Which is your first language?

[SystemicAnomaly]

One more try.

Chinese is a written language. All other languages are spoken languages. The writing of other languages record the sound. Chinese is a glyph based language, a picture based language.

Here is a glyph.

In English is spoken as "car".
In French it is spoken as "automobile".

But both use the same glyph.
Now substitute English for Chinese and French for Japanese, and there you have it.

The list goes on and on.

engine - motor
merry-go-round - carousel
movie - cinema

Very good explanation. But the use of glyphs is not a good reason to lump Japanese in with the Chinese languages. Their spoken languages are as different as night and day. They have both borrowed a bit of vocab from each other but their spoken languages are still very, very different in nature.

We might be tempted to believe that Vietnamese has strong commonalities to Latin/French since the alphabet currently used for the written language is Latin in nature. But it would be absurd to suggest that Vietnamese and French (or Latin) are all that similar.

If anything, the spoken Vietnamese language has more in common with Chinese languages than Japanese does.

 

[LGQ7]

Very good explanation. But the use of glyphs is not a good reason to lump Japanese in with the Chinese languages. Their spoken languages are as different as night and day. They have both borrowed a bit of vocab from each other but their spoken languages are still very, very different in nature.

We might be tempted to believe that Vietnamese has strong commonalities to Latin/French since the alphabet currently used for the written language is Latin in nature. But it would be absurd to suggest that Vietnamese and French (or Latin) are all that similar.

If anything, the spoken Vietnamese language has more in common with Chinese languages than Japanese does.

Correct.

Chinese and Japanese are completely different, except for the borrowed glyphs.

Vietnamese and Korean (I believe) is practically Chinese. Like certain English words are German.

hund - hound, greyhound

 

[LGQ7]

I like how idiotically simple American English can be compared to the too sophisticated French.

movie - cinema
talkie - radio
walkie talkie - mobile radio

Language should be simple like this. I like the movie Blade's word "day-walker". It's simple, and "down home."

 

[Tenez!]

I like how idiotically simple American English can be compared to the too sophisticated French.

This is a very puzzling claim.
The "sophistication" of French is a cultural construct. No one who actually speaks French and English would assert this. "Truc", "cinoche" and "machin" are terribly infantile yet used everyday.

The only major difference in conversation is the lack of lexical "flexibility". Your example of "walkie talkie" is good: the French simply don't have a word for that device.
So they either borrow talkie-walkie (switched around for god knows what reason) or some Frankenstein of a word such as "poste émetteur-récepteur portatif" in corporate settings. But there's no easy mechanism in French to create handy new words, which leads to occasionally atrocious translations (see hashtag, that one gives everyone the shivers).

Flexibility is the beauty of English, rather than simplicity.

 

[sureshs]

Your example of "walkie talkie" is good: the French simply don't have a word for that device.

They call it de walkie a la talkie

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

They call it de walkie a la talkie

This has me craving Le Big Mac (or is it La Big Mac?):

 

[mikespinstowin]

Jive.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

I like how idiotically simple American English can be compared to the too sophisticated French.

movie - cinema
talkie - radio
walkie talkie - mobile radio

Language should be simple like this. I like the movie Blade's word "day-walker". It's simple, and "down home."

If it's simple you want, Esperanto is the way to go.
Or Newspeak (Orwell's 1984). Double-plus ungood anyone?
.

 

[-snake-]

This is a very puzzling claim.
The "sophistication" of French is a cultural construct. No one who actually speaks French and English would assert this. "Truc", "cinoche" and "machin" are terribly infantile yet used everyday.

The only major difference in conversation is the lack of lexical "flexibility". Your example of "walkie talkie" is good: the French simply don't have a word for that device.
So they either borrow talkie-walkie (switched around for god knows what reason) or some Frankenstein of a word such as "poste émetteur-récepteur portatif" in corporate settings. But there's no easy mechanism in French to create handy new words, which leads to occasionally atrocious translations (see hashtag, that one gives everyone the shivers).

Flexibility is the beauty of English, rather than simplicity.

Exactly. Due to its hybrid nature, English can mutate and create words "at will". The romance or germanic languages only have three choices: they either use a word by word translation, they use a regional term, or they use the English version, lol.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Jive.

