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Lighthouse77

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Can other languages be as complex as English? like this: Children With Cochlear Implants and Complex Needs: A Review of Outcome Research and Psychological Practice -- Edwards 12 (3): 258 -- The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education (noticed all the big fancy words they used for this journal)

I'm not talking about sign languages or any visual signs... just that i read a mother who decided to implant her child so he could be exposed to complex languages and felt that ASL does not provide that for her children. I just wondering if other languages are like that too -- you know big fancy word that only intelligent college education people use as if they have a dictionary in their brain LOL. Or only English language does this?
 
Nope that definitely happens in all languages.

And ASL is just as complex and rich a language as any other language.
 
No, Spanish ( my mother language) is harder than english when it starts getting fancy, there are tons and tons of different words there. Fascinating.

The same with LSE, it's rich and complex in words, I don't really know if it varies much from ASL though, I know some ASL signing that is totally different from LSE and they mean the same, kwim?
 
According linguistics, there are no richier or poorer languages. They exist in the complexity that the users needs.
 
Complexity of any given language is directly proportional how complex one wants it to be.

Where English stands out as difficult is two main areas...
1) Size of vocabulary - It has the largest vocabulary of any language. I believe Chinese follows as a distant second.

2) It's basic core is Old English in its roots and structure. That can confuse anybody learning the language. For native speakers, it is no big deal as they live and breathe it.

It is simpler in some ways over other languages like German or Russian. They have all these "cases" which prefix many of the words (i.e., German words are Masculine, Feminine, or Neuter). Try learning every word with its case...whew! English really doesn't care about that. Other than knowing the obvious gender of living things, all non-living things are generally feminine (i.e., look at that ship...isn't she beautiful!). But on the other hand, English is very particular about its structure and it must be in a certain way. German and Russian for example it is not as important but rather has a looser structure with more flexibility (and thus complicated in its own right).

I have a co-worker who is Ukrainian and knows Ukrainian and Russian as his native languages. He just has trouble speaking English quickly as he always thinking in his Slavic mindset (he learn fluent English later in life). He told me that English is a very direct and precise language. You say what you mean and no more. In either Ukrainian or Russian, you often have to use more words than English to say the same thing.
 
I thought they refer non-living things as it (look at that ship... isn't it beautiful!)

and that guys usually refer items as "she" when they are in love with it (like a mustang car)
 
The only inanimate objects that get referred to as "she" in English are ships and countries. But many people just use "it" nowadays, Lighthouse77.
 
People refer to inanimate objects in English as "she" when they really like it, hold it in some sort of regard, or if they are speaking figuratively about a country (unless it's Germany, since they call it the "fatherland," then it's a he).

Though some languages may be much more complex than others, none is "better" or "richer" than another. English happens to have a gigantic vocabulary because of the Norman conquests, which is why about 65% of English words come from French and why we have many words for the same thing (dog, hound, canine) and different names for the meat that comes from an animal, where many languages do not (chicken, poultry; cow, beef; pig, pork, etc). It also, unfortunately, has not changed its spelling in a couple hundred years, but its pronunciation has changed dramatically, and now we have to, too, and two; knight and night; for, four, and fore.

This mother probably just didn't like the idea of having a deaf son and wanted him to hear. She should have learned that she should put the needs of her son before her selfish wants.
 
Try learning every word with its case...whew!
Click to expand...


Not its case, but its gender.

Native speakers learn not just the word, but its gender. For example, when a German child learns the word for "window", he simply learns "das Fenster" and not "Fenster". The word and its gender are inseperable. For us native English speakers, this is a somewhat foreign (pun intended) concept.
 
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