Monday, April 4, 2011
Did I see Ryan Trewin's Funeral Procession?
I live near Canal Fulton, Ohio, and the library there is my favorite place to check out books and the odd Pimsleur CDs or tapes. ***I was there on Saturday trying to study, when I heard about a dozen or so fire engines with their sirens and lights on go past. At first I didn't know what was going on, and thought it was some sort of parade? Then I saw several cars with purple funeral flags drive past. At first I thought a fireman had died, since there were several engines from towns around the area. Then I remembered Ryan Trewin, a 10-year-old boy from Canal Fulton, had died that week of cancer of the central nervous system. Apparently, he loved fire engines. ***If you drove through Canal Fulton at anytime in the past several months, like I do several times a week, you would have noticed the Pray for Ryan signs in yards and several businesses. He had cancer of the spine, I believe, and maybe brain tumors. I think he had cancer since he was seven, and at different times his doctors thought he was going to die, but he kept going. He succumbed last Tuesday, surrounded by his family and friends at his home. ***It's amazing how a sick boy can bring a community together.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Khan Academy on YouTube
Today I watched my first video on khanacademy channel. He's Sal Khan, a high school valedictorian, MIT & Harvard Business School graduate. In other words, he's really smart. :p I subscribed to the channel a few weeks ago after I saw a post on it on one of my favorite blogs, Page F30. It is basically a channel that teaches different types of academic subjects (alas, no languages though). He was even featured on CNN and PBS for his service to humanity. The CNN spot even talked about a girl in the UAE (I think it was) who was getting help with her calculus college class through his videos. Very, very cool. The videos I watched were on the credit crisis, the four videos in his Housing Conundrum series. Very interesting, perhaps business school wasn't a waste of time for me, I just needed to find someone who could explain things in ways I could understand, and being able to watch over & over again doesn't hurt either. Most of his videos seem to focus on math and science, although he does talk about business and history as well. It's a very cool channel and I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
RE: Moses McCormick's Video, Polyglot Project Question
Today Moses made a video about what he would do if he were in control of language learning in schools and how to get people interested in learning language. If you don't know him: http://www.youtube.com/user/laoshu505000 He's a really cool guy. His main point is that he would not make languages mandatory and he would use a different method of teaching, presumably his, to get students more motivated to learn the language. He also seems to think his idea would sell itself and students, through word of mouth, would persuade other people to take languages. I have mixed feelings about no longer making languages mandatory. The first language class I took was a mandatory one quarter French class in sixth grade. We also took one quarter Shop, Home Ec, and Art. The next year we would take Spanish for a quarter, and in 8th grade we could choose. If French would have been optional I probably would have still taken it since even back then I liked languages. I think that is really the time to have mandatory classes: in elementary and middle school, and in high school and university allow the students to choose whether they would want to take language classes or not. The lower grades, I think, are appropriate places for mandatory cultural and arts courses, so young students can understand who they are and what other cultures are like. I don't think this would work, though, since school funding might not allow this to happen in the lower grades, and the best an elementary teacher could muster might be to play some Spanish children's songs or go through a Spanish book for kids. One example of a mandatory course I didn't think I'd like but ended up liking were area studies and cultural diversity courses. We needed to take 4 credits from this category for a Bachelor's degree, and since they were 2 credits each, naturally, we took 2 of them. I took China and Japan. China was OK, the only reason I really didn't like it was because the textbook was long and dull and the professor had been in a skydiving accident and couldn't get up when he fell down, so a lot of classes were cancelled when he fell. I loved the Japan class. They were both basically history classes with a little culture thrown in. I agree with him that colleges and universities are basically businesses so they would require their students to take GenEd classes to make money. Well, maybe not exactly, since the universities and colleges may have to conform to certain requirements from the state or accreditation agency. If you don't want to take GenEd classes, go for an Associate's degree. Anyway, I wrote a comment on Moses's video. I basically said that I started taking Spanish at my university as an elective in summer school since I needed an elective and that appealed to me the most among my choices. I started to study Spanish about the time I registered for classes, which would have been late February or early March, and have been studying ever since. I think I may have been the only one in the 2 classes who was taking it as an elective and not just as a GenEd class, which is what the Arts & Sciences students have to do. I think I may have gotten some strange looks because I said I like languages and that was the only reason I was taking the class. During the spring semester before summer school the university offered free Saturday classes in Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, and French. I took Mandarin, and stopped going about halfway through. That is the sort of thing I would like to see more of, schools offering these programs - to everyone connected with the university in some way, such as the children of students, not just students - to try to get people interested in languages.
Classes for Fall Semester 2011
Today I have a mandatory meeting with my advisor. It's mandatory because I'll be dropped from the Medical Assisting program if I don't meet with her. I already scheduled my classes and will get the go-ahead from my advisor then. The classes I'm taking next semester are: Medical Assisting I (a 5 credit class) Reimbursement for Healthcare Services (a senior level class; I'm surprised I was able to schedule it) Principles of Human Structure and Function (a five credit class) For a grand total of 13 hours The best part about it is that I won't have any Monday classes, but I do have Friday classes in the afternoon. My MA class is split between four days instead of one really large class two days a week since I hated taking Gerontology as one really large class on Friday. The good news I only need to take one more class to fulfill requirements for a Gerontolgy Certificate, and both the Anatomy class and the Reimbursement class fulfill those requirements. I'm also positioning myself to go into Billing possibly, and I can take Human Diseases next semester, which is a required class for Billing but not for MA. Spring Semester 2012 I'll take: Medical Assisting II Human Diseases Office Procedures I I guess this year isn't going to be so slow after all. ETA: I met with my advisor and found out I can't take the Reimbursement course, I'll take an Insurance class in the Fall of 2012. Why they offer two classes and will only allow people to take one I don't know. I also have to get a ton of shots and titers, which is when they draw blood and see if you're immune to a certain disease. If you're not immune, you need to get a shot. Fun times.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Annual Bake Sale
Today at church we held our annual men & boys' bake sale.
I made mini cheesecakes, little cheesecakes the size of a cupcake or muffin. They sold for $50.
