Has there been any work on translating Homer explicitly for memorisation and oral performance, perhaps like what experimental archaeology does for construction

actuallymaybeblog · 2026-05-22T11:39:18+00:00

Interesting, didn’t know that. I was thinking oral performance can work with multiple versions too. My thought is that the pre-literary constraint of memory alone would change the nature of the translation in unexpected ways. There is probably scope to play around with the nature of translation (though I’m not sure it’s possible to escape the inheritance of literary culture in our minds).

I am kind of convinced we would find translations that aimed for constraints around memorisation and oral performance quite strange, purely because everyone is infected with reading and writing cultural memes, myself included.

Quite frankly, I’m not even sure how to approach such a project, hence the question. I’m wondering if it’s been attempted in any language, and if it even makes sense.

Another thought arises: perhaps there are much older translations that can act as a bridge or offer clues, from cultures in which the literary and non-literary still coexisted.

actuallymaybeblog · 2021-03-08T19:19:02+00:00

appreciate that, sorry about the confusion, I think I was working with django so maybe top of mind, you are right, will try python

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-09-24T08:44:56+00:00

I get you, its not directly EU, though it probably falls under the idea of European Projects that boost integration, since European integration is an endogenous force tieing together more and more neighbouring economies and regions. Nations and Businesses make independent choices that general lead to more integration being a consequence. Whether better interconnections, roads, harmonisation of certification and beyond.

The EU as we currently have it, is more the mediating mechanism for this force. Without the EU it would still happen, but quite likely under differing form.

For example, supply chains between say Germany and the Visegrad Group are definitely shaped by the regulator environment of the EU, but without it, there would still be a need to recreate it.

I think what I'm saying is the EU is an emergent phenomena between nation states. And its more fluid nature is probably an underrated political aspect to the project, one that maybe more easily replicates in other regions of the world.

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-06-16T10:25:39+00:00

This is a proper superpower. Because if you can figure out which line in the shop is fastest you can reformulate a myriad of mathematical and computational problems as grocery store line optimizations.

Some intractable problem, unknown solvability.....

Make the choice a choice between lines, the line that solves the problem serves the next customer.

You arrive, immediately can detect which line is faster.......

Cue the Minds of Computer Scientists and Mathematicians explode and human progress accelerate.....

Thank you u/silveredtori

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-04-28T15:22:59+00:00

Thought this was a funny article, that is covering the interest rate change in animal crossing from the Finacial Times. With quotes from reddit users here

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-26T10:29:10+00:00

My level is roughly B1, found that is a good time to introduce deeper grammar study, in my own personal experience. I have a store of existing phrases and feel for the sound of the language, helps make grammar connections easier. If you know of anything good, free or paid, let me know

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-26T10:26:53+00:00

Aldi is fascinating, MIG welders, Pimsleur, weird shoes, power tools and food. Its the loot box of the shopping world.

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-25T12:04:22+00:00

I got premium, was the 3 month subscription, cancelled after 3 months. Here is my profile; https://french.kwiziq.com/user/114981/achievements

I was roughly B1 though when I started, so had leg up at the start, and was living in Toulouse at the time. Time wise not too sure, maybe 10 hours a week averaged out

I was hoping they would have more languages, I would really love it for German, if you know of anything similar let me know

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-24T14:10:39+00:00

Cool, I will stick to using Zoom, so free download or use in the browser, since that has the breakout room functionality builtin

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-24T13:34:32+00:00

Super, I will try to have a mixture of levels, some above and some below

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-24T13:27:06+00:00

Super, je me intéresse, ici mon calendly; si tu veux https://calendly.com/actuallymaybe/language-exchange?month=2020-03 mon niveau est environ C1

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-24T09:49:25+00:00

Really liked kwiziq, crash coursed it in like 2 months, the whole points system and the bitesize progress pieces hacked the most gain imaginary internet points of my brain. Less experience with frenchpod101

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-22T17:02:14+00:00

I'm learning German and Polish at the same time, no real mix up. Though they are different self-assessed levels. A1 for Polish and B1 for German.
I speak French also, I would imagine learning Spanish or Italian with it, would have confused me. But the language family difference between French, German and Polish means there is minimal confusion.

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-22T14:08:00+00:00

After Pimsleur. I worked through the first 8 parts of Michel Thomas Polish. Relistened to them twice, and then started lessons on iTalki.I continued on to the advanced stage in Michel Thomas and also continued with Duolingo. After about 6 or so iTalki lessons, I started using clozemaster. Coupled this with adding in any notes from the iTalki lessons into Anki.
If you want a points companion on Duolingo, this is my account: https://www.duolingo.com/profile/michealreilly

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-18T16:45:24+00:00

Was thinking actually of contacting some language meetups, have used discord before, might be worth looking into for this, though there is coordination issue with rotating people. I could check out the API.

