Statement from the Minister of Culture, Sen. Schivâ

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

Estimats Túischac'h és Mençéi, Senatôrs és Deputats:

As you know, this Government's initiative to push forward the production of Talossan language learning materials, for which my Ministry and the Ladîntsch Naziunál, s:reu Sierviciül, have recently borne fruit in the expanded Prüms Päçen dîn Ladîntsch programme, as well as the extremely successful Talossan vocabulary set on Memrise. I believe that gentlemen on the Opposition benches have started competing to earn points on that program. Good! Let no-one doubt their patriotism.

S:reu Sierviciül recently forwarded proposals to the Ministry on the next steps from here. These are initiatives which, if I am still Minister of Culture in the next Goverment, I will push forward; and, if not, I am putting them on the record to shame my successor into doing so.

We plan to expand Prüms Päçen into a multi-part series. Each will be a two-page PDF document that can be printed on a single double-sided sheet. entatively, the parts of Prüms Päçen will include the following:

1. Essential words and phrases (the existing one, expanded)
2. Verb conjugation, or verbs and adverbs
3. Pronoun, noun, and adjective inflection
4. Syntax and prepositions

Drafts of phase 2 have recently been prepared by the Ladîntsch Naziunál for me, and they look wonderful. While the audio is being recorded for the second Memrise course, his intention is to continue work on phases 3 and onwards. After that, a massive series of 4-5k word series of vocabulary courses is planned.

The coalition Government's policy has been to push forward materials by which every single citizen can learn basic Talossan and step on the road to fluency. Long may that policy be continued.

Questions? Comments?

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

The efforts of the Ladintsch Naziunal this past term seem to be remarkable. Wasn't he also the one who did the MemRise program?

Is there some way we could recognize him for these extraordinary contributions?

[Óïn Ursüm]

I would suggest that Sir Cresti of all people is deserving of the Order of the Purple Tongue -- but that's the King's prerogative, of course!

[Françal Ian Lux]

I use memrise to memorize vocab for the languages I was/am learning. A set of the most common words for use should be compiled for people to learn.
In my experience, if too much grammar rules are incorporated into the programme, it becomes too long and convoluted for a straightforward memorization app like memrise.
Is there anyone in Talossa who has experience teaching a foreign language to English speakers?

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Apr 25, 2015 21:05:13 GMT -6 Françal Ian Lux said:

I use memrise to memorize vocab for the languages I was/am learning. A set of the most common words for use should be compiled for people to learn.

Yep, that's my plan, like Miestra said. Each installment of Prüms Päçen will have one or more accompanying Memrise or Quizlet courses to practice the vocabulary covered in that installment. Beyond that, I'm planning on a series of Memrise courses to cover a vocabulary of about 4-5 thousand words.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Apr 25, 2015 8:24:22 GMT -6 Óïn Ursüm said:

I would suggest that Sir Cresti of all people is deserving of the Order of the Purple Tongue -- but that's the King's prerogative, of course!

He definitely deserves it, but he's already a knight, and I believe His Majesty is very loathe to give out honours, and even moreso when someone already holds one.

Perhaps the Medal that the Senats can give out would be appropriate, here?

[Marti-Pair Furxheir S.H.]

Apr 27, 2015 5:56:53 GMT -6 Sir Alexandreu Davinescu said:

It is quite clear that there are different "awards" that the King can grant.

It is clear certain are more prestigious than others.

So, if someone receives a "lesser" honor, the King would abstain from giving him a "higher" honor because he already holds one?

And what if the Purple Tongue more important for him than being a Knight?

I am asking because this doesn't make any sense to me.

But then again, I have zero awards, so perhaps I can't understand. I guess I need to do more for the Kingdom to be considered and then, perhaps, I will understand.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Well, His Majesty very rarely gives out honours. And I was saying that if someone already holds one honour, he's even less likely to grant them another one. In fact, this has only ever happened once, to my knowledge, with Count Thord (who was already Baron Hooligan). So Cresti's not precluded from receiving another knighthood, but it's much less likely. Honours are meaningful because they're rare and only awarded for extraordinary service, I think.