Free Essays on Anomic Sucide

Anomic Suicide The theorist who birthed the idea of Anomic Suicide was Elile Durkheim. Durkheim was born in Lorraine, France in the year 1858 and spent most of his life developing the ideas of Functionalism and other issues of modern sociology. â€Å"He was certainly the most important sociological forerunner of modern functionalism.† (Wallace p20). In 1917, at the age of 59, Durkheim died from a stroke possibly caused by overwork and also the death of his only son had a terrible impact on him. Durkheim was intrigued and concerned by the rising rate of suicide in industrialized countries, he also saw it as a social problem and wanted to learn more about it. Durkeim derives the Anomic suicide from organizational dysfunction or tension. The word Anomic means normlessness, a situation which could arise when rules and norms are not present. When this occurs, people lack feelings of affiliation and emotional support, lack contact with others who share similar interests and access to opportunities. Durkheim goes on to explain that our society is defined by continuous contact with others. Through this contact, we create social relationships and thus find a purpose to life. This is even greater than our individual self-interests. The more we communicate and have interactions with others the more we need to be associated with a group of individuals. Individuals need relationships such as marriage, neighborhoods and friends. It is for this reason that many individuals join religious and political groups, in doing so they become part of a large entity, something bigger and further reaching than themselves. Anomic Suicide comes from when people feel that they are no longer integrating and interacting with any social group (religions, political, etc.), or when there is a death of a partner and they feel as if they are by themselves or sometimes if they personally are involved in a economic catastrophe. All these are reasons for people ... Free Essays on Anomic Sucide Free Essays on Anomic Sucide Anomic Suicide The theorist who birthed the idea of Anomic Suicide was Elile Durkheim. Durkheim was born in Lorraine, France in the year 1858 and spent most of his life developing the ideas of Functionalism and other issues of modern sociology. â€Å"He was certainly the most important sociological forerunner of modern functionalism.† (Wallace p20). In 1917, at the age of 59, Durkheim died from a stroke possibly caused by overwork and also the death of his only son had a terrible impact on him. Durkheim was intrigued and concerned by the rising rate of suicide in industrialized countries, he also saw it as a social problem and wanted to learn more about it. Durkeim derives the Anomic suicide from organizational dysfunction or tension. The word Anomic means normlessness, a situation which could arise when rules and norms are not present. When this occurs, people lack feelings of affiliation and emotional support, lack contact with others who share similar interests and access to opportunities. Durkheim goes on to explain that our society is defined by continuous contact with others. Through this contact, we create social relationships and thus find a purpose to life. This is even greater than our individual self-interests. The more we communicate and have interactions with others the more we need to be associated with a group of individuals. Individuals need relationships such as marriage, neighborhoods and friends. It is for this reason that many individuals join religious and political groups, in doing so they become part of a large entity, something bigger and further reaching than themselves. Anomic Suicide comes from when people feel that they are no longer integrating and interacting with any social group (religions, political, etc.), or when there is a death of a partner and they feel as if they are by themselves or sometimes if they personally are involved in a economic catastrophe. All these are reasons for people ...

Enthalpy Change for a Specific Amount of Reactant

Enthalpy Change for a Specific Amount of Reactant Here is how to determine  the change in enthalpy of a chemical reaction with a given amount of reactant.   You may wish to review the laws of thermochemistry and endothermic and exothermic reactions​ before you begin. Problem: For the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, it is known that:H2O2(l) → H2O(l) 1/2 O2(g); ΔH -98.2 kJUsing this information, determine ΔH for the reaction:2 H2O(l) O2(g) → 2 H2O2(l) Solution: When looking at the second equation, we see it is double the first reaction and in the opposite direction. First, change the direction of the first equation.  When the direction of the reaction is changed, the sign on ΔH changes for the reaction H 2O2(l) → H2O(l) 1/2 O2(g); ΔH -98.2 kJ becomes H2O(l) 1/2 O2(g) → H2O2(l); ΔH 98.2 kJ Second, multiply this reaction by 2.  When multiplying a reaction by a constant, the ΔH is multiplied by the same constant.2 H2O(l) O2(g) → 2 H2O2(l); ΔH 196.4 kJ Answer: ΔH 196.4 kJ for the reaction: 2 H2O(l) O2(g) → 2 H2O2(l)

