Pronunciation help in 258 languages!

Have you ever struggled with the pronunciation of a particular word in a foreign language? (Try saying " Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch" three times fast.) Forvo attempts to help with this problem. There are currently 775220 pronunciations available, most recorded by native speakers. You can also join as a member and add your own pronunciation! Sadly, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is not available yet. If you speak Welsh, you should do everyone in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch a favour and add it.

Scary books and bunnyhugs

Scary books: One of the scariest, most violent books ever written is now available online in multiple languages! You can read the translations side-by-side, which is really handy if you're learning a foreign language and don't mind some disturbing content.  Warning: it's not safe reading for children or people who lack critical thinking skills. http://unbound.biola.edu/

Bunnyhugs: Apparently, that's what people in Saskatchewan call hoodies. Someone should send a team of linguists over there to find out if they still speak English or not.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bunnyhug

A fellow linguistics student explores where the odd word came from here:
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=70fc9c9d-86e4-48f4-9d81-6d4079334a66

Happy Halloween!

Five stages of LaTeX

 (So, who hasn't struggled with LaTeX? If you haven't, you must be a lowly first year student. Don't worry, it will descend on you like an angry dragon in one of your second year courses.)

Denial:  "Pfft, a new way to format documents? Whatever man. I can type papers at 800 words-per-minute with my eyes closed, using nothing but Wikipedia and a twig held in one toe.

I'll leave it till the night before it's due."

(A week later.)

Anger:  WHAT THE @#$!&(-English expletive infixation-)^&*! IS THIS CONFUSING MESS OF CODE!!! AAAAARGH!  CURSE YOU, LaTeX! *sounds of a hundred Macbooks being flung against the wall in sheer frustration*

(2 hours later.)

Depression:  (If you are whiny) "I can't do it. I just...can't do it. I am a worthless blob of matter floating through the universe, like a plastic bag in the wind. Actually, I'm pretty sure the plastic bag has higher IQ than me and would probably be able to code in LaTeX with no problems. Waaaaaaah. Waaaaah. *sounds of poorly suppressed sobbing into a pillow*

(If you are not whiny, you'll probably just bear the pain in silence while staring at the ceiling and hoping for an asteroid to hit your bedroom before tomorrow morning's class.)

Bargaining: "If I force myself to keep learning, I'll buy myself a pumpkin pie later. No, A MILLION PUMPKIN PIES!" (Replace pumpkin pie with whatever you happen to be addicted to at the moment.)

(16 hours, 3 pumpkin pie slices, and 5 thoroughly read LaTeX manuals later)

Acceptance: Hurray! It wooooorks! Party time! Oh yeah! Who's a LaTeX superstar!
What do you mean none of my friends want to hear about my LaTeX success at  3: 30 am? THEY MUST KNOW.

I'm on the last stage. I think eventually all the students will get there, even if it's a little hard at first. So hang in there and don't forget those { !

Oh - FYI, I made a list of resources for LaTeX learners here.

Back to school...

 Summer's almost over! If you haven't been keeping track of recent linguistics news over the break, here are a few articles to get caught up:

"Ancient Language Mystery Deepens"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10924743

 "Does Language Shape How We Think?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me

"Study Suggests Grammar is Grimmer than Chomsky Claims"
http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/browse/ne/uninews/grammargrimmer

An old anecdote

J.L.Austin, a linguistics professor, was giving a lecture at Oxford University:

"In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative."

A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."