Blog 9- The Bilingual Brain

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/11/bilingual-brains-better-equipped-to-process-information.html

This is a good read for all of you aspiring or accomplished bilinguals. I'm sure you already know of the many benefits of knowing multiple languages, but I think this article breaks it down well. It talks about a study that was done on bilinguals and monolinguals, which tested their brains' filtering abilities and the bilinguals scored remarkably higher. It also described a study which found that bilingual children were much more capable of filtering out noise in the classroom and effectively retaining more information. I think these tests prove that bilingual people simply do not get distracted nearly as easy as monolinguals and I think that is a great quality to have. It has added even more motivation for me to learn my target languages.

Blog 8- German dialect in Texas

I thought this was an interesting video. There has been a German dialect in a part of Texas for 150 years and it's at risk of dying out. All the speakers alive now were born and raised in Texas, so even though their German is very good, they all have heavy Southern American accents in their German pronunciations. The umlauted vowel sounds, which are a huge part of the German language, are essentially non-existent in this dialect and they now replace them with English sounds. The video says this dialect started to diminish after World War I and then even more so proceeding World War II.

Blog 7- English in China

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T-5Hadoct8

This video brings to light some of the failed attempts at translating English and putting it on some of the public signs in China. It shows exactly why you can't always use a direct translator because the literal translation can mean something very different in another language. I won't give any spoilers, but some of the mistakes are hilarious.

Blog 6- Why do we have silent letters in English?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/why-do-we-have-silent-letters-in-the-english-language-9952944.html

This is an interesting article explaining a few of the reasons behind some of the silent letters in the English language. I'm sure most of us are aware of the grammatical function of the silent "e" at the end of words, but what about the "k" in knight or the "t" in tsunami? This article explains that those are examples of loan words that didn't fit into the phonological rules of English, so instead of removing the letter from the spelling of the word, we just pretend it's not there when we pronounce it. There are a couple other explanations that are worth noting, so check it out if you'd like.

Blog 5- Idiom Origins

We all frequently use or hear idioms nearly every day and for the most part can interpret their meanings with ease based on the context it is used in or simply because we have heard them used before, but where do they come from? Certain idioms seem to have questionable interpretations, but when you learn about their origins, they make much more sense.

Whether the origins of all the idioms stated in this video are exactly correct is debatable, the ideas are interesting, though. I was surprised to find that so many of the common idioms we use have been around for a very long time. Considering how often our language evolves, it's nice to see some of that history preserved.

I thought one of the more interesting idioms mentioned in the video was "to bite the bullet." He said that it was likely referencing the early 1800's when patients in surgery would literally bite a bullet to help them withstand the pain of surgery without anesthesia. Now it refers to doing anything that is unpleasant.

There's many more in the video that may surprise you, so check it out! I hope you enjoy it as I did.

Blog 4- Ways your language affects how you think

http://www.cracked.com/article_20744_5-surprising-ways-your-language-affects-how-you-think.html

This article talks about a question that we discussed in the first few weeks of class. Does the language you speak affect the way you think and perceive the world? According to this article, the answer is yes.

The first point it makes is interesting and one that I have never given much thought. It claims that societies who speak languages that are gendered(having masculine or feminine definite articles) tend to be a bit more sexist. Through a study, they found in countries with a gendered language, female participation in the work force drops by about 12 percent.

Another interesting point they make is that thinking in a foreign language actually aids you in making better decisions. The reason being that when you translate your thoughts into another language, you are forcing your brain to make strict analytical decisions rather than letting emotions take over.

It also states that your views change with the language you choose to voice them in. It says you are able to put yourself in someone else's cultural shoes just by speaking their language. Maybe some of you fluent bilingual speakers will have some input on this that would help me to better understand this idea because I feel the study results they stated in the article weren't very conclusive although I do find the hypothesis intriguing.

Anyway, I think the article was well-written and it brought up some thought-provoking ideas that I would like to look into further.

Blog 3- Is Texting Killing the English Language?

http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/is-texting-killing-the-english-language/

When I first came across this article, I assumed it would take the popular stance on this topic, which is that texting is killing the English language. I was surprised to find that the author instead chose to side with texting.

The author, John McWhorter, justifies his reasoning by saying that texting shouldn't be considered written language. It should instead be considered "speaking with your thumbs" because there is a rapid exchange similar to speaking.

McWhorter goes on to say that not only is texting not killing language, but it is expanding it. He refers to an example of the usage of LOL, saying that it is no longer used literally(laugh out loud) and instead is a new type of grammar. LOL is now used to "signal basic empathy between texters, ease tension, and create a sense of equality."

I agree with bits and pieces of what the author is saying, but I mostly disagree. I think he is right about texting expanding our language, but I think the changes are mostly negative. If texting was only adding to our language, I think there would be nothing wrong with that, but it seems to be adding things as replacements to our fundamentals. For example, because of texting, the word "gonna", which is a replacement for "going to", is basically an accepted word in our language that doesn't really conform to our rules of grammar. English is already a very difficult language for foreigners to learn because there are so many contradictions, but I think this kind of stuff makes it even harder.

McWhorter also says that there is no evidence that texting has any effect on composition skills. I would like to know what study he got that information from because I have seen numerous texting addicts with horrendous fundamental writing skills. Now I know this isn't always the case, but it is enough to not be only coincidental.