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Do alphabets need to be so complicated? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5810 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes  Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 105 of 115 26 October 2010 at 4:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
It’s amazing how sentence in hanzi is completely intelligible to Mandarin speakers, even though Vietnamese is a very different language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6273 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 106 of 115 26 October 2010 at 4:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Greece offers an example of language difference, not a question of scripts but of language register. There was katharevousa, a form of the language influenced by ancient Greek, and demotic, much more like the modern spoken language. There was a political difference, with the right tending to favour the former, the left the latter. I need hardly add what version of the language was easier for modern Greeks to actually learn. Katharevousa finally lost out when the military junta in Greece lost power, as the "colonels' régime" was closely associated with katharevousa.
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| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 107 of 115 26 October 2010 at 4:32pm | IP Logged | |||||
I'm guessing that's because it's written in Mandarin and not Vietnamese? Edited by Ari on 26 October 2010 at 4:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| null Groupie China Joined 6126 days ago 76 posts - 82 votes Speaks: Mandarin* | Message 108 of 115 27 October 2010 at 5:12am | IP Logged | |||||
It's 93% my friend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_literacy_map_UNHD_20 07_2008.png Edited by null on 27 October 2010 at 5:43am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 109 of 115 27 October 2010 at 9:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think it would be wonderful if we used this complexity to our advantage: a written language could be made based on mostly chinese characters that everyone could learn as a child. This would mean all children would have a headstart in learning at least written Chinese and every "literate" person would be able to communicate, even though they had no spoken language in common. I realize there would be difficulties as Chinese would not "fit" most languages easily, but if people were prepare to accept a telegraphic style of communicating e.g. we-all-sit-down-there-now, with little or no grammar, I think this could be a great step forward in helping people to communicate.
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 110 of 115 27 October 2010 at 1:33pm | IP Logged | |||||
Something similar happened in Romania after Ceaucescu's demise - the letter î was generally changed (back) to â, even in cases where this didn't have an etymological justification, and the present 3p plu of 'to be' was changed into "sunt". But the Romanians have made their own little unauthorized spelling reform: most sources in Romanian on the internet have dispensed with the special Romanian letters Ă Â Î Ș Ț (with Wikipedia as a notable exception). This doesn't make it easier to learn the language for beginners, but is probably practical for the Romanians themselves who can use cheap English keyboards. Edited by Iversen on 27 October 2010 at 1:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6583 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 111 of 115 27 October 2010 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
You pretty much described the Chinese writing system, dude. If we go back to pre-1900s, we've got Classical Chinese which pretty much exactly fits your description. It would be a lot simpler to just teach everyone Esperanto, though, and we all know how that's going. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5174 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 112 of 115 27 October 2010 at 2:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes I know! I meant as a world written language. Esperanto is a bit too "Eurocentric," i.e. Indo-European for the rest of the world don't you think, dude? (LOL - first time I've called anyone "dude" - not even sure what it means exactly!)
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