Yes, people actually pay that an excessive amount of good money for bake goods worth nowhere near that amount.
My brother's brought in $51. Beaten by a dollar! Dagnabbit!
They were selling a 12-year-old boy's peanut butter pay and a man told the auctioneer "I'll pay you $100 if you'll let me throw it in your face."
Yes, this wasn't the first time. The auctioneer has been doing this for about 20 years, and this is the second time he took a pie to the face.
We'll see if the YouTube video is up by tomorrow.
I made mini cheesecakes, little cheesecakes the size of a cupcake or muffin. They sold for $50.
Yes, people actually pay that an excessive amount of good money for bake goods worth nowhere near that amount.
My brother's brought in $51. Beaten by a dollar! Dagnabbit!
They were selling a 12-year-old boy's peanut butter pay and a man told the auctioneer "I'll pay you $100 if you'll let me throw it in your face."
Yes, this wasn't the first time. The auctioneer has been doing this for about 20 years, and this is the second time he took a pie to the face.
We'll see if the YouTube video is up by tomorrow.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Language & Education Update
Well, the doctor put me on new medicine and I feel less lethargic than I have in the past. I don't know if it's because I'm off the old medicine or I'm just looking forward to doing something since I've had class for the first time in a couple of weeks. Anyway, I feel like studying languages again for the first time in a long time (well, not that long, just for about a month, but it feels really long for me).
I think I've finally found the list of languages I want to learn.
Spanish
French
Italian
German
Esperanto
Japanese
Swahili
For a total of seven, and I have material for 6 of them. Right now all I have for Swahili is a phrasebook and 10 lessons of Pimsleur. Someone bought the last TYS Swahili in the bookstore before I could get to it.
To go through them quickly:
Spanish: my main language right now, and one that I want to study everyday. I took 2 classes in summer school in 2009 and that's about as far as I've gotten with the language, since I don't think I've progressed very far since then. I have tons of books for Spanish, since I went beserk back when I got materials for it. I've studied off and on for the past 2 years, and I'm still a mid-level beginner! I should be ashamed of myself . . .
French: another language I had in high school, although that was 7 years ago. I don't think I'll study French that much this year, since I really don't feel like doing so. Maybe later.
Italian: my most recent fixation. I bought a TYS yesterday and have enjoyed going through the book since then. I don't think I'll confuse it with my Spanish, like I was concerned, since it doesn't really sound anything like Spanish in my mind's eye, it sounds distinctively Italian. I'll see if the pleasure lasts long enough for me to learn a considerable amount of Italian.
German: I think I'll only go with one Germanic language, actually. I might go for Afrikaans later, since there's a great Website for it, and I like some of the songs on there, although knowing Afrikaans doesn't really serve any practical purpose for me at the moment. I had a lot of fun going through Deutsche Welle's online course and Pimsleur and Michel Thomas CDs, although I stopped shortly after the middle of January. I want to start again, although I'm a little hesitant about studying more than one languages at a time.
Esperanto: the most well-known IAL, and a great gateway into the world of IALs. I went through some of lernu's courses in the beginning of February, and would like to continue. My activity on lernu has dwindled for the past few weeks, so I'll have to start again soon.
Japanese: I have the first 4 CDs of Pimsleur, a TYS book, and a phrasebook, so nothing major. I should have bought the Japanese instead of the Mandarin Michel Thomas, but I guess my library will like it when I donate it, which I guess is what I'll do with my Mandarin MT. I've always wanted to learn a language that uses characters, and I guess Japanese has beaten out Mandarin since I'm more interested in Japan than China, there aren't really any tones (but it does have a slight pitch accent), and Japanese has a syllabary system, so you can always write out what you need to get across to native speakers using the syllabaries instead of using kanji, although that might look childish to native Japanese speakers and might actually be more difficult on the learner. This will be the first time I learned a language that doesn't use the Latin alphabet.
Swahili: I like how it sounds, it's non-Indo-European, it's grammar isn't supposed to be too hard, I would like to learn a little of an African language, and I like the movie King's Solomon's Mines and safari movies. Enough said.
The best part is I can learn any of these languages, with the exception of Swahili, whenever I want to since I have TYS books for all of them, with the exception of Swahili. I guess I should try to find a book for Swahili, but I'll just watch some YouTube videos on Swahili such I have far too much on my language learning plate as it is.
Other languages I might be interested in:
Indonesian
Afrikaans
Occidental Interlingue (an IAL)
Sambahsa-Mundialect (another IAL)
other IALs, although I have no intention of being the Moses McCormick of IALs
a Slavic language - Russian or Polish
Persian/Farsi
I want to learn a Slavic language because I have Slavic ancestry, Polish on my mom's side and Slovenian on my dad's side.
Ah, who am I kidding? I'll never learn that many languages!
Languages I have no intention of learning, unless I'm forced to:
Portuguese (can't stand how it sounds)
Mandarin Chinese (don't like the tones, too confusing)
Arabic (don't like how it sounds)
Dutch (really ugly, rather learn Afrikaans, most speak English)
Scandinavian languages (don't like the sound, doesn't seem too phonetic)
Anything too weird or obscure - people think I'm weird enough as it is
*****
Now for what I'm doing to improve my education.
I have an appointment with my adviser at school to schedule courses for next semester, since it's mandatory. I'm taking a Medical Assisting course, which is the only thing for certain now, plus I'd like to know a little bit about medical billing, since it might help me get a better job, like a management position or even a sales position later on. I'm also thinking about getting a Gerontology certificate, which would mean two or three additional classes beyond my Intro to Gerontology class, since aging is pretty interesting and a lot of jobs are going to open up in the future dealing with older people.
I always love to borrow books from the library, and it's one of my favorite things to do. Right now I'm reading through The Personal MBA, which claims to have all the content of an MBA program (highly doubtful, but my professor DID give me a link to a Website that really DOES have all the content of an MBA program). At the site (the personal MBA site, not the other one) it has a list of books on business, so I'll have to see which ones are at the library and get them on interlibrary loan.
Oh well, that is all.
I think I've finally found the list of languages I want to learn.
