Linguistblr

Masterpost 3 out of 50: Finals Guide 

I’m sorry right now I’m too mentally tired to think of a description //

This is coming from someone whose native language has been mocked many times for what it sounds and looks like. It's the reason why I'm embarrassed to tell my nationality or speak my language.

I get it. Not every language in the world is beautiful to you. Nobody is demanding you find them beautiful. But that does not give you the right to insult someones cultural heritage. I don't care if it looks "crazy" or it "doesn't make sense" (even though they do) or sounds "ugly."

This is especially bad if the language in question doesn't have many native speakers or is dying. If you make someone feel ashamed for speaking in their language which they are trying to keep alive, you're a fucking asshole.

Eng.  drink, drank, drunk / b‏reak, broke, broken

Deu. trinken, trank, getrunken / brechen, brach, gebrochen

Yid. trinkən, —, getrunkən / brexn, —, gebroxn

Nor. drikke, drakk, drukket / brekke, brakk, brukket

Nld. drinken, dronk, gedronken / breken, brak, gebroken

and more significantly, it also occurs in Gothic:

Go‏‏t. drigkan, dragk, dru‏‏‏‏‏‏gkans / brikan, brak, brukans

However, this here is a case of Umlauting¹, which affected every Germanic language except Gothic, and therefore must’ve happened after Gothic had already branched off independently. ie:

Got. manna, mannans / fotus, fotjus

but

Eng. man, men / foot, feet / mouse, mice / goose, geese

Deu. Mann, Männer / Fuß, Füße / Maus, Mäuse / Gans, Gänse

Yid. man, mener / fus, fis / mojz, mai̯z / gandz, gendz

Nor. mann, menn / fot, føtter / mus, myser / gås, gjæser

basically, Umlauting is when a stem-vowel shifts to be more similar to the vowel in a suffix (in this case, the plural suffix). so for example, in Old English, the singular noun [fo:t] contains the back-vowel [o], and the plural suffix [-i] is a front vowel. at first, the plural is regular [fo:ti], but then [o] umlauts frontwards closer to [i], resulting in [fø:ti]. later, English lost the plural suffix, kept the vowel change, which is how we got “foot, feet”.  other languages like German kept both the umlauted vowel and the suffix “Fuß, Füß-e”.

Nld. man, mannen / voet, voeten / muis, muizen / gans, ganzen

now, despite what the above suggests, Umlauting did happen in Dutch too !! but it was less common and didn’t affect words like “man” or “voet”. tl;dr Old Low Franconian (specifically Old Hollandic and Old Brabantian) underwent some vowel mergers, and developed a long-short vowel distinction sooner than other Germanic languages. Dutch then restricted Umlauting to short vowels. this meant there were fewer valid places where Umlauting could occur.

examples include the word ezel, umlauted from Latin asellus “little donkey”, and the singular/plural of “city” :

Nld. stad, steden

(Eng. stead, steads)

Deu. Stadt, Städte

Yid. ʃtot, ʃtet

Nor. stad, steder

Got. sta‏þ, stadeis

_______________

In my experience, there is always someone somewhere starting their thesis, or struggling to the thesis finish line, or stuck in that middle part where it’s hard work without the reward. If you are just getting started on your thesis (or another big project) and you feel a bit lost and overwhelmed: fear not, I have your back. I created a list of tips that I found useful while writing my MSc thesis (psychology).

Let me know if this was helpful and if you want more. I originally wanted to post a whole series of tips on different stages of the thesis process, so consider this the drastically condensed version of that.

Getting started

Find a lab that works on a topic that interests you and with a team that you feel comfortable with.

Make sure you know where to go with questions and get to know the structure.

Set up your goals from the beginning and make a planning.

The best thing you can do at the beginning of your thesis is figure out what you want, what your university requires, and how the project works.

Planning

Create a list of all the steps you need to take to finish your thesis and divide them over the time (months, weeks?) that you have until the deadline.

At the very beginning, discuss this schedule with your supervisor.

Create in-between deadlines, with your supervisor and also with yourself.

At the beginning of each month, write down what you should do each week.

At the beginning of each week, write down what you should do each day.

Make a list of things you need to do each day, preferably the night before, so you can start right when you sit down.

You could even calendar block if that’s your cup of tea.

Steps

Here’s an example from a psychology graduate (me):

Literature search/brain storm

Research question, hypotheses

Summarizing results into proposal

Make a plan

Learn how to analyze data

Execute plan (e.g., data collection)

Analyse data

Write down results

Draw conclusion

Revision, feedback, revision, feedback, revision!

