(no subject)
This semester I'm taking a linguistics course, LING 101: Languages of the World. It's not what I was expecting--I thought we'd be learning about how different languages are related and the history of languages, I suppose--but I am enjoying the class, and learning a lot. We're learning IPA, which I find quite interesting, as I never knew how to pronounce the various symbols. We have weekly assignments and tutorials, and some of the work we have to do is transcribe English words into IPA. Sometimes it can be quite tricky, and transcribing into IPA is like writing in a completely different language. For example, here is a sentence in IPA that I had to transcribe from English:
/ ðə igəl sæt ɪn ðə tɹi /
Maybe I should write future LJ entries in IPA!
The other day, my TA asked if I was thinking of getting a degree in linguistics, and I said no, and asked her why. She said it's because I am very enthusiastic about the course. I totally love learning this stuff, and I am taking this course purely out of interest's sake; I don't need more lower level electives. Even though I don't need more electives and taking anything extra is a "waste of money", I am hoping to take at least another linguistics course, as I have always wanted to know more about the subject. Another course I am thinking of taking is an intro Latin course. Next year, I will only have three courses that I need to take in order to complete my degree--two lab courses and an upper level MICB course. Student loans won't give me any money if I am only taking one or two classes a semester, so I need to fill up my timetable. However, I don't want to take any difficult courses and lower my already low GPA and stress myself out, so I might as well do "easy" courses. Well, I love words and I love science, so Latin seems like a good choice.
/ ðə igəl sæt ɪn ðə tɹi /
Maybe I should write future LJ entries in IPA!
The other day, my TA asked if I was thinking of getting a degree in linguistics, and I said no, and asked her why. She said it's because I am very enthusiastic about the course. I totally love learning this stuff, and I am taking this course purely out of interest's sake; I don't need more lower level electives. Even though I don't need more electives and taking anything extra is a "waste of money", I am hoping to take at least another linguistics course, as I have always wanted to know more about the subject. Another course I am thinking of taking is an intro Latin course. Next year, I will only have three courses that I need to take in order to complete my degree--two lab courses and an upper level MICB course. Student loans won't give me any money if I am only taking one or two classes a semester, so I need to fill up my timetable. However, I don't want to take any difficult courses and lower my already low GPA and stress myself out, so I might as well do "easy" courses. Well, I love words and I love science, so Latin seems like a good choice.