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  1. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Yeah, I know, but I started Hebrew a week ago, so I don't have enough context yet; it took me ages to figure out that it's pronounced "talmid" and not "talamud" or something. Which is why they actually include niqqud in most learners books of course; except in mine, apart from when they want to...
  2. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Not to mention the fact there are tons of African languages, mostly spoken by native tribes who can hardly communicate with the TRIBE IN THE VILLAGE A FEW MILES AWAY because they speak ANOTHER LANGUAGE. Not to mention that English (and French) are already the lingua franca for most of...
  3. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Well, I understand the idea of having a lingua franca, especially to solve matters that cross borders. And I understand why everyone studies English nowadays; it is a shortcut to a better life for most people to know English, especially in poorer countries. In Russia, everyone wants to learn...
  4. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    You know they raised Hebrew pretty much from the dead, right? And that it's an official language? Of a country? And it has millions of speakers? That would be such impoverishment. I see the value of having English as a lingua franca (which, let's face it, it already is) but that doesn't...
  5. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    "Panslavism" is just another word for "Serbian politicians are corrupt as hell".
  6. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Which reminds me: BCMS (Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian), is that one language with four reasonably close quite mutually intelligble dialects, or do these splitoffs have a right to call it "Montenegrin", "Croatian" etc. tout seule? As far as I remember (with the exception of Slovenian, but...
  7. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Hahaha, Cainntear. He is from HTLAL, right? Before my time. I am inclined to say "amateur linguist". Language, dialect, it's all the same. What matters is that you don't speak like the Queen. If that's called a language or a dialect, whatever.
  8. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    The difference between Spanish and Italian is much bigger than that between Scots and English, and the bigger problem is that English standard orthography is messy while written Scots (as far as that exists) is just basically written as it's said to some extent). A better example is me reading...
  9. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Fact of the matter is, if I hear a Scot speaking, I have to focus because sometimes your singsongy accents are confusing as hell. I don't have that if someone's speaking Canuck or regular old English from London somewhere. And isn't Scots just the baby way of writing what you hear when someone...
  10. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    There are a ton of Scots dialects and they haven't got any standardised orthography either. It's pretty funny. That said, when you hear a Scot speaking, it's not exactly standard English either. I still don't know what to classify Scots as. But it's definitely fun stuff - not tried my hand at...
  11. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    Celtic languages are not dead, they're spoken. Tailsy and TES have discussed Scottish Gaelic and Irish - I myself am learning Breton which is spoken in France. There are plenty speakers, just look for them. mainstream education is crap and most people don't ever get out of language classes...
  12. Tarvos

    Question about cultures

    These cultures can continue to exist without them necessarily having to be independent states.
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