Language Overflow - 2015-09-30

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1:28 AM

0

Q: Is it correct to say 'get to conclusion' as proper English?

When I googled it I saw that some people used this collocation but Google ngram couldn't find it. So I am confused if it is proper English to say : Even though they use different formulas to calculate GDP, they get to almost the same conclusion. After I scrutinized both paintings ,I ge...

come to a conclusion works, but get to a conclusion is awkward.

I don't know that the latter is ever said, and I don't know why.

3 hours later…

Anonymous

4:17 AM

@DamkerngT. Dunno. Case seems irrelevant.

9:19 AM

Though backshifted alternatives are much more common as far as I can tell from data in COCA, native speakers sometimes do not backshift it, e.g. "I didn't say I'm in favor of top-down, government-run health care." — Damkerng T. 6 hours ago

I was so surprised to find out that backshifting for "I didn't say ..." and "I didn't know ..." is way way more common.

(Like 95% of time)

Anonymous

Interesting!

Anonymous

I would expect past forms to be more common following I didn't know.

Anonymous

Hello from Laptop Land! The land of laptops.

Anonymous

I think sometimes native speaker intuition about backshifting can differ a bit from what people actually say.

Anonymous

Actually, it's not uncommon for what we say to be different from what we think we say.

Anonymous

9:27 AM

Intuition is a tricky thing that way.

Anonymous

That's one reason usage-based analysis is so fun.

Indeed! (The government-run health care sentence was I think only one of the 4 sentences of the pattern I did n't say [pp*] [be] without backshifting.)

in COCA, I mean.

Anonymous

In Japanese, the particles に and へ are often described as having a semantic difference. And if you ask native speakers, they totally support that analysis. It just makes sense to them. But if you look at what they say or write, formal or informal, に is more common regardless of the semantics.

I expected backshiting would happen only at around 60-80% of time.

@snailboat Oh! :D

Anonymous

Weird, right? You expect their intuition to match the data.

9:31 AM

Yes!

Anonymous

In the case of English backshifting, there are several relevant semantic factors.

I wonder if it's the same in Thai. I think it must be the same.

Anonymous

I think sometimes it's more likely, sometimes less. Sometimes required, sometimes optional.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Well, I can come up with lots of examples where the two don't match up in English and Japanese. I don't know about Thai, but I expect it's universal.

nods -- I think it's relatively easier for NNS when it's required.

It's much harder when it's optional.

@snailboat nods

Anonymous

9:33 AM

Quirk et al 1985 has some good discussion of backshifting.

Oh, just in case that you missed this short chblog of mine (:P),

14 hours ago, by Damkerng T.

Interface hypothesis

The Interface Hypothesis in adult second language acquisition is an attempt to explain non-target-like linguistic behavior that persists even among highly advanced speakers. The hypothesis was first put forward by Antonella Sorace. The hypothesis posits that for adult second language learners, acquiring grammatical properties within a given linguistic area, such as phonology, syntax, or semantics, should not be problematic. Interfacing between those modules, such as communicating between the syntax and semantic systems, should likewise be feasible. However, grammatical operations where the speaker...

Seeing it once again, I think it now looks more like just a URL paste. :D

Anonymous

Just in case takes a "non-expandable" declarative content clause as a complement, meaning you can't "expand" it by inserting the subordinator that.

@snailboat I guess CGEL has some too.

@snailboat Ah, thanks!

Anonymous

I guess it does too, but that's one of the parts I haven't really read very carefully.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I didn't see your URL paste slash ch'blog!

9:40 AM

I ran into it while searching for the history of English grammar.

I also found this! (though I think you may already know it)

> A 1991 survey by Ian Michael found more than 850 grammars of English published between 1801 and 1900 specifically for use in schools.

850 grammars!

(not 850 grammar books!)

Anonymous

Know what? The use of grammar as a count noun?

The huge number of grammars!

Anonymous

Oh!

Anonymous

That is a lot of grammars.

It looks like that century was the time people came up with their own English grammars!

Anonymous

9:44 AM

Well, people are still doing it :-)

Hehe!

Anonymous

I don't think anyone has ever demonstrated that there is such a thing as an "interface" between different "language modules" in the brain (syntax, phonology, etc.)

It's an interesting attempt, though.

Anonymous

Oh, people talk about them a lot.

