Language Learning Terms

noun a person's inherent ability or talent

adjective suitable or appropriate in the circumstances

• His aptitude for mathematics was evident from a young age.
• She's apt to forget things if she doesn't write them down.
• He's pretty apt at fixing cars, he could probably help you out.
• The painting was an apt representation of the artist's emotions.

noun the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, experience, or being taught

• The process of learning a new language can be challenging but rewarding.
• I love learning new skills through online tutorials.
• Learning to code is a piece of cake once you get the hang of it.
• Life is a continuous journey of learning and self-improvement.

noun a word or phrase for the subject of a verb in a sentence

adjective relating to or denoting a case of nouns in some inflected languages that is used for the subject of a verb

• In nominative case, the subject of a sentence is typically in the form of a noun or pronoun.
• I think the nominative case is when the subject comes first in a sentence.
• Nominative is like when the sentence is all about the who or what.
• Being in the nominative case is like being in the spotlight of a sentence.

noun a language that uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning

• Many countries have recognized sign language as an official language.
• I learned some basic sign language to communicate with my deaf cousin.
• She's fluent in sign language, so she can talk with her hands really fast.
• Learning to interpret body language is like learning a new form of sign language.

verb to talk rapidly and superficially about a variety of topics

• The chemist could only smatter a few words in Mandarin during the international conference.
• I can only smatter a bit of French from my high school classes.
• She tried to smatter some slang words to fit in with the cool kids.
• His knowledge of the subject was so limited, he could only smatter a few basic concepts.

adjective a word or phrase that describes or modifies a noun or pronoun, in this case, 'accented' describes the noun it is referring to

• The professor's accented English made it difficult for some students to understand the lecture.
• I love listening to her accented voice, it's so soothing.
• His accented speech is lit, I could listen to him talk all day.
• The painting had an accented color palette, with bold pops of red and blue.