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Keep it simple (lemmy.ca)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Lt_Worf@lemmy.ca to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[-] CAPSLOCKFTW@lemmy.ml 95 points 1 year ago

Japanese: wtf are you talking about?

[-] Pelicanen@sopuli.xyz 28 points 1 year ago

Finnish: No, seriously, what are they talking about?

[-] HiddenLayer5@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

Chinese too

[-] asceticism@lemmy.fmhy.net 9 points 1 year ago

I'm still learning but what about wa (わ)? It's used to signify the subject of a sentence I think.

[-] olsonexi@lemmy.blue 16 points 1 year ago

It's actually 「は」, and... kind of. It marks the topic, which is sort of the thing the conversation is generally about, which typically is the subject of each sentence, but not necessarily. It's kinda hard to explain it well since it doesn't really map cleanly onto any grammatical feature in english.

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[-] Xylight@lemmy.xylight.dev 57 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Alright, are you calling English sane?

[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year ago

There are parts of English that are simple and there are parts that are complex. Same as any language! The cool thing about linguistics is learning about the neat features of some languages. For example, Chinese doesn't use articles!

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[-] sabreW4K3@lemmy.tf 25 points 1 year ago

Oh, trust me, we are 😭

[-] CookieJarObserver@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 year ago

Its the language equivalent to a brick...

[-] bricklove@midwest.social 10 points 1 year ago
[-] Lt_Worf@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago

If the teacup fits.

[-] Stupidmanager@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

sure, how complex is: their, there, they’re. sure, they sound the same but there is no reason they’re difficult to use in their intended purpose.

[-] RQG@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

English grammar is alright as far as languages are concerned. There is some bs but nothing exceptional.

Pronounciation in the English language on the other hand is absolute insanity. If there are any rules besides grouped up exceptions then let me know.

[-] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago

And reusing the same word to mean a plethora of completely unrelated things lol.

EG:

Jam = a fruit preserve, to play music, stopped traffic, a door that's held open, to cram something into something else

Set = a collection of something, to change an option on a device, when something gelatinous becomes more solid, when the sun goes down, a stage or movie background, a list of songs at a concert, to put something down, and about 50 other things

Run = to move quickly, to enter a contest (ie run for President), to have something turned on (is that computer running, running a tap), to be a certain length (this films run time is 90 minutes), to be behind (this bus is running late), to be in charge of something (I'm running this place), a hand in poker, to be liquid (this egg is runny), a tear in a pair of tights

[-] fristislurper@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago

German also does this. I think a good 20% of all verbs are just variations of "ziehen" (to pull).

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[-] LedgeDrop@lemm.ee 55 points 1 year ago

For anyone who claims "English is easier", I present you The Chaos Poem:

The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you'll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.

Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
Just compare heart, hear and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word.

Sword and sward, retain and Britain
(Mind the latter how it's written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say-said, pay-paid, laid but plaid.

Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say: gush, bush, steak, streak, break, bleak ,

Previous, precious, fuchsia, via
Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir;
Woven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.

Say, expecting fraud and trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Branch, ranch, measles, topsails, aisles,
Missiles, similes, reviles.

Wholly, holly, signal, signing,
Same, examining, but mining,
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far.

From "desire": desirable-admirable from "admire",
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier,
Topsham, brougham, renown, but known,
Knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone,

One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel.
Gertrude, German, wind and wind,
Beau, kind, kindred, queue, mankind,

Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, Reading, heathen, heather.
This phonetic labyrinth
Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.

Have you ever yet endeavoured
To pronounce revered and severed,
Demon, lemon, ghoul, foul, soul,
Peter, petrol and patrol?

Billet does not end like ballet;
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.

Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which exactly rhymes with khaki.
Discount, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward,

Ricocheted and crocheting, croquet?
Right! Your pronunciation's OK.
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Is your r correct in higher?
Keats asserts it rhymes Thalia.
Hugh, but hug, and hood, but hoot,
Buoyant, minute, but minute.

Say abscission with precision,
Now: position and transition;
Would it tally with my rhyme
If I mentioned paradigm?

Twopence, threepence, tease are easy,
But cease, crease, grease and greasy?
Cornice, nice, valise, revise,
Rabies, but lullabies.