Anonymous

I might add that grammar is not separated from other aspects of language; meaning (semantics), pragmatics, phonology, intonation, gaze, facial expressions, gesture, and many other phenomena influence it. If you come across discussion of an interface between syntax and anything, keep your hand on your wallet. Language is biological, and biological phenomena are wildly interdependent on every level; it's only computers and theoretical models that have neatly defined interfaces. — jlawler Apr 4 '13 at 17:50

Anonymous

9:52 AM

An interesting perspective :-)

:D

@DamkerngT. I've read 'for and against' in the same order. It's grammatical. But in this context, it'll look ambiguous or making the sentence weird. That's what I said. Anyway, Brian got it and moved it! :) — Maulik V ♦ 3 mins ago

Looks like I was the only one who hadn't get it.

I think Prashant's answer is better, though. Just my opinion.

Anonymous

I have 3000 comments!

I probably come close!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Whoa.

Anonymous

I think I should stay at that number for now.

10:00 AM

If anyone upvote Prashant's answer, I'd be thankful.

I think Prashant got the sense of "for and against" right, but it has only 2 upvotes.

Anonymous

That was a short while. 3001

Anonymous

Maybe I should delete an old useless comment to balance it out :-)

Anonymous

I was the first to upvote Prashant's answer, I think.

I don't know why the other answer got 3 upvotes.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Link?

10:04 AM

Now it's +4. ^_^

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

14 hours ago, by inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

How the hell did this get an upvote? Facepalm

2

Q: For and against vs pros and cons

As far as I got those phrases have very similar meaning. But is there any difference between them at all? I mean, are they mutually replacable? We discussed pros and cons of buying a bigger house. Would it be correct to say? We discussed for and against of buying a bigger house?

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M Votes on Stack Exchange are a mystery to me.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

For me it's just votes on ELL.

Anonymous

Oh really? I've never used a SE site where they matched my opinions.

Anonymous

10:08 AM

Maybe because I mostly use the language sites.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Meta.SE is a bit weird, yeah.

But I don't usually disagree with what people say on science sites.

The problem, imo, is the more bad/misleading answers with many upvotes we have, the less useful the site would become.

Which is why I'd never joined any other language sites.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. Join chem instead!

Anonymous

Oh, I didn't even think of Meta.SE.

Anonymous

I try to avoid that site when I can.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

10:13 AM

Right thing to do.

Anonymous

I feel like it would take a good amount of time and effort to incorporate enough of the in-group mentality there to really participate.

Anonymous

And it's a non-Q&A site running on Q&A software, which is a bit weird.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@snailboat Nothing like that. At least not in most discussions.

Anonymous

I dunno. It's a pretty weird place.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Hmm.

Anonymous

10:21 AM

On ELL, although I've never really felt like part of the community, I manage okay with contributing in my own way :-)

0

Q: Confusion about as ... as clause

Here is the original sentence: The publisher's alterations to a book are difficult for a writer, as is the book creation as the book grows. Could anyone help explain how the second clause is relevant to the first one? Also point out what kind of grammar it shows. It seems like a comparis...

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Do we . . . have a community on ELL? O.o

Anonymous

I think ELL does something useful and I want to see it succeed, so I try to help out.

The question above (and the comments) makes me think how confusingly we sometimes use as, when, while.

Anonymous

But I probably wouldn't be on ELL if not for chat, because I need some positive social contact to keep participating.

Anonymous

10:23 AM

I can't entirely divorce my participation from the interpersonal aspect.

Anonymous

We are, after all, human beings trying to help one another :-)

You're very kind. :-)

whoops, stepped into the wrong room again...

^Ghost was looking for Math Overflow, perhaps. :D

Anonymous

Darn this Overflow overflow!

Anonymous

10:27 AM

20800 reputation and 3000 comments.

Anonymous

If I offer 800 reputation in bounties, I'll have 20000 reputation and 3000 comments :-D

Anonymous

@inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M It seems to me like we do.

Ah, we don't have copula-verbs!

Anonymous

If you make it, how about copular?

Anonymous

Though note that many modern linguists consider be the only copula.

Anonymous

10:29 AM

Do we have something like linking-verbs?

Anonymous

That might be friendlier.

Ah, right! -- checking...

Anonymous

And that's what a copula does―links two things together.

Anonymous

A is B.

Anonymous

A looks B.

Anonymous

10:30 AM

A becomes B.

Hmm... we don't have linking-verbs, but we do have linker!

