TL;DR — Talk. Learn. Discover. Repeat. #17
Hey yall, I hope you’ve been well!
No update part this week since you’ll see how I’ve been in the next section!😉
So let’s dive right in!
🗣️Talk languages
I haven’t been back in Korea for a week but I’ve already made huge progress in my preparation for the TOPIK exam in Korean that I’ll take on July 9th. I’m aiming for level 5 (out of 6) for which I need 190 points.
So far, according to my estimations, I’ll fail. You see, there are three sections: Listening, Reading, and Writing, each worth 100 points. I’ve only just started studying for the Writing part but I get an average of 145 for the other two, which means I need about half the points… and considering writing’s not my forte (in Korean at least), that’s a problem.
And yet, I’m loving studying for it because I’m learning to turn passive knowledge of grammar patterns into active knowledge.
This is a point often forgotten.
Unless we actively work on it, the passive knowledge we acquire rarely becomes knowledge we can use. At least from the intermediate stage.
So, if like me, you’ve not (actively) tried to push your active skills, this is a short reminder to do so 😉
And if you wonder how to get feedback, HiNative and Journaly are great (and free) resources just for that!
✍️Learn from my experiences
While on the surface I look like a rather outgoing dude at ease with others, I’m not. I live with a whole lot of anxiety (who isn’t?) and a large part of it is more precisely social anxiety.
In this week’s piece, I talked about how language learning first impacted positively and then negatively these feelings of anxiety.
It was a tough piece to write but I’m glad I did as it was also rather cathartic.
Do you have social anxiety? How did foreign languages impact this? I’m really curious how others did!
🌎Discover new cultures
This week we’re turning to positive mythical creatures in Southeast Asia.
Starting in Thai mythology, the Kinnara is a legendary creature depicted as a half-human and half-bird being known for its exceptional beauty, grace, and musical talent. With the upper body of a human and the lower body of a bird, it symbolizes love, harmony, and the pursuit of artistic excellence. The Kinnara's presence brings a sense of joy, creativity, and harmony to its surroundings, serving as a reminder of the power of music, beauty, and the pursuit of higher ideals.
The Kinnara and their female counterpart, the Kinnari, can also be found in many other Hindu and Buddhist cultures, such as Myanmar, India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc.
One other mythical creature is one I first discovered as an adolescent playing Warcraft 3: the Nagas. It turns out they weren’t an invented race but rather one inspired by the mythological creature of the same name.
The Naga is a mythical creature that holds significant importance in Southeast Asian mythology. While the portrayal of Nagas can vary across different cultures, they are generally regarded as divine or semi-divine beings associated with water. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, Nagas are often depicted as powerful serpents or snake-like beings with multiple heads. They are considered protectors of sacred places and treasures1, as well as guardians of wisdom and knowledge.
Though Nagas have the potential for both positive and negative influences, they are predominantly seen as benevolent and respected beings, representing fertility, abundance, and the life-giving powers of water. In some legends, they are even believed to possess the ability to control rainfall, bringing prosperity to the land.
And finally, let’s turn to one of the most widely present creatures in Asia as a whole: the Yaksha.
Yakshas can be either positive or negative creatures. They are generally seen as benevolent and protective beings, capable of giving blessings and prosperity but some tales portray them as mischievous if their natural habitat is threatened or disrespected.
Kubera is the god of Wealth in Hinduism, but also the god-king of the Yakshas. In Buddhism texts, however, the Yakshas are considered attendants of Vaiśravaṇa, a beneficent god who protects the righteous.
Interestingly enough, researching this allowed me to understand better the underlying reason why the Yaksha character Xiao in Genshin Impact has a mask that makes him stronger.
Next week, we’ll turn to a few more creatures in Europe.
🗺️Repeat with me
Yurok - An true example of language revitalization
This week, we’re turning to a language that was celebrated in 2013 as the most successful language revitalization program in California: the Algic language known as Yurok. That same year, the last native speaker of Yurok died.
So why was it considered a success?
Because there are today a dozen Yurok speakers with full first-language fluency and many more speak it as a second language. It’s also taught in multiple schools around the States and has tons of resources available online for free to learn it, from a complete Conversation book (with Audio files for those with a Berkeley University account) to games and flashcards.
The most detailed free resource, however, is this 340-page-long Basic Yurok book!
When we talk of lesser-known languages, there’s often talk of “how soon” these languages will disappear so Yurok’s story shows a pleasant surprise: it’s possible to save a language!
And, what a language.
Yurok is a free-word-order language, which means words can potentially be set in any order. This is possible because each word can stand on its own and its purpose in every sentence is clear. Changing the order serves to put an emphasis where needed.
Yurok also relies heavily on preverbs, short words indicating time, location, negation, and other such matters. Careful not to confuse them with prefixes, which are directly linked to the words they refer to though.
An interesting aspect of Yurok is its use of prefixes with verbs to change their meaning slightly. For example, the prefix heem-
(meaning “fast”) can be added to the verb -ech-
(“to go”) in order to mean “to hurry,” as in heemechok
(“I hurry”).
Talking about verbs, Yurok has a quite simple conjugation system with 4 different classes each with slightly different endings. Once these are known, preverbs are used to indicate the tense. For example:
kee
→ Indicates the future (will, can, must)To’ kee kem newochek’ ’owook
= I’ll see you again tomorrow.
’ochkaa
→ Indicates the present continuous (“right now”)’Ochkaa kol’ nepek’.
= At the moment, I am eating.
ma
→ Indicates the punctual past (“went and did it”)Ma tmegook’
= I went hunting.
I really hope to discover more uplifting stories of languages on the brink of extinction that have started spreading again!
Do you know any? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
Mathias,
An average polyglot
One of their main roles in Warcraft 3 too.