People sometimes ask me what I do when I'm not busy saving schoolbusses full of kittens. Guys it's important that no matter how successful you are you have to still take time off for leisure.
Did you know Aristotle used to do finger painting to relax? And Einstein used to do hang-gliding, thats why his hair was always so messed up. Well, your friend Glowman here, I've got a lot of leisurely activities, but lately what I've been doing to let off stress is teaching myself Japanese.
Theres a lot more to the Japanese alphabet than meets the eye. Did you know it's the oldest alphabet in the world? So there are a lot of secrets to be gained by studying it. There are some letters so obscure they're only used once in the whole history of the language (which actually originates as Chinese).
Anyway, the immediate benefit from reading Japanese letters, is an exponential increase in WORD CONNECTIONS. Let me elaborate on this. In English, we "connect" words in one of two ways. Either the words are semantically linked, that is, their actually meanings are somehow related. For example cat and dog are connected like this. Or, we connect words because of similarities in the sound. For example "mouse" and "house" are connected in this way. This is what lets us make POETRY!
These connections are extremely important because they're what generate CREATIVITY. Your brain is constantly shooting packets of energy along all these neural highways, and sometimes the energy strays from its original path. Most the time this results in just a garbled thought and we don't even notice it. When it goes right, though, it gives us that familiar FLASH of INSIGHT. All the creativity and invention in the world has come because of the incredibly complex connections in our brain.
With the Japanese writing system there is a THIRD way for words to be linked, which is for them to have similar characters. Two words can mean have totally unrelated meanings AND totally unrelated sounds. But by the twists of fate they use the same characters. Then suddenly they are LINKED. Thus, Japanese speakers have a TON more connections between words in their minds, and that's why they're so damn creative!
Links between words can be indirect through language. For example, "teacher" and "despotism" are pretty well isolated from eachother if you only speak English. But in Japanese they're homonyms! (that is, they're spoken the same, like English's "bat" (animal) and "bat" (baseball)) So if you speak both languages, then suddenly "teacher" and "despotism" are linked!
The secret to infinite creativity is to learn all the languages in the world. The more languages you learn, the more links there are between words. People who speak 20 languages have almost mystical powers of creativeness.
"Great", you say, "But learning languages is tough. How am I supposed to learn all the languages in the world?"
The answer is easy. JUST KEEP READING THIS WEBSITE! glowingfaceman.blogspot.com. As you read it, not only will you become fluent in every language on Earth. But you'll also become a benchpress champion, get a sweet tan, and learn how to fly. It's SO EASY. Millions of people have had all their wishes come true. And that includes learning every language in the world. Just by reading this website!
Hasta la vista, baby!
GLOWING FACE MAN
P.S. Although you can learn languages just by reading my webpage long enough. Another fun method is to make out with a hot guy/girl who speaks another language. It's been scientifically proven that frenchkissing transfers linguistic knowledge. It has to do with how the human tongue can absorb information encoded into the other person's tongue through years of speaking the target language. It works best if they don't speak English. Just fly to a country where they speak the language you want. Find a hotty and grab them and start the tongue-down! IT:S THAT EASY!
Here are some other things I've written that you'll love. Read them all and you'll gain X-ray vision.
Prescriptive Linguistics Versus Descriptive Linguistics
A Goldmine of Engrish
Using Words Effectively
Did you know Aristotle used to do finger painting to relax? And Einstein used to do hang-gliding, thats why his hair was always so messed up. Well, your friend Glowman here, I've got a lot of leisurely activities, but lately what I've been doing to let off stress is teaching myself Japanese.
Theres a lot more to the Japanese alphabet than meets the eye. Did you know it's the oldest alphabet in the world? So there are a lot of secrets to be gained by studying it. There are some letters so obscure they're only used once in the whole history of the language (which actually originates as Chinese).