Anonymous

What does linker mean?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

"linker" is a lame term.

Anonymous

Hmm, let's kill the tag linker.

Indeed! Only 3 questions!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

10:31 AM

(•_•)=ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿'̿ ̿ linker

Anonymous

It looks like two of the three questions are (sort of) about connective adjuncts.

Anonymous

I can't figure out why the third is tagged linker.

Gonna take a break. See you later!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@snailboat Canoes are sophisticated.

Anonymous

See you later!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

10:35 AM

@DamkerngT. \o

Anonymous

You know, I have to wonder why they even implemented the restriction against creating tags from the mobile site.

Anonymous

It seems like it'd be less effort ti give the mobile site equal functionality in that particular case.

Anonymous

So they must have some reason in mind why it would be bad to be able to create tags from your phone.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Possible typo introductions?

Anonymous

Yeah, looks like.

Anonymous

10:36 AM

7

A: Why can't I create a new tag in Mobile?

Probably because it's really easy to make a typo when using a mobile browser, and they don't want to clutter the tag-space with misspellings, so it's prompting you to recheck. For legitimate cases, just edit the tag in later when you're not using a mobile browser or switch to the full-site versi...

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Er, "chiral". Chiral helicenes. Darn auto-correct. — Geoff Hutchison Sep 22 '14 at 16:06

Anonymous

Autocorrect has a pretty small vocabulary.

12:13 PM

1

Q: Doubts about the tone of a sentence "I allow myself..."

I have just written this simple sentence to someone I don't know (researcher). I allow myself to contact you in order to request one of your interesting paper, entitled "..." I suspect this sentence that comes to my mind does not sound very natural for an english-native interlocutor. Could ...

meaning-in-context

> I allow myself to contact you in order to request ...

If I found something like that on the web, I'd think that it's probably from Hannibal or Game of Thrones.

If I found something like that on the web, I’d find myself looking around for the edit button.

LOL

SE has conditioned me to look for things that aren't there.

12:29 PM

@tchrist Ahh... debugging other people's code has probably conditioned me similarly!

12:59 PM

Some write airstrikes, some air strikes.

1

Q: Why do we have to use a determiner "their"?

To begin with, I think, the reason why it is vital to work in a desired profession is that people spend a major amount of their time at their workplaces, so job satisfaction becomes an important aspect of life. Someone corrected the above sentence by adding their. If it is right, then Why sh...

articles determiner

Ah, the opinions are divided!

1 hour later…

2:11 PM

0

Q: What to call a positive notice for employees

If an employee did something wrong, he/she signs a warning notice. when the employee does something right, what do we call the act of praising the employee? In fact, I want to show my employees that they are doing a great job, so I want to hang a paper on the wall where the good deeds are stated ...

word-request phrase-request

Besides commendation, I think appraisal would also work.

(E.g. Letter of Appraisal)

But maybe the overuse of the term Performance Appraisal reduces the effect of the word nowadays.

(Actually, appraisal was the first word came to mind, then commendation.)

Ahh... AMA uses Commendation Letters.

books.google.com/books?id=ZOPKIaZdfbQC&pg=PA300

The 3rd ed. looks beautiful!

Its 4th ed. on Safari Books Online was converted into HTML, and it looks--not as beautiful.

@DamkerngT. It (virtually) never does.

@tchrist The HTML format makes it easier to search, but really, every time I read stuff in HTML, I feel like something is missing.

What's missing is typesetting.

Indeed!

3 hours later…

4:59 PM

0

Q: The movie "can't/couldn't"/shouldn't" be good.It is directed by novice

The movie "can't/couldn't/shouldn't" be good.It is directed by novice. My approach: I am confused between should and can't. Should because i am sure the movie isn't goo because it is directed by novice. Can't because there is a possibility that movie can't be good.

auxiliary-verbs

Hmm... the test seems to want can't (and can't sounds natural to me too), but wouldn't couldn't and shouldn't be okay too?

2 hours later…

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

7:13 PM

:/ No one here. :/

Still around, but only remotely. :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

@DamkerngT. \o

o/

It's October now!

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Sep is over. Yay!

My English teacher disheartened me from writing something good about parts of speech.

Halloween is coming!

^_^

Anonymous

7:46 PM

What would you write about parts of speech?

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Something something.

I mean just something.

Anonymous

Here in the U.S., we ritually give large quantities of candy to small children to induce diabetes and dental caries. Halloween! How about where you all live? Is it similar?

