[syndicate] seals

[H. Haggerty]

that must have been terribly hard for you. i am sorry to hear that. i
was 19, still felt like a boy. 

my google experiments have got me suddenly interested in natural
language, alhough I suppose this is a natural extension of my
fascination with computer languages. Babblefish is terrible. I have a
new appreciation for how hard it is too communicate that way.

I asked the Mexican lady at the corner how she would talk about being 5
years old but still no luck. Her translation still turns up nothing. It
could be that many of the Mexican immigrants around here (California)
are actually speaking Spanish as a second language, native American
Indian being the first. I tried to not have her translate "when i was
5" directly but just say it the way she would say it. I think I failed
at that. 

I feel I need to learn a second language. I have chosen Japanese
because i find the culture is so interesting. I have started
corresponding with several Japanese and there are many who are eager to
practice their English. Also eager to teach Japanese and talk about
Japanese culture. Some of them are Japanese programmers so that should
be interesting.

There are a lot of downsides to English being the primary language of
the internet. I think it fosters a certain advantage or insularity
among English only speakers. It seems clear to me that certain thoughts
and feelings are lost in the translation. For example, I notice French
speakers say something like "it is old like the world" I really have no
idea what feeling is behind this, while naturally I know exactly the
feeling when an american says "what do you take me for?"

I was really struck by Milan Kundera's explanation of the Czech word
"litost" and realized it was perfect for what I was feeling at the
time. I then met a Czech man in Alcoholics Anonymous (he was not having
any luck starting it up there in his town) and he confirmed that I had
the feeling right.

I wanted to start at the beginning with Net Art and language seems like
the logical place since it is international.

see www.mylanguageexchange.com



--- Ivo Skoric <ivo at reporters.net> wrote:
> How old were you when they let you play with the fissible core? 
> Btw, when I was five, I was the only to witness the death of my 
> paternal grandfather.
> ivo


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