John McWhorter writes that the Scandinavian languages are dialects of a common language. I know from personal experience that Norwegian and Swedish speakers can easily communicate. To me Danish was quite a bit more difficult to understand because it is very guttural. The Swedes even call it “a throat desease.”
But Sweden has its own “throat speakers”, those from Skåne, the area around Malmö, across the channel from Denmark. Listening to some Skånsker reporters on a Swedish podcast led me to “Skånska is understandable Danish.”
Showing posts with label understanding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label understanding. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Friday, July 12, 2013
Whatever happened to foreign students and foreign languages?
I wrote the above title and the text below in response to "On campus beat: University of Minnesota and EMC team up to teach world languages", Lydia Coutré, Star Tribune, 2013-06-25. http://www.startribune.com/local/212860091.html I submitted it as a letter to the editor, but the Strib did not publish it. Apropos foreign languages, the Strib put the accent mark on Coutré's name.
When I was in college students coming from another country were foreign students. They were welcomed by many and considered part of the student body. I remember eating often with three Arabs whose conversation went beyond their complaints about Israel.
Now their grandchildren studying in the U.S. would be called "international students". But if a student body at a U.S. school included students from other countries, wouldn't all the students be international students?
When I worked and lived in Europe, I wasn't an international worker but a foreigner. I was called Ausländer, utlänning, étranger, straniero, and various forms of American. And gaijin (outside person) when I visited Japan.
When I was in school and beyond, languages other than English were called foreign languages; now it is the fashion to call these other languages world languages, no matter how widely they are spoken. I would consider only a handful of languages world languages; English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese are spoken in a large number of countries. Swedish and Japanese would be local languages, spoken almost exclusively on a daily basis only in their countries of origin.
No matter what you call other languages, Lydia Coutré is right to point out that Americans are woefully illiterate in foreign languages. We need to stop considering foreign languages a frill. Being multi-lingual gets you friends, business, and security. I wonder if there would have been fewer terrorists if our schools could have provided more Arab speakers.
When I was in college students coming from another country were foreign students. They were welcomed by many and considered part of the student body. I remember eating often with three Arabs whose conversation went beyond their complaints about Israel.
Now their grandchildren studying in the U.S. would be called "international students". But if a student body at a U.S. school included students from other countries, wouldn't all the students be international students?
When I worked and lived in Europe, I wasn't an international worker but a foreigner. I was called Ausländer, utlänning, étranger, straniero, and various forms of American. And gaijin (outside person) when I visited Japan.
When I was in school and beyond, languages other than English were called foreign languages; now it is the fashion to call these other languages world languages, no matter how widely they are spoken. I would consider only a handful of languages world languages; English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese are spoken in a large number of countries. Swedish and Japanese would be local languages, spoken almost exclusively on a daily basis only in their countries of origin.
No matter what you call other languages, Lydia Coutré is right to point out that Americans are woefully illiterate in foreign languages. We need to stop considering foreign languages a frill. Being multi-lingual gets you friends, business, and security. I wonder if there would have been fewer terrorists if our schools could have provided more Arab speakers.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Scientifically we're in deep doo-doo
Sometimes links can lead to very unexpected articles. I clicked on a link in New York Times Science to an article in Smithsonian Magazine: "We Had No Idea What Alexander Graham Bell Sounded Like. Until Now".
From there I clicked in the sidebar on "How Much Do Americans Know About Science" by Terence Monmaney.
The caption below the main picture was "Many Americans think U.S. teens perform even worse on standardized science tests than they actually do, according to a new national survey."
The article asked that readers take a science quiz before continuing. I took the quiz and found most of the answers obvious. The only question I hesitated on was what is the most prevalent gas in the atmosphere.
I answered 13 of the 13 questions correctly; something only seven percent of the respondents did. I found that very disappointing. Most of the questions one should have been able to answer from high-school science or from reading the newspaper.
If we can't correctly answer simple science questions, can we correctly answer political science questions? Or economic questions? Although the answers in these last two disciplines are not as provable as science questions, there are definitely many answers that have been shown to be wrong again and again. Unfortunately, too many people persist in believing these wrong answers.
From there I clicked in the sidebar on "How Much Do Americans Know About Science" by Terence Monmaney.
The caption below the main picture was "Many Americans think U.S. teens perform even worse on standardized science tests than they actually do, according to a new national survey."
The article asked that readers take a science quiz before continuing. I took the quiz and found most of the answers obvious. The only question I hesitated on was what is the most prevalent gas in the atmosphere.
I answered 13 of the 13 questions correctly; something only seven percent of the respondents did. I found that very disappointing. Most of the questions one should have been able to answer from high-school science or from reading the newspaper.
If we can't correctly answer simple science questions, can we correctly answer political science questions? Or economic questions? Although the answers in these last two disciplines are not as provable as science questions, there are definitely many answers that have been shown to be wrong again and again. Unfortunately, too many people persist in believing these wrong answers.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Official announcement of Human 2.0
God is pleased to announce the release of Human 2.0, code named Eve. Eve has over 250 new and exciting features that should make life easier for all. The only known problem is that Human 1.0, code named Adam, has a hard time understanding Eve and why she keeps pointing out his shortcomings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)