Of such puzzling words as nauseous,
Rhyming well with cautious, tortious,
You'll envelop lists, I hope,
In a linen envelope.

Would you like some more? You'll have it!
Affidavit, David, davit.
To abjure, to perjure. Sheik
Does not sound like Czech but ache.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, loch, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed but vowed.

Mark the difference, moreover,
Between mover, plover, Dover.
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice,

Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, penal, and canal,
Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal,

Suit, suite, ruin. Circuit, conduit
Rhyme with "shirk it" and "beyond it",
But it is not hard to tell
Why it's pall, mall, but Pall Mall.

Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,
Timber, climber, bullion, lion,
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor,

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
Has the a of drachm and hammer.
Pussy, hussy and possess,
Desert, but desert, address.

Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants
Hoist in lieu of flags left pennants.
Courier, courtier, tomb, bomb, comb,
Cow, but Cowper, some and home.

"Solder, soldier! Blood is thicker",
Quoth he, "than liqueur or liquor",
Making, it is sad but true,
In bravado, much ado.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Pilot, pivot, gaunt, but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand and grant.

Arsenic, specific, scenic,
Relic, rhetoric, hygienic.
Gooseberry, goose, and close, but close,
Paradise, rise, rose, and dose.

Say inveigh, neigh, but inveigle,
Make the latter rhyme with eagle.
Mind! Meandering but mean,
Valentine and magazine.

And I bet you, dear, a penny,
You say mani-(fold) like many,
Which is wrong. Say rapier, pier,
Tier (one who ties), but tier.

Arch, archangel; pray, does erring
Rhyme with herring or with stirring?
Prison, bison, treasure trove,
Treason, hover, cover, cove,

Perseverance, severance. Ribald
Rhymes (but piebald doesn't) with nibbled.
Phaeton, paean, gnat, ghat, gnaw,
Lien, psychic, shone, bone, pshaw.

Don't be down, my own, but rough it,
And distinguish buffet, buffet;
Brood, stood, roof, rook, school, wool, boon,
Worcester, Boleyn, to impugn.

Say in sounds correct and sterling
Hearse, hear, hearken, year and yearling.
Evil, devil, mezzotint,
Mind the z! (A gentle hint.)

Now you need not pay attention
To such sounds as I don't mention,
Sounds like pores, pause, pours and paws,
Rhyming with the pronoun yours;

Nor are proper names included,
Though I often heard, as you did,
Funny rhymes to unicorn,
Yes, you know them, Vaughan and Strachan.

No, my maiden, coy and comely,
I don't want to speak of Cholmondeley.
No. Yet Froude compared with proud
Is no better than McLeod.

But mind trivial and vial,
Tripod, menial, denial,
Troll and trolley, realm and ream,
Schedule, mischief, schism, and scheme.

Argil, gill, Argyll, gill. Surely
May be made to rhyme with Raleigh,
But you're not supposed to say
Piquet rhymes with sobriquet.

Had this invalid invalid
Worthless documents? How pallid,
How uncouth he, couchant, looked,
When for Portsmouth I had booked!

Zeus, Thebes, Thales, Aphrodite,
Paramour, enamoured, flighty,
Episodes, antipodes,
Acquiesce, and obsequies.

Please don't monkey with the geyser,
Don't peel 'taters with my razor,
Rather say in accents pure:
Nature, stature and mature.

Pious, impious, limb, climb, glumly,
Worsted, worsted, crumbly, dumbly,
Conquer, conquest, vase, phase, fan,
Wan, sedan and artisan.

The th will surely trouble you
More than r, ch or w.
Say then these phonetic gems:
Thomas, thyme, Theresa, Thames.

Thompson, Chatham, Waltham, Streatham,
There are more but I forget 'em-
Wait! I've got it: Anthony,
Lighten your anxiety.

The archaic word albeit
Does not rhyme with eight-you see it;
With and forthwith, one has voice,
One has not, you make your choice.

Shoes, goes, does *. Now first say: finger;
Then say: singer, ginger, linger.
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age,

Hero, heron, query, very,
Parry, tarry fury, bury,
Dost, lost, post, and doth, cloth, loth,
Job, Job, blossom, bosom, oath.

Faugh, oppugnant, keen oppugners,
Bowing, bowing, banjo-tuners
Holm you know, but noes, canoes,
Puisne, truism, use, to use?

