Listen & Learn Blog

Students trying to learn Chinese might be surprised to read this, but one man helped simplify the language by creating Pinyin.

Pinyin is the writing system that turns Chinese characters into words using the Roman alphabet; it’s been credited with improving the literacy rate in China as well as making it easier for people across the world to learn the language.

Zhou Youguang helped invent the system, but the 106 year old Beijing resident is not well known in his home country. After the second world war he became an economics professor in Shanghai before being invited to join a project looking at simplifying the Chinese language. He initially turned down this invitation but was persuaded and spent three years developing pinyin along with colleagues.

To read more about Mr Youguang, read the full article at BBC News. What an incredible man.

The ampersand  is a thing of beauty, a very useable symbol found everywhere from signs to handwritten notes.

It also has a long history, which is celebrated in this infographic created by Six Revisions. I had no idea it dates back to 63 BC!

An interesting article at The Atlantic explores the beauty of rare alphabets.

A Vermont-based writer has been documenting our alphabet heritage through wood carvings as part of his Endangered Alphabets Project. Tim Brookes exhibits the wood carvings and has written a book with an introduction by the linguist David Crystal.

Edward Tenner writes in The Atlantic:

My favorite from Mr. Brookes’ book, though, is Mandaic, spoken by only a hundred or so survivors of an ancient people and faith, the only language written so that even in handwriting all lines are equal. Mandeans also may be unique in believing their language was created by God before humanity itself, and highly developed letter mysticism is at the core of their religion.

The Endangered Alphabets project is not just about language or typography but about the unique insights into humanity and world that obscure scripts preserve. (Source: The Atlantic)

Take a look at the article to see a slideshow of some scripts, and at the Endangered Alphabets Project website for more information.

Indiana has become the latest state to drop the requirement for children to learn joined-up (cursive) handwriting.

The new Common Core State Standards Initiative does not require cursive, and around forty states have so far signed up to it. Some states, including Massachusetts and California, have re-included cursive as is allowed by the Standards.

Indiana will instead focus on children learning typing skills, which education officials say are more useful for the employment world.

Many schools have said there simply is not enough time in the term to teach children both.

Dr Scott Hamilton, an Indiana clinical psychologist, said the time children spend labouring over script could be better used.

“From an intuitive standpoint, this makes sense, based on the increasingly digital world into which this generation of children is growing up,” he said.

Denna Renbarger, an education official in Lawrence Township, Indiana, said there were many more important things for students to be learning at school

“I think it’s progressive of our state to be ahead on this,” she told the Indianapolis Star. (Source: BBC News)

The decision is contentious, with some parents, psychologists and educators arguing that there is more to handwriting than being able to write quickly.

“The fluidity of cursive allows for gains in spelling and a better tie to what they are reading and comprehending through stories and through literature,” Paul Sullivan, head teacher of a school in California, told CNN.

“I think there’s a firmer connection of wiring between the brain’s processes of learning these skills and the actual practice of writing.”

What do you think? Should children still be learning cursive?

Are you interested in the many different writing systems of the world? Then this post is for you!

Scriptsource is “a dynamic, collaborative reference to the writing systems of the world, with detailed information on scripts, characters, languages – and the remaining needs for supporting them in the computing realm”. The homepage has links to featured scripts and writing systems, as well as the opportunity to learn about a language and find a character.

Today’s featured character is shown in the picture to the left. It is the “Latin Small Letter Eng”, used in African languages such as Masai and European language like Northern Sami, as well as Finnish (when written with a Latin script). Read more about the character here.

Scriptsource needs collaborators to help them grow the website; if you’re interested take a look!