Justin Douglas
@ductusamongus.bsky.social
Language nerd /iːᶻ/ > /ð̠˕ˠ/ • runner • former musician and translator
Developer of the best-ever Russian dictionary for learners @ slovarish.com
Developer of the best-ever Russian dictionary for learners @ slovarish.com
Quick and dirty side project this week—I forked the repo for the KeySolve web app (grassfedreeve.github.io/keysolve-web/) and adapted it so that it can be used to evaluate a few different Russian #keyboardlayouts.
A link to the readme with a more in-depth explanation is at the bottom of the page.
A link to the readme with a more in-depth explanation is at the bottom of the page.
Клаворешалка (KeySolve-ru)
Keyboard layout analyzer for Russian layouts
tabidots.github.io
August 8, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Quick and dirty side project this week—I forked the repo for the KeySolve web app (grassfedreeve.github.io/keysolve-web/) and adapted it so that it can be used to evaluate a few different Russian #keyboardlayouts.
A link to the readme with a more in-depth explanation is at the bottom of the page.
A link to the readme with a more in-depth explanation is at the bottom of the page.
I just realized that I am double-jointed in my left pinky. 🤨
July 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I just realized that I am double-jointed in my left pinky. 🤨
My Colemak skills have progressed to the point where I am losing the ability to type fast in QWERTY (or I need to look at the keyboard often) and Rulemak is becoming easier than ЯШЕРТЫ
July 19, 2025 at 11:34 AM
My Colemak skills have progressed to the point where I am losing the ability to type fast in QWERTY (or I need to look at the keyboard often) and Rulemak is becoming easier than ЯШЕРТЫ
App is launched, payment processor is integrated, so now I can finally do things other than work on the app... such as use it!
Recently started: "The Origin of Language” (Происхождение языка) by linguist Svetlana Burlak (2019).
640pp 😱 good thing you can’t see how thicc a Kindle book is
#langsky
Recently started: "The Origin of Language” (Происхождение языка) by linguist Svetlana Burlak (2019).
640pp 😱 good thing you can’t see how thicc a Kindle book is
#langsky
July 17, 2025 at 12:12 PM
App is launched, payment processor is integrated, so now I can finally do things other than work on the app... such as use it!
Recently started: "The Origin of Language” (Происхождение языка) by linguist Svetlana Burlak (2019).
640pp 😱 good thing you can’t see how thicc a Kindle book is
#langsky
Recently started: "The Origin of Language” (Происхождение языка) by linguist Svetlana Burlak (2019).
640pp 😱 good thing you can’t see how thicc a Kindle book is
#langsky
ANA is running some wild fall deals from the US. I booked a one-way from Tampa to Saigon for less than $450! 😱
The route is TPA>IAD on United, IAD>HND>SGN on ANA. The layover time is minimal.
I’ve always wanted to fly ANA’s flagship IAD>HND route, too. It’s on a Boeing 787, but… YOLO 😆
The route is TPA>IAD on United, IAD>HND>SGN on ANA. The layover time is minimal.
I’ve always wanted to fly ANA’s flagship IAD>HND route, too. It’s on a Boeing 787, but… YOLO 😆
July 15, 2025 at 6:35 AM
ANA is running some wild fall deals from the US. I booked a one-way from Tampa to Saigon for less than $450! 😱
The route is TPA>IAD on United, IAD>HND>SGN on ANA. The layover time is minimal.
I’ve always wanted to fly ANA’s flagship IAD>HND route, too. It’s on a Boeing 787, but… YOLO 😆
The route is TPA>IAD on United, IAD>HND>SGN on ANA. The layover time is minimal.
I’ve always wanted to fly ANA’s flagship IAD>HND route, too. It’s on a Boeing 787, but… YOLO 😆
Sunday getting off to a good start!
- Sent out a bunch of cold emails to Russian content creators in the "teaching Russian as a foreign language" space; 2 replies received so far, 1 positive, 1 VERY positive!
- Hit 50wpm on Colemak on Typecelerate
- Sent out a bunch of cold emails to Russian content creators in the "teaching Russian as a foreign language" space; 2 replies received so far, 1 positive, 1 VERY positive!
- Hit 50wpm on Colemak on Typecelerate
July 13, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Sunday getting off to a good start!
- Sent out a bunch of cold emails to Russian content creators in the "teaching Russian as a foreign language" space; 2 replies received so far, 1 positive, 1 VERY positive!
- Hit 50wpm on Colemak on Typecelerate
- Sent out a bunch of cold emails to Russian content creators in the "teaching Russian as a foreign language" space; 2 replies received so far, 1 positive, 1 VERY positive!
