Fortune Telling

In Class

"You have a strong need for other people to like you and for them to admire you. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. You have a great deal of unused energy, which you have not turned to you advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitation. You pride yourself on being an independent thinker and do not accept other opinions without satisfactory proof. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic."

This was what Ms. Jackson chose specifically for me, or so I thought :) Ms. Jackson gave the whole class the same "prediction" that was said to describe each of us. It was funny to see when some of us were very shocked when Ms. Jackson revealed that actually everyone received the same "fortune". Some of them said, "But it sounds exactly like me!" Hahaha~

The trick to writing this kind of prediction is the ambiguity in the language. Among the things mentioned, such as extrovert/introvert, passive/active, change/tradition, etc. most of us are rarely absolute on each of the aspects. Usually we are sometimes A and sometimes B. Hence, that is how the general description is written.

I think it's ironic how language can be both vague and specific. Language is used to communicate, but because of ambiguity or vagueness, the intended message may not be fully conveyed. On the other hand, when one is trying to conceal a piece of information, one can be as vague as possible and avoid the specific details. Hence, the knowledge issue is that is language really the best way communicate when it can be both vague and specific? How can one decide the best way of communication? How can one know that he or she is using the best way possible to communicate?

Half the World's Languages Under Threat

In Class

One of our ToK reading assignments was an article titled "Half of the world's languages under threat". As the title implies, the article is about languages that are disappearing, especially those that are spoken by the minorities.

One person mentioned in class that she thinks that it's okay for those languages to disappear because they have lost their function. If less people spoke that language, less people will be able to understand that language and it will gradually be useless to speak that language. I strongly disagree with that person. I think language is not just a mean of communication, it also represents the identity of the speakers and their identity.

For example, many Chinese dialects such as Hokkien and Teochew are less spoken in the younger generation because, one, they can only be taught orally; two, the younger generation learn and speak Mandarin in school; and three, one can only improve one's proficiency in dialects through daily speaking. It is a shame, or maybe even shocking, that one should accept wholeheartedly the disappearance of one's language. It would be as if saying that I'm a Hokkien descendant but I know nothing about my dialect because I choose to neglect it and let it disappear.

Knowledge issues that can be discussed are: should a language be preserved if less than 1% of the world's population speaks it? What are the reasons for a language to be preserved?

Things You Never Knew 你不知道的事

In Class



Here is an official English translation of the lyrics of the song (given by the official Youtube accounto of the singer). The brackets is my interpretation of the translations

蝴蝶眨几次眼睛 再学会飞行

How many times does a butterfly learn to blink, before it learnt to fly?

夜空洒满了星星 但即刻会落地

The sky is sprinkled over with countless stars, but how many will remain?

(In the Mandarin lyrics, the character "countless" isn't written, but the meaning is implied in the context. In addition, the second part of the lyrics mean "but will fall to the ground immediately". However, that is not what the translation states.)

我飞行 但你坠落之际

Even as I fly, you fall

(If I were to be more specific, I would say "the moment you fall".)

很靠近 还听见呼吸

So close that I can hear you breathe

对不起 我却没捉紧你

So sorry I didn't keep hold of you

(I think the translation's phrasing is a little awkward. I would translate this phrase as "I'm so sorry for not keeping hold of you".)

你不知道我为什么离开你

You don't know why I had to leave you

(The term "had to" does not exist in the Mandarin lyrics. Another problem is that because there is no tenses in Mandarin, this phrase can also be translated as "You don't know why I have to leave you" or "You don't know why I left you". The knowledge issue is how do we know which is the most accurate translate? Who decides which one is the correct one? The lyricist? What if the lyricist does not speak English?)

我坚持不能说放任你哭泣

How could I ignore your every cry 

(The more literal translation of the lyrics is "I insist that I cannot let you to cry" but the official translation is very different from mine.)

你的泪滴像倾盆大雨碎落满地

All the while the downpour of your tears shattering the ground

(Does "shattering the ground" make sense? To me, the lyrics meant "Your tears are like the heavy rain pouring to the ground".)