 Reflection

Every week (or at whatever interval you prefer), sit down for 20 minutes and reflect on your progress. Ask yourself:

What did I do this week?

What went well?

What did not go as planned?

What can I do to improve next week?

What is on my to do list for the next week? What’s my focus? Are there things on the long run that I need to start working on?

- don’t apologise if you don’t know english.

- yes, english is the most common language on the internet but you are not forced to know it perfectly.

- your own language is beautiful.

- non-english people make a huge effort to write in English everyday on this website.

- support non-english people and don’t make them feel bad if they do not know English. 

- actually support all the languages.

- spread more language diversity on Tumblr.

- non scusarti se non conosci l’inglese

- è vero, l’inglese è la lingua più comune su internet, ma non sei obbligato/a a conoscerlo perfettamente

- la tua lingua è bella

- i non anglofoni si sforzano molto ogni giorno a scrivere in inglese su questo sito

- sostieni i non anglofoni e non scoraggiarli se non conoscono l’inglese

- sostieni tutte le lingue

- sostieni la diversità linguistica su Tumblr

- Entschuldige dich nicht, wenn du kein Englisch kannst. 

- Ja, Englisch ist vielleicht die am meisten gesprochene Sprache im Internet, aber du bist nicht dazu gezwungen, es perfekt zu sprechen. 

- Deine Muttersprache ist wertvoll 

- Leute, deren Muttersprache nicht Englisch ist, geben sich jeden Tag die größte Mühe, auf dieser Webseite Englisch zu benutzen

- Unterstützt Leute, deren Muttersprache nicht Englisch ist, und macht euch nicht über sie lustig, wenn sie kein Englisch sprechen. 

- Unterstützt alle Sprachen

- Setzt euch für mehr Sprachenvielfalt auf Tumblr ein

- vos langue maternelle est belle.

- les non-anglophones font un effort énorme pour écrire en anglais tous les jours sur ce site.

- soutenez les non-anglophones et ne leur faites pas sentir mal s’ils ne connaissent pas l’anglais.

- supporte toutes les langues.

- Parlez de plus de diversité linguistique sur Tumblr.

- Zeg geen sorry als je geen Engels spreekt.

- Ja, Engels is de meest gebruikte taal op het internet maar je hoeft het niet perfect te kennen.

- Jou eigen taal is prachtig.

- Niet-Engelstalige mensen doen enorm hun best om elke dag Engels te schrijven op deze site.

- Moedig niet-Engelstalige mensen aan en geef hen geen slecht gevoel over het feit dat ze geen Engels spreken.

- Eigenlijk, moedig alle talen aan.

- Verspreid meer diversiteit in talen op Tumblr!

- No te disculpes si no sabes inglés.

- Es verdad que el inglés es el idioma más hablado en internet, pero no estás obligado a hablarlo perfectamente.

- Tu idioma nativo es hermoso.

- La gente que no habla inglés como idioma nativo hace un gran esfuerzo para hablarlo todos los días en esta página web.

- Apoya a la gente que no sepa hablar inglés y no les hagas sentir mal si no saben hablarlo a la perfección.

- Apoya todos los idiomas.

- Apoya la diversidad lingüistica en Tumblr.

- 你不需要为不懂英语道歉

- 是的，英语是互联网上最普遍使用的语言，但是你不必毫无差错地了解它

- 你自己的语言是美丽的

- 非英语人士每天都在这个网站上很努力地写作

- 支持非英语人士，如果他们不懂英语，不要让他们为难

- 实际上，支持所有语言

- 在汤不热上传播语言多样性

- не извиняйтесь если вы не понимаете английский язык.

- да, английский самый популярный язык на интернете, но вам не надо её знать отлично.

- ваш собственный язык прекрасный.

- люди которые не разговаривают по английскому языку сильно пробуют писать по ему здесь каждый день.

- поддерживаете других, и не оскорбляйте их если они не умеют разговаривать по английскиму.

- на самом деле, поддерживаете все языка

- позвольте большему количеству языков существовать на этом сайте.

благодарю. 💖

- be inte om ursäkt om du inte kan engelska.

- ja, engelska är det vanligaste språket på internet men du är inte tvungen att kunna det perfekt.

- ditt eget språk är vackert.

- icke-engelspråkiga personer gör en stor ansträngning varje dag för att skriva på engelska på den här sajten.

- stöd icke-engelspråkiga personer och behandla dem inte nedlåtande om de inte kan engelska.

- faktum är att du bör stödja all språk

- försök sprida mer språk-variation på Tumblr

- Не се извинявайте, ако не знаете английски.