Reading and Writing Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reading and Writing Skills - Essay Example The book "Rereading America† was very helpful to me. The essay â€Å"Learning to read† by Malcolm X was very inspiring. Malcolm X explained how he learned to read despite the challenging conditions he faced in life. I liked the way he struggled to learn how to read and write. He claimed, â€Å"I had commanded attention when I said something. But now, trying to write simple English, I not only wasn’t articulate, I wasn’t even functional†.His struggle in jail as he tried to learn how to read and write was a great challenge to me. At least, I had helpful and understanding lecturers, friends, as well as useful reading and writing materials. At first, he started by copying everything in the first page of the book he got into his tablet, including the punctuation marks. He went on copying the contents of the dictionary in his tablet, and after some time, he started making meaningful progress. He claimed that after so much practice in writing, he gained up writing speed. I have copied the same idea and I write a lot to improve my writing skills. I believe that I have learned a lot of writing skills. The only challenging part is that I have not yet gained the full understanding of all the vocabulary in the English world. I still need more work to understand the underlying meanings of some of the complicated words. The essay by Jonathan Kozol â€Å"Still ‘separate, still unequal† was the most challenging piece of reading, yet most educative.... The essay by Jonathan Kozol â€Å"Still ‘separate, still unequal† was the most challenging piece of reading, yet most educative. It is undeniable that Kozol gave an extensive research on the status of education in America by exploring the different society issues which affect the education system. Most of his facts in the essay were illustrated with statistical figures. I learned that in order to make a strong point and to be convictive to the readers, facts represented using statistical figures could be very efficient. It is true that the education system in America is changing for the better, but for the times of Kozol, things were out of proportion. He claimed, â€Å"Even these statistics, as stark as they are, cannot begin to convey how deeply isolated children in the poorest and most segregated sections of these cities have become† (Colombo, Cullen & Lisle, 2010, p. 219). The piece of work really developed the title of his work. Indeed, he presented the image of the society just the way it was. Racial segregation and discrimination were the most difficult society issues at the time. Perhaps, the same still remains in some regions. The most luxurious privatized learning institutions serve the whites, whereas the low-end learning institutions serve the less privileged black Americans in the American society. Although the learning environments may be different, I have learned from Malcolm X that determination is what matters most. It is possible to go to privatized luxurious institution and fail or attend a low-class learning institution and become successful depending on your attitude, focus, and commitment to education. I read this essay several times and I feel that it

CRIME THREAT SYNOPSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CRIME THREAT SYNOPSIS - Essay Example Online dating sites, for example, post personal information about individuals that may be used to garner a love interest. Households pay their credit card bills and manage their funds and finances online. School-aged children, once able to play with their friends only by advance arrangement and/or face-to-face contact now enjoy forms of communication such as online gaming, texting, and chatting in a virtual reality, to say nothing of social media websites such as Facebook or MySpace. However, the fact that the internet is a nameless, faceless cache of information with no feelings on the issue of privacy or confidentiality may well be the undoing of society as a whole. In the 1995 movie The Net, the leading character, a computer programmer, worked from home, mainly online, and had few friends outside of her home. Upon leaving for her first vacation in six years, she found herself entangled in a scheme that saw her entire life and even her very identity erased. She quickly found that s he had been replaced by a stranger that was living her life, with her name. In one scene, a man even sits in a car with a portable computer and uploads false information into her police record to keep her on the run and trusting no one. Though in 1995 this movie was nothing more than a wonderful work of fiction that garnered praise from moviegoers and critics, in 2011, the reality of such things occurring is all too familiar. With more and more information being transferred from paper copies to digital media, almost anything is possible; whether information is true or not is another story altogether. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), 336,355 complaints were received in the year 2009, up 22.3% from 2008 (Limbach). The main complaint was online fraud, with persons or even entire families being scammed out of thousands of dollars. For example, one wom an in California paid a company who represented themselves as a mortgage company called â€Å"Loan Modifications of America† a total of $3995 to modify the mortgage loan on her home (Limbach). The company turned out not to exist at all, and there is no one to go to that will give her money back, at least not as soon as it is needed. Now she is out almost four thousand dollars, due to someone else that desired to have money without doing an honest eight hours of work for it. Another wonderful yet disturbing facet of the internet and cyber-worlds is that it has brought the country closer together in terms of merchandise. Sites such as EBay offer online auctions across the country and even internationally for merchandise to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. In 2010, the IC3 reported that out of the top ten internet crimes, non-delivery of payment or merchandise ranked number one among them, with 14.4% of the complaints (Internet Crime Complaint Center 9-15). Though milli ons of users write online about positive experiences with EBay, and to be sure EBay is not the only site that lists products for sale, this is of little help or comfort to those that have been scammed and cheated out of their hard-earned money. It does not help, also, that auction fraud, as it is known, has been the leading complaint in cyber crimes, with 71.2% of all referrals being auction fraud since 2004 (Internet Crime C

