I believe in language almost religiously. I spent a third of my life studying it, scrutinizing it, creating it--and spent even longer using it--pushing its limitations, exploring how it works, because I want to know how to use it best. Language is how we organize, how we help each other. Or don't. And when we don't, it's often because we can't help each other, we don't have a mutually understood language, and without that, it's difficult to feel the empathy necessary to move us. If we're on this planet for any reason at all, I believe it's at least to help one another. And that puts language right at the heart of human purpose. Our languages are our culture, our laws, our education and information.
I came to a point where I felt like there was little left to explore. I had to create. And I dedicated my life to writing, to using what I'd learned, and use it best. Mark Twain is one of my favorites. He revolutionized how we write by glorifying the way that we actually talk. He loved the sound of local accents, and adored the charm of his own. His work is directly, though not fully, responsible for the shift in how the world treats education. It was only available to the upper classes, but when literature changed, so did where we thought education would benefit.
That's the power of language. That's what each and every language user can do, and does everyday. But there are problems, like I said. We often misunderstand, often intentionally. I'm writing this mostly in the hope that I can put a few thoughts in your head to play with, so I won't bother trying to change people's intentions. But the misunderstandings--what can we do about them?
I don't believe in a global language. I don't believe we should have one. I love language, not hate it, and I want to keep alive every possible means of telling a story. A global language encourages people to leave their regional languages behind. There are six thousand languages on this planet, and the five largest are spoken natively by 2 billion people. Twenty languages die every year. That means the last person to speak that language natively passes away. Many of those languages were never written down, never recorded. Our ancestors, the grandparents of your and my grandparents-plus-a-few, told each other--in languages we will never know, never see, never hear--how their day went. Think about that. New languages are born, we call them creole languages, in as little as twenty years--a single generation. Surprisingly fast, but not a rate that stops the downward trend. And yet, if we did stop it, we would halt all the progress we are making by growing global languages.
That's just one of many problems the world is facing with communication. It's not even the most pressing, just one of the most interesting. In Mark Twain's time, he invested in a machine called the automatic typesetter, which failed where the linotype succeeded, because a problem they faced was the labor it took to put out a newspaper on a daily basis. A funny little anecdote: Alexander Bell approached Mark Twain about investing in the telephone as Twain was investing in any nifty invention he thought would turn a profit. Twain apparently thought to himself, "Well, I'd have one, and my publisher would have one, and the newspaper--but where's the real market?" And turned down the opportunity to invest in the telephone.
That anecdote brings me to the thrust of my point. Yes, surprise, I have one. The telephone, it turns out, is the answer to a whole host of problems we've been banging our heads on tables about. Nobody would have reasonably guessed that in as little as five years ago. We have the tools to translate languages in almost real-time conversation. This will only improve. We communicate with thousands of people at once, almost no matter where we are or the time of day or how else we're multi-tasking. Not just with our voices, but with our text, and even our faces and our hands. Deaf people use phones. Think about that. Even people who refuse to socialize, who refuse to talk to other people, could easily find a reason to get a tablet or a smartphone.
I summarize the portal news on XDA TV each week. A lot of people wonder why I do that. They either don't think I fit or don't think it's what I should focus on. But in a world where the answer to so many problems I'm passionate about fixing is in my pocket, and the fact that whether or not those answers will come to fruition has a lot to do with what happens on this forum, I simply must be a part of it. I believe in xda-developers, in all of the reasons a person would come here, from developing to using, and I believe in the results of that process. You make our communication better, making our languages better. I'm writing this to thank you for those efforts, and for letting me tell people about them.
Jeff
i believe in the power of language- the beauty of words- the essence of a sentence, a paragraph or even the smallest simplest piece of writing- the word itself- which holds much meaning.
i am a writer and an artist and i have seen -how- over the years- those i mentioned above- have lost their meaning, changed, clashed, combined, simplified. many people just do have TIME devoted to such powerful, amazing and important concepts such as these. reading has become hurried- many just do not have the patience or the attention span. Charles Dickens and many other amazing authors- my favorite, gothic literature, wrote glorious masterpieces- having depth, detail- just so much more than novels of today- because those readers- DID not have television, computers, mobile devices, anything else attention grabbing. their time was definitely simpler and a time when language was at its height. now- unity of language comes from what we have at our hands- the internet, our devices- tablets, phones, mp3 players, etc.
to me, i see many simplifying- shortening- decreasing anything that has to do with writing or language. i feel so many just want the easier simpler path and i do fear as you wrote- we are missing out on so much. even i am guilty of this. i used to ONLY text- now i call my peoples, for i feel, they are missing out on MY MEANING- when i text. i hate shortening words- i like writing "ha.ha.ha.ha.ha" or "oh.my" instead of the "lol" or "omg."
