From Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de Tue Nov 20 14:03:48 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 20 Nov 2001 22:03:48 -0000 Received: (qmail 99091 invoked from network); 20 Nov 2001 22:03:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.167) by m4.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 20 Nov 2001 22:03:47 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO n2.groups.yahoo.com) (216.115.96.52) by mta1.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 20 Nov 2001 22:03:47 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de Received: from [10.1.10.33] by n2.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 20 Nov 2001 22:03:44 -0000 Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 22:03:42 -0000 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: i want my brain cells back! Message-ID: <9tejvu+7i54@eGroups.com> In-Reply-To: User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Length: 1974 X-Mailer: eGroups Message Poster X-Originating-IP: 149.225.7.107 From: "A.W.T." X-Yahoo-Profile: aolung --- In lojban@y..., And Rosta wrote: > aulun: > #As for me, I disagree: you just have let the new language come in slowly > #(finally getting the special taste of each word - i.e. having a > #specific "picture" when thinking/pronouncing it. > > Yes, but this is not very practical if you're aiming for communicative > competence, or for the ability to read texts in the language. You cannot really use a language unless you've got the "taste" of each word (guess you're too impatient). > #(tatelebn, farvos hayst men "lokshn" lokshn? - They look like lokshn, > #smell like lokshn, taste like lokshn... No, farvos zol men zey nisht > #haysn lokshn?!) > > What is this language? Some weird dialect of German? Something about > why salmon should or shouldn't be called salmon? Almost! It's Yiddish - a pretty streamlined idiom in the sense of a conlang. It's a nice anecdote showing what's meant by getting a language's "taste". Lokshe is a Yiddish noodle dish. > It is beautiful, and easy, at least for English speakers, but still (a) > studying it is an effort that requires justification for why it is > worth the while, and (b) irregular morphology is an insult to the language > learner. I never correct my son's morphological mistakes (in English), > because although it is nobody's fault that, say, we all say _built_ rather > than _builded_, it is still a perversity of nature that I wish did not > have to be inflicted on him. There's no help. You just have to fall in love (with a language) and you won't regard the effort learning it. As for me, I'm accepting the irregularities of a natlang which are able to show me a lot of human thinking (and that's why I'm interested in languages). Lojban is the 1st conlang I was attracted to (but for different reasons). BTW, learning languages is no waste of brain cells at all. It's the best I can think of. One just can deplore when the time for learning is getting shorter. --.aulun.