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Most inefficient languages? | ||
Tags: Difficulty | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| joan.carles Bilingual Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6331 days ago 332 posts - 342 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, Catalan*, French, EnglishC1, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Hungarian, Russian, Georgian | Message 25 of 69 19 September 2007 at 1:48pm | IP Logged | ||
Besides, lloydkirk, maybe you haven't realised, but here there's a lot of people that, like me or fredomirek, are not native in English and are still in the process of learning it, whatever the level, like you are not native in my native languages. Try to explain your ideas in Polish, Spanish or Catalan and we will see how smart you are. Oder vielleicht auf Deutsch. Ein bisschen Achtung, bitte! Edited by joan.carles on 19 September 2007 at 1:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6687 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian | Message 26 of 69 19 September 2007 at 3:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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... Edited by justinwilliams on 19 September 2007 at 8:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FSI Senior Member United States Joined 6357 days ago 550 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English* | Message 27 of 69 19 September 2007 at 3:47pm | IP Logged | ||
Point 1: a car is not a language. I'm not quite sure how you'd make this comparison. Do you, by extension, believe certain "cultures" are only capable of creating the linguistic equivalent of Volkswagens, while other (perhaps more "mature" or "advanced") people are capable of creating the Ferraris of languages? Point 2: it was amusing to note how quickly your focus went from "x is easier than y" to "a is better than b". Sort of a miniature version of the subjectivity/objectivity/hierarchy conflation occurring in this thread. Edited by FSI on 19 September 2007 at 3:53pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| IbanezFire Senior Member United States Joined 6692 days ago 119 posts - 124 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Russian | Message 28 of 69 19 September 2007 at 3:50pm | IP Logged | ||
Because the argument is on only one perception. Of course depending on your native language learning certain languages will be easier, but that doesn't mean one has objective superiority over another. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| apparition Octoglot Senior Member United States Joined 6648 days ago 600 posts - 667 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), French, Arabic (Iraqi), Portuguese, German, Italian, Spanish Studies: Pashto | Message 29 of 69 19 September 2007 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Hmm..
Making a language simpler means losing aspects of it. If you continue to simplify languages so that they're increasingly mutually intelligible, you'll eventually get one language. I think we need to ask ourselves would we rather be able to communicate freely or have a variety of language/thought systems around? I think that's the fundamental question here. Edited by apparition on 19 September 2007 at 4:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justinwilliams Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 6687 days ago 321 posts - 327 votes 3 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Italian | Message 30 of 69 19 September 2007 at 4:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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... Edited by justinwilliams on 19 September 2007 at 8:32pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lloydkirk Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6411 days ago 429 posts - 452 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 31 of 69 19 September 2007 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Try to explain your ideas in Polish, Spanish or Catalan and we will see how smart you are."
Wrong forum for that and it is laughable to think that it would messure my intelligence. Some of the most brilliant men/women of history were monolinguals. Perhaps I'm alone, but if I had to choose, I would rather be a master of one language than a jack of many. I stand corrected about the french number system being the same as other romance languages. My french teacher once told me that and apparently she is misinformed. However, there are other aspects of romance languages that are shared such as assigning gender to nouns and adjectives. What purpose does it serve other than to complicate things? I don't understand why some people find this thread infuriating...Some languages are more practical for communication and dare I say it...easier. I stick by my point that written mandarin isn't practical and more people would learn it if it used an alphabet. Most of the people on this forum seem to enjoy the complexities they encounter in new languages and are somehow angered that I don't share the same passion. What's wrong with making language easier/more practical to learn and use? It's nothing that has happened before. I dare someone to name one language that has become harder over time. In comparison, arabic dialects and swiss German both have considerably simpler grammar than their respective standards. Edited by lloydkirk on 19 September 2007 at 6:25pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FSI Senior Member United States Joined 6357 days ago 550 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English* | Message 32 of 69 19 September 2007 at 4:15pm | IP Logged | ||
The first comparison you came up with after declaring certain languages were "easier" than others was one where you declared certain objects (cars) were "better" than others. It's that nagging hierarchy thing again. Consciously or subconsiously, it was a hop, skip, and a jump for you to go from comparing two things (languages) which you found as differing in ease with two things (vehicles) which you found to differ in quality, or value. This is essentially the same argument lloydkirk makes in the first post of this thread, except there he keeps his comparisons restricted to languages. So yes, this was rather amusing. It was also a remarkably clear example of how easily fabricating hierarchies in one domain (certain languages are easier than others) led to hierarchies in another (certain cultures - oops! I meant cars! - are better/superior/more mature/more advanced/just more awesome than others). I'm not blaming you in any way. But it's human nature to place value judgements on things once we place them into hierarchies. That's pretty much the definition of a hierarchy. And it's also human nature to make analogies, and extend ways of thinking about things in one domain to things in another. You did it here with languages and cars. On this forum, it's usually done with languages and the people who speak them. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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