tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125469562024-03-16T14:50:10.781-04:00The Language Lover's BlogLanguage Loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17095286029520305813noreply@blogger.comBlogger219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-34228904636534782622024-03-16T10:00:00.002-04:002024-03-16T10:22:25.729-04:0010 years older, and hopefully wiserI had a dream a few nights ago about reviving this blog, and when I realized that today would be exactly ten years since my last entry, the timing seemed too perfect to pass up. <div><br /></div><div>The world has changed immensely in ten years, and so have I. My children, whose language acquisition adventures provided much fodder for this blog, are now in college and arguably more articulate than I am. I've also learned a lot about language and society, from embracing the singular <i>they</i> to trying to rid my vocabulary of ableist metaphors. Reading over my previous entries, I no longer stand by everything I've written, and that's okay. It's a reminder to myself and others that we are dynamic beings capable of growing, learning, and unlearning. </div><div><br /></div><div>One thing that hasn't changed, however, is my love for language and languages. I continue to be awed and humbled by the power of language to hurt and exclude, as well as to connect and inspire. I've worked as a natural language processing engineer for many years now, which affords me the opportunity to explore how technology affects the way we employ language and are influenced by it. I'm immensely grateful for the resources to be able to indulge this lifelong passion of learning and using languages.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for my personal language studies, I've finally managed to get my Mandarin up to a level I'm reasonably happy with (in future entries I'll share how I did it) while mostly maintaining my Spanish, German, and Taiwanese. I still have aspirations of expanding my language abilities in both breadth and depth, but with the equanimity and experience that comes with age, I'm no longer frantic about mastering as many languages as I possibly can, choosing instead to go where my spirit and energy direct me. I'm looking forward to sharing some of these endeavors as I go.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hello again, blogosphere, my old friend. It's good to be back.</div>Language Loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17095286029520305813noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-62716011066513966882014-03-16T00:44:00.001-04:002024-03-16T10:01:52.222-04:00FROZEN's "Let It Go": one stop, many languages!Since watching the movie <i>Frozen</i> and watching the famous multilingual version of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC83NA5tAGE">Let It Go" in twenty-five languages</a>, I've been completely obsessed with the song. Having memorized the English version, I'm now on my way to learning as many of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Go_(Disney_song)#Other_languages">40+ other versions</a> Disney has released.<br />
<br />
So here it is: a one-stop table to "Let It Go" in all the languages I can find, many with lyrics and translations (and romanizations for those in non-Latin alphabets).<br />
<br />
You can also listen to one and a half hours' worth of the song in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQYHO3hHr2Y">twenty-three languages back-to-back</a>; I've done this too!<br />
<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;">
<tbody>
<tr class="xl65" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl67" height="19" style="height: 14.4pt; width: 109pt;" width="145">Language</td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 53pt;" width="70">Animation</td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 62pt;" width="82">Lyrics</td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 71pt;" width="95">Romanization</td>
<td class="xl67" style="border-left: none; width: 56pt;" width="74">Translation</td>
<td class="xl68" style="border-left: none; width: 48pt;" width="64">Link</td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Bulgarian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzFH9tKTHxk" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Cantonese</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugG2vO1aiCY" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Catalan</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1b4qhn_let-it-go-frozen-cover-by-judit-colera-catalan-version-subtitles_music" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Croatian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1c8sxd_frozen-let-it-go-croatian-s-t_music" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Czech</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yByLAHQirbE" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Danish</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U2_we0U65A" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Dutch</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQPiGqzZRGA" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">English
(original)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Estonian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQGjrbkhzxg" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Finnish</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_1829567447&feature=iv&src_vid=G8CO6V3rkoY&v=-U8jLrpErmk" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Flemish</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw8FriL-VAc" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">French</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl7MiuXiHDA" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">German</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do4b54j3keo" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Greek</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJI-kswjaII" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Hebrew</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asb06Icv2dM" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Hungarian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCb4sLR_f28" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Icelandic</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_aaBcvrKpA" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Italian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9HPQVrBLx4" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Japanese</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBppeLW22y8" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Korean</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFW9HrIYcbk" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Lithuanian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2UOBHZdgHM" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Malay</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYvdjaeghcs" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Mandarin
(China)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0DrWFblrhs" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Mandarin
(Taiwan)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v35dWC64yng" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Norwegian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RYrvECmSao" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Polish</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr9MmsNGWew" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Portuguese
