Would be very interested to hear what non-native/multilingual people think about this. — I like sushi

In my view languages can indeed put to a comparative better-worse list of some sort. Unfortunately! (I'm not sure if this has already been said, but anyway...)

The fact is that if a language is to be useful, it has to have (a) enough speakers of it and (b) enough words. The less a language has (a) and (b), the less useful it is.

Does (a) matter?

Of course! The Njerep language in Nigeria has six people who are able to talk it. It might be a great way to talk in a secretive way (like the US used Navajo radiomen, the famous WW2 windtalkers). Yet I'm sure the next problem would be how many words there are in Njerep.

For an English speaker, the (b) part might not come up to mind as English has more than a million words. Finnish, my own mother tongue, has roughly about 400 000 words.

Does then (b) have an effect? Does 600 000 less words make a difference between English and Finnish. Yes!

For starters, there has to be in Finland a "Kielitoimisto", an official government department at the Institute of the languages of Finland, whose job is also to translate new words into Finnish. The translation of professional terms are obvious, as there are always invented new ones. But many of these are very commonly used and the official Finnish version sometimes doesn't simply get used. The word Pizza is one of those, even if it would have a Finnish version pitsa (said similarly as in English), it's rarely written that way. "Television" was another, as the the official 1940's Finnish version was näköradio (meaning "visualradio") and it didn't get to be used, but the simple term televisio was adapted to the language.

This also shows how languages btw are influenced by other languages. Americans might know well Spanglish, and usually these combinations are really funny. Yet it happens with other languages too. Language teachers just irk when they hear it. I remember my Swedish teacher telling her "favorite" what she had heard among Swedish speaking Finnish youth was "Den kivogaste pipo". Swedes (the few that are in PF) might have a trouble understanding that. The Finnish word "kiva" (nice) is used in the Swedish superlative form (hence kivogaste) and "pipo" is also Finnish (meaning beanie, knit cap). Jättekiva!



One way cultures with their languages transform, mix and even die.

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To a degree it depends on how you measure things. If you include all possible combinations in agglutinative languages where words are made up of multiple affixes specifying case, tense, person, possession, plurality, etc then you can claim massive numbers of distinct words. English is on the analytic side of the spectrum here, meaning the number of affixes is relatively limited, so we tend to need to use relatively more words to describe things (and thus have less individual combinatory words). Chinese is super analytic with hardly any prefixes or affixes at all. I think Vietnamese has literally none, so you won't find that at the top of any vocabulary list.

I don't know that it's necessarily better to have more words, but before anyone gets into an argument about it, try to compare like with like at least.

English is more Arabic even than Spanish. — Lionino

How is it possible if the Nasrid dynasty never went beyond the Iberian Peninsula?

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I don't know that it's necessarily better to have more words — Baden

E.g. There are (supposedly) 645 distinct meanings of the word "run". Would English be a better language if we had a separate word for all of them? I doubt it.

How is it possible that English has Russian words if Kievan Rus never went West of the Rhine? — Lionino

This is not related to what you pointed out previously. You stated that English is more Arabic than Spanish, something that is quite impossible because the Arab expansion in the Middle Ages never got into England (Whilst they were here for seven centuries).
Even if English had Russian words, it would sound more reasonable than to have Arabian vocabulary because of the historical and geographical evidence.

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Edit: Original post had "You stated that English has more Arabic words than Spanish" (which is 100% true), that is what I am replying to. — Lionino

OK. Where are the evidence of your arguments? Just post some English words which roots are Arabic. I can't even name English towns with Arabic influence. In Spain we have hundreds... Málaga; Almería; Alicante; Jaén; Córdoba; Almaguer; Almagro; Almanzora; Madrid; Alcalá, etc.

Not at all, Arabic speakers were much closer to England than Russians. — Lionino

WHAT THE F*CK.


Dude, The Emirate of Granada was just that, as is shown in the following picture. I hope you are trolling me because nobody with sense believes that a Muslim state has ever occupied England. The Emirate of Granada was the last and only independent Muslim state in Western Europe.

