Chinese Renminbi undergoes rapid devaluation

Today, 12/5/2016, over the course of approximately 3 hours, from EST 11:40 a.m. to 2:50 p.m., the Chinese Renminbi (RMB) underwent a rapid devaluation rising from ¥6.88 to ¥7.48 against the US dollar, a loss of just under 8%. This represents a 9-year low for the Chinese yuan, and a precipitous fall amidst an already downward trend in value after a peak in value at just over ¥6.0 in 2014. Such a marked loss could spell trouble for investors.

A marked fluctuation of this degree could lead to trouble in a market that has already been rocked this year with instability due to populist-driven events, namely the vote for the Brexit and the US presidential election. This would not be the first time that the Chinese government has devalued the Renminbi unannounced, as it did on August 11, 2015, but, given the events of the last six months, one must question the rationale for the timing of such a devaluation if it was indeed planned. In the past, the Chinese government has been accused by the West of purposefully weakening its currency. Such actions are seen as an effort to maintain a competitive edge in the global marketplace as Chinese wages continue to rise.

Note: XE has now confirmed that this is not an error.

What kinds of sources do foreign languages put at your fingertips? – An untold secret of language learning

This seems like such a simple question, but upon closer inspection the answer is indeed more nuanced than one first realizes. Of course there are the more obvious answers, such as print and visual media, (i.e. novels, newspapers, television, and film, etc.) on the other hand one also gains access to the internet, which grants access to the opinions of native speakers, as well as direct contact with them and their interests, such as via forums/BBS. What you also gain access to though, is the ways in which other nation's language and peoples view the world. For example, different cultures have different perspectives on the use of food. A number of cultures view food as medicine, the Chinese are one example of this, but the ancient Greeks are yet another. Considering various perspectives helps one to better the fundamental truth of a subject. Learning a new language, thus possesses the potential to change your very perspective of the world. Indeed so simple an activity affords you access to opportunities and experiences that you would not otherwise have been able to access on your own. In this way the scope of your being is extended beyond its inherent limitations. This is why I have chosen to focus on something so simple as food culture thus far with this blog. Food is something that we all enjoy on a daily basis. It is my hope that but one person comes to understand that there is a different perspective that they can use to approach food, then maybe they will realize that there is greater value to be found in language learning than they may have previously thought.

It is only through language learning that one gains true access to the wealth of information that speakers of a particular language produce everyday. The internet has given us access to newfound sources of information. Now we must come to understand how to fully make use of these sources. Language learning can be that medium. My hope is that it will prove to be an enjoyable one that opens your eyes, helping you to lead a fuller life.

REsisting the temptation

A short blog today, something that I will continue next time: there are two mires that truly exist for language learning: first, getting spread too thin and, second, not seeing a way out of the plateau that you are in.

Once you learn enough languages, your experience will help you to begin to pick new languages apart analytically, even as you are listening to them for the first time. The problem here is that you must learn to resist the urge to spread yourself too thin. It can become all too tempting to start to study another language, even when you haven't finished the previous one that you were working on. You have to develop the mental fortitude to continue with your primary language of study.

I would, thus, strongly advise against taking on more than one and, at most, two languages at a time.

The more you spread your focus, the slower your progress will go in any of the languages that you are studying, and you may stop making real progress in your main language(s) all together – if you're not careful. So, in other words, it will be better to focus on one or two languages at a time than any more than that, solely because you should get a language to a good comfortable level where you have covered/assimilated most of the grammar and have a good foundation in the core vocabulary of the language, so that you then just need to slowly creep your way upwards to ever higher plateaus.

Next time, I'm going to go into this in greater detail and I will let you in on some good secrets as to how to get out of these mires than can prove surprisingly formidable opponents to your language mastery.

Why would I want to look at rice recipes?!

So, for those of you that have checked out my post on how Brazilians make rice, (for those of you that haven’t, here’s the link: Click here to learn how to make rice like a Brazilian) you may be wondering how that article fits into the overall corpus of this website. I will put it quite simply, if I were not able to understand Portuguese, then it would have been quite difficult indeed for me to ever even have accessed that recipe to begin with, let alone understand it. I probably never would have thought about this topic of different ways to cook rice other than what I grew up with. Thus, my world is rendered larger, more diverse just because I am able to access a different perspective on rice cooking. Maybe it will become my favorite way to eat rice, who knows! I will say that purple rice from Taiwan is one of my favorite ways to eat rice. I would never have known that if I weren't able to speak Mandarin. (purple rice article coming soon -- It's delicious!) 

