Japanese language, on its own terms, isn’t that difficult a language to learn I believe, but it does have some things that are pretty different from English, and require re-learning. One of them, surprisingly, is rhythm and lack of stress accents. I’ve talked about the “flat” sound of Japanese, but I haven’t really talked aboutContinue reading “Rhythm in Japanese Language”
Category Archives: Greek
Ukrainian-Ukrainian, Russian-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian: language and cultural influences
In recent weeks, as my study of Ukrainian language continues, I was fortunate to find a coworker at my company who is a native Ukrainian speaker, and happy to help me. As we’ve been talking, I’ve come to learn some interesting things about how various cultural influences have affected it. For example, the greeting IContinue reading “Ukrainian-Ukrainian, Russian-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian: language and cultural influences”
Early Ukraine History: Of Scythians, Thracians and Greeks
Hello Readers, My continued read about the Scythians, especially the Scythians in the west, has lead to a fascinating period of time in early history, overlapping with the Hellenistic Period called the Kingdom of the Bosporus. The Kingdom of the Bosporus, later part of the Kingdom of the Pontus, survived in one form or anotherContinue reading “Early Ukraine History: Of Scythians, Thracians and Greeks”
Gender in Ukrainian Language
As my studies of Ukrainian continues, one pattern that definitely appears over and over is the clear presence of grammatical gender. I’ve touched on this a bit in a recent post on how it relates to classical languages, but wanted to provide more context here. The concept of grammatical gender is something that’s endemic toContinue reading “Gender in Ukrainian Language”
Ukrainian Language: a Link To The Past
Lately, I started taking up the Ukrainian language, which is something very outside my comfort zone. In my younger years, I’ve studied Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese for 2 years in college, and of course Japanese, so Asian languages tend to be familiar even if I am not fluent. I have also dabbled in Latin, Sanskrit andContinue reading “Ukrainian Language: a Link To The Past”
This One Trick Will Help You Learn Languages Faster
“Language teachers hate it when you do this!” I couldn’t resist starting this post with some click-bait text. 😬 Recently I saw this post on Twitter: This leads to a heated exchange on Twitter, including the following: Basically, the point here is is that if you want to learn a language and communicate smoothly, youContinue reading “This One Trick Will Help You Learn Languages Faster”
Mortality
This is a very Buddhist sentiment, in my opinion. If you haven’t learned to confront your own mortality, then the rest of the Buddhist path is kind of meaningless. But maybe that’s just me. 🖖🏼
A Nerd Dad’s Review of Mythic Odysseys of Theros
Hi folks, In addition to my recent adventures in adventure module writing, and gardening, I finally got a belated Father’s Day gift recently: The Mythic Odysseys of Theros (MOoT) is a cross-over reference guide between Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, specifically the Greek-mythology inspired plane of Theros. Theros is a kind of idealizedContinue reading “A Nerd Dad’s Review of Mythic Odysseys of Theros”
Life After COVID-19
This month, June, is the third month in lockdown over COVID-19. It’s amazing that three months have already passed. At first, we were, like many others, in full panic mode, swinging between constant fear of getting ill and enjoying as much food, drink and home entertainment as we could. My sense of religious faith wasContinue reading “Life After COVID-19”
Priorities
Hello Dear Readers, The last couple weeks in lockdown (with at least 4 more ahead) have been interesting. After the initial panic, we’ve gradually settled into a routine where keep our kids “in school” during weekdays, take walks a lot in the neighborhood, only visit the grocery store as needed, and generally learn to keepContinue reading “Priorities”
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 