CONTENTS

Conjugate Verses

-Kirty Vedula-

p.1

The creation of imaginary worlds

through conceptual metaphor- p.7

-Andriy Karamazov-

Tao Te Ching
- Translation And Commentary-

-Gabe Witmonger-

p.10

Are there real benefits to being bilingual?

-Melissa Beattie-Moss-

Interview With Jimmy Mello

-Conlangs Monthly Team-

p.13

p.15

The Tale Of The Ancient Mariner - Translation-

-Jeremy Graves (Paiodd) -

Bibliography and Acknowledgements

p.18

Editorial Team
Editor in Chief:
Jonathan Fleury
Layout Design & Graphics
Gabe Witmonger
Editor Associate
Fouzia Erraihani
Proof Reading & Editing
Christian Evans
Founders
Gabe Witmonger
Jonathan Fleury

Conjugate Verses
Reminscence
A soul in tension, is learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try
Across the clouds, I see some hope in sky
Out of the corner of the watering eye
Wishing I could turn back the clock
I gaze out the window as I drift in air
Listening to each seconds tick tock
Gentle waves of home sweep along in flair
Let this night end in your warm presence
My tired soul wants to quietly reminisce
Softly embrace me in your deep silence
Bring back memories as I dream in peace
Beautiful sunsets, footprints in the sands
Awaiting the break of a beautiful dawn
Feeling safe in your reassuring hands
Soon, another day of hope will beckon
corner of the watering eye
Wishing I could turn back the clock
I gaze out the window as I drift in air
Listening to each seconds tick tock
Gentle waves of home sweep along in flair
Let this night end in your warm presence
My tired soul wants to quietly reminisce
Softly embrace me in your deep silence
Bring back memories as I dream in peace
Beautiful sunsets, footprints in the sands
Awaiting the break of a beautiful dawn
Feeling safe in your reassuring hands
Soon, another day of hope will beckon

Siesta
Sitting on the porch
I let go every thought
As the sunlight kisses me gently with its graze
Looking at the skies
As my dreams ride a trot
I close my eyes and the world glimmers into a haze
The world watches in delight
As I dance with aplomb
I am a swan on flight
Swaying along the lotus pond
Wings speckle in white
As the waves tuck into my calm
Eyes shuttle to trap light
As grace takes my splendor beyond
I plunge to a dreamier depth
How do I dance with such grace?
Exploring my edges of poise
I look up to the world at sight
The heat beneath makes me dance
It was the agony I embraced
I glide over the surface of pain
Fixing each wrong right
I am a swan on sail
Reflecting in the lotus pond
For a leaf that drops from the tree...
withered and slow
I touch with my grace
...and carry it along my flow
I wake up to the glory of a new light
Feeling one with myself
Bidding farewell to the old night
I strive for my greater self
I seek my beauty within
As I untie the knots of pain
I am a swan in spirit, floating free in the lotus pond
Step on my sails and see that change you wanted to be
I am that essence of life
I am rejuvenation

Silhouette
Wandering the unknown like an unrolled carpet
Echoing from underpass, trying to seise my feet
Marooned above ground and my senses guarded
Winking at me, as you hurl like an unguided brick
I race to escape, and to catch your leftover traces
To trap and scatter your gloss along fields of light
Then you crave for glory and dwarf my sullen paces
Together we go in silence, heading home for the night
Smiling gently like moonlight across calm water
You engulf my bounds, as I gaze into emptiness
Leaning along my soul to outlive me for ages after
And I wait for the dawn to see your canvass again...
Hoping to dance in unison, wanting to revel in happiness

Drops of Love

Two clouds in skies humid

Find their love lost amid
Desires spring up in heart
But winds blow them apart
Hurdles in the heat, they cross
Closer to love, they pass
Joys stroll up their soul
Tears roll down their pain
Into their embrace, they fall
Love, is that you again?
Thunders melt the answer down
Like a pure drop of rain...
**********
Droplets drip down dread
As the drop drops down dead
Love binds them in a stream
The drop winds up to redeem
Like brothers, as they beam
Towards the river they seam
Mankind sets to reside
And the rivers dissolve wide
In rain and snow they run
The sea they would reach in sun

**********
Waves of heat the skies send
To the water, love they lend
Tender, the first touch of heat
Blows the water up its feet
As their ways separate
The sea weeps for water desperate
All the world you flow
Every drop of love you fetch
An ocean as I grow
Beyond the skies, do you stretch?
The first thread of life you weave
Like a rose then I turn
The last knot of death you leave
Like a thorn when you burn
Youre my eyes apple
The world you make me see
For the eye sans the apple
Where can the world be?
Deep goes my sorrow drown
As a drop of tear when you flow
Who tears my sorrow down...
...with your last drop when you go?