Monolingual speakers truly constrict their worldview by limiting themselves to only one language. Think about it like this: native speakers of a language other than English. If they don't ever learn English or don't learn English well – as most learners of a foreign language unfortunately are wont to do – then they may very well never gain access to the incredible plethora of books and media that are available in English. English has more books, articles, and media written or translated to it than any other language, but that's not to discount the great wealth of resources that other languages have and that never get translated to English. Furthermore, translations are useful, but they are certainly not a replacement for understanding the beauty and logic of the work as rendered in its original language.

 Additionally, the crux of the issue for you language learners out there is the fact that you need to stay cognizant of the fact that learning all the grammar and searching out speaking practice is a great basis, but you need to seek out other avenues to expand your exposure to the language – reading is a great way to do that. Even if it is just reading recipes, you are still expanding your ability to communicate in the target language. Hopefully, you enjoy the experience and the exposure to another culture’s viewpoint on whatever the topic may be, as well. This exposure to other viewpoints is one of the primary goals of higher education and I highly recommend that you take listening to and seriously considering alternative viewpoints, even if they are critical of you or your country. Who knows, you may gain a better understanding of the way the world actually is. There are stories of many a person going to doctor after doctor in the US, never finding a solution to their problem, then going to a doctor in China, and having their problem finally cured. Keep your eyes and mind open and you will learn things that you never knew. It may help you to remember that even if a culture seems like it has no value to you, every culture has to have at least one thing positive about it, maybe you aren't looking hard enough. Different cultures have different emphases that they place, but most are united by some key foci, such as on health, just because they have a different perspective on said foci doesn't mean that their perspective doesn't have logic behind it, and it also doesn't mean that it isn't worth consideration. The world is not black and white, but rather shades of grey. 

There are other countries in the world, and just as their peoples have different cultures from one another do they have differing viewpoints on a plethora of issues. Language is your primary key to accessing this. Also, keep in mind that there are other countries that speak your target language other than the largest or most important globally or economically. So, for example, do remember that just because Angola is smaller, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t possess viewpoints, points of cultural interest, etc. that could be just as or more important than a country like Brazil. Developed country or not, I hope that you will endeavor to expand your knowledge of the world and its cultures so that you can live a fuller, more diverse life. Keep challenging yourself, even if it’s just with a recipe, article or short paragraph , take what you can from it, make flashcards using an SRS program out of what you take away from it, study, and attempt to use the vocabulary so that it becomes not only a part of your passive vocabulary, but part of your active vocabulary as well. I want to put particular emphasis on the last segment of that sentence, for it is your active vocabulary that most expands your communicative ability. Yes, passive vocabulary allows you to understand, and circumlocuting is a useful tool for every language learner, but your ultimate goal should be the expansion of your active vocabulary.

Stay well and healthy, and keep learning,

Evren

A note on the empirical value of my preparation for the Brazilian rice post:

While preparing for the Brazilian rice recipe post, I read a number of recipes, collated their ingredients, and I watched videos. Put another way, I reviewed material, looked up words that I didn’t know, then read through more material using that new vocabulary, and then watched and listened to videos of Brazilians demonstrating how they cook rice. As a result, I not only expanded my passive vocabulary and practiced my recognition of said passive vocabulary, but I improved upon my listening ability as well.

Languages don't work how most people think AKA how I learned how to say farm in Chinese. [Chinese]

Most people seem to think in a way that is confined to the natural mode of thought that corresponds to their own language. That's understanding. People tend to work within the paradigm, or framework, of their own experience. They expect languages to work like their own does. Most people, after all, don't learn a foreign language. The following is a pertinent example of the reality of language learning.

