3 ms·

Anything but the flag. Why not use full language names? I am very tired of seeing one flag represent my language where that is the newer nation using that lan

by rg111 5y ago

Anything but the flag. Why not use full language names? I am very tired of seeing one flag represent my language where that is the newer nation using that language as national language. But that language is spoken for a thousand years or more in other regions.

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
> I am very tired of seeing one flag represent my language where that is the newer nation using that language as national language. But that language is spoken for a thousand years or more in other regions. I'm not disagreeing with your general point, but I'm curious: What language is over a thousand years old and still recognizably the same language?
- badLiveware 5y ago
  Icelandic and old norse perhaps
- Hjfrf 5y ago
  US English comes to mind, not that middle English is particularly readable.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    I was thinking of English as a counter case when I wrote the comment:) Skimming the history section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History , I don't think I would really describe anything before "Early Modern English" (1500-1700) as meaningfully the same language; if you took a modern English-speaker and gave them a sample of Middle English, they wouldn't be able to read it, and if you stuck them in a room with a speaker of ME neither would be able to understand what the other person was saying. Although in fairness, it does now come down to a semantic argument about what counts as the same language, and I acknowledge that a reasonable person could disagree with my narrower view.
    - runnerup 5y ago
      > Although in fairness, it does now come down to a semantic argument about what counts as the same language, and I acknowledge that a reasonable person could disagree with my narrower view. I really enjoy Jamaican patois for this. Arriving there, try as hard as I could...I couldn't understand a single word of it, even though it was ostensibly "English-enough" that I should have been able to. The first 5 days spending time in groups speaking the local language felt like anywhere else that I couldn't understand -- Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Guatemala, etc. Right around the one week mark, something just 'clicked' and I could understand pretty much all of it as if it were regular English except for the true slang. Really felt like "dialect" on the cusp of become "language". Very cool spot for a language.
    - a_t48 5y ago
      "Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, ... Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting." This is...difficult to read, but once you realize that þ == th, it's semi comprehensible. Looking up some Middle English on Youtube, it's also semi comprehensible. I doubt I could have a deep philosophical conversation with an ME speaker, I think we could make eachother understood.
- rat9988 5y ago
  Arabic
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  > What language is over a thousand years old and still recognizably the same language? Latin.
  - kingcharles 5y ago
    This answer wins. I suspect this is the most widely-used language that has not changed in 2000 years. When I was at school in the 80s we were seemingly learning the same Latin as spoken by the Romans.
KeytarHero 5y ago
> Why not use full language names? If I end up on the page in a language I don't know, then how would I find the language selector? I agree that flags aren't great, but I don't know of any other solution to this problem.
- rg111 5y ago
  Language codes are a solution. And it works great. And language codes should be given in ASCII. Someone not native has a slight chance of not knowing what fr is, or bn is, or nl is, but, a native, or someone who speaks the language will always know.

by rg111 5y ago

yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago

> I am very tired of seeing one flag represent my language where that is the newer nation using that language as national language. But that language is spoken for a thousand years or more in other regions. I'm not disagreeing with your general point, but I'm curious: What language is over a thousand years old and still recognizably the same language?

badLiveware 5y ago
Icelandic and old norse perhaps
Hjfrf 5y ago
US English comes to mind, not that middle English is particularly readable.
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  I was thinking of English as a counter case when I wrote the comment:) Skimming the history section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History , I don't think I would really describe anything before "Early Modern English" (1500-1700) as meaningfully the same language; if you took a modern English-speaker and gave them a sample of Middle English, they wouldn't be able to read it, and if you stuck them in a room with a speaker of ME neither would be able to understand what the other person was saying. Although in fairness, it does now come down to a semantic argument about what counts as the same language, and I acknowledge that a reasonable person could disagree with my narrower view.
  - runnerup 5y ago
    > Although in fairness, it does now come down to a semantic argument about what counts as the same language, and I acknowledge that a reasonable person could disagree with my narrower view. I really enjoy Jamaican patois for this. Arriving there, try as hard as I could...I couldn't understand a single word of it, even though it was ostensibly "English-enough" that I should have been able to. The first 5 days spending time in groups speaking the local language felt like anywhere else that I couldn't understand -- Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Guatemala, etc. Right around the one week mark, something just 'clicked' and I could understand pretty much all of it as if it were regular English except for the true slang. Really felt like "dialect" on the cusp of become "language". Very cool spot for a language.
  - a_t48 5y ago
    "Englischmen þeyz hy hadde fram þe bygynnyng þre manner speche, Souþeron, Northeron, and Myddel speche in þe myddel of þe lond, ... Noþeles by comyxstion and mellyng, furst wiþ Danes, and afterward wiþ Normans, in menye þe contray longage ys asperyed, and som vseþ strange wlaffyng, chyteryng, harryng, and garryng grisbytting." This is...difficult to read, but once you realize that þ == th, it's semi comprehensible. Looking up some Middle English on Youtube, it's also semi comprehensible. I doubt I could have a deep philosophical conversation with an ME speaker, I think we could make eachother understood.
rat9988 5y ago
Arabic
908B64B197 5y ago
> What language is over a thousand years old and still recognizably the same language? Latin.
- kingcharles 5y ago
  This answer wins. I suspect this is the most widely-used language that has not changed in 2000 years. When I was at school in the 80s we were seemingly learning the same Latin as spoken by the Romans.

KeytarHero 5y ago

> Why not use full language names? If I end up on the page in a language I don't know, then how would I find the language selector? I agree that flags aren't great, but I don't know of any other solution to this problem.

rg111 5y ago
Language codes are a solution. And it works great. And language codes should be given in ASCII. Someone not native has a slight chance of not knowing what fr is, or bn is, or nl is, but, a native, or someone who speaks the language will always know.