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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics by Universiteit Leiden

4.7
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2,357 ratings

About the Course

Everywhere, every day, everybody uses language. There is no human society, no matter how small or how isolated, which does not employ a language that is rich and diverse. This course introduces you to linguistics, featuring interviews with well-known linguists and with speakers of many different languages. Join us to explore the miracles of human language! The Miracles of Human Language introduces you to the many-faceted study of languages, which has amazed humans since the beginning of history. Together with speakers of many other languages around the world, as well as with famous linguists such as Noam Chomsky and Adele Goldberg, you will learn to understand and analyse how your native tongue is at the same time similar and different from many other languages. You will learn the basic concepts of linguistics, get to know some of the key features of big and small languages and get insight into what linguists do. This course gives an introduction into the study of languages, the field of linguistics. With the support of the basic linguistic terminology that is offered in the course, you will soon be able to comment both on variety between languages, as well as on a single language’s internal structure. Anyone who wishes to understand how languages work, and how they can give us insight into the human mind is very welcome to join. The course is useful if you want to get a fairly quick introduction into linguistics, for instance because you are considering studying it further, or because you are interested in a neighbouring discipline such as psychology, computer science or anthropology. Furthermore, the course will help you develop analytical skills. If you are curious to understand how language works and how it gives insight into the human mind, this course is definitely for you!...

Top reviews

DC

Sep 23, 2017

Extremely informational, well presented, with questions that stimulate reflection. The optional reading material is food for thought. I hope to see more courses from the same professor and University.

DP

Jan 2, 2017

Excellent! Really enjoyed and learnt a lot. I did not expect such a great content and professionalism in a free course. I am definitely purchasing for the title.

Thanks to all the team! Great job!

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626 - 650 of 716 Reviews for Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics

By J. E

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Oct 11, 2019

The course is excellent and the videos are very entertaining and engaging. The only problem I had was that the test questions were sometimes confusing and several of their answers could be considered true.

By Yaroslava F

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Jun 22, 2017

This was an interesting but challenging course. What I would recommend as an improvements is that the quizzes included comments for wrong answers and suggestions what material to re-read or listen.

By Juan A M O

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Jun 30, 2020

It is a great course. With truly interesting guests, well organized, with helpful complementary material (Ethnologue and papers). The only thing to fix are some quizzes (specially, the first one).

By Pascal W

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Jul 21, 2019

I am essentially learning languages for work or for fun but this course gave me an opportunity to consolidate some knowledge / understanding about languages and across many languages. Excellent!

By Sophie T

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Nov 1, 2023

Course content was great, however many of the links to readings and the free subscription to Ethnologue - which are needed to be able to work on the end of week quizzes, are now expired.

By SUZANNE R

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Aug 13, 2017

Good introduction to linguistics led by a charming Professor with great enthusiasm for his subject. It was certainly enough to convince me that the study of linguistics is not for me

By Zhibiao Z

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Apr 7, 2017

It's fantastic to have a brief look into the intriguing Linguistics. There's so much to learn. But some of the readings and test might be too difficult and improper for a beginner.

By Sara A

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Mar 25, 2018

There's just one problem: the exams. The questions and logic behind the answers are not clear enough. It's an excellent course and certainly, it would be relevant to my career.

By Zuza J

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Apr 27, 2020

The course was a nice introduction to linguistics, many topics were covered, but not in a very detailed way. I was expecting more examples from different languages.

By Ewa P

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Aug 13, 2016

Interesting way of presenting the basics of linguistics. Helps a lot to organise crucial informatinon in one's memory. Lessons, however, are too similar.

By Jianqiu C

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Nov 17, 2020

Good introduction course for linguistics, although some quiz questions are asked ambiguously and no choises looks right, and no one knows the answer.

By Nata S

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Nov 12, 2017

A very nice introduction, covers a variety of topics that different branches of linguistics study, is not theory-heavy and is quite entertaining.

By William F

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Jun 10, 2017

This is a decent introduction to the field of linguistics that is easy to understand and accessible to those without previous content knowledge.

By Hazem A

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May 8, 2021

A great introduction to linguistics! Enjoyable although I found some difficulties in some topics! Recommend it to all beginners in the field.

By Steven

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Dec 28, 2021

Some exams asked for a little too much trivia (including the final exam), but the course was overall informative and well-structured.

By Mesoma

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Aug 28, 2022

Very informative! Really helped me gain a basic understanding of linguistics and confirm that I would like to study it further at uni

By Sallai K

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Apr 12, 2021

It was an interesting course overall but I wish it was more detailed in some areas. However, it a comprehensive course of the basics.

By Mel

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Jun 25, 2018

A comprehensive introductory course to the study of linguistics. Would be even better if it covers more applied linguistics topics.

By Daniele C R

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Oct 9, 2016

Very nice work on the various fields of Linguistics, high level interviews, but rather laborious and time consuming quizzes.

By Paveen P

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Jan 31, 2021

The only downside is that it was too short. Very informative and I've learned a lot that would prove useful in psychology.

By Daniel G

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Aug 14, 2022

The course was great! It was all explained with a lot of detail, the 3rd quiz was very tricky though.

Congratulations!

By Liz J

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Sep 11, 2016

I enjoyed the course and learned a lot. I wish there had been more interaction in the discussions, though.

By Franco A C C

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May 30, 2021

Es un buen curso. Una lástima (y una sorpresa) que no tenga un video conclusivo luego del último módulo.

By Xiaoyun Y

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Mar 12, 2019

It is a great course including details and all aspects of linguistics. It satisfies my curiosity!