Silent Schwa

Ausgezeichnet /ˈausgətsaiçnət/ – excellent; awesome; fantastic

I love the sound of this word.  Listen for it in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” (an awesome movie for language nerds).

pleonasm /ˈpliəˌnæzəm/ – the use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; redundancy; tautology

Examples: true fact, tuna fish, ATM machine, 2 a.m. in the morning, redundant pleonasm

(Yes, I know I said it was going to be foreign words, but it’s my website and I can do whatever I want.  So there.)

Склещивание (skleshchivanie) – the phenomenon wherein dogs get stuck together post-coitus

I’ve decided to share interesting (to me) foreign words for which there are no real concise equivalents in English.  I’m doing this mostly for my own entertainment, but if you know of an interesting or amusing word in another language, and think the rest of us should know it too, please don’t hesitate to contact me. For Japanese words, please see my nihongo à gogo site.

And now, on with the show:

Backpfeifengesicht – a face that begs to be smacked

“Congratulations! You have been admitted into the English (MA) program for the 2010 Fall term.”

With that, it begins.  And also with that, a question arises:  “Now what?”

All the work I put in trying to get accepted has paid off.  But the real work has yet to begin.  I’ve never been in a traditional university environment (unless you count checking out the young coeds as I drive past ASU on my way to Chuck Box).  I don’t even know where to start.  But if I’m anything, I’m resourceful. 

I’ll probably have a lot to say about grad school here in the future.  Keep yer squinties peeled.

If anyone out there has been to graduate school and has any advice, either general or specifically related to funding, please post it here as a comment!  I would appreciate it very much.

I have applied to the graduate program in Linguistics at Arizona State University.  They have all of my application materials, and now I’m waiting to see what happens next.  I’ll keep you all apprised!

今日は、世界！

マイケル・ハッカーと申します。多言語を通じる人です。主に英語、仏語、露語、と日本語が出来ます。独語も西語も勉強中ですし。以前身につけた外国語のお陰で、アラゴネス語、白ロシア語、ブルガリア語、中国語、チェコ語、エスペラント語、イタリア語、韓国語、マケドニア語、ルーマニア語、ポーランド語、スコットランド語、スロバキア語、セルビア語、スペイン語、ウクライナ語など、２０カ国語ほど少しでも読み取ることが出来ます。

Привет, Мир!

Меня зовут Миша Хакэр.  Я полиглот.  Мои основные Языки являются Английским, Французким, Русским, и Японским. Теперь изучаю Немецкий и Испанский языка. Я тоже могу понимать чуть-чуть на около 20 языков. Например: Арагонский, Белорусский, Болгарский, Китайский, Чешский, Эсперанто, Итальянский, Корейский, Македонский, Румынский, Польский, Шотландский, Словацкий, Сербском, Испанском, и Украинском.

Bonjour, Tout le Monde!

Je m’apelle Michel Hacker. Je suis un polyglotte. Mes langues principales sont Anglais, Français, Russe et Japonais. Je suis également en train d’étudier l’Allemand et l’Espagnol. En raison des langues que j’ai apprises antérieurement, j’ai aussi constaté que je peux lire des morceaux de moins de 20 langues différentes. Pour exemples: l’Aragonés, le Biélorusse, Bulgare, Chinois, Tchèque, Espéranto, Italien, Coréen, Macédonien, Roumain, Polonais, Écossais, Slovensk, Serbe, Espagnol et Ukrainien.

Hello, World!

My name is Michael Hacker. I am a polyglot. My main languages are English, French, Russian, and Japanese. I am also currently studying German and Spanish. Because of the languages I have previously learned, I have also found that I can read bits of as many as 20 different languages. For examples: Aragonés, Belorussian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Esperanto, Italian, Korean, Macedonian, Romanian, Polish, Scots, Slovensk, Serb, Spanish, and Ukranian