Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: john larkin Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: Re: good post on LinkedIn Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 03:10:22 -0800 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 111 Message-ID: References: <1rpr404.iw4vr1dacqtvN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> <10lii4e$26717$1@dont-email.me> <30lpnkp9erjgkk0hr8lrbt3kjikbhjnqnn@4ax.com> <10linik$28gp2$1@dont-email.me> <10lj2lo$3vun0$1@paganini.bofh.team> <10lj90o$2e6gn$1@dont-email.me> <6ugqnktvnmr0v3a7oa6j0reqq1nueko0jc@4ax.com> <10lkl3o$2qjo5$1@dont-email.me> <10llpfk$370ll$1@dont-email.me> <55tsnkddaav66lahdiqtarc2qi9a420jeb@4ax.com> <10lnbi6$3jmuk$4@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Sun, 01 Feb 2026 11:10:23 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="45392641735e163b2dc8fd871be3fcf4"; logging-data="3852242"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+A7N3E95fjVeQCMvh42OSZ" User-Agent: ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272 Cancel-Lock: sha1:2G1nl3dYx0V8++d0cuUHCMq3KZk= Xref: csiph.com sci.electronics.design:739987 On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 21:57:08 +1100, Bill Sloman wrote: >On 1/02/2026 8:36 am, john larkin wrote: >> On Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:42:27 +0100, Jeroen Belleman >> wrote: >> >>> On 1/31/26 16:34, john larkin wrote: >>>> On Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:21:44 +0100, Jeroen Belleman >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On 1/31/26 00:53, john larkin wrote: >>>>>> On Fri, 30 Jan 2026 22:49:12 +0100, Jeroen Belleman >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On 1/30/26 21:00, Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester wrote: >>>>>>>> Bill Sloman wrote: >>>>>>>> |------------------------------------------------------------------------| >>>>>>>> |"Languages aren't learned any faster if you learn them young" | >>>>>>>> |------------------------------------------------------------------------| >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> It is much easier for a child to learn a language than it is for an >>>>>>>> old person. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> An often repeated myth, entirely untrue. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Adults can learn a new language in much less time than a >>>>>>> child, provided they are motivated and immersed. Those are >>>>>>> the keys, motivation and immersion. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Jeroen Belleman >>>>>> >>>>>> Adults rarely acquire a new accent at native level. >>>>>> >>>>>> https://news.mit.edu/2018/cognitive-scientists-define-critical-period-learning-language-0501 >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> John Larkin >>>>>> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center >>>>>> Lunatic Fringe Electronics >>>>> >>>>> True, but those natives probably don't have the linguistic >>>>> abilities of the foreign speaker. Your thinking is shaped >>>>> by language, and speaking more languages is enriching. >>>>> >>>>> I'm native Dutch, but I've been told I have a French >>>>> accent now. >>>>> >>>>> Jeroen Belleman >>>> >>>> Which language is best for thinking about electronics? >>>> >>>> I think circuits in pictures, not words, but people are very >>>> different. >>>> >>>> >>>> John Larkin >>>> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center >>>> Lunatic Fringe Electronics >>> >>> >>> That has to be English, I think. Anyway, for quite some time now, >>> English has been the common language of science and technology, >>> electronics included. It has been French for a while, and Latin >>> for a long period before that. And ancient Greek before that, and >>> and ,,, >>> >>> Jeroen Belleman >>> >> >> English is shockingly irregular. > >Not really. It's just another language which evolved. Imagining English >was ever designed is plain silly. > >> One word can mean six things and >> there are a zillion words to express a concept. > >Quite a lot of word meanings are context dependent. Dictionaries deal >with this by quoting word use in the various different contexts. > >> Plus there are places like the UK with their own weird versions. > >At one level English is the language spoken in England, and the >derivations spoken in the US and Australia are the weird versions. > >Some of the oddities of US English reflect the fact that some of the >evolution of British English over the past few centuries didn't make it >across the Atlantic. > >> Given the concept that ambiguity generates creativity, maybe English >> is a good language to invent in. > >The idea that ambiguity generates creativity is one that I haven't come >across. Google throw up a few examples from the past few years, so it >may be currently fashionable word salad. > >Ambiguity didn't feature in any of the ideas I've had that ended up >patented, nor in any of the 25-odd ideas that my father got patents for. >I'm not familiar with all of Alan Dower Blumlein's 128 patents, but the >none of the ones I do know about had anything ambiguous about them. With all the patents in your family, you must be very wealthy. John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics