I think both Odysseus and Jason faced the Scylla/Charybdis choice. Aren't the Clashing Rocks a reference to the Bosphorus, the entrance to the Black Sea?
@DecrepitJohnL In Communist era Hungary, Russian was taught as a compulsory second language and pupils weren't allowed to learn a third language until they got sufficiently proficient in Russian. Predictably, all the cool kids refused to learn Russian, with the consequence that older Hungarians are atrocious at foreign languages. Even fewer Hungarians are proficient in a second language than Brits.
Incidentally, it is a long-term EU objective that every citizen has practical skills in at least two foreign languages. Wales seems not to have got with that programme.
The point is that Welsh ought to help with other language acquisition, if what the langauge teachers lobby tells us is true. Since the evidence is that it does not, then what is the point in learning any language (aside from the traditional liberal arts justification of knowledge as its own reward)?
Learning one language helps with learning related languages. For example Italian helps with Spanish. Certainly having studied Italian, French and Spanish, I can read other Romance languages I haven't studied such as Portuguese fairly well.
Latin and Greek can also help a lot with English. A surprising number of words derive from Greek such as helico-pter (flying wing) and rhodo-dendron (red tree). This also works the other way. If you just think about the -ologys you can easily get ancient Greek words like
φύσις (Physis) - body γυναίκα (Gynaika) - woman βίος (Bios) - life
The problem with Welsh is the only other languages it would really help with are Cornish and Breton.
An education in classics, and especially Greek, is very useful to a biologist especially one who works in the more descriptive areas such as taxonomy and classification, where the terminology is based on the learned languages, if only because one's ear is attuned to the rhythms and can quickly catch any misspellings. Homo sapiens for one. A topical example for those with families is dinosaur being deinos and sauros - terrible/awesome reptile. But the question, I suppose, is whether it would have been more useful to learn German, to read all those 19th century monographs in the original ...
Stephen Jay Gould, a very famous palaeontologist, wrote one of his essays on his delight on visiting Greece and discovering that a bus stop is a stasis [highly relevant to his own ideas on the detailed tempo of evolution, BTW], and a luggage trolley is [apparently] a metaphor ...
Back to Welsh, there is also a wider argument that being bilingual is in itself very beneficial for mental power and brain health irrespective of other benefits in education or utlilitarian skill sets - but I do not know the details of the research and, in particular, whether there is a critical age by which this bilingualism is required.
Mr. Corporeal, what do you mean 'your generation'?! I'm not an old chap myself.
I recall the clashing rocks from the film Jason and the Argonauts, which had Jolene Blalock as Medea. [NB Medea, by Euripides, is a fantasic story, and well worth reading].
Mr. Icarus, I bow to your undoubtedly superior knowledge of Greek matters.
I remember my father's joy at discovering "Stasis" was bus stop on some Greek island.
All of this language cross fertilisation helps hugely just on the practical level of restaurants agneau/agnello = lamb etc, and road signs a sens unique is clearly a senso unico, and warnings about snel and schnell should result in applying the brake. A bit a German can help amazingly with Danish shop adverts even, mind you English is almost as useful a linguistic base camp in Denmark if you get your brain in gear.
Mr. Welshowl, a Sino-English girl I knew at university used English at university and Chinese at home. Apparently it's very tiring to use two languages on a daily basis.
Mr. Corporeal, what do you mean 'your generation'?! I'm not an old chap myself.
I recall the clashing rocks from the film Jason and the Argonauts, which had Jolene Blalock as Medea. [NB Medea, by Euripides, is a fantasic story, and well worth reading].
Mr. Icarus, I bow to your undoubtedly superior knowledge of Greek matters.
Back to Welsh, there is also a wider argument that being bilingual is in itself very beneficial for mental power and brain health irrespective of other benefits in education or utlilitarian skill sets - but I do not know the details of the research and, in particular, whether there is a critical age by which this bilingualism is required.
If i remember right, probably from birth or soon after. alters brain development. from my own experience, bilingual kids speak later (maybe even at 3 years), but then rapidly sort it out.
Well after several years on this site I placed my first political bet with Tim about whether the deficit will be lower or higher this year than it was last. Personally, I regarded this as a pretty sure thing and the Autumn statement has moved the government's forecast lower rather than the higher figure it was at the time the bet was made, albeit by a measly £4bn.