my roots- deep in the sticks PA- there are so many eccentric red.neck.methods and particular dialects- which i fear- as i age- i lose (probably because i am getting older and my brain is turning into damaged goods of forgetfulness- and well i live in south.florida- the cornucopia of peoples).
language is an amazing beauty- that i will never conquer- for that i am grateful. i believe in what you do here on xda- many need it. cliff and spark notes are so popular- people search the internet looking for the summary to books of yore- but i believe, deep within, that xda unites many from all over. there is a tech advantage- simple words power/run/etc our devices- bring people together- and we all take moments- read the forums, the private messages, the newest thread- me, i read every single page of a rom i am interested in. i love when people go above and beyond helping new people, i love the arguments- because therein lies passion for a simple device- we all cherish, adore and LOVE!!!!
i am addicted to mobile device technology. the more i know- the more i understand- the happier i am. if it were not for xda- jeez- i probably would have lost my mind last year. my sincere thanks go to everyone here on xda- there is so much knowledge, such deep rooted interest, passion and incredible awareness from so many- xda begins my day and ends my day!!!
thank you- for your words, ideas, thoughts, and everything you do for xda. for your words- your notion- your very thread- has initiated your very concept. that- my friend, is a beautiful thing!!!!
Sadly the telephone has done more harm to the written language than anything else i could mention. Txt spk innit!
As of what I know, there are currently 2000 lanuages that are spoken by less than 500 people all over the world. It will be a shame to lose so many lanuages. What I think is that the Modern times made more people speak english, and I can see that on lots of people combining English while they are speaking Hebrew, and it makes me feel bad. Is this what we want? I don't think that we encourage the use of different languages when not all languages are available for devices. For example, Windows only has 35 languages. As for Droids, I can't get the phone to use hebrew as UI OS without flashing another ROM. There are languages that aren't even learnt today, such as Yidish and Ladino (both jewish languages).
I think we could do more to help with this, but we should know where we are headed to.
DirkGently1 said:
Sadly the telephone has done more harm to the written language than anything else i could mention. Txt spk innit!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure I agree. There is a big plus from texting. Although much of the earlier texting was a basic shorthand, and a lot is communication was thought based rather than form based. The one thing that email, texting and alike did was, it recharged the written word again. Before email/texting the Cell phone was making people more verbal, then the email and then texting brought new life back into the written word.
The one thing that is a decided disadvantage with younger people is the inability to know the difference between correct written form and slang form. So much so, that most of the college grads that work for me write @ a 6-7 grade level ( and they graduated ? go figure). This is what most people who know how to write complain about poor understanding of language. A simple example : "get off the bus" vs "exit the but" The first is informal and a unique use of the language to imply action (phrasal verb) vs the correct written form. It is OK to use either, the problem to me with most people is that they do not know the difference or why........ that is the failing in our modern education..........
All this rant will not change many but if a few pick up the idea of how language is a form of logic just like math with formulas and rules like math, then maybe some will want to know more......... one can hope............
oka1 said:
A simple example : "get off the bus" vs "exit the but"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope you mean bus. Otherwise, hmmmm
I agree 1000% on this. So many beautiful languages that die out every day.
oka1 said:
Not sure I agree. There is a big plus from texting. Although much of the earlier texting was a basic shorthand, and a lot is communication was thought based rather than form based. The one thing that email, texting and alike did was, it recharged the written word again. Before email/texting the Cell phone was making people more verbal, then the email and then texting brought new life back into the written word. )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, writing to communicate real-time is brand new, and its own thing. Literature won't be affected much. On the other hand, because people are speaking through text in real-time, literacy is through the roof. More people can read and write today than ever before, and that's thanks to chat rooms and texting.
On another point you made, I wouldn't worry about people choosing to use more words than necessary. We do that in speech all the time, and rather than a failure of modern education, those variations in word choice are one way that languages change. They always have changed, and always will. We're just more aware of it now than we were.
As of what I know, there are currently 2000 lanuages that are spoken by less than 500 people all over the world. It will be a shame to lose so many lanuages. What I think is that the Modern times made more people speak english, and I can see that on lots of people combining English while they are speaking Hebrew, and it makes me feel bad. Is this what we want? I don't think that we encourage the use of different languages when not all languages are available for devices. For example, Windows only has 35 languages. As for Droids, I can't get the phone to use hebrew as UI OS without flashing another ROM. There are languages that aren't even learnt today, such as Yidish and Ladino (both jewish languages).
