Uneasy Rhetoric » language

dafyddapgwilym.net

Uneasy Rhetoric — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:27:02 +0000

For a couple years, I studied Welsh. You could say it was because I wanted to learn that funny language that inspired countless cut-rate fantasy writers to replace all of the i’s with y’s and use lots of w’s to make people and place names more exotic.

You’d be wrong. It’s a deeply poetic language and for me a heritage language. See, I’m related to the Joneses. And the Smiths.

There’s a new edition of Dafydd ap Gwilym’s poems available online in both Welsh and English that’s very well done. It includes audio of various folks reading the poems in Welsh. Go to the poems and select the third one, Y Drindod (The Trinity). Hit the audio and give it a listen. Note the incredible alliteration on the “oe” sound in lines 9 and 10.

And if you want to know what the “ll” sounds like, try poem 140, Y Llw (The Oath).

(Dafydd ap Gwilym “is generally regarded as the greatest Welsh poet of all time and amongst the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages.”)

–via Languagehat

FSI language courses online!

Uneasy Rhetoric — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 18:25:12 +0000

Some Foreign Service Institute language courses are now available online, free! From the site:

These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain.

This site is dedicated to making these language courses freely available in an electronic format. It is an independent effort to foster the learning of worldwide languages.

Cantonese, Standard Chinese, French, German, Greek, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, and Turkish are currently available, at least in part. This is a work in progress.

This is a great resource for those who want to learn a new language but can’t afford to take classes or purchase some of the expensive language learning packages. I hope they are able to put many more online.

(via languagehat)

Setting Up the International Keyboard

Uneasy Rhetoric — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 00:40:31 +0000

Bilingual? Need to write in a language with accent marks? Use Windows XP? Use the Language Bar and its ability to switch keyboard layouts on the fly.

MS-Word has keyboard shortcuts for characters such as é or ü ([ctrl]+ ‘ then e or [ctrl]+[shift]+ ‘ then u). However, not all programs respond to Word’s keyboard shortcuts. For example, I write blog posts in a text editor or in a form on a web page.

It takes a little time to get used to the US-International keyboard layout, but it can be a time saver when typing longer documents in French or Spanish.

The layout is the same as a regular QWERTY, except that three keys (two and a half, actually: the grave accent/tilde, the caret or [shift]-6, and the apostrophe/quote keys) change behavior. Using the US-International keyboard, these keys will always wait for the next keypress. If it is an accented letter (vowels except for ç and ñ), that letter will appear with its accent. If it is any other character, then the key’s normal character will appear.

The key strokes:

é = apostrophe then a letter (a, e, i, o, u)

è = backwards apostrophe/tilde (that key in the upper left corner) then a letter (a, e, i, o, u)

ç = apostrophe then c

ü = [shift]+apostrophe (that’s a quotation mark) then a letter (a, e, i, o, u)

ê = [shift]+ 6 then a letter (a, e, i, o, u)

ñ = [shitf]+ `/~ then n

Microsoft has a page that depicts the US-International keyboard. (Guess what? The page doesn’t load in Firefox.)

How to install the US-International keyboard.

Go to Control Panel then “Regional and Language Options”
On the “Languages” Tab, click “Details”
Under “Installed Services” click “Add”
Keep “Input Languages” as English (United States)
Under “Keyboard layout/IME” choose “United States – International”
Click “Apply”

A little keyboard icon should display next to your Windows system tray. If it doesn’t, right-click on the taskbar, go to “toolbars,” and turn on the language bar.

To switch keyboards, click the keyboard icon. It will give you a list of your installed keyboards.

Note, all of this assumes you’re using a font that supports the necessary characters or that the website you’re posting to is using a compatible character set, e.g. utf-8.

Party with the French

Uneasy Rhetoric — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 03:25:37 +0000

The Alliance Française de Sacramento is hosting a “Fête de Noël” next Saturday from 4pm to 6pm. The fete is $5 for non-members (members get in free).

If you’ve ever been curious about the AFdeSac, this would be a good opportunity to meet some of the folks who make it run and other folks, like me, who are just glad it’s here.

The Alliance is an international organization dedicated to promoting the French language and culture abroad. Sacramento’s Alliance chapter is relatively young (1999 maybe? I can’t remember). It’s primary activity right now is language classes for all levels. I’ve been taking classes through the Alliance since the summer of 2004 and I’ve been very happy with them.

Unfortunately, they’re not very good at keeping the website up-to-date, so here are the details:

When: Saturday December 10, 4pm to 6pm.
Where: Alliance Française
1721 25th Street, Sacramento
What: Cakes, cookies, and sweets
Hot cocoa, spiced wine, and coffee
Good cheers and caroling in French.

Please call the office at (916) 453-1723 or email them at afs at afdesacramento dot org to let them know how many will attend. Pay at the door.

French-English, English-French.

Uneasy Rhetoric — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:36:32 +0000

DSCF0234

Originally uploaded by Urhet.

I have not purchased a new French-English/English-French dictionary since before I started college (in college, I bought a petite Larousse Dictionnaire de la langue francaise, but that isn’t an f-e/e-f dictionary). Since I’m taking advanced conversation courses now, and since I’m determined to at least relearn what I’ve lost, I thought it was time to upgrade.

No One Should Ever Say “Matey.”