@Lionino

Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance language group. Evolved from the Vulgar Latin of Iberia, the most widely spoken Iberian Romance languages are Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan-Valencian-Balear, and Galician. These languages also have their own regional and local varieties. Based on mutual intelligibility, there are seven language groups: Galician-Portuguese, Spanish, Asturleonese, "Wider"-Aragonese, "Wider"-Catalan, Provençal+Lengadocian, and "Wider"-Gascon.

Once folks have understood that premise, we have to quote the next evidence:

Andalusi Romance, refers to the varieties of Ibero-Romance that developed in Al-Andalus, the parts of the medieval Iberian Peninsula under Islamic control. Romance, or vernacular Late Latin, was the common tongue for the great majority of the Iberian population at the time of the Umayyad conquest in the early eighth century, but over the following centuries,it was gradually superseded by Andalusi Arabic as the main spoken language in the Muslim-controlled south. At the same time, as the northern Christian kingdoms pushed south into Al-Andalus, their respective Romance varieties (especially Castilian) gained ground at the expense of Andalusi Romance as well as Arabic. The final extinction of the former may be estimated to 1300 CE.

Where is England and consequently English language in this historical evidence? Now, it is time to for your arguments, but do not waste my time trolling me.

English is more Arabic even than Spanish. — Lionino

Where is your evidence for this? And was the mechanism by which the language mixing occurred?

The case for the Arabic influence on Spanish is set out in the following wiki article. (There is no dedicated page for its influence on English.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language_influence_on_the_Spanish_language

In fact, in the small section devoted to the subject on this page:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Arabic_on_other_languages

There is this:

"Like other European languages, English contains many words derived from Arabic, often through other European languages, especially Spanish. "

Which suggests Spanish was not only more influenced by Arabic than English but was a major conduit for the influence of Arabic on English.

Which suggests Spanish was not only more influenced by Arabic than English but was a major conduit for the influence of Arabic on English. — Baden

Nicely explained! :up:

I find the British accent cool. — Corvus

Which British accent? There are rather a lot! His is RP, but he was born in Monmouthshire. I wonder if he ever had a Welsh twang? I'd have to say I like a Geordie accent, and a liverpool accent is full of character, as well as a Black Country/Brummie twang. RP kind of grates on me if it's overdone. It seems so pretentious. I also really love the sing song nature of a South Welsh accent. It's actually almost impossible for me to say which I like best though.

Which British accent? There are rather a lot! — Beverley

Mancunian, Cockney and Brummie are very cool. I think Geordie and Glasgowian are the most difficult to understand.

Glaswegian, for sure. I had a friend from Glasgow. I rarely understand a word he said. Even my husband is from South Yorkshire, and when we visit all his family, his accent gets much stronger. Then I have that awkward situation where there are limited times you can say, "sorry", "pardon" etc and I end up just agreeing to something, and then worrying exactly what I just agreed to! I guess I'll never know. That knowledge will be forever lost, floating around in the universe somewhere. Maybe something or someone will find it one day and have a laugh at my expense!

Which British accent? — Beverley

The Oxford or Cambridge accent sound clearer and easier to understand for me.

There are rather a lot! — Beverley

This is true.

His is RP, but he was born in Monmouthshire. I wonder if he ever had a Welsh twang? — Beverley

Didn't know Russell was from Wales. I couldn't trace any Welsh accent from his accent. Russell's accent must be from his education.

I'd have to say I like a Geordie accent, and a liverpool accent is full of character, as well as a Black Country/Brummie twang. — Beverley

These are difficult to understand accent, unless one is used to them.

RP kind of grates on me if it's overdone. It seems so pretentious. — Beverley

Yes, I heard some folks saying that too. I don't mind it at all. They tend to speak slower, and maybe that's what makes them easier to understand.

