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Listen to Classical Guitar Alive on TuneIn #NowPlaying

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It doesn't have to end this way

I never thought that I would have to write something like this. My cousin was murdered by her estranged husband - http://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/beverly-man-charged-with-attempted-murder-held-without-bail/article_352fc7a6-cbbd-55b1-82a6-9b445977d76a.html . She's unresponsive and will be removed from life support soon unless something dramatically changes. She was my favorite cousin.

Her husband is manic-depressive. She had to have him committed a year ago because of his erratic behavior. His pride never let him forgive her.  As much as I will miss her, I don't hate him. Before mental illness got the best of him, he was a great person and a brilliant engineer. He was a fun person to be with and I considered him a friend.

There never was any previous domestic abuse and he was a kind and loving husband and father (two sons, 8 and 6). In her remembrance, I urge all to be aware of mental illnesses and if you know someone who is depressed, please help them get help.

I take medicine for mild depression and my mom was manic-depressive. People are surprised when I tell them that I take medication for depression because I'm always joking around. Well, before medication, I wasn't my own, humorous, class clown self. Some therapy and a simple pill a day lets me live a normal life. When I tell people about my depression, they say I have nothing to be depressed about. That's true and that's why I take medication. If I did have something to be depressed about, that would be another story.

Any type of illness is nothing to be ashamed about. My cousin's husband let pride get in the way instead of accepting his illness. This was a crime and a pending divorce that never had to happen.

Whether he stopped taking his medication or the disease got worse, he is responsible for his actions. His eventual life in prison or a mental facility does not bother me. His actions got him to this point.

I'll miss my cousin. I don't hate her murderer but I hate the fact that he had people to help him and love him. His brother is a psychiatrist and tried to help him. His wife loved him and didn't see his illness as an obstacle as long as he got and continued treatment. I was willing to talk to him about my experiences with depression and that there was no reason to be ashamed.

If you know someone who has a mental illness, do whatever you can to help them get help. There are solutions and there is no reason to be ashamed.

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Day 25, “100 Days of Esperanto” - Next week and the imaginary traveler

I am travelling on business next week so my posts will either be sporadic or none at all. I will definitely resume my “100 Days of Esperanto” when I return.

I am going to use this trip as opportunity to think about Esperanto differently. I am going to limit my Esperanto exploration to my cellphone. I will imagine that I am in a place where only Esperanto is spoken. How effective will my cellphone be to find the Esperanto words that I need? For example, will asking Google, “How do I say is there a nice restaurant near by in Esperanto” give me the information I need? I’m guessing that it will. Will I find listening to the response easier than reading it? As an imaginary traveler it will be interesting to see if I need to rephrase what I say or will I always get the answer I need.

Facebook has an “Esperanto word of the day” page. I have the Facebook app so I can use that as a way to learn and review vocabulary. I’m sure I can also find some interesting Esperanto Twitter feeds.

I appreciate all who read my articles. See you in a week.   

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Day 24, "100 Days of Esperanto" - Good tips from learning programming languages PDF

As a technical writer, it is important for me to be fluent with some scripting languages and at least have a general understanding of programming languages. While I do not need to be able to write code, I do need to be able to read and understand what the code does. There is an excellent site Learn to Code With Me. If you sign up (enter your email address) you get a free PDF titled "10 Tips For Learning How to Code". The ten tips are also excellent for learning a foreign language. This makes sense. Programming languages and spoken languages both use words for communication. They are languages that have different recipients. Here are some of the tips with my explanations. I'll mention a few. I welcome you to sign up and get your own free copy.

1. Practice at least 25 minutes a day, every day. I'll add an extra 5 minutes and say that you should practice at least 30 minutes or more a day, every day. Repetition is an important concept in learning. The more you practice, translate sentences, recall vocabulary, remember grammar, and so on, the better you become with your new language. Spend time during each lesson to review what you have learned in addition to learning new material. I believe it is more important to review as you learn more as opposed to just continuously learning new words and grammar. Learning new stuff is important but you need to build a solid foundation. Recalling what you have learned is just as important if not more important than learning new concepts.

