Blog # 9: Brain Games

There are many interesting articles about language and the brain, but I think this video is much more interesting. I've been watching Brain Games (great show) on Netflix and I've learned so much from it. So I was excited to see that they had an episode specifically for this topic. This video covers so much and it gets the viewers involved which I think makes it more fun. It's a bit long but it's definitely worth it. Hope you guys like it!

Blog #8: So Many Endangered Languages

 I already did a blog on an endangered language but I do find this topping interesting; I'm glad to write about his topic again.  This video is about some of many endangered languages in the world. After seeing this video I realized that we should really strive to preserve endangered languages. We should keep speaking our native language and teaching our children. It's sad to think that one day these endangered languages might one day be gone, along with their culture and traditions. Hopefully we can do our best to change this. Take a look!

Blog #7: Grey's Anatomy...Come Again?

This video is a great example of what jargon is and well, I also enjoy watching Grey's Anatomy. I didn't understand any of this medical jargon so when they said it again in a much simpler way I was like oh... that's what you meant. There is so much we don't know because jargon is vocabulary of a specific professional trade (medical, legal, business, etc...) that can be hard to understand. I thought these actors did great in memorizing the medical jargon but I did find another video about how well they know medical jargon. Check it out!

Blog # 6: Most unusual sound in Sewdish language

I like the fact that in every language there is always a unique way to say something whether it a specific word or phrase. This video is exactly about that. Oliver Green is the guy in the video who discovered (not exactly discovered it but reporting about it) the very unique sound the city of Umeå, in north of Sweden, pronounces the word yes. In most of Sweden they pronounce the word yes “Ja” but in the north they pronounce it by making a sound that sounds like sucking in a whistle (that’s the best way I found to explain it). I found it fascinating and I though it was pretty cool way to say "yes". Check it out for yourselves!

Blog #5: If idioms were real

Oh idioms! Aren't they great? Saying one thing that has a different figurative meaning than the literal  meaning. I think idioms are so much fun to use and many of us use it in a daily basis. I found a couple of videos and articles talking about idioms but I thought this video was just what I was looking for. I thought it would be cool to see how they would look like if they were real; that's were this video comes in (I loved the one about the milk) I hope you guys like it as much as I did!

Blog #4: 35 Accents in the English Language

I came across this video and I thought it was neat. I've always found accents intriguing. This video is about this guy that speaks English but with 35 different accents. His accents aren't perfect and he states that in the first 15 seconds in the video. I loved his "transatlantic 1940's" accent and his "New York city / North Jersey" accent. I've tried doing accents before but they always come out like a mixture of English, Australian and the New York, which sounds not so good. It's crazy how so many people can speak the same language but with a different accent; all depending where one grows up.  So I definitely wanted to share this video with you all and hopefully you'll find it interesting as well!

Blog #3: "Hawkeye" is learning sign language?

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/one-of-marvels-avengers-turns-to-sign-language/?_r=4

 

 I chose this article because I really never seen a comic that has the characters using sign language to communicate. Honestly, I just thought it was cool. I’ve never been a big comic book reader but I do like reading manga and it’s the first time I’ve seen sign language in one of them. This article is about how one of the member of Marvel’s Avengers comics the main character is using sign language to communicate because he has severe ear damage.  In the issue No. 19 “Hawkeye” is the character who must cope with his ear damage because of the aftereffects of a battle. Throughout this story you’ll see blank balloons when “Hawkeye” can’t hear because the creators wanted to give a taste to readers on what it would be like to be deaf. I think this is very important because you never know if one day you’ll get into an accident that might leave you deaf or unable to speak. If this does happen, you’ll have to find and learn another way to communicate with people. I also think that the artist David Aja did an amazing job drawing the signs in such a clear way, it must have been difficult. Overall, it was a pretty interesting article, check it out!

 

Blog #2: Making Language Immersion Fun for Kids

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/travel/making-language-immersion-fun-for-the-kids.html?_r=1

This article is about a mother that wants to expose her children more to the world, thus taking her children to Italy for the summer. It is stated that the sooner you learn the language the easier it gets, so she enrolled them in a language immersion program. These language immersion programs teach children (non-native and native speakers) a different language. She emphasis how difficult it is to get in them and how expensive some of these programs can be, but believes to be well worth it. 

I have to say that the thing I found the most interesting is the Concordia Language Villages. It’s a summer camp that offers it in 15 languages: Russian, Spanish, German, Japanese, Arabic, Korean and many more. “Each language has its own village,” said Patricia Thorton, the dean of the program. “Kids eat the food of that culture, change their dollars for local currency; they’re completely immersed.” I think these camps are a great and fun way to get kids out of their comfort zone and learn to embrace the beauty of a different culture.

This article grabbed my interest right away because making it fun for kids to learn a new language is important. I think many people are realizing the importance of becoming bilingual or trilingual, and how that will make a positive impact on their young ones future. This article definitely made me think about my future children and how I would love for them to be exposed to different cultures and learning another language.

Blog #1: The Last Speaker of a Dying Language

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/meet-the-last-speaker-of-a-dying-language

I found so many interesting articles and videos about languages. One of the videos that really grabbed my attention was about a dying language that only one person knows how to speak. Marie Wilcox is a Native American and is the last person who can speak fluent Wukchumni. It is the language of her tribe that has less than 200 members remaining. Marie is creating the first Wukchumni dictionary and her family also learned some of the language while helping her create it. I chose this video because during class we were talking about how hundred languages are dying every day and that got me intrigued.

It made me want to know more about preserving one’s culture and taking the time to learn about others. I know a few people that don’t know how to speak their native language or that don’t know much about their culture. When I ask if they would like to learn their native language or more about their cultural roots many of them say yes. My great, great grandma came from an Asian country in the early 1900’s but we don’t have much left of her belongings. I wish I did know what part of Asia, so I can discover that culture that she experienced when she was young before moving to California then Mexico.

Dying languages are happening constantly and we don’t hear much about it. This article made me realize how precious it is to conserve one’s roots wither its language, traditions or old folk stories. We keep losing languages and with that we are losing so much culture, its actually really sad if you think about. I admire what Marie and her family did to try to preserve their language.

Intro Blog #0

Hi there!

The name is Alejandra Naranjo. I am 20 years old, turning the big 21 this summer. I am Mexican-American and speak fluent in Spanish, but I still need to work on writing it (the accents are hard for me). I can be quite shy when it comes to meeting new people, but once you get to know me a bit better it will be hard for me to stay quiet. Like any other 20 year old, I like hanging out with my friends, watching movies, listening to music and reading books. I am into photography and ceramics. I am currently trying to learn piano, which I always wanted to do and now I am finally getting around to it.

I am taking this class because it is a required course for the certificate in Language Studies in Spanish. Even though I'm taking this class for the certificate, I also love learning about different cultures, customs, the people and their languages. Learning a different language has to be in the top 5 of my bucket list! I'm interested in learning Korean, German, Italian or American Sign Language. One day I'll get to travel to such places till then I look forward to learning Linguistics and getting to know you guys throughout this semester!

P.S. I'm a big fan of quotes because they help me express myself so
I'll most likely add them in every post I write as a bonus.

Chow!