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urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
Urban Chicagoan
@urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
190 followers 26 following 130 posts
Resident of Chicago, citizen of the world
シカゴ在住、世界市民
Residente de Chicago, ciudadano del mundo
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Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
perkinskeighley.bsky.social
Macquarie Dictionary has chosen AI slop as its Word of the Year.

Defined as “low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors & not requested by the user,” it captures a linguistic & technological shift we’ve been living through.

🔗 tinyurl.com/3uf7ps4j

🧵👇

#langsky
AI slop is Macquarie’s 2025 Word of the Year. I applaud the choice – but was bored by the shortlist
AI slop was the clear winner with honourable mentions including another AI-related word: clanker. But where are the colourful expressions of previous years?
tinyurl.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
nicknasev.bsky.social
AI increasing the dominance of English worldwide means greater cultural complacency for native (US) English speakers leading to "the assumption that their perspective is universal because they haven’t had to struggle to express themselves in someone else’s terms."
#langsky #translation
The Costs of Instant Translation
AI might soon rob us of the thrill and challenge of cross-cultural conversation.
www.theatlantic.com
November 15, 2025 at 1:45 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
Friday morning along the Chicago River
#Chicago #DowntownChicago #UrbanLandscape #PaisajeUrbano #都市景観
September 5, 2025 at 3:24 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
"Freshly Kept Fade We Design" by Marcellous Lovelace: mural under the Metra tracks along 53rd Street in Hyde Park, Chicago. #Chicago #mural
August 30, 2025 at 7:34 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
Vintage residential stone engraving in Lincoln Park, Chicago: "eyes on the street" #Chicago
August 25, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
65words.bsky.social
What if Gratitude Was Built Into the Grammar?

aethermug.com/posts/what-i... #langsky #polyglot #100daylang
What if Gratitude Was Built Into the Grammar?
Another Japanese marvel
aethermug.com
August 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
chrislinguist.bsky.social
I didn’t learn languages to get somewhere; I learned them to be somewhere. I’ve done it for the taxi rides, the balcony conversations, the glances of shared understanding. Not to perform, but to belong. To connect. That’s the real point. And it changes everything. albarolanguages.com/2025/06/21/w...
What’s the Point of Learning a Language?
For me, it’s always started with a feeling. A leap into somewhere unfamiliar. A desire not just to visit, but to understand. Not just to speak, but to connect. It’s never been about ticking boxes, …
albarolanguages.com
June 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
thedigitalglobalcitizen.com
Fluency is only one of the benefits of learning a language.

You learn how to learn. You deepen maturity, patience, & commitment.

You learn to navigate desire & despair, embarrassment & break through.

You learn pacing, structure & organization.

Probably humility, as well

#langsky
June 13, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
tlacamazatl.bsky.social
#langsky
speaking without an accent is as impossible as typing without a font
April 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
"The best way to learn a language...is to live it! Study French and German abroad"
The El in Chicago on a chilly April morning
#Chicago #DowntownChicago #langsky #PublicTransit
April 9, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
isabeltranslates.bsky.social
One of the (many, many) things I love about language is the creativity, the way a little tweak to a word can create a subtle change in meaning, or even a big one. Hopefully this won't leave you baffled or boggled, though it may cause cackling or possibly heckling!

