It all started when I was coming into my final year of university. At this point my love of languages was already in full swing after having appeared like a bolt from the blue a few years earlier, and I’d already dabbled in German, Norwegian, and Esperanto. I had also completed my five-month Erasmus programme … Continue reading Once more unto the breach: my journey into conlanging, part 1
There's an event that takes place every year in November called NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is that you write around 1600 words every single day for a month, without editing as you go. If you manage to do that, you end up with 50,000 words of a novel. Sure, … Continue reading Polyglot NaNoWriMo
Mi estis tedita semajnfine, kaj mi volis lerni alian lingvon, ĉar... mi estas mi, kaj mi trovas ĝin trankvila. Sed kiu lingvo devas mi lerni? Mi iris al Tumblr, por trovi inspiro kaj Mi trovis grupon de homoj, kiuj estis pasiigitaj pri sia lingvo. Kaj tiel komencis mi lerni esperanton. 'Sed esperanto estas tre malbela,' … Continue reading Ĉu mi lernas alian lingvon?
こんにちは！元気ですか？僕はデン・スプロークリガ・スカータンです。イギリス人です。二十六歳です。翻訳者です！英語とデンマーク語とスウェーデン語とノルウェー語を話します。日本語を勉強します。日本語は美しい言語です。僕はいつか日本へ行きたい。あなたは日本語を勉強しますか？頑張って！寿司を食べませんか？ I can't actually remember if I've mentioned it on this blog, but I'm currently trying to learn Japanese. As those of you with any knowledge of Japanese will be able to see above, my current level is very basic, but I'd like to think that I'm slowly improving... I managed to transcribe the Swedish … Continue reading 日本語を勉強しましょう！
Earlier this year, I decided to treat myself to a DNA test from a well-known company, which specialises in genetics and family trees as a sort of Christmas present to myself. Honestly, in a way, I was looking for a semi-logical explanation as to why I'm so interested (some might say obsessed) with Northern Europe … Continue reading It’s all genetic
Last month, the world of linguistics lost one of its greats, Zhōu Yǒuguāng (周有光). Zhōu was born Zhōu Yàopíng (周耀平) on the 13th of January 1906, the son of a Qing dynasty official in Chángzhōu, Jiāngsū province in mainland China. He was an economist, having studied at St. John's University in Shànghǎi, where he majored in … Continue reading Mandarin: As easy as ABC
As those of you who read my previous post will know, I have recently started learning Hungarian at work. This has turned out to be a lot more challenging than I had realised, though not for the reasons you might think - though I'm still struggling with postpositions and definite and indefinite conjugation of verbs. … Continue reading Spurning my mistress(es)
So, last week something unexpected happened. I was at work, minding my own business, and in rather quick succession I received two pieces of news - one good, one bad. The good news was, that my boss had approved a proposal I had sent him, asking if we could be given time during work hours … Continue reading The Hungarian dream
den språkliga skatan 