Dedalvs (3) 2 days ago

And this is a pretty late response, but on the off-chance you head back, this is worth answering.

First, I come from an anti-Chomskyan tradition, and have never thought much of transformational grammar. I do have a background in it (as well as some experience with HPSG thanks to a good friend), but I don't buy it. So you won't find a series of transformational "rules" or anything (e.g. S > NP VP, VP > Spec V', etc.) in the Dothraki grammar and dictionary.

Instead, most of the "syntactic" information is encoded directly in lexical items, and is phrase-based. Thus, you'll have an exemplar, and then a list of lexical items that fit that pattern. As a result, most of what you'd get from syntax comes directly from the lexicon.

There are a few extra-lexical processes that I've written about on the blog that might prove interesting. This is a description of relative clauses which also touches on the older word order and topicalization patterns of the language. This one talks about adverbs and adverb placement, but also touches briefly on heavy-shift in Dothraki. And this one talks about the lack of a copula and how the modern system came to be. That's a start, at least! As the blog goes forward, I'll add more info (e.g. about coordination; have yet to do that).



^YinAndYang ^(1) ^4 ^days ^ago
Having studied Arabic, are there any programs you would recommend? I'm studying it at school, but unfortunately the professor isn't much of a teacher and the book we use is not very effective. I'd like to get as good a grasp on it as possible, and hopefully translate those skills into my career. I do have Rosetta Stone, although I haven't started it yet.

Dedalvs (2) 3 days ago

I used Al-Kitaab, and I liked it well enough. The professor is everything, though. I think I was very fortunate: I had excellent language instructors all throughout college. For me, I really need that classroom experience to be able to feel comfortable using the language. I haven't found a good substitute otherwise (aside from having to actually use the language in real life, which is the best teacher).





^dopaminer ^(179) ^5 ^days ^ago
Did you embed any "Easter Eggs" or inside jokes in any of the words?

Also, is the grammar of Dothraki similar to any existing language?

Have you received requests from friends to make their names sound like the word for "awesome" or anything like that? (PS, if you still need to some up with a word for awesome, can it have the sound "rachel" in it?)

Dedalvs (88) 4 days ago

See above for the middle question. As for the other two, the simple answer yes. The longer answer is that since Dothraki isn't related to any natural language—and since the universe itself isn't related to our universe—you can drop in references without fear of contamination—something that might not be appropriate for a language that was intended to be used in our own universe (like the one on [The Interpreter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_interpreter)). And, indeed, I've had some fun with it.

First, of course, I had to drop in my wife's name as the word for "kind", erin. Unfortunately, that word's pretty much never seen the light of day in the series (not too much kindness in the Dothraki scenes). Both of my friends here at the moment have Dothraki words: jano, "dog", comes from my friend Jon's name, because just before I started Dothraki he lost his dog of many years (had a large tumor). My other friend Kyn over here has the word chonge, which means "solid" (his last name is Chong). I made words based on the names of the people who asked questions at my presentation at WorldCon last year.

And, of course, I had to have a word based on Stephen Colbert's name, so kolver is the word for "eagle" (mighty and proud). [Note that older Dothraki b became modern Dothraki v.]

Dothraki has a few words for "awesome" or "excellent", but I think I'll have to find a word for the form rachel. Stay tuned; I'll come up with something good. :)





^Scottiedontdunk ^(127) ^5 ^days ^ago
How long do the characters have to practice to get the sounds right? And how often are they actually saying what you intended them to say as opposed to "ehh, close enough?"
Which character does the best job of speaking how you envision it?

Dedalvs (54) 4 days ago

In a best case scenario, the actors had a couple weeks. During the first season, I was often asked to get Jason's lines done early so he could spend time with them, and I think he did a really good job. He actually did something really cool: He developed a unique—yet realistic—accent. If you listen to any of his lines, everything that ends with the vowel /i/ he lowered to [e]—something like the way Robert Plante pronounces "baby" when he's singing (like "baybay"). It's totally consistent scene-to-scene, episode-to-episode, and it's a peculiarity that might have cropped up in any individual Dothraki speaker's speech.

I thought, personally, that Dar Salim did the best job with Dothraki (or at least the parts I'm remembering). He had the best-pronounced (or most authentically-pronounced) line of the entire first season—and he pronounced like almost seconds before he was killed off. So it goes. ;)

Both Elyes Grabel and Amrita Acharia are also really good, and both Emilia Clarke and Iain Glen are appropriate, in that they're faithfully pronouncing like a foreigner would.



^aweshucks ^(2) ^4 ^days ^ago
Do I see a Slaughterhouse-Five reference?

Dedalvs (3) 3 days ago

To Vonnegut (he's the man)! Here's another one (from one of my other languages).





^endlesscatpuns ^(65) ^5 ^days ^ago
Had you read A Song Of Ice And Fire before you were asked to create dothraki? Did you have any connections to the series before Game of Thrones?

Dedalvs (32) 4 days ago

I had not. My wife had read them and told me about them, and then I started reading them while I was putting together my application. I'm now caught up and waiting for The Winds of Winter.