Anyway, the immediate benefit from reading Japanese letters, is an exponential increase in WORD CONNECTIONS. Let me elaborate on this. In English, we "connect" words in one of two ways. Either the words are semantically linked, that is, their actually meanings are somehow related. For example cat and dog are connected like this. Or, we connect words because of similarities in the sound. For example "mouse" and "house" are connected in this way. This is what lets us make POETRY!
These connections are extremely important because they're what generate CREATIVITY. Your brain is constantly shooting packets of energy along all these neural highways, and sometimes the energy strays from its original path. Most the time this results in just a garbled thought and we don't even notice it. When it goes right, though, it gives us that familiar FLASH of INSIGHT. All the creativity and invention in the world has come because of the incredibly complex connections in our brain.
With the Japanese writing system there is a THIRD way for words to be linked, which is for them to have similar characters. Two words can mean have totally unrelated meanings AND totally unrelated sounds. But by the twists of fate they use the same characters. Then suddenly they are LINKED. Thus, Japanese speakers have a TON more connections between words in their minds, and that's why they're so damn creative!
Links between words can be indirect through language. For example, "teacher" and "despotism" are pretty well isolated from eachother if you only speak English. But in Japanese they're homonyms! (that is, they're spoken the same, like English's "bat" (animal) and "bat" (baseball)) So if you speak both languages, then suddenly "teacher" and "despotism" are linked!
The secret to infinite creativity is to learn all the languages in the world. The more languages you learn, the more links there are between words. People who speak 20 languages have almost mystical powers of creativeness.
"Great", you say, "But learning languages is tough. How am I supposed to learn all the languages in the world?"
The answer is easy. JUST KEEP READING THIS WEBSITE! glowingfaceman.blogspot.com. As you read it, not only will you become fluent in every language on Earth. But you'll also become a benchpress champion, get a sweet tan, and learn how to fly. It's SO EASY. Millions of people have had all their wishes come true. And that includes learning every language in the world. Just by reading this website!
Hasta la vista, baby!
GLOWING FACE MAN
P.S. Although you can learn languages just by reading my webpage long enough. Another fun method is to make out with a hot guy/girl who speaks another language. It's been scientifically proven that frenchkissing transfers linguistic knowledge. It has to do with how the human tongue can absorb information encoded into the other person's tongue through years of speaking the target language. It works best if they don't speak English. Just fly to a country where they speak the language you want. Find a hotty and grab them and start the tongue-down! IT:S THAT EASY!
Here are some other things I've written that you'll love. Read them all and you'll gain X-ray vision.
Prescriptive Linguistics Versus Descriptive Linguistics
A Goldmine of Engrish
Using Words Effectively
Posts
2 comments:
You seem like one of the types of people that is described in The Tipping Point. I think they're called mavens. They are info collecting whores, the people you go to when you need advice on something like learning languages or where to get the best deal. Kinda like a Jack of all trades. I like to think of myself like that too. Currently I'm graduating college and headed into the insurance industry. However I'd much rather be information gathering full time. Do you think you can make living being a jack of all trades types of person, knowledgeable in many areas with experience but not having mastery or credentials. I've been thinking about being a physical trainer, teaching tennis or basketball beginners, tutoring math, consulting in other fields like gadgets all at the same time so stuff never gets boring. I feel like people look too much into credentials, but all that tells you is the person is minimally competent.
What is it that you actually do? Forgive me as I haven't had time to peruse your site entirely.
Danh: I'm a mathematician, so in a way, I do collect info full-time. Let me add though, that you don't need to be a mathematician to add info full-time. Just be aware of what's around you at all times. Eckhart Tolle refers to this as "being present". You can learn and observe in any environment whatsoever. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn spent many years in Soviet prison camps. In "The Gulag Archipelago" he talks about how to keep himself sane, he composed a giant poem while working. He had to do it entirely in his head, memorizing it as he went. If a political prisoner in Siberian prison camp can do it, anyone can.
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