2. When you’re first starting out, don’t be afraid to experiment. When you begin to learn a new language, you start by learning some vocabulary, some simple grammar, and translating some sentences. Practice what you are learning by creating your own sentences. You will find that you can create a variety of sentences from a limited vocabulary. This will build your confidence and give you a sense of accomplishment. Even simple examples such as changing "The dog bites the man" to "The man bites the dog." and "She has a beautiful dog." to "She has beautiful dogs." are important. With the first example, "The man bites the dog.", the man is now the subject and the dog is the direct object. Some languages use different word endings to differentiate the subject from the direct object.

With the second example, you changed "beautiful dog" to "beautiful dogs". This example makes you recall how to form plural nouns. Some languages also have singular and plural forms of adjectives.

3. Build something you care about. Have a reason for learning your new language. This will help you set goals and help you determine your progress. I decided to learn Esperanto for two reasons. Esperanto is a constructed language that is built upon many other languages. I want to improve my English vocabulary and learning Esperanto introduces me to many prefixes, suffixes, and word roots that help me accomplish this goal.

I also want to learn what it is like to think in another language. I teach English as a Second Language on a part-time basis. Many of my students get excited when they tell me that they now think in English. I am beginning to experience thinking in Esperanto on a small level when I automatically remember the form for the direct object and remember to use the plural form of the adjective when needed.

There are many tips and techniques for learning foreign languages. I believe that you will find the "10 Tips For Learning How to Code" guide useful. Maybe you'll even begin to explore and become familiar with a programming language.

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Day 23, "100 Days of Esperanto" - Some Esperanto resources

I like to explore and find interesting Esperanto resources. While this blog is titled "100 Days of Esperanto", I certainly will continue my study of this language well beyond the initial 100 days. I’ll need a variety of resources to improve my Esperanto skills.

Different resources will allow me to interact with this language in different ways. It will allow me to evaluate what I have learned and as I become more fluent in this language and read more in Esperanto, have the opportunity to explore Esperanto style, the way different people write using this language.

Flipboard offers a nice selection of reading and listening materials.

https://flipboard.com/search/esperanto

Some of these are:

Esperanto 

Esperanto, La Internacia Lingvo 

Esperanto Un paso a lo desconocido 

Esperanto De Esperanto 

Was ist Esperanto?

Facebook has an Esperanto page.

https://www.facebook.com/learn.esperanto/

Wikipedia is available in Esperanto

https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikipedio:%C4%88efpa%C4%9Do

It can be beneficial to open the Wikipedia article in English or your first language in one tab and the Esperanto version in another tab. Start with the article in Esperanto and refer to the English or your first language version when needed. To start, you may want to select a topic that you are familiar with.

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Interesting article.

Take a look at this in-depth analysis of who’s learning to code, and why.

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Day 22, “100 Days of Esperanto” - Constructed Languages

The idea of constructing a language fascinates me. There are many things to think about, vocabulary, word order, verb tenses, modifiers, etc. The first thought that comes to mind is what should a language include? However, a better starting point, might be, what should my language not include. For example, English prepositions are hard to learn. There are so many of them. Are many prepositions important to a language or is simplification a better path to follow?

Another thought is to determine the purpose of the language. Is it to be spoken and written? Just spoken? Just written? There is a lot to think about when creating a language.

Memrise offers courses for a variety of constructed languages in addition to Esperanto. They are:

Dovahzul

Klingon

Lojban

Morse Code

Na’vi, and

Toki Pona

There are many other constructed languages. A few of these are:

Ido

Latino sine Flexione, and

Soresol

Here is a list of constructed languages from Wikipedia.

Dovahzul or “dragon voice” is the language from the Elder Scrolls computer game. It is a written language and based on patterns like the Morse Code.

http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/dovahzul.htm

Ido is an improved version of Esperanto, sort of Esperanto 2.0. It removes the diacritical marks and makes other changes. The following table displays some of its differences and similarities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ido_%28language%29

Klingon may be the most well-known constructed language. It is the language of the Klingons from Star Trek. It is a well thought out language with a robust grammar. 

Latino sine flexione (Latin without inflections) is a simplified version of Latin. Latin is a useful language since it is the basis for the Romance languages. Many English words are based on Latin making this a good language to be familiar with to improve your vocabulary.

Lojban, as its website says, “is an experiment in human language - a constructed language based on formal logic.” I make my living as a technical writer who reads programming and scripting languages often. The idea that in addition to being a spoken language, “Lojban is also proposed as a potential means of machine translation and as a programming language gives this language special significance to me”.

