Second Language?

[Kafka's Crow]

The Tower of Babel!

No! Diaspora, immigration, migration, trade, Jews, Gypsies, Arabs. The spirit of adventure, the movement of the masses, the restlessness in human heart. Baudelaire explained it best: "Cette vie est un hôpital où chaque malade est possedé du désir de changer de lit." Some are forced to move, some can't be stay put in one place! We take our words with us wherever we go, we leave them anywhere we stop, still we carry them with us everywhere! What curious disposable/undisposable baggage!

[sofia82]

No! Diaspora, immigration, migration, trade, Jews, Gypsies, Arabs. The spirit of adventure, the movement of the masses, the restlessness in human heart. Baudelaire explained it best: "Cette vie est un hôpital où chaque malade est possedé du désir de changer de lit." Some are forced to move, some can't be stay put in one place! We take our words with us wherever we go, we leave them anywhere we stop, still we carry them with us everywhere! What curious disposable/undisposable baggage!

better explanation than a myth.

[NickAdams]

For a time I thought highly of the Proto-world idea, but the more I read and thought about it, the less confident I became in it. There are a few words that are nearly universal, 'mama' for example, but the widespread of those few words may be an artifact of the way the words are produced physically.

Some of the other relationships among apparently unrelated languages are true mysteries: 30% of the root words in one North American language family are Basque roots, and there is no historical explanation for that.

Current North America or another period? I'm reading The Story of Language by Mario Pei, is was last revised in 1965, so I know it might be outdated. It does mention deceptive cognates.

better explanation than a myth.

It is a better explanation, but the myth is more poetic.

[Kafka's Crow]

Current North America or another period? I'm reading The Story of Language by Mario Pei, is was last revised in 1965, so I know it might be outdated. It does mention deceptive cognates.



It is a better explanation, but the myth is more poetic.

No, nothing is more poetic than the human heart and its longings, its utter craziness, the fearlessness of the human spirit, the pursuit of the unknown in spite of all its unimaginable horrors. This is how civilisation grew, this is how languages grew, this is the source of all birth and resurrection.

[PeterL]

Current North America or another period? I'm reading The Story of Language by Mario Pei, is was last revised in 1965, so I know it might be outdated. It does mention deceptive cognates.

It was an American Indian language that was not overrun by people in the last couple hundred years. There are many deceptive cognates, which is why have doubts about the Nostratic super family; but there were too many for it to be a false cognate. I can't remember where I read about that, but I think that, but I believe that it appeared in a journal at some point. Historically it can't be explained, unlike that large percentage of Basque and Portuguese roots in some of the Indian languages of Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New England, areas that were regularly visited by Basque and Portuguese fishermen from 1200 to 100 CE.

[sofia82]

No, nothing is more poetic than the human heart and its longings, its utter craziness, the fearlessness of the human spirit, the pursuit of the unknown in spite of all its unimaginable horrors. This is how civilisation grew, this is how languages grew, this is the source of all birth and resurrection.

I wonder how beautifully these sources of birth and resurrection are conveyed through myth and literature by the ancients. I love mthys and how different civilizations describe different phenomena.

[Dante]

well i passed one term Italian Language and i can assure you that Italian is very easy to learn and to work on literary books of it's own.but the thing is like you,i am some kind of confused by selecting between German and French...however i passed French one term too but that was horrible i couldn't even make a little poor connection with that language.lots of exceptions!lots of writing-reading differences!and the worst case is the Grammer which was so so unorganized for me!i didn't like it at all despite Italian!but i think German should be more attractive and richer than Italian...am i right or not?!!

[PeterL]

There a great works of literature in many languages, so look at which language would make the most ense for you.

[lichtrausch]

Labrador, Nova Scotia, and New England, areas that were regularly visited by Basque and Portuguese fishermen from 1200 to 100 CE.

Feel free to back that up with some evidence.