We shall see but I am optimistic despite some pretty ordinary figures last week.
BTW, remember that white stuff that was supposed to be a distant memory? It seems to be over my car and grass this morning.
If you didn't invite Nigella around may be you'd spill less flour?
I would be seriously disappointed if spilling flour was the extent of the fun if Nigella came around. Even my wife might forgive me that one.
I look forward to the Lawson family revenge in the New Year. Dominic came out firing in the ST yesterday. Mr Saatchi may come to regret this.
I must say I'm sick of hearing all the special pleading on behalf of Nigella. She was treated no differently to any other witness and whose credibility - as the trial judge pointed out - was relevant to the Grillo sisters' defence. The fact that they were acquitted may say something about the jury's view of Nigella's credibility. She - and her defenders - seem to take the view that she should be beyond criticism. But it was her and her husband's employees who were on trial and the case only came to court because they chose to make an issue of it.
I have been involved in lots of trials and in all of them the issue of the credibility of the witnesses is - to a greater or lesser extent - an issue, as it needs to be if the defendants are to have a fair trial. This last point seems to have been forgotten in all the brouhaha concocted by those who seem to think that grand people - or those who think themselves grand - should not be subject to the same laws as everyone else.
I don't disagree with any of that and do not support special pleading or witness representation (despite the additional fees for lawyers). My point is rather different. Saatchi insisted this trial go ahead and then used it to rubbish the reputation of his ex getting revenge for the grief that he got from that photo.
I would be very surprised if the Lawson clan will be minded to draw a line at this. There will be some entertainment from this in the new year.
Al-Beeb reporting the death of Mikhail Kalashnikov. Apparently the "most famous rifle in the World".
ARRSE will be upset (SLR/FLN) but the ignorance of the Lee-Enfield SMLE amongst 'journalists' funded by English tax-payers is beyond parody....
Goodness me, the Deathlist site has had a stonking end to the year. Looked to be a poor show but that's a third of the year's haul in December alone. [Site currently down due to the news overwhelming its bandwidth allowance, as was the case with Ronnie Biggs and Mandela.]
Happy Christmas from a disappointingly snow-less Bavaria. By the looks of reports today we were lucky to get out of the UK without problems yesterday, must be worrying for those trying to leave today.
On-topic, this 'row' looks like it's all scripted and agreed in advance. It's no secret to anyone that the Lib Dems have a different perspective to the Tories on immigration and have no time for the Tories playing at who can talk nastiest. Both parties gain by asserting where they stand and particularly as Vince is one of the few people the 28% or so LD->LAB switchers will still listen to. He reaches the parts that Nick Clegg can't.
For me personally, this is probably one of the reasons I've ended up in the Lib Dems, as no-one else seems to be prepared to listen to the evidence of the net benefits of immigration. I find it almost comical how everyone else tries to talk as tough as they can at home, and then as soon as a minister goes to India, or China, or Brazil, it's always a pitch to come to Britain and relaxing visa processes. Sooner or later those inconsistencies will be highlighted but it seems to be an unwritten rule that they should be kept as quiet as possible at the moment. One of the clearest cases I've seen of where the political and economic angles collide head on.
I wonder if it's a generational thing - my generation aren't as angry about immigration as some that have come before. Sure, I've an internationalist viewpoint in particular as I've lived in Poland and my wife is German, but like stodge there are people who are turned off by all the anti-immigration talk and they should be easy pickings for the Lib Dems. They won't touch the Tories or UKIP in their current modes, so I imagine David Cameron has more pressing matters to worry about than Vince Cable.
Andrew Neil @afneil 29m FAZ reports that the EU to “fundamentally overhaul” its energy and climate change policies, with no new renewable energy target post-2020.
which is merely an opinion piece saying (I think, after a quick skim) that he thinks based on unnamed sources that Germany will no longer press for over-ambitious goals. Germany is not in a position to have the EU "give up on AGW" even if it wanted to, which it doesn't.
Mr. Corporeal, what do you mean 'your generation'?! I'm not an old chap myself.
I recall the clashing rocks from the film Jason and the Argonauts, which had Jolene Blalock as Medea. [NB Medea, by Euripides, is a fantasic story, and well worth reading].
Mr. Icarus, I bow to your undoubtedly superior knowledge of Greek matters.
