Playing with IPA

Let’s take a look at this!

ɑːn ðɪ æftəˈnuːn əv θæŋksˈgiviŋ ɪːv, nəˈvembə 24, 1971, ə mæn ˈkeriiŋ ə blæk əˈtæʃeɪ keɪs əˈproʊtʃt ðə flaɪt ˈkaʊntə aːv ˈnɔːrθwest ˈɔːriənt ˈerlaɪns æt ˈpɒrtlənd ɪntəˈnæʃənəl ˈerpɔːrt. hɪ aɪˈdentəfaɪd ˈhɪmsef æs dæn ˈkuːpər ænd ˈpɜːtʃəsd ə ˈwɒnweɪ ˈtikit ɑːn flaɪt 305, ə 30-ˈminit trip tuː siˈæːt̬əl.

ˈkuːpə ˈbɒrdɪd ðɪ ˈerkræft, a ˈboʊɪŋ 727-100 (FAA redʒəˈstreɪʃən N467US), ænd tuːk sɪːt 18c (18E baɪ wɒn əˈkoʊnt, 15D baɪ əˈnɒðər) ɪn ðə rɪa əv ðə ˈpæsəndʒər ˈkæbɪn. hɪ lɪt ə ˈsɪgəret ænd ˈɔːðəd ə ˈbɜːbən ænd ˈsoʊdə. ˈaɪwitnəsɪs ɑːn bɔːrd rɪˈkɑld ə mæn ɪn hɪs midˈfɒːt̬ɪs, bɪˈtwɪːn 5 fɪ:t 10 ˈɪntʃɪs (1.78 m) ænd 6 fɪːt 0 ˈɪntʃɪs (1.83 m) tɑːl. hɪ wɔːr ə blæk ˈlaɪtweɪt ˈreɪŋkoʊt, ˈloʊfəs, a dɑːk suːt, ə ˈnɪtlɪ prest wɑɪt ˈkɑːləd ʃɜːt, ə blæk ˈnektaɪ, ænd ə ˈmʌðər əv pɜːl ˈtaɪpɪn.

If you’re an English learner, you may know this is IPA which is an alphabetic system being used to pronounce words correctly. This may be hard and strange to you from start. However, once you get familiar with it, I’m pretty sure that you can get your pronunciation much better.

I’ve just found out a game that we can chat with each other by using IPA instead of regular text. I’ve typed out the above paragraph from this original text using a special keyboard.

If you’re on MAC, follow this steps to install the IPA keyboard.
1. Download Charis SIL IPA
2. Extract it into ~/Library/Fonts
3. Download IPA MAC Keyboard
4. Extract it and open the dmg file
5. Copy “IPA Unicode 6.2(v1.5) MAC.keylayout” into ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts
6. Open MAC’s System Preferences, go to Keyboard. In Input Sources tab, scroll down to “Others”, look for the IPA keyboard, add it.
7. It’s done. Now you can follow this manual to type IPA.

Positivity in Blind

Truthfully, I am positive all the time.

I have a friend. He always says he thinks positive. Whenever I thoughtfully talked with him about the current state of our country like the infamous environmental disaster, he tended to ignore the bad things although it was so true. Also, he gave excuses for thousand times that every country has the similar problems and our one is still much better than North Korea, for example. More interestingly, he didn’t forget to blame me that I have no perception to talk about it. That’s fine. Thank him.

Personally, I think that is not positive thinking but fallacy and self-delusion. Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America says “It’s an ideological force in American culture that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune, and blame only ourselves for our fate”. Theoretically, there’s nothing that can’t be solved with a bright smile and a grand effort. Nevertheless, thinking that a bad thing is good doesn’t change anything and just hypothetically delude yourself.

“A bandage with a smiley face slapped onto a wound cures nothing and obscures everything. Just remember that while life can be beautiful, pretending it is doesn’t make it so.”, said Micheal Fumento.

I think it’s worth for us to try together to see things as they truly are.

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Site Note: This is just my English homework that I try to use voiced and voiceless TH words as many as possible. No offense. Cheers!!!

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