|
 |
More Bilingualism | ||
Tags: Multilingual | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 9 of 12 19 June 2009 at 3:05pm | IP Logged |
|
I read somewhere that Marco Polo and his brothers spent so long in the East, where they habitually spoke Turkish even in China (Turkish was a sort of lingua franca on the Silk Route, and even used by the Mongol conquerors of China) that they had almost forgotten Italian when they finally returned to Italy.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 10 of 12 20 June 2009 at 3:20am | IP Logged |
|
A lot of well-educated North African and Sub-saharan African people prefer to speak French, or they jump back and forth between French and Arabic or some African language -- or even blend them.
To them, it's normal even though it seems a bit weird to others. There are different reasons, for example that higher studies are in often in French. A friend of mine from Tunisia always speaks French with her husband even though they both speak Arabic. They have somewhat international backgrounds though, like your friends. It's a bit of a snobbery / education marker though but you'd probably have to be from that area to know exactly how it works and when its suitable or not. Peasants probably wouldn't do it, it's a middle/upper class phenomoenon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Anacreon Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 5857 days ago 47 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English*, German, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 11 of 12 20 June 2009 at 8:44am | IP Logged |
|
It's a common phenomenon in the United States for a person to alternate between two mediocrely spoken languages, both used just to get by and yet neither really up to "par" (refined, educated speech -- no really true definition of that and not trying to sound like a snob, but hope I'm understood) because that person uses perhaps one at home (or both) and another at work or outside of home. Living in San Francisco I know both Chinese and Russians who tell me they can barely get by, or barely understand any more their mother-tongue, and yet they use it, or alternate into it, with their spouses or family members. And yet, nor is their English at a super-high level. Some of them have told me about this, lamenting that the people they know now are crippled in two languages rather than fluent in one, which is something that opponents of the Spanish language (esp in California) and bilingualism in schools argue against. It is interesting though; lots of people use language not more than for the small talk and minimal tasks required in work, possibly reading the newspaper now and then, that you can see how it is far from being a human prerequisite to have mastered and maintained a mother tongue. I could not imagine it for myself but can see how, just in speculation, a person in isolation could entirely forget language and revert to a meagre economy of thoughts and concepts because of it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 12 of 12 21 June 2009 at 5:12pm | IP Logged |
|
If it is adequate for daily life, that is what people will learn, and perhaps not more than that. Lots of people don't read books, so don't pick up new vocabulary and language structures. You can probably cope with most life situations with about 2,000 words.
People who use this website are probably quite well-educated, have lots of intellectual curiosity etc., but that is not true of many, perhaps most people. Orwell's idea, of a language, Newspeak, being created that has such an impoverished lexicon that dissenting thoughts simply cannot be expressed, is an interesting one. 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
