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

languagehat.com » The Creation of the Manchu Script.

Tuesday 25 July 23:20:54 UTC 2017

I’m almost finished with Part One of China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia , by Peter C. Perdue; I’m enjoying it greatly, and I thought I’d share this passage from pp. 126-7: The greatest gift of the Mongols to the Manchus, of course, was the Mongolian script. In 1599 Nurhaci ordered Erdeni Baksi and G’ag’ai to create a … [Link]

Omniglot blog » A difficult language?

Tuesday 25 July 18:54:20 UTC 2017

Quite a few people I’ve talked to here in Glencolmcille have told me that Irish is a difficult language. This got me thinking about what makes a language difficult to learn. Here are some aspects of Irish that learners may find difficult: Spelling and Pronunciation Irish spelling takes quite a while to get used to. It is far more regular … [Link]

Urban Word of the Day » Burner

Tuesday 25 July 7:30:00 UTC 2017

A throwaway prepaid cellphone, typically used by dealers. Used until the minutes are up, then thrown away so they cannot be tapped. 'There is burners all over the street.' [Link]

languagehat.com » Hemingway’s Cuban English.

Tuesday 25 July 3:33:34 UTC 2017

I didn’t think I could be surprised by news about Hemingway, but Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera managed to do it with this piece at Lingua Franca: In Cuba, Hemingway gave public speeches and interviews in Spanish, and spoke it around the house. It was also his routine language while vacationing off the island. In Africa in 1954, Spanish was regarded as his … [Link]

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