Entries from Juni 2013 ↓

To the tune of Gangsta Paradise by Coolio

As I look through the forums that I troll on the net
I take a look at my likes and realize there’s nothin‘ left
Cause I’ve been crapping on about the Rothschilds so long,
that even Scott Rickard thinks that my mind is gone.
But I ain’t never spread propaganda that didn’t deserve it
A few Rothschilds, couple reptiles, ‚End the Fed‘, and it’s perfect!
You better watch how you’re talking and where you’re walking
or it might be your wall that I choose to stalk.
Got a hundred different socks to keep you in your place
and each one likes my comments a lot – just in case, fool
Cause I’m the CT with the super-short shelf-life,
My punctuation’s the ellipsis, my words are randomly capitalised.

Refrain:
I sell outrageous lies, in my racist wanker’s paradise
No bullshit story’s too contrived, in my racist wanker’s paradise,
Only the strong of gut survive, in my racist wanker’s paradise
My socks eat my critics alive, in my racist wanker’s paradise

You know this shit’s my life, I’ve got it in my bones:
I pledged my heart to David Icke and my soul to Alex Jones.
So every day I just do my very best,
to represent the NS and the WS.
You lot reckon I’m a fool, but I’ve a mission on my mind:
infiltrate, dominate, or at least waste your time.
I’m in deep with the fash, and I’m the last to know it,
‚Cos my thinking is brown, and my comments show it, fool:
If you piss me off, or if I’m just pissed,
your name goes on my list of Secret Zionists.
Am I a sock or is my surname really Afterglo?
Ha, ha, ha, wouldn’t you like to know?

Refrain

Power and the money, money and the power
Naughty little lizards dropped the Twin Towers.
I’m sellin‘ and I’m sellin‘, but half of them ain’t buyin‘
when I link to Makow, Duke or the Protocols of Zion.
They’re arguing with me, but I’m not here to listen,
A debate with me’s just a gale-force wind to piss in.
I guess they can’t; I guess they won’t
I guess I’m blocked; so now they’re gonna feel the wrath of twenty socks, fool!

Refrain

One of the methods I have come to rely on quite heavily in language learning is the use of translated editions: Basically, I look for a translation of a book I know well (John Grisham’s The Firm and The Shining and Misery by Stephen King are old standbys) in the language I am trying to learn. The underlying idea is that, since I already know what is happening in the story (and sometimes have much of the dialogue memorised), I already know what the book says, and can direct my attention to how – with what words, arranged in what way – it is being said.

My first conscious use of this technique dates back, as it happens, to the first time I took an interest in learning Hungarian. Continue reading →

Will: Do you play the piano? 
Skylar: A bit. 
Will: Okay, when you look at a piano you see Mozart, right? 
Skylar: I see „Chopsticks.“ 
Will: Beethoven, okay. He looked at a piano, and it just made sense to him. He could just play. 
Skylar: So what are you saying? You play the piano? 
Will: No, not a lick. I mean, I look at a piano, I see a bunch of keys, three pedals, and a box of wood. But Beethoven, Mozart, they saw it, they could just play. I couldn’t paint you a picture, I probably can’t hit the ball out of Fenway, and I can’t play the piano. 
Skylar: But you can do my o-chem paper in under an hour. 
Will: Right. Well, I mean when it came to stuff like that… I could always just play. 

– From the film Good Will Hunting (1997)

By Way of Introduction

I have often been asked how exactly I go about learning a language by people curious about how I could have gained proficiency in such a wide variety of languages. In the following notes, I hope to provide the most detailed answer possible, using examples of languages I am currently studying.

What follows are notes on the methods by which I am learning Finnish, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Greek, and any number of other current projects that seem worth mentioning in order to illustrate a particular technique or thought process. To be clear, this is not a manual on how others can or should go about learning a language. Although I will try to describe my own methods in enough detail that they could be reproduced by language teachers and/or learners, I haven’t the faintest idea how useful any of the techniques I describe will be to others. Continue reading →