Spanish
French
Italian
German
Esperanto
Japanese
Swahili
For a total of seven, and I have material for 6 of them. Right now all I have for Swahili is a phrasebook and 10 lessons of Pimsleur. Someone bought the last TYS Swahili in the bookstore before I could get to it.
To go through them quickly:
Spanish: my main language right now, and one that I want to study everyday. I took 2 classes in summer school in 2009 and that's about as far as I've gotten with the language, since I don't think I've progressed very far since then. I have tons of books for Spanish, since I went beserk back when I got materials for it. I've studied off and on for the past 2 years, and I'm still a mid-level beginner! I should be ashamed of myself . . .
French: another language I had in high school, although that was 7 years ago. I don't think I'll study French that much this year, since I really don't feel like doing so. Maybe later.
Italian: my most recent fixation. I bought a TYS yesterday and have enjoyed going through the book since then. I don't think I'll confuse it with my Spanish, like I was concerned, since it doesn't really sound anything like Spanish in my mind's eye, it sounds distinctively Italian. I'll see if the pleasure lasts long enough for me to learn a considerable amount of Italian.
German: I think I'll only go with one Germanic language, actually. I might go for Afrikaans later, since there's a great Website for it, and I like some of the songs on there, although knowing Afrikaans doesn't really serve any practical purpose for me at the moment. I had a lot of fun going through Deutsche Welle's online course and Pimsleur and Michel Thomas CDs, although I stopped shortly after the middle of January. I want to start again, although I'm a little hesitant about studying more than one languages at a time.
Esperanto: the most well-known IAL, and a great gateway into the world of IALs. I went through some of lernu's courses in the beginning of February, and would like to continue. My activity on lernu has dwindled for the past few weeks, so I'll have to start again soon.
Japanese: I have the first 4 CDs of Pimsleur, a TYS book, and a phrasebook, so nothing major. I should have bought the Japanese instead of the Mandarin Michel Thomas, but I guess my library will like it when I donate it, which I guess is what I'll do with my Mandarin MT. I've always wanted to learn a language that uses characters, and I guess Japanese has beaten out Mandarin since I'm more interested in Japan than China, there aren't really any tones (but it does have a slight pitch accent), and Japanese has a syllabary system, so you can always write out what you need to get across to native speakers using the syllabaries instead of using kanji, although that might look childish to native Japanese speakers and might actually be more difficult on the learner. This will be the first time I learned a language that doesn't use the Latin alphabet.
Swahili: I like how it sounds, it's non-Indo-European, it's grammar isn't supposed to be too hard, I would like to learn a little of an African language, and I like the movie King's Solomon's Mines and safari movies. Enough said.
The best part is I can learn any of these languages, with the exception of Swahili, whenever I want to since I have TYS books for all of them, with the exception of Swahili. I guess I should try to find a book for Swahili, but I'll just watch some YouTube videos on Swahili such I have far too much on my language learning plate as it is.
Other languages I might be interested in:
Indonesian
Afrikaans
Occidental Interlingue (an IAL)
Sambahsa-Mundialect (another IAL)
other IALs, although I have no intention of being the Moses McCormick of IALs
a Slavic language - Russian or Polish
Persian/Farsi
I want to learn a Slavic language because I have Slavic ancestry, Polish on my mom's side and Slovenian on my dad's side.
Ah, who am I kidding? I'll never learn that many languages!
Languages I have no intention of learning, unless I'm forced to:
Portuguese (can't stand how it sounds)
Mandarin Chinese (don't like the tones, too confusing)
Arabic (don't like how it sounds)
Dutch (really ugly, rather learn Afrikaans, most speak English)
Scandinavian languages (don't like the sound, doesn't seem too phonetic)
Anything too weird or obscure - people think I'm weird enough as it is
*****
Now for what I'm doing to improve my education.
I have an appointment with my adviser at school to schedule courses for next semester, since it's mandatory. I'm taking a Medical Assisting course, which is the only thing for certain now, plus I'd like to know a little bit about medical billing, since it might help me get a better job, like a management position or even a sales position later on. I'm also thinking about getting a Gerontology certificate, which would mean two or three additional classes beyond my Intro to Gerontology class, since aging is pretty interesting and a lot of jobs are going to open up in the future dealing with older people.
I always love to borrow books from the library, and it's one of my favorite things to do. Right now I'm reading through The Personal MBA, which claims to have all the content of an MBA program (highly doubtful, but my professor DID give me a link to a Website that really DOES have all the content of an MBA program). At the site (the personal MBA site, not the other one) it has a list of books on business, so I'll have to see which ones are at the library and get them on interlibrary loan.
Oh well, that is all.
Class Today, March 25th
Well, had my ONE class that I'm taking for the first time since March 4th. March 11th was a snow day (we ALWAYS get snow days, even when there isn't much snow, like on the 11th) and the 18th was spring break. Bad times to be in Gerontology class.
Anyway, today we covered a lot of stuff, two chapters, but we still got out early. One of the things we talked about was creativity in old age, and we took a test that they give to see how creative people are based on one type of divergent thinking. This test was four letters (in our case, SALT, but they could be any letters) and we had to write as many four word sentences using the letters in that order in two minutes.
Some oddball sentences I came up with:
See, Amish love tales (my personal favorite)
Stan almost loved Tina
Santa always loves toast
I came up with six sentences in all, and the average is 6-8
The next test, which measured a different type of divergent thinking, was to name as many holidays, religious or secular, in three minutes. I came up with 22, but I think I may have gotten some wrong, because I wrote Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and I don't really know if you'd call those holidays. I also wrote some foreign holidays (Canada & Australia Day, Bastille Day, Cinco de Mayo) but those count, of course.
The average for that is 14, so if I did it right, I'm somewhat above average.
Anyway, today we covered a lot of stuff, two chapters, but we still got out early. One of the things we talked about was creativity in old age, and we took a test that they give to see how creative people are based on one type of divergent thinking. This test was four letters (in our case, SALT, but they could be any letters) and we had to write as many four word sentences using the letters in that order in two minutes.