Thinking about your future self Essay Example for Free

Thinking about your future self Essay When I am 72 years old, I will have a large family with grandchildren and grand-grandchildren. I will be the happiest person in the world, who has overcome seven decades of fruitful life, has valued the essence of the life; to love and be loved, and has learned how to love and be loved. I see myself as a tender and loving grandmother, full of optimism and respect towards innovation and progress. I will cherish warm relations with all of my family members, old friends and other relatives. I do not imagine my life without close people, especially at the end of the life, human relations become more specific and as all elder people, I too, will greatly depend upon positive relations. Maintenance of friendly and loving atmosphere around me will be my main goal. I would dream to be in good health and good shape but for 72 years old person being able to take care of myself, to be able to move, to see and hear, do not have chronic serious illnesses is a positive perspective. From now on I foresee that I might have problems with my backbone and probably have blood pressure problems. Problems of mobility are also threatening me and many of the population, due to ignorance of healthy lifestyle and less time spent on walking and being in the nature. It’s difficult to look ahead and see what goals I will have in my elder years, practically the last years of my life. They will be short termed and rather practical; to try to be in good health, make my days differ and spend those years surrounded by family members. The last dream seems so unreal, due to the life conditions and intentions of the younger generation to live separately. In many cases the education and career development of the younger members force tem to leave home. One more point, I will probably not be adaptable to new places to live and will keep the house I am used to live in. I tried to analyze if I will be self centered or an open and devoted person. Today I am in the middle, and I hope to keep the same line also during the years that seem so distant. In order to be able to love and be loved, one should keep the middle line and not forget the outer world or oneself. I will be surely concerned about the well being of my relatives and friends, as much as I will be concerned about myself and try to get the same attitude towards me. I will be very upset if I am forgotten, or my birthday is not remembered, my heritage and life experience is not appreciated etc. Anyway, the goals of my last years will be like a prologue; appreciation of my past. When I thought about the age 72, it seemed to me that I will be full of wisdom, will know EVERYTHING about life. It is an expectation young people cherish in their hearts, that one day they will get all the answers. It is something impossible; people leaving the world leave much more puzzled than they were before. I have always read the question â€Å"Why?† in the eyes of the dying people. I am not someone special and will probably think about the life and human relations, about God, birth and death, life full of sufferings and efforts, full of endless work, failures and successes. I have the feeling that I will be sitting on a high hill and look down at the world. I will probably be extremely puzzled about what I see Daily activities will surely save me from thinking about global issues that have not so far found their answers. I will read a lot; will watch TV, mainly news and new films, will listen to music, the old and my loved ones. Internet will have its place in my life. I will try to walk a lot and attend clubs of my interest. If my health and finances allow me, I will travel a lot. I will try to make the last stage of my life into an endless vacation. Active lifestyle is my passion. If I am healthy, I will be in motion every minute. Again and again, my family members will take the most special part of my life. I really dream to be able to spend time with my grandchildren, to play with them, talk to them, take care of them and serve their loved dishes on their birthdays. I will try to create commemoration days, family days which will gather the large family all together. Unity can save from an endless number of troubles. The main goal of the elderly, in reality, should be the cultivation and maintenance of unity among the family members. I will try to reach this goal and be the tying force for my family.