**********
The sun rays marvel at the weather
A son says farewell to his mother!
On streams I sail
Off rivers I rail
Your nest I reach
On move I keep
High tides I leap
For rest I beseech
Peace when you give me a smile
Please, wont you send me a while?
Out there I gush
United, men hail
Together they stay
Out here I rush
Together they wail
United they pray
Water under their bridges I am
Bridge between their hearts I form
On their grounds when I flow
...the water they have seen
When lives bound to grow
The worlds love I have been
For their call of love
If I not go now
What else do I mean?
Years, time may delay
Yet this promise, by I stay
Each drop of love as I turn
To your shores, Ill return
Every drop of love I gather
Ill bring back for you, mother!
**********
Each water drop, the sky hugs tight
Tosses it high, up its flight
Up with love, higher they soar
Thinner in air, they vanish more
Down they come
A cloud they become...
Not a drop anymore!

The Creation Of
Imaginary Worlds
Through
Conceptual Metaphor
Case Study:
Riding The Storm
By Running Wild

The present article shows how the entire

literary texts can obtain a meaning, which is
completely alien to them, and create a new
imaginary world if you look at them through
the lenses of metaphor. This is, in my view,
what gives literature its ultimate value. We,
humans, are able to provide any text with a
unique meaning, not inherently present in it.
This meaning may be (and usually is) heavily
influenced by our personal experiences and
it contributes to the construction of the new
fictional worlds via metaphor and other
conceptual tools.

8.

9. Death or glory, oh, oh, were riding the

storm
10. Cracks in the planks, the rigging moves
upwards and
11. Staggering masts, the pounding splash of
the prow
12. The wind in our sails, our flag flies high
on the top

We will focus on the lyrics from Riding the 13.

Storm song by the legendary German power
metal band Running Wild (featured on the 14.
Death or Glory LP, 1989).
The lyrics follow below:

Wandering souls in the sea of the damned

From a stormy horizon we get our course

The cry of freedom

Lets ride on that wild raging sea!

1. Breaking the waves, a ride on the wild The point made here is that I never thought
of this song as a voyage at the stormy sea.
raging sea
It appealed to me so much, because in my
2. Playing with fortune, oh, what a lust to opinion it was a song about us, about ordinary
people who, in spite of all the difficulties we
be free
encounter, are fighting through life, pursuing
3. Flashlights and thunder, the pattering certain goals, taking on challenges and standing
strong in the face of the unknown future. This
rain on the hull
constructed meaning is metaphorical. The
4.
From a stormy horizon we get our course song itself does not even hint on that. The
new meaning is based on a few very common
conceptual metaphors, with the help of which
5.
The cry of freedom
most of the conceptual work is done.
Chorus:
6.

Face in the wind, were riding the storm

7.

Well stay our course whatever will come

Lets go straight to verse 1:

1. Breaking the waves, a ride on the wild
raging sea
7

2. Playing with fortune, oh, what a lust to

be free
3. Flashlights and thunder, the pattering
rain on the hull
4.

From a stormy horizon we get our course

5.

The cry of freedom

Lines 1 and 3 are constructed on the LIFE

IS A JOURNEY and DIFFICULTIES IN
LIFE ARE IMPEDIMENTS TO MOTION
metaphors (the latter one refers to the weather
conditions in the lyrics). Both are a part
of the Location Event Structure Metaphor.
Journey is depicted as crossing the sea on a
ship and is a metaphorical life. The sailors
travelers are people, living their lives. The
course of the ship is the life path of those
people. The distance traveled by the ship is
the progress in life. The raging stormy sea
is life in general and its difficulties are bad
weather conditions. As a storm is a serious
threat and an impediment to steady safe
motion, so are the real life challenges, faced
by millions of people every single day. The
analogies are very clear and mappings are
easy to construct.
Line 4 From a stormy horizon we get
our course adds to this picture, namely
saying that the journey is not aimless. The
PURPOSES ARE DESTINATIONS metaphor
is at work here. It is also a part of the same
complex: the Location Event Structure
Metaphor. Our purposes/our goals is what
pushes us to act and achieve things in real
life. We envision our goals and then think of
ways to reach them. Life is a metaphorical
journey. Correspondingly, lifes goals may be
mapped onto the journeys destination(s).
The means to achieve the purposes are
routes. Thus, a person, achieving a goal is
a metaphorical traveler, reaching his/her
destination. Life goals inherently belong to
the future; future is metaphorically viewed as
in front of us via the TIME ORIENTATION
metaphor (we are in the present and past is
behind us), as is the horizon always in front
of a traveler. In our song, the horizon (well,
anything on the horizon, of course, not the
horizon itself ) is providing a course for the
ship. In life, as I just mentioned, our goals
are shaping our everyday courses of action:
steer us, in other words.
These four metaphors add to each other
to create a perfectly coherent world. We