^pixiemotion ^(94) ^5 ^days ^ago
Will you make more ASoIaF con-languages for HBO?

Dedalvs (37) 4 days ago

I'd love to, but at this stage there aren't any official plans for seasons beyond the second. There won't be any discussions until (crosses fingers) there's a green light for season 3.





^Syklon ^(91) ^5 ^days ^ago
How long did it take to create Dothriaki? And did GRRM have any demands or preferences regarding how the language should sound/be built up?

Dedalvs (35) 4 days ago

Answering this and the reply: All of the phrases that are in the book match up exactly with Dothraki as it exists today. So, for example, if you were to just go to the dictionary and look for how to say "A prince rides inside me", you'd get exactly Khalakka dothrae mr'anha. It's true that this language was for the show, but everyone involved in the production knows that there is a much larger fanbase that existed before the show, and we all have the idea that we're trying as best as possible to realize the vision GRRM laid down in the books.

Dothraki was created in various stages. It took about 400 hours to get it to stage 1, where I could translate the stuff in the pilot. After that, there was a lull while they filmed the pilot and the show got picked up for a full season. In that time, I took it to stage 2, where, for the most part, the grammar was set, and all that was needed was vocabulary. That said, Dothraki's still growing, and occasionally new verbs, in particular, will add new corners to the grammars by introducing a new paradigm for a particular set of verbs (to see a detailed explanation of how this works in English, take a look at Beth Levin's awesome book English Verb Classes and Alternations).

GRRM didn't, in fact, have any notes on the language. In his own words, when he needs a new word in some language, he makes it up on the spot. Ordinarily it would be difficult to make sense of that, but whatever he says about what he was doing, all the Dothraki names and words and phrases in the book seem (to me, at least) to fit a very clear pattern, and that made fleshing out the rest of the language much easier than one might expect.a

Hey you can use any or all of the below mentioned resources:

WEBSITES:

1. Khan Academy; Official partner of the College Board. It consists of videos & questions related to each & every section of the SAT Test with detailed explanations & performance tracking. And it's totally free!
   
2. UWorld; This websites boasts of having a collection of more than 1800+ questions. with detailed explanation, detailed rationales for incorrect answers, performance tracking, vivid illustrations, track time to improve your speed, compare your results to peers and a lot more. PAID.
   
3. 1600.io; Offers multidimensional online instruction for the SAT. In addition to it also offers course-by-course basis preparation. It covers about 3,000 real SAT questions in 200 hours of video instruction. Although I don't have an experience with this site but it's highly appreciated by other test takers. PAID.
   
   BOOKS:
   
   

• Mathematics: Personally I don't fine this section on SAT abstruse so I think following books are more than enough to ace the SAT-Maths section;
  
  

1. The College Panda's SAT Math: Advanced Guide and Workbook for the New SAT; The best thing about this book is that it focuses on every particular section of SAT making it easy to comprehend & more helpful than the books that randomly talks about all the topics at once. Practice questions are incredible and are backed-up with Nielson's very simple & easy to understand answers & explanations. Also, there is a Website and any errors made in printing are mentioned on it.
   
2. The College Panda's 10 Practice Test For The SAT Math; Running out of Practice test? Want something more? Well this book has some relatively realistic versions of the SAT's mathematics sections (both calculator and no-calculator).
   
3. PWN The SAT: Math Guide; Still not satisfied with your SAT preparation? Longing for something more? When you're done with this book you'll be able to approach the SAT with confidence - very few questions will surprise you, and even fewer will be able to withstand your withering attacks.
   
   

• Writing:
  
  

1. The Ultimate Guide To SAT Grammar, 4th Ed; It isn't about drilling as most of them (books) are. It's about the philosophy of the SAT. Author backs up her advice with relevant questions from Khan Academy in each chapter & provides comprehensive coverage of all the grammar & rhetoric tested on the redesigned SAT Writing & Language Test. Two things that you'd miss - lack of enough practice questions & its overpricing (Especially for International Students). She had a Website where you can look-up for Errata & other college related information. You'll also get a practice question each day prepared by Erica herself!
   
2. The Ultimate Guide To SAT Grammar WB, 4th Ed; Fall short on practice questions? Need something to execute what you've learned so far? This accompanying workbook to The Ultimate Guide to SAT® Grammar contains six full-length tests in redesigned SAT format, each accompanied by thorough explanations designed to reinforce the concepts and strategies covered in the main grammar book.
   
3. The College Panda's SAT Writing: Advanced Guide & WB, 2nd Ed; This one is truly geared towards the student aiming for the perfect score. It leaves no stones unturned. It has clear explanations of all the tested SAT grammar rules, from the simplest to the most obscure, tons of examples to illustrate each question type and the different ways it can show up, hundreds of drills and practice questions to help you master the concepts and a lot more. AND, THREE PRACTICE TESTS.
   
   

• Reading: Probably the "hardest-to-score" section on the SAT test.
  