- Hit 50wpm on Colemak on Typecelerate
I posted about my app on r/russian and the trolls wasted no time in coming after me 🙄 I probably should have posted in the middle of the night UTC+7 (morning in US, evening in Russia), but still… kind of a shame because there are some genuinely helpful and knowledgeable native speakers on r/russian
July 11, 2025 at 10:04 AM
I posted about my app on r/russian and the trolls wasted no time in coming after me 🙄 I probably should have posted in the middle of the night UTC+7 (morning in US, evening in Russia), but still… kind of a shame because there are some genuinely helpful and knowledgeable native speakers on r/russian
Huge relief: now I can finally retire the ENTIRE folder that contained the egregiously messy codebase for creating and manipulating the dictionary data over the past 10 months.
Back in May I did this with one part of the data, but now that the app is live, I can zip the whole thing 🎉
Back in May I did this with one part of the data, but now that the app is live, I can zip the whole thing 🎉
July 9, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Huge relief: now I can finally retire the ENTIRE folder that contained the egregiously messy codebase for creating and manipulating the dictionary data over the past 10 months.
Back in May I did this with one part of the data, but now that the app is live, I can zip the whole thing 🎉
Back in May I did this with one part of the data, but now that the app is live, I can zip the whole thing 🎉
after 10 months of work... the app has (soft-)launched!
Revolution your Russian with Словарищ / Slovarish, the learner's Russian-English dictionary of the светлого будущего™ (Radiant Future™)!
slovarish.com
#langsky
Revolution your Russian with Словарищ / Slovarish, the learner's Russian-English dictionary of the светлого будущего™ (Radiant Future™)!
slovarish.com
#langsky
Slovarish | Словарищ
Revolutionize your Russian with Slovarish, the Russian-English dictionary of the radiant future!
slovarish.com
July 7, 2025 at 4:34 AM
after 10 months of work... the app has (soft-)launched!
Revolution your Russian with Словарищ / Slovarish, the learner's Russian-English dictionary of the светлого будущего™ (Radiant Future™)!
slovarish.com
#langsky
Revolution your Russian with Словарищ / Slovarish, the learner's Russian-English dictionary of the светлого будущего™ (Radiant Future™)!
slovarish.com
#langsky
I just discovered a very important component of a complete Colemak layout: Caps Lock remapped to Backspace.
I've already done it via Karabiner, although my left pinky is significantly weaker than my right, so that may offset the distance my right hand travels to hit Backspace anyway.
I've already done it via Karabiner, although my left pinky is significantly weaker than my right, so that may offset the distance my right hand travels to hit Backspace anyway.
July 1, 2025 at 2:27 AM
I just discovered a very important component of a complete Colemak layout: Caps Lock remapped to Backspace.
I've already done it via Karabiner, although my left pinky is significantly weaker than my right, so that may offset the distance my right hand travels to hit Backspace anyway.
I've already done it via Karabiner, although my left pinky is significantly weaker than my right, so that may offset the distance my right hand travels to hit Backspace anyway.
I've never had wrist pain but my frustration with typing SQL and Russian (phonetic ЯШЕРТЫ layout) has finally reached the point of making me learn Colemak-DH (for English) and Diktor (for Russian).
If I keep going down this rabbit hole, I might even buy an ortholinear keyboard :D
If I keep going down this rabbit hole, I might even buy an ortholinear keyboard :D
June 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I've never had wrist pain but my frustration with typing SQL and Russian (phonetic ЯШЕРТЫ layout) has finally reached the point of making me learn Colemak-DH (for English) and Diktor (for Russian).
If I keep going down this rabbit hole, I might even buy an ortholinear keyboard :D
If I keep going down this rabbit hole, I might even buy an ortholinear keyboard :D
I can type 100~110wpm on QWERTY but noticed my finger usage is all over the place:
L pinky: left shift only
L ring: QAZ
L middle: WSX
L index: ERTYDFGCVB
RH types like Django Reinhardt
R index: UIHJKNM
R middle: OPL, all punctuation
"ph": R mid, L index
"pl": R mid, R index
L pinky: left shift only
L ring: QAZ
L middle: WSX
L index: ERTYDFGCVB
RH types like Django Reinhardt
R index: UIHJKNM
R middle: OPL, all punctuation
"ph": R mid, L index
"pl": R mid, R index
June 29, 2025 at 2:23 PM
I can type 100~110wpm on QWERTY but noticed my finger usage is all over the place:
L pinky: left shift only
L ring: QAZ
L middle: WSX
L index: ERTYDFGCVB
RH types like Django Reinhardt
R index: UIHJKNM
R middle: OPL, all punctuation
"ph": R mid, L index
"pl": R mid, R index
L pinky: left shift only
L ring: QAZ
L middle: WSX
L index: ERTYDFGCVB
RH types like Django Reinhardt
R index: UIHJKNM
R middle: OPL, all punctuation
"ph": R mid, L index
"pl": R mid, R index
Chase raising its annual fee for the Sapphire Reserved to $795 is pretty outrageous. Definitely gonna be downgrading to the $95/yr Sapphire Preferred until I spend all my Rewards points. Then downgrading to the Freedom Flex (no fee).
