The English language was carefully, carefully cobbled together by three blind dudes and a German dictionary.
--Dave Kellett
So true.
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
--Doug Larson
Ha!
The quantity of consonants in the English language is constant. If omitted in one place, they turn up in another. When a Bostonian "pahks" his "cah," the lost r's migrate southwest, causing a Texan to "warsh" his car and invest in "erl wells."
--Author Unknown
Makes sense to me.
If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American.
--Author Unknown
Unfortunately, there's some truth to this. On the other hand, it's easier when everyone speaks the same language.
He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
As I can attest.
Our language is funny - a fat chance and slim chance are the same thing.
--J. Gustav White
And a double positive, "Yeah right," is a negative.
A different language is a different vision of life.
--Federico Fellini
Arabic is a great example of this: you answer "How are you?" with "Al-hamdulilla," meaning, "Praise God."
May 11, 2010
May 8, 2010
Arabic Plurals (Or, Why English Makes More Sense than Arabic)
In English, plurals are (I think) decently easy; they generally involve adding an -s to the end of the word. There are a few weird irregulars, like man/men and mouse/mice, but the rest of the exceptions are based on word endings.
Word ends in//Plural ends in
-y//-ies
-s, -sh, -ch, -x, -z//-es
-o//-oes
-f//-ves
and words borrowed from other languages do whatever they feel like doing at the moment; the resulting complexity isn't completely English's fault. So, OK, it's not perfectly easy, but it's a rare plural that doesn't involve adding -s.
Arabic, however. I'm told there's a pattern, and sometimes I see it, but why do there have to be six different types of plurals? They're mostly divided by masculine, feminine, human, and non-human. Since almost all feminine nouns end in taa marbuta (-a), it's easy enough to change it to -alif taa (-aat).
And then you have the broken plurals, which keep the same root and switch vowels around. Razhul//rizhaal. Saahib//ashaab. Talib//talaab. They say to memorize it now and we'll understand the pattern eventually, but it's rather a pain--which is why I'm sharing it with you now. On this one, I really do think English is easier. Mostly.
Word ends in//Plural ends in
-y//-ies
-s, -sh, -ch, -x, -z//-es
-o//-oes
-f//-ves
and words borrowed from other languages do whatever they feel like doing at the moment; the resulting complexity isn't completely English's fault. So, OK, it's not perfectly easy, but it's a rare plural that doesn't involve adding -s.
Arabic, however. I'm told there's a pattern, and sometimes I see it, but why do there have to be six different types of plurals? They're mostly divided by masculine, feminine, human, and non-human. Since almost all feminine nouns end in taa marbuta (-a), it's easy enough to change it to -alif taa (-aat).
And then you have the broken plurals, which keep the same root and switch vowels around. Razhul//rizhaal. Saahib//ashaab. Talib//talaab. They say to memorize it now and we'll understand the pattern eventually, but it's rather a pain--which is why I'm sharing it with you now. On this one, I really do think English is easier. Mostly.
May 5, 2010
Why Arabic Makes More Sense than English
Lately, I've been thinking that Arabic root words make more sense than English.
English: Usually one-syllable parts that aren't words in their own right and are taken from Latin or Greek. May be in different parts of the word, depending on prefixes, suffixes, etc. Can also be combined in fun ways*.
Arabic: Roots of three letters with a collective meaning. Put in a pattern of vowels, prefixes, and suffixes to change the meaning. For example, k-t-b is to mark/write. Kitaab--book. Kataba--he wrote. Maktaba--library. Maktab--office.
To me, the Arabic way feels more regular and seems to make more sense. If you know the form and root, what can go wrong? I have yet to be disillusioned.
*I met a girl who didn't know what her major was going to be, but had to introduce herself to an audience of maybe a thousand or two and say her name, major, and why she liked working at the auditorium. I got this close to convincing her to say her major was kinesioeconomics, just because it sounded both fun and like a major somebody could do. Economy of motion, right? She chickened out, but not before I'd decided a major in Astroavionics would be fun preparation to either pilot spaceships or write science fiction.
English: Usually one-syllable parts that aren't words in their own right and are taken from Latin or Greek. May be in different parts of the word, depending on prefixes, suffixes, etc. Can also be combined in fun ways*.
Arabic: Roots of three letters with a collective meaning. Put in a pattern of vowels, prefixes, and suffixes to change the meaning. For example, k-t-b is to mark/write. Kitaab--book. Kataba--he wrote. Maktaba--library. Maktab--office.
To me, the Arabic way feels more regular and seems to make more sense. If you know the form and root, what can go wrong? I have yet to be disillusioned.
