tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.comments2023-08-11T08:08:14.990-07:00Language Hack: thoughts on language, coding, lifeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11695483832969202754noreply@blogger.comBlogger56125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-16631454769181404652012-02-27T18:35:13.789-08:002012-02-27T18:35:13.789-08:00Interesting. The only dictionaries I can seem to f...Interesting. The only dictionaries I can seem to find at the moment list British pronunciation, allowing the ae and the shwa pronunciation, but not noting kɛn at all, so it's hard to figure out if my hunch that kɛn shows up in unstressed positions is right, and of course now that I'm thinking about the question there's no chance I can get good data from my own head (an unreliable source anyway!).<br /><br />I wonder: do you think you say kɛnt for can't?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11695483832969202754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-70463071428139000982012-02-20T16:26:16.865-08:002012-02-20T16:26:16.865-08:00incorrect? stressed or unstressed I always say kɛ...incorrect? stressed or unstressed I always say kɛn.Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01041902355794062651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-14155220196104051832011-03-18T09:34:22.184-07:002011-03-18T09:34:22.184-07:00Amen, Senor Hinkle!Amen, Senor Hinkle!Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13151083029447433891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-45328146596435442492011-03-03T04:07:05.608-08:002011-03-03T04:07:05.608-08:00It strikes me "laygos" may well be a mor...It strikes me "laygos" may well be a more standard pronunciation.<br /><br />The only word spelled similarly I can think of is "prego", and I pronounce that "praygo" (in contrast with "preggo").Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11695483832969202754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-73024267589122954122011-03-02T11:37:42.129-08:002011-03-02T11:37:42.129-08:00I say "laygos." :)I say "laygos." :)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17418911172688707413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-19801377877849853472011-03-02T11:37:09.017-08:002011-03-02T11:37:09.017-08:00I say "laygos" :)I say "laygos" :)Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17418911172688707413noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-33009577392840665202010-12-14T13:43:41.062-08:002010-12-14T13:43:41.062-08:00Glad to see you writing reflective thoughts on the...Glad to see you writing reflective thoughts on the subject. The problem I see is that those consensus scientists are hell bent on making it a disorder. Many of them receive funding from the pharmaceutical industry. As an older person with ADHD I experience the problems as schools inflexibility towards people who think differently than the average person.<br /><br />Brain scans do not lie, but scientists interpreting them do not understand what they see. The average person thinks cognitively, the ADHD person thinks intuitively. The cognitive process has been well studied by science, but the intuitive has not.<br /><br />The difference in thinking is like this: looking at a clock the average child thinks, "How was that clock made?" The ADHD child will think, "Where does time come from?" <br /><br />ADHD is really boredom intollerance and they are incapable of focussing attention in a classroom lesson perceived as boring or unstimulating. Afterwards the ADHD child goes home and has no problem with focussed attention while at his/her computer, trying to hack into the Pentagon.Charleshttp://www.abacus-news.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-474254110207417332010-09-17T06:06:52.113-07:002010-09-17T06:06:52.113-07:00This post is a winner. I think about this all the ...This post is a winner. I think about this all the time when I teach math to GED kids in the summer: so many of them grab the calculator for the simplest things, they have no sense for when their answer is ridiculous, they look at decimals like they're meaningless but can handle money just fine.<br /><br />And yesterday my middle schoolers -- on the complete opposite end of the privilege spectrum -- were doing a simple addition and multiplication worksheet to reinforce French number words, and they reached for calculators. When my fellow teacher and I raised our eyebrows, the kids whined, "We're ALLOWED to! It's for French!"<br /><br />That's sort of a different problem (artificial subject separation), but it's also the same problem: math is scary and mysterious and <i>hard</i>. It's not a game, it's not a useful tool.<br /><br />(Also, thank you for the reminder that "The pen-and-paper algorithms for doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and long division are incredibly frustrating for the untidy." As a freakishly tidy person I tend to forget this. Tidiness, in fact, was the only reason I did as well in math as I did in school -- I am not naturally inclined towards number play.)Sam @ Parenthetical.nethttp://www.parenthetical.