  

1. The Critical Reader, 3rd Edition; Intended to clearly and systematically demystify what is often considered the most challenging section of the SAT, this book provides a comprehensive review of the reading skills tested on the redesigned exam for students who are serious about raising their scores. Meltzer's explanations and tricks are very descriptive and include hints to easily discern the correct answer through process of elimination. Major drawback? Well, it lacks enough practice questions & is highly overpriced!
   
   

• ESSAY: For this section I'd say Khan Academy + these 2 books are more than enough. If you work with these modestly I guarantee you can easily achieve a perfect score on SAT Essay;
  
  

1. The College Panda's SAT Essay; The writer covers all of the main facets of the new SAT Essay, including the scoring, structure and key elements of a rhetorical analysis, combined with more strategic advice regarding such topics as paragraph structure, transitions, vocabulary usage, length, writing speed, quotations, examples, and the elements of persuasion. Author's high-scoring essay from the May 2016 exam is included where he shares everything from what he did right as well as the subtle things he initially missed.
   
2. SAT Vocabulary: A New Approach; Covers key vocabulary for the Reading Test, Writing and Language Test, and Essay. This book offers an approach that is aligned with the new SAT’s focus on vocabulary in context. The concluding chapter on the Essay is short but outstanding. The chapter features a particularly helpful presentation on 6 persuasive devices, a list of 25 top Essay vocabulary words, and best of all a real Level 24 essay written by a real student on the November 2016 SAT.
   
   Hope this helps. If liked, please don't forget to up-vote. And all the best for your preparation and test.

I don't know of any websites, but yes, there are books on ASL grammar! This is a good place to start; it's by a non-native signer, but it's also affordable...there are some ASL grammar books out there that aren't! Here is an example of the expensive type. :)

To answer your question about active/passive hands...yes and no. It doesn't matter which you use, but it should be consistent. If you are right handed, then your right should be your "dominant hand" (DH) and your left should be your "non dominant hand" (NDH). If you're left handed, then your left is DH and right is NDH. As long as you don't switch back and forth all the time, you're fine. There are some people who switch for a few signs here and there (I have been guilty of it myself), but you're supposed to stick with one DH and one NDH. :)

Now, as for every half-turn of your wrists...actually that does kind of matter. I hope you don't mind if I explain the four components of a sign:

• Location - Where the hand is on the body. For example, in cat, the location is the cheek.
  
  
• Handshape - The shape of the hand, positions of the fingers. You can see most of the handshapes here, note that it goes beyond just the letters! For cat, the handshape is (usually) F.
  
  
• Palm orientation - Is the palm facing forward, back, left, or right? For cat, the palm is facing forward or "out" as most people call it.
  
  
• Movement - What does the hand do? Up, down, back and forth, in a circle, etc. For cat, the hand moves out from the face.
  
  If any one of these are changed, you're not signing cat anymore - in fact, if you change only the movement, you sign fruit! That's called a "twisting" movement. In the case of "every half-turn of the wrists" that would be palm orientation (PO). If PO is back (behind you), left, or right, you're not signing cat. So it does matter. Obviously if someone is sick, injured, etc they might make signs differently - but the way to be understood is to perform the sign accurately. There are slight variations from person to person, just like there are various accents in spoken language - but for the most part, everybody forms a sign with those four criteria intact.
  
  Of course, all that said...you can sign really really badly and people can figure it out. This video made the rounds among my friends a while back. The guy's signing is absolutely horrible but we all understood him. We wouldn't want to chat with him on a regular basis until he improved his skills...but we figured it out. :)

Here are a few I think are good:

Getting Started

On Writing: This book is great. There are a lot of nice principles you can walk away with and a lot of people on this subreddit agree it's a great starting point!

Lots of Fiction: Nothing beats just reading a lot of good fiction, especially in other genres. It helps you explore how the greats do it and maybe pick up a few tricks along the way.

For Editing

Self-Editing For Fiction Writers: there isn't anything in here that will blow your writing away, land you an agent, and secure a NYT bestseller, but it has a lot of good, practical things to keep an eye out for in your writing. It's a good starting place for when you are learning to love writing (which is mostly rewriting)

A Sense of Style by Steve Pinker: I really loved this book! It isn't exclusively about fiction, but it deals with the importance of clarity in anything that is written.

Garner's Modern American Usage: I just got this about a month ago and have wondered what I was doing before. This is my resource now for when I would normally have gone to Google and typed a question about grammar or usage or a word that I wasn't sure I was using correctly. It's a dictionary, but instead of only words, it is filled with essays and entries about everything a serious word-nut could spend the rest of their^1 life reading.

^1 ^Things ^such ^as ^the ^singular ^their ^vs ^his/hers

Publishing

Writer's Market 2016: There are too many different resources a writer can use to get published, but Writer's Market has a listing for Agents, publishers, magazines, journals, and contests. I think it's a good start once you find your work ready and polished.

There are too many books out there that I haven't read and have heard good things about as well. They will probably be mentioned above in this thread.

