[Info-vax] swap and page files

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <h_mdnQl39b7-kH_NnZ2dnUVZ_qydnZ2d at giganews.com>,
	"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
> On 12/30/2012 6:10 AM, Paul Sture wrote:
>> --
>> Paul Sture
> 
> Any language is easy if you are between the ages of two years and
> about five or six years.  We are programmed to learn one or more 
> languages in those years.

Reality tends to prove otherwise.

> 
> I was born during World War Two and travel to both Europe and the
> "far east"  was severely restricted!  I was introduced to Spanish in 
> ninth grade.  German was what I wanted but very few people care what you 
> want.  "You must study a foreign language.  Your options are French or 
> Spanish."  I chose
> Spanish.
> 
> The following year I attended a different school.
> "No, you can't waste that year of Spanish!"  "No, you may not
> study both Spanish and German!"  <sigh!!!!>  My teachers
> could not explain WHY Spanish needed both "Ser" and "Estar", both
> of which translate to the English the verb "to be"!
> 
> When I finished U.S. Army Training, the powers saw fit to send me to
> Japan.  My second overseas assignment was in Turkey.
> 
> For a few years, I could order a beer in five languages:
> English, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Turkish!

In High School, after my mandatory two years of Latin (which tells you
how old I am!) I was told I had no apptitude for languages so was not
allowed to study any.  After High School I went in the Army.  I qualified
every school but the Defense Language Institute as my DLAT score said,
you guessed it, no apptitude for languages.  One year into my first Army
tour I was sent to Germany.  I chose to not live in the barracks (and
EM Club) like most of my peers and spent most of my time among Germans.
After about 6 months I could converse freely in restaurants and clubs.
I spoke with enough of a dialect that on trips away from my base (I
went often to Garmisch for Winter Sports) people could tell wehere I
was from in Germany.  By the time I left Germany, I could speak, read,
write and thoroughly understand German.  (and a little Italian, French
and Russian)  Came home, went back to Germany (again with the Army) 4
years later.  This time I was not stationed with Americans so I was
even more immersed in Germany.  Developed my German considerably.  Came
back 3 years later.  15 years later I started taking German in college.
Instead of the usual "What I did this summer" essays I was writting
philosophical papers on subjects like Rassismus and "Die Mauer im Kopf".
Today I am fluent in German, listen to German radio everyday in my home
and all this from someone with no apptitude for languages. Oh yeah, while
no where near fluent I get by in French and can still understand some
Italian, Russian and Spanish.  I tried Arabic, but there is a real killer!!

bill
 

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>