Foreign Languages

Why I Decided to Learn Another Language

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I love languages. There’s just something about the feeling of turning an idea into a linguistic expression. It’s an intimate way of understanding an entirely different way of thinking.

When I learn a language, I aim for perfection, or as close as I can get, but I hadn’t started learning a new language in ages. I decided to go back to basics and learn about Thai and Tibetan, two languages which have fascinated me for ages, but which didn’t really have a clear economic or career value.… Read the rest

Learning Another Language With Another Language

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English is my native language, but I learned Mandarin fluently. I don’t speak Mandarin from being raised with it, I learned as an adult. I can read and write well enough I was able to go to college in China (granted it was a rough start). The majority of my college experience was using Mandarin to learn other things, but I rarely used it to learn any other languages (due to time).… Read the rest

Learning Vocabulary By Frequency

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Some words are more common than others. This very basic linguistic principle has been researched (warning: PDF) a lot. This research shows a correlation between frequency and vocabulary acquisition, but that was already something taken for granted as common knowledge.

If you ask most people who have successfully learned a language how they did it, they’ll tell you they hit a certain level, then began breaking the language down and targeting each part separately.… Read the rest

When Should You Learn the Writing System for a New Language?

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One of the hardest things when learning a language (which isn’t written in the same writing system as yours) is to know when and if you need to learn the writing system. Some languages lean heavily on their written traditions, and for others, writing is a relatively new development. The type of writing system can further complicate this decision since some are going to be more intuitive than others.… Read the rest

A Review of Paul Rouzer’s: A New Primer of Literary Chinese

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Paul Rouzer’s A New Primer of Literary Chinese is pretty much the best book of its class that I’ve seen. It covers literary Chinese for English speakers looking to learn in a self-contained package. The book does not build on any specific series and is completely standalone. By being standalone, it is suitable for pretty much any learning path. It also covers the Japanese Kanbun pronunciations as well as Korean Hanja pronunciations.… Read the rest

What I Learned About the Art of Translation from Doing It

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I started a project to translate the Daodejing from Chinese into English a few months ago. I hadn’t been actively into translating for the better part of a decade, so I had forgotten what the hardest parts were. Trying to get back in saddle reminded me of what I had let slip.

I had forgotten the real impact and difficulty of things like word choice, code switching fatigue, weird grammar, literal versus inferential translation, preserving poetic intent, and other points like keeping track of tone, and consistency.… Read the rest