Everyone starts life speaking his/her own mother tongue, but every child begins to learn a language with an alphabet. Sometimes, there is often a connection, a mnemonic, a poem, a song, a riddle, or a rhyme that helps the learner remember that alphabet or alfabet (Danish), or alfabetet (Norwegian), or αλφάβητο (Greek).
Read Howard Nemerov’s A Primer of the Daily Round
A peels an apple, while B kneels to God,
C telephones to D, who has a hand
On E’s knee, F coughs, G turns up the sod,
for H’s grave, I do not understand
But J is bringing one clay pigeon down
While K brings down a nightstick on L’s head,
And M takes mustard, N drives into town,
O goes to bed with P, and Q drops dead,
R lies to S, but happens to be heard
By T, who tells U not to fire V
For having to give W the word
That X is now deceiving Y with Z,
Who happens just now to remember A
Peeling an apple somewhere far away.
Not exactly a primer, you say? There is much to be learned here, and I’ll grant you that perhaps this poem is not for elementary school children, but the author, I think, wants to stress the connection of letters. Not always, but don’t these letters pop up in other languages, excluding English, so that the reader recognizes patterns (the actual formation of the letter) or phonics or physical connections?
We wonder, and we question. What did that fellow just write? Where are the vowels? There seems to be a wealth of consonants. Did he draw that line straight or curved? Is this a dot? What is that wavy mark? How did that fellow say this or that? He seemed to emphasize the first syllable, or the second syllable; is that the one which has the most importance?
Put simply, we have been translating with our eyes and ears for centuries. We already know how important correct translations are. They mean profit, success, and accuracy in private lives and public commerce.
At Apex, we know and understand the connections of letters that give birth to a new language. We comprehend the subtle nuances of q rarely written without an accompanying u in English or the w in German always pronounced as an English v. These letters have a connection, and at Apex, we strive to connect you with your targeted language with expert accuracy and understanding.
