this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2024
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Linguistics Humor

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Do you like languages and linguistics ? Here is for having fun about it


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[–] [email protected] 83 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

My favorite version of this is that spelling bees don't exist in most (any?) other language, because their systems are more intuitive and consistent, but with English, if you can consistently spell words they give you a fucking trophy and you get money for college

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In french we have "concours d'orthographe". Pronunciation is pretty consistent, but we add a dozen letters for every sound we utter, so spelling's still a mess.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I've seen enough French spelling to get it, though, and I don't really speak French. English spelling is still often hard as a native speaker.

You guys can have second place, our system is the most ass "bar none".

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Our system needs a deep reform; yours needs to burn to the ground and fully rebuild.

[–] MonkeyBusiness 5 points 1 week ago

Uh oh, the internet is starting the Napoleonic Wars 2: Electric Waterloo.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

You have to remember that most English speaking countries don't have a spelling bee either. The US is weird.

I looked up a UK version and all I could find was old competitions about learning to spell in other languages. E.g. https://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/events/national-spelling-bee-competition

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There are some other languages that have inconsistent spelling, but most do have some level of consistency yeah, also would character tests in Chinese/Japanese be considered similar to spelling bees?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not really. They just have multiple pronunciation depending on which vocabulary they are part of/how they are used grammatically.

But let me tell you, learning 2000 kanji and vocab they are used in is a pain. Still love 日本語 thought.

[–] Enkers 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What the heck is a sun truth language, anyways? :)

I'm in the process now, and you're definitely not wrong!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The meanings of the kanji are: sun - origin - language for 日本語

I'm sure you know this, but kanji have different meanings, and this one refers to Japan being the land of the rising sun.

[–] Enkers 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Haha, yeah, I was just being silly and having a little fun. :)

Although, learning all the meanings certainly does get overwhelming at times, especially when combinations of individual kanji characters can have substantially different meanings and readings than they do on their own!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I tried to change my PC and phone language to Japanese yesterday. I did not last long. It's seriously hard.