Dignity Across Languages: Why Respect Means Different Things in Different Cultures

Language. Identity. Faith. Understanding. There are words that people do not translate. They carry them across borders, across generations, across wars, migrations, airports, prayers, and silence. A woman whispers “Amen” at the end of a prayer. A man says “Inshallah” before leaving home. Someone in Germany says “Gott sei Dank.” Someone in Ukraine says “Слава […]

Before choosing a language to learn, explore all available options here:https://levitintymur.com/#languages Language often creates an illusion of universality. When we open a dictionary, it seems that every word has an equivalent somewhere else in the world. English has a translation for a German word, German has a translation for a Spanish word, and so on. […]

Author: Tymur Levitin — Founder & Director, Levitin Language SchoolCopyright © Tymur Levitin. All rights reserved. For decades, translation studies has treated realia as a more or less settled topic. The usual assumption is familiar: realia are culture-specific words that denote objects, institutions, customs, or phenomena typical of one community and lacking full equivalents in […]

When One Word Means Two Completely Different People Author’s column by Tymur LevitinFounder & Director — Levitin Language School / Start Language School by Tymur LevitinGlobal Learning. Personal Approach. Introduction: When Words Look the Same but Are Not Some of the most dangerous words in any language are not the ones you don’t know —but […]

One small mistake. One big message. 🔗 Choose your language What Students Say. What the World Hears. Every teacher knows this moment:A student says, “You was there yesterday.” Or worse: “What you is?” It’s a small slip.It seems harmless.And most people would just say, “Oops, wrong verb form.” But here’s what I tell my students: […]

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”Shakespeare understood what most textbooks don’t: we speak to play roles.And sometimes, saying the wrong line can cost you more than a grade — it can cost you your safety, your dignity, or even your life. I’m not here to dramatize. I’m here […]

From the series “The Language That Seems Not to Exist” Author: Tymur Levitin — Founder, Director, and Head Teacher at Levitin Language School / Start Language School by Tymur Levitin🎓 Teacher’s page → Tymur Levitin🌍 Choose your language 1) What we’re really talking about (and why it matters) The form you’ll meet varies by language: […]

Words are not what they seem. They’re never just words. Every day, students ask me how to say something.They have the words. They have the grammar.But something still feels off. The meaning doesn’t land. The listener doesn’t react the way they expected. And then they realize:They translated the sentence — but they didn’t express what […]