2

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

We don't need a ritual to induce diabetes.

Anonymous

Well, we don't either, but it helps :-)

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

We honestly don't have anything close to your holidays.

Anonymous

7:49 PM

It also helps make money for corporations!

Anonymous

That's good.

Anonymous

Our holidays aren't very good, mostly.

Anonymous

I think some of them are nice.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

You have festivals and holidays for fun, we just celebrate/mourn for important dying/being born anniversaries.

Anonymous

It's not quite accurate to say that.

Anonymous

7:51 PM

I mean, we have plenty of Christians who take Easter seriously, for example. That sort of thing.

Anonymous

Memorial Day isn't really for fun either.

Anonymous

But most people here don't care much about most holidays, and corporations do what they can to turn them into money makers.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

That's true everywhere.

Anonymous

I think the idea of parts of speech (or word class, whatever you want to call it) can be pretty useful, although I also think it's been misused a lot.

inɒzɘmɒЯ.A.M

Our teacher calls it 'the word formation table'.

Anonymous

7:57 PM

I think function is more important to understand a lot of the time, but once you've identified functions, you can talk about how the word classes you've identified relate to those functions

8:22 PM

Good evening all!

I wonder if I'm using the tag question correctly here: " The base of the second logarithm could be viewed as $a$ with power equaling $-1$, couldn't it?"

Anonymous

@CopperKettle The couldn't it part sounds fine to me :-)

Thank you, @snailboat!

The rest could be not so refined, since I'm not versed in math terminology (0:

0

Q: unclear step in a logarithmic expression simplification routine (trivial question)

I don't understand why the value there is $\frac14$ and not $-\frac12$. The base of the second logarithm could be viewed as $a$ with power equaling $-1$, couldn't it? Then its multiplication by $\frac12$ should give $-\frac12$. From a textbook's "solution volume" (the task is to simplify the exp...

algebra-precalculus logarithms

@snailboat Halloween? Costumes and pubs. :D

Oh, and scary movies! :-)

@snailboat Lots of people celebrate Halloween here nowadays, especially youths who welcome any cause for celebration.

@CopperKettle I guess that's the spirit of the youth. :D

8:38 PM

@DamkerngT. Yes, we have a saying "I'm in at any mass occasion, provided that it's not a hunger strike" (poor translation from Russian)

(0:

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I think for a lot of people wearing a costume and getting free candy are reason to celebrate :-)

I think Halloween over here is for young adults and youths rather than kids. :D

In Russia, kids used to visit houses and asks for sweets during the Xmas time

Koledari are Slavic traditional performers of a ceremony called koleduvane. Both words come from the Church Slavonic word Koleda, a celebration incorporated later into Christmas. In Bulgaria this type of caroling is called "коледуване" (koleduvane), whereas in Macedonia it is called "коледарење" (koledarenje), or "коледе" (kolede). == Bulgaria == The koledari carolers traditionally start their rounds at midnight on Christmas Eve. They visit the houses of their relatives, neighbours and other people in the village. The caroling is usually performed by young men, which are accompanied by an elder...

"After the song is finished, the person, that the song is means to, rewards the kids with money, fruit, candies and other gifts. "

Oh, they don't do it anymore?

@DamkerngT. I believe they do, but not in our large 9-story house with its security systems.. and maybe the city of Yekaterinburg is generally too big.

Back in Siberia, they did.

8:45 PM

nods

And people might be afraid to let their children go to strange flats nowadays.

Anonymous

I live across the street from a school, so you'd think we'd get lots of trick-or-treaters, but the street ends in a cul-de-sac, so if kids were to come here and trick-or-treat, they'd have to walk back up the street without visiting any more houses. Normally they like to go places they can hit both sides of the street to maximize their candy haul, so not many people come here!

I'm sure this tradition is kept in villages.

@snailboat how lazy of them!

Anonymous

@CopperKettle They're just optimizing! :-)

@snailboat (0:

Anonymous

8:47 PM

We got three groups of kids last year.

Anonymous

And we bought a looot more candy than that.

@CopperKettle It's nice that they still keep doing it in villages.

Anonymous

I ended up eating like half of it. This year I'm not going to eat any candy :-)

@snailboat Hehe!

@DamkerngT. Yes, I like such traditions..

@snailboat (0:

Anonymous

8:48 PM

My housemate does the candy buying. She buys candy she doesn't like so she won't be tempted to eat it.

