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Aramaic, a Semitic language related to Hebrew and Arabic, was the common tongue of the entire Middle East when the Middle East was the crossroads of the world. People used it for commerce and government across territory stretching from Egypt and the Holy Land to India and China. Parts of the Bible and the Jewish Talmud were written in it; the original "writing on the wall," presaging the fall of the Babylonians, was composed in it. As Jesus died on the cross, he cried in Aramaic, "Elahi, Elahi, lema shabaqtani?" ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")
But Aramaic is down now to its last generation or two of speakers, most of them scattered over the past century from homelands where their language once flourished. In their new lands, few children and even fewer grandchildren learn it. (My father, a Jew born in Kurdish Iraq, is a native speaker and scholar of Aramaic; I grew up in Los Angeles and know just a few words.) This generational rupture marks a language's last days. For field linguists like Khan, recording native speakers—"informants," in the lingo—is both an act of cultural preservation and an investigation into how ancient languages shift and splinter over time.
In a highly connected global age, languages are in die-off. Fifty to 90 percent of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken today are expected to go silent by century's end. We live under an oligarchy of English and Mandarin and Spanish, in which 94 percent of the world's population speaks 6 percent of its languages. Yet among threatened languages, Aramaic stands out. Arguably no other still-spoken language has fallen farther.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-to-save-a-dying-language-4143017/?all
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @05:46PM (8 children)
To know just one single spoken language, is analogous to knowing just one single programming language.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @06:47PM (7 children)
Not really. Programming languages can be learned (and forgotten) in about a week. So I don't bother. If I ever need FORTRAN, I'll figure it out in a couple days.
A second language on the other hand is a major life choice that either *you* make or the people before you made.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @08:34PM (3 children)
and common everyday dictionary is an order of magnitude smaller than say Qt API. You let other people hypnotize you with "major life choice" bullshit, you just hobble your brain with unfounded fear of learning. Hereabouts, schoolchildren who chat between themselves in a three-language mix would not even understand what you bellyache about.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @10:00PM (2 children)
Look, to be FLUENT in a language is a major commitment.
It requires a lot of continual practice with other native speakers.
If on the other hand your goal is to be able to "get by" as a visitor to another country, then yes, the time commitment is much less.
It is my experience that people who claim to speak "3 or more languages" typically do not speak more than one of those very well. Maybe 2 at most.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 31 2019, @10:54PM (1 child)
I can only pity the narrowness of your experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 01 2019, @04:48AM
And I can only be amazed at your level of smugness.
I speak multiple languages myself, to varying degrees of fluency, which is why I am calling BS on your breezy little posts.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday August 01 2019, @01:17AM (2 children)
There are paradigms that simply can't be supported by some languages - in other words, the "1984" Newspeak is a right approach for the purpose (and frightening):
Imagine trying to understand or think:
when all you can speak is BASIC (and basic English).
Yes, once you grok the above, chances are** learning and programming in any other language is a piece of cake, but practicing the concepts above in some of their "natural programming language" beforehand helps.
---
** no strong warranties. Try Malbolge [wikipedia.org] if you are inclined to disagree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday August 02 2019, @02:35PM (1 child)
Your .sig is especially relevant to this conversation. :)
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02 2019, @04:49PM
Except it's a footnote.