Trip to the local library

My progress in Chinese is moving along very slowly. I went to the public library to check out any other resources they had available. I picked up two programs: one DVD with basic Chinese songs and Living Language Italian. 

Foreign Films are a side dish - Not the main course

Foreign films will not teach you a language. But what they will do is give you a feel for the spoken languages rhythm, intonation and cultural contexts. I would say that it is a good add on activity, but do not think for a second that watching foreign films is the Main Course of language learning. Consider them....the side dish.

How-To-Learn-Any-Language.Com

This is one of my favorite language learning websites. I have gotten a great amount of help from other linguists here. With the two babies, my part time soap business, and all the work that goes into caring for a family I do not have as much time available to focus on my passion. But you know what...we do what we can.

Dawdling along in Mandarin III

Since I have not posted in awhile I thought I would drop in and give you all a quick update on my progress. The only time I have to work on my languages are as follows:

1. Every Wednesday when I go to the doctor in Seattle. I have to take the light rail and two buses. My youngest son comes with me for each appointment. I listen to Mandarin Chinese on my I-POD for thirty minute intervals. Since Chinese is so different from anything I have ever studied, I have to listen to the same lessons over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over.

Pakistan Language Map ... सराइकी ਸਰਾਇਕੀ سرائیکی

The United States of America had about five hundred tribes of Native Americans. Within one State, there could be two or more languages spoke by the Indians. Being part Cherokee, this is something close to my heart. It is hard for us lingua-centric, ethnocentric U.S. Americans to comprehend. In the United States of America - hundreds of languages were spoken four thousands of years.

We took a look at the map of Dagestan previously, and looked at all the smaller languages spoken within that tiny country alone. Lets revisit another country I already blogged about. Pakistan.

Why Trivial Arguments Piss Me Off – A Diatribe

It is true, trivial arguments do annoy me. I do not participate in them. I do NOT like being around people who do it. I have lived in two foreign countries, one of them is a first world and the other is a third world country. I saw people who have REAL problems. You know...children digging in garbage for food. That sort of thing.

Winning a Trivial Argument

When people bitch about trivial things, it annoys me because the argument is an energy sucker. Allowing this trivial crap to imbibe one's talent, energy, thoughts and time is one of the stupidest things a person can do. Trivial arguments are parasite that feed on our valuable time. 


It gives us nothing. It does not improve our lives. It does not improve the lives of others. When we are dead, the world is not a better place because we engaged in the argument.

Engaging in trivial arguments is like competing in the special Olympics. Even if you win – you are still a freaking retard. Congratulations. Here are your trophies. You should be so proud.

What is most interesting to me is that people get very angry about their trivial bullshit. Those negative feelings fester and rot. It brings me back to my original point – how in the hell is your life any better? Have you really used your time wisely?

When I was little my father and I would argue about trivial bullshit. I was a child and did not know any better. He was an adult and should have known better. We would argue about which language came first, French or English. We would argue about which country was defeated by Hitler first. Some of the arguments I would win and some arguments he won. Whenever I won an argument my Dad could not tolerate the idea of being beaten by a 13 year old girl, so he would back pedal and redefine a word in order to make himself appear like the winner – which of course would piss me off to no end.

Cyrillic Alphabet in photos

Do not let the Cyrillic Alphabet scare you!

Let's start with a little history. The Cyrillic Alphabet was invented by two brothers, Cyrill and Methody, also known as Methodius. In fact, they are credited for giving written language to the Slaves.

The Cyrillic Alphabet is the second script invented by the Bulgarians (Cyrill and Methodius). Although the writing system was developed in Bulgaria, the brothers were originally from Macedonia. This explains the similarities to the Greek Alphabet. In other forums and blogs, people seem to get really pissed off when this alphabet is called Russian alphabet. The people who get upset about this are usually Bulgarians.

In my food blog (link), I discuss the fight between the Spanish and French about who invented the Creme Brulee. The Arabs argue that they invented astronomy (actually, the did steal that knowledge from the Greeks). But come on people...we do not live in a bubble. We influence, change, copy and improve on many ideas. If we didn't do this, then we would still be living in caves. So lets not waste our time on trivialities. Trivial arguments are leaches, they drain our positive energy, waste time, and we are not any better off.

 The first writing system invented by the brothers is the Glagolitic, as mentioned in a previous post, Glagolitic is a more complex version of Cyrillic. Can we say that they are really two different writing systems? How different are they from each other? I have no idea.  

 Cyrillic became dominant due to its similarity to the Greek alphabet. At its height during the Soviet Union, Cyrillic was used to write not only Slavic languages such as Russian, Byelorussian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, etc., but also languages from other family like Mongolian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Azeri, Tajik, and so on. It is easy to see how many Cyrillic letters derived from Greek.

Glagolitic Alphabet in photos

Ancient alphabet that gave birth to the modern Cyrillic Alphabet used in Belarus, Bulgarian, Russian, Serb, Macedonian, Montenegrin, and Ukrainian. Some non-Slavic nations also use it: Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Mongolian, the people of the Caucasus and Siberia. Cyrillic is a simplified version of Glagolitic. Enjoy these photos. 

Cyrillic Alphabet invented by Bulgarians

Image of the First Bulgarian Empire: 681 until 1018

Did you know that the Cyrillic Alphabet was first developed by the Bulgarians? The first Bulgarian empire lasted from 681 until 1018. When I started this blog today I was going to write about the Cyrillic Alphabet. But then I had to ask myself those questions like, where did this alphabet come from? How long has it been around? What did it originate from?

My first little conversation in Chinese

My husband and I were at the food court today looking for something to eat. The mall was completely dead.

I went up to a Chinese restaurant. There was a little Chinese man working there, he could hardly speak English. He gave me a sample of orange chicken.

Then...it happened.

I spoke to him in Chinese and HE UNDERSTOOD ME.  I am very proud of myself. You would think that it would not be that big of a deal for me especially since I have already learned other languages. But there was something about this moment that made me happy. The other Chinese woman working there told me that my intonation was very good. I am giving myself a pat on the back right now.

Dawdling along in Mandarin Part II

It has been a few weeks learning Mandarin Chinese. My approach with this language is different from other languages. When I learned French, Italian, and Spanish I took classes at a community college or University. While living in Mexico I studied Swedish and Spanish with Rosetta Stone. In class I was always given a syllabus to follow and assignments to complete. I had exams that I needed to pass.

When I started Pimsleur, and Introduction to Mandarin Chinese, I took a different approach and started to learn the language phonetically. This simply means that I am listening to the spoken language and learning it by ear. Some say that we should start off with both reading and listening.  Usually that is what I do.  But Chinese is so different from anything that I have known, I decided that I needed to listen to the language, the phonemes and most important – the tones. Chinese words rise, fall, plateau, fall and rise again. The words remind me of rough ocean waves with their rising and falling. The words and phrases are a series of peaks and valleys, as if nature formed this language rather than the pragmatic need to communicate.

Foreign Service Institute Website

Much thanks to Youtube Polyglot FantasticIdiomas for showing me this website.

http://www.fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php