halvfjerds (3 and a half x20).
Basque 60 = hirurogei (3x20).
Many base-20 systems likely came from counting on fingers and also toes (20 'digits'), and those habits stuck in the number words!
French 80 = quatre-vingts (4x20).
Danish 70 = halvfjerds (3 and a half x20).
Basque 60 = hirurogei (3x20).
Many base-20 systems likely came from counting on fingers and also toes (20 'digits'), and those habits stuck in the number words!
October 2, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Not every language counts by tens. Some count by twenties!
French 80 = quatre-vingts (4x20).
Danish 70 = halvfjerds (3 and a half x20).
Basque 60 = hirurogei (3x20).
Many base-20 systems likely came from counting on fingers and also toes (20 'digits'), and those habits stuck in the number words!
French 80 = quatre-vingts (4x20).
Danish 70 = halvfjerds (3 and a half x20).
Basque 60 = hirurogei (3x20).
Many base-20 systems likely came from counting on fingers and also toes (20 'digits'), and those habits stuck in the number words!
Lingonaut Build 25 is out and it's our biggest update yet!
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta
This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta
This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut
September 29, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Lingonaut Build 25 is out and it's our biggest update yet!
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta
This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut
Read more about it here!:
lingonaut.app/build-25-is-...
We've also added 1000 new spots to the beta so get in while you still can! lingonaut.app/beta
This mission relies on your patronage!
patreon.com/lingonaut
Many Indo-European languages avoided the original word for 'bear.'
Germanic switched to a euphemism meaning 'the brown one' (Proto-Germanic berô).
Slavic uses 'honey-eater' (medvěd).
Naming dangerous animals was taboo so people renamed the bear!
Germanic switched to a euphemism meaning 'the brown one' (Proto-Germanic berô).
Slavic uses 'honey-eater' (medvěd).
Naming dangerous animals was taboo so people renamed the bear!
September 28, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Many Indo-European languages avoided the original word for 'bear.'
Germanic switched to a euphemism meaning 'the brown one' (Proto-Germanic berô).
Slavic uses 'honey-eater' (medvěd).
Naming dangerous animals was taboo so people renamed the bear!
Germanic switched to a euphemism meaning 'the brown one' (Proto-Germanic berô).
Slavic uses 'honey-eater' (medvěd).
Naming dangerous animals was taboo so people renamed the bear!
The word for tea in almost every language comes from just two roots: tea or cha.
If your country got tea by sea trade, you say some version of tea.
If it came overland, you say some version of cha.
English has both: tea and chai!
There's the portuguese though who say chá though they got it by sea
If your country got tea by sea trade, you say some version of tea.
If it came overland, you say some version of cha.
English has both: tea and chai!
There's the portuguese though who say chá though they got it by sea
September 25, 2025 at 9:35 AM
The word for tea in almost every language comes from just two roots: tea or cha.
If your country got tea by sea trade, you say some version of tea.
If it came overland, you say some version of cha.
English has both: tea and chai!
There's the portuguese though who say chá though they got it by sea
If your country got tea by sea trade, you say some version of tea.
If it came overland, you say some version of cha.
English has both: tea and chai!
There's the portuguese though who say chá though they got it by sea
English used to have a singular second-person: 'thou'.
'You' was either the plural or polite just like other languages like Czech, Hindi or German!
The polite form won and 'thou' faded that’s why we still say 'you are' not 'you is'.
'You' was either the plural or polite just like other languages like Czech, Hindi or German!
The polite form won and 'thou' faded that’s why we still say 'you are' not 'you is'.
September 23, 2025 at 4:16 PM
English used to have a singular second-person: 'thou'.
'You' was either the plural or polite just like other languages like Czech, Hindi or German!
The polite form won and 'thou' faded that’s why we still say 'you are' not 'you is'.
'You' was either the plural or polite just like other languages like Czech, Hindi or German!
The polite form won and 'thou' faded that’s why we still say 'you are' not 'you is'.
I wonder why these all share similar pronunciations?
While Uralic languages;
Finnish - äiti
Hungarian - anya
(Northern) Mansi - ся̄нь / ома
(Kazym) Khanty - аӈки
Ingrian - emä
Inari Sami - enni
Kildin Samj - е̄ннҍ
Lule Sami - ieddne
Skolt Sami - jeä'nn
Southern Sami - tjidtjie
Erzya - ава
Estonian - ema
Komi-Zyrian - мам, ань
Livonian - jemа̄
Finnish - äiti
Hungarian - anya
(Northern) Mansi - ся̄нь / ома
(Kazym) Khanty - аӈки
Ingrian - emä
Inari Sami - enni
Kildin Samj - е̄ннҍ
Lule Sami - ieddne
Skolt Sami - jeä'nn
Southern Sami - tjidtjie
Erzya - ава
Estonian - ema
Komi-Zyrian - мам, ань
Livonian - jemа̄
September 23, 2025 at 7:33 AM
I wonder why these all share similar pronunciations?
TIL that almost every language uses some variation of ‘mom/mom/ma’ for mother because babies naturally make “ma” sounds when they first start vocalising!
September 22, 2025 at 2:34 PM
TIL that almost every language uses some variation of ‘mom/mom/ma’ for mother because babies naturally make “ma” sounds when they first start vocalising!