Comments on: Latest Learn Chinese Auctions

By: DoubleDozen1221

DoubleDozen1221 — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:07:49 +0000

Showplace Antique & Design Center to hold on-line auction Dec. 29: NEW YORK – Auctions by Showplace Antique & De…

By: Acumensch

Acumensch — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 04:43:06 +0000

What's the phenomenological account? The way I was talking about definitions is actually the way Derrida talks about it. When we use words we're using signifiers, which ultimately 'refer' to other signifiers. There is no connection to the world because language doesn't hold the world. The world is arbitrary. The “referent” is always just another signifier… ad infinitum. Until eventually you accumulate enough signs that are basically saying “I'm not this; I'm much more like this” and soon you approach an understanding of where the sign falls in relation to other signs.Searle seems to have a linguistic theory where the only the way the human could learn Chinese is by using it to describe the world. That seems arbitrary. The guy could learn Chinese by associating it with other signifiers, ex.g. the English ones.Derrida gets his ideas from de Saussure, the French linguist.

By: 'Zilla

'Zilla — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:33:31 +0000

Segue – My high school French teacher was a native of Germany.

German is actually a very fun language, moreso than French. I consider no language to be useless as the more languages one speaks, the more people one is able to communicate with.

I've heard that Chicago business people are encouraging their children to learn Chinese (probably Mandarin?) because there is money to be made in China.