在心里清晰

So clearly pierced my heart

(Again, if I were to make the translations flow better, I would say "So clearly that the sound pierced my heart".)

你不知道我为什么狠下心

You don't know why I had to keep away

(There is no exact translation for the last three characters of the phrase. The closest translation that I can get to is "cruel" but according to the context, the speaker is being cruel because he needs to but actually he doesn't want to.)

盘旋在你看不见那高空里

Circling in the sky above, just out of sight

多的是 你不知道的事

So many are the things you never knew


The two main problems of translations that are most encountered here are the context and untranslatable words. Because these are lyrics, some of the phrases are metaphorical so unless the lyricist explains to me what he or she is writing about, as a Mandarin native speaker, I can only guess the meaning. This adds on to the inaccuracy of the translation. The knowledge issue here is that how do we know what we think is correct and so how do we know our translations are correct? It seems like languages may break the barriers of communication, but there is also a danger of misunderstanding and confusion. Hence, can language be considered as a safe way of communication?

Sources of Errors

IB Class: Chemistry

When we write Chemistry lab reports, the last section of the report is always sources of error. Errors always occurs in experiments, and we are required to write about the errors that might have affected the results of our experiment. The most common error taking into account is absolute error - the error of measurements. This is based on the instruments used, the more specific they are, the less absolute error there is. However, as we do calculations, the absolute errors add up and we also have to do significant digits.

Why do we calculate all the errors? So that we know our range of correctness. The knowledge issue presented here is that if there are so many errors, how can we trust our results? Human errors are not written as sources of errors, but humans make mistakes all the time, so what happens if a human error did affect the experimental results but is not taken into account because it is a human error?

Chemistry, to me, is quite an ambiguous/vague subject because I can never know exactly which factors have affected the results. I can only assume and make predictions. This is a knowledge issue that happens in our daily life too, not just Chemistry - when life is full of ambiguity, can we trust our predictions and assumptions even if we know that there are errors/issues affecting them?

Cobardes

IB Class: Spanish



Two weeks ago, Senor Medina chose a movie, Cobardes, which means cowards, for us to watch in class. The movie is about two families and the two sons of the family play the protagonist and the antagonist. All of the characters have their own fear to face. The main fear of the protagonist, Gaby, is being bullied by Miguel and his gang everyday, and his parents are unable to help him.

In my opinion, the end of the movie is a tragedy. Gaby, the victim, succeeded in his revenge and became a bully instead. Throughout the whole movie, the characters' actions were driven by their emotions, such as fear, insecurity, anger, and uncertainty. (Connection to Emotion) Because of their emotions, the parents do not know how to help their children, whilst the children do not know how to express their fear. Negative emotions can make a person helpless, but it can also turn the person into someone stronger (although I don't agree turning into a bully as the best solution).

Another way of knowing that can be related to this movie is perception. What is seen is not always be the truth. The main reason that caused Gaby to change is his father's lack of trust in him. Gaby is the real victim, but the school thought that he is the bully whilst Miguel is the victim. That is what the school perceived, but it is not the truth. The knowledge issue here is that how do we know what we perceive is the truth? How can we decide? On what factors do we base our decision on?

I don't like this movie because it has a sad ending. It makes me very disappointed because I see a helpless boy who desperately needs his parents help but his parents do not believe in him and are unable to devote time to pay more attention to him. Thus, he takes things into his own hands and solves his problems himself - in a wrong way. Sadly enough, I see this situation happening around me - parents' lack of trust in their children. If our parents do not trust us, then how are we supposed to seek help whenever we need it?

Mandarin Accents

Out of class

I was inspired by Mai Vi's practice presentation about different Vietnamese accents and their prejudices. Her presentation reminded me of the different Mandarin accents that I recognize, hence this journal entry.

According to the graph above, the main countries that speak Mandarin are China, Taiwan, and Malaysia. If I could add one more, Singapore would be my choice. As a foreigner in Vietnam, whenever I hear someone speaking in Mandarin, my full attention would suddenly be on that person. As I listen to the person speak, the first thing that I would analyze is the accent. Is the person from China, Taiwan, Singapore, or Malaysia?

