The United States is now the second country with the most Spanish speakers

[Zincwarrior]

your point was that it is no language is harder for a person to learn than any other...and you have been proven to be wrong again...yet you keep digging your hole deeper.

Guys get a room already.

 

[braalian]

Still making my point.

Would I be wasting my time if I asked you to simply state your point?

 

[Zincwarrior]

Language is just sounds that represent something

Animals do that too

I had a wiener dog who used a special sound to tell everyone to leave a room. You heard it and moved because the fart that was inbound would make Baby Jesus cry.

 

[BackAgain]

Time to take a break to get back to the basic pointless of this thread:

The appallingly illiterate thread headline.

Join me as we all once again laugh at the stupidity of the OP.

 

[Unkotare]

Language is just sounds that represent something

...

It's much more than that.

 

[braalian]

Language is just sounds that represent something

Animals do that too

The sounds might convey general feelings like pleasure, or a warning or fear, but the sounds don’t represent specific things or abstract concepts

A dog’s bark might warn his pack of impending danger, but there’s no bark for specific words. There’s no bark for “wolf” or “bear”, no way to bark that the dangerous thing is to your left or to bark the specific location of food you found.

 

[Unkotare]

Would I be wasting my time if I asked you to simply state your point?

Just what you said. No language is "harder" than any other.

 

[Mrkelly]

The sounds might convey general feelings like pleasure, or a warning or fear, but the sounds don’t represent specific things or abstract concepts

A dog’s bark might warn his pack of impending danger, but there’s no bark for specific words. There’s no bark for “wolf” or “bear”, no way to bark that the dangerous thing is to your left or to bark the specific location of food you found.

I was thinking more like whales, birds, and monkeys

I bet they have sounds that mean more than just fear and other feelings

 

[braalian]

Just what you said. No language is "harder" than any other.

I guess in the sense that “hard” is subjective to an extent

If you’re an English speaker with a lot of interest in China and it’s culture, and not interested in French culture, you might find the study of Chinese “easier” in the sense that it interests you so you’re motivated.

But, objectively, French is easier for the English speaker vs Chinese.

The alphabets are the same, you can begin to sound out French words from minute one without having to learn a whole new letter system.

French and English have a huge number of cognates, which can only speed up vocabulary acquisition

 

[braalian]

I was thinking more like whales, birds, and monkeys

I bet they have sounds that mean more than just fear and other feelings

I don’t know about whales/dolphins

But birds and monkeys cannot exchange detailed, specific information that can only be expressed through language

They can’t relate something that happened yesterday to one another.

They can’t give directions on how to do something without physically showing one another

One monkey can show another monkey how to use a stick to get insects out of a log.

But two monkeys just standing around somewhere can’t tell one another “hey I found a new way to get food….”, they can’t communicate anything that abstract through grunts

 

[BackAgain]

I don’t know about whales/dolphins

But birds and monkeys cannot exchange detailed, specific information that can only be expressed through language

They can’t relate something that happened yesterday to one another.

They can’t give directions on how to do something without physically showing one another

One monkey can show another monkey how to use a stick to get insects out of a log.

But two monkeys just standing around somewhere can’t tell one another “hey I found a new way to get food….”, they can’t communicate anything that abstract through grunts

Bees do it. With an eerie precision. And their language is via a dance like movement of their little bodies.

 

[braalian]

Bees do it. With an eerie precision. And their language is via a dance like movement of their little bodies.

Fair enough, I guess being able to give directions to a spot does fall within the range of animal communication, such as bees dancing

But that dancing still doesn’t meet the criteria of language.

Bees do not use language to communicate.

 

[Unkotare]

I was thinking more like whales, birds, and monkeys

I bet they have sounds that mean more than just fear and other feelings

Some animals are quite intelligent, but only humans use language.

 

[BackAgain]

Fair enough, I guess being able to give directions to a spot does fall within the range of animal communication, such as bees dancing

But that dancing still doesn’t meet the criteria of language.

Bees do not use language to communicate.

It absolutely does fall within a definition of “language.”

(2)
: a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings

One of the numerous definitions of “language” found at:

Definition of LANGUAGE

an organically developed system of communication used by groups of humans: such as; the words, their pronunciation, their written representation, and the methods of combining them as used and understood by a community… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

 

[BackAgain]

It absolutely does fall within a definition of “language.”



One of the numerous definitions of “language” found at:

Definition of LANGUAGE

an organically developed system of communication used by groups of humans: such as; the words, their pronunciation, their written representation, and the methods of combining them as used and understood by a community… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

Koko a big gorilla l, used sign language.

Why Koko the Gorilla, Who Mastered Sign Language, Mattered

Featured twice on the cover of National Geographic magazine, Koko led to major revelations about animal empathy and communication.

www.nationalgeographic.com

Also Washoe, a chimp, did so:

Washoe (chimpanzee) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Couchpotato]

Just what you said. No language is "harder" than any other.

The Complete List of Language Difficulty Rankings - Rosetta Stone

Ready to learn a new language? Check out the language difficulty ranking for the world’s most widely spoken languages.

blog.rosettastone.com

Language Difficulty Ranking: A Complete List - Lingualid

Discover the most challenging languages to learn with our comprehensive language difficulty ranking. Find out where your target language stands!

lingualid.com

The Hardest Languages to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide

Discover the most challenging languages to learn and why they pose a significant difficulty for language learners. Even tonal languages.

www.rhythmlanguages.com

FSI language difficulty

FSI language difficulty - want to find a language to learn that's in the easy category? Maybe you want to give yourself a challenge and learn the hardest?! These are the easiest and hardest languages for native English speakers to learn!

www.fsi-language-courses.org

You're wrong and experts in the field have said so.

 

[fncceo]

It could be much worse. We could be the country with the second most FRENCH speakers.

 

[Unkotare]

...


You're wrong and experts in the field have said so.

I'm an expert in the field. Trust me.

 

[Unkotare]

It absolutely does fall within a definition of “language.”
...

No, it doesn't.

 

[BackAgain]

No, it doesn't.

Yes. It does.