Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Deutsch und die Biene

That means German and the Bee.

First of all, I will try to post some etymology studies before, during, and after Bee Week.

For today, I will be writing about German (or should I write this post in German?)

Nein. Es dauert eine Weile. 

As many of you probably know, English is a language that originally came from German (West German dialect to be more exact), even if we borrowed from many other languages, too.

German is actually an amazing language to learn, and I really enjoy it. I may not be taking it at school, but I have been learning from my German friends from my choir, when the German exchange students were at my school, and some of my Austrian friends.

Völkerwanderung - migration of nations

  • Völker means "nations" (volk means "people" or "nations")
  • wanderung means "wandering" or "migration
Ursprache - a parent language
  • Ur means "original" or "primitive"
  • sprache means "language" (sprechen/spreche means "speak", so they're pretty similar)
Weltbild - image of the world
  • Welt means "world"
  • bild means "image"
That is all I will post for now. There are also words like Götterdämmerung (twilight of the gods). Just in case you did not know, when German words have umlauts - those two dots over certain letters, and you spell them without the accents it would be spelled like oe or ae. Do not EVER spell words like this at the Bee. 

Good luck, spellers!

Spelling Bee Petition to Allow Ninth Graders to Participate

A former speller commented on my last post with this link.

http://www.change.org/petitions/scripps-national-spelling-bee-let-9th-graders-compete

Thank you very much!

Please take a moment to sign it.

Friday, April 26, 2013

I am Back, but I Don't Know How Much I will be able to Post/New Spelling Bee Format/Spellers

Dear Spellers

There has been a lot going on with the Bee since I last posted. I have not been able to post for a while, because I have had a lot of homework, a lot of standardized testing prep classes, languages, studying, choir, composing and arranging music, music theory, flute, and piano.

Changes:

  • The Bee has added a vocabulary test to the Preliminaries Test
    • Section A - Just like before: Spelling Test, but there will only be 24 words, and 12 words will go to the full score. (Round 1)
    • Section B - 24 Vocabulary Words with 12 words going to the full score. (Round 1)
    • Section C - One multiple choice vocabulary word (Round 2)
    • Section D - One multiple choice vocabulary word (Round 3)
Yes, there will still be oral rounds for Preliminaries, Semifinals, and Championship Finals!
  • Semifinals
    • Basically the same process as the Preliminaries Test.
  • Championship Finals
    • As before, spellers spell orally until there is a champion or co-champions.
Use this for more information.

Two of three spellers from Utah are three-peats

The other repeaters:

Five-Year Repeaters (2)

Four-Year Repeaters (5)

Three-Year Repeaters (13)

36 Anuk Dayaprema97 Caleb Miller
60 Lucas Urbanksi179 Hunter Randolph
61 Yasir Hasnain225 Isabella Neubauer
64 Pranav Sivakumar255 Jared Ward
73 Joe Kirkpatrick256 Vismaya Jui Kharkar
83 Margaret Peterson268 Shayley Martin
91 Vanya Shivashankar

Two-Year Repeaters (43)

18 Isabel Cholbi151 Carson Monks
28 Katharine Wang165 Philip Cummings
29 Eva Kitlen166 Nicholas Manfred
35 Donovan Rolle168 Dylan O'Connor
41 Christal Schermeister175 Katie Danis
44 Nikitha Chandran189 Manu Nair
63 Christopher Rademacher190 Joseph Delamerced
67 Sophie Bergman196 Iram Kingson
76 Aaron Manning201 Rebekah Stanhope
77 Kaelyn Bender203 Max Lee
87 Joshua Kalyanapu204 Richelle Zampella
95 Nickolas Day229 Nicole Frische
109 Michelle Beaulieu230 Jasmine Brandt
110 Christian Kincaid231 Rahul Krishnaswamy
112 Sydney Christley235 Kate Miller
125 Kuvam Shahane237 Victoria Epstein
126 Hannah Jackson257 Ronan Howlett
129 Emma Greenlee258 Luke Thornburgh
135 Faaris Khan260 Madison Fuentes
142 Gokul Venkatachalam266 Jae Canetti
148 Ebose Eigbe274 Jonah Gunter
150 Kennith Gonzalez























I hope will be able to post more words, root studies, etymology studies, and more soon!

Good luck! Viel Glück! Bonne Chance!

Monday, August 20, 2012

I'm Back!/Enrollment for the Bee/International Bee

I was very busy the last few months, therefore, I have not been able to post anything! I had to do so much school work, such as an online class so I would not have to take it next year, plus I have been busy writing and arranging music for my choir, coaching my friends for the Bee, and I had several vacations especially to Washington, D.C. for the second time in my life! I found several interesting words I will post once I go through my photos. That is why I had to hide my blog for a while, so nobody would wonder if I had lost an interest in the Bee (I haven't, just to let you know).

I will try my best to post during the school year, even with a crazy schedule. I'm entering my second year of high school (10th grade).

The enrollment period for the Bee have commenced! Tell your teachers, principals, etc. to sign your school up! Many students are not back in school yet, so when you get back to school, tell them!

