4 ms·

English in terms of number of speakers has already reached the point where the number of ESL speakers outstrips the number of native ones by a good margin. The

English in terms of number of speakers has already reached the point where the number of ESL speakers outstrips the number of native ones by a good margin. The simple alphabet is a plus. I wish the spelling wasn't so godawful.

sametmax 8y ago
Yeah but I don't know any language used by hundred of millions of people that doesn't have many gotchas. Could be worse. The future language could become a mix of emoji and markup language :) ;) :D
- CPLX 8y ago
  > The future language could become a mix of emoji and markup language :) ;) :D You're saying this like it isn't already happening.
- Baeocystin 8y ago
  :: insert flail/panic emoji here ::
  - sp332 8y ago
    😱
lordnacho 8y ago
To fair English has big pieces of French and Latin vocabulary.
- Baeocystin 8y ago
  One of my favorite aspects of the English language is that not only is it shameless about stealing other languages' words, but it seems to take it as a point of pride. It's a good feature to have if you want something global- it means that useful words will accumulate without regard to origin, which benefits everyone.
  - Androider 8y ago
    "We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
    - dsr_ 8y ago
      https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll Noted reviewer of science fiction and fantasy.
- jimmy1 8y ago
  and also by extension, Greek (directly in many cases -- almost every english word that starts with 'ph' was a greek word -- but also a large portion of medical and mathematical terminology)
  - chupasaurus 8y ago
    That's because in latin 'ph' was used in words from greek, but spanish uses 'f' AFAIK. Fun fact: russian language had no 'f' sound prior to cyrillic alphabet which has a letter for it.
  - bad_login 8y ago
    I suspect english words starting with 'ph' come from french, french words with 'ph' used 'ph' instead of 'f' (same sound) to emphase the fact the word borrow greek root (but who care the word come from greek, does it make it easier to learn? one more shitty rule of french).
    - jimmy1 8y ago
      Granted I don't have hard data on the "ph" fact, the source is pretty credible in my opinion. The fact appeared in an article written for the British Council, co-authored by Martha Peraki, a Linguistics PhD recipient from American University. Heuristically, the "rule" passes the eyeball test: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy, phobia, phage, phalange, phalanx, phallic, phase, pharmacy, phantom, phenomenon, phone, photons, photosynthesis, physician, physique, phytoplankton, so on and so forth The overwhelming majority of these words are greek transliterations https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-ph https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-ph (in fact I am having a hard time finding even one word that isn't -- i think "phreak" is the only one I can find)

sametmax 8y ago

Yeah but I don't know any language used by hundred of millions of people that doesn't have many gotchas. Could be worse. The future language could become a mix of emoji and markup language :) ;) :D

CPLX 8y ago
> The future language could become a mix of emoji and markup language :) ;) :D You're saying this like it isn't already happening.
Baeocystin 8y ago
:: insert flail/panic emoji here ::
- sp332 8y ago
  😱

lordnacho 8y ago

To fair English has big pieces of French and Latin vocabulary.

Baeocystin 8y ago
One of my favorite aspects of the English language is that not only is it shameless about stealing other languages' words, but it seems to take it as a point of pride. It's a good feature to have if you want something global- it means that useful words will accumulate without regard to origin, which benefits everyone.
- Androider 8y ago
  "We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
  - dsr_ 8y ago
    https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll Noted reviewer of science fiction and fantasy.
jimmy1 8y ago
and also by extension, Greek (directly in many cases -- almost every english word that starts with 'ph' was a greek word -- but also a large portion of medical and mathematical terminology)
- chupasaurus 8y ago
  That's because in latin 'ph' was used in words from greek, but spanish uses 'f' AFAIK. Fun fact: russian language had no 'f' sound prior to cyrillic alphabet which has a letter for it.
- bad_login 8y ago
  I suspect english words starting with 'ph' come from french, french words with 'ph' used 'ph' instead of 'f' (same sound) to emphase the fact the word borrow greek root (but who care the word come from greek, does it make it easier to learn? one more shitty rule of french).
  - jimmy1 8y ago
    Granted I don't have hard data on the "ph" fact, the source is pretty credible in my opinion. The fact appeared in an article written for the British Council, co-authored by Martha Peraki, a Linguistics PhD recipient from American University. Heuristically, the "rule" passes the eyeball test: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy, phobia, phage, phalange, phalanx, phallic, phase, pharmacy, phantom, phenomenon, phone, photons, photosynthesis, physician, physique, phytoplankton, so on and so forth The overwhelming majority of these words are greek transliterations https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-ph https://www.thefreedictionary.com/words-that-start-with-ph (in fact I am having a hard time finding even one word that isn't -- i think "phreak" is the only one I can find)