4 ms·
> I have had many a conversation with non-native English speakers on this topic and one theme that crops up often is the idea that it is easier to think "advanc
by wolfgke 10y ago
> I have had many a conversation with non-native English speakers on this topic and one theme that crops up often is the idea that it is easier to think "advanced" thoughts in English than in their native language.
I personally find it much easier to develop "advanced" thoughts in German than in English, since for example in German building compound words is a very natural thing while in English it is rather clumsy. The same holds for nominalization of verbs.
Compare it with using a programming language that allows one to express complicated concepts in a very logical way (say, higher-order functions in Haskell). So when I try to write my thoughts down (say, for a scientific text) I find it much more clumsy to express them in English than in German, since I often feel that English lacks features that would make expressing them a lot more easy.
- shitgoose 10y agoyour last sentence would definitely look better if expressed in German:)
- wolfgke 10y agoIn German my sentences are sometimes even more interlaced. :-)
- shitgoose 10y agoI don't doubt that! Memories of pluskvamerfekt are still haunting me at night. A beautiful language. Rather structured.
- wolfgke 10y ago> Memories of pluskvamerfekt are still haunting me at night. Plusquamperfekt in German is about the same as past perfect in English in the way it is formed and used (OK, in German it depends on the verb whether Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt are formed using "haben" or "sein" - this is ugly, accepted). So I don't really understand why you feel haunted by the Plusquamperfekt.