For those who don't think English is my first language

[Tames D]

I find that lobsters have a language all their own when dipped into boiling water.

 

[AngryHobbit]

but in what language do you do math in?
I have tried counting in Japanese during workouts, but end up doing it in german, although it is a little striped these days...or adding up stuff.

I can do math in Russian and in English. I do thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and heat transfer better in English.

 

[Xue Sheng]

but in what language do you do math in?
I have tried counting in Japanese during workouts, but end up doing it in german, although it is a little striped these days...or adding up stuff.

I'll never tell

 

[AngryHobbit]

I'll never tell

You know... that said... both Carl Sagan (in Contact) and Pierre Boulle (in Planet of the Apes) both argued math could be used as language of its own.

 

[Hyoho]

The first thing I found out was that to be proficient in Martial arts I had to learn Japanese. If you study Japanese arts your knowledge will be very superficial without it.

 

[Anarax]

My languages include C++, C#, Python, PHP, Java, Javascript, english, very bad english, southern and redneck. Yes, southern and redneck are different.

 

[Xue Sheng]

You know... that said... both Carl Sagan (in Contact) and Pierre Boulle (in Planet of the Apes) both argued math could be used as language of its own.

When I was in college and I was math major for a period of time...all the way to Calc 3 and Linear algebra...I too thought math could be a language and possibly a universal one....but then my brain burned out and I left that area of study......

Also prior to my brain shutdown and reboot I also saw great similarities between Buddhist philosophy and Quantum Physics....... but alas my brain rebooted

 

[oftheherd1]

There are some insults in North China that in the USA would not be all that insulting if they were insulting at all. In North China...it would get you punched in the head.

There are also unintended insults. I think I have told the story of the young and attractive, but somewhat overweight lady I met in Vietnam. We had been talking in both English and Vietnamese. She said something and I answered "Yes Ma'am." She got very angry and when I asked what I had said, she would only tell me I knew very well what I said.

As soon as I got back to my billets, I looked up the English "ma'am" transliterated to Vietnamese. One of the first translations was "fat." Never too old to learn.

 

[AngryHobbit]

When I was in college and I was math major for a period of time...all the way to Calc 3 and Linear algebra...I too thought math could be a language and possibly a universal one....but then my brain burned out and I left that area of study......

Also prior to my brain shutdown and reboot I also saw great similarities between Buddhist philosophy and Quantum Physics....... but alas my brain rebooted

I can commiserate. I was a mechanical engineering major - one of the highest dropped-out-of majors in America due to amount of math and homework. I survived mine, but I can't say it was easy.

There is something to be said for math as language - I tutored Numerical Analysis to deaf students. I didn't know any sign language, so, for our tutoring sessions, we always grabbed a room with a white board or a chalk board, and just covered the whole thing in equations, matrices, derivations, etc. It worked! One of my students went from D to B, and another one - from C to A-.

 

[AngryHobbit]

My languages include C++, C#, Python, PHP, Java, Javascript, english, very bad english, southern and redneck. Yes, southern and redneck are different.

Does Visual Basic for Applications count?

 

[Xue Sheng]

There are also unintended insults. I think I have told the story of the young and attractive, but somewhat overweight lady I met in Vietnam. We had been talking in both English and Vietnamese. She said something and I answered "Yes Ma'am." She got very angry and when I asked what I had said, she would only tell me I knew very well what I said.

As soon as I got back to my billets, I looked up the English "ma'am" transliterated to Vietnamese. One of the first translations was "fat." Never too old to learn.

In parts of China if someone does something that you think is crazy, you can say fēngle (crazy). But never say Nǐ fēngle (You are crazy)...that too could get you punched in the head

 

[AngryHobbit]

In parts of China if someone does something that you think is crazy, you can say fēngle (crazy). But never say Nǐ fēngle (You are crazy)...that too could get you punched in the head

I am still trying to sort out how, in British English, "bollocks" is bad but "dog's bollocks" is good.

 

[AngryHobbit]

Also, can somebody explain to me, what is so amazing about "bee's knees"? Why is it, when something good, it's considered "bee's knees"? Don't get me wrong - I like bees. I have nothing against bees. But why are their knees considered so fabulous. I can see how a pair of attractive human knees can be awesome - especially in fishnet hose (and yes, I said "human" and not "female" because I don't want to leave out Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo in To Wong Fu, thanks for everything, Julie Newmar!) But bee's knees? Do bees wear fishnet hose? Do they even have knees?

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I've actually been meaning to write a short essay on conceptualizing martial arts study in terms of learning a language. It's a metaphorical point though, not literal. Maybe I can find to type that up later this week.

 

[oftheherd1]

I've actually been meaning to write a short essay on conceptualizing martial arts study in terms of learning a language. It's a metaphorical point though, not literal. Maybe I can find to type that up later this week.

I look forward to that since I can't 'conceptualize martial arts study in terms of learning a language,' even metaphorically. What part of martial arts would be verbs (where we think of action), nouns (things), or adverbs (modifying verbs), etc. Looking forward to it.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I've actually been meaning to write a short essay on conceptualizing martial arts study in terms of learning a language. It's a metaphorical point though, not literal. Maybe I can find to type that up later this week.

I look forward to that since I can't 'conceptualize martial arts study in terms of learning a language,' even metaphorically. What part of martial arts would be verbs (where we think of action), nouns (things), or adverbs (modifying verbs), etc. Looking forward to it.

Just so you both know...I am having one of those days where your posts are making say....

 

[AngryHobbit]

I've actually been meaning to write a short essay on conceptualizing martial arts study in terms of learning a language. It's a metaphorical point though, not literal. Maybe I can find to type that up later this week.

That actually sounds fascinating. As a translator, I regularly spend time hanging between two languages. So, the idea of creating a conceptual analogy between the study of martial arts and the study of languages sounds really interesting.

 

[AngryHobbit]

Just so you both know...I am having one of those days where your posts are making say....

I could recite for you some Finnish folklore I stumbled into while translating a book by a mid-19th century Russian author. Will that help?

 

[granfire]

Also, can somebody explain to me, what is so amazing about "bee's knees"? Why is it, when something good, it's considered "bee's knees"? Don't get me wrong - I like bees. I have nothing against bees. But why are their knees considered so fabulous. I can see how a pair of attractive human knees can be awesome - especially in fishnet hose (and yes, I said "human" and not "female" because I don't want to leave out Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, and John Leguizamo in To Wong Fu, thanks for everything, Julie Newmar!) But bee's knees? Do bees wear fishnet hose? Do they even have knees?

it's the rhyme, Alligator....See you later
You'll know after a while, Crocodile....

 

[Xue Sheng]

I could recite for you some Finnish folklore I stumbled into while translating a book by a mid-19th century Russian author. Will that help?