Category: language

Favourite podcasts

The Hidden Brain by NPR:https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain?t=1594925472583 I listened to this one all about debt:https://www.npr.org/2020/06/15/877401074/buy-borrow-steal-how-debt-became-the-sugar-rush-solution-to-our-economic-woes This episode all about scarcity was particularly impressive: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/05/748207152/you-2-0-tunnel-vision Ted Radio Hour by NPR:https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510298/ted-radio-hour About loneliness: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/886292087/listen-again-meditations-on-loneliness How I built this by NPR:https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this How Ben and Jerry Ice Cream was founded: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/20/818918341/ben-jerrys-ben-cohen-and-jerry-greenfield The Story behind Recaptcha: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/22/860884062/recaptcha-and-duolingo-luis-von-ahn ARD Radio Tatort (crime fiction… Continue reading Favourite podcasts

Affordance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I read a new, unknown word today: Affordance – See definition on Wikipedia. A potential action that is made possible by a given object or environment; especially, one that is made easily discoverable. Hadn’t heard of it before. This is the context I heard it in: The term has further evolved for use in the… Continue reading Affordance – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leo

I stumbled across this Swisscom poster showcasing Leo’s mobile app to sell a smart phone: I started using Leo’s English – German dictionary regularly long time ago – in the late 90s. I think it must have been about 1997 or 1998 at my first full-time job after uni. The vocabulary wasn’t as extensive as… Continue reading Leo

Malawi Blog on Learning Tumbuka

Monire monire! Muli uli? Tobias Kumwenda has started a blog to teach Tumbuka ( via Global Voices): The mission of this weblog is to teach those people who are not ChiTumbuka speakers located across the world, but have developed passion to learn this language. A great idea. Keep up the good work! See also Wikipedia:… Continue reading Malawi Blog on Learning Tumbuka

Most People Are Multilingual

Here’s my comment I submitted a couple of minutes ago at Climb to the Stars on Most People Are Multilingual (cos I’m not sure if my comment wasn’t gobbled): In southern Africa (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, SA) most people are multi-lingual with varying levels of language competency in at least 3 languages. For example in Malawi,… Continue reading Most People Are Multilingual

pêle-mêle

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything personal in my blog. Mostly because this isn’t a confessional blog. A couple of weeks ago I read thu all entries here at chiperoni.ch. And I like the nice side-effect that I can hold onto a fleeting moment by documenting it in words (even if it’s just… Continue reading pêle-mêle

About the inhabitants of JavaPolis

Linguistic nit-picking on a Friday afternoon: I noticed this phrase over at the JavaPolis 06 website (a login is required): 17 299 JavaPolians registered And I started wondering why JavaPolian, why not JavaPolitans? After all, people living in a metropolis are metropolitans or have metropolitan characteristics. The same applies for people from Minneapolis. Maybe the… Continue reading About the inhabitants of JavaPolis

mouse potato

Main Entry: mouse potato Function: noun Etymology: after couch potato slang : a person who spends a great deal of time using a computer Source: Definition of mouse potato – Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Writing Copy

Couple of writing tips I found at MarketingProfs.com: Begin with a story Use short words Write shorter sentences Remove clichés Use bridges or connectors Use concrete examples rather than concepts Pay attention to your verbs

MarComm Writing Tactics

Can technical writers be good marketing writers – and vice versa? The above presentation notes are old (from 2002 i.e. definitely Web 1.0), but the question is interesting… what’s your opinion on this? (update: unfortunately the site seems to be down. Note to myself: write a short summary of the main points for future reference.)

experimenting with WordPress plugins

yesterday evening I started playing around with some WordPress plugins I’d found. SlimStats This Day I made a small code change in wp-config.php. Everything was working fine… I thought. But this morning I got this error message (please skip the next paragraph if you’re a wp/PHP geek, you’re probably going to throw your hands up… Continue reading experimenting with WordPress plugins

Help Save the German Language

Adopt a German word for 5 Euro: http://www.wortpatenschaft.de/ Apparently the German language needs your help: …Werden Sie Wortpate! Beschützen Sie ein deutsches Wort und übernehmen Sie dafür die Verantwortung: Entwickeln Sie das Wort weiter, pflegen Sie es, hüten Sie es vor MiàŸbrauch oder Verdrängung! Schreiben Sie Gedichte mit Ihrem Wort, tauschen Sie sich aus mit… Continue reading Help Save the German Language