(travelers) have life goals (destination of

the ship, based on its course), which we
are dying to achieve; we undertake certain
actions to reach them (sea travel), but life is
not an easy thing and in the course of it we
face problems and difficulties which we have
to fight (stormy weather).
Lines 2 and 5 Playing with fortune, oh, what
a lust to be free The cry of freedom may be
interpreted through the LIFE IS GAMBLING
metaphor. Whatever plans to reach the goal
we have may be taken from us away any
moment in case, for instance, of death. As
the sea travelers may not be sure whether
they survive a raging storm to reach their
destination, we may not be completely sure if
we wake up on the next morning (of course,
we presume this will happen, the same way
the sun will rise, for example). The chances
are always open, which brings up the concept
of gambling. Playing with fortune is playing
with destiny. As in gambling, where you are
free to play or to quit, to increase your bet or
to lower it, the same is in life: you are free to
take your chance or to refuse taking it. Or to
quit your game once and for all. This brings
into the spotlight the concept of freedom,
mentioned in both 2nd and 5th lines.
Riding the storm
The narrative goes on in the chorus. It features
the same metaphors and follows exactly the
same logic of reasoning. I will dwell only on a
couple of issues, which are new to this piece.
6.

Face in the wind, were riding the storm

7.

Well stay our course whatever will come

8.

Wandering souls in the sea of the damned

9. Death or glory, oh, oh, were riding the

storm
In line 7 Well stay our course whatever will
come we encounter a time metaphor, namely
TIME (PASSING) IS A MOVING OBJECT.
To be more precise, it is not exactly the time,
which plays a major role in this line, but the
changes, happening with time and hence
associated with it. Let me remind you that the
metaphor above presumes that the observer is
situated in the present and is static. Time, on
the contrary, is dynamic: it is conceptualised
as a physical object that moves from the
future to the past, facing the observer (we
can illustrate the metaphor with numerous
8

examples: Christmas is approaching fast;

winter is coming etc.). Whatever future
brings to us will not change our course says
the line. Interpreted metaphorically, it would
carry identical meaning, only applied to the
life circumstances.
Wandering souls in line 8 is a metonymy,
where soul stands for a person in a partwhole relation.
One last thing to mention here is more of a
speculative nature; however, it also contributes
significantly to my way of understanding the
text. Think for a second about the utterance
were riding the storm (lines 6 and 9). This
is also a metaphor, allegedly an orientational
one. One can ride a horse, but not the storm.
However, if riding is viewed in the sense of
being on top of an animal and if you recall
that in order to ride a wild horse, for instance,
you must first tame it, so to say, we get the
BEING IN CONTROL IS UP metaphor. The
storm is violent; nevertheless, we are in
control of the situation (we are riding that
storm like a wild stallion) and that is why
we will stay our course whatever will come.
In other words, we are prepared to face any
challenge, which I metaphorically project on
the course of real life.

defeat. As long as it is flying high, the battle

goes on. This line refers us back to the riding
the storm thing and it may be claimed that
we witness the same CONTROL metaphor
when the flag is mentioned.
However, I opted for a more general one to be
on the safe side. Again, the line states a clear
superiority over the difficulties, hampering
the way, with a dedication not to surrender
to anything. This applies to both literal and
metaphorical readings of the lyrics.
So far, the entire text is covered. To discover
a completely new world in a text as simple
as this one only four basic metaphors about
life, time, goals and everyday problems were
required. The powers of conceptualization
are vast use them.

Our flag flies high. And it always will

The second verse is provided below:
10. Cracks in the planks, the rigging moves
upwards and
11. Staggering masts, the pounding splash
of the prow
12. The wind in our sails, our flag flies high
on the top
13.