(Brazil)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWa3_S-i-3Y" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Portuguese
(EU)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb2NIGsbcI" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Russian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWmNBkHZ258" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Serbian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ab3mp_frozen-s-let-it-go-in-serbian-with-lyrics-and-english-translation_music" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Slovak</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">in desc</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSM7bajJW0" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Slovene</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVaZtlwl3zk" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Spanish (EU)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgWVkmtlT0w" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Spanish (Latin
America)</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZAEgmpXdaU" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Swedish</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70bcHn4xqcE" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Thai</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxkWcOwxPQc" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Turkish</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yu9NbZmFfI" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Ukranian</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ld7OWESxWc" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="19" style="height: 14.4pt;">
<td class="xl69" height="19" style="border-top: none; height: 14.4pt;">Vietnamese</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">x</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">n/a</td>
<td class="xl69" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
<td class="xl70" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/82707431" target="_parent">video</a></td>
</tr>
<tr height="0" style="display: none;">
<td style="width: 109pt;" width="145"></td>
<td style="width: 53pt;" width="70"></td>
<td style="width: 62pt;" width="82"></td>
<td style="width: 71pt;" width="95"></td>
<td style="width: 56pt;" width="74"></td>
<td style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
Language Loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17095286029520305813noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-29381841368045645542014-01-23T01:52:00.000-05:002014-01-23T01:59:15.200-05:00On identity and perceptionThis morning I received an email entitled "Unsolicited, but friendly, suggestion" from a colleague I'll call George. George is a white man about my age and the research manager on one of the projects I contribute to. In his email, he wrote, "You've said a couple of times to me that a decision is 'above my pay grade.' The first time I heard you say that, I initially thought it was very funny, but then I started thinking a bit more, and I'm afraid that it may also convey something you don't intend." He went on to describe how it could be read as "this isn't my problem," which is not what most managers want to hear, and how if he were my manager, he'd prefer something like, "This is your decision to make, but based on my experience and expertise, I would recommend that we do X."<br />
<br />
It's a fair point; in fact, I'd just had a conversation with my husband last week about whether the expression was annoying. The email sent me into emotional distress for a few hours, because I hate criticism, however gentle or useful. It also got me thinking more about race, gender, engineering culture, and subconscious expectations.<br />
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The funny thing is that I'd normally say something like what George suggested, trying to be helpful without overstepping my bounds. I only started using the pay grade expression after hearing it from another colleague. "Vladimir" has a reputation for not playing well with others, and his rudeness has driven me and others to tears in the past. On one occasion, he referred to an architecture issue as "above my pay grade," and I was delighted at his humor when I'd expected his usual aggressive and unhelpful response. That's when I started using the phrase myself.<br />
<br />
My husband, a former engineer himself, said, "You know, if a guy had said that, I don't think I'd have noticed among the noise that engineers always say." Here's the deal: engineers are snarky. We're always trying to be more clever than the next person, and even better if the cleverness is slightly insulting in a good-natured way. But I imagined a female coworker saying that a decision was above her pay grade, and it did sound passive-aggressive, as if she were trying to make a point about her salary or position. I imagined a male coworker saying the same thing: no judgment. In the absence of any other tension, it comes off as a funny, slightly self-deprecating remark.<br />
<br />
George likes and respects me; of that I am sure. I know he was trying to be helpful, and he was. I'm not going to talk about my pay grade anymore. But I also wonder whether George would have sent that email if I weren't an Asian woman. Would he have sent it to Vladimir? Given that I reacted negatively to the hypothetical female coworker myself, given my husband's admission that gender matters, I think it's a fair question. Since George isn't my manager, and he and I don't interact often enough that I'd expect him to care much about my career, perhaps he was expressing his own annoyance in the most constructive way he could find.<br />
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Marin Alsop, the only female conductor of a major symphony orchestra, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/jun/02/classicalmusicandopera.gender">has described</a> how she's had to learn to make different gestures than her male counterparts to get the kind of sound she wants:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span 14px="" 18.98714256286621px="" arial="" font-family:="" font-size:="" line-height:="" sans-serif="">"The hardest thing for me is always to get a big sound from the orchestra without being very demanding or apologising. As a woman, if you're too aggressive people think, 'She's so overpowering. What's she on us for?'. But if a man does the same gesture, it's regarded as strong and virile. [ . . .] </span><span 14px="" 18.98714256286621px="" arial="" font-family:="" font-size:="" line-height:="" sans-serif="">I have worked really hard to make my gestures less threatening."</span></blockquote>
Richard Sherman's <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/21/us/richard-sherman-response/">post-game trash talk</a> has branded him a "thug" and much worse. However unsportsmanlike his behavior, it's clear that his race and the image of the angry black man changed the way it was seen.<br />
<br />