I became familiar with Morse code while growing up. My dad enjoyed amateur radio which uses this language. My dad was also an amphibious engineer in World War II.

Morse code is a binary language that represents letters using dots and dashes, short and long signals. Dots are short signals and dashes are long signals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

Na’ vi is the language from the movie Avatar. Like Klingon, it has a defined grammar.

Solresol caught my eye because it is based on the musical scale. I majored in Music Theory in college. However, the language doesn’t appear to be practical to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solresol

A language is defined by what it includes and what it excludes. Toki Pona is “a minimalist language that focuses on simple concepts that are relatively universal among cultures.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_Pona#Vocabulary

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"We admired Silberman's work because it is powered by a strongly argued set of beliefs: that we should stop drawing sharp lines between what we assume to be 'normal' and 'abnormal', and that we should remember how much the differently-wired human brain has, can and will contribute to our world," Applebaum said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34699414?post_id=152315875111625_190120197997859#_=_

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Brain games are good for you regardless of age.

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Day 21, "100 Days of Esperanto” - Progress report and memory techniques

I've read that it takes 21 days to either form a new habit or to break a habit. It takes 3 weeks to reinforce a new behavior. Today is day 21 of 100 Days of Esperanto so it looks like I've acquired the habit of learning something about Esperanto on a daily basis.

How am I doing? Not bad. Many words I remember since they are similar to their English meanings, kato (cat), hundo (dog), blua (blue), blanka (white), etc. I've also done well remembering basic grammar rules, nouns end with "o", adjectives end with "a", infinitives end with "i", the plural ends with "j", etc.

I need to get better thinking in Esperanto. I need to remember to add "n" to the end of the word when that word is used as a direct object. When an exercise asks me to translate "I have two white cats." I'll write:

Mi havas du blankaj katoj.

The correct translation is:

Mi havas du blankajn katojn.

I realize this is because I'm thinking in English and just translating the words. Interestingly, I do remember to make sure that the adjective uses the plural form.

Memorizing words is my challenge. Sometimes it easy because an easy association comes to mind. For example, the Esperanto word for the color sea blue is marblua. I know "la mer" is the sea in French so that word is easy to remember.

Making associations is a good way to remember words when learning a new language. I googled to learn some memory techniques and found an interesting article, Learning Foreign Languages. It describes an associative technique called LinkWords that was developed by Michael Gruneberg.

Linkword is a mnemonic system promoted by Michael Gruneberg since at least the early 1980s for learning languages based on the similarity of the sounds of words. The process involves creating an easily visualized scene that will link the words together.

www.aditisinghal.com/images/memory_pic2.jpg

This article presents some other interesting memory techniques. One of my subgoals of learning Esperanto is to learn some memory techniques and improve my memory skills.

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Nice idea and a good way to stay involved with your language.

November Polyglot Challenge

Welcome to another month of polyglot adventures, everyone! Some of the most dreadful things that language learners experience throughout the year are lulls in learning, entire months where the mundane routines of everyday life, responsibilities, work and school suddenly swamp the learner and apathy & upcoming, pre-holiday deadlines force them to put their language learning on the back burner. 

Which is why November’s Polyglot Challenge is to play a little game I like to call Exchange Student, a perfect task for the polyglot whose Zeit ist knapp.

How To Play Exchange Student:

Situation: No matter where you are in the world right now, whether at home or abroad, student or not, you are now an exchange student. And what centuries of (bad) exchange students are notoriously known for … is returning to their dorms to unwind and do shit in their native language.

Objective: Until 30 November, your target language will serve as your native language for part or all of your free time, depending on time and resource accessibility. It does not matter if you are already proficient in your target language or not, because this will up your all-around language skills no matter what level. But remember, you actually have to pay attention while you’re doing your fun immersion activities for the challenge, not just play an 8 hour podcast in your sleep and count that as a challenge completed - that means you too, beginners!  

Goal: To immerse yourself in your target language as much as possible in your free time. Like seriously, we’re not even talking grammar here, just plan to screw around on Youtube, Netflix, Tumblr and Google until 3 am in your target language rather than in your native one. Kudos points if you start to regularly think or dream in your target language during this challenge!! 