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-1988440019357137922010-09-17T06:05:14.971-07:002010-09-17T06:05:14.971-07:00This post is a winner. I think about this all the ...This post is a winner. I think about this all the time when I teach math to GED kids in the summer: so many of them grab the calculator for the simplest things, they have no sense for when their answer is ridiculous, they look at decimals like they're meaningless but can handle money just fine.<br /><br />And yesterday my middle schoolers -- on the complete opposite end of the privilege spectrum -- were doing a simple addition and multiplication worksheet to reinforce French number words, and they reached for calculators. When my fellow teacher and I raised our eyebrows, the kids whined, "We're ALLOWED to! It's for French!"<br /><br />That's sort of a different problem (artificial subject separation), but it's also the same problem: math is scary and mysterious and <i>hard</i>. It's not a game, it's not a useful tool.<br /><br />(Also, thank you for the reminder that "The pen-and-paper algorithms for doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and long division are incredibly frustrating for the untidy." As a freakishly tidy person I tend to forget this. Tidiness, in fact, was the only reason I did as well in math as I did in school -- I am not naturally inclined towards number play.)Sam @ Parenthetical.nethttp://www.parenthetical.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-74255349470998275052010-04-25T10:00:35.725-07:002010-04-25T10:00:35.725-07:00@Tom: I guess defining "nouns" and "...@Tom: I guess defining "nouns" and "verbs" correctly would also be useful in teaching foreign languages if you're explaining the rules of grammar. It's nice to have short labels for "word-which-can-be-conjugated" or "word-which-can-follow-an-article."<br /><br />(It is interesting how almost all educated people seem to have a good intuitive understanding of what a "noun" or "verb" is, even if they usually can't give good definitions!)Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17662291043889365853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-55818723632794910002010-04-25T06:18:50.455-07:002010-04-25T06:18:50.455-07:00John, I knew the "the" rule would fail i...John, I knew the "the" rule would fail in places, but I actually hadn't thought of the obvious "all proper nouns" fail case. <br /><br />It has never come up in teaching, probably because I use this as a foreign language teacher and confusion about the part-of-speech of proper nouns basically never matters.<br /><br />For me, part-of-speech <i>only</i> matters in helping people look up words in a bilingual dictionary where part-of-speech is a good first cut at the multiple meanings of many words.<br /><br />I'd be curious to find a place where part-of-speech matters in teaching people in their native language. My guess is there aren't many, since the traditional definitions are so poor and so few of my otherwise-successful students come to me able to reliably identify parts of speech anyway.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11695483832969202754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-27984865441746258432010-04-24T10:38:16.971-07:002010-04-24T10:38:16.971-07:00Interesting "noun rule," though it exclu...Interesting "noun rule," though it excludes most proper nouns (as you probably already know?).<br /><br />Seems like you could fix this (for English, anyway) by replacing ''you can say 'the X'" by "you can say, '(the) X is good'." Offhand I can't think of any English nouns which fail this criterion.<br /><br />(As an amateur linguist myself, I'd be very curious to learn if there's a good definition for "noun" which works for any language...)Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17662291043889365853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-17154999091405643612010-03-22T06:48:33.094-07:002010-03-22T06:48:33.094-07:00I like your noun rule! But overall, this stuff is ...I like your noun rule! But overall, this stuff is exactly why I never ever want to teach English. <br /><br />Was the book worthwhile, though? I was pretty jazzed by the NYT article, too.Sam @ Parentheticalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10554555466537167304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-89305831540131245812010-03-02T06:31:35.477-08:002010-03-02T06:31:35.477-08:00> it makes me fear for the time when Grace ente...> it makes me fear for the time when Grace enters elementary school and a good bit of her time is taken up ...<br /><br />that's why people homeschool their children. which, by the way, you seem eminently qualified to do.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09657213468776806554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-86242093354571268282010-02-07T20:48:20.241-08:002010-02-07T20:48:20.241-08:00Somewhere recently I read about the articulatory d...Somewhere recently I read about the articulatory differences between whispering and ordinary devoicing. I can't remember what they were, only that there are some.