John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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Language Stuff

Almost everyone uses language, so inevitably almost everyone thinks they are an expert in it. I don’t consider myself an expert, though most of my work requires at least language competence and sometimes actual skill, but I do follow the blogs featured on this feeds page.

(If you are wondering where the translation-related feeds have all gone, I have put them on their own page.)

Most of the blogs represented here are in English, most of the time, but don’t be surprised to find other languages used. Go with the flow – I occasionally find myself pleasantly surprised at how much I can grasp in languages I have never seen before.

Language On the Net

Language Log » Slowed speech

Tuesday 26 April 22:21:21 UTC 2016

This is pretty funny. Rob Beschizza, "Trump slowed 50%", BoingBoing 4/19/2016: Everyone sounds drunk or stoned when slowed down 50%, but doing so to Trump reveals that his bizarre, digressive speech patterns are uncannily like a drunk sped up 200%. So it seems appropriate to try the same trick on some other politicians. Here's Bernie Sanders, from a segment of … [Link]

Language Log » LipsyncHK

Tuesday 26 April 15:14:00 UTC 2016

Near the Star Ferry terminal on the Hong Kong Island side, Bea Lam noticed a number of fantastic, huge, colorful posters plastered on the walls as part of a “LipsyncHK” project that showcases Cantonese phrases and encourages visitors to try them out. Bea was (very happily) surprised to see this large and open demonstration of Cantonese pride in a government-sponsored … [Link]

languagehat.com » Research Paper Format

Tuesday 26 April 13:46:05 UTC 2016

The term “vignette” arises from the German “vigne”, meaning ” little vine “. A vignette could be a ” vine ” of the history, such as a picture with phrases. A great vignette is filled with emotions, and not long, to the point. Ad Actions Part 1 of 3: Getting Ready To Create the Vignette Understand the goal of a … [Link]

languagehat.com » Animal Sounds.

Tuesday 26 April 13:43:19 UTC 2016

Via Victor Mair at the Log: Here is what claims to be “the world’s biggest multilingual list” of sounds that animals make. It has 58 animal sounds as made in 17 languages. Some of the animals are recorded as making separate sounds for different meanings (e.g., there are 10 different sounds listed for dogs) and some are distinguished between the … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » get your balls wet

Tuesday 26 April 7:00:00 UTC 2016

The phrase get your balls wet is intended to indicate that one must go balls deep or balls out giving one's activity 100% effort This task requires that you must get your balls wet [Link]

languagehat.com » On Reading Japanese.

Tuesday 26 April 0:14:15 UTC 2016

In a long and interesting TLS review (not paywalled) of Minae Mizumura’s The Fall of Language in the Age of English , Jay Rubin, a professor of Japanese Literature at Harvard and translator of Haruki Murakami, says this: Even now, after some seventy post-war years of attempts to simplify and rationalize the Japanese writing system, its “appalling” mixture of Chinese characters … [Link]

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