Have you ever thought about the fact that many Scots are descendants of the Vikings?! Or how different the language Gaelic language is from English. A Scotsman might tell you: Fàilte gu Alba! But would you understand? That it means Welcome to Scotland! ? Anyways, this article is about the Scots people, not the country or the language(s) this time around. Here follows a list of famous Scots, all the way from the 13th century to our times. Continue reading

Anyone born outside of the United States or Canada tends to underestimate the number of place names in Northern America that have a connection with Native Americans. Or the First Nations as they are called in Canada. They are many! For there have been so many native tribes. Many of them ring a bell with most of us, some are less known, many are either extinct today or are so little known that we just don’t recognize them. Continue reading

I, years ago, visited Paris for the first time during one of my Interrail trips - the kind of traveling by train done by many young Europeans in the 1970s and 1980s, and which is still popular - I tried to get to see one of the most famous sights in the city, the Arc de Triomphe at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle. And like an arch I walked around that big square, trying to find an entrance. Continue reading

Let’s learn some Hawaiian this time around in Language Day. It is a Polynesian language and, along with English, the official language of the State of Hawaii. Read more about its background and politics here. This article will deal solely with the language itself. The Hawaiian alphabet has 13 letters. That is a lot less than in most languages. There are five vowels: a, e, i, o, and u - each with a long pronunciation and a short one. Continue reading