It's not that every criticism of a racial minority or a woman is racist or sexist in its basis. It's that perception and expectation are so closely linked that there isn't such a thing as true objectivity. So the best we can do, the best we can ever do, is be aware of the assumptions we make, question them, and check ourselves when appropriate. Language Loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17095286029520305813noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-30705509634303957772013-12-28T00:08:00.002-05:002013-12-28T00:14:07.101-05:00The language of engineersAs a female physicist who's worked in a variety of technical industries over the last thirteen years---semiconductor design and manufacturing, aerospace engineering, educational technology, robotics, and natural language processing---I've thought a lot about the lack of gender and racial diversity in my fields and what causes it. Much of what I've considered has to do with leadership and communication style: the lack of women in upper management, the appeal of analytical work to those who prefer to express and share only what is absolutely necessary. There's plenty of overt sexism, and I would imagine racism (though I've experienced less of that), to turn away even the most promising and interested women and minorities.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But I haven't thought that much specifically about the language and terminology of engineering and how it reflects the dominant white male culture. Mostly, our stuff is pretty dry-sounding---algorithms, probabilities, databases, regression tests, platforms. Generally, it's stuff that people would consider pretty neutral, though anyone who's done anti-oppression work knows that there is really no such thing as "neutral." Even the characterization of logical, devoid-of-feeling terms as neutral reflects a cultural norm.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today, while reviewing some system architecture specs, I came across some words that made me stop short: <i>master/slave systems</i>. I've seen these terms before, though not recently, and the meaning is obvious even to a non-engineer: it's when one device or process controls another. For someone far removed from the horrors of slavery, it's "just" a descriptive term.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But what of those for whom slavery isn't some abstract idea from a previous century, but an emotionally devastating reality? What does it say about a group, an industry, a culture where such ideas can be thrown around so casually? A Google search revealed <a href="https://www.blacksintechnology.net/forum/it-talk/6556-are-references-to-master--slave-in-our-industry-offensive">this discussion</a> on a forum for blacks in technology which is worth reading. Regardless of how one feels about the current use of these words, though, it's probably safe to say that they would not have become so common if the demographics of our community were different.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
As an undergraduate working in a physics lab, I was completely grossed out when I learned about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_of_connectors_and_fasteners">"male" and "female" connectors</a>. Even before knowing what I know now about anatomy and gender diversity, I found the terminology crude and juvenile (albeit memorable). When I shared my discomfort with the (male) graduate student with whom I was working, he crowed gleefully, "But it's so perfect! See, you just STICK IT IN here, and it's like, you know . . ." </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I don't claim that metaphors like these are the only reason, or even a big reason, that the engineering world remains so overwhelmingly male and white or Asian. If anything, they're just a symptom. If we want to get women and minorities interested in STEM fields and retain them, we have to look at every aspect of the current culture---including its language---through a variety of lenses. We have to look at the kind of environment we create when we assume particular perspectives and dismiss those with different ones as politically correct. And when enough people are able to say, "Wait a minute, is that really the best name for this? How's this going to affect someone who isn't like us?" then, and only then, do we get culture change.</div>
Language Loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17095286029520305813noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-69396802423358807272012-12-31T20:58:00.001-05:002012-12-31T20:58:07.068-05:00Year in reviewWell, I suppose I ought to get in one more post before 2012 comes to a close. It's been an eventful year, in language pursuits and otherwise. Last spring I had some health challenges causing what I hope is temporary deterioration of my short-term memory. Mandarin lessons were suspended, and it remains to be seen whether I will be able to interpret again. Right now I can't remember things long enough to render them in another language; I even have difficulty taking notes at meetings in English. I'm optimistic, though---I resumed Mandarin just a couple of weeks ago and was pleased by how much I remember and can still take in.<br />
<br />
The other, much happier development is that I've finally landed myself in the perfect job. After being laid off from my position at an educational technology company in May, I worked at a robotics company for two months before realizing that I was going to be miserable at a place so lacking in diversity. Entering the job search again, finally everything lined up and I'm now a natural language processing research engineer at a major speech recognition software company. I get to blend my training as a scientist and an engineer with my passion for and knowledge of languages, and I couldn't be happier. My workplace is the most diverse of any I've ever been in; it's half women and naturally diverse by race and nationality because we need native speakers of so many languages. I get to play with foreign languages every day, both those I know and those I don't, and I can't believe I'm actually getting paid to have so much fun.<br />
<br />
I hope to write more frequently in 2013. Happy New Year!<br />
<br />
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<br />Language Loverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17095286029520305813noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-82644628893704913602012-01-01T19:10:00.005-05:002012-01-02T03:00:15.052-05:00Why learning a language is like losing weight<div>I've studied over ten languages in my life. Some I've been serious about, others I haven't. Some I've tried to teach myself, others I've learned with the help of others. And, some have stuck really well and others haven't stuck at all. I'm pretty satisfied with my return on investment. Of course I wish I could speak more languages and were better at the ones I do speak, but given the relatively small fraction of time I spend on it, I'm confident I'll reach my goals eventually. My progress is steady and my determination is unwavering.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wish I could say the same about my weight, or my health in general. After college, with the stress and depression induced by a demanding doctoral program, my weight started climbing for the first time in my life and has continued to rise slowly over the last fifteen years. After the birth of my first child, I joined Weight Watchers and with a lot of effort took off twenty-five pounds, returning to a healthy weight. But I gained it back and I've had it for the last seven years. Of course I'd like to be thinner and healthier, but because it's not a high enough priority, I haven't gone about it very intelligently. And that's the ultimate problem.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've spoken to dozens of people who tell me they'd like to learn another language, but it's just so hard. Or they learned one in high school or college, but can't speak it anymore. Or they buy self-study CDs or software with grand intentions and hopes, but they don't make enough progress and eventually give up. These lamentations parallel my own struggles with weight loss. I don't have time to cook or exercise. I did lose the weight, but couldn't keep it off. I signed up for a gym membership, but I quit going.