Though the difference seems little,
We say actual, but victual,
Seat, sweat, chaste, caste, Leigh, eight, height,
Put, nut, granite, and unite.

Reefer does not rhyme with deafer,
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
Hint, pint, senate, but sedate.

Gaelic, Arabic, pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific;
Tour, but our, dour, succour, four,
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Say manoeuvre, yacht and vomit,
Next omit, which differs from it
Bona fide, alibi
Gyrate, dowry and awry.

Sea, idea, guinea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion with battalion,
Rally with ally; yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay!

Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.
Never guess-it is not safe,
We say calves, valves, half, but Ralf.

Starry, granary, canary,
Crevice, but device, and eyrie,
Face, but preface, then grimace,
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Bass, large, target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, oust, joust, and scour, but scourging;
Ear, but earn; and ere and tear
Do not rhyme with here but heir.

Mind the o of off and often
Which may be pronounced as orphan,
With the sound of saw and sauce;
Also soft, lost, cloth and cross.

Pudding, puddle, putting. Putting?
Yes: at golf it rhymes with shutting.
Respite, spite, consent, resent.
Liable, but Parliament.

Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, clerk and jerk,
Asp, grasp, wasp, demesne, cork, work.

A of valour, vapid vapour,
S of news (compare newspaper),
G of gibbet, gibbon, gist,
I of antichrist and grist,

Differ like diverse and divers,
Rivers, strivers, shivers, fivers.
Once, but nonce, toll, doll, but roll,
Polish, Polish, poll and poll.

Pronunciation-think of Psyche!-
Is a paling, stout and spiky.
Won't it make you lose your wits
Writing groats and saying "grits"?

It's a dark abyss or tunnel
Strewn with stones like rowlock, gunwale,
Islington, and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Don't you think so, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, bough, cough, hough, sough, tough??

Hiccough has the sound of sup...
My advice is: Give It Up!
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[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago

Where this really sucks is in programming when you write things like “The {{objectType}}” in your translations file.

Your program will replace objectType with the actual thing, so “The Ball”. All good, right? But then every other language has the weird conjugation, so “El Bola” doesn’t make sense anymore…

[-] Lt_Worf@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago

Oh god, I've never thought about that.

[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago

Some languages also consider different numbers in different way. I have one ball, two balls, and zero balls. Zero might not be plural like in English. Also, some language have a dual distinction that changes thing when there are two of something (not just singular and plural, but singular, dual, and plural).

[-] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago

In Russian, numbers ending in one are singular, except for eleven which is plural.

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[-] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 11 points 1 year ago

El Bola sounds like a very racist super villain too! Probably not what most customers are looking for in a translation...

[-] nodiet@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

although a bit clunky, writing "the {{objectType}} object" would get around this particular issue.

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[-] rubythulhu@lemmy.blahaj.zone 42 points 1 year ago

i mean technically we have the and thə

[-] Lt_Worf@lemmy.ca 71 points 1 year ago

Excuse me friend, but one of your e's appears to be drunk.

[-] VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

ə: I'm not as think as you drunk I am, ossifer!

[-] theodewere@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago

i'm pretty sure about 12-15% of the English language is.. smashed to the tits..

[-] o0joshua0o@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

Russian doesn't have articles at all, but it sure isn't simple.

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[-] PRUSSIA_x86@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

"The" but sometimes it's pronounced "thee" just for fun ir vowels or whatever.

[-] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 18 points 1 year ago
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[-] doublepepperoni@hexbear.net 16 points 1 year ago
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[-] ZorakOfThatMagnitude@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

The ol mnemonic my German professor taught me about remembering the German articles:
Rese
Nese
Merman
Sister Sister

[-] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 22 points 1 year ago

I took several years of German in highschool and in college and this doesn't make any sense to me. Explain please?

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[-] PlantbasedChe@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

French had a golden oportunity for changing this during french revolution. A unecessary complex language is not reasonable

[-] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 7 points 1 year ago

Just remember they decided to count by multiplying 20

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[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 10 points 1 year ago

Portuguese: append "s". O, os; a, as;

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Latin: Quæ?

[-] rostby@lemmy.fmhy.net 9 points 1 year ago
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this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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