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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:13 am Post subject: Latin vs. English for Koreans |
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| Which one do you think Koreans would have an easier time learning? Assume that Latin were in the exact same place as English today - the language of the US, Canada, Australia etc. and that they were trying to educate themselves in the exact same way, but Latin instead of English. Would they be learning it faster, slower, or about the same? |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:23 am Post subject: |
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Are you trying to teach Latin to some Koreans?
Based on the fact that English is in the hardest category of languages for Koreans to learn, and assuming that Latin is not in the same category as English, I would say they'd have an easier time learning Latin. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:37 am Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
| Are you trying to teach Latin to some Koreans? |
No, I was just thinking about how pretty much everything Koreans hate about English isn't present in Latin - only gender would probably annoy them. No random spelling, freer word order, no articles, no phrasal verbs, etc. |
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The_Eyeball_Kid
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:38 am Post subject: |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| Are you trying to teach Latin to some Koreans? |
No, I was just thinking about how pretty much everything Koreans hate about English isn't present in Latin - only gender would probably annoy them. No random spelling, freer word order, no articles, no phrasal verbs, etc. |
Declensions, fella, declensions. I still pale at the thought of them. |
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Oreovictim
Joined: 23 Aug 2006
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:41 am Post subject: |
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| Latin would probably be easier for them. Latin doesn't have articles at all. Plus, you don't really have syntax rules in Latin. As long as you use the right endings for the words (accusative = direct object, nominative = subject, dative = indirect objects and prepositions, etc) you can pretty much put the sentences in any order. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:43 am Post subject: |
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| The_Eyeball_Kid wrote: |
| mithridates wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| Are you trying to teach Latin to some Koreans? |
No, I was just thinking about how pretty much everything Koreans hate about English isn't present in Latin - only gender would probably annoy them. No random spelling, freer word order, no articles, no phrasal verbs, etc. |
Declensions, fella, declensions. I still pale at the thought of them. |
Yes, there are declensions but in this alternate universe I suspect Koreans would just learn them one by one (almost as separate words) and then use them with great glee since they can use just about any word order they like. In almost all the phrases here for example, the verb comes at the end and Koreans love that:
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* homo (nominative) "[the] man" [as a subject] (e.g. homo ibi stat the man is standing there)
* hominis (genitive) "of [the] man" (e.g. nomen hominis est Claudius the man's name is Claudius)
* homini (dative) "to [the] man" [as an indirect object] (e.g. homini donum dedi I gave a present to the man; homo homini lupus Man is a wolf to man.)
* hominem (accusative) "[the] man" [as a direct object] (e.g. ad hominem toward the man, in the sense of argument directed personally; hominem vidi I saw the man)
* homine (ablative) "[the] man" [in various uses not covered by the above] (e.g. sum altior homine I am taller than the man). |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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Latin would definitely e easier for Koreans. They can just straight memorize all the endings of the words. There aren't that many "exceptions" to the rules like in English.
On top of that, real Latin did not have any spaces between words, nor was there any particular word order. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| pkang0202 wrote: |
| On top of that, real Latin did not have any spaces between words, nor was there any particular word order. |
there are general guidelines for word order (that can be partially fudged in poetry). it's not as fluid an order as Russian, for example.
if you want to be real nit-picky, how many romans spoke proper Latin anyway? if you look at the graffiti in ancient rome, not many.
and cicero was a punk. |
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Scotticus
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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| KWhitehead wrote: |
if you want to be real nit-picky, how many romans spoke proper Latin anyway? if you look at the graffiti in ancient rome, not many.
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Define "proper" Latin. Most people learn the more official "Medieval" Latin in school, rather than the Latin the Romans were speaking. One example I know of is that in Roman Latin "v" was pronounced like a "w."
And in answer to the question, I think Latin would be decidedly easier for Koreans to learn. |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Scotticus wrote: |
| KWhitehead wrote: |
if you want to be real nit-picky, how many romans spoke proper Latin anyway? if you look at the graffiti in ancient rome, not many.
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Define "proper" Latin. Most people learn the more official "Medieval" Latin in school, rather than the Latin the Romans were speaking. One example I know of is that in Roman Latin "v" was pronounced like a "w."
And in answer to the question, I think Latin would be decidedly easier for Koreans to learn. |
having taken Classical and Medieval Latin, that's bupkus. Medieval had more Italianate pronunciation and the rules of case use were flexible. Examples would be Jerome, Augustine, Columbanus, Boethius (who's an absolute bitch to read), Bede, all the way up to Aquinas.
Classical Latin is what i mean by 'proper'. |
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Scotticus
Joined: 18 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| KWhitehead wrote: |
having taken Classical and Medieval Latin, that's bupkus. |
Which part? The part about the V's and W's or the part about most people learning the newer Medieval Latin in school? |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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If we still would be speaking Latin today, it would be an entirely different language by now.
There is a reason why it died to begin with  . |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:27 pm Post subject: |
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The only thing I know about Latin is that its a dead language. I'm sure that would make it much easier for Koreans to learn. They won't have to speak it to anyone.  |
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Boodleheimer
Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Scotticus wrote: |
| KWhitehead wrote: |
having taken Classical and Medieval Latin, that's bupkus. |
Which part? The part about the V's and W's or the part about most people learning the newer Medieval Latin in school? |
most people do NOT learn Medieval Latin in school. |
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pkang0202
Joined: 09 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| KWhitehead wrote: |
| Scotticus wrote: |
| KWhitehead wrote: |
having taken Classical and Medieval Latin, that's bupkus. |
Which part? The part about the V's and W's or the part about most people learning the newer Medieval Latin in school? |
most people do NOT learn Medieval Latin in school. |
I learned Classical Latin in high school. We used the "Ecce! Romani" series of books. |
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