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, it's true that some people have a talent for languages, just as some people naturally have a higher metabolism. But we're only kidding ourselves when we point to some genetic capability or incapability as the reason we can or can't achieve our goals. Here are the ways in which I think learning a language is like losing weight, and how everyone can do both.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>You know how to do it, really.</i></b> There are billions of dollars spent every year on products that claim to make weight loss and language learning fast, easy, and painless. But they're all variations on the same theme. To lose weight, diet and exercise. To learn a language, study and practice. There aren't any shortcuts.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Doing it with other people increases your chance of success.</i></b> I understand why self-study is attractive. It's flexible and you don't have to make embarrassing mistakes in front of others. But just as having an exercise buddy or regular fitness class keeps you on track, having a diet support group helps you celebrate your progress, and hiring a personal trainer lets you use your time most efficiently, language learning works better in community. Even more so than weight loss, because language is so inherently relational. So hire a tutor, take a class, or join a conversation group. You'll get farther and stay interested much longer than with a CD or software program.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Cramming doesn't work.</i></b> Just like crash dieting doesn't work, you can't rush language learning. It only happens with steady discipline and focus. Intensive study can speed up the process, but the learning will stick better if it's done more slowly over an extended period of time. A former violin teacher once told me that how often I practiced was more important than how long I practiced. I find this to be true; ten minutes every day is more effective than an hour and a half once a week. But an hour and a half once a week is better than three hours twice a week. I commit to seeing my Mandarin tutor weekly even though I'm not always fully prepared, because it compels me to study hard at least one day (the day before my lesson!) every week. </div><div><br /></div><div><b><i>Surround yourself with practitioners; maintaining your accomplishment requires a lifestyle change</i></b><b><i>.</i></b> Over a decade ago, my husband and I joined a gym together, figuring we'd encourage each other to work out. More often, though, one of us ended up convincing the other to skip the gym in favor of a more sedentary activity. When I first moved to Boston two years ago, I lived for a few months with friends for whom a healthy lifestyle was natural; they even hired a babysitter in the early morning so they could run together. I ate mostly vegetarian meals with them, and without a car, I walked everywhere. The weight melted off effortlessly. When I moved out, my old habits returned along with the weight.</div><div><br /></div><div>I studied German for six years and Spanish for less than two, but my Spanish is close to fluent whereas my German is just functional. It's partly because Spanish is an easier language for native English speakers, but mostly because I create as many opportunities to practice my Spanish as possible. My work in immigrant justice is doubly fulfilling because it has become an integral part of my life in which I have to use my language skills. I don't have to find "extra" time to practice my Spanish. Likewise, my work commute by public transportation requires me to do a certain amount of walking each day, but I'm hoping to raise my activity level even more by starting to bike to work when the weather warms up.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mastering a language is hard. So is losing weight. This year, I'm hoping to use some of the techniques and self-knowledge I've applied so well to my language studies to bring myself down to a healthier weight. Which means I'm off to do some Mandarin homework--after I get myself an orange for a snack. Happy New Year!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-13428181630637163692011-09-23T21:31:00.004-04:002011-09-23T22:57:51.316-04:00When a little is enoughFollowers of this blog--if any remain!--know that my posting frequency has been dwindling. Since moving back to Boston two years ago, I spend most of my time outside work engaged in anti-racism work and immigrant justice. I still love and use foreign languages, but they don't occupy the foreground of my thoughts very much anymore. Tonight, however, I have a story that brings it all back together.<br /><br />As part of the <a href="http://www.r-i-m.net/Programs.html#SPG">Spiritual Care Givers</a> program at <a href="http://www.r-i-m.net/">Refugee Immigration Ministry</a>, I provide chaplaincy services to immigrants detained at the local jail. We do not provide legal advice or facilitate contact with family; we simply listen to them, letting them know they are not forgotten. The work is important to me because it lets me maintain a connection to the people most affected by policies whose effects can easily seem impersonal and irrelevant. I hope it is also some small comfort to the detainees.<br /><br />I wasn't sure how much help I'd be tonight. Still recovering from a bad cold earlier this week, exhausted and a little depressed, I made the hour-long trek to the jail to find that only one other person had showed up; our coordinator was stuck in traffic. We were escorted into the unit, the usual announcement was made, but no one came out. For twenty minutes we sat there; I wondered if we'd be talking to anyone tonight. Then, through the window to the hall containing the cells, I saw a young Latino man gesturing to a sixty-something Chinese man, who came out, looked at me, and said apprehensively, "Ni hao."<br /><br />I asked, "Would you like to talk to us?" but he responded, "No English."<br /><br />I was prepared to offer ministry in Spanish; I've done it before. Many of the immigrant detainees are Latino, and my Spanish is somewhere between advanced and fluent. My Mandarin, on the other hand, is abysmal. Characterizing my skills as "conversational" is generous. Nonetheless, this man needed to talk, and I was there. I explained apologetically several times that my Chinese was very bad. I had to ask him to speak slowly, and even then I only understood a fraction of what he was saying. I didn't understand the details of how he'd come to be in detention, only that he had been living in New York and that he'd been at the jail for over two months.<br /><br />I can only imagine what it must be like for him in there: far from family, unable to speak to or understand a soul, herded around day after day through the routines of prison life, not knowing what the future holds. He told me that there had been a few other Chinese detainees earlier, but they were gone. I asked if he'd spoken to a lawyer, and he showed me a business card but told me it was of no use. He asked me whether there were other Chinese-speaking people at the jail; I told him I wasn't employed there. I don't know the Chinese word for volunteer, so I explained that I just came once a month, then said haltingly, "Church. Minister. But I'm not a minister. I just come so people can talk." We talked about our families; he has two sons about my age, and granddaughters the same age as my daughters. I felt his yearning for human connection, his gratitude at being able to speak to someone who could understand, even if only partially. I taught him how to say "Good morning" and "Good night" and encouraged him to practice with the people around him. <br /><br />When the hour was over and we were instructed to wrap things up, I couldn't remember how to say, "I'm sorry you're in here. Good luck." I don't remember what I said instead to try and convey my feelings, but I think he understood. I clasped his hands, and he said, "Xie xie." I don't know if I'll ever see him again.