Blog Archive

John Barré, Author at John Barré - Page 9 of 13

Page 9

What is your favourite language?

When you’re a language specialist, it is not unusual study more than one foreign language. It usually starts with one or two, learnt at school by chance or by default. Then the passion slowly grows and and leads you to devour more languages. Because they are of the same family and you think it’s an […]
September 28, 2013
The importance of intuitive gameplay

Megadrive’s Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium was my very first role-playing game (RPG). That was back in 1995 and I was 9. As it turns out I still have the original game and I just played it through last month. 17 years later, probably for the 20-something time. I guess your first […]
August 11, 2013
The Modomoto Experience

Among the numerous start-ups flourishing all over Germany (which makes me think is a bit like the Silicon Valley of Europe, but that’s just a personal thought) I came across a website called Modomoto which concept was simple yet new online as far as I could tell.
June 04, 2013
Trying to get a word into the dictionary

That’s quite a good idea: Trying to get a word into the dictionary. They actually are words missing and that are so easy to make (using the stem form with a prefix or a suffix) At the same time, some made-up words tend to invade our newspapers and it’s a loss (Anybody else is allergic to the verb […]
May 17, 2013
Learning Spanish gave my German a boost!

After two weeks in Madrid learning Spanish at Inhispania, it felt good coming back home – if it was not for the snow. The so-called intensive class (3 hours a day) taught me a bit of grammar and let me practise spoken Spanish quite a lot, which was badly needed. But I learned a lot […]
March 23, 2013
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew

I think this will be my first non-fiction book review, even though the title of the book, What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew might let one think otherwise. Daniel Pool’s book has nothing to do with literature or fiction per se. But if you’Re wondering what did Austen eat in her time, then this […]
March 08, 2013
God helps those who help themselves

That title may make you wonder what this has to do with languages, unless of course I was writing an essay about the translation of the Bible, but there have been many of them already and by scholars who know the Book a lot better than I do. I actually don’t know the bible very […]
February 28, 2013
The Witch of Portobello failed to put me under her spell

I just finished Paulo Coelho’ The Witch of Portobello and it was quite an exhausting read. I thought it would never come to an end and the book is only 250 pages. While I did find the style interesting – a compilation of various interviews from all the protagonists except the main one – the […]
February 18, 2013
To greet or not to greet?

It might be easier not to greet at all and stay at home, being a hermit, cut off from all social bonds. It sounds harsh, but it’s a lot safer and prevents you from offending anyone by greeting them the wrong way. Or you might be brave and dare try your luck with a random choice […]
February 09, 2013
Let’s learn Spanish in Madrid!

In just about a month, I’m flying to Madrid for a nice two-week holiday. Sounds very boring, but no, it’s not a Benidorm holiday, for there is no beach, no extreme heat (the temperatures in March are around 15 degrees Celsius and there is a lot more to do than tan all day long, 8 hours […]
February 02, 2013