A knowledge issue that I've never thought of before is that why do I try to distinguish the accents to decide the speaker's nationality? What kind of results do I get after I guess the speaker's nationality? I guess emotions play a little role in this. If the speaker has a Malaysian accent, then I would have more interest in that person as, after all, we come from the same country. 

The prejudices that are involved in this include the stereotypes that I (or many of the Malaysians) have for Chinese, Taiwanese, and Singaporean. Depending on whether the beliefs are positive or negative, my attitude towards the Mandarin speakers might be different.

Another knowledge issue that is raised through the recognition of different accents is that what if I met a Malaysian who speaks in a Taiwanese accent because he lived in Taiwan for a long time? If I just based by guess on the accent, then I would guess that the person is Taiwanese and interact with the person, maybe, with less interest and warmth. This presents a bias. 

I think it's difficult to change my habit of judging Mandarin speakers based on their accents because that is the easiest and most direct way of distinguishing people who I don't know. I guess the best thing for me to do is to remove all prejudices no matter who I meet and whatever accent they speak in.

Quarter 4 Terminology

1 Intuition
The power of attaining knowledge or understand without evident rational thought and drawing conclusions from available evidence.

2 Denotation
The literal meaning of a word

3 Connotation
The idea or feeling that the word invokes for a person in addition to its literal meaning.

4 Euphemism
A mild or indirect word or expression for one too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

5 Persuasion
A means of persuading someone to do or believe something; an argument or inducement.

6 Vagueness
Poorly expressed or not coherent in meaning.

7 Ambiguity
Words have many different meanings; uncertainty or inexactness of meaning in language.

8 Secondary meaning
The alternate meaning of a word, one that is as commonly used.

9 Metaphor
A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

10 Sarcasm
The use of irony to mock or convey contempt. It allows more meaning and is difficult to interpret.

11 Irony
Saying one thing but meaning but opposite; the expression of one's meaning of using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.

12 Three theories of meaning
(a) Definition theory
The easiest way to resolve the question about a meaning is to look it up in a dictionary
(b) Denotation theory
What distinguishes a meaningful word from a meaningless one is that the former stands for something while the latter does not.
(c) Image theory
The meaning of a word is the mental image it stands for, and you know the meaning of the word when you have the appropriate concept of it in your mind.

13 Sapir-Whorf Theory
What language we speak changes the way we experience; what we know is determined by what language we speak. We can only what our language allows us to see, and thought and language are interconnected.

14 Emotive meaning
Words chosen for emotional appeal. For example, genetically modified food vs. Franken food, terrorists vs. liberators, prochoice vs. baby killer.

15 Weasel words
Words that are not false but do not give a clear picture of what they represent. For example, the advertisement of a toothpaste state that it helps to fight tooth decay but the consumers don't know to what extent the toothpaste can help.

16 Passive voice
It removes the sense of responsibility. For example, "Mrs. Jackson is hit by the car". It helps to separate the readers from the person who did the action and person who received the action.

17 Revealing/concealing
Selective language in which the speakers pick and choose things to talk about.

18 Propaganda
Information, especially of biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Sometimes it dehumanizes people. For example, gooks, jabs, etc.

19 Problems of translation
(a) Double meanings
A figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways.
(b) Context
The parts of something written or spoken that immediately precede and follow a word or passage and clarity its meaning
(c) Untranslatable words
Words that exist only in one language and not the other.

20 Idioms/Slang
A form of expression natural to a language, person, or group of people.

21 Three rules of translation
(a) Faithfulness
The loyalty of the translation to its original language
(b) Comprehensibility
The quality of clarity
(c) Back translation
If the translation is translated back to its original language and still able to convey the same message.

22 Language is
(a) Rule-governed
The rules of language include grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.
(b) Intended
Language makes a statement about something.
(c) Creative/open-minded
Language does not stay the same over time. Because of the frequency of use, it develops. For example, "Google" has now become a noun and a verb.

23 Naming
Names identify who we are and sometimes contain the expectations of our parents.

24 Profanity/Swearing
Obscene language. According to Bill Bryson's article, some cultures don't have swear words and most languages now apply euphemism in some measure.