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- Typography is what (sometimes) matters! (3 tips for better looking texts) Have you ever heard about typography? If not, well, simply said, it is a bunch of rules which are used for text formatting. It is not as silly and useless as it sometimes could seem. It has developed during centuries and it is a part of every honestly edited book (or letter, mail, any kind of message or post!). It’s main aim is improving of readability. Ok, I admit, I work as a copyeditor and e-book developer which means I am into it very much! Just a few rules it is good to be aware of: 1) dashes: - this is not a dash! – this is called n-dash and it is used really as a dash (alt+0150; Unicode2013)! — this is called m-dash and it is used really as a dash in English texts (alt+0151; Unicode2014); actually, it is considered to be more suitable for longer texts of a higher cultural value (poetry, novels, really tuned letters…) 2) quotation marks: "these" are not quotation marks suitable for texts but for computer code; “these” are genuine quotation marks suitable for every moment (alt+0147, alt+0148; Unicode201c, Unicode201d); 3) apostrophe: don't, haven't, couldn't — these are not apostrophes! don’t, haven’t, couldn’t — these are genuine apostrophes (alt+0146; Unicode2019)! There are many other rules but these three are really essential. With them, any letter will look more professional and sophisticated.July 3, 201500
I had been struggling with this question for years before I decided.
I think it very depends on your abilities. I work quite often with great linguists and some of them are able to teach and write grammar books of more than three languages. Frankly, this is odd and such a person is apparently a sort of genius.
Learning a language is a process for the whole life if you want to be really good at it. The most important question always is—what is the level and type of fluency you would like to attain? Do you want to use it just for simple situations like asking for a direction? Do you want to read books (novels!) in it? Do you want to sound like a native (why?). And so on…?
For me, the other language is always distractive.
0 votedJuly 3, 20150I am totally opposite! For me, marriage stands for several facts I adore:
1) I am able to decide and be responsible for such a decision (it is an act of renunciation of other possibilities and games).
2) Our relationship is mature, able to persevere a lot of difficulties which would dissolve many other relationships.
3) It’s a clear, sociably declared bound (hey, people, we love each other, count with that and treat as so—from gossip to money).
4) I feel I am mature, too—I don’t need a hidden backdoor for the case of tough circumstances.
People nowadays don’t want to be mature, they want to play and try without an end. The worse and the most naive question of unstable childish relationships is typically—“What if it could be better with someone else?“ To this is only one right answer—“No, it would be the same because of yourself. You are the place you should check & change.”
A relationship without a social act (which marriage is) is just a privately consumed game. People very much underestimate social acts, that’s all. Why? Because it is much harder to break out. It costs a lot and that is scary ;)
0 votedJuly 2, 20150- English vs Czech proverbs/idioms Proverbs and idioms are a very interesting part of any language. Many of them are identical throughout Europe (sometimes the world!). Some of them have their own alternative in other languages. Such alternatives are often funny as well as interesting. Below I have placed some of them. The first is always the English version, the second it’s parallel in Czech. Naturally, sometimes it was really hard to translate them and I expect some translations are totally wrong (they probably don’t make sense in English at all! Proverbs: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” “Lazy mouth, bare misfortune.” “The early bird catches the worm.” “The early bird can jump farther.” “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” “Never check the teeth of a gift horse.” “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.” “When a forest is cutting down, splinters are flying.” “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” “Of whom is the bread you eat, his is the song you should sing.” “Two heads are better than one.” “More heads know more.” Idioms: kill two birds with one stone kill two flies with one swat turn a blind eye close an eye a bit barking up the wrong tree crying at the wrong grave it fits like a glove it fits like a buttock on the potty piece of cake it’s a toy when pigs fly when it will rain and become dry again separate sheep from goats separate seeds from chaffsJuly 2, 201500
