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It's regular-ish grammar helps. It has simple conguation rules and almost no declensions. Its irregular pronunciation rules do not, but in practice they only ma

It's regular-ish grammar helps. It has simple conguation rules and almost no declensions. Its irregular pronunciation rules do not, but in practice they only make the speaker sound foreign, and do not make them unintelligible. If English isn't an easy language, what is? Is there any language that is universally easy?

tonyztan 8y ago
Esperanto[1] is an attempt at this, but I am not aware of any significant adoption. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
- dwrodri 8y ago
  While it's not "widely adopted" in comparison to other languages in the world, it's still the most successful constructed language in the world. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto I think that our collective understanding of how constructed languages could influence study is very lacking, but could probably take some hints from our experience with computer programming languages. Some languages could have grammars that lend themselves more easily to technical writing while others lend themselves to casual conversation. Historically, this took the form of having technical writing in Latin in English-speaking countries. History also shows us that a world with "domain-specific human languages" might be a little too idealistic. Our minds cannot simply download the latest linter for Latin/Esperanto/English to keep the language consistent. However, the rise of the dictionary, and spellchecking/grammar software could be what prevents us from repeating history.
  - stochastic_monk 8y ago
    I wonder how Klingon compares. I once read an amicus brief with a substantial amount of Klingon.
antod 8y ago
I've heard English described as "fault tolerant". Sure it's hard to get completely correct, but people can still communicate usefully even while messing it up quite badly. Which helps makes it useful as a de facto standard. Probably because even most native English speakers don't know how to get it completely correct either (I count myself in that group).
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  English is the HTML of languages. 'Hello World' is easy. Even hacking your way through something is possible. Even if the rules are weird and nobody seems to get it totally right.
yorwba 8y ago
> It's regular-ish grammar helps. It has simple conguation rules and almost no declensions. Its irregular pronunciation rules do not, but in practice they only make the speaker sound foreign, and do not make them unintelligible. Are you talking about Chinese or English here? It would apply to both. The hard part in learning Chinese is the script, which simply requires a lot of time spent memorizing. If you're willing to settle for the literacy of an uneducated villager, learning Chinese isn't that difficult.

tonyztan 8y ago

Esperanto[1] is an attempt at this, but I am not aware of any significant adoption. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

dwrodri 8y ago
While it's not "widely adopted" in comparison to other languages in the world, it's still the most successful constructed language in the world. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto I think that our collective understanding of how constructed languages could influence study is very lacking, but could probably take some hints from our experience with computer programming languages. Some languages could have grammars that lend themselves more easily to technical writing while others lend themselves to casual conversation. Historically, this took the form of having technical writing in Latin in English-speaking countries. History also shows us that a world with "domain-specific human languages" might be a little too idealistic. Our minds cannot simply download the latest linter for Latin/Esperanto/English to keep the language consistent. However, the rise of the dictionary, and spellchecking/grammar software could be what prevents us from repeating history.
- stochastic_monk 8y ago
  I wonder how Klingon compares. I once read an amicus brief with a substantial amount of Klingon.

antod 8y ago

I've heard English described as "fault tolerant". Sure it's hard to get completely correct, but people can still communicate usefully even while messing it up quite badly. Which helps makes it useful as a de facto standard. Probably because even most native English speakers don't know how to get it completely correct either (I count myself in that group).

sonnyblarney 8y ago
English is the HTML of languages. 'Hello World' is easy. Even hacking your way through something is possible. Even if the rules are weird and nobody seems to get it totally right.

yorwba 8y ago

> It's regular-ish grammar helps. It has simple conguation rules and almost no declensions. Its irregular pronunciation rules do not, but in practice they only make the speaker sound foreign, and do not make them unintelligible. Are you talking about Chinese or English here? It would apply to both. The hard part in learning Chinese is the script, which simply requires a lot of time spent memorizing. If you're willing to settle for the literacy of an uneducated villager, learning Chinese isn't that difficult.