Another resource I have learned the most from are books I think are terrible. It allows you to read something, see that it doesn't work, and makes you process exactly what the author did wrong. You can find plenty of bad fiction if you look hard enough! I hope some of this helps!

Make sure first that the resources you are working with are top-notch. According to the sub, the best online resource to learn concepts (across all the sections) is Khan Academy. In terms of Reading, this means doing the practice with the various passage types (fiction, social studies, and science). In terms of Writing, this means learning the various conventions of the English language. Feel free to also download the free official SAT Question of the Day App for daily questions (every other day will have an English question).

If you are a book person and willing to spend some money ...

The best Reading resource, according to the sub, is Erica Meltzer. My personal recommendation is that you stick with official practice sections for this one because, quite simply, no one makes questions like the CollegeBoard. Mark off select practice tests for use as full-length exams ... the other tests' sections can be used individually. In the case of Reading, use those for practice. If you're afraid of running out of official material, maybe start with PSATs, which are also easier and can ease you in. Make sure you do deep analyses of your errors (know HOW you picked the wrong answer, HOW to avoid doing that again, WHY the correct answer is right, and WHY the incorrect answers are wrong ... you must do all of those things to really obtain value from your practice) and also examine the questions you were not super confident in. Even take a second look at questions you got right to see if you could find a faster way of arriving at the answer. Note down any vocabulary that might have impeded your ability to understand the passages/questions/answers. Make sure to keep a log of all your analyses.

For Writing, the best resources are Erica Meltzer (if you prefer a very dense writing style) or College Panda (if you prefer something more to the point). Meltzer also has a separate workbook of practice tests. Work through either of these by chapter. After every couple of chapters, do a practice section for a mixed review to see if you can handle dealing with the concepts when you no longer have the benefit of being told what to look for. Keep in mind that Writing isn't all just grammar ... there is a reading component to it in which you must think about adding a relevant detail, shifting a sentence, or replacing a word in context ... this is where your Reading skills should blend in as well.

For explanations to the official tests, use 1600.io. Only the first four tests are free, but the site is quite highly regarded. Give that free trial a go, and see if you think it's worth the money.

Be aware that you'll likely see quick gains with Writing, but I promise that once you get the hang of Reading, that score will also see similar improvement. It just takes some time for most people to grasp it. The main thing is accepting that the correct answer is always supported by something in the passage ... you cannot rely on outside assumptions.

Good luck!

Answering this and the reply: All of the phrases that are in the book match up exactly with Dothraki as it exists today. So, for example, if you were to just go to the dictionary and look for how to say "A prince rides inside me", you'd get exactly Khalakka dothrae mr'anha. It's true that this language was for the show, but everyone involved in the production knows that there is a much larger fanbase that existed before the show, and we all have the idea that we're trying as best as possible to realize the vision GRRM laid down in the books.

Dothraki was created in various stages. It took about 400 hours to get it to stage 1, where I could translate the stuff in the pilot. After that, there was a lull while they filmed the pilot and the show got picked up for a full season. In that time, I took it to stage 2, where, for the most part, the grammar was set, and all that was needed was vocabulary. That said, Dothraki's still growing, and occasionally new verbs, in particular, will add new corners to the grammars by introducing a new paradigm for a particular set of verbs (to see a detailed explanation of how this works in English, take a look at Beth Levin's awesome book English Verb Classes and Alternations).

GRRM didn't, in fact, have any notes on the language. In his own words, when he needs a new word in some language, he makes it up on the spot. Ordinarily it would be difficult to make sense of that, but whatever he says about what he was doing, all the Dothraki names and words and phrases in the book seem (to me, at least) to fit a very clear pattern, and that made fleshing out the rest of the language much easier than one might expect.

YARL (Yet Another RogueLike) GitHub | Scrum board | Website

This sprint goal was to create the website in Jekyll and put everything I've done so far in there (i.e. Daily scrum notes). It took me only one day to plan the sprint. I think it's good, this means more time for actual work. My estimates were rough but they were surprisingly accurate, if it weren't for tasks like "Write a Sharing Saturday post" or "Sprint planning". I didn't know beforehand how costly they are so I decided to just measure them and get some data first. That's why there is ~50% bump from 45 to 65 hrs. Initial estimates vs. time spent are very close, though. Initially I was going to commit to 3 hrs/day but it was more like 4 hrs/day, excluding Monday 19th and forth. It was hard at times, and my first days at uni were completely exhausting.

I was hoping to release HTML 5 version, but I didn't manage to. At first I had problems with adjusting Gradle version, then problems with GWT arisen. I forget to include dependencies in GWT config and add them to a Gradle config for HTML project. I somehow managed to build an example game shipped with installer, but building YARL was too hard for me. I was about to give up completely when I noticed that SquidLib installer has the GWT option as well. It looks promising, I will explore this possibility in the next sprint.

I was about to ditch the idea of uploading my Daily Scrum notes. I wanted to code my custom theme instead, but eventually I came to my senses and uploaded them. It was tough. I was going to modify the sprint goal and a part of me wishes I did. It would save me some psychical tension.