Great cameo by 'June Cleaver' (Barbara Billingsley ).

 

[Sentinel]

python -c "print ('python')"

Is that python2 or python3 ?
Please be specific

 

[Sentinel]

print("Kotlin")

echo $0
or
echo $SHELL

which gives "zsh"

 

[Tennis_Hands]

This has me craving Le Big Mac (or is it La Big Mac?):

One of the greatest product placements in the history of cinema, no doubt.

The current directors don't know how to do these things with elegance, mmmmyeah.

 

[Sentinel]

I wonder why Sanskrit/Hindi have an upside-down pattern of text underlining.

Haha ! that's not underlining !!!

Maybe in those days they did not have ruled paper. Sanskrit was created by an advanced alien race several billion years ago.
We needed a line to keep it in line, and so the line. It's like a thread that joins each letter.

 

[Deleted member 293577]

Is that python2 or python3 ?
Please be specific

Specifically either

 

[Sudacafan]

So @I Am Finnish is not Finnish, huh?

 

[Sudacafan]

Very good explanation. But the use of glyphs is not a good reason to lump Japanese in with the Chinese languages. Their spoken languages are as different as night and day. They have both borrowed a bit of vocab from each other but their spoken languages are still very, very different in nature.

We might be tempted to believe that Vietnamese has strong commonalities to Latin/French since the alphabet currently used for the written language is Latin in nature. But it would be absurd to suggest that Vietnamese and French (or Latin) are all that similar.

If anything, the spoken Vietnamese language has more in common with Chinese languages than Japanese does.

Now I see how I offended Chinese, Japanese and Korean forumers grouping them all together.
That’s why nobody among them voted in the poll so far.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

So @I Am Finnish is not Finnish, huh?

True. Had us fooled for a while. But then revealed the truth some time back.
.

 

[Vcore89]

Thought [apologies for not scanning the whole thread] OP should have included [instead of the catchall, Other] the mother of all languages, Sanskrit [ @Sentinel 's domain though he seems to prefer systems programming languages these days]. Orphan languages such as Korean, Japanese perhaps; Basque even, should be accorded language isolate status since they are distinctively unlike the Uralic or Germanic languages?

 

[Sudacafan]

Thought [apologies for not scanning the whole thread] OP should have included [instead of the catchall, Other] the mother of all languages, Sanskrit [ @Sentinel 's domain though he seems to prefer systems programming languages these days]. Orphan languages such as Korean, Japanese perhaps; Basque even, should be accorded language isolate status since they are distinctively unlike the Uralic or Germanic languages?

Sanskrit could be included in the Hindi and others from India option.
Sorry for forgetting about Latin.
The Others option demanded to specify, but hardly anyone complied.

 

[Sudacafan]

Thought [apologies for not scanning the whole thread] OP should have included [instead of the catchall, Other] the mother of all languages, Sanskrit [ @Sentinel 's domain though he seems to prefer systems programming languages these days]. Orphan languages such as Korean, Japanese perhaps; Basque even, should be accorded language isolate status since they are distinctively unlike the Uralic or Germanic languages?

Basque as a second language to Spanish is very competitive.
As Catalan and Galician.

 

[I Am Finnish]

So @I Am Finnish is not Finnish, huh?

Surprise


Im dutch tho

 

[Capulin Zurdo]

Spanish.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Sanskrit could be included in the Hindi and others from India option.
Sorry for forgetting about Latin.
The Others option demanded to specify, but hardly anyone complied.

But is Latin or Sanskrit really anyone's first language? Aren't they both dead languages that might be studied as a 2nd or 3rd language but not actually used for conversation any longer?
.

 

[Mainad]

Incorrect English is not a difficult language to write.

FTFY.

Given the lackadaisical approach to grammar and syntax adopted by many native speakers on these boards, it's hardly a surprise that the posters are indistinguishable.

I trust I'm not included in that disreputable number!

 

[Mainad]

I am trying to learn Glaswegian. It is the one English dialect that I don't understand.

I think most Glaswegians regard it as a Scottish dialect.

 

[Mainad]

Sanskrit.

But sometimes I lower myself and speak what the common man speaks, Hindi or English.

I find it convenient whenever you lower yourself.

 

[Chadalina]

Our first language is baby babble, before we learned words and their meanings, but able to communicate.