<br /><br />This is what it's about for me, this drive to learn and master as many languages as possible. It's about being able to be that bridge, the person who can connect to people, whether it's <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2008/11/last-night-at-pet-store.html">interpreting at the pet store</a> or <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2009/10/another-chance-to-do-good.html">helping a tourist at the subway station</a> or talking to an immigrant detainee. I have the motivation to keep pushing myself with my Mandarin studies now, and in time I know I'll achieve the fluency I desire. But tonight, tonight even a little was enough.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-26090145482946891862011-04-10T22:46:00.007-04:002011-04-11T12:57:40.202-04:00The Parabolic JesusThis past weekend, I attended a conference on the future of Unitarian Universalism in which a minister referred to Sallie McFague's <span style="font-style: italic;">Metaphorical Theology</span>. I don't know much about theology myself, so I was paying only partial attention when I heard the phrase "the parabolic Jesus." My ears perked up.<br /><br />I'm a physicist. I hear the word "parabolic" more often than the average person, and to me it means something in the shape of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabola">parabola</a>, which some may remember from second-year algebra. A parabola is a conic section, the locus of points equidistant from a point and a line, equivalent to an ellipse in which one of the foci is at infinity.<br /><br />I thought it was far more likely that the word was supposed to refer to "parable," or a Jesus who taught by means of storytelling. But it didn't seem to me that "parabolic" could derive from the word "parable." (Where does the "o" come from?) I spoke to the presenter afterward and she confirmed that she had, indeed, said "parabolic."<br /><br />It turns out that "parabolic" really is the adjectival form of "parable," and that this definition even appears first in a dictionary. From <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parabolic?show=0&t=1302490709">Merriam-Webster</a>:<br /><h2 class="def-header"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span>Definition of <em>PARABOLIC</em></span></span></h2><div class="sblk"><div class="scnt">1<span class="ssens"><strong>:</strong> expressed by or being a <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parable" class="formulaic">parable</a> <strong>:</strong> <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allegorical">allegorical</a> </span></div></div><div class="sblk"><div class="scnt">2<span class="ssens"><strong>:</strong> of, having the form of, or relating to a <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parabola" class="formulaic">parabola</a> <span class="vi"><motion in="" a=""><<em>parabolic</em> curve><br /><br />So I guess the mystery is solved. </motion></span></span>But while the first definition is clearly the one that applies to the concept of a "parabolic Jesus," the images that immediately entered my mind using the second definition were interesting. A parabolic mirror reflects parallel waves from infinity into a single focal point (this is why satellite dishes, for example, are paraboloids) and so I was thinking of a parabolic Jesus as somehow being able to focus diverse lifestyles and philosophies into a single common goal of justice---not too far off from Unitarian Universalism, sometimes described as the religion <span style="font-style: italic;">of</span> Jesus rather than the religion <span style="font-style: italic;">about </span>Jesus. Metaphor, indeed!</div></div><br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-58236433862043190782011-03-17T16:37:00.005-04:002011-03-28T15:06:16.899-04:00It's not just "a thing"The word "thing" is so devoid of inherent meaning that it takes on a whole spectrum of connotations, depending on context. I have a thing for musicians (good). I have a thing about people using apostrophes incorrectly (bad). Dave Barry once pointed out that men are so scared of identifying themselves as being in a relationship that they say, "We, uh...we have this thing."<br /><br />When two of my friends got into a heated argument on Facebook recently, they both expressed regret that the discussion had become A Thing (caps added by one). In this case, "thing" was used to imply that it had become larger than necessary or desired.<br /><br />But "thing" can also be used to dismiss something, which is what I've been thinking about lately. In the now infamous <a href="http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/03/ucla_student_uploads_racist_rant_youtube_video_against_asian_students_in_library.html">anti-Asian rant by UCLA student Alexandra Wallace</a>, she talks about being annoyed by all the people checking on everyone from "the tsunami thing." I think an event that has killed over ten thousand people deserves a more specific designation.<br /><br />I once belonged to an organization that had some serious issues with racial and cultural inclusion. My naïve efforts to address it were met with obstacles right and left, from the conflict-fearing leader to those who wanted to maintain a white sanctuary in our diverse geographic region, to those who, like so many, didn't know how to converse effectively about an issue as charged as race. A fellow member once referred to my campaign as "the whole race thing." I felt minimized, but it was only one more disappointment among many, and I never had the courage to bring it up.<br /><br />The tsunami was not a THING, it was a tragedy. My quest for racial diversity was not a THING, it became my life's work. When we fail to be specific, we show disrespect and lack of concern for that which can be highly significant to others.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-13343058168701156232011-01-26T23:30:00.000-05:002011-01-26T23:36:25.126-05:00Un chiste bilingüeWhat's a snowman's favorite color?<br />¿Cuál es el color favorito de un muñeco de nieve?<br /><br />¡Hielo!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-43860822757211780962011-01-22T22:31:00.000-05:002011-01-22T23:23:07.950-05:00City namesI don't know how city names get translated into different languages. For those that use the Roman alphabet, frequently the spelling is the same and only the pronunciation differs: Paris (PARE-is vs. Pa-REE), Berlin (Ber-LIN vs. Bare-LEEN). But why is Braunschweig (Germany) translated as Brunswick in English? Or Firenze (Italy) as Florence?<br /><br />My Mandarin teacher and I had a lot of fun this morning reading a sample weather report and trying to identify the cities, most of which she knew only by their Chinese names. Most often the Chinese is just a phonetic representation of the city, <span style="font-style:italic;">e.g.