Points game not worth playing anymore anyway.
Points game not worth playing anymore anyway.
June 24, 2025 at 3:56 AM
Chase raising its annual fee for the Sapphire Reserved to $795 is pretty outrageous. Definitely gonna be downgrading to the $95/yr Sapphire Preferred until I spend all my Rewards points. Then downgrading to the Freedom Flex (no fee).
Points game not worth playing anymore anyway.
Points game not worth playing anymore anyway.
I created a dataset of Russian word roots based on Kuznetsova's "Dictionary of Morphemes of the Russian Language." More details in the repo's README.
If you're interested in derivational morphology, know some Russian, and are handy with a scripting language, enjoy!
#langsky
If you're interested in derivational morphology, know some Russian, and are handy with a scripting language, enjoy!
#langsky
GitHub - tabidots/ru_roots: Data from Kuznetsova's Dictionary of Morphemes
Data from Kuznetsova's Dictionary of Morphemes. Contribute to tabidots/ru_roots development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
June 23, 2025 at 4:32 AM
I created a dataset of Russian word roots based on Kuznetsova's "Dictionary of Morphemes of the Russian Language." More details in the repo's README.
If you're interested in derivational morphology, know some Russian, and are handy with a scripting language, enjoy!
#langsky
If you're interested in derivational morphology, know some Russian, and are handy with a scripting language, enjoy!
#langsky
using regex to find likely equivalence classes among Russian etymological/morphological roots in my dataset.
example:
медвед, медведь, медвеж, медвежь
this is the kind of stuff I'm good at—too bad there's not much room in the NLP field for it anymore
#langsky
example:
медвед, медведь, медвеж, медвежь
this is the kind of stuff I'm good at—too bad there's not much room in the NLP field for it anymore
#langsky
June 22, 2025 at 8:46 AM
using regex to find likely equivalence classes among Russian etymological/morphological roots in my dataset.
example:
медвед, медведь, медвеж, медвежь
this is the kind of stuff I'm good at—too bad there's not much room in the NLP field for it anymore
#langsky
example:
медвед, медведь, медвеж, медвежь
this is the kind of stuff I'm good at—too bad there's not much room in the NLP field for it anymore
#langsky
It never ceases to amaze me how SublimeText does not flinch at opening text files whose size is on the order of hundreds of MB, or even 1-2GB. How is this even possible?!
June 21, 2025 at 2:52 AM
It never ceases to amaze me how SublimeText does not flinch at opening text files whose size is on the order of hundreds of MB, or even 1-2GB. How is this even possible?!
I found a rant from last year about how GenAI has killed NLP, at least for people coming from the linguistics side and not the math side.
I've come to similar conclusions over the course of my current project, and sadly I don't think there is anything for me to pivot to once it launches.
#langsky
I've come to similar conclusions over the course of my current project, and sadly I don't think there is anything for me to pivot to once it launches.
#langsky
github.com
June 20, 2025 at 2:16 AM
I found a rant from last year about how GenAI has killed NLP, at least for people coming from the linguistics side and not the math side.
I've come to similar conclusions over the course of my current project, and sadly I don't think there is anything for me to pivot to once it launches.
#langsky
I've come to similar conclusions over the course of my current project, and sadly I don't think there is anything for me to pivot to once it launches.
#langsky
interesting observation:
Python is probably the most popular programming language among computational linguists. Meanwhile, if GitHub repos are any indication, Japanese seems to be the most popular non-native natural language among programmers, at least outside academia. 🤔 Why?
#langsky
Python is probably the most popular programming language among computational linguists. Meanwhile, if GitHub repos are any indication, Japanese seems to be the most popular non-native natural language among programmers, at least outside academia. 🤔 Why?
#langsky
June 20, 2025 at 1:04 AM
interesting observation:
Python is probably the most popular programming language among computational linguists. Meanwhile, if GitHub repos are any indication, Japanese seems to be the most popular non-native natural language among programmers, at least outside academia. 🤔 Why?