I suspect that writing Sharing Saturday posts takes me so much time because my English skills are not sufficient. I have borrowed a book, I might even open and read it. I'm thinking about tweeting, but I want to focus on other things in an upcoming sprint.

Below is a Sprint Retrospective. There are some things left from the previous sprint because they were not really applicable to this sprint.

Things I should start doing in an upcoming sprint:

• Estimate more time for refactoring.
  
• Look for a Java style guide.
  
• Read a Scrum Guide after every sprint to comprehend it a little more.
  
• Take tasks like "Write a Sharing Saturday post" and "Sprint planning" into consideration during Sprint Planning.
  
  Continue doing:
  
  
• Use Trello to measure time spent on writing Daily Scrum notes. I use it sometimes, but I need more consistency.

In regards to the third question, there are generally considered to be five kinds of relative clause, in a hierarchy.

In order:

1. Subject
   
2. Direct Object
   
3. Object of an Adposition (preposition/postposition)
   
4. Object of a Possessive Noun Phrase
   
5. Object of a Comparison
   
   The idea is that if a language can relativise a lower position on the list, then it will definitely work for a higher one - for example, if you can say "The table which I placed the cat under" (Position 3, "under" is a preposition), then you must also be able to say both "The plate which fell" and "The plate which I dropped" (Postions 1 and 2, respectively), but not necessarily "The man whose friend won the book" or "The sword which my knife is sharper than" (Positions 4 and 5).
   
   This book has some good info on relative clauses in it, and I know for a fact that there are free pdfs of it floating around the internet somewhere if you look for them.
   
   I also wrote a short essay last year with several examples of each kind of relativisation, comparing how relative clauses work in English with one of Tolkien's Elvish languages and Irish (all the examples are translated into English :) ), if you'd like to have a read.

Well, first of all, just so you know pretty much anything you want can be gotten for free, it's extremely rare that you ought to be paying for anything. Since you're starting out the first thing I would recommend would be the Pimsleur program (all of them are available on pretty much every torrent site out there): get levels 1-4 and spend the next few months listening and speaking, you really need to get your pronunciation and accent down first and foremost. Also, while you're doing this I'd recommend getting a good workbook--split your time between speaking/listening and reading/writing maybe 70:30 (I really think being able to speak and understand is more important, that's just my opinion, it really depends on WHAT you want to do with your Spanish language skills). The workbooks I've used and recommend are Dorothy Richmond's books, specifically these two:

Spanish Verb Tenses

Spanish Pronouns and Prepositions

Also, listen to Notes in Spanish (it's on the front page, I just submitted it) starting with the Beginner's level, it'll help your listening comprehension ENORMOUSLY.

Regardless of what your program's focus is, my best advice is to bone up on syntax and morphology. Of course, if you're studying more practical/clinical stuff like language acquisition, phonology will also be indispensable.

Either way, you're definitely going to need an understanding of the basic principles of syntax. My 400-level class used Grammar as Science by Richard Larson. I liked the diagrams. Another class I TA'd used the O'Grady textbook, which someone else mentioned here, and I'd definitely recommend that, with the caveat that it's designed for 100-level stuff. So start with O'Grady, then move on to other things.
A suggestion: are you into conlanging at all? Because that's a great way to get your feet wet. It's also super fun.

Any book written to prepare you for the DSH will have these exercises and more.

I took the DSH (and passed with a level 2) at my current Uni and it's considered one of the hardest to pass in Germany. So my opinion may differ slightly than other people's so take the following with a grain of salt:

I strongly suggest you work on your writing style and your grammar basics (especially endings and vocabulary). The best way to improve the former is to read copious amount of German texts, especially news from like Tagesshau. I mean, read this level of material until your eyes bleed. The DSH prep books will have tons of texts for your to read and reading comprehension exercises to solve, and additionally reading news articles or random internet articles for C1 will bolster your effort.

For the latter, use these series of books:

1. A2-B2
   
   
2. C1
   
   If you do intend on buying these, make sure to buy the Answer Book to correct yourself. Every single professor I ever encountered, used these books to some capacity to practice German grammar. Every. Single. One. I abused the hell out of mine, I'll tell you that. Not to mention, they are cheap for how effective they are.
   
   For a more in depth explanation(s) in English check out Hammer's German Grammar Bible. If it wasn't for this book, I would have been lost for much longer when it came to things like Passive.
   
   Good luck on your exam.

Learn grammar, then learn how to break the rules.

I've met a lot of good journalists who know nothing about grammar. However, many of them develop an intuitive sense for it overtime and make due. You might be the sort of person that can get away with this. To increase your chances of success, though, I would recommend you at least study a few books on the subject.

Skunk and White's elements of Style is a good starting point. After that, you can move on to something like Rhetorical Grammar by Koln and Gray (http://www.amazon.ca/Rhetorical-Grammar-6th-Martha-Kolln/dp/0205706754/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369411827&sr=1-1&keywords=rhetorical+grammar).

