4 ms·

I'd be careful about that generalization, since a fair number of scripts require you to be able to speak the language before you can really even transliterate p

I'd be careful about that generalization, since a fair number of scripts require you to be able to speak the language before you can really even transliterate properly. In many semitic languages, they don't write the vowels, which is no problem if you're versed in the language, but makes it much harder as a learner. (Not to mention the multiple letter forms if you're at the start/middle/end of a word in Arabic, but that's easy to get used to.) I believe there are cases were you _can't_ identify a word without understanding the context of the sentence, but I can't cite proof of that off hand. It's probably fair to say that most western alphabets, and virtually all contrived alphabets are trivial though.

eru 15y ago
> I believe there are cases were you _can't_ identify a word without understanding the context of the sentence, but I can't cite proof of that off hand. How about `wind' in English? You need context to see how to pronounce it, and (related) which word it is.
- showerst 15y ago
  Bingo there's a good one in English. A good example in Arabic would be قرن, which can mean 'horns' or 'century', and (as far as i know, not an expert) doesn't have any related origin. I imagine if you were writing machine translation software you could pretty easily figure it out statistically from nearby words, but it adds another level of challenge to learning the script. As an aside; if anyone has any interest in learning the _script_ used by Arabic/Persian, 'The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It' by Awde and Samano is awesome, and you can burn through it with all the exercises in a few dozen hours total. The book makes no attempt at teaching the language, but it's a nice leg-up before you hit the real books, which seem to all do an abbreviated job of teaching the script.
- salvadors 15y ago
  See also bass, close, desert, does, dove, have, intimate, invalid, lead, lives, object, present, produce, read, refuse, sow, subject, tear, wound ... Plus, from a different angle, words which mean the opposite of themselves, such as cleave.

eru 15y ago

> I believe there are cases were you _can't_ identify a word without understanding the context of the sentence, but I can't cite proof of that off hand. How about `wind' in English? You need context to see how to pronounce it, and (related) which word it is.

showerst 15y ago
Bingo there's a good one in English. A good example in Arabic would be قرن, which can mean 'horns' or 'century', and (as far as i know, not an expert) doesn't have any related origin. I imagine if you were writing machine translation software you could pretty easily figure it out statistically from nearby words, but it adds another level of challenge to learning the script. As an aside; if anyone has any interest in learning the _script_ used by Arabic/Persian, 'The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It' by Awde and Samano is awesome, and you can burn through it with all the exercises in a few dozen hours total. The book makes no attempt at teaching the language, but it's a nice leg-up before you hit the real books, which seem to all do an abbreviated job of teaching the script.
salvadors 15y ago
See also bass, close, desert, does, dove, have, intimate, invalid, lead, lives, object, present, produce, read, refuse, sow, subject, tear, wound ... Plus, from a different angle, words which mean the opposite of themselves, such as cleave.