Size of Nations

ldwechsler wrote:

phillies wrote:We need not go farther than the United States to get nearly incomprehensible-to-others dialects.

Wistah izza eesta lesta.

bwahr uvva pahzn ahvu.

The notion that one can possibly get translation without loss of meaning, except in narrowly defined areas like mathematics, is believed to be incorrect, at least in some linguistic circles.

An interesting example of translation failure is found in chemistry, between English and German, involved the use of the verb lassen.

That is why Standard exists. In a sense, it's like India and some other nations. People speak individual languages but all educated people speak English.

There will be many local variations in language. Look at what we have generationally. The first time I saw the letters WTF I asked my ten year old grandson what it meant. He knew. Now I do.

But the common use of standard will be done certainly by anyone who deals with people from other planets or information from other planets.

Notice that so far no one from Manticore or Haven has needed any help. Also note that Harahap had no difficulty communicating on
different planets.

Kirk: "E plebnista...."

STOS: Omega Glory

phillies wrote:We need not go farther than the United States to get nearly incomprehensible-to-others dialects.

Wistah izza eesta lesta.

bwahr uvva pahzn ahvu.



The notion that one can possibly get translation without loss of meaning, except in narrowly defined areas like mathematics, is believed to be incorrect, at least in some linguistic circles.

An interesting example of translation failure is found in chemistry, between English and German, involved the use of the verb lassen.

Anyone care to translate

George J. Smith wrote:

phillies wrote:We need not go farther than the United States to get nearly incomprehensible-to-others dialects.

Wistah izza eesta lesta.

bwahr uvva pahzn ahvu.



The notion that one can possibly get translation without loss of meaning, except in narrowly defined areas like mathematics, is believed to be incorrect, at least in some linguistic circles.

An interesting example of translation failure is found in chemistry, between English and German, involved the use of the verb lassen.

Anyone care to translate

Again, that is why they have standard. We have not seen misunderstandings due to language difference. Pointing out differences within countries is fun (we can note the different accents used by people on Game of Thrones for the Brits, the differences in regional accents for the Frech and Italians and so forth) but it goes nowhere.

English is now becoming the lingua franca of educated people in most countries. Yes, there are wide variations.

But with different planets, each going its own way on a lot of things, there would need to be a standard language for trade. And Standard it is. It looks very much like English because David Weber speaks and writes English.

ldwechsler wrote:quote="George J. Smith"]

phillies wrote:We need not go farther than the United States to get nearly incomprehensible-to-others dialects.

Wistah izza eesta lesta.

bwahr uvva pahzn ahvu.



The notion that one can possibly get translation without loss of meaning, except in narrowly defined areas like mathematics, is believed to be incorrect, at least in some linguistic circles.

An interesting example of translation failure is found in chemistry, between English and German, involved the use of the verb lassen.

Anyone care to translate

Again, that is why they have standard. We have not seen misunderstandings due to language difference. Pointing out differences within countries is fun (we can note the different accents used by people on Game of Thrones for the Brits, the differences in regional accents for the Frech and Italians and so forth) but it goes nowhere.

English is now becoming the lingua franca of educated people in most countries. Yes, there are wide variations.

But with different planets, each going its own way on a lot of things, there would need to be a standard language for trade. And Standard it is. It looks very much like English because David Weber speaks and writes English.[/quote]


Most of the variation in English is the differences in slang. You can also have variations in in different regions within a country like what is the difference between a Hero, Hoagie, Grinder, Po'Boy and Sub. They're all basically the same.

India might be a better example. There are hundreds of separate languages, some based on ethnic groups, some on geography, and some are sort of minor lingua francas (like Urdu) confined to smaller areas.

English is their Standard. Just about all educated people in India are taught English as well as their own "native" tongue.