|
 |
Dead Language or Constructed Language? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4968 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 9 of 52 13 October 2010 at 12:07am | IP Logged | ||
|
Someone who knew my linguistic dabbling suggested I learn Klingon, but I didn't take her suggestion seriously; I would draw the line at something I consider pretty useless - I like Star Trek, but could never contemplate even learning lines in English or a "real" language, let alone Klingon. I side with the majority, I'd rather learn a dead language, that had real people writing interesting things in, such as Ancient Greek, although I think I might struggle with it. Esperanto I have nothing against, even a slight interest as a means of communication, but the dead languages come first!
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 6810 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 10 of 52 13 October 2010 at 1:30am | IP Logged | ||
|
My vote also goes to a dead language.
If I would ever contemplate learning a conlang, I'd rather construct my own than learn someone else's*, although I don't know how many conversations I could have with myself before getting bored :) * although I must say that Klingon sounds cool. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| psy88 Senior Member United States Joined 5386 days ago 469 posts - 882 votes Studies: Spanish*, Japanese, Latin, French | Message 11 of 52 13 October 2010 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
|
Put me down for the Dead Language 101 over any constructed language this wonderfully creative and progressive university is offering. Which language? I had two years of Latin in high school and still have a fondness for it, but, I think I would like something more exotic-Babylonian, perhaps, or Ancient Egyptian.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Nudimmud Groupie United States Joined 4987 days ago 87 posts - 161 votes Studies: Greek, Korean | Message 12 of 52 13 October 2010 at 2:31am | IP Logged | ||
|
How about both! There is a site that promotes a reconstructed form of Indo-European for use as the Lingua Franca, as it were, of Europe. It is apparently a serious attempt both at introducing an artificial language for international communications and to faithfully reconstruct the nucleus of Indo-European.
It can be at the following link http://dnghu.org/Indo-European-Language-Europe/ 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| NotKeepingTrack Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4962 days ago 19 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, German | Message 13 of 52 13 October 2010 at 2:46am | IP Logged | ||
|
I would definitely pick a dead language. Probably Latin for all the literature possibilities. I'm not sure what you would *do* with a constructed language. I've never met anyone who speaks any constructed languages, and I have never found anything I wanted to read in one either.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6377 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 14 of 52 13 October 2010 at 3:33am | IP Logged | ||
|
It seems, not entirely unexpectedly, that a lot of people here really don't like constructed languages.
In the imaginary case, I wouldn't take any of the classes, as I don't really want to study language at a university. I still voted for constructed languages, though, as I find them very interesting as impressive human achievements. I'd want to learn two conlangs. One would be Esperanto, because of its large spread, its usefulness and its literature. Of course Latin has a large literature, but it's not likely to be that pleasing to my modern mind (though I might still learn it for historical reasons). Cantonese has no literature at all and I'm still learning it, so of course literature isn't all, but I'm still interested in the Esperanto one. Second I'd like to learn a language designed for a purpose other than communication, such as Toki Pona or Lojban. To know that all the grammar rules exist for a purpose rather than as a result of random mutation would make it interesting to study. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6744 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 15 of 52 13 October 2010 at 3:43am | IP Logged | ||
|
This was a hard one for me. Constructed languages have the advantage that you can actually use it to communicate with people, while dead languages are connected to a certain cultural tradition to which it will allow you to gain insight. In the end, I had to choose the cultural appeal over the ability to communicate, but only because constructed languages are currently not so widely spoken, which somewhat negates their greatest advantage over the dead languages.
At the moment, I think I'd be most interested in learning Sanskrit. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hjordis Senior Member United States snapshotsoftheworld. Joined 4981 days ago 209 posts - 264 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese | Message 16 of 52 13 October 2010 at 3:45am | IP Logged | ||
I'd go with a dead language too, probably Sanskrit of Old English. I have no interest in constructed languages. 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