Some oddball sentences I came up with:
See, Amish love tales (my personal favorite)
Stan almost loved Tina
Santa always loves toast
I came up with six sentences in all, and the average is 6-8
The next test, which measured a different type of divergent thinking, was to name as many holidays, religious or secular, in three minutes. I came up with 22, but I think I may have gotten some wrong, because I wrote Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and I don't really know if you'd call those holidays. I also wrote some foreign holidays (Canada & Australia Day, Bastille Day, Cinco de Mayo) but those count, of course.
The average for that is 14, so if I did it right, I'm somewhat above average.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Patrick's Day
No, I'm not Irish, and I don't drink (because of medicine I'm taking), so the holiday really has no significance for me, but anyways, it may have significance for others, and I'm hoping the significance is in being Irish, not drinking green beer (not that there's anything wrong with that).
It reminds me of being back in French II class during my senior year of high school. Unfortunately we never changed seats, so I sat next to this racially mixed, loud-mouthed girl who was always playing the race card. One time she asked me if I liked her, I didn't say or do anything, and she took this to mean I didn't like her, and of course she attributed this to her being black, not to the fact that she always talked during class, had a sucky attitude, sucked at French, and I'm pretty sure was talking about the size of her boyfriend's penis a few days before she asked my whether I liked her or not.
Anyway, besides being black, she was also Irish. And on St. Patrick's Day everything about being black and how no one could judge her or understand her because of that was gone, and in its place she wore a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" t-shirt.
Go figure.
It reminds me of being back in French II class during my senior year of high school. Unfortunately we never changed seats, so I sat next to this racially mixed, loud-mouthed girl who was always playing the race card. One time she asked me if I liked her, I didn't say or do anything, and she took this to mean I didn't like her, and of course she attributed this to her being black, not to the fact that she always talked during class, had a sucky attitude, sucked at French, and I'm pretty sure was talking about the size of her boyfriend's penis a few days before she asked my whether I liked her or not.
Anyway, besides being black, she was also Irish. And on St. Patrick's Day everything about being black and how no one could judge her or understand her because of that was gone, and in its place she wore a "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" t-shirt.
Go figure.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Uses for Rice
A friend of mine wanted help with a problem she had with her laptop.
She posted on FaceBook that her mother spilled coffee on it.
D'OH!
I was the first to respond, by suggesting what I had seen on YouTube: use a little rice to absorb the liquid.
Another of our mutual friends posted that her husband had dried out a phone that he dropped in a pool with rice and then put it on the heat register, and it was just fine.
Unfortunately, she had no rice, so she just used a hair dryer.
Probably a good move, since rice may have made it worse. Of course I wouldn't have though to use a hair dryer, since I haven't used one since I was a little kid when I took showers at 9 PM at night on Saturdays before church in the morning. Don't ask why I didn't take a shower earlier as a kid. It would have saved me from the humiliation of using my mom's hair dryer.
I just wish I were bald, then I could have tried to make a funny remark about not thinking about using a hair dryer.
She posted on FaceBook that her mother spilled coffee on it.
D'OH!
I was the first to respond, by suggesting what I had seen on YouTube: use a little rice to absorb the liquid.
Another of our mutual friends posted that her husband had dried out a phone that he dropped in a pool with rice and then put it on the heat register, and it was just fine.
Unfortunately, she had no rice, so she just used a hair dryer.
Probably a good move, since rice may have made it worse. Of course I wouldn't have though to use a hair dryer, since I haven't used one since I was a little kid when I took showers at 9 PM at night on Saturdays before church in the morning. Don't ask why I didn't take a shower earlier as a kid. It would have saved me from the humiliation of using my mom's hair dryer.
I just wish I were bald, then I could have tried to make a funny remark about not thinking about using a hair dryer.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Finally Employed
No, I didn't get the job at Walgreens. I'm working out of town this summer.
I'm finally going to work this summer, at Cedar Point as a warehouse worker in the merchandise department. This will be my fourth season working there, and my second in the merch warehouse. The first two seasons I was working in the food warehouse.
I would say I definitely like working in the food warehouse better, just because I don't have to divide bulk items by quantity, just put the item on the pallet and send it off. In the merch warehouse, especially with T-shirts, we usually can't just send an item from off the shelf, we have to take a quantity of the item out of the box and send it to the store. The rest, if they aren't T-shirts, are sent to a location called stock, which is the most annoying part of the warehouse. We have to organize everything by stock number, so it's a real pain when you have number 19876, the box next to it is 19910, and the box you're trying to put away is 19890.
Oh well, not the most exciting or dramatic job in the world, but at least it's a paycheck. I just wish I could get a job at a different company and have a job with more responsibility.
I'm finally going to work this summer, at Cedar Point as a warehouse worker in the merchandise department. This will be my fourth season working there, and my second in the merch warehouse. The first two seasons I was working in the food warehouse.
I would say I definitely like working in the food warehouse better, just because I don't have to divide bulk items by quantity, just put the item on the pallet and send it off. In the merch warehouse, especially with T-shirts, we usually can't just send an item from off the shelf, we have to take a quantity of the item out of the box and send it to the store. The rest, if they aren't T-shirts, are sent to a location called stock, which is the most annoying part of the warehouse. We have to organize everything by stock number, so it's a real pain when you have number 19876, the box next to it is 19910, and the box you're trying to put away is 19890.
Oh well, not the most exciting or dramatic job in the world, but at least it's a paycheck. I just wish I could get a job at a different company and have a job with more responsibility.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
More Language Links!
Oh, how could I forget? I remembered a little bit after I posted yesterday that I forgot to mention the book and Internet document The Polyglot Project, which was written by members of the YouTube polyglot community about how they learned their languages and advice they have for language learners. It is over 500 pages in length and while I haven't read the entire document, I've read entries by my favorite YouTube polyglots.
http://www.docstocs.com/docs/60429490/The-Polyglot-Project
You can also buy it on amazon.com, but I wouldn't unless you wanted to donate a copy of it to your library to give it more exposure.