I think we could do more to help with this, but we should know where we are headed to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Languages mixing is also pretty natural, always happened, just not at the rate they are now. The cool thing about xda and how it can help is that anyone can make the UI you need. Yes, you need to flash it, but then, you could build a Hebrew ROM from stock and make Google, Motorola, Samsung, HTC, or whoever aware of it in hopes that they'll include it. Google published a blog recently about how Africa is a surprisingly fast-growing continent of Android users, probably in response to the fight between Arabs and Blackberry. At any rate, I'm sure they're more than happy to have people do the grunt work for them in bringing new languages to OSs.
Hello everyone,
my name is Henri and I want you to gift me five thousand three hundred and eighty-nine dollars.
5437$ or about 4800€. (Rates May 13,2015 GMT)
If you have not clicked away yet, let me explain:
I live in Berlin, Germany and I am 21 years old.
When I was about 16 years old I was moderate to severe depressed. Thought about killing myself, cried myself to sleep et cetera. I don't want to go into detail with this, because you have all heard those heartbreaking stories before.
Anyway, I got over it. I did not go into therapy. Instead I decided to fix the problems which depressed me. Those were mostly that I did not have a social life at all and had a good amount of social anxiety.
I wasn't able to ask an elderly woman for the time on the streets, started sweating when people I didn't know talked to me in school and so on.
And obviously, I didn't have any female contact besides my mother and sister.
In 2011 I had a breakdown and decided that I had to change or I would eventually kill myself in a weaker moment.
I went out to fix my social life and become happy. And I succeeded.
Long story short: I pushed myself into social interactions, pushed myself to talk to girls. On this journey I found awesome friends, two especially which could not be closer to me. One of them had the same goals as I, wanted to overcome all social borders there are.
I also met a lot of great girls, eventually other guys asked me for advice.
I was the happiest person I knew.
This is when I and and the friend mentioned above decided that we could actually teach other guys to get to where we are.
We are currently building a German website where we want to give advice for young guys on talking to girls, fitness, having great sex, fashion, hygiene, motivation, discipline, managing happy relationships and ironically living a happy life.
Ironically, because right now I am depressed as f**k again. This is because I don't have money, my parents don't have enough to support me. I got a job, but I literally started crying there because I felt so miserable. At home I feel miserable because I have no money. I am working in sales without base salary.
My expenses are about 600€ a month. In Germany, parents get some money for their „childs“ as long as they study, so I get close to 200€ a month from them. 400€ left.
My options right now are :
1) „Manning up“ and work and hope that therapy fixes this.
2) Getting student loans and go to university in a field with which I will be able to pay back the roughly 20.000€ in loans, just so that I do not have to work right now and can put my energy into the website.
3) Moving back into my parent's place on the other side of the country and everything on hold. They live in small village, so I won't be able to meet and advice people, talk to girls, network etc.
I would give up everything I built here.
Yesterday I decided to give another idea a shot. The idea you are reading right now.
I figured if I could get 4800 people to give me 1€ each, I could live one year without stress.
12 months times 400€ is 4800€.
I am convinced that my website and other projects will make enough money for me after this year.
If not, and this is a very small if, I will be where I am right now again, hopefully with more valuable lessons learned, happy and therefore able to work a normal job if I have to.
You see, I am basically asking you for time. I realize that 1$/1€ isn't much, but if you gave it to everyone you'd be dead broke. I do not know how I can convince you that I deserve this money more than anyone else, but I know that all I need right now is this money to handle this situation and put all my energy into the website and hopefully helping others.
I am asking you to gift me your next coffee, ice cream cone or burger.
If just 1% of the people reading this decides to help me out with one dollar, I have to show this to 543,700 people.
This is why I actually looked up the biggest online communities and I am posting this to every single one that can somehow relate to my situation or the subjects of our site. Some just seem to have cool people in them.
As you will see, there isn't any content up yet. We already have a lot but want to publish about ten good articles for the start. And yes, this is a working-title
If this post gets removed because it violated any specific rule I understand that and want you to know that it wasn't on purpose. I also tried to post into Off-Topic or similar.
If you have any questions, I will answer them as soon as I can.
Please don't give us advice on the design or that wordpress „is bad“. I appreciate it, but I want to answer questions about the content, our goals and whatnot instead of discussing webdesign. So far we have been working on content only.
The site as it stands is just a vehicle for the donate page, since sites like „fundme“ take 30cents per donation plus fees.
Again, all I am asking for is 1$ to solve all my problems for one year.
Thank you for your time.