Study rhetorical devices as well. Here's a small online guide http://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm

This is a nicely annotated compendium that teaches the history of Ancient Greek through reading. You will find a huge assortment of dialects and genres represented:

https://www.amazon.com/Historical-Greek-Reader-Mycenaean-Koine/dp/0199226601

Combine with an historical grammar and you should be good to go. This is a recent introduction by a great scholar:

https://www.amazon.de/Historische-Grammatik-Griechischen-Laut-Formenlehre/dp/3534206819

Anything by Pierre Chantraine is highly recommended if you can read french. Both his treatment of Homeric, his historical grammar and his dictionary.

Another good dictionary to consult for individual glosses is the one by the late Robert Beekes. It's not perfect but very accessible:

https://brill.com/view/title/17726?lang=en

I would recommend you to consult Fortson and Ringe if you have little previous experience with diachronic linguistics. Ringe for methodological questions and Fortson for Proto-Indoeuropean. Proto-Greek contains many morphological archaisms inherited from Proto-Indoeuropean. You can focus on inner greek developments, but not everything you encounter can be analyzed in a meaningful way within Greek, so it's good to know where to look if the greek data is insufficient:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/historical-linguistics/6722029555C7DB845251785673A48B4C

https://www.amazon.com/Indo-European-Language-Culture-Benjamin-Fortson/dp/1405188960

If you want an in depth introduction to Ancient Greek dialects for students at graduate level and above this tome by Gary Miller should come in handy along with Buck's classic work on the subject, but it's not necessary if you only want to brush up on the fundamentals:

https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Greek-Dialects-Early-Authors/dp/1614514933

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-greek-dialects-9781853995569/

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to start learning Persian. It'll teach you the alphabet, a fair amount of vocab and all of the grammar that you'll need. Excellent section on prepositions too.

In terms of actual books for reading Persian, however, I'm not sure. Harry potter is great if you can find it (search for هری پاتر ) but that's for when you're more at an intermediate stage. Until then I guess just try to find children's books. Good luck.

سلام! I've just started learning Farsi (literally the last week).

I'm using this workbook daily and doing the exercises (it has a CD), using this grammar book as a reference (flicking through it, it seems to be one of the better resources I've found), and doing the Pimsleur Farsi lessons (though only on lesson 3). Pimsleur is good for getting the accent and hearing pronunciations, but it's not a comprehensive catch-all resource.

I also grabbed a Lonely Planet phrasebook that shows how sentences fit together and includes a small dictionary at the back.

This online dictionary is very helpful too!

So, I actually disagree with the "read, read, read" comment because a lot of prolific and culturally important writers disregard grammar rules deliberately which would confuse someone who wants to learn the foundations. Hemingway did this, Jack London did this, William Faulkner did this, and on and on.

What I would suggest, instead, is read a grammar book like Rhetorical Grammar and another book you really enjoy, side by side. That way, when you come across something you don't understand or are curious about, you can pause your reading and refer to the rules according to the relevant grammar instruction you have at your side.

This is the same concept as reading Spark notes along with a difficult book for the sake of interpretation or guided analysis. Even in my graduate education I do this to make sure I'm getting the most out of my readings.

TL;DR Find a grammar instruction book you like and have it at arms reach while you're reading to reference the grammar rules you're curious about in the books you enjoy reading.

Mostly Grammar as Science, which seemed to put things a little simply. Plus we didn't actually have to buy the book, she just put scanned pdfs up on the course website for the chapters we used.

My school doesn't really have a very strong undergrad program, which is part of why I'm minoring instead of my original plan to major. Our Graduate program is apparently pretty good though, apparently enough so that they rarely accept any of our undergrads.

I love this book Mot à Mot, it carried me through A level and still helps me at University.

It's cheap and concise and full of phrases for speaking in discussions and essay writing, if anyone knows anything similar for Italian I'd be very grateful!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mot-Fifth-Advanced-French-Vocabulary/dp/1444110004/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409337992&sr=1-1&keywords=mot+a+mot

I recommend the Alkitaab Arabic language program, found here: https://www.alkitaabtextbook.com/books/

You would start with Alif Baa which is the alphabet.
Learning the alphabet would definitely be the first step.

www.aratools.com is a great dictionary type website.

Okay as far as grammar goes:
English Grammar for Students of Arabic: The Study Guide for Those Learning Arabic (O&H Study Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0934034354/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_KO3WAb726193P

I found Eats Shoots & Leaves a great starting point. It's funny and easy to read. I'm on a mobile so sorry for shoddy link formatting: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1861976127?pc_redir=T1

Edit: Book title

Is this a message to your camp counselor, your opinion on the experience, or what?

I'm confused as to how your title, first paragraph, and the body of the content have any correlation whatsoever. The title gives me a premise that allows me to presume that this is a copypasta'd correspondence with your counselor from Bible Camp. Your first paragraph is what throws me through a loop.

I'm going to assume that this is, in fact, a letter to your counselor. In that respect, your sentiment fits well at r/atheism. Enjoy circle-jerking with the rest of us and I hope you continue educating yourself on matters that are important.

