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Let's All Speak Pidgin Languages

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My Iranian friend usually makes the mistake of referring to a male as 'she' and vice-versa. As usual, she offers an apology (which I do not consider necessary) and corrects her mistake. She had shared with me in the past that the Persian language had no gender designation and it got me thinking about the Yoruba language as well.  As we sat down over coffee yesterday with our Chinese and Indian friends, I realised how related my local Nigerian language was to theirs. One thing stood out for us - none of our local languages had any gender differentiation. 'He' or 'She' didn't exist in our languages, rather we had words to differentiate between an older person and a younger person as a sign of respect - a trait completely absent in the English language. The French language is even more complicated and interesting on the gender qualification as even things needed to be qualified as female or male. We realised that languages had their different idiosyncrasie...
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What has a PhD got to do with love?

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When it comes to marriage, do the academic qualifications really matter? I have often heard some men and even women in certain circles criticize single women taking higher degrees (especially doctorates). The summary of their conversation is usually: 1. No man who is yet to attain that level of learning would be confident enough to approach a grad student 2. The ladies will probably be too proud of their achievements to settle for less academically. I believe this argument is flawed because; Not everyone desires to be married. So that lady who you are assuming  to be proud might just be uninterested in the institution. Also, e veryone needs a good dose of self confidence. So as a man who is interested in a graduate student, I suggest you build up your self confidence and approach her rather than criticize a young intelligent woman for her choices. What do you think? As a man, would you mind if your wife had a higher academic qualification? Should singl...
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Finding a PhD supervisor

Finding a supervisor can be a somewhat daunting task especially when your school of interest is a plane ticket away - so booking a visit might be impossible.There are various steps to finding a Ph.D. supervisor but I will share a few tips that have worked time and again. 1. Start early- you have a better chance to get that supervisor of choice if you start your search early enough (about a year before your intended start date). However, this doesn't mean you can't get a supervisor  in a few months. Experiences are peculiar. 2. Expand your search- if you're thinking of a doctoral degree, you probably have an idea what area you want to research and maybe an idea what school you think is best. While this is valid, it is important to know that the best supervisor for your area of interest might not reside in your university of interest. So expand your search, be open to new cities, and use the 'very reliable' Google search. 3. Ask Questions - After you mus...
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