TAC 2017 - vijayjohn

[vijayjohn]

Oh! I forgot to mention that I got up to Chapter 10 in Practical Chinese Reader III! If I can read five more chapters, I'll be done with that book, and then there'll be another 15 chapters in Practical Chinese Reader IV. Then there's 14 chapters in book five and I guess 16 in book six, but book five is just a bunch of passages with no English, and I still haven't read my selected readings from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio or Basic Chinese or Chinese Characters, nor have I read any of the various books (and three old newspapers) I have in Simplified and Traditional Chinese. I have so many resources for Chinese! Meanwhile, the only resources I have for French that I haven't finished going through yet are TY Business French, a copy of Le Monde, and Cyrano de Bergerac.

EDIT: Well, I have Parlons brahoui, too, but I don't think it'll particularly help with my French at this point tbh. Also, I'm not counting online resources, only print ones that I have inside my house!

[vijayjohn]

I was taking stock of some of my resources today. I realized that in each of French, Spanish, German, and Mandarin Chinese, I have textbooks, at least one newspaper, and something other than a newspaper originally written in that language with no English in it or anything. However, for Portuguese, literally all I have in print is TY, Barron's, a tour guide to New York that I also have the original English version of, and the Berlitz phrasebook for African languages (yes, that includes not only Portuguese but also French and Modern Standard Arabic!). I have the Brazilian novel O homem que calculava but in English, and while I now have access to the original, I already read the novel years ago. Maybe next time I want to buy something to read, I could get a newspaper in Portuguese. A book in Portuguese would probably be even better, as I'm more likely to actually get around to reading it. A book from a former Portuguese colony, in Africa for example, could be really interesting. To be fair, I have fewer print resources (or even none at all) for a bunch of other languages I'm learning.

Anyway, here are a few new words in German I learned from my two books in German (one about German history from 1600 to "the present day" and another about child language acquisition) and a reader called Querschnitt. I guessed what the word for 'original, initial' meant, but I don't think I know it very well, so I've included it in this list:

acquisition = der Erwerb
male wild boar = der Keiler
original, initial = ursprünglich
constitutional state = der Rechtsstaat

[vijayjohn]

La Reina del Sur just might be the most useful tool I can think of right now for improving my Spanish vocabulary. In fact, I'm starting to feel like it's even improving my English, or just making me try to improve my general knowledge about certain things. For instance, I was just watching the very beginning of the clip and keeping my eyes peeled for new vocabulary in the background song, and I came across the word terciopelo, which I learned means 'velvet'. The song at that point says hacemos con las nubes terciopelo, and I was like "'we make velvet with the clouds'? What??" Then I realized I have no idea wtf velvet even is!

It's odd. I guess it's because I always thought velvet was supposed to be a color, like some variation on purple or something, but I guess it's not. I'm sure this isn't the first time I learned that, either; I just never really understood what it really is, even though I'm sure I've seen and felt it before. I mean, if it's the kind of fabric I think it is, it isn't really that soft, more just fuzzy? So I guess trying to make that out of clouds is culturally odd to me. Oh well, to each their own, I guess!

[dEhiN]

Velvet is a material, but I think of it as more soft rather than fuzzy. I guess that's because I associate fuzzy more with hair, or short hair. Like that feeling you get when you run your hair over short hair. So I think of suede as more fuzzy. While velvet for me is more akin to satin or silk. I don't know the context of the phrase hacemos con las nubes terciopelo (like, what the lyrics are before and after it), but clouds can be viewed as soft, fluffy and even velvety/satiny/silky by some. Here are two hits in English with the phrase "velvet(y) cloud(s)": an e-liquid company called Velvet Cloud, and what appears to be a metal album called Up to Velvety Clouds. I've also heard the term velvet(y) used with clouds before in English, so the association doesn't only exist in Spanish.

[Saim]

TY Business French

Oh god, why? Is it any good?

EDIT: Well, I have Parlons brahoui, too, but I don't think it'll particularly help with my French at this point tbh. Also, I'm not counting online resources, only print ones that I have inside my house!

I have Parlons pandjabi - Pakistan and I can't say it's the best book on the planet.

[vijayjohn]

Oh god, why?

Just because I happen to have it, really. The first TY books (and among the first few foreign language textbooks) I ever bought were Business French, Thai, Swahili, and Greek, in the order that I recall selecting them (and always keeping them organized on whatever shelf they were on). It's the only textbook I have for French that I have never managed to read cover to cover. For a long time, I wanted to be an entrepreneur just like my dad, and French was the first language I remember studying seriously for years on end.

If it helps you feel any better, when I was eleven years old, I once almost flushed this book literally down the toilet by accident.

Is it any good?

I would say its main strength is that it has lots and lots of vocabulary. Granted, some of that vocabulary is late-1980s corporatese with terms like "overhead," "turnover," "carriage paid," and "the Snake (EMS)," and it's probably a little superfluous (do I really have to know like ten different ways of saying 'of course' in French?!). However, in general, I think it's just good for improving your French. I have trouble imagining anyone in business having the patience to deal with a book like this unless they were really desperate or something. I will also give it credit for introducing me to two important French newspapers: Le Monde and Le Figaro. (It has a few newspaper clips from the time).