</span> 芝加哥 (Zhī jiā gē) for Chicago, or 巴塞羅那 (Bā sài luó nà) for Barcelona. Tokyo, however, is 東京 (Dōng jīng), literally "eastern capital" in both Japanese and Mandarin. I had a great time trying to guess the city from the Mandarin name; if I couldn't figure it out from pronunciation alone, she'd give me hints like "It's in Canada," and I could usually figure it out.<br /><br />The only one I absolutely couldn't get was 德黑蘭 (Dé hēi lán), which my teacher said was a major city in Germany; she thought it was the capital. I suggested both Berlin and Bonn, neither of which was right; finally she asked me just to name a bunch of major cities in Germany because she'd know it if she heard it. "It's a very famous city!" I tried Hamburg, Frankfort, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, but to no avail. I thought "Dé hēi lán" sounded a bit like Deutschland, but that didn't make any sense; that's not a city.<br /><br />Finally, we admitted defeat and looked it up online. 德黑蘭 is Tehran.<br /><br />"Tehran?!" I exclaimed. "That's not in Germany! That's in Iran! Iran is in the Middle East!"<br /><br />"Oh, that's why I see it in the news all the time."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-82686549658309870632010-12-29T17:24:00.000-05:002010-12-29T21:59:59.553-05:00Happy (Christmas and New Year)!Last weekend, a Facebook friend of mine posted "Merry Christmas" on his status in several different languages. When someone inquired, "Where's the Mandarin?" he responded that he'd hit the character limit before getting to the Mandarin and Cantonese.<br /><br />Mandarin and Cantonese have the same written language, so when the commenter expressed her confusion, he replied that he'd found two different phrases for the two languages: <span jsid="text">聖誕快樂 in Mandarin and 聖誕節同 in Cantonese. The first is easy to understand: </span><span jsid="text">聖誕 (</span>shèngdàn) means "Christmas" (literally, "holy birth"), and <span jsid="text">快樂 (</span>kuàilè) is the word for "merry" or "happy." <span style="font-style: italic;">Happy holy birth</span> = Merry Christmas.<br /><br />However, no one seemed able to decipher the second phrase. Its third character, <span jsid="text">節 (</span>jié), means "holiday" and can be added to the first two without any substantial change in meaning (perhaps "Christmastime"). But the final character in the Cantonese phrase, <span jsid="text">同 (tóng), usually means "same" or "equal." How did a phrase literally translated as "holy birth festival together" become "Merry Christmas"? Was it some sort of Cantonese idiom?<br /><br />As a Mandarin student and linguaphile, this puzzle was driving me nuts. I did hours of web research, asked my Mandarin tutor, my mother, and a Hong Kong born friend, all of whom confirmed that </span><span jsid="text">聖誕節同 made no sense.<br /><br />Finally, late into the evening, I figured it out. My friend, who does not speak or read Chinese, had taken the translations from the <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/christmas.htm">Omniglot site</a>, which reads:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in many languages</span><br /><br /><table summary="How to wish people a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in many languages."><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/cantonese.php">Chinese<br />(Cantonese)</a></td> <td><a href="http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/cantonese/christmas_ca.mp3">聖誕節同新年快樂</a> (singdaanjit tùhng sànnìhn faailohk)<br />恭喜發財 (gùng héi faat chōi) - used at Chinese New Year </td> </tr> <tr> <td><br /></td> <td><br /></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/mandarin.php">Chinese<br />(Mandarin)</a></td> <td><a href="http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/mandarin/christmas_mandarin.mp3">聖誕快樂 新年快樂</a> [圣诞快乐 新年快乐]<br />(shèngdàn kuàilè xīnnián kuàilè)</td></tr></tbody></table><br />In the "Mandarin" translation, the first four characters form the phrase "holy birth happy" while the last four form the phrase "new year happy" (新年 xīnnián = new year). In the "Cantonese" translation, my friend inferred that the first four characters again <span jsid="text">聖誕節同 represented "Merry Christmas."<br /><br />In fact, </span><span jsid="text">聖誕節同</span>新年<span jsid="text">快樂 is not two phrases but one. The character </span><span>同, in this case, means "and" and connects </span><span>聖誕節 ("Christmas") and </span>新年 ("new year"), so that <span>快樂 ("happy") actually modifies both nouns. Literally, it is "holy birth time and new year happy."<br /><br />It's a good reminder that even the shortest of translations are subject to interpretation.<br /></span><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div></span><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-2181337679183335322010-08-26T23:34:00.000-04:002010-08-26T23:37:30.453-04:00Typo vigilantes<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100823/od_nm/us_book_typos_odd">This</a> is fantastic!<br /><br />Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson, both 30, "took it upon themselves to correct public typos during a three-month road trip across the country...[they] drove across the country in the spring of 2008 armed with sharpies, pens and whiteout, correcting spelling, removing surplus apostrophes and untangling subject-verb disagreement on signs outside stores, gas stations, parks and public buildings." <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-90081012251059672322010-08-08T23:45:00.000-04:002010-08-08T23:50:24.540-04:00No physical abuse hereKyla, my five-year-old daughter: "Mommy, your Mandarin teacher hits you, right?"<br /><br />Me: "<span style="font-style: italic;">What</span>???"<br /><br />Kyla: "You said she hits you."<br /><br />Me: "No, she doesn't! What are you talking about?"<br /><br />Kyla: "Or pushes you, or something?"<br /><br />Me: "Oh yeah, she pushes me!" The explanation followed.<br /><br />When I was in college, I was speaking with a Bulgarian friend who had never heard the expression, "Beats me." He had a shocked reaction too, before I explained it. <br /><br />I wonder if English has more metaphors of violence than other languages?<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-6981754561695246712010-08-07T23:59:00.001-04:002010-08-08T00:04:42.916-04:00Turkish Facebook prankI do intend to get back to some substantial posts soon, but this was too good not to post immediately:<br /><br />http://countermeasures.trendmicro.eu/facebook-prank-lost-in-translation/<br /><br />I am highly against the practice of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdsourcing">crowdsourcing </a>translation work. Contrary to popular belief, skilled translation requires far more than native-level fluency in multiple languages---and many don't even have that. I'm unimpressed by the quality of the Facebook translations even in Spanish, a language for which there are many qualified professionals.<br /><br />You get what you pay for. Or worse. <br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-48382914246385930272010-06-30T22:25:00.000-04:002010-06-30T22:29:45.142-04:00I guess I'm supposed to be impressed?<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://notalwaysright.com/the-tower-of-babble/5961" rel="bookmark">The Tower Of Babble</a><div id="jobstyle">Supermarket | New Zealand</div><div class="storycontent"> <p><i>(Note: I am of Asian descent.)</i></p> <p><b>Me:</b> “Good morning!” <i>*starts scanning groceries*</i></p> <p><b>Customer:</b> “Ni hao!”</p> <p><b>Me:</b> “Oh, I’m not Chinese.”</p> <p><b>Customer:</b> “Konnichiwa!”</p> <p><b>Me:</b> “I’m not–”</p> <p><b>Customer:</b> “Shalom!”</p> <p><b>Me:</b> “Sir, that’s not even–”</p> <p><b>Customer:</b> “Namaste!”