An insightful look into how stories work, with lots of great examples, from Huckleberry Finn, to Tootsie, to Star Wars. I can't wait to try some of thAn insightful look into how stories work, with lots of great examples, from Huckleberry Finn, to Tootsie, to Star Wars. I can't wait to try some of these techniques out!...more
A very light-hearted look at grammar, with plenty of hilarious examples. It's mostly aimed at the fashion- and celebrity-conscious female crowd, but IA very light-hearted look at grammar, with plenty of hilarious examples. It's mostly aimed at the fashion- and celebrity-conscious female crowd, but I'm sure everyone would find the advice here helpful....more
English is a very tricky language to learn, coming from so many different ancient invaders and immigrants. I find myself in awe of those who master thEnglish is a very tricky language to learn, coming from so many different ancient invaders and immigrants. I find myself in awe of those who master the language to a fluent level. But in fact, each of the rest of the languages of Europe have their own little quirks and idiosyncrasies.
Lingo acts as a sort of Lonely Planet of languages. Each chapter contains interesting facts about one or more of Europe’s hundreds of distinct languages, but as there are only a few facts about each, it really is like a guidebook. You couldn’t really read a guidebook start to end with any particular flow – each chapter is quite separate. It’s the same here. It ends up coming across in bits and pieces rather than the story of European language I thought it might be.
Still, the European languages are an odd bunch. How are you supposed to pronounce Polish names like Wojciech or Szczȩsny? Just how many words do the Sami have for snow? Why does the lego-brick approach to Finnish end up with words like happamuudensäätöaineetsuvaitsemattomuus? All these and more are answered in a quirky and witty way. The writing style is almost whimsical as it suggests words that English might borrrow from each language.
As an aside, when Mr Ang and I visited Russia a few years ago I made a point of learning to read Cyrillic before we went, but in the end it was only really useful for reading place names on signs because we found the language itself was almost completely incomprehensible. I mean, most languages it’s fairly easy to retain hello, thank you, goodbye, “two beers, please,” perhaps some rudimentary counting, but in Russian? No idea. Thankfully most hospitality-related staff speak English pretty well so we did alright. To this day the only words I remember are “Da” and “Nyet”, and that’s only thanks to film and TV. Anyway, you, too, can learn Cyrillic in the pages of Lingo.
But I still admire speakers of English as a second language:
If gh stands for p as in hiccough If ough stands for o as in dough If phth stands for t as in phthisis If eigh stands for a as in neighbour If tte stands for t as in gazette If eau stands for o as in plateau Then potato should be spelt ghoughphtheightteeau
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