The back cover has the usual TY slogan of how the book is useful "whether you're a beginner or you need to brush up on your French" or whatever; this is a complete lie. It seems unlikely that anyone would finish reading it unless either they were just really dedicated to doing that or maybe they already had some experience with reading really boring French literature. At this point, I do have experience with reading really boring French literature, like La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu and Molière's L'école des femmes. The first five chapters are all relatively easy with things like assayez-vous s'il vous plaît and "please hold, I will get Madame Leroy on the line for you" plus some apparently outdated advice for letter-writing techniques (the whole letter closing formula of je vous prie, monsieur, d'accepter mes sentiments les plus distingués etc.). After that, BAM the dialogues suddenly get unusually long with any given line in a dialogue often being a paragraph long or more ("our company was founded in year blah blah blah something about the Board of Directors and overhead and turnover"). The book also has a lot of cultural notes, all in French but of dubious utility IMO (at least one of them is just about good business practice).

I have Parlons pandjabi - Pakistan and I can't say it's the best book on the planet.

Parlons brahoui may not be, either, but eh, I got it from my advisor for free, and it's not like I have anything else for Brahui, so I can't complain!

[księżycowy]

I need some advice, Vijay-sama!

[vijayjohn]

I "cannot make another post so soon after [my] last" but what do you need advice on, księżycowy-sama?

[księżycowy]

You honor me, Vijay-sama!

So, regarding the NAILC I'm wondering what to do. I know I want to get as far as possible with Seneca, but I can't help but what to "feed the beast" a bit more. And I feel like I have too many options eyeing me down. I'm drowning over here!

I was crushing on Colville-Okanagan Salish pretty hard this last week. But then I, just for shits and giggles, emailed the ANLC and one thing led to another and ended up getting in contact with Anna Berge and she said she'd try to help me out with the exercises in her Pribilof Aleut textbook. I also got in touch with one of the folks working with North Slope Iñupiaq and he said he'd be willing to help me out if I had questions while working through the grammar books I have to that.

So the ultimate question is, do I do one of these, or do I play it safe and just do Seneca?

I know I probably couldn't do more then one of them if I did an Alaskan one.

どうしよう！！！！！！！！！？？？？？？？？？？

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[vijayjohn]

Yeah, I think I'd just stick with Seneca in that case.

[księżycowy]

That is a super lame answer, Vijay-kun!

[vijayjohn]

Well, I might attempt all of them or something, along with about 20 other languages, but even then, I probably wouldn't actually accomplish anything.

[księżycowy]

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering myself.

I mean I could see them as just "fun" languages, like Arrernte is/was. But I don't know if in all good conscious I could do that if people are willing to seriously help me in one way or another, you know.

At the very least I told Dr. Berge that I'd get back to her when I was actually using her textbook. (I told her a month or two, but I'm sure she don't be counting and if it turned out to be 9 months it'd be fine). I suppose I could tell the other guy for Inupiaq the same thing. I mean, I don't want to piss these opportunities away, but at the same time, if should be fine as long as I tell them what's up.
In all honesty I was just taking a shot in the dark on getting answer keys or something of that sort.

Then again ,it's not like we're covering a ton of ground each week for Seneca. We seem to be going at a pretty slow pace thus far.

[vijayjohn]

You don't know they're seriously willing to help you, though, do you? All they said was that they'd "try to help" or were "willing to help," right? Or are they actually counting on it?

Maybe if you really feel bad about asking them, I could add another 50-100 languages to my list and make you ask them any questions I have...

[vijayjohn]

I have an interview for a (foreign language??) teacher position coming up on Monday, so I finally learned a little bit about the employer. I also translated a paragraph from Latin to English on Reddit and learned that Christopher Columbus never wrote in his own native language (Genoese) and his name in that language would have been pronounced [kriˈʃtɔffa kuˈɹuŋbu] at the time, spelled <Christoffa Corombo>.

I think I might also be getting sick.

[dEhiN]

I have an interview for a (foreign language??) teacher position coming up on Monday, so I finally learned a little bit about the employer.

Good luck with the interview! What's the position? Can you share more details?

I think I might also be getting sick.

Aww, sorry to hear that. *Gives Vijay-bhai Chicken Soup for the Soul*

[księżycowy]

You don't know they're seriously willing to help you, though, do you? All they said was that they'd "try to help" or were "willing to help," right? Or are they actually counting on it?

I wouldn't say anyone is counting on anything at this point. Not even me.

But they both seemed sincere in there offer of help. Or at least as sincere as one can seem over an email message anyway.

I mean, I don't fell "really bad" about it, but I just want to maybe slow my roll and take up these two at a better time. And I don't want to burn any bridges. (Which doesn't seem like it will happen, but you never know.)

[księżycowy]

I think I might also be getting sick.

Aww, sorry to hear that. *Gives Vijay-bhai Chicken Soup for the Soul*

Now that his soul is healthy, what do we do about his body?

[Osias]

I have an interview for a (foreign language??) teacher position coming up on Monday

For what language?

[dEhiN]

Now that his soul is healthy, what do we do about his body?

The body is but a vessel. What matters most is the soul, the ātman. After all, the vessel that is Vijay-bhai's body was borne of this earth and to this earth it shall return.