Showing posts with label linguistics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linguistics. Show all posts

Lingapps

I am not a professional but merely an iPad user who thought they could spare a few words about the apps I use and you can read more reviews if interested. I recommend all of these for language students and linguiphiles.

Mental Case Flashcards - £.79 / HD £2.99
Totally awesome and fun. It lets you create flashcards on your device. You can use it to learn practically anything – I use it for Spanish and English vocabulary. The brilliant thing about is that you can not only add pictures but also audio files. Some people remember things from seeing them, some from hearing so here’s the solution for both.

Another brilliant app based on flashcards and vocabulary learning. Depending on what version you want to get, prices vary - there are more languages available. Now, when getting one of the more pricey ones, consider whether you really will learn anything from it. I know a person who paid a lot of money for language learning apps and still can't really make any sense in their target language anyway. It is a nice supplement but not a substitute for the hard work that is studying!

Shakespeare - £0.00
Right, that’s the app that my literature lecturer recommended and that includes the complete works of Shakespeare. It comes with a brilliant glossary too. ‘’How cool’’ I thought, hurriedly downloaded it and have never used it since… That’s just me though. It would be perfect for Shakespeare lovers as well as literature students. There’s also Shakespeare Pro available, a paid app with additional features such as audio and so-called Shakespeare Passport – a virtual ticket to participating venues e.g. exhibitions.

Not professional but works brilliantly for me when recording lectures. The best part is probably the fact that you get to sync it so easily with your computer. It’s very easy to use too and does exactly what it says on the tin.

iStudiez Pro  £1.79
It lets you manage your timetable as well as keep track of your work and preparations for exams. Alarms and notifications come with it so that the app reminds you about your deadlines. Personally I don’t use it, as all of the above functions I find good enough in Google Calendar and a traditional paper one. It looks like a neat app though so might be worth trying if that’s your sort of thing. Alternatively have a go with its free counterpart - the Lite version.

This is fantastic. I love it! If you are a Google Docs user and have an iPad you know exactly how much of a pain it is to go to traditional Google Docs view in your Internet browser, right? Now, this app is beautiful and so neat! You can of course browse your files in offline mode too which is good news for somebody like me who spends a lot of time travelling and loves to keep productive on the go. I would honestly pay money for this app but guess what? It's free!

Scrabble –  iPhone £1.19/ iPad £3.99
We all know what this is. Try the Apple version and you will be stuck to your device. Believe me, everybody I've told about this app must have spent hours playing with it. It’s really fun, also when other people want to try a multiplayer option with you – pass and play/WiFi. The app is gorgeous as well and no tidying tiles is required! The terrible downside for me is that I got hopelessly addicted to it!

Test your spelling abilities with some of the trickiest words in the English language. Decide quickly if the words you see are spelled correctly. Time is running! It’s a really cool app, brilliant for competitions with friends as Miss Spell gives you a grade after each go. 

Evolution of spelling?

I got involved in an interesting discussion with @ciarancurran76 and @rougeit on Twitter which I’d like to share with you. I might be following it up with a longer article soon as well. Let me just add that both lovely gentlemen are totally worth following too!

ciarancurran76 What is really sad is that you know the difference between your and you're, and most English people don't!

EwelinaGonera I know, they're both pronounced the same so I can see why people get confused! Similarly with they're/their/there too.

ciarancurran76 It's lazy though - especially when people here rarely speak another language - you should at least get your own right… But I am intolerant of bad grammar!

EwelinaGonera I make mistakes myself all the time as a foreigner plus I try and explain things to people rather than preach them. They'll never learn otherwise as we are all sensitive to criticism!

ciarancurran76 I make mistakes too, and I wouldn't preach - but here in the UK there seem to be many people who don't want to learn. It sounded like I hated people making mistakes - I don't, it is the only way to learn!

EwelinaGonera Agreed. I sometimes get the impression that spelling things wrong is even considered "cool" nowadays. Why? It's a puzzle.

rougeit it's not cool. It's the evolution of language. Wasn't spelling 'set' by the invention of the printing press?

EwelinaGonera I agree, some of it is very inventive and clever, e.g. homophones such as gr8 or acronyms LOL etc., however, some of it is simply the fact people can't spell and it has nothing to do with evolution but illiteracy.

rougeit may not be illiteracy. Chaucer sometimes spelt same word 3 different ways in same sentence. Illiterate. Him?

EwelinaGonera No but people could spell as they liked before the late 18th century and writers would rely on their own phonetics when spelling. This has changed with the era of dictionaries of Johnson and his ilk. If we started spelling things as we like again this would mean we are regressing rather than evolving.

rougeit we communicate in many more ways than ever. Language is evolving again after centuries of stagnation. Cultural values change too. Spelling is much more fluid again. Color/Colour both aceeptable in UK now. Not to mention email/e-mail. Late night/nite and even lite.

EwelinaGonera I totally agree but evolving and not knowing how to spell something are two different stories!

rougeit why shouldn't we spell how we want, so long as we are understood?

EwelinaGonera I ask myself this question as Polish is a phonetic language and we don't encounter as many difficulties when spelling. Also in English it would ‘’maek mor sens to spel wurdz the wae thae sound.’’ Unfortunately there are lots of dialects of the English language and people pronounce things differently anyway.