From a stormy horizon we get our course

14.

The cry of freedom

The last five lines do not contribute anything

new. We discover the same metaphors here
we found in the first verse and yet another
instance of an orientational metaphor. This
time it is GOOD IS UP/BAD IS DOWN in
line 12: our flag flies high on the top. Of
course, this utterance obtains its metaphorical
meaning only in the context of the entire song.
A flag, as a signature of a ship or a military
squad, is put down in case of surrender or
9

Tao Te Ching
- Translation And Commentary-

10

13 Shameless
Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and
great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same
kind).
What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is
being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting
that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing
it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is
meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be
feared.
And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be
(similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to
great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself ); if I had
not the body, what great calamity could come to me?
Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he
honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would
administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be
entrusted with it.
Translated by James Legge, 1891

Analysis by Stefan Stenudd

it doesnt wait for an invitation. The ultimate

fear is that of death. It lies inside every other
fear.

Is there any driving force in man surpassing

that of fear? We struggle all our lives to master
it, and to avoid anything that brings it about.
Fear rules our existence to the extent that
there are few things we do without it being
one of our reasons, more often than not the
most important one.

The death we fear is that of the body. We

know nothing else for certain. Our bodies
will cease to function and then decay. What
happens next is a mystery to us. So, maybe
the fear that clings to us through all our lives
is not that of death, but of what it will lead
to. We want to keep it off, as long as we can,
because we dont want to replace something
known with whats totally unknown. At the
moment of death, what replaces our bodily
existence, if anything?

Fear

We worry about not getting what we want,

and dread losing what we have. We lock
our doors, we arm ourselves, we choose
our friends carefully and scrutinise them
constantly, we keep strangers off, we fill our
everyday lives with numerous precautions,
and still we worry about what the future
might bring.
Safety first, we say, making our controlled
environment a rigidly enclosed area that may
keep danger out, but definitely also locks
ourselves in. Fleeing from our fear, we make
our lives more and more of an imprisonment.
The Fear of Death
What we guard with such mania are our own
lives, although death is the inevitable end and

This is expressed by Hamlet in William

Shakespeares drama, when the prince speaks
about being or not being. What makes him
hesitate to commit suicide is not the thought
of complete annihilation, but the possibility
of somehow having his consciousness live on
forever: To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay,
theres the rub. For in that sleep of death, what
dreams may come when we have shuffled off
this mortal coil must give us pause.
So we guard this mortal coil with desperation.
We are obsessed with our bodies. Their
demands make us dependent, and their
fragility makes us fearful. If our bodies were
not so precious to us, we would have nothing
11

to protect. There would be few things we would fear losing, because

only things of the body can be stripped off of it. Neither praise nor
disgrace will stick to us if we dont value the body, the physical entity
to which they are connected. The same is true for honor as well as
distress.
The body is vulnerable. The more important it is to us, the more
vulnerable we will be.
Rule by Caution
Still, Lao Tzu doesnt condemn our dependence on our bodies. We
need to know that it is so, but then it can be a fortunate circumstance
especially in the case of rulers. The one who rules his realm with
the same care he shows his own body, will not hasten to take risks
with it.
He will be hesitant in his rule and consider everything very carefully
before taking action. He will tend to inflict on his realm as little as
possible. This is exactly how Lao Tzu prefers a ruler to be.
Because he worries about the world around him as much as he worries
about his own body, such a ruler will be cautious. Then he will do
little harm.
Not only rulers should live by this code, but every one of whatever
means. If we treat our surroundings with the same care and love as
we have for our own bodies, then we are unlikely to cause trouble or
damage.
So, Lao Tzu regards the fear we have as an asset, as long as we are
aware of its cause and act accordingly. We should aim to preserve the
world as we do our bodies. In that way, fear is a good thing. It keeps us
alert and cautious, and it helps us set things in their right perspective.
By one simple question, we can stop ourselves from numerous follies
that we might otherwise indulge in unwittingly: Is this worth dying
for?

12

Are there real benefits to being bilingual?

Theres an old joke that asks: If someone

who speaks many languages is multilingual,
and someone who speaks two languages is
bilingual, what do you call someone who
speaks one language?

For example, our capacity for attentional

or cognitive controlthe ability to focus
on certain information and ignore other
informationseems to be strengthened by
bilingualism.

Answer: An American.

