Language

I have been interested in the study of universal language. That includes the unspoken language between humans, and between humans and non-humans. The one that interests me most has to do with music. Music crosses all lines, all countries, all cultures. Sometimes I think when God made us, he put “the beat” into our souls. I have yet to meet a hearing human being that did not respond to the sound or the beat of all different kinds of music. Try this experiment. Go some place where you know nobody - if it cannot be another country or somewhere another language is spoken, then just go away from home and turn on some music.

For nearly a decade, Ellen Stamps traveled the world, hopping from country to country, serving the Lord and teaching. In her wildest dreams she said never imagined her travels would lead her the community of Wilmore, and there she'd pioneer Back Porch Art -  a weekly session where children from all different nationalities could meet, play and learn together. “Life is really amazing, where it will take us,” Ellen Stamps said. “It brought me here, where I'm suppose to be now.” What surprised her even more is that all her globe trotting would maker her the perfect role model for the children in the community of Kalas Village.

Speech-language pathologists are in the business of helping students understand and use language in their daily lives. Those of us who work in public schools are focused on language needed in the school setting. Many of our students need help developing oral language skills. A fun approach to language learning uses books. "Books Are for Talking, Too," the title of an instructional resource on my shelf, sums up this idea. Reading aloud and sharing in the magic of a book is a treasured experience.

Centre College alumna Terena Bell was the subject of a May 28 profile by Louisville Courier-Journal business reporter Bill Wolfe. The story, titled "Love of language translates to success," tells how Bell's passion for language, which had its genesis while she was studying abroad at Centre College, led her to start a translating and interpreting company called In Every Language. Bell, a 1999 Centre graduate, recalls that her time spent with the Centre-in-Strasbourg program in 1997 was a transformative experience.

You may have seen the stickers or license plates that look like puzzle pieces. Those are called Autism Awareness Puzzles and the purpose is to encourage the community to learn more about autism and show support.  Autism prevalence is now one in every 88 children in America. There is no known single cause for autism, but various researchers have their theories… Some believe autism has genetic causes, some believe it is various substances a mother may take in during pregnancy and some believe there are environmental factors that play a part in the risk.  The characteristic behaviors of autism spectrum disorders may or may not be apparent in infancy (18 to 24 months)

HARRODSBURG - When starting your own business, the experts always advise that you should do something you know and love. And that's exactly what Mercer County residents Terry and Sylvie Gadness have done. Over the past 15 years, the couple have built a business that involves a network of language translators offering more than 60 European, African and Asian tongues. It all started when Sylvie, who was born to French parents and was educated in France, saw a translation agency listed in an 800-number telephone directory.

Dear Editor, This morning I needed cough drops and stopped at a local gas station to purchase them. I found that the store had only one brand name, which was fine. However, when I looked from one box to the next I found that I was unable to read either the main portion or the ingredients portion of the label. I looked from one to the next, and every box and package was in Spanish only. Please forgive me for being insensitive, but when did our national language change?

WASHINGTON - Regular readers of this column will know that I am suspicious of cyberspace innovations - from Facebook to MySpace to Second Life - that substitute the accumulation of "friends" for actual friendship, and exhibitionism for genuine intimacy. So the related phenomenon of "texting" (a word officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary as of June 15, 2006, but still unknown to my spell-checker) would seem to deserve the harsh glare of conservative moral scrutiny. Texting, for those stubborn few who still use their cell phones for talking, is a form of immediate, shorthand communication that has broken out among the young with the speed and resilience of acne.

When I was a little girl, I dreamed of changing the world. Back then, I thought that famous people were the only ones who could do that. I was sure I could make a difference, if and when I received my first standing ovation. How wrong I was. I'm discovering that it is the small things that never make it to the limelight that are really impacting the world. I have a Christmas card hanging on my refrigerator and every time I look at it, my heart wells up with joy. I am reminded of one of the most awesome things that I have ever been a part of. A few years back I met a young girl who was getting pretty beat up by life.

Last year at the annual convention of the Kentucky chapter of the Spanish Honor Society, sophomore Jacob Dorrell turned to his Spanish teacher, Terry Goodlett, and said he believed he would assume the top post of the chapter in 2011, which would make Jessamine County host the convention in 2012. “He looked at me, and he said, ‘I’m going to be president; I’m running next year; we will be hosting the convention in two years,’” Goodlett said. “He just flat-out told me that.

