Improving vocabulary

Rosetta Stone: More Than a Language Learning Tool

Posted on by Julia Tomiak / 10 Comments

Last Week’s Winners 
First, thanks to all of you who participated in the “Olympic Size Vocab Review” last week!  I got lots of great answers, which impressed me, because I have been staying up WAY TOO LATE to watch the Olympics, and sleep deprivation has clouded my thinking.  I’m glad it’s not affecting you all!  Two people got all of the quiz questions correct.  Congrats to:

  • Lara Britt of Writing Space.  Lara (aka Lori Tian Sailiata) blogs from Hawaii about fulfilling her dream of becoming a self-supported writer, blogger, and creative.  Visit her site for writing tips, personal stories, and insights from paradise.  
  • Amy Makechnie of MaisyMak.  Amy shares tales about mothering four children, as well as entertaining stories about running, writing, and great reads!  
Many of you were very close to getting all four answers correct, but two questions were tricky.  Remember that the antiquated definition of portmanteau is luggage, specifically a carrying bag.  And, the etymology of Olympics reads like a narrative of the Olympic torch relay:  Olympiad comes from Middle English -> Middle French   -> Latin -> Greek in reference to Olympia, the site of the ancient Olympic games.  Kudos to Lara for recognizing the -iad implied a time component (specifically four years).
This Week’s Word Nerd Note

I’m going to take a break this week from highlighting a new vocab word to share instead an interesting fact.  At the beginning of the summer, I considered ordering Rosetta Stone software to teach my children Spanish, hoping that we could keep our brains active with this program. Silly me, I thought that “Rosetta Stone” was named after the person who started the program.  My eldest son quickly corrected me.


“No Mom, it’s a stone from ancient Egypt.  It had to do with translations or something.”

Really?  Well, I Googled it.  According to The British Museum website, soldiers in Napoleon’s army found the Rosetta Stone while digging a fort near the town of el-Rashid (Rosetta).  The stone has a decree inscribed upon it in three different languages: hieroglyphic (used by the priests), demotic (native script), and Greek (the language of the administration).  Since it contains both Greek and hieroglyphs, the stone provides the key to understanding hieroglyphs in the modern age.  

And how did my son know this?  From reading Rick Riordian’s books.  Thank you, Mr. Riordan.  

What interesting information have you learned from a book lately?  Share your comments below!

Julia
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Julia Tomiak
I believe in the power of words to improve our lives, and I help people find interesting words to read. Member of SCBWI.

10 Comments

  1. Oooh, I won? Thanks for putting that together, Julia. It is always more difficult to make a test than to take one. Kudos. That was a fun one. It’s also easier when the folks commenting ahead of time gave such great answers. I look forward to the next one. The Rosetta Stone. There is an exact replica at the Sinclair Library one of my writerly nooks here in Honolulu. Writing programs for kids. My French really improved with I got a French pen pal. And really, really improved when I started reading books in French. Children’s books to start out with. Bonus, some of the kids books are teaching native speakers grammar.

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  2. Rick Riordan is awesome! I learn all kinds of things from books…it’s amazing what you can pick up just from reading a good story.I love that perk! I’m now learning about car racing from The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

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  3. Did you ever end up getting the Rosetta Stone language program? If so, I’d love to hear how you/your kids enjoyed it. I’ve never tried it, but I think we get a discount through my husband’s work, so I’m considering it.

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    1. I didn’t, because I read some negative reviews re: support. The program is total immersion- nothing is said in English. Also, it doesn’t explain grammar, etc. (ie masculine vs feminine nouns). But My husband and I took several years of Spanish and Don’t think that would be a problem. I’ve also read that RS is better for visual learners, while others are better for auditory learners. Mostly, the IT support issues gave me pause. Hope hat helps!

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  4. That’s a cool fact, Julia! Most of my cool facts are from studying THE book. Just finished teaching about Samson and his Nazirite vow. Couldn’t cut his hair, and most Israelites wouldn’t even use a comb. Which means Samson’s 7 braids were probably dredlocks.

    Big, burly, bearded, hot-headed and dredlocked… I bet he looked crazy.

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  5. Surprisingly, I actually learned about the Rosetta Stone in college. 🙂 My boys were studying ancient Egypt in 2nd grade and learned some neat things about their culture too. 🙂

    Thanks Julia,
    Hester, 😉

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  6. Seriously…I thought Rosetta Stone was a person too. Thanks for the new tidbit of information. Although, vocabulary and grammar aren’t my strong suit, I love learning from you! Enjoy these last days of summer!

    Reply

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