The man who edited the book is also a YouTuber, although most of his videos are not of him practicing languages. He issued the challenge on his channel last summer. He channel is below.
http://youtube.com/user/syzygycc
A great video that is by a man about my dad's age is by MagicMaximo. He tells a story about his experience learning Vietnamese in the US Navy in 1968. At first, he was reluctant to learn it since so few people outside of Vietnam spoke the language and he didn't know how he would use the language later in life. Apparently, it was a good thing he learned the language because after the Vietnam War many Vietnamese refugees moved to his area and needed to learn English and have their needs met by someone who understood their language. He, of course, could meet their needs and helped the refugees. His message is that you may never know if you really need to know a language.
Language Learning - A Story of Encouragement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-X_H_JYweA
Another thing I want to mention is one of my favorite language books, How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. I think this is the fifth time I've borrowed the book from the library, and I love reading his language biography and the review of the languages in the back of the book. Since it was written in 1990 it is a little outdated, but I still enjoy it because it makes language learning seem to be a thing anyone can do, so it can be a little inspirational.
Oh well, that's it for now. Good night.
http://www.docstocs.com/docs/60429490/The-Polyglot-Project
You can also buy it on amazon.com, but I wouldn't unless you wanted to donate a copy of it to your library to give it more exposure.
The man who edited the book is also a YouTuber, although most of his videos are not of him practicing languages. He issued the challenge on his channel last summer. He channel is below.
http://youtube.com/user/syzygycc
A great video that is by a man about my dad's age is by MagicMaximo. He tells a story about his experience learning Vietnamese in the US Navy in 1968. At first, he was reluctant to learn it since so few people outside of Vietnam spoke the language and he didn't know how he would use the language later in life. Apparently, it was a good thing he learned the language because after the Vietnam War many Vietnamese refugees moved to his area and needed to learn English and have their needs met by someone who understood their language. He, of course, could meet their needs and helped the refugees. His message is that you may never know if you really need to know a language.
Language Learning - A Story of Encouragement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-X_H_JYweA
Another thing I want to mention is one of my favorite language books, How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. I think this is the fifth time I've borrowed the book from the library, and I love reading his language biography and the review of the languages in the back of the book. Since it was written in 1990 it is a little outdated, but I still enjoy it because it makes language learning seem to be a thing anyone can do, so it can be a little inspirational.
Oh well, that's it for now. Good night.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Language Links
All right, I'll list some of my favorite language websites, such as blogs, learning websites, YouTube channels, etc. for other people to check out.
My favorite language forum:
http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com
My favorite blog:
This blog is about both natural languages and international auxiliary languages. He also writes considerably about space exporation and technology. It is written by a Canadian working in Seoul as a translator.
http://www.pagef30.com
Another blog, by an Australian author & scientist trying to write literature for an international audience:
http://joyoflanguages.blogspot.com
Naomi Chambers's language blog:
http://thepolyglotexperience.blogspot.com
A blog by a young man sampling 37 languages and deciding on one, kind of like The Bachelor for languages:
http://37languages.wordpress.com
His second blog:
http://pardonmynorwegian.tumblr.com/
ikindalikelanguages blog:
http://ikindalikelanguages.com/blog
Language courses at this site:
http://ikindalikelanguages.com/lab/courses.php
Last blog:
http://languagegeek.net
Some learning materials:
Jim Becker's website, links for 14 languages, the one below is for Spanish:
http://www.uni.edu/becker/spanish3.html
Spanish conjugation trainer:
http://www.spaleon.com/index.php
Spanish basics, plus a site to connect with Spanish-speaking learners of English, by chat or as a pen pal. Completely free. No, I haven't tried it yet.
http://www.lingolex.com/spanish.htm
German:
Deutsch - Warum Nicht? Great site to teach the basics of German, produced by the Goethe Institut and Radio Deutsche Welle. It's a four part course with 26 lessons in each part. This is the site in German.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2163,00.html
Paul Joyce's German website, a professor at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. I highly suggest reading his "Why learn German?" section:
http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~joyce1/abinitio/index.html
Some YouTube channels:
Alkantre, aka Dr. Peter Browne, a Spanish professor at, I think, the University of Texas, and top-notch polyglot. The cool thing about him is he comments on new users' channels and videos, sometimes in random languages, LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/user/alkantre
Brian Greco, a young teenager who makes great review videos. He's interested in IALs and more unusual languages, such as Navajo (he has Rosetta Stone Navajo) and languages from the South Pacific.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianonLanguage
Cody, from Minnesota, a college student who is interested in German, Chinese, Swahili, Arabic, and probably many more.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Codylanguagesblog
A great Latin channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Evan1965
Anthony Lauder's channel, great even if you aren't interested in Czech, since he talks about issues everyone learning languages could benefit from hearing:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FluentCzech
Glossika, a YouTube polyglot heavyweight:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Glossika
A female polyglot:
http://www.youtube.com/user/katrudy7
Probably one of the biggest language channels on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/laoshu505000
Professor Alexander Arguelles's channel, probably the biggest language channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProfASAr
And many others. I don't want to list anymore right now, since this post is long enough.
My favorite language forum:
http://www.how-to-learn-any-language.com
My favorite blog:
This blog is about both natural languages and international auxiliary languages. He also writes considerably about space exporation and technology. It is written by a Canadian working in Seoul as a translator.
http://www.pagef30.com
Another blog, by an Australian author & scientist trying to write literature for an international audience:
http://joyoflanguages.blogspot.com
Naomi Chambers's language blog:
http://thepolyglotexperience.blogspot.com
A blog by a young man sampling 37 languages and deciding on one, kind of like The Bachelor for languages:
http://37languages.wordpress.com
His second blog:
http://pardonmynorwegian.tumblr.com/
ikindalikelanguages blog:
http://ikindalikelanguages.com/blog
Language courses at this site:
http://ikindalikelanguages.com/lab/courses.php
Last blog:
http://languagegeek.net
Some learning materials:
Jim Becker's website, links for 14 languages, the one below is for Spanish:
http://www.uni.edu/becker/spanish3.html
Spanish conjugation trainer:
http://www.spaleon.com/index.php
Spanish basics, plus a site to connect with Spanish-speaking learners of English, by chat or as a pen pal. Completely free. No, I haven't tried it yet.
