Category Archives: Language


In the 1940s, Toshiba began producing index typewriters with massive, horizontal cylinders containing thousands of symbols. One edition, the BW-2112—watch the demonstration by the New Orleans-based Typewriter Collector above to see how the redesign utilizes manual rotation and a metal pointer to print the characters—was a particularly advanced model with keys in three languages: Japanese, Chinese, and English.
The trilingual device ordered the characters in a manner similar to what you’d find in a Japanese dictionary, which is explained on the Typewriter Collector’s page as follows:

They’re arranged phonetically by most common “on-yomi” (or kun-yomi in some cases) according to the kana syllabary (many homophones, of course)… Red characters help parse the readings.

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Juxtaposing natural elements and mechanics, “Dialogo” harnesses the frenetic, indiscernible components of language into a synesthetic experience. A mix of stop-motion and live-action, the short film features entirely hand-crafted sculptures by the Madrid-based design studio blo que. Each motorized work translates human utterings into movement, whether through an undulating tube of neon or oscillating florals, generating new associations in a conversation between the senses.
To represent the original audio in a visual manner, blo que converts the speech waveforms into animation curves, which subsequently mobilizes the sculpture’s engines. More Continue reading →

An eclectic array of installations recently popped up at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia, transforming the historic neighborhood into a temporary wonderland teeming with quirky characters, large-scale interventions, and optimism. A life-size piñata shaped like a 1984 Thunderbird is parked on 12th Street, cross-stitched roses trail across the brick facade of Building 99, and a typographic message casts shadows on a pavilion in a call for hope.
Officially titled Mystery Island and the Marvelous Occurrence of Spontaneous Art, or MIMOSA, the entirely outdoor exhibition includes work from seven artists DAKU (previously), Justin Favela (previously), Kid Hazo with South Fellini, Reed Bmore, Liesbet Bussche, and Raquel Rodrigo (previously). More Continue reading →

Shwagingha (pronounced: ShwaG-ing-Ya | commonly mispronounced: Shwa-gin-gah and Shwa-ging-ah) is the natural name of the Hidoori elftonic pipester that appears only once every synthetic diamond jubilee (that’s once every 75 Cubit Zirconium growth cycles). In fact, the image seen on … Continue reading →

Oasis of thought in a desert of aspiration Can you guess the source of inspiration which launched this creation from within an art nouveau tapestry? Take me to the face that you show where everyone knows it is not OK. … Continue reading →

Klingner’s Art Deco famous poster seems perfectly relevant for the concept of dreaming. The topic of dreaming is the subject of the following song, which some critics have said reminds them of elements of the song Hearts by the band … Continue reading →

Photo Credits: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Wall Street and Canal Rhyme #WallStreetAndCanal The fields of France are not filled with cheeses for the milked cows who have made their way back home And the old rectangle and mingle, … Continue reading →

Why Translations Don’t Always Get It Wrong #SaveTranslators As seen in this video, most websites do not have good support for multilingual site use. They tend to serve one or a small handful of languages, at best. The fact is, … Continue reading →