Mod edit: Link removed
Perhaps you should be reading the forum rules before posting stuff like this, as you were clearly aware that those exist.
CoolApps said:
Perhaps you should be reading the forum rules before posting stuff like this, as you were clearly aware that those exist.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While many of us, myself included, sympathize with your issue, this site is not the place for raising funds for yourself. This is against forum rules and is simply not allowed.
Thread closed.
Hello XDA, it's been a long time since I was truly active in these or any forums because life and reality provided an unintended distraction and then the pandemic. I find myself with a bit more time where I need a necessary diversion from reality and this forum has always provided this nerd with a world-wide community of nerds who really and truly know their ****. I have social networking friends that I follow, that I met through here and other technology forums that I have been friends with now for almost twenty years. I'm sure that how we met is irrelevant to many of them since we interact more about our day to day lives then the nerding out we did here in the forums. See, as a nerd, making real world friends was always difficult, but here, at XDA with my G1000 from Hitachi, one of the first-ever smart-phone, with a keyboard and a screen running Windows Mobile. I came here looking for a way to back-up my sms and call log to Microsoft Outlook and some genius had figured out a way to do it. I then had three different HTC Windows Mobile devices and XDA let me do amazing things with them.
Then, because I got suckered in to Sprint!, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy SII Touch or something ridiculous like that and it had so many issues out if the box but 2ss an amazing device. XDA was like High School and this is where you went from teen hacker wannabe to legit 1337 skills by rooting and then installing custom roms. The addiction to that thrill of knowing that a mistake, zigging when you're supposed to zag or skipping a step, rushing and missing something could spell disaster. I dropped a phone while installing a rom and the device boot-looped hard. Not to worry, XDA was here and someone else had done something similar, there was an entire forum thread devoted to all the people who had face-planted the rooting, rom or other process and lobotomized their Android device.
I still occasionally peruse the forums, lurking and liking and once in a while, replying. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for what seems like 17 or 18 years if amazing things. By you, I mean the people who run the forums behind the scenes at all levels and the moderators that keep the law and order necessary to thrive and function and you the users who's knowledge and other contributions are why we are here in these forums, from the creators to their guinea pigs to every other lurker like me. Thanks.
Blu3Fr0g said:
Hello XDA, it's been a long time since I was truly active in these or any forums because life and reality provided an unintended distraction and then the pandemic. I find myself with a bit more time where I need a necessary diversion from reality and this forum has always provided this nerd with a world-wide community of nerds who really and truly know their ****. I have social networking friends that I follow, that I met through here and other technology forums that I have been friends with now for almost twenty years. I'm sure that how we met is irrelevant to many of them since we interact more about our day to day lives then the nerding out we did here in the forums. See, as a nerd, making real world friends was always difficult, but here, at XDA with my G1000 from Hitachi, one of the first-ever smart-phone, with a keyboard and a screen running Windows Mobile. I came here looking for a way to back-up my sms and call log to Microsoft Outlook and some genius had figured out a way to do it. I then had three different HTC Windows Mobile devices and XDA let me do amazing things with them.
Then, because I got suckered in to Sprint!, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy SII Touch or something ridiculous like that and it had so many issues out if the box but 2ss an amazing device. XDA was like High School and this is where you went from teen hacker wannabe to legit 1337 skills by rooting and then installing custom roms. The addiction to that thrill of knowing that a mistake, zigging when you're supposed to zag or skipping a step, rushing and missing something could spell disaster. I dropped a phone while installing a rom and the device boot-looped hard. Not to worry, XDA was here and someone else had done something similar, there was an entire forum thread devoted to all the people who had face-planted the rooting, rom or other process and lobotomized their Android device.
I still occasionally peruse the forums, lurking and liking and once in a while, replying. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for what seems like 17 or 18 years if amazing things. By you, I mean the people who run the forums behind the scenes at all levels and the moderators that keep the law and order necessary to thrive and function and you the users who's knowledge and other contributions are why we are here in these forums, from the creators to their guinea pigs to every other lurker like me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to see an old timer around!
HTC was my fav brand for many many years....
Hope to see ya around.
Cheers!
Well hi all, I'm 'new', but not really that new, since I've been searching through XDA topics on many occasions for quite a few years now. Not sure why it took me so long to actually make an account, but here I am.
So about me - half geek, half creative, F/LOSS enthusiast for over 20 years, full time Linux user since 2006, interested in way to many subjects to ever become a specialist in any of them within at least a dozen of life spans. Hence I don't think I'll ever be able to call myself a developer, but hey, we'll see ;-)
Welcome to the xda family.
Cheers.