Author Archives: G Barto

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About G Barto

Geoffrey Barto has been teaching language and culture for more than twenty years. His focus is helping people use language to achieve their goals, both for personal growth and in building their careers. The right words can make all the difference in the world!

Book Reviews on what makes people tick

Posted on March 21, 2012 by G Barto

Recent book reviews Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How It Drives Civilization According to Steven Cave, much of our life is spent dealing with or, more properly, trying not to deal with, a paradox of mortality: We know … Continue reading →

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What makes a language?

Posted on March 18, 2012 by G Barto

A little bit ago, I was looking for information on Greek when I came across a title, Teach Yourself Doric. Much to my surprise, however, it referred not to the Greek, but to a dialect of Scots. In the last … Continue reading →

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The Joys of the eReader

Posted on January 15, 2012 by G Barto

In the past, I’ve written about using your MP3 player for listening to lots of content and shuffling it around. But the longer I use my Nook, the more convinced that there’s something new and even more incredible out there. … Continue reading →

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Start learning Babylonian Now!

Posted on January 2, 2012 by G Barto

I’ve written a little bit on this page about the East Semitic languages of Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian. There are some wonderful books out there to start learning for around $20 or $30, notably Marcus and Caplice (and Worthington, if … Continue reading →

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Where writing fails

Posted on December 24, 2011 by G Barto

I wrote earlier about the problems of deciphering Akkadian, going from transliteration to normalization to translation. And you run into similar problems with Sumerian. Of course, if you want to capture the sound of Mandarin, you are left with pin … Continue reading →

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Listening to the dead; talking to computers

Posted on December 11, 2011 by G Barto

In the past few months, I’ve taken an interest in early Semitic languages, mentioned in the post below. One of the most interesting aspects of studying languages like Babylonian is the concept of normalization. What this means is that after … Continue reading →

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Stumbling into the Semitic languages

Posted on December 3, 2011 by G Barto

In the past few months, worn out on old language paths, I’ve experimented with some new ones. I’ve learned a little bit of Vietnamese – mostly enough to apologize for not understanding, but also to order a beer – and … Continue reading →

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Heading toward a new year, with new addictions

Posted on December 3, 2011 by G Barto

As I mentioned some time ago, the ability to update to my home site from blogger went away. Since then, I’d been updating by hand. But the updates have fallen by the wayside since I don’t often find the patience … Continue reading →

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