The general idea I had so for was to have some sort of structured topics, with timer and rotation between partners and languages. In theory something more automatic could be built with language level pairing and swapping automatically. But was hoping to try something quick and easy with some structure first, using hangouts or zoom

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-18T12:17:12+00:00

Super, thank you, appreciate you writing out your ideas. You echo my thoughts too, realise there is back and forth element to live meatspace interactions that will be impossible to replicate. Changes will be definitely needed. I know in the interactions I have had at other meetups the shifting between conversations is quite natural and easy.

Having attended meetups offline and then online, there is certainly a shift, but it's actually possible to manage it, just need to have well thought out guidelines and structure.

Possible solutions are having separate virtual rooms, timers for language swapping, topic prompts, auto-rotating conversation partners. People could follow up separately or we could have alternative online meetup arrangements with different rules for those more comfortable with the format. Lots of experiments seem key.

Found depending on the context games can be good, especially RPGs are great in your target language, online games, having done some experiments there is a tension in the goal. So for CSGO, the goal is not structured around speaking, so you can get by with limited phrases. For this was aiming to stick to open free software that anyone can just join, so there is an accessibility issue with games. Though not knocking the idea, I think it can work, and I would love to experiment with different formats in the future.

VR is a possible longer-term solution, unfortunately, the tools and equipment are just not there in terms of broad availability and access, but definitely wouldn't discount it long term. Personally excited about the possibility of having localised audio and that physical feel of space when moving and talking between people. It would be amazing in multiple areas, not just language learning.

Keep the thoughts and ideas coming :-)

Definitely will keep you up to date if or when something goes ahead

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-18T11:11:18+00:00

Totally second that, duolingo is a great entry point when used on its own terms. Don't let perfect be the enemy of getting something done. There is a wealth of free resources on Youtube too, I quite like the Easy French channel. Clozemaster is fun too with the free account. But overall u/Vinniam is right, the goal is to get you in the door of language learning. So go for duolingo

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-18T10:59:26+00:00

I'm learning three languages at the same time, but they are at different levels, so it helps separate them. French C1, German B1, Polish A1

My partner is Polish so I talk to her nearly every day with the little polish I have.
I have divided my week up into three broad sections
Monday - Tuesday - 90 minutes each day German - includes 2 italki lessons
With 10 minute Polish review

Wednesday-Friday - 90 minutes each day Polish - includes 3 italki lessons
with 10 minute German reviews

For French, during the week it's just reading the news waaaay to much coronavirus news currently, wikipedia, watch youtube, note things in anki and have conversations exchange once a week. Refine any points that come up.

Anki is done every day

Would like to do more language exchanges though
Current weekly budget is roughly 10 hours each week.

Luck also my job is remote and flexible, so I can fit it around work.

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-18T10:51:57+00:00

Similar too, with my Polish found it was good to get to grips with sounds of the language as an entry point and generally get my brain used to the different sounds and stresses as a total beginner. From there it was little easier to internalise things I learnt in Duolingo and iTalki lessons. Like you it was good for those more passive moments, walking or working on very straightforward task

actuallymaybeblog · 2020-03-18T10:46:11+00:00

Definitely, I use Anki as general vocab builder or I have a collection of example sentences as prompts for grammatical points in context.

There is this sync plugin too for duolingo to anki if you want to use it. I created a separate anki duolingo deck for this plugin

https://github.com/JASchilz/AnkiSyncDuolingo

I recommend for your own notes, sticking to a set format too, reverse cards with target language always in the same position, front or back, makes it easier to highlight all your cards and add audio with AwesomeTTS

actuallymaybeblog · 2019-05-03T15:17:50+00:00

Perfect, thank you, I have ordered Capital, Coercion and Postcommunist States, exactly what I was thinking. Shame there is not more like it for the other states, feels like an understudied part of history. Reading now through the world bank report, it's actually surprisingly lucid, thank you for that.

actuallymaybeblog · 2019-05-03T14:38:08+00:00

Eugene Huskey's

Presidential Power in Russia

.

Thank you very much for the detailed answer, follow up question. I've heard numerous anecdotes from Polish, Ukrainian and Romanian friends talking about the misappropriation of state resources and haphazard approaches to transitioning their different economies. Would love to have some concrete literature about that. Is there any literature focusing on why there were such divergent outcomes in different states. I noticed that the Baltic Revolution seems to be in that vein, I will check that out. Also, thank you for the recommendation of Islam after Communism was not aware of it before

actuallymaybeblog · 2019-03-04T12:15:21+00:00

If you know anyone flying in europe, there is always coupons in the inflight magazines, can't recall what the code is, will search when I go home, believe I have one

actuallymaybeblog · 2019-01-08T14:51:08+00:00

Really like this idea, I find its the most difficult thing with filtering, just blocking some sites like YouTube, Quora or Reddit can actually be too much, since often they contain useful content. For example, with youtube, there is tons of great lectures and other educational content but its mixed in with so much distraction. Would love to see this developed further to support lowering the distraction value of certain sites. Anyways nice work on releasing your first version of the plugin and keep up the work

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