Сообщений в теме: 88

[ixthUA]

In school i had good grades in russian, ukrainian and english, despite skipping school a lot. Even now i do not know a single grammar rule of those languages.

What i do is read a lot, including books - russian, ukrainian, english. Last book i read was 'Vampire Lestat', and before it - 'Interview with the Vampire'. I also liked books, translated from japanese to english, - 'Spice and Wolf' and 'Vampire Hunter D'.

I think that reading improves my language skills a lot, without the need to know grammar rules. Also there are a plenty of expressions that do not follow rules.

To learn the proper spelling i watch movies and games with english voice and subtitles.

I am not sure about how efficient these methods are, but at least they work and are free.

[CopperKettle]

In school i had good grades in russian, ukrainian and english, despite skipping school a lot. Even now i do not know a single grammar rule of those languages.

What i do is read a lot, including books - russian, ukrainian, english. Last book i read was 'Vampire Lestat', and before it - 'Interview with the Vampire'. I also liked books, translated from japanese to english, - 'Spice and Wolf' and 'Vampire Hunter D'.

I think that reading improves my language skills a lot, without the need to know grammar rules. Also there are a plenty of expressions that do not follow rules.

To learn the proper spelling i watch movies and games with english voice and subtitles.

I am not sure about how efficient these methods are, but at least they work and are free.

 

Reading and listening are the best way of learning a second language, according to the linguist Stephen Krashen, and he is not a fringe scientist - his ideas have gained acceptance, only they are somewhat hard to implement on a school-wide basis. Or not exactly "hard", but maybe they require a drastical deviation from the current approach, and thus nobody risks trying it out on a large scale. There are studies in schools where a paricular group of pupils were taught through consumption of material - listening, reading - without much emphasis on grammar rules, and the reported results have been encouraging - at least based on my perfunctory perusal of the literature. I have not delved into this research area deep enough to judge. 

 

See also: Free voluntary reading, extensive reading. 

[CopperKettle]

Curious etymology of the day: French word "chic" /ʃik/ (fancy, elegant; considerate), is probably from German Schick (“elegant appearance; tasteful presentation”). The word is akin to Dutch schielijk (“hasty”), schikken (“to arrange”), Old English sċēon (“to happen”).

 

Hence Ukrainian шикування (equal to Russian построение (солдат), which is from a different root) is cognate with German "schiken" (to send; to hurry; to be decent/appropriate), which comes from Middle High German schicken (“to outfit oneself, fit in, arrange appropriately”), from Old High German *skihhen, from Proto-West Germanic *skikkijan, from Proto-Germanic *skikkijaną (“to order, send”). This represents the causative of Middle High German geschehen, geschēn (“to happen, rush”).

[CopperKettle]

Schizophrenia Is the Price We Pay for Minds Poised Near the Edge of a Cliff, a new (10 May 2025) blog post by Awais Aftab

 

This post discusses cliff-edged fitness functions by Randolph Nesse (psychiatrist and one of the founders of evolutionary medicine) and the 2024 paper, “The cliff edge model of the evolution of schizophrenia: Mathematical, epidemiological, and genetic evidence,” by Philipp Mitteroecker and Giuseppe Pierpaolo Merola.

[CopperKettle]

Henry Sambrooke Leigh, 1837 - 1883

 

You can listen to this poem being read here, in mp3

 

The Twins

In form and feature, face and limb,
I grew so like my brother,
That folks got taking me for him,
And each for one another.
It puzzled all our kith and kin,
It reached a fearful pitch;
For one of us was born a twin,
Yet not a soul knew which.
 

One day, to make the matter worse,
Before our names were fixed,
As we were being washed by nurse,
We got completely mixed;
And thus, you see, by fate's decree,
Or rather nurse's whim,
My brother John got christened me,
And I got christened him.
 

This fatal likeness even dogged
My footsteps when at school,
And I was always getting flogged,
For John turned out a fool.
I put this question, fruitlessly,
To everyone I knew,
"What would you do, if you were me,
To prove that you were you?"
 

Our close resemblance turned the tide
Of my domestic life,
For somehow, my intended bride
Became my brother's wife.
In fact, year after year the same
Absurd mistakes went on,
And when I died, the neighbours came
And buried brother John!

[CopperKettle]

Salience Network Expansion May Be A Reliable Biomarker for Depression - Neuroscience News, 13 May 2025

 

• Stable Neural Signature: Enlarged salience network appears before depressive symptoms and persists regardless of treatment.
• Early Detection Potential: Could allow pre-symptomatic identification of individuals at risk for depression.
• New Treatment Lens: Supports rethinking depression as a disorder of network connectivity, not just neurotransmitter imbalance.

[CopperKettle]

PFAS has polluted the entire global water system. Now, potentially dangerous forever chemicals are being found in the entire US population.

 

[CopperKettle]

A Stunning Consequence of Having Your Appendix Removed - 22 January 2025, Psychology Today

 

Psychiatric diseases, from schizophrenia to anxiety and dementia, all have a microbial connection. This is the premise of the gut-brain axis. So, if you had your appendix taken out when you were a kid—endangering the health of your gut microbiome—might you have a higher risk of psychiatric illness?

 

That’s exactly what a new article in PLOS Mental Health reports. The large Swedish study of 752 people found that those who had their appendix removed as children had a 20 percent higher rate of psychiatric illness and mood disorders. Specifically, they found an increase in depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety.

[CopperKettle]