http://www.lingolex.com/spanish.htm
German:
Deutsch - Warum Nicht? Great site to teach the basics of German, produced by the Goethe Institut and Radio Deutsche Welle. It's a four part course with 26 lessons in each part. This is the site in German.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2163,00.html
Paul Joyce's German website, a professor at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. I highly suggest reading his "Why learn German?" section:
http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~joyce1/abinitio/index.html
Some YouTube channels:
Alkantre, aka Dr. Peter Browne, a Spanish professor at, I think, the University of Texas, and top-notch polyglot. The cool thing about him is he comments on new users' channels and videos, sometimes in random languages, LOL.
http://www.youtube.com/user/alkantre
Brian Greco, a young teenager who makes great review videos. He's interested in IALs and more unusual languages, such as Navajo (he has Rosetta Stone Navajo) and languages from the South Pacific.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BrianonLanguage
Cody, from Minnesota, a college student who is interested in German, Chinese, Swahili, Arabic, and probably many more.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Codylanguagesblog
A great Latin channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Evan1965
Anthony Lauder's channel, great even if you aren't interested in Czech, since he talks about issues everyone learning languages could benefit from hearing:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FluentCzech
Glossika, a YouTube polyglot heavyweight:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Glossika
A female polyglot:
http://www.youtube.com/user/katrudy7
Probably one of the biggest language channels on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/laoshu505000
Professor Alexander Arguelles's channel, probably the biggest language channel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ProfASAr
And many others. I don't want to list anymore right now, since this post is long enough.
Interview at Walgreens
Today I had an interview at Walgreens for a clerk position.
I doubt I'll get the job since I have no cash handling or customer service experience, but you never know. There are still plenty of pther jobs out there that might hire me. I have an interview on Monday for a position at Cedar Point and I'm confident I'll get the job, since I've worked there before.
Well, we'll see.
I doubt I'll get the job since I have no cash handling or customer service experience, but you never know. There are still plenty of pther jobs out there that might hire me. I have an interview on Monday for a position at Cedar Point and I'm confident I'll get the job, since I've worked there before.
Well, we'll see.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Pittsburgh Loses!
I'm from Cleveland, and while I could care less about the Browns or Packers, I hate the Steelers.
Anyway, it was a great game. Watched it with a bunch of other people and had lots of fun. I just hope there is no lock out so we can do it again next year.
Anyway, it was a great game. Watched it with a bunch of other people and had lots of fun. I just hope there is no lock out so we can do it again next year.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
New Developments
I'm only taking one class in college this semester, Gerontology. I've decided to go for Medical Assisting instead of Physical Therapy Assisting or Occupational Therapy Assisting because there is a three year waiting period on those areas while with MA I can start this fall. So far I like the class, especially since we learn a little bit by doing instead of just reading the book and taking notes during lecture. I'm going to see what I'll be doing in the fall. I'm thinking about getting a certificate in dental assisting too since it could help my chances of employment, and it might be interesting, although I don't know if I have the manual dexterity to do the job. I'm pretty clumsy.
I'm going to start focusing on Spanish again. I found a great site that has tons of links to Spanish websites. It is the site of Jim Becker, a professor emeritus from the University of Northern Iowa. It is at http://www.uni.edu/becker/ and there are 13 other languages, so I guess the good professor was a language instructor, but I don't know how many of the 14 he taught and how many he merely knew.
I found a Spanish group that meets at the same Panera that the game group meets at. It meets at 11 in the morning on Saturdays, so when I get a job I should still be able to go to the meetings. Definitely a motivator.
More adventures in language wanderlust. I've decided that I want to study Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Italian caught my eye this week, and I don't think it would be any more difficult then Spanish. I tried the course on ikindalikelanguages and liked it, kind of like when I tried Afrikaans and Dutch on Christmas Eve. I've decided to let Dutch and Mandarin go for now, maybe I'll try them later. Needless to say, I can't study a bunch of languages at the same time. My puny brain can only handle one a day, and I know myself that I won't learn 8 or more languages during my lifetime. I want to focus on Spanish and German this year, with maybe a little French. Ugh, my poor brain is going to explode, even with a lot of free time this year.
I applied to Cedar Point, and since my brother knows someone in the food department, I might be working there. Definitely a step up from being cooped up in a warehouse all day, but not as good as having a supervisor rank, like my brother has.
Chez is back on YouTube. It appears he started uploading videos at 3 PM today, or earlier. I think I'm just going to leave him alone, although I thought about sending him a PM, since he friended me, but I really don't know what to say to him. If he's just after attention, that's probably the best thing for us both that I don't contact him. If he really is out to meet fellow language enthusiasts and doesn't know how to properly interact with people, I can accept that and maybe help him a little. All I was going to do was suggest he go on meetup and find a language group so he could find a language practice partner in real life instead of just interacting on the Internet. But I think I'm just going to let it go.
OK, till next time.
I'm going to start focusing on Spanish again. I found a great site that has tons of links to Spanish websites. It is the site of Jim Becker, a professor emeritus from the University of Northern Iowa. It is at http://www.uni.edu/becker/ and there are 13 other languages, so I guess the good professor was a language instructor, but I don't know how many of the 14 he taught and how many he merely knew.
I found a Spanish group that meets at the same Panera that the game group meets at. It meets at 11 in the morning on Saturdays, so when I get a job I should still be able to go to the meetings. Definitely a motivator.
More adventures in language wanderlust. I've decided that I want to study Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Italian caught my eye this week, and I don't think it would be any more difficult then Spanish. I tried the course on ikindalikelanguages and liked it, kind of like when I tried Afrikaans and Dutch on Christmas Eve. I've decided to let Dutch and Mandarin go for now, maybe I'll try them later. Needless to say, I can't study a bunch of languages at the same time. My puny brain can only handle one a day, and I know myself that I won't learn 8 or more languages during my lifetime. I want to focus on Spanish and German this year, with maybe a little French. Ugh, my poor brain is going to explode, even with a lot of free time this year.
I applied to Cedar Point, and since my brother knows someone in the food department, I might be working there. Definitely a step up from being cooped up in a warehouse all day, but not as good as having a supervisor rank, like my brother has.
