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Popular misconceptions about languages? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5809 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes  Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 57 of 100 05 February 2010 at 10:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Indonesian/Malay/English/Italian/Spanish is the easiest language in the world
Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Italian/Spanish/English is the most difficult one Sanskrit/Hebrew/Greek/Tamil is the mother of all languages Languages with complex grammar are spoken by the most advanced populations (actually the opposite seems to be true). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zooplah Diglot Senior Member United States zooplah.farvista.net Joined 6368 days ago 100 posts - 116 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: German | Message 58 of 100 06 February 2010 at 5:19am | IP Logged | |||||
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That Esperanto is similar to Spanish or even the same thing.
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| zooplah Diglot Senior Member United States zooplah.farvista.net Joined 6368 days ago 100 posts - 116 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: German | Message 59 of 100 06 February 2010 at 5:24am | IP Logged | |||||
The variety of English spoken in the middle west (Northern Midland) is the purist form of English. It's known that British English has changed considerably in the past few centuries, where American English has stayed largely the same (but has changed more at the coasts due to trade with people from other countries). A classic example is that in poetry, vase was rhymed with words like face, grace, and place, and the current British pronunciation didn't arise until the 19th century. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zooplah Diglot Senior Member United States zooplah.farvista.net Joined 6368 days ago 100 posts - 116 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto Studies: German | Message 60 of 100 06 February 2010 at 5:27am | IP Logged | |||||
True. My father claims he can't learn another language because he doesn't speak English that well. I tell him studying another language will improve his English, but he doesn't believe me. I also thought that English was an easy language, until I studied Esperanto and Spanish (if I had only studied German, I'd still think English was pretty dang easy). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Saif Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5612 days ago 122 posts - 208 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Levantine)*, French | Message 61 of 100 06 February 2010 at 7:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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Arabic as a Terrorist
Language 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| goosefrabbas Triglot Pro Member United States Joined 6368 days ago 393 posts - 475 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German, Italian Personal Language Map | Message 62 of 100 06 February 2010 at 6:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is the complete opposite of what we think here. Most out-of-towners can't understand us very easily if we speak 'normally'.
I hear that about every language from its native speakers. "X is the hardest language in the world!" And the Spanish thing reminds me of people always quoting "Eskimo has 42 words for snow!" I can think of a few in English - snow, slush, flurry, blizzard, frost, snowflake, snowfall, avalanche, etc. Sure, they don't all mean exactly the word "snow." But really, people... have some imagination and don't listen to everything you hear! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| elvisrules Tetraglot Senior Member BelgiumRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5469 days ago 286 posts - 390 votes Speaks: French, English*, Dutch, Flemish Studies: Lowland Scots, Japanese, German | Message 63 of 100 06 February 2010 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
Firstly, Eskimo is a language group and not a language. Secondly, the 42 words for snow is probably an underestimation: a video-documentary about Sami I watched said it had around 300 words for snow. I don't think you'll get close to that in English, no matter how many variants you find! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| goosefrabbas Triglot Pro Member United States Joined 6368 days ago 393 posts - 475 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German, Italian Personal Language Map | Message 64 of 100 06 February 2010 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Sure, but every time I hear someone say something like they they say "Eskimo" is the language. Hence the quotation marks. :) And where did you see this documentary? If it's online I'd love to watch it.
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