Short articles and everyday conversations — Arabic fully vowelled, Japanese with furigana, English, Indonesian, and Chinese, each with a Thai gloss. Pick a language, pick a field, start reading.
250 conversations · page 7 / 11
Two historians debate the relative weight of fiscal crisis, Enlightenment ideology, and social structure in causing the French Revolution.
Two researchers examine the Berlin Conference of 1884 and the long-term structural consequences of African colonization.
Two analysts discuss how superpower competition during the Cold War shaped and prolonged conflicts in the developing world.
Two scholars examine how nationalism as a political ideology emerged and why it proved such a powerful organizing force.
Two political historians discuss why newly independent states after World War II adopted the nation-state model despite its colonial origins.
Two cultural historians debate how societies should negotiate the public memorialization of contested historical figures.
Two friends in a park try to identify different types of clouds they can see in the sky.
A mother and her son discuss what changes they notice in nature as the seasons change through the year.
Two neighbours chat about the different birds visiting their garden feeders and what those birds eat.
Two friends on a riverside walk notice features of the river and the wildlife living along its banks.
A child asks her father about the fruits at the market and how they grow in the wild or on farms.
Two children explore the beach with their grandmother, discovering shells, tides, and what lives in rock pools.
A grandfather and granddaughter look at the night sky together and talk about stars, the Moon, and planets.
A teacher guides her student through the steps of planting a young tree and explains what a tree needs to survive.
Two young cousins watch rain from a window and talk about where rain comes from and why puddles dry up.
Two colleagues at a farmers market discuss the process bees use to make honey and how beekeepers harvest it.
Two university students discuss how ocean currents work and the role they play in regulating regional climates.
A naturalist guide describes the layers of a tropical rainforest and its extraordinary biodiversity to a visitor.
Two wildlife enthusiasts compare the migration journeys of different animal species and the challenges they face.
A geology student interviews a local resident who lives near an active volcano about daily life and safety measures.
Two researchers on a night survey in the desert discuss why so many desert animals are nocturnal and how they survive the heat.
A marine biologist explains coral bleaching to a concerned diver who has just returned from the reef.
A city planner and an ecologist discuss the flood-protection value of restoring a wetland on the edge of town.
Two marine researchers discuss how and why deep-sea organisms produce their own light and what it reveals about life without sunlight.