TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby księżycowy » 2017-02-26, 0:00

The vaccines wouldn't work on me anyway, my sickness is chronic. :P

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-26, 0:29

Same! I have LIDS: Language Immunodeficiency Syndrome. I was infected early with the Human Papuanavirus.

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby dEhiN » 2017-02-26, 6:43

vijayjohn wrote:Same! I have LIDS: Language Immunodeficiency Syndrome. I was infected early with the Human Papuanavirus.

I'm not sure if I have LIDS just yet, but I'm getting there. It's early stages: I encounter any language - written, spoken, talked about, etc. - and I have a fleeting desire to study it and to learn it. That desire used to be stronger back in the day, but actual language study has tempered it with reality.
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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-26, 7:32

Ah, you must have a less virulent strain of the virus in your bloodstream then. There may be hope for you yet!

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby dEhiN » 2017-02-26, 7:43

Though sometimes I want to inject myself with a more virulent strain! :D

I could see it going either way actually. If I engage in more language nerdery, then I believe the virus will get stronger. However, I currently have many other things in my life that keep the nerdery and thus the virus at bay.
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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-26, 8:12

dEhiN wrote:Though sometimes I want to inject myself with a more virulent strain! :D

Ah, the joys of dying of LIDS!
I could see it going either way actually. If I engage in more language nerdery, then I believe the virus will get stronger. However, I currently have many other things in my life that keep the nerdery and thus the virus at bay.

Yes, this happens to me, too. The ways of LIDS are peculiar. Life offers all manner of treatments for LIDS, but the most fatal of the symptoms appear to be strongest at times when the brain is not overwhelmed with said treatments.

Dr. Mōdgethanc, please jump in and correct all this pseudoscience at some point when you have a break from the OR.

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby dEhiN » 2017-02-27, 4:56

vijayjohn wrote:The ways of LIDS are peculiar. Life offers all manner of treatments for LIDS, but the most fatal of the symptoms appear to be strongest at times when the brain is not overwhelmed with said treatments.

But how is that peculiar? I would suspect this is true of any syndrome or viral or bacterial infection, be it a real one or an alternative one. (Sorry, couldn't resist! :D)

Dr. Mōdgethanc, please jump in and correct all this pseudoscience at some point when you have a break from the OR.

Paging Dr. Mōdgethanc ... paging Dr. Mōdgethanc ... Dr. Mōdgethanc please report to UL immediately ... Dr. Mōdgethanc please report to UL immediately
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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-27, 6:47

And now I've moved on to the Turkish forum. There really wasn't much left to do on the Russian forum. It remains to be seen how active the Turkish forum is now.

I think maybe I'll change the order I go in. I'm definitely still thinking of doing Arabic after Turkish, but then maybe I'll jump right into Amharic...oh, and then I guess I could do Swahili and Hindi, then move on to Dinka, English, and Krio in that order. Then I could do ASL and then Thai...

I've also been wondering how to take my two-star languages to the next level. Maybe I just need more time to spend on them. Or is it that I need to focus on improving one (or two :twisted:) at a time? If I had to pick one, I think maybe it would be Hindi/Urdu. After all, I have family that speaks it now because of my sister-in-law. I suspect that Arabic (and Turkish) will end up helping me make sense of most unfamiliar words I encounter in Hindi/Urdu, though.

Finally, for some non-language-related stuff: My parents have been trying to get me to look for another job, preferably(?) within Apple. They want me to ask my manager and shit about that (how am I supposed to do that when we're all super-busy with other shit?!). I wonder whether I can try to find another job before my parents get mad about me not finding one, even though I don't really feel like looking for another job now and I'm not exactly in a hurry yet.
dEhiN wrote:But how is that peculiar? I would suspect this is true of any syndrome or viral or bacterial infection, be it a real one or an alternative one. (Sorry, couldn't resist! :D)

Most diseases aren't treated by just normal social interaction. ;)
Paging Dr. Mōdgethanc ... paging Dr. Mōdgethanc ... Dr. Mōdgethanc please report to UL immediately ... Dr. Mōdgethanc please report to UL immediately

That almost sounds like a prayer. :lol:

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby dEhiN » 2017-02-27, 7:03

vijayjohn wrote:I think maybe I'll change the order I go in.

