Using the language vs linguistics

I find myself struggling with a balance. Maybe you don't, but I do. Here it is: I'm fascinated by language, but I also enjoy learning new/firming up already-known languages to put to use. And it's hard to say which is more fruitful—personally and professionally. 

I've got some skill with Latin. One of my things with Latin is teaching it. And I'm exactly self-important enough to think you might want my help in reading Latin. What follows is a treatment of Cicero's de senectute chapters 6 through 9 (if the title didn't give it away) aimed at Latin students just wading into their first bit of classical Latin. 

Let me know what you think.

de senectute 6 through 9

Speaking in America

If you were ever curious about what languages were spoken where in the United States, the MLA has a very fun tool.

http://www.mla.org/resources/map_main

It's not super-super-super comprehensive, but there are enough languages and ways to slice and dice the info to keep you busy for awhile. They are using the US Census data, so it should be pretty thorough. Nosing into the map, I can see that there are somewhere between 100 and 500 Greek speakers (don't get excited, it's modern) in the county I live in. Polish speakers? Somewhere between 200 and 500 in my zip code. Crazy.

IPA

Not just for beer. This is a pretty cool site that will show you the mouth mechanics of the sounds of American English, German and Spanish.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/

I like what they've done. Handy. I only wish that this could have included every sound in the IPA inventory. Well, maybe not every possible sound, but the basics. If you want to know what a retroflex sounds like, you're out of luck. On the other hand, r-colored vowels are featured on the American English section.

Anyway, a nifty toy for the linguistically curious.