Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves (2019)

Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by mejutoco on Saturday January 29, 2022 @10:29AM (#30127055)

People study languages for many reasons. I do not think it is fair to demand that people learn a language to „help” others. You seem to imply that some spanish-speakers can’t communicate in English in most US localities. Is this true? Do you have any data/reference on that? Assuming that is the case, surely English lessons (maybe sponsored or free) would be a more direct solution.

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Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by jnwatson on Saturday January 29, 2022 @11:35AM (#30127670)

Yes, there are many first generation immigrants in the US with poor grasp of English.

There are many free ESOL resources; regardless, English is hard.

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Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by ByteJockey on Saturday January 29, 2022 @12:21PM (#30128176)

English is one of the easiest languages to become "understandable" in. Presumably because of how many people invaded England historically. When another culture invades, some of the language rules are adopted, but they are universally the simpler rules, and the more advanced rules aren't integrated.

Spoken English, with it's reliance on word order, lack of genders, relative lack of verb conjugations and noun declensions make it ridiculously easy to be understood in comparison to other languages. You won't be Shakespeare, but you will be able to communicate.

Written English, admittedly, is much harder (mostly because of the early standardization), but enough natives also have trouble spelling enough words that you can still be understood.

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Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by FabHK on Saturday January 29, 2022 @12:47PM (#30128467)

Agree. I've seen this insightful bon mot attributed to G. B. Shaw (though I can't find a reliable source):

English is one of the easiest languages to speak badly, but one of the most difficult to speak well.

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Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by anthk on Saturday January 29, 2022 @03:47PM (#30130254)

English has a very difficult ortography (or lack of it) making it very difficult to write down a newly heard word (or the opposite, pronouncing some word you read.

Also it has far more vowels than the average romance.

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Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by odd_perfect_num on Sunday January 30, 2022 @07:45PM (#30143008)

It's not a romance language, rather a west Germanic one.

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Re:Latin as she is spoke: How classicists tricked themselves... by mejutoco on Saturday January 29, 2022 @12:20PM (#30128155)

> (in most US localities)

I agree, there are some, but is this in most of the US? That is what was claimed, without any backup. I do not think that English is harder than any other language, but it is always difficult to learn a new language. We agree there too.

It seems to me the argument is a bit backwards. If the poster cares about promotimg language skills for integration, why not address that instead of moralizing on people for not learning the right language?

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