Chez is back on YouTube. It appears he started uploading videos at 3 PM today, or earlier. I think I'm just going to leave him alone, although I thought about sending him a PM, since he friended me, but I really don't know what to say to him. If he's just after attention, that's probably the best thing for us both that I don't contact him. If he really is out to meet fellow language enthusiasts and doesn't know how to properly interact with people, I can accept that and maybe help him a little. All I was going to do was suggest he go on meetup and find a language group so he could find a language practice partner in real life instead of just interacting on the Internet. But I think I'm just going to let it go.
OK, till next time.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Game Night
Tonight I drove to the Panera Bread in Cuyahoga Falls, about a 20-25 minute drive from home by highway, to play with a group I met on meetup.com to play board and card games. I played one board game, Blokus, which is kind of like Tetris that you play against 3 other players. I also played Quiddler, a card game similar to Scrabble, which you play hands of 3-10 cards, allowing one discard, and need to spell as many words (or long words) as possible and any cards left over you lose the points. Any words you form you gain points, with a 10 point bonus for longest words and multiple words.
I really enjoyed myself. I tied for second place in Blokus and came 4th out of 7th in Quiddler. That was my goal: I know I couldn't win, but I didn't want to come in last. I did it.
I really enjoyed myself. I tied for second place in Blokus and came 4th out of 7th in Quiddler. That was my goal: I know I couldn't win, but I didn't want to come in last. I did it.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Chez Drama
First of all, I need to talk about the YouTube polyglot community. As you can see, there are a group of YouTubers who make videos of themselves on YouTube speaking foreign languages. Some of the more famous ones are Luca, Glossika, Laoshu, and Loki. Of course, there are many more. I am subscribed to all of these (although I rarely watch Luca's videos) and really enjoy there submissions. They all have the passion and commitment to learn multiple languages. I'm thinking about becoming part of this community in the future, although I will not show my face for fear of my appearance or weight being made fun of.
There is another YouTuber, NaomiChambers, who has a series titled "Anyone Can Be a Polyglot" in which she, a graduate of George Mason University with a degree in French Studies, encourages other people to try to learn a language, or even several languages. I also like her videos and tried to help her with new material for her blog when she asked on the HTLAL forum (her blog is thepolyglotexperience.blogspot.com) by suggesting she interact with two other bloggers who I like, pagef30.com & thejoyoflanguages.blogspot.com. Both bloggers deal with IALs (international auxiliary languages) although they are also learning or know natural languages. I think she liked the idea, since my post received a vote.
Enter chezrocksall. He's an 18-year-old autistic from Canada who claims to speak 59 languages and can learn a language in a day. Needless to say, I don't believe him, and think he exemplifies the worst parts of the YT polyglot community: that languages are incredibly easy and we should make videos trying to entertain others. Unfortunately, that is where the drama comes into play. Since he's autistic, it's difficult for him to interact appropriately with others, he's preoccupied with himself, has anxiety, and (I guess) can be obsessive about a few activities (for him, music & languages). Needless to say, on a highly interactive form of media like YT, this is a recipe for disaster.
Honestly, with him being the way he is, I thought there would be a breakdown eventually. I thought it had come in a video he titled "Do I Suck?" where he appeared depressed and wondered if he was a fake, like some people thought. I was going to comment that he should take time off from YouTube, but I didn't do it and in a later video said he wouldn't do it. He may have been a little down, but he kept doing what he usually did: uploading 30 second videos to prove he speaks a langauge. I usually rarely just ignored these types of videos (I subbed him and accepted his friend request, before I knew who he was) and honestly found him annoying. I thought about unsubbing and defriending him a few times since I thought I was mislead (in one video, he made a claim that he could be fluent after finishing a Teach Yourself book).
Unfortunately, some of his activity, although I think some of it was inadvertant, could be considered trolling, spamming, and even e-stalking. For example, he asked everyone who subbed him, as well as others in the polyglot community, to make videos about him. He apologized and things seemed to return to normal. Things finally reached a head when he did this to Naomi's channel & kept commenting on it when she wanted to be left alone, and he even found her e-mail address and sent her an e-mail! His interactions with Naomi and another YouTuber eventually lead him to make a video saying he would leave YouTube for a while and only watch videos.
Anyway, Naomi, after Chez made his video, made a video outlining his activities and demanded to be left alone. I thought the video was fair, although I thought some of the video comments weren't. He DOES have a serious psychiatric problem and his activities and interactions with others should be monitored. I was moved when someone who only called himself or herself "an advocate" used Chez's account to make comments talking about his struggles with autism and making Chez seem more human and not just a troll. I commented that I was glad there was someone like advocate in Chez's life and that his Internet usage must be monitored to make sure this would not happen again.
I don't know what will happen to Chez's account in the future, but I hope he learns a lot from this experience. Yes, his interpersonal and group entry skills suck, but that what happens when you have autism. I think he was just trying to be part of a group that would accept him, but he mistreated people and paid a price for it.
I don't know what I can do to help him, and it is probably impossible to monitor everything he does on the Internet. I do think he has potential, but he can't just claim to know a high number of languages to impress people. I don't know what to say to him that he will listen to, but I think I should try.
That is the reason I stay subbed to him: to help him after the breakdown.
There is another YouTuber, NaomiChambers, who has a series titled "Anyone Can Be a Polyglot" in which she, a graduate of George Mason University with a degree in French Studies, encourages other people to try to learn a language, or even several languages. I also like her videos and tried to help her with new material for her blog when she asked on the HTLAL forum (her blog is thepolyglotexperience.blogspot.com) by suggesting she interact with two other bloggers who I like, pagef30.com & thejoyoflanguages.blogspot.com. Both bloggers deal with IALs (international auxiliary languages) although they are also learning or know natural languages. I think she liked the idea, since my post received a vote.
