and not: 
Finally, I've learned a new expression today in the Skyscrapercity forum: Pun intended. Which can be used, for example, in: "It would be cool if it snowed tomorrow" (pun intended :D ).
Friday, October 31, 2008
Cup vs. Cap
One of the things I regret more about my English learning process is my former teachers not forcing me to pronounce words correctly. My mother tongues just having one fixed sound for each of the 5 vowels doesn't help either and I find it really hard to distinguish between some vowel sounds in English. Let's take for example the words cup and cap. Even if I try as much as I can, it seems to me that my ears are not prepared to distinguish them, and consequently, neither is my mouth. Same thing with reach vs. rich or full vs. fool. Yeah, I know that when listening I can guess which word it is due to context, but believe me, each time I need to say "I would like to go to the beach" I secretly pray for my pronounciation of beach to be: 
and not: 
Finally, I've learned a new expression today in the Skyscrapercity forum: Pun intended. Which can be used, for example, in: "It would be cool if it snowed tomorrow" (pun intended :D ).
and not: Finally, I've learned a new expression today in the Skyscrapercity forum: Pun intended. Which can be used, for example, in: "It would be cool if it snowed tomorrow" (pun intended :D ).
Thursday, October 30, 2008
A quick Basque lesson
Two parts in today’s post: First a quick Basque lesson, and second, a link to another free web to learn and practise languages online.
As much as I like learning languages, I also like teaching them. Moreover, it is a way to make a little extra money. I used to teach Basque language when I was a student. Lots of kids here have problems with this language because their parents can't speak it or even if they do, they just prefer to address their children only in Spanish. I am sooo glad to have both languages as mother tongues! Plus, I think Basque is a hard language to learn (well, at least harder than Spanish or other latin-based languages).
For example, it's verb system is quite tricky. Let's take the sentence "Zuek niri harriak bota dizkidazue", which means "You(plural) have thrown stones at me".
As you can see, the auxiliary verb contains inside it all the information about the subject and the indirect object of the sentence (and much more), so "Zuek" and "niri" can be omitted. Cool, right? I would love to learn another language with has a verb system as least as trickier as this one. However this is not a piece of cake to teenage students who a)have no interest in languages, b)get bad marks at school and c)attend lessons just because their parents want to. So imagine their faces when they have to learn Basque verbs.
Well, and finally, here’s another free site to learn languages. Hope you enjoy it. I’ve already signed up for German and Mandarin courses :D
As much as I like learning languages, I also like teaching them. Moreover, it is a way to make a little extra money. I used to teach Basque language when I was a student. Lots of kids here have problems with this language because their parents can't speak it or even if they do, they just prefer to address their children only in Spanish. I am sooo glad to have both languages as mother tongues! Plus, I think Basque is a hard language to learn (well, at least harder than Spanish or other latin-based languages).
For example, it's verb system is quite tricky. Let's take the sentence "Zuek niri harriak bota dizkidazue", which means "You(plural) have thrown stones at me".
- Zuek: You (subject, plural, it can be omitted, you will see why later)
- niri: at me (indirect object, it can be also omitted)
- harriak: stones (direct object):
- harri: stone
- ak: indicates that it is countable, plural and direct object - bota: to throw (Main verb in infinitive form. Usually verbs in Basque have a main verb and an auxiliary verb)
- dizkidazue: auxiliary verb. It contains a lot of information which can be broken down as follows:
- di: the verb is in present tense and needs a direct and an indirect object
- zki: the direct object is plural (stoneS)
- da: (at me). The indirect object is first person singular (me)
- zue: the subject of the sentence is second person plural (you)
As you can see, the auxiliary verb contains inside it all the information about the subject and the indirect object of the sentence (and much more), so "Zuek" and "niri" can be omitted. Cool, right? I would love to learn another language with has a verb system as least as trickier as this one. However this is not a piece of cake to teenage students who a)have no interest in languages, b)get bad marks at school and c)attend lessons just because their parents want to. So imagine their faces when they have to learn Basque verbs.
Well, and finally, here’s another free site to learn languages. Hope you enjoy it. I’ve already signed up for German and Mandarin courses :D
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Scary weather
I was looking this week's weather into Google. It's really scary...
I'm feeling wet already.
I'm feeling wet already.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Reading memories
OK, I know that the main purpose of this blog was to improve my English and look for someone to point out my mistakes. So, I promised myself that I would write quite often here but I am not fulfilling it. My best excuse is this last month I've been writing a 30 page article about software agents for this journal (in English, of course). I hope that my crappy English and sometimes dubious algebraic proofs make the cut.
Well, after this brief introduction to redeem (?) myself, let me talk about my relationship with books. I love reading all kind of books in any language I can understand. My mum taught me to read when I was 4 and since then I have devoured trillions of books. I've learned so much through them...Seriously, I can't understand people who are fond of never having read a book. But I guess that's their problem...
My first reading memories are related with Teo, a red-haired boy whose mission was to help kids learn about their environment. I had more than 20 books of this collection and everyday my dad would read me one story (I was 2 by then). I think that in the end I knew most of them by heart. Then I grew up a little bit and started to read by myself. The "Barco de Vapor" was without doubt my favourite collection. I think those books were classified in 4 levels (white, blue, orange and red) with regard to their difficulty. When I reached the red level (I suppose I was about 11), my mum decided that it was time for me to read books for teenagers, such as The Baby-sitters Club. Yeah! Books that talked about hanging out with friends and boyfriends? That was a totally new experience for me! Some years later, when I was at university, books about Java, SQL or "HTML for dummies" became my best friends, basically because I was so busy studying the whole day that I didn't read anything else.
And now...well, I read about 1h30 every weekday (basically because I spend that time on a train while going to work). So imagine... that's at least one book every week. Probably my following acquisitions will be the ones in the picture. Have you read any of them?
Well, after this brief introduction to redeem (?) myself, let me talk about my relationship with books. I love reading all kind of books in any language I can understand. My mum taught me to read when I was 4 and since then I have devoured trillions of books. I've learned so much through them...Seriously, I can't understand people who are fond of never having read a book. But I guess that's their problem...
My first reading memories are related with Teo, a red-haired boy whose mission was to help kids learn about their environment. I had more than 20 books of this collection and everyday my dad would read me one story (I was 2 by then). I think that in the end I knew most of them by heart. Then I grew up a little bit and started to read by myself. The "Barco de Vapor" was without doubt my favourite collection. I think those books were classified in 4 levels (white, blue, orange and red) with regard to their difficulty. When I reached the red level (I suppose I was about 11), my mum decided that it was time for me to read books for teenagers, such as The Baby-sitters Club. Yeah! Books that talked about hanging out with friends and boyfriends? That was a totally new experience for me! Some years later, when I was at university, books about Java, SQL or "HTML for dummies" became my best friends, basically because I was so busy studying the whole day that I didn't read anything else.
And now...well, I read about 1h30 every weekday (basically because I spend that time on a train while going to work). So imagine... that's at least one book every week. Probably my following acquisitions will be the ones in the picture. Have you read any of them?
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