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Learning the script of any new non-Latin language is the most important thing to do, before you spend time trying to learn the language itself very much. (Casti
by scrollaway 3y ago
Learning the script of any new non-Latin language is the most important thing to do, before you spend time trying to learn the language itself very much. (Casting Chinese aside on this opinion, YMMV)
You will generally not be accommodated in the future, and the time you spend learning via a translit is wasted time. Furthermore, learning the script is generally easier than it looks — it just always seems so intimidating, being faced with unpronounceable squiggles… but this is what our brains evolved to be good at.
Learn the script first. Olly Richards agrees: https://youtu.be/NCfmSD2qeUI https://youtu.be/NCfmSD2qeUI
- wizofaus 3y ago> but this is what our brains evolved to be good at. Really? Personally I find having to learn a new written script is one of the biggest barriers to learning a new language. Despite years of exposure (admittedly at low intensity) I still struggle with reading anything in hiragana/katakana. To be clear I agree trying to learn a language using nothing but romanisations is almost certainly a bad idea, but I'm not sure I've ever felt the human brain had any special aptitude for learning written scripts - after all we've only been using them a few thousand years.
- scrollaway 3y agoI guess I said it kind of the wrong way around. The written script has evolved to be used by humans. It's still evolving, of course, so it's not like it's a paragon of efficiency; but humans are good at pattern recognition, and the written word is exactly just that. Learning to read, is learning patterns.