In need of a Babel Fish Translator

Have you ever been to Slovenia? I haven't.

Have you ever met anyone from Slovenia? I haven't.

Yet, today someone from Slovenia searched for me, on the internet, by name and arrived on this blog.

I am struck by the interconnectedness of the modern world. I begun to communicate, using this blog, just over a year ago, on September 19th 2006 - but since then I have had visitors from every country on Earth that is above subsistence level - and some which still are. It really is astonishing.

Over the past few days, news of Ainan's search for a University has penetrated a veritable babel of languages. I have seen articles written in what I think must be "Slovenian" (if Slovenia has its own language), Azerbaijani (same comment), Polish, German, Dutch, and Flemish. Those are just the ones I have noticed. There may be others. Countries that have signalled themselves to me, through unusual blog activity include the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Slovenia, and Poland. No-one from Azerbaijan has visited. Maybe they don't have internet connections.

Anyway, wherever you are from, and however you heard of this blog: welcome. There is much to read here.

Given the geographic diversity of visitors, you might wish to make use of the Babelfish translator in the upper left of this blog.

Yet, it is refreshing to observe that the idea behind the Tower of Babel, in the Bible - that all peoples of the world would be divided by their different languages, no longer seems to apply. Yes, there are many languages in the world, and visitors to this blog speak scores of different ones - but successful communication has occurred across these language boundaries - otherwise they wouldn't be visiting the blog in the first place.

So we live in a world in which the Tower of Babel still towers - but we understand each other all the same. There is promise in that, of a more understanding world, a more unified one.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eleven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and four months, and Tiarnan, twenty-one months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Language School, Singapore: Tiarnan style.

Sometimes, my house is like a language school: the air is filled with the sounds of different languages, all competing for the attention of a baffled ear.

Such was it yesterday, but in a most entertaining way.

Tiarnan and Fintan had developed a different perspective over what should be the right name for various objects.

Fintan, four, pointed at a picture of a horse and said: "Horse."

Tiarnan, eighteen months, took exception to this: "Cuda!", he insisted, most fiercely in Malay.

Fintan didn't give up: "Horse." he repeated, again.

"Cuda!", shouted Tiarnan, with even more vigour, peering up at his towering brother, most indignantly.

Fintan evaluated the situation and said: "Cuda."

Tiarnan was pleased. His little tense body relaxed, letting his ire flow away. He had won, Malay it was to be.

Syahidah, their mother, had watched this scene unfold and, rather mischievously turned to Tiarnan and said: "Sit down."

This got him going. He flared up at once and turned on her: "Dudok!", he snapped, shouting the Malay for "sit down".

I found this interchange as informative as it was entertaining. Tiarnan is growing up bilingual in Malay and English. In this conversation, and in many others, he has shown a tendency to translate from one language to another, indeed, at times he seems an automatic translator. Given a word in one language, he will immediately give you the corresponding word in the other language. He is right everytime in his matching. What is revealing here, is that he has clearly developed a preference for Malay - and insists on defending his favoured language from the incursion of English (which he also speaks and understands anyway).

It might come down to the fact that his mother is Malay Singaporean and spends more time with him, than I am able to. Maybe he is, therefore, standing up for his mother. Sweet boy.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, eighteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and eight months, or Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Babelfish: page translation for you.

Scientific child prodigy is attracting many readers from non-English speaking countries. In the light of this I have added a translation engine to the page. Although, it will give a general sense of what I am writing, the translation will not be such as to render the meaning, exactly, if my trials are anything to go by. However, it may allow you to come to some understanding of the page, if English is not your strong point.

Please feel free to comment about your experiences with the translation engine. Is it useful? Should I keep the feature? Is the quality high enough to allow you to gather the basic meaning?

I would welcome your thoughts.

Meanwhile, wherever you come from, I hope you enjoy the blog. There is much to read - so happy reading!

Tiarnan interprets for daddy

The day before yesterday we were walking in a park-like area in the evening. The only available light was that thrown by nearby buildings across the darkened expanse of tree and grass.

Into this expanse, Tiarnan, fifteen months, who was walking beside us, pointed and said: "Tidur" (if I have the spelling right - I have mispelt it before as "tido").

I knew what that meant and I searched for the animal that it must have been referring to. Though I peered as intently as I might, I could see nothing in the gloom that might correspond to this "tidur".

"What is tidur?", I asked, Tiarnan, thinking another question to the one he logically answered.

He turned at once, in seeming exasperation, at me and said, sharply: "Sleeeeeeep!", in a tone that it made it most clear what he thought of my question: surely you know THAT one, daddy, he was essentially saying.

It was a revealing moment. It showed that he knew my language preference, knew which word to use with Daddy - which for others. It also showed his growing mastery of language - for him, the question had so obvious an answer that it exasperated him to hear it asked.

It was funny to see him take that stance and tone with me. Refreshing.

I never did get to see the sleeping animal he had pointed out: I think his night vision/visual perception must be better than mine.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan, fifteen months, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, seven years and five months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, child prodigy, intelligence, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults. Thanks.)

Oddities of Language: Chinese and English

I discovered something very strange today that, alone, might explain the low birth rate in China, if only they were better educated in English.

There is a phrase in Chinese "bei bi", which, as you probably noticed is pronounced in a very similar way to "baby" in English. There is one difference. In English the stress is on the first syllable; in Chinese it is stressed on the second. Now: why should I bother to post to you about this? Well, you see, there is something very odd in this coincidence of sound. The word "baby" on our tongue sounds like the word "bei bi" to a Chinese person - and what does it mean in Chinese? Well, one translation is "ignoble", another attempt at translation I have heard is "despicable".

I wonder what Mandarin speakers think, therefore, when Westerners use the word "ignoble" to describe their children. It is a funny world.

I could post on certain oddities I have noticed, in this part of the world, in addition to my mainstream on giftedness, prodigy and genius. If you found this comment interesting, please say so, so that I might choose to include observations I make on Asia, in future posts. Thanks very much.

Early bilingual speech: Tiarnan's translations

Two weeks ago, Tiarnan did something I have never heard of a baby doing.

He was then twelve months old. His mother, Syahidah, said to him: "kuching". He immediately said: "cat" - a translation of the Malay word into English. He is making explicit his awareness of the two languages - and stating that they share words with common meaning, though different sound.

He continued this new behaviour later in the day as I was putting him to sleep. I was carrying him up the stairs and I said "tido" to him. He immediately said: "bed". He said it in such a way that he seemed to be correcting me, for he knew that I didn't speak Malay, normally, so why was I using it on him now?

It was notable that the translation came immediately upon the utterance of the word: as if he were playing verbal ping pong - I say a word, he says the translation. It is clear that he is building two good representations of language, with hints at a third - but more of that another time.

(If you would like to read more of Tiarnan or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and two months, or Fintan, three, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, intelligence, IQ, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children, in general. Thanks.)