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-19739273066848162112010-01-24T12:21:26.432-08:002010-01-24T12:21:26.432-08:00Actually, like many languages on the synthetic end...Actually, like many languages on the synthetic end of the spectrum, Spanish does not rigidly specify the order. The order depends on your meaning.<br /><br />The following are all valid sentences, with subtle differences in emphasis:<br /><br />La quiero.<br />Yo la quiero.<br />La quiero yo.<br /><br />And, in many dialects, the following are also possible (though discouraged with DO pronouns in official Spanish -- these are required with IDO pronouns in all variants of Spanish):<br /><br />La quiero a ella.<br />A ella la quiero.<br />Yo a ella la quiero.<br />A ella la quiero yo.<br />Yo la quiero a ella.<br />La quiero yo a ella.<br />La quiero a ella yo.<br />A ella yo la quiero.<br />etc.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11695483832969202754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-10396567660876581612010-01-24T11:45:29.491-08:002010-01-24T11:45:29.491-08:00well, I guess it's actually SOV in those cases...well, I guess it's actually SOV in those cases, i.e. yo la quiero, if you were going to included the subject pronoun.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04982401513059750085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-23562264157784613732010-01-24T11:43:42.341-08:002010-01-24T11:43:42.341-08:00I would say that this was not intuitive to me afte...I would say that this was not intuitive to me after six years of learning Spanish. I think a general explanation of how different languages can have different word order in sentences, and that English is a SVO language and that Spanish is SVO except when the object is a pronoun, in which case it is OVS (am I right?) would have been helpful for me, at least.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04982401513059750085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-61492622461750904282010-01-24T11:42:40.537-08:002010-01-24T11:42:40.537-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04982401513059750085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-24896487222022813472009-12-06T18:31:46.719-08:002009-12-06T18:31:46.719-08:00If sashimi, vegetables, and rice are "bad&quo...If sashimi, vegetables, and rice are "bad" foods, what the hell are the good ones?<br /><br />Your dinners sound delicious. :) And I'm all for being sensible about these things.Sam @ Parentheticalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10554555466537167304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-81011391055445058602009-11-12T05:31:37.642-08:002009-11-12T05:31:37.642-08:00Great post, made me smile.Great post, made me smile.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04982401513059750085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-51933923546680010022009-08-11T03:23:38.714-07:002009-08-11T03:23:38.714-07:00Spanish language is very close to English. It is b...Spanish language is very close to English. It is based in Latin like the other romance languages and it is written in the same alphabet as English. you can get more from here: <a href="http://www.mester.com/nl/salamanca.php" rel="nofollow">cursus spaans salamanca</a>Manoj Sharmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06099959056976668747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-54073229134315272132009-07-24T08:05:23.977-07:002009-07-24T08:05:23.977-07:00Learning Spanish immersion that also in the learni...Learning<a href="http://www.my-language-travel.com/language-school/Spanish/Spain" rel="nofollow"> Spanish immersion</a> that also in the learning schools is a very nice experience. As it would give student's a proper guidance in each and every difficulty, and to learn something in that place and atmosphere would be much quicker.Again there would be many student's who had just came there for learning languages with some good aim and some who are aimless hence teacher would also be prepared to tackal such students.Again teaching by phonetic's is really a good way of teaching a new language.doshimaitrihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07881035594087173844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-72512931320617900842009-06-28T03:39:32.277-07:002009-06-28T03:39:32.277-07:00It's not too often that the processing power l...It's not too often that the processing power lets me down. I tend to leave fewer applications open at a time than I would otherwise, but that's probably good for my productivity anyway.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11695483832969202754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867414820039513716.post-27896821062623106042009-06-27T20:29:03.479-07:002009-06-27T20:29:03.479-07:00Oh, so you got a netbook? I was looking at the Del...Oh, so you got a netbook? I was looking at the Dell line but heard that they didn't work well with vanilla Ubuntu. I'm leaning towards an Asus, Acer, or HP at the moment. Are you finding the processing power of the Atom to be sufficient for general usage?Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04982401513059750085noreply@blogger.com