Kentucky coach John Calipari took time Monday during his satellite camp at Boyle County High School to talk to the parents and other adults in the audience about body language and what it can say about young players, using his son, Brad, as an example. “My son's 16 years old, he's a good kid, a good student. But we all think they know, and they really don't until they get in situations,” he said. “With my son, I watch him one day, this is about three weeks ago. He sleeps over with a friend, it's a 9 o'clock in the morning game, he didn't sleep, and he's got, like, an attitude and a body language on the court.

I have been interested in the study of universal language. That includes the unspoken language between humans, and between humans and non-humans. The one that interests me most has to do with music. Music crosses all lines, all countries, all cultures. Sometimes I think when God made us, he put “the beat” into our souls. I have yet to meet a hearing human being that did not respond to the sound or the beat of all different kinds of music. Try this experiment. Go some place where you know nobody - if it cannot be another country or somewhere another language is spoken, then just go away from home and turn on some music.

There are too dang many words in the English language. And every year the new editions of dictionaries add new ones. Of course, it's somewhat understandable that new words get coined in the fields of technology because of new discoveries each year and some word has to be developed for whatever new doodad has been found. But there are new words coined each year that don't need to be added to the vocabulary. English is hard enough as it is without constantly adding more stuff to it. Many linguists opine that English is the most difficult language of all to learn.

“I'm not proposing anything radical here,” President Obama said on July 9. “I just believe that anybody making over $250,000 a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under Bill Clinton.” Mitt Romney thinks otherwise: “This will be another kick in the gut to the middle class in America.” And so the fight is on again, just as in 2010. That was the year the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 were, by law, set to expire. Obama and the Democrats wanted to keep the Bush tax rates for most taxpayers while raising them only for couples with incomes over $250,000 and individuals over $200,000.

About 500 Boyle County students will take advantage of the district's first Mandarin Chinese classes when school resumes Aug. 14. Samuel Tan and Nears Chen, fellows with the Confucius Institute at Western Kentucky University,  will teach their native language in classes offered to Boyle students in grades three to 12. Tan and Chen, who are career teachers in China, recently moved to Danville and are looking forward to learning more about American...

For nearly a decade, Ellen Stamps traveled the world, hopping from country to country, serving the Lord and teaching. In her wildest dreams she said never imagined her travels would lead her the community of Wilmore, and there she'd pioneer Back Porch Art -  a weekly session where children from all different nationalities could meet, play and learn together. “Life is really amazing, where it will take us,” Ellen Stamps said. “It brought me here, where I'm suppose to be now.” What surprised her even more is that all her globe trotting would maker her the perfect role model for the children in the community of Kalas Village.

In an ever-shrinking global world, language skills become more important by the year. Boyle County is hoping to give its students a leg up by introducing a multi-faceted approach designed to enrich the lives of all their students.  This year, French and Spanish are the only two languages offered at Boyle County High School and Spanish is offered at Boyle County Middle School. Next year, the language program in Boyle County will be radically different. Mandarin Chinese will be offered as a language option for students grades 3-12.

You may have seen the stickers or license plates that look like puzzle pieces. Those are called Autism Awareness Puzzles and the purpose is to encourage the community to learn more about autism and show support.  Autism prevalence is now one in every 88 children in America. There is no known single cause for autism, but various researchers have their theories… Some believe autism has genetic causes, some believe it is various substances a mother may take in during pregnancy and some believe there are environmental factors that play a part in the risk.  The characteristic behaviors of autism spectrum disorders may or may not be apparent in infancy (18 to 24 months)

Do you ever feel like you are lost in a time zone? I guess not, because most of you are not my age, but a couple of things that happened recently made me wonder about myself. I'll back up a bit and tell you why I went shopping for a ledger. A ledger is a gray book with a maroon leather strip down the left side. Inside are lines that are just right for the date, check number, to whom the check is written, the amount of the check and a spot for checking off the check when it has cleared the bank.

Dogs (and cats) can't talk and tell us when they are sick or hurting. It would be nice if they could, wouldn't it? My dog started exhibiting distress signals - ears pulled back, head lowered, back with a slight hump instead of a straight line, tail down to the ground. She also was panting and licking her nose a lot. All these are signs of stress and possibly pain. However, I noticed that all these signs were seen only when she was in the back of the house, if you opened the door to the front of the house, she was dancing on her tiptoes, bouncing around and wanting to play.