Anonymous

Poor kids.

LOL

(0:

It sounds like a good solution, though. :D

I'd be buying nuts, that's healthier. (0:

Anonymous

8:49 PM

Yeah, I just feel bad for kids that get Snickers bars.

Anonymous

Snickers are the worst.

walnuts, almonds (0:

Oh, I like almonds too!

Almonds have skyrocketed here over the last year. (0:

In price, I mean.

Huh? It looks like they're promoting Heroes Reborn on my TV!

Anonymous

8:50 PM

Oh, I totally watched that.

(I haven't watched Fox for quite a while.)

Ah, so it's not new! :D

Anonymous

Katana Girl's power is so cheesy :-)

Anonymous

It was new as of like, last week?

Hah!

Anonymous

That's when I watched it.

Anonymous

8:51 PM

The teevee season is starting.

I think I'm gonna watch it. (They say it's tomorrow evening.)

Anonymous

I'm going to be made to watch everything even tangentially related to superheroes or comic books.

Haha!

I don't know how many of the old crew will be in the Reborn.

Anonymous

They've got at least one character :-)

I think Hiro is in, and the man with the glasses (can't remember his name).

Anonymous

8:53 PM

Horn Rimmed Glasses!

Anonymous

That's his name.

Hah! Really?!

Anonymous

No, it's just what folks on the internet called him before we found out he was Noah Bennet.

LOL

Anonymous

So I still call him that.

Anonymous

8:54 PM

I didn't really like the last four seasons of Heroes. I watched all of them, though.

Ah, right, Bennet!

I think I didn't see the girl who couldn't be killed, and Zylar.

(Not sure about the spelling.)

Xylar?

Anonymous

Claire and Sylar.

Anonymous

Sylar, also known as Spock.

Yes! Aka Spock!

Anonymous

I think HRG was the only returning character I saw.

8:56 PM

Aww... so Hiro wasn't in the first episode, perhaps.

Anonymous

Maybe he'll show up later!

Anonymous

They have a sequence in Japan with new characters :-)

Could be. I'm quite sure I saw him in the promo.

Maybe he just comes back as a cameo.

Anonymous

Oh!

Anonymous

I didn't see the promo.

Anonymous

8:58 PM

I like that they have Japanese speakers in the Japanese roles.

Anonymous

I watched Arrow, and that show had a fair amount of Japanese dialogue, but only one actor who could speak Japanese.

I saw a katana, and a girl who found the katana.

@snailboat So they speak just sorta Japanese, I guess.

:P

BTW, some actors are really good at speaking other languages or dialects on screen.

I saw Sophie Okonedo in After Earth and I thought she was American!

(I don't count Aeon Flux because it was before I really use my ears.)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, yes!

Anonymous

Those actors aren't on Arrow, though. :-)

Aww... :-)

Anonymous

9:04 PM

I even watched Flash last season.

Anonymous

That show led to a good deal of headdesking.

Oh, cool! I think Flash hasn't been here yet (afaik).

Anonymous

But it's quite popular! I mean, out of the comic book shows, I think for a lot of people it's #1.

Anonymous

I'm not sure why, but it is!

Anonymous

I didn't really like most of the superhero shows, but I liked Daredevil!

9:05 PM

Oh, Daredevil is cool too!

Anonymous

But you know, watching these shows is a social thing, so it's kind of fun anyway just because of who I'm watching with :-)

Have you seen Ant-Man yet?

Anonymous

Oh, no! I haven't!

Anonymous

I'm a little behind on the superhero movies.

It looked ridiculous on the bill, but it's got a 7.7 on IMDb!

Anonymous

9:06 PM

I liked the idea of that one!

So I guess they must've done something right. :D

Anonymous

I'm not familiar with those comic books but I liked the idea :-)

Hehe!

Anonymous

I do love comic books but I've hardly ever read superhero comics.

I think CG really helps.

We can have more superhero movies that are quite realistic on screen these days.

Anonymous

9:08 PM

I liked the Avengers movies!

Oh, right! I can't wait to see Superman vs. Batman. :D

Anonymous

I saw both of them.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh! When is that?

Not sure. Soon, I think.

Ah, next year, they say.

Anonymous

I think I'll end up seeing that one, too.

Anonymous

9:10 PM

Language Overflow: TV and movie chat, and sometimes stuff about language!