Freeganism: An Eco-friendliness Way of Living Essay -- Culture SubCul

The world is inhabited by numerous cultures consisting of different lifestyles. Freeganism is a subculture that is ordinarily unheard of. The characteristics are impressively diverse from those most would associate with everyday life. The capitalistic culture incorporates commodified food, organized structure, ‘hygienically clean’, easier accessible foods, and more individualization. On the other hand, a freegan culture is comprised of free food, a less organized structure, ‘dirty’ foods with a chance of being raw or rotten, slower food and lifestyle, and is more socially connected (Edwards and Mercer). Those living this standard of life are scavengers of the developed world, living off consumer waste in an effort to minimize their support of corporations and their impact on the planet. Grace Hutchins, a passionate supporter of this form of life, depicts it as dumpster diving to use resources that would go to waste, voluntary work that includes sharing huma n resources, such as time and skills, and finding ways to limit consumption and materialism in our own lives and those of others. A variety of reasons people choose to participate in the freegan lifestyle are more diverse than one would think. Uninformed bystanders may initially imagine the homeless scavenging bins to survive, but many members of the subculture dumpster dive with economic, political and environmental condition in mind. The primary purpose for most is to positively impact the environment by minimizing the amount of wasted food (Kurutz 3). By some, this act could be viewed as a symbolic, political act against capitalist overproduction and waste. Acquiring food from dumpsters can be for both individual consumption and the benefit of the surrounding community.... ...pollute the Earth with massive waste. Society has the choice between wasting life on working in order to purchase good which contribute to the destruction of the environment or living a ‘full satisfying life’, occasionally scavenging or working your self-sufficiency skills to obtain the necessities for contentment, eliminating waste, and boycotting everything. Works Cited Edwards, Ferne, and David Mercer. "Gleaning from Gluttony: An Australian Youth Subculture Confronts the Ethics of Waste." Australian Geographer Nov. 2007: 279-82. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. Einem, Eric. Personal interview. 19 Nov. . Hutchins, Grace. Personal interview. 21 Nov. . Kurutz, Steven. "Not Buying It." The New York Times 27 June 2009: 1-4. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. Thomas, Sean. "Do Freegans Commit Theft?" Legal Studies 30.1 (2010). Web. 13 Nov. 2010.