Bilingual speakers have two languages, both

of which are always activated, regardless
of whether the individual is aware of
that activity or not, Miller explains.
Psycholinguistic research indicates that this
continuous co-activation of two languages
produces competition, so that the bilingual
person is functionally a mental juggler, with
the words, grammar, and sounds of both
languages available, at least momentarily,
when a bilingual is attempting to use one
language alone.

Does the U.S. deserve its reputation for lagging

behind the rest of the world in language
learning? If so, what are we failing to grasp
about the importance of being bilingual?
We are making progress, but still have a
way to go, says Karen Miller, director of
Penn States Language Acquisition Lab and
assistant professor of Spanish linguistics.
President Obama has made statements in
favor of bilingual education, primarily in
response to proponents of the English-only
Movement, a political movement to make
English the official language, she says. He
has pointed out that immigrant children to
the U.S. will eventually become bilingual,
speaking both their native language and
English. And he has also said that American
parents in monolingual contexts should
be just as ambitious in terms of finding
opportunities for their children to learn a
second language, as speaking more than one
language can be socially and academically
beneficial to all of us throughout our lives.

The hypothesis is that bilinguals learn to

resolve cross-language competition and, in
the process, acquire cognitive control that
enables them to resolve competition more
generally when other non-language cognitive
processes conflict.

While 56 to 99 percent of people in European

nations are functionally bilingual, only
around 20 percent of Americans can make
the same claim. Says Miller, if we increase
our commitment to language education,
more of our citisens would be able to reap
the benefits it provides.

Unfortunately, some news outlets have

overhyped these types of research results
to the general public, she notes. In terms
of the benefits of bilingualism, responsible
researchers have not actually argued that it
produces higher IQ, prevents dementia, or
delays old age. Bilingualism does not prevent
dementia.

There are many valid reasons to promote

bilingualism, says Miller. The bilingual
experience appears to confer a set of positive
consequences to cognition that provide
increased mental flexibility for bilinguals
at all ages. Research suggests it may even
provide protections against the symptoms of
dementia for those developing pathology.

13

For younger generations, the growing

popularity of dual-language immersion
schools is a hopeful trend, she adds. There is
a wonderful documentary about these schools
called Speaking in Tongues that we will be
screening this summer and fall. Theres more
enthusiasm for language learning than ever
before. Nevertheless, there is more that we
can doand the programs that are created
need to take into consideration the social
context of the child.
Rather, it appears to provide a kind of
mental muscle that compensates against
the symptoms of cognitive decline, so that
bilinguals typically do not present with
Alzheimers type symptoms until they are four
or five years older than their monolingual
counterparts.
Getting factual information about the
science of bilingualism out to the public and
policy makers is a mission for Miller and her
colleagues. In December 2014, Penn States
Center for Language Science became the first
U.S. chapter of the outreach organization
Bilingualism Matters.
Our goal is to create a context through
which we can celebrate language diversity,
says Miller. By language diversity we
mean not only the diverse languages of the
world but also the many varieties of those
languages, which are often called dialects.
Not only are there many bilingual speakers
in our community, there are also many bidialectal speakers. Just like some languages
are stigmatised, some dialects are also
stigmatised. Our goal is to bring awareness
to the many benefits of being a linguistically
diverse person.

Says Miller, For children whose native

language is Englishthe majority language
in our countrystarting a second language
early in elementary school is proven to be very
important for becoming bilingual. However,
when the childs home language is not the
majority language, but instead a minority
language such as Spanish or Chinese, then
programs that not only teach English, but
also maintain the home languageprograms
with the explicit goal of teaching literacy in
both English and the home languageare
the most successful for forming bilingual
speakers.
The issue is complex, she admits, but there
are many highly trained bilingual education
teachers in our country who have a very solid
understanding of the issues involved. Theyre
out there working hard every day to make a
difference.
That sounds like good newsor should we say,
buenas noticias, or xixn, or khuakhabar,
or goda nyheter, or

For monolingual adults who agree that

bilingualism matters, is it too late to reap the
benefits of learning another language?
One of the most important and fascinating
findings in the current literature is that it
is never too late! Miller says. Even late
bilinguals, past early childhood, reveal many
of these positive cognitive consequences.
Likewise, older claims about limits to second
language learning, suggesting that adults
could not fully acquire the grammar of a
second language, have been criticised. New
data, especially neuroscience data, show
that late learners are indeed able to acquire
native-like proficiency.
14

So, my first foreign language was Italian,

when I was about 7-8+ years old
CM: Whom do you get support from?
JM: Well, my family has supported me quite
a lot, but they have never seen this as an
endeavour with a future, just an invention of
a creative boy. Nowadays, I have their total
support and admiration.
CM: What were some of the setbacks you
encountered?
JM: 20 years ago the only problems I faced
were the lack of material, my family used to
think I was crazy, but who cares? Maybe Im
a sort of crazy... (laughs)

Interview With

Jimmy Mello

Jimmy Mello is the inventor of the

Mello Method, a revolutionary approach to
language learning and language teaching.

