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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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2,423 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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201 - 225 of 739 Reviews for Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics

By Rana Y Ç

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May 5, 2022

Not only was it a fascinating and intriguing journey into linguistics, it was so fun. I felt like I knew these people and they were actually my professors. It is strange to say it but I will miss them now that the course is over.

By Alaia S

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Jul 8, 2016

A lot of materials are accessible in the course. It is obvious that professors have done a lot of preparation, so that the learning experience is really amazing. The course arises my interest for Linguistics. Highly recommended.

By Marty M M

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Feb 24, 2019

The best part of this course was the introduction of many useful resources: World Atlas of Language Structures, Ethnologue, Babel Magazine, etc. The lecturer and his assisting students are entertaining and easy to understand.

By Peter B

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Dec 25, 2018

A really excellent introduction to many aspects of linguistics (from the sound to the social level):

Kudos to the wonderful Marc van Oostendorp and his team!

But, beware dear reader: Some of the quizzes are really "tricky" :-)

By Claudia M

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May 4, 2020

This is my very first course in coursera and on linguistics and it won't be my last. This was very informative, with relevant examples and well developed videos. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in linguistics.

By Rozana E M

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Oct 4, 2020

The perfect course to get into the fascinating world of languages. The content is precise and helpful, and the instructor very knowledgeable and charismatic. A must try for anyone interested in the field of Linguistics.

By Min-An C

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Apr 18, 2017

With interests in exploring knowledge about languages, this course is indeed fantastic introduction which not only tells about a systematic way to analyze languages, but also trigger my passion to know more and deeper!

By Josephine B M

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Jul 4, 2018

Very enjoyable course, at a good level for beginners but with enough content to hook your interest. Only thing to note is that some weeks are quite a lot more work than others which can make it difficult to schedule.

By Shubha N R

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Sep 3, 2020

Extremely informative course and well organized. I had a lot of fun learning and doing the assignments, especially the honors ones. I would definitely recommend it to anybody interested in languages and linguistics.

By Mary B

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Mar 19, 2020

Brilliant, fascinating course! The topics were really interesting and explained in a way that made them easy to understand without feeling condescending or over-simplified. I was sad when the course came to an end!

By Huang J

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Aug 15, 2018

Before I start, I didn't expect the course to be as well structured and helpful as it turns out. It enables the learner to have a clear big picture of language studies landscape. Chapeau and thanks to its creators!

By Sukran C

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Dec 25, 2017

I am so exited about this course. I found very interesting and successfull. Simply I can not be able to stop watching videos and go over reading materials. I hope they keep open more courses related to this course.

By Tetiana M

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Mar 22, 2017

This is an extremely interesting and informative course. For me it was really fascinating six weeks of educational process. I am very appreciated to the professor Marc van Oostendorp and his students for this MOOC.

By Touahri A

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Apr 29, 2020

This course was wonderful. I gained a lot of knowledge about languages and different fields of linguistics. I really recommend this course for anyone interested in languages with no background or basic background.

By Heli K

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Jun 29, 2019

Super well designed course with intriguing classes and reading materials. I highly recommend this course for everyone into linguistics. Thank you so much for this course!! Waiting for Miracles of Human Language 2!

By Érica C

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May 14, 2018

I'm so happy I decided to enroll in this course. This was my very first introduction to Linguistics and it left me wanting to know more. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this course available for us.

By Svenja S

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Nov 20, 2022

Great course, outstanding videos and helpful support! I loved, that we can always ask questions in the forum, got some insights in the life of linguists and in differnet languages and they variety.

Thanks a lot!

By 张扬

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Jun 11, 2018

The instructor is so kind...And the course is a little bit hard to finish, because they have a lot of reading text and prepare video(like statistics analysis), but I still love it, and I will finish it on time.

By THIYAGARAJ G

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Aug 1, 2020

This has been a fantastic learning journey with professor Marc, Martin, Inge and fellow mates from forum. Extremely thankful to this course. Thank you and keep coming with similar courses for students like us.

By Linda

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Jun 13, 2020

It was a very interesting course. Very motivating. I learned a lot about linguistic theories. The quizzes were difficult but challenging. The assignments were also very nice and doable. Clear videos. Etc. etc.

By Dana K

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Sep 16, 2019

Loved this course. The teaching was very well done and kept me interested. After this course I applied to University to begin my studies in LInguistics. Thank you all for this wonderful course. Would recommend

By Michelle M

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May 1, 2023

Amazing, I was having some trouble deciding what college degree I'd take and this course made it clear on how exciting learning linguistics is! Fantastic explanations and tests with questions that made sense.

By Ryan T M

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Oct 15, 2018

Very interestding course. Covers just enough to make it achievable, but also opens the door to a lot in terms of linguistic study. Definitely recommended to anybody who is interested in language and culture.

By Lucrecia F

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Dec 4, 2016

Good course for beginners. It's very basic if you already have some background in language studies. I would recommend this course to people who are considering studying Language or Linguistics at university.

By Darsving O E M

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Nov 8, 2016

This course is really great and very enriching, specially when you want to have a general view about Linguistics, and at the same time, you get the tools to make a simple but precise analysis of languages.