- Да, английският е най-често срещаният език в интернет, но не сте длъжни да го знаете перфектно.

- Вашият собствен език е красив.

- Хората, които не говорят английски като роден език, влагат огромни усилия да пишат на английски всеки ден на този уебсайт.

- Подкрепяйте не-англоговорящите хора и не ги карайте да се чувстват зле, ако не знаят английски.

- Всъщност, подкрепяйте всички езици.

- Разпространете разнообразието на повече езици в Tumblr.

- nie przepraszaj, jeśli nie znasz angielskiego

- tak, angielski to najbardziej rozpowszechniony język w internecie, ale nie zmusza cię to do znania go perfekcyjnie

- twój własny język jest piękny

- osoby, których językiem ojczystym nie jest angielski, podejmują ogromny wysiłek, pisząc w języku angielskim na tej stronie

- wspieraj osoby, których językiem ojczystym nie jest angielski i nie sprawiaj, że czują się gorzej jeśli go nie znają

- wlasciwie, wspieraj wszystkie języki

- rozpowszechniaj różnorodność językową na tumblrze!

Varmaan jo sanoin tämän, mutta haluan sanoa uudelleen

- Älä pyydä anteeksi ettet osaa englantia

- totta, englanti on internetin yleisin kieli mutta sinun ei ole pakko osata sitä täydellisesti 

- Oma kielesi on kaunis

- ei-englanninkieliset ihmiset tekevät suuren teon joka päivä kirjoittamalla englanniksi tälle nettisivulle

- tue ei-englanninkielisiä ihmisiä äläkä loukkaa heitä, jos he eivät osaa englantia

- tue kaikkia kieliä

- Levitä kielten moninaisuutta Tumblrissa

- não peça desculpas se você não fala inglês

- sim, inglês é a língua mais comum na internet mas você não é obrigado a saber falar ela perfeitamente

- seu próprio idioma é lindo

- pessoas que não falam inglês nativo se esforçam muito para escrever em inglês todos os dias nesse site

- apoie pessoas que não falam inglês e não as faça se sentir mal por não falar inglês

- apoie todos os idiomas

- apoie a diversidade linguística no Tumblr

If you’re curious about why so many European languages have familiar words in them, here’s a YouTube video about PIE (Proto Indo European) to show how things are even more fascinating than you may have suspected.

Note that the chart above is an oversimplification.  For example Proto-Celtic (within central europe) evolved to Insular Proto Celtic (on the british isles).  Insular Celtic then evolved and split into Brythonic on great britain (becoming today’s Cornish, Welsh, Breton) and Godelic on the island of ireland (becoming today’s Irish, Manx, Scots Gaelic).

Here’s an easy resolution: This stuff is all free as long as you have access to a computer, and the skills you learn will be invaluable in your career, and/or life in general. 

1. Become awesome at Excel.

Chandoo is one of many gracious Excel experts who wants to share their knowledge with the world. Excel excellence is one of those skills that will improve your chances of getting a good job instantly, and it will continue to prove invaluable over the course of your career. What are you waiting for?

2. Learn how to code.

littleanimalgifs.tumblr.com

Perhaps no other skill you can learn for free online has as much potential to lead to a lucrative career. Want to build a site for your startup? Want to build the next big app? Want to get hired at a place like BuzzFeed? You should learn to code. There are a lot of places that offer free or cheap online coding tutorials, but I recommend Code Academy for their breadth and innovative program. If you want to try a more traditional route, Harvard offers its excellent Introduction to Computer Science course online for free.

3. Make a dynamic website.

You could use a pre-existing template or blogging service, or you could learn Ruby on Rails and probably change your life forever. Here’s an extremely helpful long list of free Ruby learning tools that includes everything from Rails for Zombies to Learn Ruby The Hard Way. Go! Ruby! Some basic programming experience, like one of the courses above, might be helpful (but not necessarily required if you’re patient with yourself).

4. Learn to make a mobile game.

If you’re not interested in coding anything other than fun game apps, you could trythis course from the University of Reading. It promises to teach you how to build a game in Java, even if you don’t have programming experience! If you want to make a truly great game, you might want to read/listen up on Game Theory first.

5. Start reading faster.

Spreeder is a free online program that will improve your reading skill and comprehension no matter how old you are. With enough practice, you could learn to double, triple, or even quadruple the speed at which you read passages currently, which is basically like adding years to your life.

6. Learn a language!

With Duolingo, you can learn Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, or English (from any of the above or more). There’s a mobile app and a website, and the extensive courses are completely free.

