NationStates Jolt Archive

One of the things I hate about Chinese - it is a tonal language. It is very difficult for anyone who isn't taught from birth.

On the other hand, English isn't really that difficult for adults to learn, and one can be functional after about 6 months of intensive study. Chinese takes years, and looks like it was invented by sadistic aliens that had a life expectancy of about 2000 years.

The Japanese language also has several different and confusing counting sytems, which adds to the difficulty of learning the language.

As was mentioned in another thread (which I can't find), English allows people to express themselves more effectively. It took many words and aspects from other languages, and put it all together to create a relatively simple language.

French, for example, has this silly system of masculine and feminine nouns.

With fewer languages, communication will be easier, and that is the most important part of any language.

Learning any language is difficult if you're not living in a place that speaks that language primarily. I am still able to speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), but that's passable, when it comes to more technical topics, like science and politics. English is now my primary language, although I still speak Chinese in the home.

English is my second language, profanity was my first! LOL.

yep. languages are different. there's a surprise! they require perseverance to learn. silly system of masculine and feminine nouns; so silly, in fact, that most of the world's people use it. English is not "relatively simple", with it's largely unphoenetic spelling system and crazy, nonsensical expressions, as well as regional variations which can, at times, make the language unintelligible to foreigners. Yorkshire, for example.

with fewer languages come fewer variations in thinking, as, as wittgenstein said, langauage shapes our perception of the world.

True, English is relatively easy to learn. But have you ever tried to communicate with somebody who has been learning the language for just 6 months? Yes, you can say a few sentences after that time, but you are not able to follow a discussion or to really express yourself.
I like english, a lot really, it is my second language. My first is German and my third is French, and I'm not yet sure what my fourth is going to be, I've been thinking about Gaelic.
Every language is different, and once you have have reached a certain proficiency in any new languag, you will invariably show that it allows you to say things you couldn't possibly say in any other language and things that you weren't even really able to think before. That's what I find so fascinating. English allows me to form and voice thoughts I couldn't have in German or French and vice versa.
Difficulty aside, every language has its strengths and weaknesses. I was talking to some friends who speak German as sencond languag and asked them why they chose to learn and why they enjoy speaking it because, in fairness, it is one of the morre difficult languages. they all replied that German taught them to think before speaking and that they loved to have one precise, specific word for one specific thought.
I find that English is perfect for word-games, double-entendres and thus literature and rhyming. A large number of German bands use English lyrics rather than German, because it is so much easier for that purpose.
French on the other hand is to me a very image-based language. The pictures described pop up right in your head, it's very descriptive and colourful.
As for Asian languages, I cannot make any statements as I don't speak an, I'm afraid. However, I think that they are equally unique and interessting, if not even moreso.

One should be aware that English as we commonly speak it is an extreme difference from the English one is normally taught.

Sure, teaching the basic construction of the English language is realively easy, but the common exceptions, slang and words-turned-slang quickly complicate one's lessions.

In language classifications, English AND Chinese are both Ranked as Class 5 languages... the highest in difficulty.

One of the things I hate about Chinese - it is a tonal language. It is very difficult for anyone who isn't taught from birth.
Maybe so for speakers of non-tonal languages, but it's really just another part of speech. I'd be willing to bet that if someone was brought up to speak another tonal language, even if it where unrelated to Chinese, learning a Chinese language would be a lot easier; It's just a matter of familiarity.

On the other hand, English isn't really that difficult for adults to learn, and one can be functional after about 6 months of intensive study. Chinese takes years, and looks like it was invented by sadistic aliens that had a life expectancy of about 2000 years.
Of course, the exact same claim was made about Esperanto, the constructed "international" (read: European) language, and we're not all speaking that are we?

The Japanese language also has several different and confusing counting sytems, which adds to the difficulty of learning the language.

:confused: I've always found the Japanese counting systems to be one of the most elegant things about the language.

As was mentioned in another thread (which I can't find), English allows people to express themselves more effectively. It took many words and aspects from other languages, and put it all together to create a relatively simple language.
English is not simple and succinct in one very important way: we barely inflect words at all. We have a clitic particle for possession ('s), an inflection for plurals (s) and a past tense. Everything else is completely isolating. In my opinion this is not an elegent or effective system at all. There's no way of taking a word out of context and yet knowing exactly what it's supposed to communicate. You might be surprised to find that out of all the languages in the world, it's actually most similar to Chinese grammar :p

French, for example, has this silly system of masculine and feminine nouns.
Yes, very silly. Then why has it persisted in the language for so long? Why is it so many other unrelated languages have similar systems? the Bantu languages in Africa, for example, are known for their huge number of noun classes. One language has 20 different noun classes, including an inanimate/animate distinction, masculine/feminine, and other smaller groups, such as one that only contains words connected to language, writing and reading, and another that only contains words for insects. Gender must be doing something useful to have hung around for so long and to have appeared in so many places.

With fewer languages, communication will be easier, and that is the most important part of any language.

I think there is another much more important part of languages, however - It provides an identity. And by replacing the native languages of more and more people with english, you'd only serve to destroy what makes those people unique in the process. Languages are perhaps the most important part of any culture; which in my mind implies that in a multi-cultural society we need to be multi-lingual as well.