FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS

BABBEL

Babbel, the language learning app, has a channel on YouTube with 240 videos. But unlike many other YouTube videos that merely tell you how to say common words in different languages or focuses on a single language, Babbel's videos explores varied ideas related to language covering interesting topics you might not have even thought of such as "How Did Hollywood Change The Way We Speak? | Ask a Linguist" to questions you always had but couldn't find a satisfactory answer to like in "Why Do Languages Have Grammatical Gender? | Ask a Linguist".  While there are obviously basics that nearly all language channels have such as "How To Say Essential Phrases In 10 Languages", and "Learn Spanish In 60 Seconds", there are also more intriguing issues they make about such as "Untranslatable Words From Other Cultures" and "Why Revive A Dead Language? | Interview with Prof. Ghil'ad Zuckermann". Also included are videos showing challenges attempted by different people, tricky pronunciations in various languages, differences between languages, and others.

NAME EXPLAIN

If you're the kind of person yearning to learn about the history of words but find the idea of pouring over old books daunting, this channel might just be the one for you. This is the channel of a person who, by his own admission, loves names. And a brief look at the videos on his channel shows just how much. From how different states in the world got the names they have to the weird name rules Facebook has, this channel basically has videos on all kinds of words. Moreover, it doesn't just cover topics related to the past but also current events as "10 Words Added To The Dictionary In 2019 Explained" and "Prince Harry's Title Change Explained" shows. In addition, even fictional worlds aren't left out, as is suggested by its videos titled "The Secret Meaning Behind The Names Of Harry Potter" and "How Tolkien Created Names".

ELLEN BROCK

A former head editor at Musa Publishing, now a full time freelance editor, with five years of experience, Ellen Brock has a lot of useful advice for those looking to publish their own book someday. She has videos discussing what makes characters believable including their motivations, flaws, goals, advice on writing scenes, tips for plotting, good ways to start, end, name chapters, etc. She also has videos going into details on what writers do that harm or help their writing and how they can improve such as "25 Mistakes that Peg You as an Amateur Writer", "7 Common Reasons for Terrible Similes", and "The Four Types of Novel Writers".

Aliza is Matilda resurrected. Reach her at aliza.hridula@gmail.com