Legality and Ethicality of Financial Reporting Essay

As the case of Excello Telecommunications is reviewed it can be seen that the CFO was facing financial difficulties due to increased competition. In 2010 the earnings estimate was not going to be met and this would have affected the bonuses, stock options, and the share prices of the Excello stocks. After discovering a large sale that was pending until the shipment could be made for the following year the CFO asked the company controller to find a way to capitalize on the sale in the current year so that the budget shortfall could be met. The only way to accomplish the task was to work around the rules of accounting. The intent to find a way around the rules presents possible legal issues. This case can be evaluated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the AICPA and we look at the financial reporting standards and ethics involved. The CFO of Excello, Terry Reed, discovered that the company made a sale of $1.2 million dollars on December 20, 2010 but it could not be recorded until January 11, 2011 because the purchasing company’s warehouse capacity could not accommodate the equipment. After this discovery Reed determined that the monetary shortfall for 2010 could be solved if the company could record the sale for 2010 instead of in 2011. The Controller, Marty Fuller, for the company approached the accounting department and there were three possible ways found to work around the dilemma. The first was to transfer the product to an off-site warehouse that was owned by Excello by December 31 and hold it there until January 11 when it could be shipped to the purchaser. The second would be to transfer the product to the purchaser by December 31 and offer a full refund upon return. The third option is to offer a ten percent discount to the purchaser if they accept the product by December 31. In reviewing this case it can be seen that there are legal issues that are involved. The controller of the company is fully aware of the rules of accounting and is willing to work around them at the request of the CFO practicing earning management in an effort to achieve the company financial goal. Excello cannot legally report the income of the $1.2 million dollar sale in 2010 due to the fact that it will not be shipped until 2011. If the sale is recorded the way the CFO wants it to appear the company would be artificially inflating the profits for the year 2010. If the sale is recorded in 2010 it will be overstated earnings and will violate the GAAP for revenue recognition. The revenue recognition rule is stated so that the goods are to be delivered to the buyer before  revenue can be recorded. Falsely reporting this will artificially inflate the revenue and is deceiving to the shareholders. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was designed so that it could regulate the rules and regulat ions and appropriately guide companies in reporting their financial statements and performing audits. The CFO for Excello decided to use earning management practices and falsely inflate the financial statement from 2010 in order to meet the earnings estimate it and in doing so breached Section 302 of the SOX codes. Section 302 of the SOX is the Corporate Responsibility for Financial Reports and states â€Å"This section requires the certification of periodic reports filed with the SEC by the CEO and CFO of public companies. (Mintz & Morris, 2011)† The reports that will be filed by Excello for the 2010 year with the SEC will contain false information and in doing so will violate the code. The goal of the SEC is to protect activities and interests of investors, lenders, and companies. The artificial inflation for earned revenue in 2010 by Excello causes risks to the investors, lenders, and shareholders as it is fraudulent information that is reported and is an unethical practice. The unethical financial reporting that Excello considered in this case goes against the AICPA Code o f Professional Conduct. The AICPA holds Certified Professional Accountants to a high ethical standard. As the Excello Company reports revenue prematurely it violates several of the principles that the AICPA is built on. The reasoning of the decision to prematurely record $1.2 million dollars was based on bonuses, stock, and shareholders and was not done in the interest of the public. This decision could have affected the integrity of the company as the trust to the public, clients, and lenders would be broken. The decision to artificially inflate the profits for the year 2010 proves to be unethical in the terms of the AICPA. Putting the bonuses, stock options, and the share prices ahead of the public interest is unethical behavior and unaccepted by the AICPA, GAAP, or SEC. The accounting department for Excello came up with three ways that the rules of the GAAP could be bent in order to accommodate recording profits earlier than appropriate. The first was to ship to an offsite warehouse owned by Excello by D ecember 31, 2010 and ship it again on the requested January 11, 2011 date. The second was to transfer the product to the buyer by December 31 and offer a full refund if retuned to Excello. The third option was to offer the buyer a ten percent discount to take the  product by December 31, 2010. Of the three options the best alternative seems to be offering a discount if the customer takes the product by December 31, 2010. Giving discounts to a buyer is not an uncommon practice and is not an illegal practice that is defined by the GAAP or the SEC. If the product is delivered to the buyer by the December 31, 2010 deadline the sale will be legitimate and the $1.2 million dollars can be appropriately recorded in 2010. Transferring the product to the buyer before January in order to make the earnings estimate and procure the bonuses and stock options is not the most ethical reason but does not appear to be illegal. The CFO of the company asked the controller to find a way around the GAAP regulations in order to record a large sale by the end of the 2010 year that would have been otherwise legally recorded in 2011. After reviewing the GAAP regulations it is seen that recording a sale before the buyer takes ownership is a fraudulent recognition of profit. The process of recording and recognizing revenue before it is actually due is illegal in the eyes of the SEC. This artificial inflation of profits can affect the public and investors in the company. The unethical behavior of fraudulent profit recording goes against the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct as well because it puts the company ahead of the public interest. There were three options given by the accounting department to solve the issue of the year-end profit earnings. Of the three options presented, the third was to offer a discount in order for the customer to take delivery of the product by the deadline allowing for profits to be recorded legally. It is understandable that a company needs to make the earnings estimate, however it should be done legally and no CFO or CPA should consider bending the rules set forth by the GAAP. The idea of trying to work around the rules and guidelines set forth by the GAAP is unethical behavior. References Mintz, S. M., & Morris, R. E. (2011). Ethical Obligations and decision making in accounting (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Culture and Literature Essay

Humans are generally described as unique, not one of us are ever exactly the same to another person. If we put a little logic, unique individuals make up societies, thus societies are also somehow unique to each other. Uniqueness is commonly regarded as a positive trait simply because it makes something interesting. In many respects, the societies of the world would never run out of interesting things to share with each other. And among these interesting things, stories are seemingly the medium of communication that is enjoyed by all cultures. Moreover, listening to stories of a different culture make us learn something about that particular culture. This paper will feature the Chinese classic story â€Å"Journey to the West† by Wu Cheng-en. The story is about an epic adventure of a monkey with superhuman strength able to withstand the 100,000-man army of the heavens. However, the monkey uses his superhuman strength for mischievous acts. As a punishment, Buddha had put a mountain on top of him. After so many years, the monkey fatefully meets a monk. The story teaches us how the Chinese views the aspects of loyalty, responsibility, spirituality, and many other aspects about the Chinese culture. Other cultures could learn many lessons from this Chinese classic such as discipline. Since the monkey was still behaving wildly even though he is freed, the monk had put a headband spell that would contract each time the monkey would act in an undisciplined manner. (Cheng-en 342) All in all â€Å"Journey to the West† by Wu Cheng-en is an action packed epic adventure that is also packed with valuable lessons. It could also be said that he popularity of this particular story had introduced China to the western world. In many respects, this classic of literature is China’s gift to the world that the country is proud and willing to share with other cultures. Work Cited Cheng-en, Wu. Monkey: Folk Novel of China. TN: Grove Press. 1958

