Re: On Topic Wednesday: Universal Synthetic Languages

Ken from Chicago wrote:
"David Tate" <dtate@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1148237621.924735.171360@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Peter Bruells wrote:

Blech. I really, really, really hate French. Possible the worst
sounding language on Earth apart from Bavarian.

This says more about you than it does about French, I think.

*) Why French by the way? Where I live, there's hardly a French to
see, but we do have a goodly number of Dutch and Frisians around,
even though the latter are being poilte enough to learn Standard High
German.

It depends on how much relative weight you give to the two reasons for
learning second languages -- namely, to be able to converse with people
you otherwise couldn't converse with, and to read the literature of
other cultures. The primary argument in favor of French is to be able
to read its literature, especially if your native tongue is one that is
a common second language. Current political clout notwithstanding,
there is much more literature of note in French than in Dutch (much
less Frisian).

You spending thousands of dollars a year just for a pastime?

I do? Well, perhaps, but I don't see what fine wine has to do with
what I said...

Correction, you
expect PARENTS to pay thousands of dollars a year so their kids can read
books? Colleges are about getting jobs.

Um, so? That's a complete non-sequitur from what I wrote. My parents
didn't pay a cent for my graduate education. Not that this is at all
relevant, either...

You don't that self-actualization froufrou on your own time and own dime.

This sentence no verb.

David Tate

.

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