You fail at reading comprehension and basic English grammar.

The participle phrase "..., which is one book,..." is not the subject of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is the bible, and the point he's making is about your knowledge of the bible, not the number of books contained within.

So yes, that is a "section" of his sentence, an adjectival participle phrase to be precise, and his point is that "I like how you look at the bible,..., and know it's true even though there are countless scientific volumes contradicting the events..."

Maybe reading this will help you understand the difference between an adjectival participle and a sentence subject. Then again, if your reading comprehension is already this bad, I don't think you'll understand it - I'd wager it's over your head.

Get back to me when you can pass an elementary school English class. Quiet now, the adults are talking in a language you can't even parse correctly.

Edit: clarity

You may be interested in the book The Grammar Devotional: Daily Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl: https://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Devotional-Daily-Successful-Writing/dp/0805091653/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486688478&sr=8-1&keywords=grammar+girl%27s+devotional

There's a new tip to read every day for one year.

I would recommand the BLED series, if you're looking for a French French grammar book. They're quite comprehensive, the explanations are easy to understand and there are exercises to practice. In France, they are used by a lot of students that need to know better their own language...

For instance [here]
(http://www.amazon.fr/Bled-Orthographe-Grammaire-Conjugaison-E/dp/2011689821)
or here

Trusting God Day by Day

Power Thoughts Devotional

Everyday Encouragement and Hope

The President's Devotional

Sports Devotional Bible

The Grammar Devotional

There are also specific vocab builder books like

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Using-French-Vocabulary-Jean-Duffy/dp/0521578515/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mot-Fifth-Edition-Advanced-Vocabulary/dp/1444110004/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/French-Vocabulary-Builder-Harriette-Lanzer/dp/0199122075/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/vous-French-Vocabulary-Context-GCSE/dp/0174391757

Think about some easy French readers, too like

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Easy-French-Reader-Second-Edition/dp/0071428488/

And check this link

http://french.about.com/od/lessons/a/vocabulary.htm

Have you tried any of the "Practice Makes Perfect" books? I find them very helpful for grammar and vocab practice. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practice-Perfect-Spanish-Tenses-Series/dp/0844273341

i , too, was surprised to learn that ASL was not a signed version of english, but rather its own language all together. i bought this book from amazon and it's very good as a primer for explaining ASL: as its own language with its own grammar, idioms, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Just-Sign-Communicate-Mastering/dp/0984529446

If you like a healthy dose of whimsy in your pedagogy, you might like The Transitive Vampire, by Karen Elizabeth Gordon.

Dictionaries are pretty much fully descriptive these days. This wasn't always the case, but it is today, and it means that they stay away from judgments about which definitions are correct and just report the actual usage.

So you can't look to a descriptive source and presume to find prescriptive guidance: the lack of judgment doesn't mean the usage is good, and it certainly doesn't mean that others won't make judgments about your use of a term. E.g., Bryan Garner says,

> When literally is used figuratively -- to mean "emphatically," "metaphorically," or the like -- the word is stretched paper-thin (but not literally).

I and many others would agree with this assessment.

Certainly literally is in as bit of a touchy spot. Perhaps, going back to Garner, literally is in stage two of his categorization of verbal change:

> Stage 2: The form spreads to a significant portion of the language community, but it remains unacceptable in standard usage... Terms in stage 2 often get recorded in dictionaries as variant forms, but this fact alone is hardly a recommendation for their use.

Maybe it has even reached stage three ("The form becomes commonplace among well-educated people, but is still avoided in careful usage.")

But again, this change is not necessarily good, and not necessarily inevitable. And until and if the transformation becomes universally accepted, you have to accept that many people will label the figurative use of literally a mistake. It's their judgment to make, not the dictionaries'.

I've been using [Practice Makes Perfect Complete Spanish Grammar, 2nd Edition] (http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Complete-Spanish-Grammar/dp/0071763430/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422290914&sr=1-4&keywords=practice+makes+perfect+spanish) It is more of a workbook than a textbook but I have found the explanations to be good for the little bit that I have used it.

Especially on Greek literature German is very usefull as your second modern language. For native English speakers it's not that hard to learn either.

In Germany English and German are required for your bachelors (additionaly French or Italian for masters, and both for your doctorate at most universities).

> I was wondering if anyone who has experience in the major or something similar had anything to offer as far as advice and suggestions are concerned.

Getting into the basics of Indoeuropean Studies is very helpful. I've seen many students who didn't do it and lack an understanding of grammar. They have memorized der neue Menge for composition, but couldn't get behind the concept of latin or indoeuropean grammar.

I'd recommend Clackson and/or Fortson. When you have learnt German pick up Meiser for Latin and Rix for Greek.

http://www.amazon.com/Regeln-Listen-%C2%9Abungen-Erw-Fasssung/dp/3922989519/ref=pd_rhf_dp_s_cp_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0WRD6FEZSGPDJXGHD4CG

I bought it in a bookstore in Germany, but this is the same one. You can search here for the answer book as well. There is also another book for lower levels if C1 is too advanced for you. I did both and recommend both.

