Language Myths: Some Language are Harder Than Others

Section 1 - Unit I

Language Myths: Some Languages are Harder Than Others

(1) Many people speak of languages as easy or difficult, meaning that it is easy or difficult to learn these languages. On the other hand, people usually do not talk about their mother tongues as being easy or difficult for them as native speakers to use. Linguists prefer not to comment on such matters. They believe there is no single scale from easy to difficult, and degree of difficulty can be discussed on many levels.

(2)The real question is whether some languages are simpler than others in some absolute sense, in terms of their own systems rather than in terms of some external perspective. It is quite obvious that it is easier for a Swede to learn Norwegian than Polish. But for a Czech it is easier to learn Polish than Norwegian. Swedish and Norwegian are similar because they are closely related linguistically and also because they have existed in close cultural contact for several centuries. If you have English as your mother tongue, it is easier to learn Germanic languages, like Dutch and German, than it would be to learn Slavic or Turkic languages. The major reason for this is that the vocabularies have many similarities in the related languages.

(3)Let us look at the components of our linguistic knowledge, and let us assume that our knowledge of a language consists of the following three parts: grammar, vocabulary and rules of usage. This means that if you have English as your first language, the grammar of the language comes naturally to you. This grammar makes your word order similar to that of other English speakers. You also have a vocabulary of English at your disposal. And the rules of usage tell you how to address a person, how to ask questions and how to conduct a telephone conversation.

(4)The difficult thing about learning a language is the vocabulary. Although millions of foreign-language learners have cursed the English prepositions, the three genders and four cases of German grammar, etc., the structural aspects of the language are easy to learn when they are properly understood. Each individual word is not difficult to learn either, but when it is a matter of thousands of words, it does take a lot of time. To put things into perspective, we can say that modern dictionaries of English, French, German, and some other languages contain approximately 100,000 words. We need words to express our thoughts, and a limited vocabulary limits our expression of thoughts and views.

(5) For a language learner, the writing system and the spelling rules are among major obstacles.

Europeans have to spend a lot of time learning how to use the Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Japanese writing systems. But it is possible to switch from one writing system to another without changing anything in the language structure. For example, Turkish written in the Arabic script has been written in Latin since the language reform in 1928. As far as spelling is concerned, a system following the principle that there should be a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters is simpler than one not meeting this condition. No wonder language-reformers often make it their goal to simplify spelling rules inherited by modem languages from the past. And languages that have acquired writing systems fairly recently have less complicated spelling than languages with old written traditions. In making a new spelling system, one would not invent mute letters, for example.

(6) Cultural proximity makes it easier to learn the vocabulary of a language related to your own;

moreover, it contributes to the similarity of the rules of usage. In the absolute sense, a language without complicated rules of politeness and indirect styles of expression should be easier to learn. Let's look at an example. A British lecturer teaching at a Swedish university says to a student who has brought her baby along to a lecture, "Are you sure the baby will be all right in here?" The student replies, "Sure, no problem", and does not even suspect that the lecturer intended the question as a request for the student to leave the room with the baby. This sort of misunderstanding is not uncommon when people from different cultures communicate. An easy language ought to be one with few rules of indirectness and a simple system for expressing politeness. Natural languages are used not only to transfer information from one individual to another but also to indicate and to preserve social distinctions that exist in all societies. However, a language like Esperanto, constructed specifically to simplify communication between language groups, is easier than natural languages in this respect.

Language Myths: Some Language are Harder Than OthersBefore you start reading

What makes learning a foreign language difficult?

How can language learners make use of the knowledge of their mother tongues?

What linguistic phenomenon/a found in English cannot be found in your mother tongue?

What linguistic skills are most important for you when you learn a foreign language?

Make a list 5-8 words that you will need to discuss learning a foreign language.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

After reading the text:

Exercise 1 - Extracting Main Ideas

In your opinion, which two of the following statements best summarize the main points of the text?

1. It is difficult to measure the degree of difficulty of natural languages.

2. It is easier for speakers of Polish to learn Czech than Norwegian.

3.Modern languages have vast vocabularies.

4. Besides grammar and vocabulary, language learning includes getting to know social and cultural conventions.

5.A switch to a different writing system can simplify a language without changing its structure.

Exercise 2: Dealing with Unfamiliar Words

Using contextual clues, choose the correct meaning of the following words from the passage.

1. perspective (line 7) is

a. a particular way of thinking about something

b. a possibility that something will happen 2. obvious (line 7) is

a. probable

b. doubtful

c. clear 3. components (line 14) is

a. levels b. parts

c. features 4. express (line 26) is

a. to show what you think

b. to hide what you think

5. obstacles (line 28) is

a. things that contribute to advance

b. things that destroy results

c. things that obstruct progress

6. proximity (line 39) is

a. remoteness

b. nearness 7. suspect (line 44) is

a. to be ready to believe

b. to question the truth

c. to be convinced

8. preserve (line 49) is

a. to change

b. to keep in existence

c. to destroy

Exercise 3: Understanding the Author's Position

With which of the following statements would the author of the text agree/disagree? Prove your point by giving the relevant line number/s and key words.

