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What makes your native language unique? | ||
Tags: Native Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| mick33 Senior Member United States Joined 5926 days ago 1335 posts - 1632 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish Studies: Thai, Polish, Afrikaans, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish | Message 1 of 86 06 January 2009 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have noticed that there has recently been a bit of English bashing (by native speakers no less) and also a few native Korean speakers have been criticizing Hangul (I hope I spelled it correctly?) script. The English bashing is fun to read, but I thought it might also be intriguing to discuss the following question: What makes your native language unique? I would say that I find English unique because of the mixture of Germanic and Romance language words that have been added. I hope to get responses concerning many languages, especially less commonly taught or studied languages. Edited by mick33 on 14 November 2009 at 12:14am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| TheNightBefore Newbie United States Joined 5821 days ago 29 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 86 06 January 2009 at 4:21pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Melville:
"But as in landlessness alone resides highest truth, shoreless, indefinite as God--so, better is it to perish in that howling infinite, than be ingloriously dashed upon the lee, even if that were safety! For worm-like, then, oh! who would craven crawl to land! Terrors of the terrible! is all this agony so vain? Take heart, take heart, O Bulkington! Bear thee grimly, demigod! Up from the spray of thy ocean-perishing--straight up, leaps thy apotheosis!" And Dickens: "The sun was striking in at the great windows of the court, through the glittering drops of rain upon the glass, and it made a broad shaft of light between the two-and-thirty and the Judge, linking both together, and perhaps reminding some among the audience, how both were passing on, with absolute equality, to the greater Judgment that knoweth all things and cannot err." 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Juan M. Senior Member Colombia Joined 5901 days ago 460 posts - 597 votes | Message 3 of 86 06 January 2009 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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All languages are precious and unique. Beyond this, I don't know what would be special about my native language. Perhaps that while colloquial Spanish is crude, imprecise, inexpressive and barren, and the great majority of its speakers never care to reach beyond this state, in the hands of a gifted writer it blossoms into a beautiful language capable of great eloquence and richness. But then again, this might apply to most languages and societies.
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| LittleKey Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5954 days ago 146 posts - 153 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Japanese | Message 4 of 86 06 January 2009 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
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i agree, English is unique because of how it's vocabulary is taken from so many different language groups.
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| SlickAs Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5879 days ago 185 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French, Swedish Studies: Thai, Vietnamese | Message 5 of 86 06 January 2009 at 8:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think you sell your language short there. Sure, literate Spanish is beautiful, and Marquez really is not the same in translation as in the original. But Colloquial Spanish is absolutely beautiful too. Even in English we have great literature celebrating the colour of colloquial Spanish. I am thinking of Earnest Hemmingways "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Even though it is written in English, someone bi-lingual can see straight through the dialogues to the Spanish underneath (since he translates almost literally ... uses "thee" in place of Usted to translate the formality for example, and leaves false friends in. "How rare!" a character might say). We all know for example exactly what character really said when Hemmingway puts into his mouth "I obscenity in the milk of thy whore of a mother", we cant say that in English. Hemmingways bi-lingual American character negotiates through the street smarts and machismo of a guerrilla group in Spain during the civil war. I love the street smarts of Latino's and the way it comes with a smile and a strong sense of honour, and the language that comes with it. It is part of the beauty of the language in my opinion, and I think that anyone who is only learning the bookish form of the language for business and literature is missing half the fun. I love speaking with an Argentinian accent even if they know I am Australian on the streets and in the cafes in La Boca barrio of Buenos Aires "Che, loco, voludo ... mira ... que querés?" Much more colourful than English, French, Swedish ... I love the streets of Cali too ... the language spoken on the streets. The easy friendships, the hidden dangers. It is the spice of the language. Edited by SlickAs on 06 January 2009 at 9:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5803 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 6 of 86 06 January 2009 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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English has -ing, which I'm not aware many other languages have (if any, or I could be totally wrong). This gives English speakers a very precise mechanism with which to convey ideas. There are also some nuances which make for jokes that could likely not be made in other languages (although examples escape me at the moment).
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| SlickAs Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5879 days ago 185 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French, Swedish Studies: Thai, Vietnamese | Message 7 of 86 06 January 2009 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
Spanish has a gerundio. Estoy trabajando ... I am working. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5803 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 8 of 86 06 January 2009 at 9:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
There ya go. I've no knowledge of Spanish other from what I hear on the street. Thanks for the correction. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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