Yeah when I tried to cycle through multiple languages, figuring out an order was always hard.

I'm definitely still thinking of doing Arabic after Turkish, but then maybe I'll jump right into Amharic

Do you worry about getting confused if you do two languages in the same family right after each other? I used to try and space the Romance languages I am/was doing so I wouldn't get confused.

Finally, for some non-language-related stuff: My parents have been trying to get me to look for another job, preferably(?) within Apple. They want me to ask my manager and shit about that (how am I supposed to do that when we're all super-busy with other shit?!). I wonder whether I can try to find another job before my parents get mad about me not finding one, even though I don't really feel like looking for another job now and I'm not exactly in a hurry yet.

I'm curious why they want you to look for another job? I understand when you weren't working, your dad wanting you to find a job (although his methods seemed a bit extreme, though I suppose for a South Asian parent, that's nothing). But now that you have a job? And also, if you won't want to look for a new one, nor move around in the company, then why ask your manager? I know this is easier said than done, but if I parents were getting mad at me about stuff that's really none of their business, I would tell them to butt out.

Most diseases aren't treated by just normal social interaction. ;)

That's true... :whistle:

Paging Dr. Mōdgethanc ... paging Dr. Mōdgethanc ... Dr. Mōdgethanc please report to UL immediately ... Dr. Mōdgethanc please report to UL immediately

That almost sounds like a prayer. :lol:

I was going for an ER comm.
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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-02-27, 7:32

dEhiN wrote:Do you worry about getting confused

Neverrr! :lol:
I'm curious why they want you to look for another job?

Because in Chump's America, if you don't have a job, you don't have health insurance, either.
I was going for an ER comm.

I know. ;) But it still sounds kind of like a prayer. :D

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-03, 21:40

I've moved on to the Arabic forum, where I'm posting for the first time in my life. I wonder whether I'll actually do anything to improve my Arabic, especially beyond just posting on UniLang, and how. I'll try to see how much I can do.

Now, I'm doing a strange combination of languages, though: I'm posting in the Arabic forum on UniLang, but I'm also hoping to review some Khmer this evening, not to mention translate part of my grandfather's memoirs from Malayalam (and eventually read part of a novel in Malayalam to my dad as well). My dad and I have suddenly decided to go to the slightly (but not unacceptably) Americanized Chinese place where probably most of the waiters are Cambodians (though I think also of Chinese origin like a lot of Cambodians are); that's why I want to review what little I know of their language before going. :P

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-05, 5:25

Wow, I'm still really excited about this prospect of potentially improving my languages, so much so that I'm not sure whether I'm actually doing it or still just excited about the idea! :lol: Okay, I guess I kind of am. There's not much I've been doing on the Arabic forum that requires any actual knowledge of Arabic, though. :silly: That will hopefully change kind of soon.

Oh, also, I found some Turkish movies with English subtitles. This one, which I haven't really watched much of yet, is called Aşk Sana Benzer ("Love Is Like You"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LCKAhVzMTs
And this is a Turkish and (Turkish/Northern) Cypriot co-production! It's called Seni Seviyorum Adamım, which means "I Love You, Man." That reminded me of the American movie of the same name (which I never actually saw). :lol: I'm not aware of any connection between the two, though. I wonder whether the actors here are speaking Cypriot Turkish or just mainland Turkish since it's apparently set in Northern Cyprus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysk5hQOxm9U
Oh, and I ended up not using my Cambodian at the restaurant because I didn't manage to review much before going haha.

Also, not actually an update, but just further information on what I said before about looking for another job: My dad in particular has been suggesting that maybe I could try talking to my manager to get a job similar to his. I think he's also thinking, though, that I could try to get a job like that in the Bay Area; I believe he said Apple has a branch in Santa Clara. That way, I could get to stay at a place of my own. It would be expensive (because it's California), but he doesn't mind that, apparently.

In reality, I don't know whether I want a job like my manager's. He's always running around. I always ask him whether he's okay. If his job looks tiring to me now before I've even really considered taking on a job like that myself...how would it be if I actually had it? And I'm not sure whether California's where I want to go, either. FWICT the allergies there aren't that much better than here (and of course it's really expensive).

