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Interslavic Language

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Re: Interslavic Language

#91

Post by aasasd »

lacampbell wrote: post #74
pvg wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't specific to Slavic languages, it's the norm for all sorts of related languages or even the same language evolving over time. Think of the etymology of 'nice' or 'guest'/'host'/'hostile'/'hospital'.

Words derived from the same source as 'Loft' seem to universally mean 'sky' or 'air' in almost all germanic languages... except English where it means 'small room near the ceiling'.

I guess Wiktionary might be mistaken, but it says the not-really-so-modern meaning of ‘loft’ is shared among Germanic languages: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/loft

Re: Interslavic Language

#93

Post by villedepommes »

jwieczorek wrote: post #27
objplant wrote: post #21

This is interesting and would be rather useful (also sort of cool) to have a common language shared by so many people living rather near each other (except for far-away regions of Russia). Unfortunately, it doesn't look easy at all: 7 cases and 10 plus 6 extra declensions for example. However, in reality such a common language already exists and it's English, especially among young-enough speakers. In my experience,…

Ludwig Wittgenstein: the borders of my language are the borders of my world . English is a language many young Slavs learn in preparation to or in the course of their professional life as in the world of the Pax Americana it quite simply has become an economical necessity to know it well. However, the English language cannot naturally transmit any of the linguistic particularities (proverbs, turns of phrases) and, ge…

I agree with pretty much everything what you've said here!

> I much prefer to try to get us to speak in our own languages, even if it requires effort.

Also, when it does work, we'd get to experience the glimpse of the sense of some shared heritage (e.g. cultural, historical, etc) and at the same time we'd feel good about the uniqueness and differences of our own languages/cultures.

> Otherwise, I prefer to speak Russian if the person I'm communicating with knows it too.

If someone spoke Russian to me, I'd be a) very flattered and b) try accommodating them with their effort as much as possible.

Re: Interslavic Language

#94

Post by otto2 »

tasogare wrote: post #90
Shorel wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Native Spanish speaker here: I only needed to read the translation for the last three words. They did quite a good job. :) But a language also needs an army (or a central bank, or both).

As a French, the text is also really easy to understand, except for the two words "vole esser". That being said, writing in this language would still require months of learning.

As non-native speaker of Spanish and French, the text is easily understandable, more so than written Portuguese or Italian.

Re: Interslavic Language

#95

Post by tasogare »

villedepommes wrote: post #86
p1esk wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends on the fluency of your Russian vs fluency of your English. I’m Russian and I’m fluent in English so if I sensed you don’t quite understand what I’m saying in Russian I’d immediately try English. I’d have probably ended up mixing the two.

> I’d immediately try English. Unless it's a literal matter of life and death to understand what the other person is saying without too much of a delay, it's a pretty asshole-y thing to do: a) The other person will "immediately" know that you think that their Russian is not up to snuff. b) They'll know their well intended effort isn't appreciated.

I'm living in a foreign country and speak fluently 3 languages, and known a few things in a forth one. Deciding which language to use with which person is a taxing effort in itself, especially in a group setting. There is no such thing as "asshole-y thing" to use English because each communication setting is different. Sometime the most important thing is to be understood quickly, then using English if there is any friction makes sense. On the other hand, if the goal is to build some emotional rapport, trying harder in the other person's native language is worth doing.

Re: Interslavic Language

#96

Post by cortesoft »

strenholme wrote: post #30

As someone who has followed the constructed language and international auxiliary language community for a couple of decades, and as someone with an undergraduate degree in linguistics, I do not see a constructed language catching on with the mainstream public any time soon. A constructed language is a language that someone sits down and creates; this is different from a natural language which just forms as people com…

> The reason why an IAL has not caught on is because people are motivated to learn a language when it has prestige, not because it’s easier to learn.

Is this really why people learn a language? I would have thought that people learned a language when they wanted to be able to communicate with people that they couldn't, which also explains why people don't learn these languages (network effect, really)

Re: Interslavic Language

#97

Post by danans »

cortesoft wrote: post #96
strenholme wrote: post #30

As someone who has followed the constructed language and international auxiliary language community for a couple of decades, and as someone with an undergraduate degree in linguistics, I do not see a constructed language catching on with the mainstream public any time soon. A constructed language is a language that someone sits down and creates; this is different from a natural language which just forms as people com…

> The reason why an IAL has not caught on is because people are motivated to learn a language when it has prestige, not because it’s easier to learn. Is this really why people learn a language? I would have thought that people learned a language when they wanted to be able to communicate with people that they couldn't, which also explains why people don't learn these languages (network effect, really)

Sounds like they mean prestige of the language, as in people will often learn the most prestigious language they can to avail themselves of the opportunities available only to those who speak that language.

Re: Interslavic Language

#98

Post by G4BB3R »

fouc wrote: post #83
strenholme wrote: post #30

As someone who has followed the constructed language and international auxiliary language community for a couple of decades, and as someone with an undergraduate degree in linguistics, I do not see a constructed language catching on with the mainstream public any time soon. A constructed language is a language that someone sits down and creates; this is different from a natural language which just forms as people com…

I have high hopes for a constructed language to someday become the dominant language. But I think it would need to be heavily modelled along multiple dimensions, serious computational power would need to be brought to bear on it to make it accessible and useful, and it would need to be tested on multiple focus groups with wildly different first languages, etc. I think there would be huge gains if a language was desig…

Take a look at Lojban

Re: Interslavic Language

#99

Post by hourislate »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #65
kolinko wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not - among other things - for social/political reasons. Russia has occupied central/eastern countries for four decades and most people prefer to be as far away from it culturally as possible. Even though my parents' generation was all forced to learn Russian, the current generation doesn't learn it. Even if it would be practical. Also, Russian may be easy to learn, but it won't be easier to understand tha…

Yes, there's strong anti-Russian feeling in several countries, but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers. According to Ethnologue, there are more than 100 million Russian speakers outside of Russia. It is the primary language in Belarus and half of the Ukraine (and is known by most people in the country). Almost 7 million people in Poland know how to speak it.[1] English…

>but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers

Only because Russia tried to destroy the language and culture of all the nations it occupied. They forced citizens of other countries to speak Russian and not their native languages. It is only the most spoken by older generations while the younger generations of other countries are being raised in their native language.

Given enough time, the Russian language will only be spoken by Russians.

Re: Interslavic Language

#100

Post by wavefunction »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #65
kolinko wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely not - among other things - for social/political reasons. Russia has occupied central/eastern countries for four decades and most people prefer to be as far away from it culturally as possible. Even though my parents' generation was all forced to learn Russian, the current generation doesn't learn it. Even if it would be practical. Also, Russian may be easy to learn, but it won't be easier to understand tha…

Yes, there's strong anti-Russian feeling in several countries, but Russian is still, by far, the Slavic language with the most second-language speakers. According to Ethnologue, there are more than 100 million Russian speakers outside of Russia. It is the primary language in Belarus and half of the Ukraine (and is known by most people in the country). Almost 7 million people in Poland know how to speak it.[1] English…

I think feelings tend to run negative towards the Russian government rather than Russian people. I feel that Russian and American people are more alike than we care to admit at least.
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