#linguistics #langsky #xl8 🌐
Meme: Tumblr user Wylfċen A door blows open in your mind when you learn about the suffix -le, it explains so much. People used to add it to verbs to mean ‘more than once’ or continuously—so originally, to ramble is to ‘roam’ on, to jostle is to joust repeatedly, and to sparkle is to emit lots of sparks. -le. A frequentative suffix of verbs, indicating repetition or continuousness: crack - crackle daze - dazzle draw ("to drag") - drawl game - gamble grope - grapple hand - handle nest - nestle nose - nuzzle prate ("to talk") - prattle scribe ("to write") - scribble sniff - sniffle wrest ("to twist") - wrestle
April 9, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
erikhansson.bsky.social
Rethinking Language Education
magazin.tu-braunschweig.de/en/m-post/re...
via magazin.tu-braunschweig.de
#languagelearning #methodology #langsky
Rethinking Language Education - TU Braunschweig | Blogs
Language is more than just communication - it determines our educational success and our participation in society. But how do learners develop complex
magazin.tu-braunschweig.de
April 9, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
curiousordinary.bsky.social
'The Ginza on a Spring Night' - Kasamatsu Shiro, 1934.
#JapaneseArt #shinhanga
A street scene at night, people walking and cherry blossoms.
March 31, 2025 at 12:09 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
The river at night
El río por la noche
夜の川
#chicago #UrbanLandscape #PaisajeUrbano #都市景観
March 22, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
thorchrs.bsky.social
March 15, 2025 at 5:33 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
Multilingual street signage in Seattle's Japantown area
#Seattle #langsky
March 1, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
butsuzonews.bsky.social
【御開帳】
隨心院（京都市）
春季特別御開帳
本尊 如意輪観世音菩薩坐像（国重文）
2025年3月1日(土)～31日(月)
9:00～16:30
www.zuishinin.or.jp/2025/02/%E4%...
令和七年春季本尊御開帳のお知らせ - 真言宗 大本山・隨心院
春季特別御開帳期 間：令和7年3月1日（土）～3月31日(土)時 間：9：00～16：30拝観料：大人500円
www.zuishinin.or.jp
February 24, 2025 at 11:05 AM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
At the Kinokuniya Bookstore in Seattle I chanced upon this handy little volume: "Gazu Hyakki Yakō Zengashū" (画図百鬼夜行全画集) by Toriyama Sekien (鳥山石燕)(1712-1788), published by Kadokawa, 2005.
#langsky #booksky #JapaneseStudy
February 22, 2025 at 11:04 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
Murals in unlikely places in the Japantown area of Seattle

Unos murales en lugares enesperados en el barrio de Japantown de Seattle

シアトル市の日本町地区の意外な場所にある壁画
#Seattle #mural #UrbanLandscape #PaisajeUrbano #都市景観
February 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
Monorail tracks in Seattle
Vías de monorraíl en Seattle
シアトル市内のモノレール線路
#Seattle #シアトル市 #UrbanLandscape #PaisajeUrbano #都市景観
February 19, 2025 at 6:02 PM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
An ornate gate in Seattle's Chinatown

Una puerta adornada en el barrio chino de Seattle
#Seattle #Chinatown #UrbanLandscape #PaisajeUrbano #都市景観
February 18, 2025 at 4:19 AM
urbanchicagoan.bsky.social
"Never Again is Now" ~ an alley mural by Erin Shigaki, 2018, in Seattle, Washington
#seattle #mural #AsianAmericanHistory
February 16, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
sanpeimie.bsky.social
The Sekijuku Gion Summer Festival, a traditional event, was held in Sekijuku, on the old Tokaido Road in Kameyama City. Four floats, lit by lanterns, paraded through the narrow streets of the historical post town, and the way the floats turned around and around was a spectacular sight.
February 13, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
izanau.bsky.social
Kit-Kat Japan didn’t just sell chocolate—they created a cultural movement 🍫

In Japanese, Kit-Kat sounds like “Kitto Katsu” (きっと勝つ), which means “You will surely win.” This lucky wordplay turned Kit-Kat into a symbol of luck and encouragement.

A thread 🧵
February 5, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Reposted by Urban Chicagoan
uncannyjapan.bsky.social
This odd (and lucky!) patchwork beast was created by Utagawa Yoshitora to protect the safety of families. It's a combination of all the animals from the Chinese (and Japanese) zodiac.

Can you find them all?

[Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, boar]
very strange animal with stripes, snake tail, horns, long ears, flames around its chest.
January 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM