how is this my life

[cosmolinguist]

I learned as soon as I started posting about my classes on Facebook that I had a lot more friends who'd studied it than I remembered/knew about because they were all excited whenever I did this.

So when I realized the UCU strikes would mean I'd miss all the chances to learn and practice transcription, which I have an exam on in a few weeks, I asked them if any of them would be able/willing to help answer a question or two about this (because I just do not get it at all, have had next to no training in it, and it's hard to learn by yourself!). Hilariously, they almost all seemed to say "I didn't do that" or "I barely passed" and of course, always "it was a couple of decades ago" all of which are fair enough answers!

But then Facebook did that thing it does sometimes where it suggests groups it thinks you'd like, maybe ones a friend or two are already part of. But this time, uniquely, it was different: it suggested a group I might actually want to be a part of! So I joined.

And it's actually been really good for how much transcription it's exposed me to. I'm still not good and I still hate it, but I'm not even as lost or confused about the IPA symbols as I was a week ago. (According to my flashcards, I know about two-thirds of the symbols I need to know, which is a lot better than what it felt like I knew!)

So I think I can honestly say that if I ever manage to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet, it'll be because of a group called Linguistics ['ʃɪt̚.,pʰʌ̈̈ʊ̈̈.stɪ̃̃ŋ].

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Fabulous! I am thrilled to hear that FB can be a positive force. Also, peer tutoring has always been my fave because it permits me to be incoherent as I explore what I do get and what I don’t yet get. That process crystallizes the knowledge for me.

Also, mad props for HTML IPA (how did you do that?)

[cosmolinguist]

It's not really tutoring; they make a big deal in the group of not being there to help anyone with their homework. But just seeing lots of transcription (like to demonstrate how someone says something, or to ask people the different (real or shitposty) ways they say something) at least means I get practice at trying to read it and understand what's being indicated.

I'm getting better at doing HTML IPA, and there are websites to help. I don't honestly know how to do all the diacritics, though: I copied this from the name of the Facebook group. :)