Every single time that I have tried to say farm in Chinese, I felt like it was off. I was always saying 田地 tian2di4. Now, the thing is, farmer is 農民 nong2min2 or 農人 nong2ren2, which is related to agriculture 農業 nong2 ye4. Additionally, 農地, has the same final character 地 di4 - land - as in the way that I was saying farm, means farmland. The character that farmer, farmland and agriculture have in common is the first one 農 nong2, which means agriculture or farming. Characters aren't typically used by themselves in modern Chinese by the way. So, that's a bunch of words related together.

Finally though, I did the smart thing - I asked. 田地 tian2di4 does mean farm, but in the western sense, because in the west, our farms can have animals. In China, they separate the two. The Chinese farm is called 農場 nong2chang3, the same first character as agriculture/farming/farmer/farmland and the place that you put animals is called a 牧場 mu4chang3 - pasture/pastureland.

So, even though it turns out I was right, I was only right by accident.

The point of all this is that different languages can have different ways to approach things. The more specific a language is in meaning, the more analytical is said to be in the field of linguistics. That means that while there is one way to say farm in English, you could say that there are at least 3 ways to do so in Chinese because they distinguish in different ways. This point about the analytic quality of languages is an interesting one, but it isn't actually what I am trying to get at here. Rather, the point is that things do not necessarily translate one to one. You can't just say how do you say X in Y language. There may be different ways to express that one word in the other language. This is could be representative of a different way of looking at things, the analytic quality of a language or both.

To clear up the confusion that I have now created, I give you another example: You can galvanize a crowd and you can galvanize metal. In Chinese, these are two different verbs - 刺激 ci4ji1 and 鍍鋅 du4xin1. They mean, respectively and literally, to stimulate to excitement and to plate (w/) zinc. Another example, this time from Spanish, would be 'galvanizar' for to galvanize a crowd and the metal and 'mover' for to galvanize someone to action.

As you can see, languages can be complicated. So, when learning languages, I recommend that you really think hard about what I have said here. Learn from this so that you can learn better when you are learning whatever language it is that you are currently working on. Try not to get disheartened, I guarantee you that this is actually something that makes languages amazing and it will open up your eyes to new perspectives...if you pay enough attention.

Until next time, stay vigilant and diligent.

Evren

How to cook rice like in Brazil, is it the same as in other Latin American countries? Nope. [Brazilian Rice recipe] [Portuguese]

NOTE: My discussion about this dish and context is provided, for sake of cooking convenience, after the recipe.
Also, randomly, check these out, I think they're really cool, they seem to be in vogue now, and make good gifts: Thing 1 and Thing 2

Brazilian White Rice
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
 
Ingredients:
1 cup white rice
2 cups boiling water
1 clove of garlic mashed
1/4 chopped large onion (red works, you can use others) (OPTIONAL)
1/2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
salt to taste

Preparation:
0) wash the rice, then leave it in the colander to make sure that the water is as dry as possible.

1) a) Saute it in oil on medium heat in oil the garlic. Let it start to brown. (~30 seconds to 1 minute) Note: Some people may add about 2 tsps of salt now and stir it around with the garlic. Others will do it later when they add the water. See what you like best.

b)If you added onion, saute the onion in oil on low heat until it starts to become transparent, then turn up the heat to medium, adding the garlic. Let it start to brown. (~30 seconds)
Note: Some people may add the salt in now and stir it around with the garlic. Others will do it later when they add the water. See what you like best.

2) Add the rice and let it fry for 30 seconds.

3) Add boiling water and salt. (Your goal with the salt should be to make the water begin to taste salty, this way the rice should be salted enough for the cooking process)

4) Set the heat on low and let it cook until the water is almost dried up.

5) Cover the pot and wait for 20 minutes before serving.

Note: If you want to make more, just increase the proportions, primarily that of the water.


Rice, that white grain with little flavor that serves as the basis of most of the world is boring, right?? I would contend it's not at all. It's a great flavor medium that helps fill you up. What does this mean? This means that you can eat it with things that sauces and gravies. For example, combine it with Japanese curry. Rice tastes great smothered in curry. What's more it's versatile in its usages. You can eat it plain, with butter, in fried rice--the list goes on. Each country has their own approach and for plain, white rice, there usually seems to exist a general preparation method that you'll find accepted as the correct way to cook rice. People can get extremely particular about their rice. The Chinese like it plain or as zhou/congee--a rice porridge. Porridge isn't for everyone though.