My generation is people my age and those slightly younger.
It works like height and lateness. (i.e. we are each our own greenwich meridian).
(Mr Icarus is incorrect according to wiki. Scylla and Charybdis were legendarily at straits of Messina, but clashing rocks was the bosphorus).
Comments
Stephen Jay Gould, a very famous palaeontologist, wrote one of his essays on his delight on visiting Greece and discovering that a bus stop is a stasis [highly relevant to his own ideas on the detailed tempo of evolution, BTW], and a luggage trolley is [apparently] a metaphor ...
Back to Welsh, there is also a wider argument that being bilingual is in itself very beneficial for mental power and brain health irrespective of other benefits in education or utlilitarian skill sets - but I do not know the details of the research and, in particular, whether there is a critical age by which this bilingualism is required.
I recall the clashing rocks from the film Jason and the Argonauts, which had Jolene Blalock as Medea. [NB Medea, by Euripides, is a fantasic story, and well worth reading].
Mr. Icarus, I bow to your undoubtedly superior knowledge of Greek matters.
@ Carnyx
I remember my father's joy at discovering "Stasis" was bus stop on some Greek island.
All of this language cross fertilisation helps hugely just on the practical level of restaurants agneau/agnello = lamb etc, and road signs a sens unique is clearly a senso unico, and warnings about snel and schnell should result in applying the brake. A bit a German can help amazingly with Danish shop adverts even, mind you English is almost as useful a linguistic base camp in Denmark if you get your brain in gear.
I'll get me coat.......
Oddschecker @Oddschecker
RT @premierleague: "Howard Webb appointed referee for Man Utd v Spurs" #MUFC 13/20 to make man advantage count http://bit.ly/S9SMbf #thfc
ARRSE will be upset (SLR/FLN) but the ignorance of the Lee-Enfield SMLE amongst 'journalists' funded by English tax-payers is beyond parody....
I would be very surprised if the Lawson clan will be minded to draw a line at this. There will be some entertainment from this in the new year.
I still think its on but 3.2 is ok to hedge at, it might look 'big' now but cricket is a funny old game...
So +10 Not 5-0
+150ish 5-0 is the new book.
Normal hostilities will resumed after the break.
The Mumsnet way of life. An article from the Spectator, well worth reading. All PB writers and Journalists; beware.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/nick-cohen/2013/12/the-mumsnet-racketeers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-mumsnet-racketeers&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
On-topic, this 'row' looks like it's all scripted and agreed in advance. It's no secret to anyone that the Lib Dems have a different perspective to the Tories on immigration and have no time for the Tories playing at who can talk nastiest. Both parties gain by asserting where they stand and particularly as Vince is one of the few people the 28% or so LD->LAB switchers will still listen to. He reaches the parts that Nick Clegg can't.
For me personally, this is probably one of the reasons I've ended up in the Lib Dems, as no-one else seems to be prepared to listen to the evidence of the net benefits of immigration. I find it almost comical how everyone else tries to talk as tough as they can at home, and then as soon as a minister goes to India, or China, or Brazil, it's always a pitch to come to Britain and relaxing visa processes. Sooner or later those inconsistencies will be highlighted but it seems to be an unwritten rule that they should be kept as quiet as possible at the moment. One of the clearest cases I've seen of where the political and economic angles collide head on.
I wonder if it's a generational thing - my generation aren't as angry about immigration as some that have come before. Sure, I've an internationalist viewpoint in particular as I've lived in Poland and my wife is German, but like stodge there are people who are turned off by all the anti-immigration talk and they should be easy pickings for the Lib Dems. They won't touch the Tories or UKIP in their current modes, so I imagine David Cameron has more pressing matters to worry about than Vince Cable.
http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/energiewende/klimapolitik-die-rettung-der-welt-ist-ersatzlos-gestrichen-12678882.html
which is merely an opinion piece saying (I think, after a quick skim) that he thinks based on unnamed sources that Germany will no longer press for over-ambitious goals. Germany is not in a position to have the EU "give up on AGW" even if it wanted to, which it doesn't.
It works like height and lateness. (i.e. we are each our own greenwich meridian).
(Mr Icarus is incorrect according to wiki. Scylla and Charybdis were legendarily at straits of Messina, but clashing rocks was the bosphorus).
The best of the season to you and your good wife.