You’re correct, but try to see it as permission to speak English your own way rather than getting frustrated attempting to speak “correct” English, a fiction which has never existed despite the efforts of generations of stuffy English teachers. There’s been “English as spoken by the privileged class” but it’s no more correct than any other version and breaks as many of its own rules as any other patois or dialect.
Comment on It's amazing so many people are able to use English as a second language.
HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 5 weeks ago
Urgh, I resent the english language so much. It’s so inconsistent and weird and unintuitive, which my dumb-dumb rules-focused brain just does not gel with. We should all just use Esperanto or something instead.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
lorty@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Also has millions of people ready to correct your pronunciation of a word that is written completely randomly compared to how it’s spoken.
Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
Gaelic is worse about this. I’ve joked before that the best way to figure out Gaelic pronunciation is to look at the word and figure out the least likely pronunciation that still technically fits the letters, then try to chew on your tongue while saying that.
Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org 5 weeks ago
That has a lot to do with it being a Germanic language that borrows a huge amount of words from a Romance language (specifically French). So sometimes the rules resemble German, sometimes the rules resemble French, and the rest of the time is all about how it branched in a different direction than German did.
hakase@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
You must resent every single natural human language then, since all of them show the exact same kinds of irregularities, for the most part.
And, if we all did decide to use Esperanto because it’s regular (and therefore artificial), irregularities would inevitably be introduced within a single generation, because the nature of human language is to change, and that change will always result in irregularity.
HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 5 weeks ago
You know what, YEAH, I DO
FUCK language, when’s true 1-to-1 perfect transmission of information and meaning coming out? Get on it, linguists/wizards!
anton@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
Go speak Lojban with people numbering “beyond what can be counted on the fingers of one hand”.
FisicoDelirante@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
Minor nitpick, you have causality inverted. Esperanto is artificial and therefore regular.
hakase@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
No, I have it the right way around. Artificial languages can be irregular, so your order doesn’t necessarily follow.
No regular language can be artificial, though, so if you come across a regular language, you can always conclude that it’s artificial. And, since “therefore” isn’t only used for causation, but also for any conclusion supported by sufficient evidence, my usage was correct.