buy custom Mythology essay

buy custom Mythology essay Myths address the motivations and the deepest psychological needs of the human race, which explain why myth is considerably similar all over the world. The story forming a particular myth addresses the certain themes. These themes are usually a part of the needs of human beings. Since humans needs are common throughout the world, the story in a myth reflects the experience of humans across a large segment of the planet and of time experience. Thus, they have a strong wisdom coming from the human communal experience across thousands of years. Myth speaks to humans shared dreams, common needs, motivations, desires and actions that result from them. List three each of five different types of comparative deities; include names and origins. (Example: Supreme deity: Zeus (Greek), Jupiter (Roman), God (Christian Creator deity, Culture hero, Mother goddess, Sky deity, solar deity? The most common types of myths across the humanity are: Sagas - these are mainly based on great historical events; legends - they are fictional stories and are associated with a historical place or person; and folk tales - they are just simple adventure narratives. Christianity grew out of the Mystery religions and holds many similarities yet today. List the comparative rites between Christanity and those of Attis found in the italicized paragraph on page 197. Attis was killed and resurrected after three days, which is similar to Jesus death. Secondly, Attis mother is known as the virgin goddess; comparable to Jesus mother - Virgin Mary. Attis birth is celebrated on the 25th December, similar to Jesus. Per our discussions, how was gold mined in ancient Colchis? The miners obtained gold using sheepskin. They spread a sheepskin over a board or in some way flattened it. They then placed the skin in the river and fixed it, the fleece being on the upper side, in a way that the stream would not carry it away. When the fleece soaked, it would trap gold particles. The miners withdrew the skin after some time and spread it on the ground for it to dry. When it dried, they beat it, shaking out the gold grains. What is the true message of the story of Hermaphroditus and Salmacis? The story is about the son of Aphrodite and Hermes who leaves home and goes to a spring in Caria. Salmacis is the name given to this spring. The name was for a nymph that fell in mad love for a Hermaphroditus, but did seduce him. However, while he bathed in the spring, Salmacis went forward to a frightened youth, and clung to the boy with his arms and legs around his body. He then kissed the boy, but the boy tried to fight Salmacis. Salmacis then prayed and asked the gods never to separate them from each other. The gods answered by fusing their bodies and there and then Salmacis found his body with both male and female genital and was upset. He said that any boy who bathed there would also undergo the same. Per our discussions (attachment), how are Artemis and the word Honeymoon connected? Artemis is the Greek goddess of childbirth, hunting and wildlife. She was known as Diana in the Roman mythology. She is associated with the moon, just as Apollo is associated with the sun. 8.) Who was the original deity of Delphi? Python 9.) In Blackfoot society, who owned the tipi? In this society, there are only few distinguished families that own tipis. The medicines designs originated from dreams and could be handed down to other generations. Also, it could be traded in proper ceremonies, and the rituals passed from one owner to another. 10) In her Introduction, Mary Shelley tells us in one powerful sentence why she felt her monster had to be frightening, because Victor Frankenstein tried to play God; find and quote Shelleys own words. The pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together; to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world by giving the "spark of life" to a "hideous corpse"(Mary). Buy custom Mythology essay

Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think

Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think Mandarin Chinese is often described as a difficult language, sometimes one of the most difficult ones. This is not hard to understand. There are thousands of characters and strange tones! It must surely be impossible to learn for an adult foreigner! You can learn Mandarin ChineseThats nonsense of course. Naturally, if youre aiming for a very high level, it will take time, but I have met many learners who have studied for just a few months (albeit very diligently), and have been able to converse rather freely in Mandarin after that time. Continue such a project for a year and you will probably reach what most people would call fluent. So definitely not impossible. How difficult a language is depends on many things, but your attitude is certainly one of them and its also the easiest one to influence. You stand little chance of changing the Chinese writing system, but you can change your attitude towards it. In this article, Im going to show you certain aspects of the Chinese language and explain why they make learning a lot easier than you might think. How difficult is it to learn Mandarin Chinese? Of course, there are also things that make learning Chinese harder than you think (or perhaps as hard), sometimes even the same things from different angles or on different proficiency levels. That, however, is not the focus of this article. This article focuses on the easy things and is meant to encourage you. For a more pessimistic outlook, Ive written a twin article with the title: Why Mandarin Chinese is harder than you think. If you already study Chinese and want to know why its not always easy, perhaps that article will provide some insights, but below, I will focus on the easy things. Difficult or easy for whom? With what goal? Before we talk about specific factors that make learning Mandarin easier than you might think, Im going to make some assumptions. You are a native speaker of English or some other non-tonal language not related to Chinese at all (which would be most languages in the west). You might not have learnt any other foreign language, or perhaps youve studied one in school.   If your native language is related to Chinese or is influenced by it (such as Japanese, which largely uses the same characters), learning Chinese will become even easier, but what I say below will be true in any case. Coming from other tonal languages makes it easier to understand what tones are, but its not always easier to learn them in Mandarin (different tones). I discuss the downsides of learning a language completely unrelated to your native language in the other article. Furthermore,  Im talking about aiming for a basic level of conversational fluency where you can talk about everyday topics youre familiar with and understand what people say about these things if targeted at you. Approaching advanced or even near-native levels requires a whole new level of commitment and other factors play a bigger role. Including the written language also adds another dimension. Why Mandarin Chinese is easier than you think Without further ado, lets get into the list: No verb conjugations - Partly because of bad teaching practice, many people associate second language learning with endless verb conjugations. When you learn Spanish or French and care about being accurate, you need to remember how the verb changes with the subject. We have this in English too, but its much easier. We doesnt say we has. In Chinese, there are no verb inflections at all. There are some particles that change the function of verbs, but there are certainly no long lists of verb forms you need to memorise. If you know how to say çÅ"‹ (kn) look, you can use it for any person referring to any period of time and it will still look the same. Easy! No grammatical cases - In English, we make a difference between how pronouns are handled depending on if they are the subject or the object of a sentence. We say he talks to her; him talks to she is wrong. In some other languages, you need to keep track of different objects and sometimes also not only for pronouns, but for nouns as well. None of that in Chinese! 我 (wÇ’) I, me is used in any situation referring to myself in any way. The only exception would be plural we, which has an extra suffix. Easy!   Flexible parts of speech - When learning most languages other than Chinese, you need to remember different forms of the words depending on what part of speech they belong to. For example, in English we say ice (noun), icy (adjective) and to ice (over)/freeze (verb). These look different. In Chinese, though, these could all be represented by one single verb å† ° (bÄ «ng), which incorporates the meaning of all three. You dont know which one it is unless you know the context. This means that speaking and writing becomes much easier since you dont need to remember so many different forms. Easy! No gender - When you learn French, you need to remember if each noun is meant to be le or la; when learning German, you have der, die and das. Chinese has no (grammatical) gender. In spoken Mandarin, you dont even need to make a difference between he, she and it because they are all pronounced the same.  Easy!  Relatively easy word order -  Word order in Chinese can be very tricky, but this mostly becomes apparent at more advanced levels. As a beginner, there are a few patterns you need to learn, and once youve done that, you can just fill in the words youve learnt and people will be able to understand. Even if you mix things up, people will usually still understand, provided that the message you want to convey is relatively simple. It helps that the basic word order is the same as in English, i.e. Subject-Verb-Object (I love you). Easy! Logical number system - Some languages have really bizarre ways of counting. In French, 99 is said as 4 20 19, in Danish 70 is half fourth, but 90 is half fifth. Chinese is really simple. 11 is 10 1, 250 is 2 100 5 10 and 9490 is 9 1000 400 9 10. Numbers do get a little bit harder above that because a new word is used for every four zeroes, not every three as in English, but its still not hard to learn to count. Easy!Logic character and word creation - When you learn words in European languages, you can sometimes see the word roots if youre good at Greek or Latin, but if you take a random sentence (such as this one), you cant really expect to understand how each word is constructed. In Chinese, you actually can do that. This has some significant advantages. Lets look at a few examples of advanced vocabulary that are really easy to learn in Chinese but very hard in English. Leukemia in Chinese is è ¡â‚¬Ã§â„¢Å' blood cancer. Affricate is Ã¥ ¡Å¾Ã¦â€œ ¦Ã©Å¸ ³ stop friction sound (this r efers to sounds like ch in church, which has a stop (a t sound), then friction (the sh sound)). If you didnt know what these words meant in English, you probably do now after looking at a literal translation of the Chinese words! These are not exceptions in Chinese, this is the norm. Easy! These are just some of the more obvious reasons that reaching a basic level in Chinese is not as difficult as you think. Another reason is that Chinese is much more hackable than any other language Ive learnt. The difficult parts are easier to hack What do I mean by this? Hacking in this case means understanding how the language works and using that knowledge to create smart ways of learning (this is what my website Hacking Chinese is about). This is especially true for the writing system. If you approach learning Chinese characters like you would learning words in French, the task is daunting. Sure, French words do have prefixes, suffixes and so on and if your Latin and Greek are up to par, you might be able to use this knowledge to your advantage and be able to understand how modern words are created. For the average learner, however, thats not possible. Its also the case that many words in French (or English or many other modern languages) cant be broken down or understood without doing serious research into etymology first. You can of course break them down yourself in ways that make sense to you. In Chinese, however, you dont need to do that! The reason is that one Chinese syllable corresponds to one Chinese character. That gives very little room for change, meaning that while words in English can gradually lose their spelling and morph over the centuries, Chinese characters are much more permanent. They do of course change, but not that much. It also means that the parts that make up the characters are in most cases still present and can be understood on their own, thus making understanding a lot easier. What all this boils down to is that learning Chinese neednt be all that hard. Yes, reaching an advanced level takes a lot of time and effort, but getting to basic conversational fluency is within reach for all those who really want it. Will it take longer than reaching the same level in Spanish? Probably, but not that much if we only talk about the spoken language. Conclusion This article was meant to convince you that you can learn Chinese. Of course, an article like this also has its dark twin, why learning Chinese is actually very hard, especially if you go beyond just basic oral communication. If youre a beginner, you dont really need such an article, but if youve already come a long way and want some sympathy, make sure you read on:Why Mandarin Chinese is harder than you think