</p> <p><i>*silence*</i></p> <p><b>Customer:</b> “I know so many languages! <i>So many!</i>”</p><p>(Courtesy <a href="http://notalwaysright.com">http://notalwaysright.com</a>)<br /></p><p></p></div><br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-87271200195647170762010-06-10T23:00:00.001-04:002010-06-10T23:22:41.811-04:00Dead giveawayI was brought up short yesterday at work during our weekly team meeting, in which we were all asked to introduce ourselves to the new interns. After I went, I was asked by the woman next to me, a tech writer I don't know well, "Where are you from?"<br /><br />It always takes me a second to answer this question, because as an Asian-American I'm subject to the <a href="http://daviswiki.org/Asians_and_Asian_Americans#head-673847cb2efbc52dab668e0a01d667f049cc3d54">"perpetual foreigner"</a> stereotype. And, at an institution where people are obsessively focused on academic pedigree, I thought for one wild instant that she was asking for my alma mater. Then I wondered if she, knowing I was fairly new to the group, wanted to know where I'd moved from. I couldn't decide what to say. MIT? Taiwan? California?<br /><br />Finally, she clarified, "Are you from the Midwest?" I answered that I was; I grew up in Kansas, though I haven't lived there in almost twenty years. I asked her how she knew, and she replied, "It's how you say your name." I immediately knew what she meant. A Midwestern dialect is characterized by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_vowel_changes_before_historic_r#Mary-marry-merry_merger">Mary-marry-merry merger</a>, which means that I pronounce the first syllable of my first name like "care", or the New England "Mary." In New England, the vowel is closer to a short <span style="font-style: italic;">a</span> (IPA <span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA">/æ/), just as it is with "marry." I know I'm <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2006/12/still-kansas-girl.html">still a Kansas girl</a>.<br /><br />Incidentally, I don't <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2008/02/whats-in-name-sight-or-sound.html">care that much</a> about the pronunciation of my name. Just spell it right, please!<br /></span><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-6853790027739679872010-05-19T20:06:00.000-04:002010-05-19T20:16:25.192-04:00Qui-sauceAs a highly visual person, I rarely notice when words sound similar if they're spelled quite differently. During dinner this evening I was playing the wonderful Cuban song "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás", which I rediscovered at a recent concert of the fantastic <a href="http://solycanto.com/">Sol y Canto</a> and have been singing around the house since. My daughters wanted to learn it, and joined in on the final "¡Quizás, Quizás, Quizás!" after which my five-year-old pointed to her ketchup and said, "Sauce!"<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-2244379258607916442010-05-09T20:56:00.000-04:002010-05-19T20:21:49.511-04:00Rules and corporaOver the years, I've watched the ways in which my two daughters acquire language and have come to the conclusion that they do so very differently. Kiera, the seven-year-old, has an unbelievable vocabulary; once she hears a word, it's incorporated into her speech. She's like a sponge, absorbing everything she hears. Kyla, the five-year-old, appears to learn in a more rule-based way, with a deeper understanding of grammar. I believe this because she often makes errors in applying a rule of English language to a case when it doesn't apply, <span style="font-style: italic;">e.g.</span> "I beated* Kiera in the race." She seems to have internalized regular patterns like "add '-ed' to put a verb in the past tense."<br /><br />Kiera, on the other hand, has never made such errors that I can remember. As a toddler, though, she did frequently <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2005/05/i-am-you-you-are-me-were-happy-family.html">confuse the first and second persons</a>, apparently deciding that "you" always referred to her, and "I" to the speaker. She also often refers to herself in the third person, and to me in the third person even when she's addressing me. I suspect it's because she has accumulated sort of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_corpus">corpus</a> of valid English words and phrases that she draws from. Since she's never heard incorrect forms like "beated", she's never inclined to use them---but she has heard both "you" and "Kiera" to refer to herself, which is why it took her a while to understand that she should use "I" rather than either of those.<br /><br />I think my own acquisition of language is much more like Kyla's. I have a deep understanding of grammar, which facilitates learning new languages in a structured environment, but makes it harder to pick them up based on immersion alone. While boarding a plane to Mexico after studying Spanish for a year, the flight attendant asked me which row I was in and I absentmindedly answered, "Diez y cinco", invoking a rule that applies only to numbers <span style="font-style: italic;">sixteen</span> and above; I felt a little sheepish when she corrected me, "¿Quince?" And last weekend, at my Mandarin lesson, I was asked to translate the time "eleven-thirty pm" and I said, "yi shi yi dian ban", even though I <span style="font-style: italic;">know</span> that "eleven" is just "shi yi". Subconsciously, I'd misapplied the rule that applies to numbers twenty and over, where the tens digit is explicitly named.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-1139953064200143832010-05-02T19:25:00.001-04:002011-04-10T23:10:14.773-04:00In the public squareDespite all the contexts in which I've used my Spanish, and despite my characterization of myself as (mostly) fluent in the language, I'm well aware that I don't have the eloquence and command that a native speaker would possess. That's why I decided some time ago that the goal I once had of <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2005/06/interpreter-in-making.html">being a professional interpreter</a> wasn't realistic. But I've found numerous other ways to fulfill my deep love of practicing foreign languages, particularly as I become more involved in spirituality and justice. The demographic landscape of the United States is changing before our eyes, and we must start becoming not only multicultural but multilingual if we are to keep up.<br /><br />The golden rule of translation is that one always has one's native language as the target language. I can translate Spanish into English, and German into English, but I really don't have any business translating <span style="font-style: italic;">from</span> English into other languages for anything important. For interpreting (interpreters speak, translators write) in informal contexts, when the goal is to make oneself understood as quickly as possible and nuance is less critical, it's okay for me to go in both directions. But for translation, I simply don't have the intimate knowledge of all the subtle connotations and idiomatic phrases in any other language to do justice to an original text.<br /><br />Nonetheless, because of the linguistically isolated circles in which I move, I'm occasionally starting to find myself in a position where I'm the go-to person for a Spanish translation. Last Friday evening, I received a call from my minister, who was preparing remarks for an immigrant rights rally we were attending the next day; he wanted to be able to deliver them in both English and Spanish (which he can pronounce but not speak). I warned him that I wouldn't be able to render as elegant a translation as he'd get from a native speaker, but relented when I realized that I was the only person he felt comfortable asking for help on such short notice.