“Definitely” is not a hard word to spell, yet some people still repeatedly spell it incorrectly (Sophie, I’m looking at you ). There are a multitude of ways that people spell it incorrectly, but if one is really struggling to remember how to spell “definitely,” d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com is one place to bookmark for future reference!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Those who know me know that I love languages; I speak fluent English and Cantonese and am studying French and Mandarin Chinese at university. I’d also love to learn Italian and Swahili in the future, but I want to improve my conversational French and become conversational in Mandarin Chinese before tackling new languages! Russian is also a language I’d like to learn, but the likelihood of that ever happening is practically non-existent.

I’ve always been really jealous of students in Asia and Europe who start studying other languages at a really young age in school¹. My cousins in Hong Kong study Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, and English, and my cousins in Shanghai study Shanghainese, Mandarin Chinese, and English. The kids in the French family I stayed with while on my French exchange trip studied French, German, and English, and the German exchange student my family hosted last month studied German, Spanish, and English. In other words, basically everyone I’ve met while on my travels study at least two languages at school, even the young students I met at some of the schools I worked at/visited while in Tanzania, but most of my friends have no real interest in any language, not even English²!

Maybe the reason why I’m so fascinated with languages and jealous of those who are multilingual is not only because of my own bilingual household, but because languages were never really forced upon me in school, unlike the vast majority of schools I’ve encountered overseas. I hate traveling to countries and being perceived as the ignorant American tourist who thinks English is the only language worth knowing; I want to know more about the world around me, both in terms of politics and culture. While I personally received a very good education up to and including my university schooling, there’s still so much I wish I was taught. Multiple languages are definitely one of them.

Question of the Week: How many languages are you fluent in, and what languages are they?

1. I don’t know anything about South American or African schooling, but I think it’s safe to assume students in those continents also study multiple languages at school rather than just the official language/mother tongue. [↩]
2. These friends I am speaking of are both from Australia and the United States, countries that are not known for multilingualism in their education systems. The exception to this are my friends who have multi-racial/ethnic families. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

In May’s Every Hour on the Hour post, one of my photos was of me filling out an association meme on my LiveJournal. The way the association meme works is that I would ask members of my LJ friends list for five terms/phrases they would associate with me, and then I would have to elaborate on those five things. There were forty terms in total for me to elaborate on (some terms were repeated, though), and here are five of the words that my friends associated with me.

• The MTR
  Chosen by: Melody
  The MTR is Hong Kong’s mass transit railway (hence MTR ). I think it’s the best in the world. It’s fast, efficient, safe, modern, and doesn’t smell like pee (unlike the El in Chicago, ugh). It’s a great way of traveling in Hong Kong as EVERYWHERE is connected to the MTR. They’re also adding new lines to the MTR, and when I found that out I got so excited I Googled for more info and saw the new maps of where the new lines will go as well as what color they’ll be. I’m an MTR nerd

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Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at blog@excuses-untold.org. Please leave any comments there.

Most of the time, if I’m not happy with my talents and abilities, I’m at least content. I can do a lot of things fairly well, and I consider myself lucky that one of my strongest talents is writing, especially since I enjoy it so much. But there are still a lot of things I wish I could do even half-decently, let alone fantastically. The list ranges from serious things to useless quirks I wish I had, and while I don’t think I’ll be getting any of these skills anytime soon, it’s still fun to dream, right?

• Code in valid (X)HTML/CSS
  I’ve always wanted to be able to code in valid (X)HTML/CSS, but my coding skills are pretty atrocious. I can code a layout okay, but my coding skills have a lot more to be desired. I think I have the basics of XHTML down - always close your tags, nest your tags, make sure all of your coding is in lowercase, that kind of thing. But CSS is what confuses me, valid or not. It’s something I need to experiment with more, and do some trial and error stuff, before I get the hang of it, cause my CSS skills are very elementary.
• Whistle
  I have never, ever been able to whistle! Every time I try, I’m just pushing air with my lips and any noise that I manage to make is not in the least bit like a whistle. It’s very frustrating as my brother has been able to whistle for as long as I can remember, and I’ve always wished that I could whistle just like him.
• Be fluent in Russian
  I have never been to Russia, and as much as I would love to go there, I probably won’t ever get a chance to go there - at least, not anytime soon. But I’ve always wanted to learn Russian, even though it’s extremely difficult and I personally would probably never get a chance to practice any Russian I would learn. Still, it sounds like such a beautiful and cryptic language and I would love to have the skills to decipher and understand it!
• Do a cartwheel
  While I was off taking dance lessons as a little girl, some of my friends took gymnastics. A lot of the people I know can do cartwheels, backflips, and other “simple” gymnastics steps, but I can’t do any of them! I used to be extremely flexible because I was trained as a dancer, but I had to give up dancing due to a knee injury. Still, I’d love to be able to do a cartwheel. Or even a backflip…
• Be ambidextrous
  I’m right-handed, and I’ve always thought it would be cool to be able to write with my left-hand as well. It would be extremely useful when it comes to being seated at a left-handed desk at school. I was sitting in a left-handed desk yesterday when I was taking a test, and it was very distracting having to angle my whole body towards my left side so that I could write out my test!

Originally published at blog@excuses-untold.org. Please leave any comments there.

I had a million and one aspirations as to what was going to be my career once I grew up. I’ve wanted to be a nurse, a teacher, an actress, a veterinarian, an author… you name it, that’s what I wanted to be. It’s funny how often I changed my mind when I was little, but the older I got, the more focused I became on my career goals. No longer did I change my mind every week about what I wanted to grow up to be; instead I picked two or three career paths that really appealed to me and concentrated on them.

When I was applying to colleges, I declared my major as “International Studies” because I thought I liked that sort of thing, a focus of study about the relationships between countries and ties that exist within the global stage. Plus, my top choice university is renowned for being diverse and having a phenomenal International Studies program, so I was confident with the major I initially declared. But what I hadn’t realized was that I liked the cultural, historical, and linguistic aspect regarding relations between countries. I wasn’t so much a fan of the political and economic situations that motivated the actions of any particular country. I was also dissatisfied with the writing component for the major. I absolutely adore writing, but I didn’t want to write about the theory of defensive realism or the school of mercantilism within international political economy. It just didn’t interest or motivate me the way I thought it would, and I ended up looking to see what other majors my college offered that I would be interested in.

After doing a lot of thinking and meeting with various advisors, I am now majoring in French and Communication Media and minoring in Chinese. It’s really intense and difficult at times, but I am studying what I truly love and I know that I can use the degree I am earning towards a career that I will wholly enjoy and be satisfied with. My Communication Media studies will enable me to have a career that heavily involves writing, and my French and Chinese studies means that if I wanted to, I could go work in a French or Chinese speaking country, which is perfect since I love living abroad. I could work as a translator, a journalist, a public relations representative… the possibilities within my chosen field are endless.

Question of the Week: When you were little, what did you want to grow up to be? Has that changed over time? What would you like your career to be now?