*I met a girl who didn't know what her major was going to be, but had to introduce herself to an audience of maybe a thousand or two and say her name, major, and why she liked working at the auditorium. I got this close to convincing her to say her major was kinesioeconomics, just because it sounded both fun and like a major somebody could do. Economy of motion, right? She chickened out, but not before I'd decided a major in Astroavionics would be fun preparation to either pilot spaceships or write science fiction.
May 3, 2010
Regular Verbs
Before 9th grade French class, I'd never heard of regular verbs. Then I realized I didn't know if English had any.
Apparently we do, and they actually look pretty easy to conjugate, considering the present tense form is only different for he/she/it, the past tense is all the same, and everything else takes an auxiliary and a participle. Not too bad; in French and Arabic you have to conjugate a little more based on 1st/2nd/3rd person and singular/plural, at least in present and past tense.
On the other hand, English has a lot of irregular verbs, and you can't tell from the word itself whether or not it's regular.
In French, if the infinitive ends with -er, -ir, or -re, it's usually regular. French also has some semi-regular verb families, like the -uire verbs and variants of mettre and venir (both of which are exceptions to the infinitive endings).
In Arabic, there are six truly irregular verbs; the rest belong to families of semi-regulars, and you should be able to tell them by doubled letters or weak consonants in the root. (I could be wrong here; I'm summarizing something I don't know well and read about on the internet.)
In English, you just have to know the verb. We don't have endings to the infinitive that tell us it's irregular, like French usually will, and there aren't specific patterns with the roots like in Arabic. This'd be OK enough--if we didn't have so many irregulars.
Yeah, Sodom and Gomorrah may be in the nice, green part of the country, but you have to pay for it with a little flaming sulfur.
A nice list of regular verbs.
A not-so-nice list of irregular verbs.
A fun verb conjugator.
A useful explanation of irregular verbs in Arabic, if you're such a masochist that you really want to know.
Apparently we do, and they actually look pretty easy to conjugate, considering the present tense form is only different for he/she/it, the past tense is all the same, and everything else takes an auxiliary and a participle. Not too bad; in French and Arabic you have to conjugate a little more based on 1st/2nd/3rd person and singular/plural, at least in present and past tense.
On the other hand, English has a lot of irregular verbs, and you can't tell from the word itself whether or not it's regular.
In French, if the infinitive ends with -er, -ir, or -re, it's usually regular. French also has some semi-regular verb families, like the -uire verbs and variants of mettre and venir (both of which are exceptions to the infinitive endings).
In Arabic, there are six truly irregular verbs; the rest belong to families of semi-regulars, and you should be able to tell them by doubled letters or weak consonants in the root. (I could be wrong here; I'm summarizing something I don't know well and read about on the internet.)
In English, you just have to know the verb. We don't have endings to the infinitive that tell us it's irregular, like French usually will, and there aren't specific patterns with the roots like in Arabic. This'd be OK enough--if we didn't have so many irregulars.
Yeah, Sodom and Gomorrah may be in the nice, green part of the country, but you have to pay for it with a little flaming sulfur.
A nice list of regular verbs.
A not-so-nice list of irregular verbs.
A fun verb conjugator.
A useful explanation of irregular verbs in Arabic, if you're such a masochist that you really want to know.
May 1, 2010
Second Language Studies Program
Today was my interview for the Individualized Major Program, and they approved! I am now definitely majoring in Second Languages Studies.
Some things the committee mentioned:
-Don't stress the final project for another year or so. Since I'm starting the program so early, I'm a guinea pig for SLS. If (when) they finally make it a major, they'll be looking at what I did. The final project will factor into that, but it's still three-ish years away.
-Especially since I've never left the US, I should take opportunities to get to know other cultures, both through classes and people. It'll help a bit when I study abroad, as well as help me to teach cross-culturally.
-The ideal time to study abroad would be the spring of my Junior year, since I only want to go for one semester. The idea is that I study with the program in the spring, and maybe-possibly, once I'm more familiar with the local language and culture, find a place locally to be an English tutor for the summer.
On a different note, would anyone like a funny link? I've got nothing against the Germans, Russians, English, or French, but this is most definitely funny. I guess you could say it's an interesting commentary on cultural differences.
Some things the committee mentioned:
-Don't stress the final project for another year or so. Since I'm starting the program so early, I'm a guinea pig for SLS. If (when) they finally make it a major, they'll be looking at what I did. The final project will factor into that, but it's still three-ish years away.
-Especially since I've never left the US, I should take opportunities to get to know other cultures, both through classes and people. It'll help a bit when I study abroad, as well as help me to teach cross-culturally.
