Moved to Sunnyvale, CA

 
In March 2006, moved to Sunnyvale, CA from San Jose, CA.  (Original post/backup link)

Trouble with English sounds and letters

English is a funny language. According to the American Heritage Book of English Usage,

“English adopted its alphabet, except for the letters j, u, and w, from the one used by the Romans to represent the sounds of Latin, and the fit was not an exact one. English is a Germanic language that has borrowed many words from French, Dutch, and other languages, and the result is a phonological mishmash in which certain letters are pronounced differently depending on the origin of the words they appear in.”

That basically means that our alphabet doesn’t exactly match our spoken sounds. We have 26 letters, but over 40 sounds. Depending on the region, distinctions between vowel sounds may push the number of English sounds over 50. Anyone wanna learn an alphabet with 50 letters? No? Well, it might be easier to spell in English if we did, but then again, it might not.

There’s really no way to fully identify all the vowel sounds and have those recognized worldwide, especially where those sounds are combined with the r. One vowel sound that is completely without a letter though is oo (boot {long sound}, took {short sound}).

The consonant sounds are more predictable. Currently, commonly accepted consonant sounds that do not have their own letters are ch (chat), ng (long), sh (shin), th (thin), th (this), and zh (vision). The hard and soft th sounds can be given to one letter. The ng sound is really two sounds blended closely together, so it doesn’t really need its own letter. Adding these sounds as letters would give the English language a 30 letter alphabet. Adding the oo vowel puts it at 31.

But, there are sounds that aren’t commonly recognized. For example, the sound tt, as in little, is often reduced to a flick of the tongue in a way that sounds just like the Spanish r. Not many people notice they even pronounce the tt in this way. Once recognized, this will add yet another sound to the English language, putting the total alphabet at 32 (so far).

All this put together would produce an alphabet something like this:
Aa Bb Cc CHch Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss SHsh Tt THth TTtt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz ZHzh OOoo

Of course, for easier identification, it might be a good idea to give the new letters their own forms, such as joining line or even custom new shapes.  We could bring back some older letters that fell into disuse for various reasons about the 14th Century.  The letter thorn  (Þ) would be very useful in modern writing.

Additionally, there are consonant and vowel sounds that this new alphabet does not cover. For example, there is a soft and hard y sound (yes {hard}, you {soft}). But this alphabet would at least represent all of the major sounds. Of course, if this would be ever accepted, a respelling of many English words would follow. Experience with English might suggest this would actually worsen the link between English spoken and English written language. Oh well.

Trouble with Treo

Well, my old Treo 600 has now been replaced with a new Treo 600. I'm sync'ing all the software onto the new device. It's all hella easy. Not like trying to restore a Windows machine or anything. Just put the button, and everything is loaded on the new device in working order, same as before. Thank you PalmOne. lol

Friday, Saturday, Futurama

Allie and I met up with Miriam Friday night at Nola’s in downtown Palo Alto. Miriam’s company had a function there in the lounge area, so Allie and I showed up as it was ending, to keep the night going. That was a fun night. On Saturday, Allie and I had lunch and diner with some of her relatives. I think her cuzins like me. Even though they are a bit younger, we has some lively conversations about cars, music and even cartoons, if that isn’t a bit surprising. I found out that the makers of Futurama are currently working on 4 made for DVD new Futurama movies. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but I like the rumor.

Much ado about English thangs oh, and that Shakespeare guy

So as a random little project, I wondered what Shakespeare might look like if
it was translated into Modern English. I chose the opening soliloquy by Romeo when he enters the Capulet garden for the famous balcony scene. This seemingly easy task takes on an added dimension when one realizes that this is really a speech criticizing Queen Elizabeth. How does one translate text that is  metaphor laid upon metaphor? Thinking about how difficult it is to translate from Renaissance English to Modern English, I have to wonder how anyone can possibly think the Bible is properly translated from ancient Hebrew to ancient Greek to Latin and then to all the different languages around the world. Well, here’s my attempt at translating this one small section of Shakespeare. BTW, I didn’t keep the original meter because that exercise is pointless. If anyone has any comments on this, I’m perfectly willing to adjust it.

Shakespeare	Modern
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?	What is that light suddenly appearing in the window over there?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.	It is dawn and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,	Rise up, brilliant sun and put down the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,	Who is already sick and pale with saddeness,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:	Because you, her servant, are way more brilliant than her
Be not her maid, since she is envious;	Stop being her servant because she is the one who is envious of you;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green	Her virgin uniform is just sickly and pale
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.	Only idiots wear it. Get rid of it!
It is my lady, O, it is my love!	It is my lady. Yo, it is my love!
O, that she knew she were!	I wish she knew it!
She speaks yet she says nothing: what of that?	She speaks but says nothing. What is up with that?
Her eye discourses; I will answer it.	Her eyes are talking to me; I am going to respond.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:	Oops, my bad. She cannot see me. She does not know I am here.
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,	The two most brilliant stars in all heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes	Going away on some business, beg her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.	To shine their twinkle until they get back.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?	What if her eyes remained on her face?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,	The brightness of her cheek would way outshine those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven	As daylight does to a lamp; her eyes do to the stars in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright	Her glow would stream through the air so brightly
That birds would sing and think it were not night.	That birds would wake up and start singing, thinking it was not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!	Look how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,	Oh, I wish I was a glove on that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!	So I could touch that cheek!

Winter Olympics IMHO

So, the Winter Olympics might be better renamed to the European Olympics. No wonder the Winter Olympics lacks popularity! Most of its sports are very European centric. How much Bobsleighing or Ice Skating is possible in places like Nigeria or Costa Rica? Sure, China and South Korea have been welcomed into the mix, but these two are from regions that are winter sport friendly. At least they add snowboarding. That's actually exciting to watch, since they allow contact and there's a good chance for at least one big wipe out! The woman's Snowboarding Cross final had three wipe outs, and one of those was from the #1 contender celebrating before she crossed the finish line! lol Anyways, U.S.A.! U.S.A.! hehe
Oh, and one comment about those South Korean speedskaters! Speed Skating is not a team sport unless it's Team Pursuit! The South Koreans are pretty much just outright cheating by playing as a team instead of individuals. It's legal right now, but if they keep it up, I'm sure the rules are going to be changing to not allow that sort of team work in the future. They screwed a couple of better racers out of gold medals because they were working together. If a racer isn't going for the gold medal, they don't belong in the finals! The teamwork strategy is not in the spirit of the Olympics for non-team competitions.