Enter chezrocksall. He's an 18-year-old autistic from Canada who claims to speak 59 languages and can learn a language in a day. Needless to say, I don't believe him, and think he exemplifies the worst parts of the YT polyglot community: that languages are incredibly easy and we should make videos trying to entertain others. Unfortunately, that is where the drama comes into play. Since he's autistic, it's difficult for him to interact appropriately with others, he's preoccupied with himself, has anxiety, and (I guess) can be obsessive about a few activities (for him, music & languages). Needless to say, on a highly interactive form of media like YT, this is a recipe for disaster.
Honestly, with him being the way he is, I thought there would be a breakdown eventually. I thought it had come in a video he titled "Do I Suck?" where he appeared depressed and wondered if he was a fake, like some people thought. I was going to comment that he should take time off from YouTube, but I didn't do it and in a later video said he wouldn't do it. He may have been a little down, but he kept doing what he usually did: uploading 30 second videos to prove he speaks a langauge. I usually rarely just ignored these types of videos (I subbed him and accepted his friend request, before I knew who he was) and honestly found him annoying. I thought about unsubbing and defriending him a few times since I thought I was mislead (in one video, he made a claim that he could be fluent after finishing a Teach Yourself book).
Unfortunately, some of his activity, although I think some of it was inadvertant, could be considered trolling, spamming, and even e-stalking. For example, he asked everyone who subbed him, as well as others in the polyglot community, to make videos about him. He apologized and things seemed to return to normal. Things finally reached a head when he did this to Naomi's channel & kept commenting on it when she wanted to be left alone, and he even found her e-mail address and sent her an e-mail! His interactions with Naomi and another YouTuber eventually lead him to make a video saying he would leave YouTube for a while and only watch videos.
Anyway, Naomi, after Chez made his video, made a video outlining his activities and demanded to be left alone. I thought the video was fair, although I thought some of the video comments weren't. He DOES have a serious psychiatric problem and his activities and interactions with others should be monitored. I was moved when someone who only called himself or herself "an advocate" used Chez's account to make comments talking about his struggles with autism and making Chez seem more human and not just a troll. I commented that I was glad there was someone like advocate in Chez's life and that his Internet usage must be monitored to make sure this would not happen again.
I don't know what will happen to Chez's account in the future, but I hope he learns a lot from this experience. Yes, his interpersonal and group entry skills suck, but that what happens when you have autism. I think he was just trying to be part of a group that would accept him, but he mistreated people and paid a price for it.
I don't know what I can do to help him, and it is probably impossible to monitor everything he does on the Internet. I do think he has potential, but he can't just claim to know a high number of languages to impress people. I don't know what to say to him that he will listen to, but I think I should try.
That is the reason I stay subbed to him: to help him after the breakdown.
Back to School, Lots of Free Time
Well, yesterday was my first day of school. I only have one class this semester, a 2 hour, 50 minute class on Friday. Yes, my spring break this semester will be missing one class. I've decided I'll major in Medical Assisting, which I hope I can earn enough money in to provide for myself.
Needless to say, since I have no job right now, I have more free time than I know what to do with. I've been trying to think what I want to do. I found a group on meetup.com that plays board and card games twice a month, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. I'll be going to the Monday meetings for as long as I can.
I've been thinking of getting a membership to the YMCA so I can go swimming regularly. As I mentioned on my last post, I've got to lose weight, and I really enjoy swimming. Plus swimming is supposed to be one of the best activities you can do for your body, since it works the entire body.
I've also been thinking of going hiking, since I like taking walks and being in the woods. I found a few state parks in the area that allow fishing & archery and have hiking trails, so I'll be sure to visit them regularly during the summer when I have time. I've liked fishing since I first did it in sixth grade, but I've never had a license and only fished in campgrounds. This year I'll look into getting a license and accompanying experienced anglers to learn more before setting out on my own. I've never filleted a fish, and I'm really clumsy so I'll have to wear a protective glove when I do it and hope I won't make a mess of the fish, but I think it will be OK. I first tried archery in seventh grade at summer camp, and would like to try it again. The only problem is bows seem really expensive.
I've also thought about coin and stamp collecting. If I collect coins, I want to collect silver, and collect 1/10th ounce eagles yearly. I don't think buying one silver coin once a month will be too hard once I get a regular job, since you can save about $30-35 a month easliy by brownbagging your lunch and taking your own coffee. Stamp collecting to me seems much more interesting since you can get a lot of stamps for $30 if you know what you're doing (for example, 500 worldwide stamps from kenmorestamp.com costs $8, and you can buy some stamps for 15 cents).
Well, the world's a big place, and there are plenty of activities out there that I can do to keep from getting bored, so I'll try to do some of them.
Needless to say, since I have no job right now, I have more free time than I know what to do with. I've been trying to think what I want to do. I found a group on meetup.com that plays board and card games twice a month, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. I'll be going to the Monday meetings for as long as I can.
I've been thinking of getting a membership to the YMCA so I can go swimming regularly. As I mentioned on my last post, I've got to lose weight, and I really enjoy swimming. Plus swimming is supposed to be one of the best activities you can do for your body, since it works the entire body.
I've also been thinking of going hiking, since I like taking walks and being in the woods. I found a few state parks in the area that allow fishing & archery and have hiking trails, so I'll be sure to visit them regularly during the summer when I have time. I've liked fishing since I first did it in sixth grade, but I've never had a license and only fished in campgrounds. This year I'll look into getting a license and accompanying experienced anglers to learn more before setting out on my own. I've never filleted a fish, and I'm really clumsy so I'll have to wear a protective glove when I do it and hope I won't make a mess of the fish, but I think it will be OK. I first tried archery in seventh grade at summer camp, and would like to try it again. The only problem is bows seem really expensive.
I've also thought about coin and stamp collecting. If I collect coins, I want to collect silver, and collect 1/10th ounce eagles yearly. I don't think buying one silver coin once a month will be too hard once I get a regular job, since you can save about $30-35 a month easliy by brownbagging your lunch and taking your own coffee. Stamp collecting to me seems much more interesting since you can get a lot of stamps for $30 if you know what you're doing (for example, 500 worldwide stamps from kenmorestamp.com costs $8, and you can buy some stamps for 15 cents).
Well, the world's a big place, and there are plenty of activities out there that I can do to keep from getting bored, so I'll try to do some of them.
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