-The ideal time to study abroad would be the spring of my Junior year, since I only want to go for one semester. The idea is that I study with the program in the spring, and maybe-possibly, once I'm more familiar with the local language and culture, find a place locally to be an English tutor for the summer.
On a different note, would anyone like a funny link? I've got nothing against the Germans, Russians, English, or French, but this is most definitely funny. I guess you could say it's an interesting commentary on cultural differences.
April 24, 2010
Accents
I was talking with two international students today--one Korean, one Vietnamese--and we got into a discussion about accents.
Accents, we decided, make language learning hard. I, as a native English speaker, don't have too hard a time understanding different accents. English, Chinese, Arabic, Australian, Western, even Cockney, I'll understand well enough. Growing up, you hear all sorts of English dialects and accents. I may even have a little more experience with accents than some, since I grew up in a college town with a lot of internationals.
It's different for a learner. You learn with your teacher's accent, and it can be hard to transition to another. For example, the difference made it harder for the two students today to understand each other, and they also said it was hard to understand people who spoke different dialects of English. And they're not the only ones.
Dr. I., who I mentioned in an earlier post, has been in the US for quite a while, but her mother hasn't been here as long. She says her mother understands English pretty well here--but, if they're an hour south, she has to translate for her mother.
A friend of mine, J., is from eastern Europe and learned British English pretty early on. When she came to the US, though, she could barely understand what people were saying. In many ways, she had to relearn the language--but she speaks English like a native now.
I haven't had too much trouble with this--yet. Part of it is that I'm still in the US and don't have to function in another language. Here's what I think is relevant for me:
-I'm learning France French, not North African French or Quebec French. A funny story I once heard about an American teacher who knew France French but was in Quebec: she was at a meal and offered more food. "Non, merci," she said. "J'ai plein." I'm full. Things went from normal to awkward, and she couldn't understand why her Quebecois friends were acting so strangely--until she realized that, in Quebec French, "j'ai plein" meant "I'm pregnant."
-I'm learning Modern Standard Arabic. That's the printed, political, and academic language. The reasoning is that, though it's not how people regularly talk, it'll do academically and it's understood--if not spoken--everywhere. Dialects are offshoots of Modern Standard; for example, Egyptians pronounce "J" as "G" and many Saudis pronounce "Q" as "G." I've got a friend who's teaching me some Saudi dialect, though, and I'm very grateful for it.
If you know where you want to go, try to learn the dialect and accent.
Accents, we decided, make language learning hard. I, as a native English speaker, don't have too hard a time understanding different accents. English, Chinese, Arabic, Australian, Western, even Cockney, I'll understand well enough. Growing up, you hear all sorts of English dialects and accents. I may even have a little more experience with accents than some, since I grew up in a college town with a lot of internationals.
It's different for a learner. You learn with your teacher's accent, and it can be hard to transition to another. For example, the difference made it harder for the two students today to understand each other, and they also said it was hard to understand people who spoke different dialects of English. And they're not the only ones.
Dr. I., who I mentioned in an earlier post, has been in the US for quite a while, but her mother hasn't been here as long. She says her mother understands English pretty well here--but, if they're an hour south, she has to translate for her mother.
A friend of mine, J., is from eastern Europe and learned British English pretty early on. When she came to the US, though, she could barely understand what people were saying. In many ways, she had to relearn the language--but she speaks English like a native now.
I haven't had too much trouble with this--yet. Part of it is that I'm still in the US and don't have to function in another language. Here's what I think is relevant for me:
-I'm learning France French, not North African French or Quebec French. A funny story I once heard about an American teacher who knew France French but was in Quebec: she was at a meal and offered more food. "Non, merci," she said. "J'ai plein." I'm full. Things went from normal to awkward, and she couldn't understand why her Quebecois friends were acting so strangely--until she realized that, in Quebec French, "j'ai plein" meant "I'm pregnant."
-I'm learning Modern Standard Arabic. That's the printed, political, and academic language. The reasoning is that, though it's not how people regularly talk, it'll do academically and it's understood--if not spoken--everywhere. Dialects are offshoots of Modern Standard; for example, Egyptians pronounce "J" as "G" and many Saudis pronounce "Q" as "G." I've got a friend who's teaching me some Saudi dialect, though, and I'm very grateful for it.
If you know where you want to go, try to learn the dialect and accent.
April 21, 2010
Y'all
Sometime or other, you'll probably see me write (or hear me say, if you know me) "y'all." Now, I'm not from a part of the country where that's a common thing, but I got started on it when I started learning French and Arabic. In English, the plural "you" is the same as the singular, and sometimes that's just not satisfying. "Y'all" does the job quite well.
That's all I have to say to y'all for now.
That's all I have to say to y'all for now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