I also really love the sing song nature of a South Welsh accent. — Beverley

Yes, they are interesting to listen to. I might misunderstand them about half.

It's actually almost impossible for me to say which I like best though. — Beverley

What's yours?

Well, I was born not far from Birmingham, but when I tell people this, they are usually surprised because I have lost my Brummie accent. I think I do occasionally come out with the odd local phrase or word, but I guess that has more to do with dialect. I have lived in Wales, Greece, Cyprus, and just recently returned from 2 years in Victoria, Canada. I have found myself acquiring accents and dialects in all those places, and losing them once leaving, although I still currently find myself saying, "Can I get..." instead of, "Can I have..." and "super" instead of 'really' etc. from my time spent in Canada.

When I lived in Greece, there were so many UK tourists and expats living there that a hybrid language developed, locally referred to as 'Gringlish'. Greek people would speak English, but keep
some Greek grammar structures, and the UK people would speak in the same way to be understood better. It wasn't uncommon to hear people say something like, "Open the TV" instead of "Turn on the TV" or "You are good?" instead of "Are you good/well?" And I learnt that one of the most commonly used international words "Ok" came from the Greek "όλα καλά", meaning, "All good", which is often delivered as a question. There were also many misunderstandings, such as locals mixing up the similar sounding words, "Kitchen" and "Chicken". I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I was searching for an apartment to rent, and I was told that there was one available with a very big chicken in it! The mind boggles!

But something I always found odd was that I only consciously learnt a few basic Greek words, such as 'Hello', 'Goodbye' and 'How are you?", and I did learn the Greek alphabet, so that I could read Greek, but as for the rest of it, I have no idea how I know it. It kind of seeped into my mind without me realizing. Greek people are very vocal though, and I would hear them all the time from my apartment, calling out to each other. Maybe that helped with me acquiring Greek. But I even think in Greek, and I do not translate from English to Greek, as I had imagined people would do, as there are some words that simply have no English translation, such as 'ορίστε' or 'έτσι'. I just found myself using them in the same situations as I heard other people use them in.

What accent have you got, and what experiences of accents/languages have you had?

Well, I was born not far from Birmingham, but when I tell people this, they are usually surprised because I have lost my Brummie accent. I think I do occasionally come out with the odd local phrase or word, but I guess that has more to do with dialect. — Beverley

Oh interesting. I used to have a friend from Birmingham. He used to speak with non-identifiable English accent, but when he met his own Birmingham pals, he used to come out with his native Birmingham accent, which sounded interesting and difficult to understand.

When I lived in Greece, there were so many UK tourists and expats living there that a hybrid language developed, locally referred to as 'Gringlish'. Greek people would speak English, but keep
some Greek grammar structures, and the UK people would speak in the same way to be understood better. — Beverley

Greece would be an interesting place to live because of all the interesting ancient relics scattered in the country, and for the fact you could visit all the places where we used to read about in the History of Philosophy.

And I learnt that one of the most commonly used international words "Ok" came from the Greek "όλα καλά", meaning, "All good", which is often delivered as a question. — Beverley

I tried to learn Greek, because I thought it would help me reading the ancient Greek philosophy, but didn't quite managed to start yet. Also dabbled with the Hebrews with no visible progress, when I was reading the philosophy of Kabbalah.

What accent have you got, and what experiences of accents/languages have you had? — Beverley

My main language is Korean. I have learnt English, German and Japanese as my 2nd foreign languages. Once upon a time, many years ago, I lived in Indonesia and Singapore when I was a middle school pupil, and had a chance to learn Indonesian / Malaysian too.

Apart from Korean which is my natural language, all my 2nd languages were basic level. But when I chose to read Philosophy in English a few years ago, my English has improved quite a lot. Now my English is at a similar reading level to my Korean, and I am quite comfortable reading in English. In writing in English, I still make many grammatical mistakes, and I try to quickly revise over my writings 2-3 times before finalising.

In speaking, I don't have any particular English accent, but I am used to listening to British accents.

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