Language Trainers Blog

I came across this animation recently showing the evolution of the western alphabet, from its Phoenician origins circa 900 BC to the modern Roman alphabet we use today.

The most interesting transition in my opinion is from the Etruscan alphabet to the first Latin script (which is the first most people will recognize). Many letters are flipped horizontally – B, D, E, F, K, L, and P. A couple disappear completely – for example, the Greek letters theta (Θ), xi (Ξ) and phi (Φ). The sounds still exist in English, though they are formed differently. Theta is a “th” sound, xi is the “ks” sound (for example in “box”), and phi is usually formed with “ph” or “f”.

Click the thumbnail below to view the full-sized, animated version.

Contractions – the act of replacing letters in words with an apostrophe – are often used in spoken English. It’s easy to see where contractions such as “shouldn’t” and “didn’t” are short for, but a word like “won’t” has rather less obvious origins.

The origins of the word “won’t” are, in fact, pretty indicative of the long history of the English language. It’s an evolved short version of “will not”, originating back in the 15th century, when it was spelled and pronounced as “wynnot”. As English continued to change over the years, it became “wonnot”, and eventually was shortened to “won’t”. Strangely enough, “won’t” never changed any further after that, even though for hundreds of years other English words and phrases have continued to evolve.

Contractions can be interesting in informal speech for the way they can stack – for example, “should not have” can be rendered “shouldn’t've”.

Native English speakers use contractions without even thinking, but rarely have the reason to question why they’re so deeply ingrained in speech.

Source: bbc.co.uk/news

As mentioned a few posts back, mainland China uses a different form of written Chinese from Taiwan. While China reformed their script during the cultural revolution of the 50s to Simplified Chinese (jiǎnhuàzì), Taiwan stuck with the more complex Traditional Chinese (zhèngtǐzì). Around 2,000 characters were simplified, in an effort to raise literacy rates across China. Taiwan – a separate entity from China since 1949, retained Traditional Chinese writing and has continued to diverge from mainland China culturally and politically since then.

Examples of Traditional vs Simplified Chinese characters

It seems this divergence has hit a new high – recently, official Taiwanese websites are eradicating Simplified Chinese altogether in an effort to preserve the traditional form of the script. The Taiwanese Tourism Bureau, for example, has completely removed the Simplified Chinese version of their site, and thanks to a decree from Taiwanese President Ma, other governmental sites will soon follow suit.

He argued that the use of the traditional language is one of Taiwan’s cultural assets and Chinese tourists would benefit from experiencing this part of the island’s culture.

Simplified Chinese will still be seen around Taiwan in the foreseeable future, due to the many tourists that come from the Chinese mainland to visit Taiwan, a country with a strong conservative stance when it comes to traditional Chinese culture. Retail stores, restaurants and hotels will continue to cater for Simplified Chinese readers, but it seems that Taiwan’s official stance on Simplified Chinese has now been made more than apparent.

Source: dictionary.com

It might seem odd to spend some 90 years deliberating on a dictionary of a language that has been dead for 2,000 years, but the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary is more than a simple reference book. It is an in-depth, 21-volume reference of ancient Mesopotanian dialects, and also acts as an in-depth study into one of the first-known writing systems, developed as far back as 30BC: cuneiform script.

The nearly 28,000 words compliled in this mammoth dictionary reflects more than just an old language, but a lot about its culture. Martha T. Roth, the editor in charge, states that “Every term, every word becomes a window into the culture.”

Words such as kalu meaning “detain, keep in custody, hold back” and di’nu, “case,” suggest that the language was a vital tool for the formation of the first recorded laws and government — anywhere. In addition, repeated reference in written records to ardu, meaning “slave,” provides evidence that slavery was common in ancient civilizations.

The language reflects the beginnings of land irrigation and the mass shipment of cultivated goods. One of the world’s earliest known works of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh, is a series of Sumerian legends and poetry originally inscribed on clay tablets in the Akkadian language. In other words, if we understand the way that the world’s pioneers of literature, agriculture, and finance structured their thoughts, perhaps we can better understand ourselves.

This is a great achievement for all the scholars involved – it seems sad to me that anybody would think it a waste of 90 years.

And now for some light relief – Simon Pegg back in his Big Train days, a mostly absurd British comedy series. This is a short but funny sketch about a woman looking for help from non-English speaking locals.

Source: bbc.co.uk/news

A recent article on the BBC News website uses an iconic British children’s book (A Bear Called Paddington) to compare how English speakers and German speakers differ not only in terms of the words they use, but also the subject matter of their conversation.

Specifically, ‘smalltalk’ or ‘phatic conversation’ is the focal point. Americans and Brits almost always begin a conversation with a couple of pleasantries – for example asking the other person how they’ve been or what they’ve been up to, or talking about the weather. This lightweight chatter serves little purpose other than to ease both speakers into the conversation, or make each other feel good. What is interesting, however, is that this practice is pretty much non-existent in German – in fact, the German language has no word for ‘smalltalk’.

In the German translation of the book A Bear Called Paddington, one particular exchange of pleasantries from the English original is completely omitted rather than translated – “‘Hello Mrs Bird,’ said Judy. ‘It’s nice to see you again. How’s the rheumatism?’ ‘Worse than it’s ever been’ began Mrs. Bird.”

Professor Juliane House, of the University of Hamburg, has studied groups of people interacting in controlled situations, watching with academic rigour how they behave as human guinea-pigs.

She found (or verified) that Germans really don’t do small talk, those little phrases so familiar to the British about the weather or a person’s general well-being, but which she describes as “empty verbiage”.

While this might explain how many English speakers perceive Germans to be somewhat direct and abrupt (and perhaps might contribute to the stereotype of Germans as a very efficient people), it also highlights the important of learning the culture of a language as well as the language itself. If you had learned German and had become fluent, yet still engaged in smalltalk with native German speakers, it would still mark you as something of an outsider.

Of course, it’s important not to confuse this kind of phatic conversation with politeness – Americans and Brits are no more or less polite than Germans, it is simply the way the cultures and languages have evolved and how much emphasis the people place on smalltalk. I myself have worked with many Germans travelled around Germany, and found the vast majority of people I met to be very friendly and polite, just in a different way.

For their part, the British have what House calls the “etiquette of simulation”. The British feign an interest in someone. They pretend to want to meet again when they don’t really. They simulate concern.

Saying things like “It’s nice to meet you” are rarely meant the way they are said, she says. “It’s just words. It’s simulating interest in the other person.”

From a German perspective, this is uncomfortably close to deceit.

“Some people say that the British and Americans lie when they say things like that. It’s not a lie. It’s lubricating social life. It’s always nice to say things like that even if you don’t mean them,” says House.

The German language contains far fewer flattering or euphemistic mannerisms than English – for example when asking somebody to do something, German doesn’t bother to preface questions with equivalents of “would you mind…” or “could you please…”. To English speakers this sounds like they are barking commands, but in fact they don’t mean to be any less polite.