Conlangs Monthly: Tell us a bit about

yourself.
Jimmy Mello: Well, this is always a very
difficult question, but Ill try my best to keep
it as short as possible, and let you know me
better along the interview. I was born in
Brazil, my fathers family is from Catalonia,
so I have two mother tongues, Portuguese
and Spanish. I can also speak Catalan, but I
dont consider it my best language.
CM:When did your passion for languages
start?
J.M.: Since I was young, there was something
very interesting about languages. I thought
it was a kind of code, the first time I listened
to a person speaking Italian I got impressed
with that, then I thought to myself wow, they
are speaking using a different code, maybe if
I could learn this code I could talk to them.

CM: Do you ever mix up languages? How

do you avoid it?
JM: Not always, but sometimes it happens,
especially in Germanic and Slavic languages.
How do I avoid it? I dont. I think this is
natural in the learning process. If you worry
too much about it you will get paralysed, its
better not to worry because in the real world
people will understand you, and if you are
lucky enough they will correct you. When I
was in Warsaw (Poland), every now and then
I would put a Russian word in the sentence;
regardless of my mistake they would still
understand exactly what I wanted and admired
my effort for trying to communicate;the same
happened in Amsterdam, German words
would just pop up out of my mind.
CM: How many languages are you fluent in?
JM: That is a hard question, to answer it
properly we really need to discuss some
issues. As many people know, there are
many controversial forms to measure and
determine our fluency levels, so I am going
to define my fluency in terms of what I can
do in the language:
1- I can travel, teach and live comfortably in
countries whose languages are Portuguese,
English, Spanish, Italian and French.
2- I can interact with people, exchange
information and spend a week in places
that speak Catalan, Polish, Dutch, German,
Russian and Esperanto.
15

3 I can order a coffee and read some basic CM: What language do you love most?
things in Norwegian, (Danish, Swedish),
Greek and Hindi (Hindustani).
JM: Catalan, for me is the most beautiful
language in the world, I really want to reach a
4- I am currently learning Polish, Dutch C2 level in it.
(in order to take them to the next level),
Indonesian, and unlocking my Japanese. I have
already come across many other languages, CM: What made you develop your own
but working with them has been a difficult method?
thing for me.
JM: Mainly, the fact that I teach languages; as
a teacher I need something that really works.
CM: How do you manage self-teaching?
Im a person with a tendency to control
everything, so I was able to deliver good
JM: As a teacher for over 20 years, I really lessons and make my students learn from it.
find it hard to have a teacher, because I will I needed to make my business grow, so I had
surely judge and compare him/her with me, to try something really standardised i.e my
so, I decided to teach myself some languages, lessons are 90% the same even for new teachers,
but since I run a language school and I write a because everything you need is there. I like to
teaching Method I am lucky to have teachers say that in our schools we are not teachers and
who teach me the way I believe that works we have no books or classrooms, we are actors
better.
performing in a play; our books are our script
and the students are the audience, but it is a
very modern play where we interact the whole
CM: Do you have any goals in terms of the time with the audience.
amount of languages you would like to
master?
CM: Can you explain how your method
JM: Well, I dont think that mastering a works?
language is difficult, the hard part is keeping
them masterised (laughs), but to answer JM: Its based on questions and answers, in
your question I guess 15 is a good number, and other words, its how the world works, we ask
its reasonably possible to keep and improve questions and we get answers. This is obviously
them.
an ultra-mega simplified answer, but you can
watch it in action on the Polyglot Gathering
2015 webpage or on our online channel.
CM: Do you think social media is changing
the way we learn languages, and how?
CM: Do you have much experience with
JM: Yes, now Im 35 (almost 36), when I was learning / creating conlangs?
younger it was very hard to find text books,
materials, people to talk to etc., especially JM: Yes and no; yes, because when I discovered
because I was living in a huge monolingual that the language was a kind of code, I tried
country. Nowadays we have the whole world with my little aunt to create our own language,
just here in front of us.
so that we could communicate between us
and nobody else would understand, but I was
very young at that time, and the project died.
CM: Whats the hardest thing about learning This year, due to the influence of the internet
a new language?
I decided to create a conlang, its called
Guru Language. As having two university
JM: I guess motivation to keep your daily degrees, one in Linguistics and the other one
work, and the listening, as its the only skill in Educational Science, my Conlang has an
that can not be taught, you have to be exposed educational background; that is, it teaches real
to the language for a long period of time, languages in a very structured way, so it can
but as mentioned before, learning is not that be automatically learnt by polyglots and still
difficult, maintaining the language level is the seem easy to other people; and once mastered
biggest challenge.
you will have a large amount of vocabulary
and structures to learn any other language.
16