Choose a Level: 

Beginner: Complete 10 documented hours of language immersion (outside of whatever you might have to do for a language class), namely a combination of watching tv shows and films, listening to audiobooks and music, writing and reading in your target language over the course of 4 weeks. Also good for people with busy schedules.

Intermediate: 2 weeks, or 14 days spread out, of solid little-to-no-native-language fun. If you wake up and say “Today’s going to be an *insert language here day*, make sure that whatever shenanigans you get up to, the majority of them are in your target language.  

Hardcore: All/heavy majority of material that you consume in your spare time every day (books, news, podcasts, studying, etc.) is in your target language. Note: I recommend trying to use this method for 2-6 weeks before you have to take a language proficiency exam. Also an excellent idea for bi/trilinguals whose language skills in their second or third languages are way advanced but not quite exactly at the same level of command of their native language.   

Now who’s ready to get started?!

I will be posting materials for langblrs who will be doing the challenge in either German or English as well as general ideas of fun activities to do throughout the month, and welcome everyone to share the resources you are using to immerse yourself in your target- I mean native language ;) for November!

Best of luck to all & have fun learning!

-polysprachig

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Cryptography Concerto

I love espionage novels, technology, and cryptography. Music theory was my major in college. I’ve had this idea for a story where a spy’s cover is being a classical pianist. He or she  transfers information based on the notes of the composition played.

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Day 20, “100 Days of Esperanto” - I learn the most when I make a mistake

As I learn Esperanto, I'm thinking a lot about learning. Which exercises and techniques help me learn the most? Learning from mistakes is important and although I hate making mistakes, I learn the most when I make a mistake. One technique that Memrise uses is to have you type the translation of a sentence in English into Esperanto. This is where I make the most mistakes. I may misspell a word, for example, blanca for blanka (white). Using a "c" appears to come more naturally to me than the "k", or negra for nigra (black). When I misspell a word in a sentence, Memrise displays the correct sentence and has me retype the complete sentence. Retyping the sentence helps me remember the correct spelling. I'm sure it has something to do with the pairing of motor skills with cognitive skills.

Learning Esperanto makes me use memory and memory associations more often. Karmezina is the Esperanto word for crimson. I've gotten this word wrong on many exercises. My most common mistake was spelling this word with a "c". I associated the color with the name Carmen. Finally, I thought "karma" and the "zine" from magazine. Crimson = karma magazine or karmezina. Grizbruneta is Esperanto for maroon. I remember this word using griza which is the Esperanto word for gray and brunette for bruneta. Maroon = gray brunette.

When I first began learning Esperanto, I kept a spreadsheet for the new words that I learned. Now I am committing them to memory. I don't want to get into the habit of always having to refer to my spreadsheet or a dictionary when I don't know a word. Memory is a better option and if my memory fails, a quick online search gives me the meaning in a second.

I take a lot of notes. I also use lists to keep track of tasks that I need to complete. This "note taking/list" behavior comes naturally to me. Using memorization is a good substitute and challenges and strengthens my brain. One of the keys to learning and certainly teaching, is learning to do the same thing the different ways. Learning a new language is teaching me many things.

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Interesting article.

Hello! I'm interested in learning a few romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) and I already speak French. I was just wondering how I would be able to go about this without confusing all four? I really think that they are all equally as beautiful, but I'm just worried that it will become too confusing. Thanks!

Good question! I had the same concerns when I startedstudying multiple Romance languages. Here’s my advice based on my experience:

-Layer your studies. Don’t start all of the new languages atonce. Start with one and study it until you have a good grasp of it (maybeintermediate level). Then add another one.

In my experience, I started French in middle school. When Igot to college, I started Italian, although I was no longer taking French. Thenext year I continued Italian, restarted French, and added Spanish. It was alittle difficult to keep them separate (mainly in speaking) but not as hard asI expected. However, I couldn’t imagine starting Spanish and Italian togetherbecause they are so similar that I think I would’ve gotten them mixed up. Oneyear I did start Portuguese and German at the same time, but I didn’t get themmixed up because they were different enough. If you want to start two at once,I would recommend pairing Romanian with one of the others because it’s probablythe most different.

