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Tag Archives: languages

Names, names, names…

27 Thursday Jan 2022

Posted by la Clarina in History, Scribbling

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Historical fiction, languages, names, naming characters, research, spelling, Tom Walsingham Mysteries, writing

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time perusing lists of names of Guild members in 16th century Bruges. It’s one of the many wonders of the Internet that you can find this sort of thing for the asking… and, as I said, I ended up spending a good chunk of the afternoon going through list after list, copying the promising ones in my notebook – one column for given names, one for family names – trying them out for size, and even involving a Dutch-speaking friend for a sense of how a few of them would be pronounced… Continue reading →

The Rosetta Method (to say nothing of the Spanish Inquisition)

28 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation

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Don Carlos, languages, Opera, the rosetta stone, the spanish inquisition, translations

My favourite way of learning languages is by reading – and no, you are not surprised.

And of course it may take some time before one is proficient enough to really read – but I find that, once I have the hang of basic grammar, one great way to reach that level of proficiency is what I like to call the Rosetta Method: reading the same text in a language I know, and then in the language I’m learning. I love the way it makes me see the language in action, while at the same time forcing me to work out the different cogs-and-wheels of different languages… Continue reading →

Music in a different language?

23 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Things

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George Tsoulas, languages, music

MusicNotesVarD-500x500I’m not terribly surprised to learn that the brain will process music and language in similar ways… Intuitively, I’ve always had this notion that both work by structure, pattern, rhythm, repetition, juxtaposition, combination of sounds, expression and codification of meaning…

This very interesting article by George Tsoulas for Conversation, offers a clear explanation and an overview of the current studies on the subjects – together with a few good links.

So it would seem that, after all, music is a different language. Or perhaps every language is a different music?

 

Related articles
  • The Psychology of Music: Why Mood and Memory Matter (shutterstock.com)
  • Study shows musical rhythm discrimination related to language skills (examiner.com)

See-Through Languages

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation

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English, Italian, languages, reality, Translation

It has occurred to me that there is another thing that I do all the time – beside narrating and/or staging things in my head.

I translate.

Well, maybe not so much in everyday conversation – although I’ve been known to do that as well – but books, films, television, lectures… I seem to possess a special squad of neurons in my brain, on constant translating alert. Continue reading →

Scribbling in Group

23 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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languages, solitary writing, writing group

writinggroupredI’m off to the first meeting of my first writing group in a few hours.

In a burst of wild originality, I’ve named it “The Scribblers”, and it is composed of myself and three former pupils, for the moment. These three hardy souls attended not one, but two writing courses of mine – and, finding they haven’t had enough, they were clamouring for more… Except, an even mildly advanced course is no picnic to prepare and teach, and I’m quite up to my ears as it is in my own writing, and theatre, and commissions, and talks. Besides, the times being what they are, it is not easy to find a library/school/club/town council willing to organise – and much less sponsor – a writing course… Continue reading →

A Map of Incomprehensibility

14 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Lostintranslation

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incomprehensibility, languages, stereotypes

IncomprI found (well, I was directed to) this intriguing graph showing the equivalents of “It’s all Greek to me” in thirty languages.

It is a thing of interesting revelations – such as Spanish (Spanish?) being the epitome of fogginess to Germans and Macedonians, and Javanese entirely baffling the French… Continue reading →

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