• BigNote@lemm.ee
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is bullshit. Anyone who knows anything about linguistics can tell you that languages aren't objectively easier or more difficult to learn. What makes a language easy is its similarity to a learner's native language, or other languages they've already learned. Furthermore, there's a myth that certain things or ideas can be said or expressed in some languages but not in others, and this too is objectively untrue. All languages do the same thing, they just do it differently. If one language doesn't have a word for something, that doesn't mean it can't express the concept, just that it has to do so through other means, typically in a sentence or phrase.

      • Farman [any]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I agree with your second point. But it would seem that normaly the languages that are spoken primarily by people that learnned them as second languages would become more simplified.

        For example english speakers say ate instead of eated wich would be the logical choice. If enough peaole learn it as a second language so that it becomes eated then the language becomes simpler.

        And then tend to become complicated again as the speakers develop ideosincracies. But if there is a mechanism preventing this, for example its spoken over a wide area so the ideosyncracies never stick. Or the speakers are constantly interacting with forengers or both. Then the languaged gramar would remainsimple.

        Persian gramar is much easier to learn than russian or spanish. And i asume chinise is likewise easier.

    • Gork@lemm.ee
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      English verbiage can also a source of frustration for English learners.

      For instance, you can chop a tree down. Once you're done, you can chop a tree up.

      Imagine the confusion this causes lol.

      I do agree though that the general lack of gender for most uses are really useful. It makes learning other languages more difficult though (basically all other languages).

        • BigNote@lemm.ee
          ·
          1 year ago

          Virtually all known languages do this, only some do it through the use of grammar.

          This thread is full of bad linguistics.

        • Gork@lemm.ee
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, the word "you" is a good example as well.

          The only issue with "you" is that it lacks a plural version so we have to use the Southern "y'all" instead. Some people go even further with a mass plural "all y'all".

    • Pili@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      So the spelling is irregular, so what. You’ll be bad at spelling for a while.

      People mostly learn languages by reading.

      having to memorize arbitrary gender for every noun in the language, learn complex verb conjugations, polite and impolite forms and make every verb and adjective agree with the nouns in gender and number

      If you mess those up, people will still understand you. Saying "un chaise" instead of "une chaise" doesn't change the meaning and everyone knows what you're saying.

      However, if you learn english words through text and then try to use them vocally, nobody will understand you. (looking at you "beard", who isn't pronounced at all like "bear" for some reason)

      There is absolutely no correlation between spoken and written english, so in practice it's the same as having to learn two languages at once. Even adult native speakers still aren't sure how to pronounce simple 1 syllable words such as "route" or "vase", that's pretty telling how confusing that language is.

      • lud@lemm.ee
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, babies can learn whatever language easily enough. Except Danish, lol: https://theconversation.com/danish-children-struggle-to-learn-their-vowel-filled-language-and-this-changes-how-adult-danes-interact-161143