May 2008 Archives

I login to LiveMocha today after a long nap, and bang all of the sudden I am running 5 conversations at once again. I absolutely love it and loathe it. I have had to limit my conversations, because I really cannot talk to everyone. Still, I try to talk to as many people as I can. I often end up lying about the status of my mic, because I simply cannot practice with everyone! I really am wishing that I could carry on multiple conversations by voice at once.

Still I encountered a guy in Brazil and about 2 people from Egypt at once. I had a voice conversation with a man by the name of Mohamed in Egypt. It was really awesome for me. Though my interest in Arabic has been limited by the problem of accessibility he gave me a short lesson in how to say my name here is what I learned....

enna isme, ehnna isme, anna isme. The list in the last sentence are a few variations as phonetically as I can spell them for you. So in Arabic one would say name my is Name.
So to write my name the following ensued.

US Keyboard Layout: Hkh Ysln fvhk]k


أنا إسمى براندن : AR Keyboard Layout

I learned how to use a few letters of the Arabic Keyboard layout, and although they are still a little difficult for me to differentiate between with some practice I should be able to memorize and be able to use the Arabic alphabet in close to no time.

We also discussed the differences between "pretty good" and "pretty good." Differences I hadn't realized before Basically if one were to say, "It was pretty good I liked it," then the pretty good is in the affirmative.Whereas, "It was pretty good, but it wasn't great," is in the negative, and implies that what you are speaking of is okay, but could be better. Notice that in both cases after the "pretty good" there is a specifier that confirms what level of goodness we believe to be true.

Other linguistic nuances that came to light was the loss of some sounds when say things such as "it was" and my friend described some Americans will often mash the words togeth as "iwas" where I is pronounced lightly like ih.Very interesting little nuances to my own language that I hadn't notices.

Really  a lot of learning for me today, despite the fact that I spent most of the day napping!
More to come soon.

Today I found a website archiving the different voices of people from around the British Isles. The website was done by none other than the BBC. It's an interesting compilation of the different dialects. I found Gaelic and the upper Irish dialects to be quite interesting. Many of the colloquial expressions in the clips are difficult sounds to produce since it seems that a lot of the words said are mashed together and not clearly annunciated. A very interesting website, a little old, but still well worth some time browsing the sound. You'll need windows media player or real player installed to listen.

You can visit the website here at BBC Voices.

Recently, I have been faced with different dilemmas in communicate with people whom I have never met abroad. I try to refrain from discussing politics and my political opinions, because I don't know the reactions that people from different cultures and sets of beliefs will react to my ideas. Often as is custom in America, in the world at large really, is to ostracize people who think differently. Though I certainly wouldn't accuse anyone I have met of being intolerant I still want to refrain from I myself become intolerant of other beliefs.


This problem came to light yesterday while conversing with a man in China about the Olympic torch. He mistakenly thought that people on the "right" were against the race and were trying to harm the torch bearer. I said simply that some of the demonstrations were in fact distasteful, and not carried out in a respectful nor appropriate manner. I was careful to point out that many of these protests were done in a respectful way.

Still, the problem was not solved for me. If I believe Tibet should be free and he does not, then is it appropriate to say that I think that he is wrong and I am right, and well he's just brainwashed and obviously wrong. Of course, that would be silly and wrong. Instead, I think the better method is this... I saw last week the Dalai Lama talking about the struggle of Tibet and the Tibetan people. He said simply he does not seek independence for Tibet, but instead the middle ground, not independence for Tibet, but rather a measure of autonomy from China.

The matter is not about who is wrong or right, but rather an effective compromise to the beliefs of the two peoples. I think that the same principle applies when speaking with someone of a different culture. You must find the middle ground between your beliefs and that of the person you are speaking with. It is a harmonious, but still tenuous balance between one side and the other side.

Although this is a good and effective mantra it is still flawed. For instance, where does one fall in the rights of different races and of women? Should a middle ground be placed on beliefs as to the equality of women and the worth of all races as human beings? I think that this is a topic that cannot be fully understood easily between cultures. Why is a woman worth less in one society and equally as much in another? I think perhaps there are some issues that you cannot compromise fully on, but must be respectfully disagreed upon. How can we sacrifice the value of a person for the sake of peaceful discussion between two people from different cultures. Respect.

From ScienceDaily the latest news is that speaking more than one language may slow the progression of the loss of brain function.

As the article states, "A person who speaks more languages is likely to be more clear-minded at an older age, she says, in effect "exercising" his or her brain more than those who are monolingual. Languages may create new links in the brain, contributing to this strengthening effect." This makes a great deal of sense. Languages obtained especially when young will create more pathways in the brain for memory and continued  longevity of the mind. One study even found increased intelligence in children you spoke English and could speak Russian and write in Cryllic at a young age.

