anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson) (11/20/86)
In article <530@uwmacc.UUCP>, edwards@uwmacc.UUCP (mark edwards) writes: > In article <526@uwmacc.UUCP> anderson@uwmacc.UUCP (Jess Anderson) writes: > >In article <524@uwmacc.UUCP>, edwards@uwmacc.UUCP (mark edwards) writes: > >Yet if I were to move to one > >of those countries, I would welcome the opportunity to become *more* > >multilingual, that is, I would not *want* to give up my native language > >just because I was surrounded by a new milieu. Rather, I'd want to add to > >my experiences in *both* languages. > > I would argue that we ( you and I ) are different. I did regularly > go off base, and I did learn Japanese. But I do not think it is fair > to say that every one would. My parents went over to Japan in May. > When it was time for lunch, it was time for a big mac attack. I think > its fair to say that their was a good cross section of Americans on > base, most prefered the "easy" way out, to speak and eat American. Oh you're quite right about that. After about two weeks in Japan, I got this uncontrollable urge for a milkshake, slightly to my own chagrin. > > (Of course, most of us could know any of the languages we happen > >to know better, again to our benefit. For example, illiteracy rates > >in the US are shockingly high, and quite a few of us have trouble > >with clear, simple, correct prose (not to mention spelling!) :-) > > I am glad you mentioned spelling and correct prose. My comments about > spelling is the worst thing that happened to English is when they froze > the spellings of words. Back in the good ole days the spelling of a > word changed with the pronounciation. My opinion about prose is that > I would like to sue my Junior High and High Schools for failure to > properly teach me the rudiments of english. ( What do you think? Could > I make millions ?) Here's a chance to pivot this into a new channel. Spelling, that is, more or less standard orthography, has many virtues, not the least of which is the preservation of language-historical information embedded to varying degrees in the orthography. Really, Mark, spelling in *not* just a torture dreamed up by teachers! :-) [I'll give you a hard time about the spelling error in that paragraph when I see you later at the office, tee hee :-)] I don't think you'll get very far with your lawsuit, but I'm glad you mention it. It introduces my new topic: where do people think we learn our language, and how do we explain that some people learn it fairly well while others don't? I'm really more interested in the *other* factors than the student's particular appitude here. For example, when I was a kid, it was Mom who constantly (but not too irritatingly) said, "Don't say ..., dear; instead, say ...." I *did* have good English teachers in grades 6-8, and I learned much more about English during my four years of high-school German classes. But I think it was the home environment, far more than the school environment, that gave me my English (not for nothing, the Mother tongue :-). Now Mark, you don't want to sue Mom and Pop, do you? -- ==ARPA:====================anderson@unix.macc.wisc.edu===Jess Anderson====== | UUCP: {harvard,seismo,topaz, 1210 W. Dayton | | akgua,allegra,ihnp4,usbvax}!uwvax!uwmacc!anderson Madison, WI 53706 | ==BITNET:============================anderson@wiscmacc===608/263-6988=======