 

[Sudacafan]

But is Latin or Sanskrit really anyone's first language? Aren't they both dead languages that might be studied as a 2nd or 3rd language but not actually used for conversation any longer?
.

Obviously, I was joking

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Kryptonian

With Klingon as a 2nd language? That'd be impressive.
.

 

[max]

Latin.

 

[tennis_pro]

This is more of a "let's brag who speaks how many languages" thread.

I'm a d**che so here's me -fluent in my mother tongue (duh), English, pretty much fluent in German and I could probably have a low level convo in French (if pushed, like really pushed, preferably drunk).

 

[Mike Bulgakov]

I think most Glaswegians regard it as a Scottish dialect.

 

[tennis_pro]

So @I Am Finnish is not Finnish, huh?

I can't live with this.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

And also, The Look of Love?

Recall first hearing this amazing song in 1967 in a James Bond film (Bond parody, actually). Dusty Springfield knocked it out of the park with the debut of this song by Burt B and Hal David. (Dionne Warwick also did a great cover).

Saw/heard Diana Krall in concert in Mtn View (CA) in the early/mid 90s. But actually knew her first as an outstanding jazz pianist. Was impressed when I heard how amazing her voice was as well. Lot of original stuff in addition to covers of Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell and numerous others. Recently heard some of her collaborations with legend, Tony Bennett. Another gr8 video of Krall performing The LoL:

 

[tennis_pro]

Surprise


Im dutch tho

So from Holland?....Honland?....Fonland?....Finland?

yeah I knew you were finnish

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

@Rago

Our first language is baby babble, before we learned words and their meanings, but able to communicate.

Did you miss my earlier mention in post #36?
.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

So from Holland?....Honland?....Fonland?....Finland?

yeah I knew you were finnish

But What is Holland & Who are the Dutch?

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

First language is a language that roughly 270 millions speak.
Then I speak local language, English, French (Bare minimum) and Japanese (Learning).

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Latin.

Salve, Maximus. Hic sum.
Veni, Vidi, Vici. Cogito ergo sum.
Mea cupla, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres <-- last thing learned in Latin class

That's about all I've got.

 

[Sudacafan]

Salve, Maximus. Hic sum.
Veni, Vidi, Vici. Cogito ergo sum.
Mea cupla, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres <-- last thing learned in Latin class

That's about all I've got.

US people speak American English.
Me, as a Latin American, I am naturally fluent in American Latin.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

US people speak American English.
Me, as a Latin American, I am naturally fluent in American Latin.

You are fluent in Italian?

¡Cazzo!

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

@max

US people speak American English.
Me, as a Latin American, I am naturally fluent in American Latin.

Hic est verus.
.

 

[max]

Max Veritas

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

You are fluent in Italian?

¡Cazzo!

Buongiorno!

 

[Sudacafan]

You are fluent in Italian?

¡Cazzo!

Very fluent. See by yourself.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Vietnamese and Korean (I believe) is practically Chinese.

No.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

US people speak American English.
Me, as a Latin American, I am naturally fluent in American Latin.

Heard an old song from the 1960s last night, Mas Que Nada (by Sergio Mendes). Is this Portuguese or Spanish with a Brazilian Portuguese accent? Anyway, with my limited knowledge of Spanish/Portagee, I'm thinking "Mas Que Nada = More of Nothing???". Now that can't possibly be correct. So when I stopped at Taco Bell a few minutes later, I asked about the phrase. Was told it meant "More than Anything". That made a lot more sense.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

No.

Don't know about Korean but there is a lot of Chinese vocab and influence in Vietnamese. Believe that Vietnamese might have shared a common ancestor language centuries ago with one of the southern Chinese languages. Proto-Austroasiatic? And before the French came along, they were using Chinese glyphs in their written language.
.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Don't know about Korean but there is a lot of Chinese vocab and influence in Vietnamese. Believe that Vietnamese might have shared a common ancestor language centuries ago with one of the southern Chinese languages. And before the French came along, they were using Chinese glyphs in their written language.
.

Sorry, yeah disagree for Korean but makes sense for Vietnam. Vietnam was under China domination for awhile.
Korean, Japanese and Chinese seems like a very different although the typography for Kanji is derived from Hanzi.