You can read the entire article at  Science Daily.

I have been progressing slowly in French. I have been listening to the introductory course by Michel Thomas. The course has been very easy to follow and easy to understand. When I was on disc 3 of the course things got more difficult. The conjugations of verbs are very similar, and are difficult to differentiate between. I learned quite a few pronouns, but they were not covered nearly enough for me to have memorized them. I am getting a little confused with Portuguese pronouns in the mix too.

Some of my problems with the Michel Thomas course is that practical phrases needed for everyday interaction are not given outright, but you have to dive in head first to get important phrases. The learners on the disc are of course novices, which is what they should be. However, sometimes the very obvious mistakes made by the learners create further confusion that simply isn't necessary.  

Due to the confusion I am taking a break from French for a while. I want to study Portuguese as I find it much easier to grasp with my knowledge of Spanish. I've been using the Pimsleur Brazilian Portuguese course. I got a good introduction to Paul Pimsleur and his research, which makes me much more confident in the Pimsleur method, since I've never heard about his research before. The course moves slowly, but with a little patience I should be able to pickup the language easily with my knowledge of Spanish. The only problem is the accent of the language. I hope to talk to some natives with what I have learned soon!  

Is a Universal Language a Good Idea?

A short summary on the Tower of Babel: "The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מגדל בבל‎ Migdal Bavel Arabic: برج بابل‎ Burj Babil) is a structure featured in chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, an enormous tower intended as the crowning achievement of the city of Babilu, the Akkadian name for Babylon. According to the biblical account, Babel was a city that united humanity, all speaking a single language and migrating from the east; it was the home city of the great king Nimrod, and the first city to be built after the Great Flood. The people decided their city should have a tower so immense that it would have "its top in the heavens." (וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם). However, the Tower of Babel was not built for the worship and praise of God, but was dedicated to false man-made religion, with a motive of making a 'name' for the builders - Genesis 11:4. " Courtesy Wikipedia

The Tower of Babel is a great fable of the bible. This supposed cooperation through a common language is interesting and at once confusing. Would a common world language actually be beneficial to all mankind and allow us to overcome the problems facing humanity today? In short, I believe that answer to this, is probably no.

For instance, let's setup a scenario where a common language was not directly instituted, but rather made possible via a machine. This is the most likely construct in a world where people are often deprived of the opportunity to learn a second language. Let us suppose then that a universal translation machine was created. The machine can translate one language to any other language within a small margin of error. So group A send a message to group B. The message from group A is, "We would like to buy your plot of land to develop it." Group B gets the same message, but they are confused, because group B has no social construct of either owning land or any concept of "money." So what happens? You waste more time translating culture concepts until something is understood, or the more likely outcome the confusion is never sorted out the land it taken and a war breaks out. This is of course the more dramatic outcome, but still it illustrates the problem with machine translation.

Machine translation currently has many flaws. Often machine translation cannot distinguish between the complex differences between nouns and verbs, especially when they do not have any spelling difference. Colloquial expression pose an even greater problem as well. However, we are assuming that machine translation is ultimately possible though. The last remaining problem is that machine translation is not alive and lacks the cognizance to determine social and cultural constructs that are necessary for human communication. A computer gets down to business without any subtleties and explains simply that A is B, instead of translating into cultural norms. The presents a conundrum of communication, because no matter how well the machine is programmed to acknowledge social and cultural norms it will still make mistakes that could create problems.

Returning to the tower of babel it is important to realize here that these people all spoke a common language, and no message was relayed between them, because they all had a common culture and social construct. Of many languages vying for the position of a common language we have Esperanto and by hegemony of the United States, English. If these languages were taught by every state within the world would be have better cooperation and fewer wars? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Again these languages rely heavily on their own culture of creation. Why can we still not put terms such as déjà vu and Istigkeit into English? Simply because language is built on social and cultural constructs that make it difficult to put into another language without someone to distinguish what should and should not be said. Meaning that even if there is more mutual understanding it still will limit the communication between any two parties by their own social constructs, whereas study of a particular language encompasses study of their culture and beliefs as well. I believe that although the evidence for the Saphir-Worf hypothesis was to say the least misinformed, that it still had a correct assumption in the constructs of language at large.

