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Surion wrote:Sed ad rem, I've read an article lately on modelling language death and it was stated that English is on its best way to die BECAUSE it has so many speakers. What do you think about it?
Wasn't it Winston Churchill who commented on England and the United States by saying - "Two peoples separated by a common language"? I don't know the effect of having too many English speakers in the long term beyond having local colloquialisms that hardly anyone outside a particular geographical area would be able to
completely understand. However, having well educated speakers from different cultural backgrounds does cause for a near "Tower of Babel" level of confusion in certain situations, despite the "common" language being spoken.
I am an American by birth but still fall into the odd category having lived most of my life overseas. I would like to believe that because of my "internationalization," for lack of a better term, has enabled me to be more attuned to the patois that can pass for English in some parts of the world. Most Americans (and this is not a put down, just a factual observation) who are not oriented to the study of other languages (thus, it is safe to say, an overwhelming majority) cannot get past a speaker's "accent" and thus wind up concentrating on the "sound" of the words being said which unfortunately obliterates any hope of processing the "meaning" of what was actually said.
This often happens in reverse as well, when it comes to "modern" language study. Take the audio portions of most language courses, such as the tapes/CDs/software sound bites. Comprehension is stellar, over time, when listening to sentences or conversations spoken with a deliberate pace and emphasis on enunciation for clarity. However, through the same student into a situation with native speakers and every bit of knowledge usually gets thrown out the window -- "Wow Ron, holy <fill-in-the-blanks>!?#! Are they speaking Russian/Mandarin to you? Naah, no way...bet you wish you were somewhere else right now, eh?" Heck, they (the native speakers) could be saying the very same material you've been working on but since it is being thrown at you, like it would be on the street, the synapses don't make as clear of a connection as they would have in the classroom/language lab setting.
That's why I've always been a fan of "immersion" methods of learning whenever possible. Assuming one is given the chance to recuperate and mull over things from time to time, there are some definite benefits to the "sink or swim" technique. Unfortunately, that isn't readily available in Latin or Homeric/Attic Greek.
Surion wrote:PS. Sorry for any mistakes, if any, in my English, which I neglect for the sake of Latin&Greek
Trust me, your written English is fine -- better than many Americans I know (which isn't odd for me because I know that my English classes overseas were, in some ways, much more comprehensive than corresponding classes here in the States). But that is true of folks truly interested in learning a "foreign" language, they pay more attention to detail than most native speakers and thus are aware of things that are otherwise usually taken for granted.
Apologies for the rant...
Regards,
Ron