Uneasy Rhetoric — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 14:46:01 +0000

Talk like a pirate day is over. Thank God.

With Probable Certainty.

Uneasy Rhetoric — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 17:20:03 +0000

We all make mistakes like this, but when it is in the lead paragraph of a story in a major newspaper (SF Chronicle, September 15, 2005, “Governor hints he’ll run again”), it becomes especially funny:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed the worst-kept secret in California on Thursday by all but announcing that he would run for a new term in 2006.

The “secret” the story refers to is that Arnold will run again. However, he confirmed nothing if he “all but announced.” Confirmation implies certainty, while the phrase “all but” implies a state that is not-quite certain. The sentence would be better, I think, if it read “Gov. Schwarzenegger all but confirmed the worst-kept secret in California…” He didn’t actually say he would run, but he did strongly indicate it. The headline includes the word “hints,” which also implies a lack of confirmation.

To Boldly Split Infinitives

Uneasy Rhetoric — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 06:51:01 +0000

Arnold Zwicky from Language Log writes that “the British tend to be severe about split infinitives.” Somehow, somewhere along the way, either because of an English teacher or some latent desire to be more British (yeah, right), I also became sensitive to the split infinitive. Seeing it in a newspaper (which frequently occurs), would rankle me. Hearing it spoken would be like nails on a blackboard.

All of this is ironic because I’m no grammar scholar. Anyone who reads this blog knows I make my share of grammatical faux pas.

However, splitting the infinitive, along with use of the passive voice, the Harvard/terminal comma, and the proper use of who (subject) and whom (object) are the bogey men of English teachers the world over.

(The infinitive, by the way, “is the form of a verb that has no inflection to indicate person, number, mood or tense” – Wikipedia. To go, to run, to see, are all infinitives.)

This is why I am amazed that people (Americans) who claim to be ruthless grammarians – people who believe Eats, Shoots, and Leaves to be nigh on religion – can’t identify or define a split infinitive. To them, “to boldly go” seems perfectly natural. And it should.

As I understand it, one reason we shouldn’t split our infinitives is because our Latin-speaking intellectual forefathers did not split theirs. Of course, they couldn’t, could they? The Latin infinitive consists of one unit (e.g. “habere”), whereas the English consists of two (e.g. “to have”).

I’ve weakened my anti-split-infinitive stance because, as the all-knowing Wikipedia says:

Descriptively speaking, split infinitives are common in all varieties of informal English; however, their status as part of the standard language is controversial. In the 19th century, some grammatical authorities sought to introduce a prescriptive rule that split infinitives should not be used in English. Most authorities from the last 100 years, however, agree that this rule was misguided, and indeed that splitting an infinitive can sometimes reduce ambiguity.

Thus, I am now willing to boldly split my infinitives. However, there is no excuse for people who think they are more grammatically sophisticated than me not to know (to not know?) what a split infinitive is.

Aside: The split infinitive occurs most frequently when the writer uses an adverb (to boldly go) or negation (to not go). The first is generally accepted now in American English, but the second is still awkward. Even if it is accepted, writers should be keenly aware when they split their infinitives. It could be valid, or it could be a sign of adverbial excess. I like adverbs and would never banish them from my writing. However, overuse makes for clunky prose.

Y’all Come Back Now, Ya hear?

Uneasy Rhetoric — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 23:05:26 +0000

Languagehat links to an ongoing discussion at Metafilter about the growing use of y’all in American English. I’ve posted twice before on the subject. The discussion is interesting because it includes discussion of a variety of regional vernacular making its way into common speech. Unfortunately, some idiots think that there is only one “proper” way to speak English and that anyone who does not speak (or write) in that way is, well, I’ll let the person speak for itself:

Because only stupid people say it [y'all]; and sadly, stupid people know no state boundaries. However, it at least serves as an easy litmus test when first meeting someone; if their vocabulary includes “y’all,” then you can easily and immediately adjust your opinion of their IQ downward.

Is it wrong of me to get a warm sense of superiority over this poster? I need to work on being more humble. I guess those humble Georgian (state of) roots don’t go too deep. I reckon I’ll need to work on that.

Frankly, I find y’all to be extremely useful when I need my audience to understand, explicitly, the plural.

Comment dit-on “condo” en français?

Uneasy Rhetoric — Thu, 12 May 2005 05:48:10 +0000

Any native English speaker who has spent time learning French has no doubt struggled with the genders of nouns. Sadly, there is no overarching short-cut to learning them, other than always learning them with the vocabulary. However, there are generalizable rules, such as nouns ending in -tion are usually feminine.

I learned another general rule today:

Nouns which sound like they end in a consonant are frequently feminine (unless, spelled out, they actually end in a consonant). For example, voiture (car), ends in an “r” sound and is thus feminine. Sel (salt) actually ends in a consonant, so is masculine.

Nouns which end in a vowel sound are frequently masculine. For example, radio (do I have to translate it for you?) ends in an “oh” sound and is therefore masculine.

Of course, Le français breaks these rules with impunity. In fact, this rule came up while I was being corrected on the gender of “message.” It is masculine, even though it ends in a “zh” sound.

Update: Et pour les uns qui veulent savoir, les québécois utilisent “le condo,” selon Google. Peut-être les français aussi.