Considering other factors politically and within the international relations realm we also run into problems. Let us say that all cultural aspects have been eliminated and now we have a common society based on only one language, and all cultural aspects of difference have been muted by the commonality of language. Each party can communicate fluidly and learn as much as possible when A communicated to B. B finds out that A is underpricing the land, because B can communicate with other parties and read the fine print that A has provided, thus B will never cooperate given that A is getting a better deal. In fact, cooperation will be limited by a common language. With one common language between the two each party will act only as it is beneficial to them, which brings about a worldwide stalemate or a whole lot of deception when it comes to getting things done.

Why then is a traditional translator a superb deal? Well, judge for yourself. Social and cultural norms are taken into account, which allows for a lower level of communication that is highly calculated and speaks to that particular nation's beliefs, rather than political outcomes that are negative or positive. It also limits the communications between other parties.

Therefore it makes sense that a common language has extreme limits when it comes to working on an international scale. Although it has its benefits in travel and perhaps even trade, between nations it, at least to myself, does not seem to be the best scenario to operate under.

Have questions or disagreement? Leave me a comment.     

I've thought for a long that that texting or the process of abbreviating words into smaller and more phonetic strings encourages a better understanding of language. First, through an analysis of the syllabic patterns of language and the key sounds necessary for effective communication. The different in "your" and  "you're" becomes apparent as people have to learn to differentiate between the two to eliminate confusion, and still more with words like "it's" and "its." It is at best a subliminal method of encouraging a greater analysis of communication and enhancing communication between people. I believe that as modes of intra personal communication increases we will have a more literate and better educated society capable of communicating problems and solving disputes quickly.

However, I think that as a whole text does have a pitfall in communicability for those foreign learners who may be prematurely introduced into the world of text without enough understanding of the language to decode the patterns that lead to the txt equivalents.

You can read the article from the BBC about Prof David Crystal's thoughts on txt.
Experts Say txt is gr8 4 language.

According to the BBC the Portuguese have now eliminated many of the silent consonants that were never pronounced to begin with. For instance, as the BBC states "optimo" pronounced "otimo" will now exclude the silent p within the word. The word as far as I can tell with help of a dictionary means excellent. They also opted to add in Latin letters important for transitions of some vocabulary from other languages. Will this change eliminate the cognates that are helpful in remembering the language? Well, who knows... 

Unfortunately, no good news to come about French orthography.


Though I'm a little late to report the news you can read the whole article from the BBC here.

Here are some of my favorite resources that I use to learn online. In the future, you can find links on the menu located at the side with the link that says Links.

How To Learn Any Language
Link: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/index.html
This website has a very obvious purpose, which is encompassed in its very long name. The site offers a how to guide and what to expect when learning quite a few languages. It's also helpful in associating language and how easy it will be to pick up other languages from languages you may already know or be acquainted with. They also offer user forums where users can ask questions about their particular language if they are having trouble. A resident professors who is polyglot and linguist frequents the forums and offers practical advice and techniques on learning.

Live Mocha
Link www.livemocha.com
This site offers a way to learn through practical exercises. They emphasize listening, reading,  speaking, and writing in a variety of languages. Since the site is in beta there are quite a few errors in translation that can confuse learners. Still, the site is a social networking tool that allows native users to critique speaking and writing submissions of people who are learning the language. Free help from natives is a definite plus! Using this site I've been able to practice with quite a few people abroad. I have encountered a few persons in China and helped them practice their English. Still better people in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, The Dominican Republic, and probably more that I haven't mentioned. Simply conversing with natives helps vocabulary and pronunciation while being interactive and more exciting than classroom dialogs.

Mnemosyne Project
Link: http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/
Although I haven't spent much time with the software or the website this project seems like a good way to continue one's own learning. It allows you to cycle back through cards and review them based on an algorithm, which in its own respect is important to learning, as the frequency at which you encounter new vocabulary determines whether or not you will remember the words, or if they'll be lost in the back of your mind for eternity.  

Welcome to LostProfessor.com a website dedicated to the albeit novice approach to learning languages.

Here, I the author, hope to share with you my experiences learning as many languages as I can. To preface things I am a native English Speaker, I have a background in learning Spanish, and I hope to learn many other Latin Languages in time, as well as with the help and support of whatever base of readers I can gain. I also hope to review as many Language Learning Programs that I possibly can, so please be looking for my reviews of programs that are used to learn languages.

Along with reviews I hope to present any relevant news that is applicable to many different languages that I find online. Also, perhaps some tips and web pages that I find particularly helpful in learning a language.

You should carefully not that this site is not necessarily intended to be a how to website, but rather a method by which to find many suitable avenues to pursue while you learn the language of your choice. It is of extreme importance that you as a learner are objective in the programs you choose to learn. I recommend only what works best for me, but you should try what you know will work best for you.

Many thanks and a hopeful future for this web log,
~Ascolto.