-Color code! I went color-coding crazy when I started doingthree languages at once. All through college I took all my French notes in pinkpen in a red or pink notebook and made all my flash cards on pink index cards.I used green for Italian, yellow/orange for Spanish, and eventually purple forPortuguese and blue for German. I think this color associating keeps them moreorganized and separate in my mind.

-Associate senses with languages. I haven’t tried this, buta professor recommended using taste—for example, eat chocolate while studyingFrench and crackers when studying Spanish, or whatever food you choose. Shetold me the more senses you can associate with a language, the more separatethey are.

-Finally, focus on the sounds of the language. (A linguistvisiting my university suggested this, and I find it helpful.) Understand whichsounds exist/don’t exist in French but not Spanish, Italian, etc. The more youspeak each one, the more your mouth will fit to pronounce each language. I alsothink it helps with vocab. For example, the word for “cheese” is a cognate inFrench and Italian, but I would never pronounce a work like “formaggio” with aFrench “r” because that word looks very Italian. So the more you study thelanguage, the more you recognize what words can and can’t exist in thatlanguage, and focusing on sounds and pronunciation really helps this. I hopethat makes sense!

Hope this helps! Another piece of advice is accepting thatyou will make mistakes and get them mixed up sometimes (I mixed them up mostlywhen speaking). But the deeper you get into studying each language, the less ithappens. Good luck and thanks for the question!

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Good advice.

3 Essential Lessons for Beginning Entrepreneurs

Pop singer/songwriter Audrey (Proulx, MSCS/MBA ’17) – who is taking an entrepreneurial approach to her music career – provides advice for launching a business:

1. Be scrappy. “Starting a company is not easy,” reminds Audrey. To keep costs down, consider bartering skills with a friend or company. For example, to make a high quality professional music video, Audrey traded her expertise in video editing with the production company to reduce some of the post-production expenses.

2.  Leverage your network. “Networking is key.” Lean on the network of your school, your company, and your own social circles. Audrey utilized the Stanford GSB alumni network and her own networks to get advice for how to approach her music career. One actionable recommendation she received was to make music videos for her songs.

3.  Be creative. Think beyond your core skills – in what other areas do you have expertise? How else can you add value to your startup? Audrey thought about her background as a Stanford student and came up with a fresh approach for her lyric music video – to make it a puzzle in order to appeal to college students.

Learn more about Audrey and find her music here. Read more of her entrepreneurship insights here.

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Day 19, “100 Days of Esperanto” - Some thoughts

One of the nice things about learning Esperanto is that there are many free online resources to help you accomplish your goal. Certainly free is always nice however there are other reasons why this is important. 1. You begin with an interest or curiosity about the language but after a bit of practice you find it is not for you. 2. You thought it would meet a specific need but then realize another language better fits your needs. 3. You find it too difficult and get discouraged. Free makes it easy to start and easy to postpone, or quit, if necessary. People learn differently. Some people like to read; some people like visuals, pictures, graphs, etc.; some people like hands-on learning, games, and other activities. There are many types of learners and ways to learn. The Internet provides many tools to fit the different learning styles. I like to read and that is my preferred way to learn. In the past, I would learn the grammatical aspects of a language using the textbook approach. I would read about a concept and then reinforce that principle with some written exercises. It's a traditional approach but it works for me. I began learning Esperanto on a whim. I knew it was a constructed, international language and that it was built on the principles of many other languages, but that was all. I read an article about Duolingo being used to teach Esperanto. That perked my interest. I downloaded Duolingo and began learning Esperanto. The app is fun to use, is effective, and satisfies my written exercise approach. To write, you construct sentences by tapping word tiles. It also incorporates other learning methods. A bit of googling introduced me to Memrise. This application uses flashcards and memory techniques to help you learn. It also uses word tiles and typing. I like the use of flashcards because I like the "challenge" of answering correctly. This makes learning fun. It also points out one of my weaknesses. Often I'll recognize the word on the flashcard and quickly select the correct answer However, I don't always take the time to fully read the flashcard and learn the correct spelling of the word. Then, Memrise displays a flashcard with a word in English and I need to type that word in Esperanto. I may remember a partial spelling or spell it incorrectly. This teaches me to be more observant. I teach English as a Second Language part-time. Playing with different Esperanto applications has opened my mind to using games as a teaching tool. Learning another language, has certainly helped me to think more like a language learner.