1. It is unusual for speakers of the same language to discuss the level of difficulty of their mother tongue.

______________________________________________________________________2. Languages in contact borrow from each other.

_______________________________________________________________________3. The structure of a new language is more difficult to learn than vocabulary.

_______________________________________________________________________4. A change of script is a bad linguistic practice that creates additional obstacles for language users.

________________________________________________________________________5. Among the functions of natural languages, preservation of cultural tradition is as important as transfer of information.

________________________________________________________________________Exercise 4: Inference

What evidence is there in the text for the following statements?

1. It is not difficult for children to learn their mother tongue.

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Polish and Czech have a long history of cultural contact.

______________________________________________________________________________

3. English is a Germanic language.

______________________________________________________________________________

4. Many learners of German have trouble memorizing which nouns are masculine, feminine or

neuter.

______________________________________________________________________________

5. One aim of recently created writing systems is a one-to-one correspondence between sounds

and letters.

______________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 5: Examples

To prove a point we often support our statements by examples. What do the following facts mentioned in the essay exemplify?

1. It is easier for English speakers to learn Dutch or German than a Slavic or a Turkic language.

______________________________________________________________________________

2. Modem dictionaries of English, German French and some other languages contain as many as 100,000 words. ______________________________________________________________________________

3. The language reform of 1928 changed Arabic alphabet for Latin in Turkey.

______________________________________________________________________________

4. A British lecturer asks his Swedish student who has brought her baby to class whether the baby will be comfortable. The student assures him the baby will be fine.

_____________________________________________________________________________Exercise 6: Referents

What do the following words refer to?

1. this (line 12) ___________________________________________________________________

2. that (line 17) ___________________________________________________________________

3. it (line 24) ____________________________________________________________________

4. one (line 34) ___________________________________________________________________

5. it (line 40) ____________________________________________________________________

6. this respect (line 51) ___________________________________________________________________

Exercise 7: Vocabulary

A. Study the chart below and use the dictionary to check the meanings of unfamiliar words.

VERBNOUNADJECTIVEADVERB

1.sensesense

sensor

sensitivitysensible

(in)sensitivesensibly

sensitively

2.relaterelation

relationship

relativity(un)related

relativerelatively

3.approximate

approximationapproximateapproximately

4.correspondcorrespondence

correspondentcorrespondent correspondingcorrespondingly

VERBNOUNADJECTIVEADVERB

5.acquireacquisitionacquired

6. transfer

transfer

transferabilitytransferred

transferable

7.distinguishdistinction

(in)distinct

distinctive

(in )distinguishabledistinctly

distinctively

B. Complete the sentences below using the correct forms of the verb indicated for each group.

sense

1. ________________ installed along highways enable the road police to determine the speed of cars.

2. Archeologists tried to make ________________ of the inscription on the floor of a Roman house they found, but more than half of the words were unreadable.

3. Computers are ________________ to sudden increases in voltage.

4. When chameleons ________________ danger they change color.

relate

1. Some diseases are ________________ to bad eating habits. Even if you eat ________________ small portions, a careless combination of foods may do damage to you.

2. The recommendations of the committee ________________ to the waste disposal methods used at the factory.

3. The subject of my research is employer-employee ________________ in small companies.

approximate1. The purpose of field tests is to ________________ various conditions of actual use of new products.

2. Planning a research project you must have an ________________ of the costs.

3. The journey will take ________________ three hours.

correspond1. The two editions of this dictionary ________________ in everything except grammar appendices.

2. When it was founded, our companys budget was 1million dollars, and the number of employees was 10 people. Five years later the ________________ figures have increased five-fold.3. There is little ________________ between witnesses account of the accident and the newspaper report.

acquire

1. Many pharmaceutical companies work on the development of an effective vaccine preventing ________________ Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

2. Vocabulary ________________ is an important goal of any language learner.

transfer

1. Some European companies have pioneered technologies enabling them to recycle electronic

equipment. Unfortunately, the ________________ of these technologies is still slow.

2. The books that are out of print are ________________ onto microfilm and stored in libraries.

3. When old pieces of art are restored, the layer of paint is sometimes ________________from wooden panels onto canvas. But not all the pictures are ________________.distinguish

1. The pronunciation of these two words is so similar that it is difficult for foreigners to ________________ one from the other.

2. The major ________________ between these two TV sets is that one has teletext and the other does not. 3. Although her French was correct and idiomatic, her accent was ________________ foreign.

Supplementary exercises for this unit can be found in the CALL Lab. under the title: "Language Myths"PAGE 8