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What I Learned Today


Carl

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I learned that English is a very functional language. Maybe not the most elegant, but very useful.

I spoke with Lars from The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, who you know from that iPod Touch commercial - that's their song "Around The Bend." He's Danish, but writes his lyrics in English. When I asked him why, he explained that it's much easier to express yourself in English than in Danish. There are just more words and phrases in our tongue to capture that nuance that is so important to good lyrics. Notice that you never hear a native English speaker throwing in words from another language (except for some pompous French stuff), but for folks who have it as a second language, they'll often sprinkle English words into their speech.

What did you learn today?

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I agree with Lars. English is my fourth language and yet many times I find myself expressing thoughts in English while I could do it in French or in Spanish... it´s an amazing language. Yes, it´s so rich. And I don´t think it´s not elegant, it has a special rhythm and a sound that makes it so close to me, somehow so gemütlich... :cool:

I woke up at 5am and now it´s 8.09. I´m learning that I should sleep a bit more... :P

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I've been thinking about english a lot, too.

I've been watching some heroes, and since I'm watching on the interwebs (*cough....not a pirate*cough*) It will occasionally have subtitles in Spanish, and sometimes characters speak in Spanish so there's some in-show translating going on too.

Anyway

What I noticed is there are times that Spanish doesn't pick up on.... the 'degree' of what is being expressed, maybe it's more about tone there, but I've noticed a few times that "Bien" has been put in for various positive affirmations, "Good" "okay" "great" etcetera.

Maybe the translator only has a rudimentary grasp of Spanish (like me!) but it seems that english has more ways to say the same thing, just with a different connotation and 'degree' to the meaning.

I will disagree with other languages being un-functional in songwriting tho,

(but that's maybe because I'm a lyrical nihilist, and don't believe that lyrics should mean anything... just sound good)

For example, Cedric from the Mars Volta uses a lot of English for his lyrics, but then there are times that he just slips into Spanish gibberish that sounds cool, it's pretty awesome, he takes passages from the Bible and just sings them in Spanish a lot.

it's neat.

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...I've noticed a few times that "Bien" has been put in for various positive affirmations, "Good" "okay" "great" etcetera.

Translators are often very bad at their job when it comes to subtitles... :shades: plus they are always in a hurry, plus they have to insert a certain amount of words in two lines (the eye won´t recognise more) so they take the easy way... you wouldn´t believe the surrealistic things I´ve read... I have kept pages and pages of subtitles that have little or strictly nothing to do with the original line... worse, that make no sense at all, wherever you write them... :P

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I learned some interesting stuff about trigonometry, and that I really dislike the Nutcracker suite.

This is why I don't want to play in an orchestra when I grow up. I can't imagine how painful it would be to have to play the Nutcracker repeatedly for a series of concerts. It's too bad more orchestral musicians don't share my taste, and even more a pity that audiences tend to have even worse taste.

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I also went to math and learned that I hate math so much.

this is not a reflection on you, Batman, but your comment made me think of it... my son always hated math with a passion unmatched by any. He had a semester with a tutor that did nothing to help him whatsoever, but he suffered it admirably.

Last year I got lucky. I called the high school [smallest](yes, I know where your minds are at - that's soooo wrong) [/smallest]and was referred to one of the math department teachers, and we hired him as a tutor for my son. And because of the way he teaches, he really engages my son's interest, doing things like playing basketball for points, and really challenging him... my son has learned so much and actually really likes math now, because he's able to keep up.

Anyway, just a sort of positive rant to give a shout out to the great teachers out there. :)

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I've got to say I disagree.

It is the real version, I'm playing with a complete orchestra.

I'll admit that Tchaikovsky wrote some pretty kickass melodies, and his orchestration was indeed masterful.

I just find the Nutcracker really cheesy and lacking emotion. It's happy, sure, but I'd rather listen to modern pop than pop that's 150 years old.

Also, playing waltzes really sucks when you're a violist. Offbeats!

EDIT: Sorry, this was in response to Scott. Shawna hadn't posted when I started writing.

Shawna, I couldn't agree more. Having the right teacher for math makes all the difference. Usually, this means having someone who's seen the practical applications of math (as an engineer, for example) and actually finds math interesting themselves. I'm finding myself really enjoying math this year, because I have an engaging and inspiring teacher.

Edited by Guest
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I've heard of this Nutcracker fatigue. Apparently anyone who is forced to perform it every Christmas learns to hate it.

Today I learned that Lou Reed isn't as brooding as he seems, he's actually very laid back and zen. This from Dave Stewart, who I interviewed today (3 in a row - this is a record for me).

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this is not a reflection on you, Batman, but your comment made me think of it... my son always hated math with a passion unmatched by any. He had a semester with a tutor that did nothing to help him whatsoever, but he suffered it admirably.

Last year I got lucky. I called the high school [smallest](yes, I know where your minds are at - that's soooo wrong) [/smallest]and was referred to one of the math department teachers, and we hired him as a tutor for my son. And because of the way he teaches, he really engages my son's interest, doing things like playing basketball for points, and really challenging him... my son has learned so much and actually really likes math now, because he's able to keep up.

Anyway, just a sort of positive rant to give a shout out to the great teachers out there. :)

Oh yeah, I've had some good math teachers over the years, I just don't like math. And it's not their fault, really. I'm actually pretty good at math, I generally get B's or A's in math classes, I just don't like it for whatever reason.

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I've heard of this Nutcracker fatigue. Apparently anyone who is forced to perform it every Christmas learns to hate it.

must be something like the whole Christmas Music fatigue. When I was working at the shop every year my sister would play nothing but Christmas music from December 1st until the end of the year. It made me loathe Christmas music.

congrats on the interview Carl! Woohoo! Score!

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  • 2 months later...

I agree with Lars. English is my fourth language and yet many times I find myself expressing thoughts in English while I could do it in French or in Spanish... it´s an amazing language. Yes, it´s so rich. And I don´t think it´s not elegant, it has a special rhythm and a sound that makes it so close to me, somehow so gemütlich... :cool:

I woke up at 5am and now it´s 8.09. I´m learning that I should sleep a bit more... :P

I substitute "gemütlich" for "comfortable" all the time! It was one of my favorite words from German class. The word itself gives me a cozy feeling.

I learned that the show The Office is about a paper company.

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