Le Bled!

Man, I remember this book from high school and my French teacher often saying in her somewhat nasal voice: "Sortez votre bled!". Madame Cousineau was it? Anyway, here's a link to Amazon France so you can read the reviews (all 5 star except for 1 that is 4 star). Funnily enough, it's available at amazon.com but not .ca.

I would imagine it it's available at many French bookstores as well.

Something by Karen Elizabeth Gordon perhaps? She uses amusingly macabre example sentences juxtaposed with weird public domain illustrations. Some of her titles are Torn Wings and Faux Pas: A Flashbook of Style, a Beastly Guide Through the Writer's Labyrinth, The Transitive Vampire: a Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed and The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook

Try this guy. Best reference out there.

Side note: Eats Shoots And Leaves is a great book about punctuation.

1 this is reddit, not a submission of our dissertations

2 troll somewhere else

3 lol Ayn Rand ok

4 http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0764553224

'Destinos' is a tv show which is made to teach people Spanish. I think they had 52 episodes.

For grammar, this book is supposed to be good.

I was thinking this book might be better

Helpful book for any language (it comes in a few), "English Grammar for Arabic Students" [http://smile.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Students-Arabic-Learning/dp/0934034354/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413822550&sr=8-1&keywords=arabic+grammar+for+english+students]

https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Complete-Spanish-Grammar/dp/0071763430


I'm not sure if this is what you're asking. I'm using this and currently find it very helpful. If you type in the name of the book into Google, a link from the-eye.eu pops up with the complete PDF.

Oh! And two more resources specific to spanish:

1. The Practice Makes Perfect Series: http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Perfect-Complete-Spanish-Grammar/dp/0071763430
   
2. Spanish FunEasyLearn (looks janky, but really good): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funeasylearn.spanish&hl=en

Maggie Tallerman is a syntactician who has written some intro level books to syntax. When I was an undergrad, I read her book Understanding Syntax for an Intro to Syntax course. It looks like a new version is coming out this September: http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Syntax-Hodder-Education-Publication/dp/1444112058/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312761900&sr=8-1

You had me worried for a second there.

Fortunately I have a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves at my desk, and I'd rather trust Lynne Truss over such matters.

(Although in fairness plurals of numbers are not mentioned; you might have a point there)

Buy a book on English grammar in your target language. This is extremely useful in figuring out how to properly translate your English into the other language. I bought Harrap's: grammaire anglaise to learn French and it really clarified how the English future tenses correspond to the French future tenses.

But this is probably what you want: English Grammar for Students of Arabic: The Study Guide for Those Learning Arabic

I recommend Garner's book. Avoid The Elements of Style. It's a random group of "rules" and teaches nothing about Standard American English.

Sidenote: This guy?

[This book] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0195382757?pc_redir=1408272184&robot_redir=1) has at least ten times as many entries as that article.

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0764553224

["Don't Just Sign...Communicate!] (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984529446/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=17NON4X8QY4C4&coliid=I2OM0S7SWCURT7) An ASL grammar book!

Source: https://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/product-reviews/0764553224/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_11?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&filterByStar=five_star&pageNumber=11

Read: Eats Shoots and leaves.

http://www.amazon.com/Garners-Modern-American-Usage-Garner/dp/0195382757

http://www.amazon.com/English-Grammar-Dummies-Geraldine-Woods/dp/0764553224

here try this

Found the book review here
The one by Nikolai Krestinsky

Like this.

Toi c'est a ce bouquin que t'as jamais du toucher

Pour en revenir au sujet, si la réforme passe, c'est une retraite de misère que tout le monde sera sur de toucher.

Ok, so
Grammars:
(The first three are all from Routledge)
Basic Persian: A Grammar and Workbook
Intermediate Persian: A Grammar and Workbook
Persian: A Comprehensive Grammar

Books:
Persian of Iran Today: Volume 1
Persian of Iran Today: Volume 2
Complete Persian (Modern Persian/Farsi)

Websites:
Easy Persian
Persian Language Online
Grammar and Resources, The University of Texas at Austin
Ali Jahanshiri’s Personal Website

YouTube channel(s):
Reza Nazari
There was another one, but I can’t seem to find it right now

Not sure where to categorize this, but Chai and Conversation has audio lessons.

In addition, Forvo has pronunciations of words.
——
Sorry for any formatting errors, I’m new to this place.

http://wilson.med.harvard.edu/nb204/AuthorityAndAmericanUsage.pdf

EDIT: And hey, http://www.amazon.com/Garners-Modern-American-Usage-Garner/dp/0195382757, while you're at it.

Response to your edit: You might disagree with those interpretations, but I would argue that your battle is over the appropriateness of the word "racism," not what was actually going on in his statements. That's why I personally don't like using "racism" in that way, it starts angry arguments about language when people should be having discussions about other things. (Like what's happening right now.)