<br /><br />I must have labored for an hour on less than a hundred words of text, trying to capture his tone and spirit and making sure everything was absolutely free of grammatical errors. The next day, right before the rally, my minister showed the translation to a Latino clergyman, who said it had been well done. I felt proud; my minister has given me so much in the way of pastoral care and spiritual nourishment that I was happy to be able to give something back to him in return. And it occurred to me later that it was the first time I've written something in Spanish that was delivered to 3000 people for inspiration. Like all writing, translation is an art, and I think I just had my first major showing.<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-65551086042901365992010-04-28T23:29:00.001-04:002011-04-10T23:13:03.910-04:00Bits and piecesMy life's been rather hectic lately, but fortunately my language activities are in far better shape than my blogging frequency would suggest. I've finally committed to improving my Mandarin and learning to read and write it, and have hired a wonderful tutor who's pushing me through the very excellent <a href="http://www.cheng-tsui.com/store/products/integrated_chinese?gclid=CNzKwK_8qqECFcRM5QodSjfeeg">Integrated Chinese</a> text. I was surprised to discover how much aesthetics matter while writing characters (especially traditional characters, which I insist on learning); it's like drawing, and definitely teases the right half of my brain.<br /><br />My Spanish is getting a good amount of practice with all the work I've been doing lately in immigrant justice, and my church recently hired its first Latina minister to begin in the fall. I'd been steadily losing my conversation skills since moving out of California, but I feel them returning rapidly.<br /><br />Here are a few interesting language tidbits I've found recently:<br /><ul><li>I went to a fabulous restaurant called Pangea last weekend in New York City. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangaea">Pangea</a> (or Pangaea) is the name of the supercontinent that existed before it split into the seven continents we know today. I'd never thought much about the name, but while staring at it I suddenly realized it's from Greek <span lang="grc">π</span><span lang="grc">α</span><span lang="grc">ν</span>-, meaning "all", and <span lang="grc">γ</span><span lang="grc">α</span>ι<span lang="grc">α</span><span lang="grc"></span>, meaning earth. Makes sense!</li><li>A translation/interpretation professor I had many years ago once said in class that in Spanish there's a verb meaning "make the sign of the cross", but I never knew what it was. Finally, I had the chance to ask my future Latina minister, and she told me it was "<a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/persignarse">persignarse</a>". I think that's one of the few cases in which the Spanish uses fewer syllables than the English.</li><li>I learned the four tones of Mandarin Chinese as a child from my parents, but never made the distinctions well and was always confusing the second and third tones. Studying the language more formally in adulthood, I saw a <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Mandarin_tones_in_musical_notation.svg">rendition in music notation</a>, and I've found them much easier to keep straight ever since.<br /></li></ul><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-2437549294084932082010-03-31T22:25:00.000-04:002010-03-31T22:30:13.297-04:00Like mother, like daughterMy older daughter, now seven, <a href="http://languagelover.blogspot.com/2007/05/next-generation-of-grammar-police.html">showed early signs</a> of taking after me in her insistence on accurate and correct English. Now that she can read quite well, she's becoming ever more vigilant. Yesterday my husband took her into a gas station to go to the bathroom, and she pointed to the sign that said "Womens" and said, "I can't go in there, they spelled it wrong!"<br /><br />That's my girl.<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-58529408310177109342010-03-04T21:31:00.000-05:002010-03-05T08:16:00.379-05:00Happy National Grammar Day!There's some fun stuff <a href="http://nationalgrammarday.com/">here</a>.<br /><br />I was about to ask, "Why today?" not expecting a very good answer, but in fact there is one, and it's charming.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />Language is something to be celebrated, and March 4 is the perfect day to do it. It's not only a date, it's an imperative: March forth on March 4 to speak well, write well, and help others do the same!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-2481047738842098842010-02-14T17:26:00.001-05:002010-02-14T22:49:02.781-05:00Osculating orbitsHere's a good one for today. A few weeks ago I went to a talk, and on one of the speaker's slides there appeared the phrase "osculating Cartesian covariance". I had no idea what that was, but since "osculate" means "to kiss", I was pretty sure that he'd meant "oscillating" instead.<br /><br />So, feeling fairly smug, I was mentioning the error to my coworker afterwards when a bystander said, "Actually, 'osculating' is the correct term there." I was embarrassed and rather puzzled as to what it could possibly mean, so I looked it up. Indeed, there is such a thing as an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osculating_orbit">osculating orbit</a>, which is the orbit a celestial body would travel around its primary gravitational influence in the absence of perturbing forces like other planets or satellites. The term comes from the fact that at any point in time and space, a body's osculating orbit is tangent to (i.e. touches or "kisses") its actual orbit.<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12546956.post-64164608048728203852010-02-05T22:43:00.000-05:002010-02-05T22:52:23.816-05:00¡Hablando español, otra vez!One aspect of my job that I dislike is the lack of diversity in my work environment. Because we do work for the Department of Defense, everyone has to be a U.S. citizen. Whereas working in the semiconductor industry I had plenty of coworkers from Asia and Europe, here it's pure American.<br /><br />Yesterday I met a couple of guys from Puerto Rico who work in the Speech and Language Processing group. I'd love to work for this group, but I couldn't even get an interview because I had no relevant experience. I told these men about my love for languages, to which they responded that they didn't actually do much with language, but it was mostly signal processing and pattern recognition. I said I knew that, but I just needed to be <span style="font-style: italic;">around</span> different languages, and I'd heard nothing but English for the last four months. One of them said, "Oh, we can help you with that, if you want to learn a bit of Spanish." When I said I already knew Spanish, they told me about a Spanish conversation group that meets for lunch every Thursday and invited me on the spot.<br /><br />It was one of the best times I've had in a while. I've been worried that I'll lose my Spanish without opportunities to practice, and spending an hour every week chatting with native speakers puts those fears to rest. Sorry, officemates...you'll have to do without me every Thursday from now on!<br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2