7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 83
Learning as an adult, JLPT N1 strategy, Start of school year cultures, and the Smallest alphabet in the world
Hey language lovers,
I hope you all had a magnificent week!
Updates
Mine was filled with ups and downs but, overall, I guess it was a pretty good one, at least personally as I did two barbecues with friends.
Work was still extremely busy as I’m covering for a colleague until next week but I still managed to start catching up on Anki, and doing a bit of German here and there.
Not much better yet but we’re getting there.
While I was in Belgium a few weeks ago, I bought a Gaston comic. It’s filled with 1-page long gags, so it’s perfect for studying.
I’m also starting to feel like studying Chinese more intensively these days so I’ve been listening to more Chinese podcasts, and I’m looking if anything attracts me on my bookshelf more than the rest.
This week, I’m going to the countryside so I might be more outside working on taking care of the garden with my family rather than inside studying but I hope to still get something done!
As a reminder, the first two posts of my series about lesser-known languages (LKL) are out. In them, I dive deep into the history, culture, and language structure of Ainu and Papiamento.
Alright, let’s dive into what you came for!
7 Bullet Points
Each week, I share 7 things about languages.
I hope they can help you improve your journey, tickle your curiosity, and inspire you to keep exploring.
🎥 One video
한국어 배우고 달라진 나! How learning Korean changed me 🇿🇦 🇰🇷 - By Lindie Botes
I’ve been following Lindie’s language learning journey for God knows how many years. It’s always been easy to feel her passion through her videos. That’s why I was happy to fall upon this old video again.
In it, she shared the impact Korean has had on her life. It’s the kind of video that warms your heart and can revive your motivation when you’re feeling low.
If that’s your case, check it out!
PS: It’s in Korean, but there are English subtitles if you don’t understand Korean.
📚 One article I read
Why Any Adult Can Learn a Second Language Like Their Younger Self — By Alex Breeden (on the FluentU blog)
Well, the title says it all. I could leave you here with that but let’s insist a bit.
It’s often said children learn better than adults. Hell, it’s even often the excuse most adults will choose when they give up. “I’m too old to learn.” And I’m too old for hearing this crap.
Anybody can learn any language at any age and reach any level.
It’s just a matter of trying things out until you figure out what works better for you. And then giving yourself the time to actually reach the level you want.
Read this piece and you should be convinced.
✍🏽 One article I wrote
How I Prepared to Pass the Most Difficult Japanese Proficiency Test
I didn’t publish any new article about languages this week so I figured I’d share an older one about taking the JLPT N1.
The next session should be in December so starting to study for it now seems like a good option for those who want!
In this piece, I explained how I gave up actually improving my Japanese for the specific goal of passing the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.
Seems counter-productive? Read and you might think otherwise!
🎧 One podcast episode
The Power of Reading — By Steve Kaufmann
In this episode, Steve talks about how powerful reading can be on a language learning journey.
While I believe he often overlooks a bit too much the importance of grammar, there’s no denying what he says here. Reading matters. A lot.
It’s thanks to reading that we can decipher the meaning and sounds more clearly. And because it’s so mentally effortful, it helps us remember a lot more.
Not convinced? Listen in and you just might.
🌎 One cultural aspect
Start of School Year around the World
Summing up all of the school-related cultural habits of the world in a newsletter is delirious so I’ve decided to share with you a few I found intricate.
First, let’s start with, well, the first day of school.
The first day can look radically different from country to country. This piece from the HuffPost shows 14 first-day of school pictures, while this one from Insider gives a bit more information about some traditions.
I love the tradition found in Russia and Belarus of having a “Knowledge day” on the first day, where people dress up and the graduating students carry into the school new students as a way to pass the baton.
In Kazakhstan, Knowledge day is also celebrated but the most important part is the gift of a flower by each student to their teacher as a symbol of growth and fresh hopes for the coming school year.
In Japan, a ceremony is held at the start of the school year (beginning of April) where new students often receive their randoseru (ランドセル), the typical Japanese schoolboy or schoolgirl’s bag.
In Germany, another type of bag is given: the Schultüte.
The Schultüte is a paper cone that can be as large as kids themselves but filled with sweets, candies, and goodies. A pleasant way to start their incoming 12-13 years of study!
