Language and their need of community

You need a community to have a language that lives long and prospers; what the Jewish did was exactly that, and they chose Hebrew as their community language. That is what you need to do with the Irish speaking community; they have to be willing to use it among themselves, even in front of the disapproval of their fellow English-speaking citizens. That's how French kept on in all parts of Canada where it is still spoken today, and that is what I intend to do when I'll be going back to Canada (including also all the First Nation languages in my goal).

As the Irish, speakers that is, say, Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language, a country without a soul.

Why keep French?

Yesterday, a very intelligent woman I met asked me the greatest question ever. She was Japanese, but was very considerate about people's background. She asked me :

"Why do the Quebeckers and all the French speakers in Canada keep French?"

I found that question very interesting, but as an answer, I asked her the following question :

"Do you want to change your language for Korean?"

She said that I probably used the best answer ever to make her understand the whole issue easily.

Language vs. Culture; they are not the same thing

Discussing this article.


Daneydzaus : DING DING DING DING!
 
Nanmoro ma-Burerisnel :This article was decent for the first 10 or so paragraphs and then just started rambling.
 
Daneydzaus : Actually, more precisely, I believe that the author failed to understand that while language and culture are very distinct aspects of human brain activities, they turn out to be both very important. There is no "merely" about culture, it is an important part of living in some place.
 
He got the right thing about distinguishing language, a tool to listen to others, think and express yourself, and culture, a code through which a locality's population live, which will include many linguistic cues. What he got wrong is that culture isn't important; it is as important (and I may say, as readily explainable as language if you do the right studies; teacher's job) and it is an important aspect of internationalization.

Eris, thanks for the article; I cannot say it is perfect, as Nanmoro pointed out, but it sure was a damn good step ahead what I have heard been told around here. Using it for my Foreign Language Acquisition course
 
Eris ma-Numumésis : No article is perfect. You have to take some and leave some.
I definitely agree that culture is a big part of a language, but Japanese people do tend to make it into a bigger problem than it really is. In any case, as Daneydzaus said, it's definitely a step forward.

Nanmoro ma-Burerisnel : Yeah, I agree with that. Foreigners are still generally treated like they'll never fully grasp Japanese, which is a shame. But then the guy starts meandering into a way different territory and that's a sign of an amateur article. Published authors should know better and editors even more so.
 
Eris ma-Numumésis : I definitely agree with Nanmoro, there. The article could have been much shorter and just as incisive had he stayed on topic. That being said, I write my blog the way I speak, which means I constantly digress into totally unrelated matters
But then again, I'm not a veteran writer. Lol
 
Nanmoro ma-Burerisnel : Japan Times is plagued with bad writers, as is Weekender and most English publications in Japan, with the exception, of course, of TokyoDesu.com. I cringe to say this, but Debito Arudo, despite his overwhelming pessimism and snark, is Japan Times' most talented essayist.

Daneydzaus : Nanmoro : That is why I will use it, but I will not propose it as a great example of communication. He failed to understand many things (especially the importance of culture, as I pointed out); he's already outdated in my mind. This is why I posted my comment, so that we could discuss this matter and go further. And I believe our discussion is many steps beyond what the author wrote, and that's a great thing.

Eris ma-Numumésis : I admit I didn't know of Roger Pulvers, even though he seems to have a long career in writing. As for Debito Arudo, I gotta give it to him: he has often given a voice to until then very taboo aspects of the Japanese society, but I just can't abide his constant cynicism...

The Magic of Esperanto

My linguist friend has hated with a passion Esperanto ever since he started to study linguistics. However, while it might not be as passionate as his hate, he has always liked MY way of speaking and writing Esperanto.

Why?... Probably because I actually strive to be as unlike French as possible when writing in Esperanto.

They say "hospitalo", I usually say "resanigejo".
They say "rigardi", I usually say either "celvidi" (for a picture, a silent movie or whatever is simply visual) or "celvidaŭdi" (for videos, TV and movies). Actually, I use cel- whenever I do something with a goal in mind.
They say "konstitucio", I usually say "starigo" or "bazleĝaro" or "bazregularo", the first one for the actual founding of something, and the other two for constitutions of States or non-sovereign organizations.
They say "redaktoro" and "aŭtoro", but I say "redaktisto" and "aŭtoristo". (And "resanigisto" for that matter...)
They say "bonege", but I don't hesitate to go further and say "bonegege" with all the emotional implications of doing so.

I could list examples, tons of examples, but I would never, ever, be done. Using Esperanto the way I use it might at first seem insane, but it actually rewards the brain in patterns, something that it likes and actually prefers, which makes further distinctions a lot easier to express. My linguist friend has come to appreciate my way of speaking Esperanto, and my Esperanto-speaking friends are starting to appreciate the whole emotivity I have when using and distinguishing all those words, even though at first, for them, it's a weird sensation.

Kaje, finfinfine, por esperantlingvanoj, vidu miajn plejjunajn vortkreaĵojn :
"PIV-aĉismaĵo"
"Franclingvemismaĉo"
Mi esperas vian koran tutan enkapiĝon :P

Kaj... finfinfinfine...
Nu, ĉio senfinas sed ĝis nun bonplenas.

Esperantisto = Iu kiu laboras pri Esperanto
Esperantlingvano = Iu kiu estas ano de Esperant(lingv)o
Esperantismano = Iu kiu anas al la ismo de Esperanto
Mi estas tiaj uloj samtempe, sed mi disvidigas ĉiun econ. Ĉu vi?
(Kaj jese, mi estas raŭmismano, ne raŭmisto.)