Full disclosure: BuzzFeed and other websites are in a partnership with DuoLingo, but they did not pay or ask for this placement.

7. Pickle your own vegetables.

Tired of your farmer’s market haul going bad before you use it all? Or do you just love tangy pickled veggies? You too can pickle like a pro thanks to SkillShare and Travis Grillo.

8. Improve your public speaking skills.

You can take the University of Washington’s Intro to Public Speaking for free online. Once you learn a few tricks of the trade, you’ll be able to go into situations like being asked to present at a company meeting or giving a presentation in class without nearly as much fear and loathing.

9. Get a basic handle of statistics.

UC Berkeley put a stats intro class on iTunes. Once you know how to understand the numbers yourself, you’ll never read a biased “news” article the same way again — 100% of authors of this post agree!

10. Understand basic psychology.

Knowing the basics of psych will bring context to your understanding of yourself, the dynamics of your family and friendships, what’s really going on with your coworkers, and the woes and wonders of society in general. Yale University has its Intro to Psychology lectures online for free.

11. Make your own music.

Step one: Learn how to play guitar: Justin Guitar is a fine and free place to start learning chords and the basic skills you’ll need to be able to play guitar — from there, it’s up to you, but once you know the basics, just looking up tabs for your favorite songs and learning them on your own is how many young guitar players get their start (plus it’s an excellent party trick).

Step two: A delightful free voice lesson from Berklee College Of Music.

Step three: Have you always thought you had an inner TSwift? Berklee College of Music offers an Introduction to Songwriting course completely for free online. The course is six weeks long, and by the end of the lesson you’ll have at least one completed song.

Step four: Lifehacker’s basics of music production will help you put it all together once you have the skills down! You’ll be recording your own music, ready to share with your valentine or the entire world, in no time!

12. Learn to negotiate.

Let Stanford’s Stan Christensen explain how to negotiate in business and your personal life, managing relationships for your personal gain and not letting yourself be steamrolled. There are a lot of football metaphors and it’s great.

13. Stop hating math.

If you struggled with math throughout school and now have trouble applying it in real-world situations when it crops up, try Saylor.org’s Real World Math course. It will reteach you basic math skills as they apply IRL. Very helpful!

14. Start drawing!

All kids draw — so why do we become so afraid of it as adults? Everyone should feel comfortable with a sketchbook and pencil, and sketching is a wonderful way to express your creativity. DrawSpace is a great place to start. (I also highly recommend the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain if you can drop a few dollars for a used copy.)

15. Make your own animated GIF.

BuzzFeed’s own Katie Notopoulos has a great, simple guide to making an animated GIF without Photoshop. This is all you need to be the king or queen of Tumblr or your favorite email chains.

16. Appreciate jazz.

reddit.com

Have you never really “gotten” jazz? If you want to be able to participate in conversations at fancy parties and/or just add some context to your appreciation of all music, try this free online course from UT Austin.

17. Write well.

Macalester College’s lecture series is excellent. If you’re more interested in journalism, try Wikiversity’s course selection.

18. Get better at using Photoshop.

Another invaluable skill that will get you places in your career, learning Photoshop can be as fun as watching the hilarious videos on You Suck At Photoshop or as serious as this extensive Udemy training course (focused on photo retouching).

19. Take decent pictures.

Lifehacker’s basics of photography might be a good place to start. Learn how your camera works, the basic of composition, and editing images in post-production. If you finish that and you’re not sure what to do next, here’s a short course on displaying and sharing your digital photographs.

20. Learn to knit.

Instructables has a great course by a woman who is herself an online-taught knitter. You’ll be making baby hats and cute scarves before this winter’s over!

21. Get started with investing in stocks.

If you are lucky enough to have a regular income, you should start learning about savings and investment now. Investopedia has a ton of online resources, including this free stocks basics course. Invest away!

22. Clean your house in a short amount of time.

Unf$#k Your Habitat has a great emergency cleaning guide for when your mother-in-law springs a surprise visit on you. While you’re over there, the entire blog is good for getting organized and clean in the long term, not just in “emergencies.” You’ll be happier for it.

23. Start practicing yoga.

Most cities have free community classes (try just searching Google or inquiring at your local yoga studio), or if you’re more comfortable trying yoga at home, YogaGlohas a great 15-day trial and Yome is a compendium of 100% free yoga videos. If you’re already familiar with basic yoga positions but you need an easy way to practice at home, I recommend YogaTailor’s free trial as well.

24. Tie your shoelaces more efficiently.

it’s okay if you’re just on tumblr to have fun and reblog things you like or that make you happy.