tripu @tripu@qoto.org
Technologist, Spaniard, male, 42
The wonders of human #languages:
> _“#ASL [American Sign Language] shares more with spoken #Japanese than it does with #English”_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_intelligibility#Among_sign_languages
> _“#Spanish and #Portuguese are show the highest intelligibility, followed by Spanish and #Italian. #French is clustered further from the three mentioned above and #Romanian shows the smallest degree of intelligibility. However, for Romanian a high asymmetric intelligibility was measured. Romanians understand all the other Romance languages to a much higher extent than vice versa.”_
https://www.linguistics.fi/contact/Book_of_abstracts_10.7.2014.pdf#page=114
If you are an #English speaker but not a #Spanish speaker, do me a favour:
Imagine that the word you use in your native language for hair that is yellow-ish and for people with that type of hair (“blonde”) were, by sheer chance, identical to the word that the inhabitants of Otherland use to refer, approvingly, to people who like to sodomise babies.
Now, when you are using your language in public settings (on the street, on the internet) with fellow countrypeople , there are often Otherlanders nearby, overhearing what you say or reading your content.
Imagine that many Otherlanders openly expressed shock and disdain every time you used the word “blonde” to refer to someone who happens to have yellow-ish hair. That Otherlanders looked at you as if you were an insensitive monster. That they sometimes even scolded you for using that word _in your own language_.
Wouldn't you be annoyed every time that happened? Wouldn't you feel the urge to say “you don't know my language, educate yourself!”
Let me introduce you to [the Spanish word “negro”](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/negro#Noun_8), which happens to exists also [in English as a loanword which gained different connotations](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/negro#Etymology).
Lastly, and by the same (flimsy) logic, 500+ million native #Spanish speakers would like to have a word with any entitled English speaker who pontificates on the word “apache” being used as a disrespectful cultural appropriation: you guys stole the word from our language in the first place. We could be offended too, or withdraw our approval for you to use it. Just use your own word!
/s
❤️
https://soundcloud.com/rockmediante/02-jorge-drexler-mi-guitarra-y
This #song by #JorgeDrexler must be especially interesting to #Spanish language learners, I suspect?
🇪🇸 #Spanish
_cantar_ → _canta_
_recordar_ → _recuerda_
_extender_ → _extiende_
_abolir_ → ❓
Answer without looking it up.
I just finished reading the first volume of the #Essays by #MichelDeMontaigne, arguably [the most important non-fiction work in all of world #literature](https://thegreatestbooks.org/nonfiction).
Here are all my highlights (in 🇪🇸 #Spanish):
Here I am talking (in 🇪🇸 #Spanish) about curious and useful 🇯🇵 #Japanese words in the latest #episode of #BolaDeCristal #podcast:
👉 [**_“La magia del vocabulario japonés”_**](https://www.boladecristal.es/blog/2021/07/08/ep40-la-magia-del-vocabulario-japones/)
* [MP3 file](https://podcastcdn-26.ivoox.com/audio/1/4/2/3/ep40lamagiadelvocabulariojaponesco-bolacristalpodcast-ivoox72543241.mp3?secure=PcIBOkWi9rl3hxXOK0hEPQ==,1626621100))
* [On Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6TsOrvD32wu46qPcpgfQwB?go=1&utm_source=embed_v3&t=0&nd=1)
Technologist, Spaniard, male, 42
