Tag Archives: language learning

Linguistic changes in the former Soviet Union

Posted on 2011年01月24日 | 01/24/2011 by

The article “Still Fighting Russia, This Time With Words” from the New York Times exposes connections between language, culture, and politics. Russian was the primary language throughout the Soviet Union. Now, former Soviet countries are marginalizing Russian in favor of … Continue reading →

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Word of the week #13: 舞

Posted on 2011年01月22日 | 01/22/2011 by

This week’s word is 舞 (wu), which is the word for dance. 跳舞 is “to dance.” The words that come before the word 舞 in a phrase describe the type of dance. 中國舞 (zhong guo wu) means Chinese dance. There … Continue reading →

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Hiragana and katakana games

Posted on 2011年01月17日 | 01/17/2011 by

I’ve been on the search for various computer games that I can play to test my knowledge of hiragana and katakana. It’s also easier to test myself this way since I do not have any exams. The Hiragana drag-n-drop and … Continue reading →

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French-ruled paper, Séyès paper

Posted on 2011年01月04日 | 01/04/2011 by

The first time I saw French cursive was when I received the first letter from my French pen pal when I was in middle school. French cursive is very precise and very neat. I find it quite pretty as well. … Continue reading →

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Hiragana and katakana

Posted on 2010年12月28日 | 12/28/2010 by

The first step I took to learn Japanese was to memorize hiragana and katakana, what are known as the “50 sounds” of Japanese. Both have the same pronunciation, but katakana is used to sound out foreign words. I wanted to … Continue reading →

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注音符號 (zhu yin fu hao)

Posted on 2010年12月14日 | 12/14/2010 by

I mentioned 注音符號 (zhu yin fu hao) in a previous post. Now I’ll take the time to explain. 注音符號 is sort of like an alphabet (like Chinese ABC’s, I guess) that is taught to schoolchildren in Taiwan. It is a … Continue reading →

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Finally able to read (something) in Japanese

Posted on 2010年10月28日 | 10/28/2010 by

I’ve been learning hiragana in my beginning Japanese studies. Unfortunately, it is going really slooowly. On the other hand, it is so much fun when I can actually identify characters. As was the case when I saw this: And I … Continue reading →

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Language learning and the LPGA

Posted on 2010年10月26日 | 10/26/2010 by

The issue of the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) requiring all players to speak English while on tour sparked a debate a couple of years ago. However, the article “Language Labs to Help Golfers Communicate” from the NY Times shows … Continue reading →

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Trying to keep a language from dying

Posted on 2010年10月16日 | 10/16/2010 by

Here is another article (“In Multilingual Switzerland, One Tongue Struggles”) from the NY Times about languages and I thought it had a great message. The article describes the decline of Romansh, a regional language in Chur, Switzerland. It has been … Continue reading →

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Automated computer learning and languages

Posted on 2010年10月06日 | 10/06/2010 by

I really like “Aiming to Learn as We Do, a Machine Teaches Itself” in the NY Times. The field of artificial intelligence is based on the idea of trying to make a computer think like a human. This includes making … Continue reading →

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