Philosophy and Literature- Macbeth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophy and Literature- Macbeth - Essay Example Nights Dream one finds that the plays irrevocably revolve around the human failings of the central characters with the protagonist finally succumbing to the fated end of a tragic death. All the Shakespeare’s plays are fast paced and action packed human drama showcasing a sequence of events involving individuals with distinctive qualities which complement but at the same time clash with each other. This inherent inter-play of emotional turmoil helps dramatise the events and frequently hide the serious undertones of the philosophical ideologies of the author. McGuinn, in his book1 examines the various aspects of Shakespeare’s plays which govern the underlined principles of human life overflowing with bad luck and misery. We would be specially looking at Macbeth for the element of bad luck which follows the protagonist relentlessly till the end and subsequently discussing the Shakespearean philosophy of human misery and tragedy that invariably leads to death. The concept of bad luck implies that without this particular element, life would have been better which of course illustrates a fact recognized and often feared by all. Misfortune can befall anyone but the way one reacts and overcomes them becomes the deciding factor for a happy or miserable future of the person. It is equally true that bad luck brings out the hidden characteristics and suppressed desires of the people which are normally denied because they might lead to disastrous end-results. Shakespeare’s understanding of human nature is displayed in his plays which seem to have an uncanny fascination for creating situations that expose these attributes of the persons resulting in utter misery and tragedy. Macbeth is a high voltage drama involving an ambitious hero in a plot that is full of intrigue, murders, betrayal and revenge resulting in violence and tragic death of the hero. The presence of supernatural elements in the form of witches and ghost add that extra ingredient of Machiavellian thrill