In India, the school year starts with Pravesanolsavam, or “School Admission Day,” a celebration supported by the government with entertainment, sweets, and a lot more. Umbrellas are also often gifted as the school start usually coincides with the beginning of the rainy season.
Do you know any other tradition to start the school year? Share it in the comments!
📜 One quote to ponder
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” — Voltaire
🌐 One Lesser-Known Language
Rotokas - The smallest alphabet in the world
This week’s language is one I had never heard of until a few days ago: Rotokas. This language is spoken by about 4,000 people in Bougainville, a town of Papa New Guinea in the Solomon Islands.
This language grabbed my attention as it is said to be the language with the smallest (known) alphabet in the world: 12 letters! They are: A E G I K O P R S T U V. S and T make the same /t/ sound but S is used before an I or in the word “Rotokas.”
In order to express a long vowel, that vowel is written twice, as in aako (“mother”) or aahova (“mother” when referring to one’s own mother).
Here’s a link to a video with the language spoken.
There are three main dialects: Central Rotokas, Aita Rotokas and Pipipaia but the one for which there’s the most information is Central Rotokas.
Rotokas is a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) language, but if the subject is a pronoun, then it also needs to be linked to the verb itself. For example:
Pauparavere → I will be sitting.
pau = to sit
pa = indicates a continuing action
ra = I
vere = indicates a near future (animate)
Rotokas relies on the use of post-positions to indicate the relation of each word. For example:
-ia → “during/on” (time), as in “during 2 years”
-iava → “from” (time), as in “from 2020”
This use of post-positions is found in many other languages (such as Korean or Japanese) but one surprising fact is the absence of any particle to indicate the subject. Instead, its position at the beginning of a clause is enough.
Verbs use a suffix to indicate the tense, sometimes with a lot of precision as follow:
-vere → near future animate // -pere → near future inanimate
-verea → distant future animate // -perea → distant future inanimate
-voi → present tense transitive (animate) // -ei → present tense intransitive (animate)
-pi → present tense inanimate (both transitive and intransitive).
More than one suffix can be added to the verb. For example, Kepa pauviarevere pasi. (“Maybe he’ll build the house.”) can be divided as follows:
kepa = house
pau = to build
-via = indicates potentiality (ie. “maybe”)
-re = he
-vere = indicates near future (animate)
pasi = puts emphasis on possibility
Finally, the negation is usually expressed by adding the word viapau (“no, nothing”) at the beginning of the sentence.
Let’s see a few more examples:
Ovu-ia avakava? → Where is the beach? (literally: where - beach)
Viapau rera kaakau taparevora voari. → He didn’t hit the dog back there. (lit.: no - he - dog - hit.he - over there).
Teapi va purata. → You shouldn’t do it. (lit.: shouldn’t - it - make.you)
Vearo voki → Hello (lit.: Good day)
Vearoviva → Thank you
Resources to learn Rotokas are extremely scarce. The only ones I found seem quite old, although I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of other resources available in some of the other languages of the Solomon Islands.
Here’s all I found:
A Grammar of Rotokas (1974) - The most complete record of Rotokas grammar
Vocabulary of Rotokas—Pidgin—English (1973) - A short description of Rotokas grammar followed with a dictionary
Rotokas – English Dictionary (2008) - The most recent resource I found, easy to search too!
The Rotokas people of Bougainville Island (2008) - A 228-page long document about the Rotokas history and culture, with 4 pages summary of the language structure and construction.
As always, thanks for reading!
Mathias Barra
pau can mean to build/to plant or to sit/to be eternal, depending on the context.
7 Bullet Points About Languages - Week 83
Love the mention of adults vs. children's abilities to learn a language. While I have a lot of problems with the critical period hypothesis in general, I feel especially strongly about the fact that we tend to overemphasize accent as the main marker of language proficiency (while even "native" English speakers, for example, vary drastically when it comes to accents, from speakers who grew up in Glasgow to those who grew up in Alabama). Not to mention that adults consistently outperform children in speed when it comes to acquiring a second language, particularly in the earlier stages of language learning. A fascinating subject!
Very interesting. It reminds of the hundreds of hours I spent listening to John McWorther's lectures on Audible. Will definitely have a peek at your posts, Mathias