Category: Music

Episode 35 – Adventures in Etymology

By Simon

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In this episode I take you on an adventure in etymology, the study of where words come from, and how they have changed over time. I start with the word etymology, and see where I end up.

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

Push ad Pull / Gwthio a Thynnu

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM, podtail and or via this RSS feed.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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Episode 34 – Dutch

By Simon

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In this episode I talk about Dutch (Nederlands), a West Germanic language spoken mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium. I talk about the language itself and its history, about my attempts to learn it, and related stuff.

English words of Dutch origin include: Santa Claus, yacht, yankee, wildebeest, wagon, wiggle, waffle, stove, stoop, snack, skate, scone, rover, poppycock, pickle, plug, mannequin, maelstrom, luck, landscape, knapsack, jib, gin, furlough and many more [source].

Dutch pages on Omniglot

Spui, Museum Flehite, Amersfoort, Netherlands - 4363

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

Cats on the Shed / Cathod ar y Cwt

See the score of this tune

You can also listen to this podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Podchaser, PlayerFM, podtail and or via this RSS feed.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Blubrry podcast hosting

Episode 33 – Giving Up

By Simon

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In this episode I talk about reasons why we stop learning learning langauges. Why we give up on them and quit. This is based on a poll I posted on the Omniglot Fan Club on Facebook.

Top reasons for giving up on a language include losing interest, not having enough time, getting distracted, another language seemed more interesting, and it being too hard.

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

Lifting the Lid / Codi’r Caead – a tune I wrote on the cavaquinho in 2020.

See the score of this tune

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Blubrry podcast hosting

Episode 32 – Acutal Fluency

By Simon

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In this episode I talk to fellow podcaster and language nerd, Kris Broholm. He makes The Acutal Fluency Podcast, on which he talks to language learners about their language learning experiences and journeys. We talk about language learning, about Danish (Kris is from Denmark), and other language-related things.

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

The Loose Moose / Yr Elc Rhydd – a tune I wrote on the harp in 2016.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Blubrry podcast hosting

Episode 31 – Talent

By Simon

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In this episode I talk about talent, particularly talent for languages. Do some people have an innate talent for learning languages? Do others lack such a talent? If you don’t have a talent for languages, can you learn one anyway?

Further reading:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-innate-talent-a-myth/

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

Little Red Boats / Cychod bach coch – a tune I wrote on the cavaquinho in 2017.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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Epsiode 30 – Gibberish

By Simon

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In this episode I talk about, and in, Gibberish – what it is, where it comes from, how I learnt it, and possible reasons why some people find it difficult to learn.

How to speak Gibberish:

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

Dancing on Custard / Dawnsio ar Gwstard – a tune I wrote on the harp in 2016.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Blubrry podcast hosting

Episode 29 – Language and Music

By Simon

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If you’re good at languages, does it follow that you’re good at music, and vice versa? In this episode I talk about links between languages and music. I explore similarities and differences between learning and using languages, and learning and playing music, based mainly on my own experiences.

Links

Languages and Music
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3338120/
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/133/the-relationship-between-music-and-language

Edinburgh Language Event
https://edinburghlanguageevent.com/

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this tune.

The Whistling Windows / Y Ffenstri Sïo – a tune I wrote on various instruments in 2017.

See the score for this tune.

Here’s a video I made at a music session in Y Glôb, a pub in Bangor. Musicians from Wales, England, Singapore and France were there that night.

Sesiwn Cymreig yn y Glôb

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

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Epsiode 28 – Languages in Fiction

By Simon

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In this episode I talk about how languages are used in, and invented for works of fiction, such as books, films and TV programmes. I also look at the ways writers indicate that characters are speakers in foreign languages without actually writing in those languages, and how accents are used for a similar effect in films and tv shows.

Fictional scripts on Omniglot

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this piece

Wet Socks / Sanau Gwlyb – a tune I wrote on the harp in 2017.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Episode 27 – I don’t trust that pig!

By Simon

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In this episode I talk about how learning silly, obscure and weird words and phrases, and playing with words can actually help you to learn languages.

Here are some screenshots of phrases I’ve collected in Czech, Danish, Esperanto, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish, mainly from Duolingo. Many of these phrases are rather silly, which is what makes them memorable:

Language Learning

Silly phrases on Omniglot

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this piece

The Ballad of the Wug and the Cra – a song I wrote back in 2015 about made-up creatures that feature in linguistic experiments.

Mwmpwy Porthaethwy / Menai Bridge Fancy – this tune doesn’t feature in this episode, but is mentioned.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.

Episode 26 – The Man Who Made Birch Bark Talk

By Simon

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James Evans

In this episode I tell the story of the Man Who Made Birch Bark Talk, or James Evans, who invented the Ojibwe script, and later adapted it to write Cree, Inuktitut, and a number of other languages.

Sample text in Ojibwe syllabics
ᑲᑭᓇᐌᓀᓐ ᑲᐱᒪᑎᓯᐗᑦ ᓂᑕᐎᑭᐗᒃ ᑎᐯᓂᒥᑎᓱᐎᓂᒃ ᒥᓇ ᑕᐱᑕ ᑭᒋᐃᓀᑕᑯᓯᐎᓐ ᑲᔦ ᑌᐸᑫᑕᑯᓯᐎᓐ᙮ ᐅᑕᔭᓇᐗ ᒥᑲᐎᐎᓐ ᑲᔦ ᓂᑄᑲᐎᓐ ᒥᓇᐗ ᑕᔥ ᒋᐃᔑᑲᓇᐗᐸᑎᐗᐸᓐ ᐊᒐᑯ ᒥᓄᐎᒋᐎᑎᐎᓂᒃ᙮

Transliteration
Kakinawenen kapimatisiwat nitawikiwak tipenimitisowinik mina tapita kiciinetakosiwin kaye tepaketakosiwin. Otayanawa mikawiwin kaye nipwakawin minawa tash ciishikanawapatiwapan acako minowiciwitiwinik.

Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

Information about James Evans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Evans_(linguist)
http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/pageant/04/birchbarktalk.shtml
http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio.php?id_nbr=3376
https://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/collections/special_collections/f10_james_evans
https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/xmlui/handle/1993/9207
https://archive.org/details/jamesevansinven00maclgoog/page/n7

Did James Evans really invent the Ojibwe script?
https://medium.com/naheyawin/sakikin-sharing-knowledge-did-james-evans-invent-cree-syllabics-53253e00e95a
https://creeliteracy.org/beginning-to-read-plains-cree-in-standard-roman-orthography/another-version-of-cree-literacy-the-cree-story-of-syllabics/
http://www.languagegeek.com/typography/syllabics/syl1.html

Tunes features in this episode

Hedge Cats / Cathod y Gwyrch

See the score for this piece

Anishinaabe Spirit Bear Song – a song in Western Ojibwa (Nakawēmowin / ᓇᐦᑲᐌᒧᐎᓐ), a dialect of Ojibwe spoken in southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan in Canada, It is also known as Saulteaux or Plains Ojibwa.

If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation, or contribute to Omniglot in other ways.