Today, we're going to talk about how Brazilians like their rice. If I weren't able to speak Portuguese, it would be quite a bit more difficult for me to get this recipe. This is one of the good things about language learning. At it's most fundamental level, languages are learned to gain access to a cultural sphere. Some people access that cultural sphere so that they can gain familiarity with the culture that they can leverage in their professional career or for prestige. I would argue that regardless of your goal, learning about a culture is part of language learning and should be the ultimate goal as it will provide you with a more fulfilling life by opening you up to new experiences, opportunities and possibilities. Charlemagne, in a sense put it best with this quotation:

"To have another language is to possess a second soul."

To put it another way:

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way."
‒Frank Smith

The limits of your experiences and possibilities expand with each language that you learn.

This recipe today allows you access to another way of making something that you may have taken for granted, what's more it is the basis of a diet in Brazil. A country that while traditionally not affluent, has been on the rise. It is part of the BRICS nations and it will be interesting to see not only how rice evolves within that context, but also how the Brazilians' culinary interests do or do not shift in the coming decades. For now, white rice is here to stay for Brazilians and, I hope, that you will give this recipe a try, eat it alongside a meat, beans and a vegetable dish and/or salad.  In the coming posts, we will look at some other fundamental elements of Brazilian cuisine, how rice is incorporated in or eaten with these other elements. Finally, we will also look at the use of rice in other cuisines to see other ways that other peoples approach this deceptively simple dish.

Let me know by leaving a comment about what you think of any of the following: this recipe, Brazil, Brazilian food, etc! Also, feel free to make suggestions as to recipes that you're interested in, I may just do them next! 

Alternative Music - (French/Creole Music) - Zouk: A Historical Trajectory AKA how I discovered Zouk [French/Creole]

Salut! (Hello in French)

For as long as I can remember I have been an avid lover of alternative music. By alternative music, I mean music that is not linguistically mainstream, music that you don't hear people talk about. I must profess that I never actually thought of it like this until just now. Why? Because I only ever thought of it as getting to know and better understand the culture in question. Music is a path to the soul and rhythm - the heartbeat of a culture. It is also an important way to enjoy and practice the language. It can be very useful for listening practice. Music videos can help you to better understand the conditions and realities of a country, despite how much the presentation may be cleaned up for the purposes of the video.

Anyways, without further ado, on to a story about how I discovered Zouk:
One day a couple of years ago, I came to the realization that I have heard music of this variety in numerous languages and from even more cultures, but I don't know what is out there in French. What do people from Africa listen to? What music do people from the French-speaking Caribbean listen to? I know the answer to that last question for the English- and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean. I have found some answers to that question since, but I have definitely not finished that quest.

That quest has led me to Zouk though. Zouk is a genre of music originating in the French-speaking Caribbean, it appears to be an attempt to move away from Meringue and Compas/Kompas and towards a more locally originated form.

Dry historic narrative aside, I want to provide you, the reader, with some real historic context:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vv1wxZAR1k

This song is in Antillean Creole - which is créole antillais in French and probably something like kreyòl antilla (?) in Antillean Creole - and it seems to have found a special place in the hearts of those of the French-speaking Caribbean. It is a classic that is still played at parties even now. It's unique style draws you in - or, at least, it did with me. I hope you like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_OIoTsK3ww

Here is a more recent song, from what I believe to be the same genre. Hopefully as you listen to the music, this will help you to understand the historic trajectory that forms across the decades between these two songs. This song is certainly more understandable than the first for French speakers. Try to pay attention to how the style of music is different between the two and, also, watch the video and pay attention to the presentation of the local culture, locales, styles of dress and dance as you watch the music video. What country might this be from? What do you think they are trying to portray in the video given the choice of locale? Why are they performing the actions that they are in the video?

This last part with the questions is a thought experiment. Try to think it over for yourself first what you think the answers to those questions might be, then see if you can find out.

As a bonus, here is a modern sample of one of the genres that Zouk was attempting to replace ever since its inception - Compas/Kompas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LR_dnUNjIU I recommend you, at the very least, listen to the first song.

Cheers,
Evren