CM: What was your inspiration to do so?

JM: Esperanto, not the language, but the creator, Zamenhof had an idea
and fought for it, he really believed he could make a difference in the world
in that time.
I dont believe in Esperanto as a auxiliary language at all, and I dont consider
myself an Esperantist, only an Esperanto Speaker. But, he inspired me to
fight for the language I love.
CM: How do you feel the polyglot community reacts towards conlangs?
JM: Most of them hate this idea, and consider it a waste of time. I dont
have an opinion about this, as I calmly walk among many worlds: linguists
dont really like the point of view of polyglots, and polyglots think linguists
are academic people who treat languages like a dead body. Polyglots are
terrible teachers, teachers are not polyglots, and conlangers really prefer
conlangs. As I am a linguist, a teacher and a newbie conlanger, I can only
say to those groups open your mind, or mind your own business.
CM: Finally, what are your best tips for becoming a polyglot?
JM: The first tip is a question: do you really want to become a polyglot?
Think about that, because this is a full time job, and if you are not good
at doing businesses, youll live a miserable life. Sometimes people only
want to learn two languages for getting a good job, and thats it. That is no
problem. But, if you really want to be a polyglot, be prepared to open your
life to new possibilitiesthis is a fantastic world and everything you need
to do has to have hard and consistent dedication.

http://www.mellomethod.com
17

The Tale Of The Ancient Mariner

-Samuel Taylor Coleridge-

18

19

20

Gepqou
Ianir gue sqemmre, Ossodd kuSielia ianir curia
totketia gue sqemmre.
O nir Selia o totketia o diania
ketSatia Okatia piar xionguekia.
sqemmre gue ianir o ianir rimia vulia
o ianir totketia kuria dianrupia raimia
sqemmriui, sqemmriui, nir Zaxiar Zousqiupia,
dalazen luotui kelbir.
gue guelia kisenia guelia
guelia Okatir valia.
o onui senarizmraui aissodd
iague atuss paiaresia.
Asenia loQ shopia shatan.
o aSIkia kisem So,
tim lO lO kuKijAnnem
eo sibia o cidia gue.
kuKia Okedir gue qes
o QImIr iague rin gue tas
kuKia piadapSomIr gue qes
o faran So aSIkia loq.
aiamIr gue qes o im tuoia,
tIm kisime tuon gue ute
eus sOdd sitia o ak
iague xiom xunui ketSatia belabb.
iague rin gue ti, o tisImia Asem gue ast
o daS bult Sedia buldd xionia
igia brai o Okadd, Ocadd o brai
Su Sedia duloun rimIr iague o voulia
o aSIkiar mIsIr iague.
ealsia stopxun xomeu uidIr daloSia
o Asem kuKui u elgalesui
qiss sImia gue Asem qes
QImewo onui.
suroluilia sitodd otis lIdIr
atuss aionia
tIm paisenia oSosia
sitodd rinIr lotia aSIkia.
onui sirZe o onui kere sIdan gue oz
tIm guelia gue aSEkui.