#langsky
Python is probably the most popular programming language among computational linguists. Meanwhile, if GitHub repos are any indication, Japanese seems to be the most popular non-native natural language among programmers, at least outside academia. 🤔 Why?
#langsky
Several years ago I remember saying to myself “No more new alphabets!” And then I learned the Georgian, Thai, and Cyrillic alphabets (and forgot the first two).
Now I’m tempted by Khmer but man the iOS keyboard soft keys are so small 😭 how does anyone type accurately in Khmer?! #langsky
Now I’m tempted by Khmer but man the iOS keyboard soft keys are so small 😭 how does anyone type accurately in Khmer?! #langsky
June 16, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Several years ago I remember saying to myself “No more new alphabets!” And then I learned the Georgian, Thai, and Cyrillic alphabets (and forgot the first two).
Now I’m tempted by Khmer but man the iOS keyboard soft keys are so small 😭 how does anyone type accurately in Khmer?! #langsky
Now I’m tempted by Khmer but man the iOS keyboard soft keys are so small 😭 how does anyone type accurately in Khmer?! #langsky
Been in Siem Reap for the past week, and it’s way more pleasant than I remember (from 2017)! Totally gonna come back later this year when Danang’s weather is miserable 🇰🇭
June 11, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Been in Siem Reap for the past week, and it’s way more pleasant than I remember (from 2017)! Totally gonna come back later this year when Danang’s weather is miserable 🇰🇭
Hey #langsky, I recently finished the core work on my Russian-English dictionary app for Russian learners, and after 9 months of tireless work, it’s finally time to move toward deployment and a soft launch. Here’s some screenshots to whet your appetite!
June 3, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Hey #langsky, I recently finished the core work on my Russian-English dictionary app for Russian learners, and after 9 months of tireless work, it’s finally time to move toward deployment and a soft launch. Here’s some screenshots to whet your appetite!
I can’t figure out which part of app product development I hate more: frontend or marketing. Browsers and humans both behave unpredictably and irrationally.
May 28, 2025 at 11:41 PM
I can’t figure out which part of app product development I hate more: frontend or marketing. Browsers and humans both behave unpredictably and irrationally.
This is what my Russian learning journey has been like so far. Some really great 🤯books on the last two topics are:
- Aspect:
Forsyth, “A Grammar of Aspect” (1970)
Paducheva, “Семантические исследования” (1996)
- Словообразование: Townsend, “Russian Word-Formation” (1968)
#langsky
- Aspect:
Forsyth, “A Grammar of Aspect” (1970)
Paducheva, “Семантические исследования” (1996)
- Словообразование: Townsend, “Russian Word-Formation” (1968)
#langsky
May 10, 2025 at 6:23 AM
This is what my Russian learning journey has been like so far. Some really great 🤯books on the last two topics are:
- Aspect:
Forsyth, “A Grammar of Aspect” (1970)
Paducheva, “Семантические исследования” (1996)
- Словообразование: Townsend, “Russian Word-Formation” (1968)
#langsky
- Aspect:
Forsyth, “A Grammar of Aspect” (1970)
Paducheva, “Семантические исследования” (1996)
- Словообразование: Townsend, “Russian Word-Formation” (1968)
#langsky
I’ve finished the last feature I set out to include in my dictionary app—exploring families of words w/the same root 🎉
⏰ to move toward final cleanup & 🚀 but the imperfections in that feature (b/c imperf data) bother me, so I’m reading Townsend’s “Russian Word-Formation” (1968) instead
#langsky
⏰ to move toward final cleanup & 🚀 but the imperfections in that feature (b/c imperf data) bother me, so I’m reading Townsend’s “Russian Word-Formation” (1968) instead
#langsky
May 10, 2025 at 6:02 AM
I’ve finished the last feature I set out to include in my dictionary app—exploring families of words w/the same root 🎉
⏰ to move toward final cleanup & 🚀 but the imperfections in that feature (b/c imperf data) bother me, so I’m reading Townsend’s “Russian Word-Formation” (1968) instead
#langsky
⏰ to move toward final cleanup & 🚀 but the imperfections in that feature (b/c imperf data) bother me, so I’m reading Townsend’s “Russian Word-Formation” (1968) instead
#langsky
Shower thought: will we Millennials still be rocking the skinny jeans when we’re 👴🏻 👵🏻? Will skinny jeans become “old people clothes”? 🤔
May 8, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Shower thought: will we Millennials still be rocking the skinny jeans when we’re 👴🏻 👵🏻? Will skinny jeans become “old people clothes”? 🤔