#language trees

[williamziegler]

Climbing Language Trees

Prefacing Remarks

Learning language is a gentle art that opens entire universes in return for mere study, it is a means for breaking barriers that lead to separation, misunderstanding, and the brutality of endless war. Mistranslation is inevitable because translations are always approximations; however, deliberate contortion for the sake of a hidden (or open) agenda befouls all sides.…

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[linguisticillustrations]

McMahon, April & McMahon, Robert. 2008. Genetics, Historical Linguistics and Language Variation. Language and Linguistics Compass 2.2.

Figure 4. Trees vs. networks. A is a networking accomodating both trees B and C.

[howtopolyglot]

How many language trees have you completed??

Currently 3.

I finished Spanish in March, and then French and German both this month (week?).

Currently, I am debating between going for the Swedish or Italian tree next. I am thinking Swedish (because it is closeish to german and I want another foreign germanic language). Italian would be fun, but I’ve been expanding past the Romance languages.

Thanks for your question!

[travelfarenough]

Languages

So in Taiwan, I told myself I'd try to learn the languages of the places I visited.  And I have to say, already, by the time I'd gotten to Barcelona, my head was spinning.

I am told this was the problem.

For reference, the word for "exit," "church," and "school."

French: sortie, église, école

Catalan: sortida, església, escola

Spanish: salida, iglesia, escuela

THIS WON'T GET CONFUSING AT ALL.