I am really excited for the International Spelling Bee! There seem to be many countries who have expressed an interest, and I wonder if high schoolers will be able to do it. If so, I'd better get back to studying. I absolutely love international events, and that includes the Olympics!

What are some of your favorite sports-related/Olympic terms?

Have a great rest of the summer, school year, and good luck to all the spellers starting from the classroom all the way to the champion!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Words from Previous National Spelling Bees (2009)

Continuation from Other List http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6747294767928577816#editor/target=post;postID=540582122627744997


2009
mores
affluent
quomodo
vacillatory
isthmus
calque
asylum
civitas
scalene
Micawber
arrogance
verbiage
onychorrhexis
parabulia
acroamatic
tourelle
clary
cerecloth
fodient
toile
noisette
vaward
radiomimetic
nuncio
barbotte
gastaldo
hyalithe
voussoir
Sheol
perciatelli
strepitoso
deloul
poivrade
Santeria
clogwyn
epicrisis
senryu
caliche
imprimis
foudroyant
austausch
unakite
talipot
nisus
dauerlauf
Alastor
avalement
pogonip
ophelimity
geusioleptic
conchyliated
avoirdupois
blancmange
apodyterium
simnel
passacaglia
axolotl
hypallage
baignore
byssinosis
arrhostia
iliopsoas
oeillade
xebec
huisache
Neufchatel
cretonne
amaravole
becquerel 
Caerphilly
palatschinken
fackeltanz
jacqueminot
wisent
diacoele
reredos
antonomasia
bouquiniste
oriflamme
guayabera
isagoge
sophrosyne 
menhir
phoresy
Maecenas

I'll post more when I have more time. Sorry that I haven't posted forever, because I've been extremely busy, and I haven't been home a lot!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Root Word Study - Verein

I have not posted for a few weeks, but once I get back on my regular computer, I will post the rest of the words used in past National Spelling Bees.

For now I am going to do a root word study on verein. This word caught my attention when I saw a word in one of the German songs I sang (Serenade (Ständchen) Op. 135: Zögernd Leise by Schubert). vereinter (This is not a word in Webster's Third, but verein is). When you translate it into English, it means combined. According to Webster, verein means a usual social or political organization or association. 

There was a word at the National Spelling Bee that had this certain root: turnverein: an athletic club. In this case verein means club, but club has a similar meaning to organization and association.

Good luck, spellers, and I hope you are studying very diligently!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Words from Previous National Spelling Bees (2005-2008)

Words from Past Years

I will be posting several words starting from 2005, because that was the first year they stopped updating the Scripps Consolidated Word List.

2005
ornithorhynchous
pompier
Roscian
trouvaille
priscilla
xenocentric
coiffure
dissilient
daguerreotypes 
sphygmomanometer
filiciform
heterocoelous
cancrizans




2006
echinulate
probouleutic
cabotinage
kalema
panchreston
tychopotamic
campanile
saxifragous
oligophagous
criollo
involucre
cholinesterase
oxyblepsia
lansquenet
gisarme
tagliatelle
onager
arrondissement (This word was just used last night)
paronychia
rapprochement
tasajillo
incalescent
seicento
seicento
aeoline
rasceta
malentendu
sapajou
rya
apotropaic
feretory
mettwurst
durbar
olibanum
khedive
eremacausis
theremin
joual
Pierian
nullipara
sprachgeful
Weltschmerz
icteritious
totipalmate


2007
flebile
girolle
beccafico
zacate
aniseikonia
exsiccate
biwa
apozem
fauchard
cannetille
helzel
erinaceous
furfuraceous
epaulement
illeist
hilum
lambdacisms
mneme
hirudiniasis
lomilomi
oberek
meralgia
schuhplattler 
myoclonous
peirastic
onychomycosis
pschent
polyphydont
reseau
quipu
punaise (I remember this one specifically. The speller said that he would like to spell bedbug, because that is the meaning of the word)
Bewusstseinslage 
saimin 
yosenabe


2008
aporetic
piacular
emollience
amole
scission
podotheca
morceau
stollen
xylary
luftmensch
trochophore
duende
pullus
topepo
puissant
bricolage
solfatara
chevee
amylolysis
mcleod
tombolo
eremophyte
benzophenome
ansu
xerarch
Krummholz
sporangiophore
advocaat
ptarmic
oleocellosis
secernent
pourboire
duroc
tiqueur
miliary
hyssop
galbulus
ophthalmoplegia
redoppe
pyrrhotism
canicular
torii
trophallactic
bulbul
allotriophagy
picry
anticum
galeate
oceanodromous
bowdlerize
shamateurism
tralatitious
aurelian
cryptarithim
hemeralopia
empyrean
tautological
Huguenot
digerati
caduceus
propylaeum
escabeche
fumagillin
ziarat
bogatyr
lemel
parfleche
huapango (I'll admit that this is part of my password that I use for log ins plus a lot of numbers. I just do not use it for this blog or my emails)
ecrase 
posaune
thymele
oxylophytic
prosopopoeia
aptyalism
opificer
hyphaeresis
Kulturkampf
taleggio
monogoneutic
brankursine
Rorschach
numnah
boulangere
ranunculaceous


I will post 2009-2012 in another post!