Comments on: My language is better than yours! Nyiii! http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/ Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:40:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Rick http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-1256 Rick Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:02:29 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-1256 Sorry, I dont agree. My "native tongue", which is English, does not accurately describe the Karate and JuJitsu I study. The majority of it is certainly transferable, but it's true that there are pretty much indescribable concepts and words. This doesnt necessarrily make English bad in any way other than "it's not very good at explaining certain niche martial arts concepts". However, it certainly DOES make it worse in that concept. Many Muslims/Jews would argue that you cannot truly understand the beauty of their religious texts unless you have learnt it in their respective mother tongues. While there is certainly an element of control exercised in this assumption, I've not heard anyone deny that they are better "as the original". Further more, I simply put it to you that even within English there is a deeply ironic problem that the word "Language" can mean a number of things, and it's use is both problematic and not very construcive. For example, the French terms Langage and Langue refer to the study of human communication (a much wider term than what non-special interest English users would assume) and Defined Languages respectively (such as "French"). I put it to you that in these cases, ignoring the political implications, there are a great many examples of dialects, languages etc that are not equipped to deal with a modern world. It doesnt make people lesser as people/worse off intellectually - i of course would support the implication that they're equal. I just think that if I want to learn Karate including the culture surrounding it, I need to understand the appropriate Japanese as English simply isnt good enough. Sorry, I dont agree.

My “native tongue”, which is English, does not accurately describe the Karate and JuJitsu I study. The majority of it is certainly transferable, but it’s true that there are pretty much indescribable concepts and words.

This doesnt necessarrily make English bad in any way other than “it’s not very good at explaining certain niche martial arts concepts”.
However, it certainly DOES make it worse in that concept.

Many Muslims/Jews would argue that you cannot truly understand the beauty of their religious texts unless you have learnt it in their respective mother tongues. While there is certainly an element of control exercised in this assumption, I’ve not heard anyone deny that they are better “as the original”.

Further more, I simply put it to you that even within English there is a deeply ironic problem that the word “Language” can mean a number of things, and it’s use is both problematic and not very construcive. For example, the French terms Langage and Langue refer to the study of human communication (a much wider term than what non-special interest English users would assume) and Defined Languages respectively (such as “French”).

I put it to you that in these cases, ignoring the political implications, there are a great many examples of dialects, languages etc that are not equipped to deal with a modern world.

It doesnt make people lesser as people/worse off intellectually – i of course would support the implication that they’re equal. I just think that if I want to learn Karate including the culture surrounding it, I need to understand the appropriate Japanese as English simply isnt good enough.

]]> By: Of Official English sillyness, painful grammatical errors, and cooked circles of Freedom-Flour : Notes from a Linguistic Mystic http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-458 Of Official English sillyness, painful grammatical errors, and cooked circles of Freedom-Flour : Notes from a Linguistic Mystic Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:59:11 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-458 [...] why do they keep arguing these points? Well, as I’ve said before, when people say nasty things about another language, it’s generally because they want to say [...] [...] why do they keep arguing these points? Well, as I’ve said before, when people say nasty things about another language, it’s generally because they want to say [...]

]]> By: will http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-128 will Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:25:57 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-128 Geoff, very good points, and an interesting take on language creation. Everybody's allowed their preferences on language, don't get me wrong. It's just when preferences start sounding academic, scientific, or official that I start complaining. Perhaps I need to look into Sanskrit more... :p Geoff, very good points, and an interesting take on language creation. Everybody’s allowed their preferences on language, don’t get me wrong. It’s just when preferences start sounding academic, scientific, or official that I start complaining. Perhaps I need to look into Sanskrit more… :p

]]> By: Geoff http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-127 Geoff Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:43:26 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-127 Are you saying that even though Sanskrit "is of a wonderful. structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than Latin..." that doesn't make it the best language? William James is turning in his grave. Having studied Sanskrit a wee bit, I marvel that anybody ever learned it at all. And yet, people did. This, I think, is where the creators of artificial languages get messed up. They keep trying to make a better language, where all the loose ends are tied up, when it is the tying up of loose ends that helps people make their languages into what those languages become. So that the most effective way of creating an artificial language would not be designing it, but creating a very small core and seeing what people did with that core when they wanted to say something new. Are you saying that even though Sanskrit “is of a wonderful. structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than Latin…” that doesn’t make it the best language? William James is turning in his grave.

Having studied Sanskrit a wee bit, I marvel that anybody ever learned it at all. And yet, people did.

This, I think, is where the creators of artificial languages get messed up. They keep trying to make a better language, where all the loose ends are tied up, when it is the tying up of loose ends that helps people make their languages into what those languages become. So that the most effective way of creating an artificial language would not be designing it, but creating a very small core and seeing what people did with that core when they wanted to say something new.

]]> By: Osman http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-109 Osman Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:55:09 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-109 "Another blog i have visited this week was Will’s Linguistics Mystic." http://www.lingulangu.org/?p=25 “Another blog i have visited this week was Will’s Linguistics Mystic.”

http://www.lingulangu.org/?p=25

]]> By: What was up this week? » Linguistics & Languages http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-108 What was up this week? » Linguistics & Languages Thu, 04 Jan 2007 22:48:15 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-108 [...] Another blog i have visited this week was Will’s Linguistics Mystic. He wrote about some wrong ideas related to languages such as ‘This language is better than the other’. In fact, the whole post is related to it and i am agree with what he says. The first thing i had learnt at university was this sentence: ‘There is no inferior’ language. So what? Enjoy the post! [...] [...] Another blog i have visited this week was Will’s Linguistics Mystic. He wrote about some wrong ideas related to languages such as ‘This language is better than the other’. In fact, the whole post is related to it and i am agree with what he says. The first thing i had learnt at university was this sentence: ‘There is no inferior’ language. So what? Enjoy the post! [...]

]]> By: Osman http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/comment-page-1/#comment-107 Osman Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:06:22 +0000 http://linguisticmystic.com/2007/01/03/my-language-is-better-than-yours-nyiii/#comment-107 very good post mate! Do you know what was the thing we have learnt in our very first lesson? "There is no inferior language" So, whenever i see some people talking about 'the best' language, i am really surprised at them. The worst thing is that they never accept my ideas and acclaim that some languages are better than others. Well, it totally depends on the person himself. There may be a 'best' language for himself but doing generalization is impossible. my two cents ;) very good post mate! Do you know what was the thing we have learnt in our very first lesson?

“There is no inferior language”

So, whenever i see some people talking about ‘the best’ language, i am really surprised at them. The worst thing is that they never accept my ideas and acclaim that some languages are better than others. Well, it totally depends on the person himself. There may be a ‘best’ language for himself but doing generalization is impossible.
my two cents ;)

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