this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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Clarification Edit: for people who speak English natively and are learning a second language

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Well, I suppose it made me realise how useless articles are in a statement.

«где здесь кинотеатр?» (where here movie theatre?)

"where is the movie theatre around here?"

Without articles the point comes across in a much simpler form. that being said, a lot of other languages also have a terrifyingly complex case system or pointlessly gendered language or both. I don't think any language is "broken" but they all definitely have quirks.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Learning Japanese (especially colloquial Japanese) also gives me a strong "why waste time say lot word, when few word do trick" vibes. Articles? Don't exist. Prepositions? Only if you want to sound like a dweeb. Subjects/Objects? Used unnecessarily you'll change the meaning of the sentence.

"Went" is a complete sentence in Japanese.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

I think about how some languages like Japanese are like this, and then I think about how stereotypical “caveman” grammar in English is kind of structured like those languages, and I get a little uncomfortable at the implications…

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