21

ZEpia sibb reuk brerIr

o kufarIr fElus,
bEzia sem reuk
o rum u Arum QIl ItsEnIr.
sImatia Okadd iasem or ZIralEs
SEdia pakia ahatdukIbb EmblOia
tIm piadapia xIbb Sue
dion xun suolia kisIme
wolsImia o ZEpui o maNEkia.
piadapia xIpia qultikerIr
mo gue xunaluEQ,
vuia fan SomIr
AsEm wose qonialia polur
huer uidIr kIdia aQanyuv fannEnia.
piadapia xIpia suerIr
mo gue iasEm miev rEsIpia
cussEm o pAlketia elossem o perssepketia kepsem
Asem simguac o xomaro o kisenia Sun
hugg miosia eSolia.
Ei, siepiar alia. kumuEdd
Sorat iasEm Sobb,
dulia ieltxun viNeus xiamia hanir
o Asem gue Corales wEmui
higia gue iague aissodd senarizmra
o Asem gue Corales wemui.
mulketia axizan gue tuane
xizan Satia qozia uitir wogia iague
huer Okaqpeadd o xomhuer
kidia SIl Okedir.

22

Part IV
I fear you, ancient mariner!
I fear your parchment-like hand!
And you are long, and parchment-like, and
brown,
Like the ribbed sand of the sea.

The hot sea mocked its rays

Like springs frost spreading
But when the ships shadow laid
The enchanted water burnt always
Red and motionless and terribly.

I fear you and your shining eye

And your parchment-like hand, so brown.
Do not fear, o Wedding-guest!
This body did not drop down!

Far past the shadow of the ship

I watched the watersnakes:
and when they reared the elfin light
Fell off like white snow flakes.

I was alone, completely alone,

Alone on the wide sea!
And never took pity a saint
On my agonised soul.

Within the shadow of the ship

I watched their rich clothing:
blue and smooth green and silky black
they coiled and swam and every line
Was a flash of golden fire.

The many men, of such beauty!

And dead they all lay,
But a thousand thousand slimy things
Continued living, as did I.
I looked to the rotten sea,
And pulled my eyes away
I looked to the rotten deck
And there the dead men lay.
I looked to heaven and tried to pray
But whenever I said a prayer
There came a whisper wicked and caused
My heart to be as dry as dust.

Oh! Joyful living things! No tongue

Could declare their beauty:
A spring of love gushed from my heart
And I blessed them unknowingly:
Surely my holy man pitied me
And I blessed them unknowingly.
That same moment I could pray:
Then so free off my neck
Fell the sea-bird and sank
Like lead, into the sea.

I shut my eyes and I kept them shut

and the balls beat like my heart
Because the sky and sea, the sea and sky
lay like a burden on my weary eyes
and the dead at my feet.
Cold sweat melted off of their bodies
And they didnt rot or smell
The look with which they looked at me
Will never go away.
An orphans curse would drag to the abyss
A spirit of heaven
But much worse
The evil in the eye of a dead man.
Never a day and never a night like that I saw,
But I alone did not die.
The moving moon climbed into the sky
And nowhere dwelt:
gently it climbed
And one or two stars beside.
*1. A more natural translation
would be thin

23

Bibliography and Acknowledgements

Tao Te Ching
- Translation And Commentary-

Images In The Magazine

http://terebess.hu/english/
http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/texts/ Credit goes to:
taote-v3.html#13
http://anyaallyn.com/wp-content/
http://www.taoistic.com/taoteching-laotzu/ u p l o a d s / 2 0 1 3 / 1 0 / m y s t e r y _ w o o d s _
taoteching-13.htm
background_03_by_frozenstocks-d4k5sow.jpg
http://cdn.wall-pix.net/albums/landscapesnatural/00025537.jpg

Are there real benefits to being

bilingual?

http://i.imgur.com/WAWf4Yi.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/jYqqRWg.jpg

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-06-realbenefits-bilingual.html
http://orig06.deviantart.net/036c/f/2011/004/9/e/forest_
http://medicalxpress.com/partners/pennsylvaniastate-university/
Provided by: Pennsylvania State University

sunset_by_boucherfmv-d36fj5x.jpg

http://i9.pixs.ru/storage/0/5/3/
RunningWil_2395578_15286053.jpg

Address: 201 Shields Building Box 3000 University http://i0.wp.com/www.thedailisen.org/wp-content/

uploads/2015/05/47399-2740714-Page_10.
Park PA 16802.
jpg?resise=1479%2C550
E-mail: aem1@psu.edu
Website: http://www.psu.edu/
http://dailysignal.com/wp-content/uploads/507336261copy.jpg

The creation of imaginary worlds

through conceptual metaphor.
Lakoff, George; Johnson, Mark. 1980. Metaphors
we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, George; Johnson, Mark. 1999. Philosophy
in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge
to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.
Lakoff, George; Turner, Mark. 1989. More than cool
reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.