Though my background is not in linguistics, specifically, I have studied various foreign languages throughout my lifetime. With the advent of the World Wide Web and tools such as the Google search engine, the Google Ngram, and even Google Trends, I've been able to explore aspects of language I haven't been able to previously.

Sometimes my study of foreign languages steers me in a linguistic direction and some of the questions I've posted in other forums have recommended the Linguistics StackExchange, so I have finally decided to join this community. Though I am in more of a position to learn from it rather than contribute to it, I hope my presence here is welcome. I also am hoping that this community will expose members to resources and materials that will enable others to conduct their own independent research on subjects related to linguistics.