Are the Japanese dialogues in Heroes realistic? (both the script and the performance)

@snailboat Ah, I typed it before you typed that!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yes! They're quite easy to understand, too :-)

Oh, that's really nice!

I just watched Rescue Dawn.

Anonymous

I remember while watching the original Heroes that the subtitles didn't always match up perfectly.

Anonymous

I think that what they did is write the English for the subtitles, then give it to Japanese translators who made it into more natural Japanese dialogue.

Anonymous

9:12 PM

I'm just speculating.

It's a great movie, too bad that Vietnamese people in the movie spoke Thai. :(

Anonymous

But that's what it seemed like, and that's what the new one seems like too.

Anonymous

Why did they speak Thai?

@snailboat Oh, that reminds me of what House MD scriptwriters said.

@snailboat Because those actors are Thai!

They played Vietnamese!

I guess that, to most people in the world, both languages sound pretty much the same. :D

The scriptwriter of House MD said that when they wrote the script, they just wrote that they want the character to have this or that symptom, and someone else would fill in something realistic into the script later. :-)

Anonymous

Does Vietnamese have similar tonal / intonational contours to Thai?

Anonymous

9:16 PM

I mean, to a Thai ear.

To me, Vietnamese is quite distinctive.

About French and Spanish.

Anonymous

I took more years of French than I did Spanish, and my French classes helped me with Spanish―but the languages don't sound at all alike to me.

Anonymous

Spanish and Portuguese sound very similar to me.

But I think Vietnamese is tonal too (not sure about the number of tones).

Anonymous

I was just looking at the section on Vietnamese tones on Wikipedia! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_phonology#Tone

Anonymous

9:18 PM

I know very little about the Vietnamese language.

"not a "pure" tonal language"!

Anonymous

I think that Vietnamese is an isolating language, very little morphology, with tones and pro-drop

Anonymous

And I think it's SOV

@snailboat Me too. But I can tell the Vietnamese script right away, and probably the speech too.

Anonymous

So typologically I think it's similar to Thai

Anonymous

9:20 PM

Oh, yes, though did you know Vietnamese used to use hanzi?

Anonymous

So sometimes people talk about CJKV instead of CJK

Oh, it does, wait you said used to.

Anonymous

Yes, used to―I think not using hanzi is a big deal!

I usually think of Vietnamese prosody as a mix of Chinese and Khmer.

Anonymous

I mean, to the people of Vietnam, I think the script reform was tied up with their independence as a nation.

Anonymous

9:22 PM

I don't really remember details, so I might have it wrong!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, I see!

@snailboat A-ha! I didn't know that. That's good info!

Anonymous

We have a sizeable Vietnamese population here, and local government services have Vietnamese writing. I see it every time I take public transit (I don't own a car!)

Oh, right! You probably are more familiar with Vietnamese than me!

Anonymous

Our public transit has everything in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

Anonymous

9:24 PM

Five languages!

Hah!

Tagalog, too?!

That's really interesting.

Anonymous

Yeah. We have a sizable Filipino population here, too.

Anonymous

A lot of different ethnic groups, actually, depending on which particular area you live in.

Anonymous

I used to live in Little Korea! :-)

Anonymous

Now there's no one around for me to try speaking Korean to.

9:26 PM

Did the public transit in Little Korea have things in Korean too?

Anonymous

But my neighbors are Japanese! :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh, no, it wasn't big enough for that.

Anonymous

There isn't a really big Korean population around here.

Ah, nice! You can practice Japanese with your neighbors every day. :D

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I see them surprisingly often!

9:27 PM

Are they the cat's owner?

Anonymous

No, that mysterious cat seems to live on its own.

Ahh... I just thought that cats and Japanese people would go well together. :D

Anonymous

There used to be a bit more of a Japanese population in this area, but the demographics are shifting over the years. There are more and more Chinese here now, speakers of Mandarin and Cantonese.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Did you know they have cat cafes in Japan? :-)

Like real cafes?

Anonymous

9:29 PM

With real cats!

That's-- that must be cute!

Anonymous

nya-n.jp

Anonymous

nya-n.jp/howto.html

Wow! The definition of the 3D photo is really good!

I can pretend myself to be a cat and walk around the cafe!

It's official! Cats can read! (There are lots of books in the cafe. :P)

I found a ghost cat!

user image

Anonymous

:-O

9:35 PM

And a cat with no face!

user image

:D

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