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-06, 1:21

I'm just posting here to say it suddenly occurred to me this morning that I can see language-learning as a pursuit I continue for my entire life. It's not physically strenuous and would be good for keeping my mind active at an old age. I didn't think of the fact that of course, if I had a mental disease or disorder or something to prevent my brain from functioning as it normally would at that age, then I might not be able to.

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-07, 5:01

Moving on to Amharic now and reminding myself of my struggle to learn the alphabet! I've also been watching all four of the movies I posted here in bits and pieces on a daily basis (not sure whether I'll do that tonight or not). I haven't really done anything else (I was posting in Arabic over the last four days).

My mom was in Dubai with my sister-in-law's mom and just got back home this evening. By the time I came home from work, she was already back. Bear in mind that, as eskandar and I recently discussed on another thread, the biggest ethnic group in Dubai is not Arabs but rather Indians.

So she told me she tried to find a book in Arabic to buy me, but she had such a hard time finding anything, even newspapers! Finally, she found one bilingual book. I tried to see whether I could find it in her luggage, and she helped me look for it. It was hard to find because it turned out to be only a thin little pocket-sized guide to Sharjah Museums in English and...Urdu! :lol: I didn't realize it was Urdu until I opened it up and started reading it and saw the word ڈپارٹمنٹ ('department' in Urdu script) and thought "what?" :rotfl: (This isn't the first time she's accidentally done something like this, either. She went to Vancouver once and got me a book in what she thought was Chinese but was really a guide to Vancouver in Japanese :P).

Oh, also, speaking of Dubai, this post with a clip from a show made in Dubai is possibly one of my favorite posts on The Arabic Student for learning Levantine Arabic. It's an excerpt in Lebanese Arabic on a show about makeovers, which isn't exactly the sort of TV show I'm fascinated by but makes for great language practice!

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby dEhiN » 2017-03-07, 21:52

vijayjohn wrote:which isn't exactly the sort of TV show I'm fascinated by but makes for great language practice!

Yeah I find for myself, it's amazing how many things I would normally not watch or listen to in English which I will do in other languages for the language practice! Recently I was over at my sister's place, hanging out with her and my brother-in-law. The TV was on, and I was really the only one watching it so I changed it to TFO which is a provincial French channel. At one point there was a reality-tv show, which isn't really my thing. But I still watched it and kept it on in the background, even when I started chatting with my hosts, because it was good language practice.
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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-08, 2:13

dEhiN wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:which isn't exactly the sort of TV show I'm fascinated by but makes for great language practice!

Yeah I find for myself, it's amazing how many things I would normally not watch or listen to in English which I will do in other languages for the language practice!

I frequently find language-learners say stuff like this (or publicly show that they're doing just that). I'm sure pretty much anyone studying Arabic is bound to come across a lot of unsavory religious extremist material, for example...And I remember a former driver of ours in my parents' hometown learned English just by watching the Discovery Channel (he already knew a lot of zoology because he used to be a hunter).

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby Michael » 2017-03-08, 2:24

vijayjohn wrote:So she told me she tried to find a book in Arabic to buy me, but she had such a hard time finding anything, even newspapers! Finally, she found one bilingual book. I tried to see whether I could find it in her luggage, and she helped me look for it. It was hard to find because it turned out to be only a thin little pocket-sized guide to Sharjah Museums in English and...Urdu! :lol: I didn't realize it was Urdu until I opened it up and started reading it and saw the word ڈپارٹمنٹ ('department' in Urdu script) and thought "what?" :rotfl: (This isn't the first time she's accidentally done something like this, either. She went to Vancouver once and got me a book in what she thought was Chinese but was really a guide to Vancouver in Japanese :P).

Did you assume that your mother could tell Urdu and Arabic apart? :lol:
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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-08, 4:39

Michael wrote:Did you assume that your mother could tell Urdu and Arabic apart? :lol:

No, it just took me a few seconds to realize that it was really in Urdu and not Arabic. I wouldn't have expected her to find a book in Urdu in Dubai any more than I would have expected her to find one in Arabic. :lol:

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby księżycowy » 2017-03-08, 12:58

Can I just say, Vijay, that I am highly jealous you're learning Amharic?

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Re: TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

Postby dEhiN » 2017-03-08, 14:19

księżycowy wrote:Can I just say, Vijay, that I am highly jealous you're learning Amharic?

I concur, though I would remove highly as a descriptor.
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