America is second pig!

Watching a video of the floods in America, Funky asks - "are all your houses made of wood?" She's incredulous, because houses and building in Taiwan are made of thick concrete. I realize that America is the second pig, who built his house out of sticks -- so easy for the big bad wolf (or disasters caused by global warming) to blow away.

What is linguistics? The ruination of the English language

I've mentioned before that I don't like linguistics, but as my feelings towards the subject are once again enflamed, and there is no other outlet than this blog, I'll continue on the subject.

What is linguistics? In general, it is the study of sounds, signs and signifiers that make up language. It is the study of language (ie vocal communication) in and of itself. Not an actual language per se - not grammar or spelling, but processes that make language possible.

Linguistics is a pretty recent field. Its increased popularity is due to the internationally recognized need to communicate in a global society. English is becoming the 'international language', and many countries, hoping to speed up their English-learning-programs, are focusing on linguistics - studying why and how students make mistakes, for example, in order to help them avoid those mistakes. This may seem like a smart move.

It is not.

Languages have been learned for hundreds of years. There are many ways to learn a language, but sustained immersion is the way to go (repetition, listening, speaking, etc.) It is a natural human faculty to learn languages. Learning linguistics (a field of study about languages) will not improve your ability to learn one specific language.

Because of the exciting trend - linguistics is a popular field, students abroad are studying it instead of English! These are non-native speakers, who rather than study English and improve their own pronunciation, writing or communication, do 'scientific studies' of linguistic phenomena. In Taiwan, for example, students and professors study whether Taiwanese students who study Spanish and then English make certain mistakes because their L2 influenced their L3. This may be interesting. It may be fascinating. But who cares - outside of the linguistics balloon that is self-sustaining.... the research does not make their students learn English better or faster. Awareness and understanding of the influence of L2 on L3 does not allow teachers to teach with enhanced subtlety. Actual teaching remains more or less the same, and is almost never done by the linguistic majors! Instead, linguistic majors get degrees in 'applied linguistics' and teach 'applied linguistics' to others.

Studying education or classroom management - and equally important, polishing your English to the point where you actually can speak it fluently - are so much more important. If Taiwan or Japan wanted to encourage their English, they should have government funded English schools (rather than the cram schools) and send their teachers for training overseas.

Parents who want their kids to learn English should send them to English summer camps. (2 months in a summer would be more effective than a whole year screaming and playing games in cram schools in Taiwan - well...maybe).

I - elitist that I am - am studying classics and philosophy. I will teach literature courses and not be able to apply for the best jobs because I didn't study applied linguistics. And that's sad and wrong.

I'm a bird without a nest.

Yesterday, I put my pants on. They were wet. We'd turned on the AC late at night because the weather has turned stiflingly hot, and shut the door to the patio - forgetting that we'd just gotten a cat and the litterbox was outside. The cat had peed in my pants. Nearly 12 hours later, when we were rushing to pack some things for the moving truck I'd demanded we call (Funky wanted to wait so we could pack things more carefully) we discovered that the cat had also pooped in Funky's bag. She'd just had a wisdom tooth pulled so all in all, a bad weekend for Funky.

The cat, incidentally, has temporarily replaced the dog I've been wanting to get. A foreigner had her and she needed a home asap... we saved her from being put to sleep. She's not a bad cat, but dogs are better.

Today I locked myself out of my apartment, and the spare key isn't hidden like it should be. In the past I've gone up to the top floor, climbed across the roof and landed on the upstairs balcony to get in. I tried this again, but the people who live in the upstairs apartment were there. They thought I was a prowler and chased after me. I couldn't convince them that I really did live there and had forgotten my keys. I was carrying a load of stuff to take to my new house and they thought I'd stolen it. I managed to get away... but I'm still keyless, my cellphone is inside as well, so I'm just waiting until I can hopefully meet up with my roomate and get him to let me in.

I do have a paper due tomorrow, and I did bring my laptop and the sources I need, so I'm at a nice cafe where I can work on it.

I've been awfully busy. I went to the dentist again today - she's been trying for weeks to finish up a root canal (the nerve is deep...makes the place under my nose feel funny). I also went to the hospital to finish the health check I need for the part-time job I'm going to start. I was there for an hour, running around, talking to a dozen people, before finding the two important people with the special stamps that I needed stamped. (One behind the cashier counter, and one in the mail room.) I hate that place.

Did I mention its really hot? The new house doesn't have any AC's yet...I'll have to buy some. It is looking better though.

painting

I’m doing a whole slew of painting, drinking black label whiskey, listening to hard rock music, and getting sweaty with a brush in my mouth and one behind my ear. Damn I’m cool. You can see my progress on my blog. http://derekmurphyart.blogspot.com/

Apartment hunting

Now that I’ve got two empty rooms in my 4 bedroom house, I’m thinking of moving again. It sucks to pay all the extra, and even though it would be a pain to move, I don’t really like my apartment that much anyway. The FengShui is terrible and the ceilings in my room are too low. Plus its just too huge to clean and I’ve accumulated a lot of crap...moving is easier than dusting. The best find today was an old Taiwanese house for 4,500nt (about $150 usd). The 2nd floor apartment is ugly, but the third floor was pretty neat. Strange, but with a couple big rooms, lots of light, and a bizzare little bungalow with a ladder, like a barn loft. It would be too scary to sleep there but I need a lot of storage. As I may be out of Taiwan for months at a time next year (Japan, Korea, Mexico, Peru....) a nice cheap place would be great. The drawback is that whoever lives on the top floor has to cut straight through the 2nd floor apartment, which is kind of wierd for whoever’s living there, and there’s no door to separate the top floor which means its wide open for somebody else to come snooping.

However, its fun to look. For about 7,000 ($200usd) I could get a big place with a couple bedrooms, maybe rent one out. For 10,000 ($300usd), I could get a massive-pimped-out-shiny-new-kickass place. I could rent one of the extra bedrooms and I’d be paying as much as I would in the small one. So.... that’s what I’m leaning towards. It’s still better than what I’ve got now, which is over $500usd (17000nt)...sure it’s a deal when I’ve got all the rooms rented out, but I end up eating the extra bills or rent when someone moves out.

200 ghosts

Funky's mom has a hurt knee. The doctors couldn’t do anything so she went to a spiritualist. He told her that she’s being haunted by 200 ghosts of her deceased family members. Apparently, she somehow found the grave of one of them and moved them to a better grave. Now, all the rest of them have come to her house, too. The ’doctor’ says she needs to go find and dig up the 200 bodies and move them all - but a shared burial plot is OK, just as long as they’re recognized. What a pain in the ass! Apparently, however, ghosts won’t follow you if you have to a foreign country. You’re "off the radar". Sweet!! So I’m ghost free I guess.

Terrible Hit and Run Video

This is the world's worst hit and run video....shocking and disturbing; not only because the woman flies through the air, but more importantly, because she is ignored and left for dead by others who witness the accident.