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[Arx]

I live in a country where you need at least three languages to be probably able to fully converse with the average person on the street.

You in Switzerland? Or India?

South Africa, the country with eleven national languages. Usually three will be enough for a particular region, though.

[Teneb]

Brazil and Portugal both have similar agencies, but instead of "keeping Portuguese pure" they mostly document how the language is evolving, get together to pass reforms to standardize the writing so people from either continent can understand each other, and that sort of thing.

That's pretty adorable honestly

I agree, although some people were ready to riot when a few years back it was decided that the diaeresis was going to be axed from the language.

[Rolan7]

We DID have one of those back in the 1800s. They copied the French stance, but ultimately got nowhere and decided the whole pursuit was both ineffectual and stupid. The group stopped it. That was the era of prescriptivism, when many latinate words crept into the language and "you shall not pass" became grammatically incorrect.

Prevailing scholarly opinion follows the vein of David Crystal - descriptivism.

I liker the term wordschangeology, yadig?

[JoshuaFH]

I also wanted to ask about the "Keeping French Pure" comment. I've never heard that before, being a pleb American. Like, what does pure even mean? Language is not like the kilogram where if you smash a chromium ball with a hammer the entire metric system collapses. I imagine that keeping the language 'pure' is a lot like keeping a breed of dogs 'pure'... that is, it works until it becomes very backwards and inbred; then it's just deformed and nonsensical.

[Teneb]

I also wanted to ask about the "Keeping French Pure" comment. I've never heard that before, being a pleb American. Like, what does pure even mean? Language is not like the kilogram where if you smash a chromium ball with a hammer the entire metric system collapses. I imagine that keeping the language 'pure' is a lot like keeping a breed of dogs 'pure'... that is, it works until it becomes very backwards and inbred; then it's just deformed and nonsensical.

BUT THE PURITY

[Doomblade187]

It's exact situations like this that make me terrified of ever living with another human being. I try to play out the situation in my head, and no matter what it always devolves into intense animosity, angry arguing, fist fighting, and ends with someone or both of us going to jail. Granted, the household I grew up in was extremely violent, with fights happening almost daily, so I can't imagine a peaceful home that doesn't involve one member being a servile coward...

Having lived with at least one alcoholic and several other humans (Including one I didn't get along with super well), I can tell you that most people just ignore each other.

[Arx]

I imagine that keeping the language 'pure' is a lot like keeping a breed of dogs 'pure'... that is, it works until it becomes very backwards and inbred; then it's just deformed and nonsensical.

Ya ever wonder why it is that French pronunciation and spelling are related, but not as closely as you'd expect?

[Imic]

The Irish language can’t afford the luxury of grammatical purity. It’s a minority language in the country in which it is legally the main language.
I’m still nevr going to stop calling it arse.

[TD1]

Largely a con-lang, or so I've been led to believe?

[JoshuaFH]

  Language is not like the kilogram where if you smash a chromium ball with a hammer the entire metric system collapses.

Like, literally one or two hours after I say this, this video comes out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_e1wITe_ig

[Caz]

Now, see, there's a difference between speaking your native language and snubbing the dude talking to you in a language you're capable of speaking, and instead going back to a language he doesn't understand in order to talk behind his back when you're in front of him. This happens to sound a bit like the second case, what with the "generally ignoring me" and "not listening" clauses.

I think Naxza was mostly upset about their lack of cleanliness and housekeeping.
As far as I can tell, they're probably just pretending not to understand what he's on about because they're not keen on being nagged. Heck, if I were in their shoes I would probably do the same thing and pretend I only spoke Australian.

This and that. Again, English is the main language of the program. We've had people here from all over Europe and south America. I've been here six weeks, the French people for two. I'm the problem here when I bring up cleanliness or tasks when I'm the one that's telling them how its supposed to be done. Had to spend all last week reminding them to take out the garbage every morning, and then they throw me under the bus to the program lead after I go out and do it for them instead of letting food waste sit in the house for a week, telling the boss that 'they were never shown where the trash goes and that one 'isn't a morning person.'

I brought up today after cleaning the kitchen that there was a handful of popcorn kernels left each on the floor and in the microwave, and the response in turn was 'well, if we're opening that door, someone keeps leaving droplets all over the toilet seat.' Only one reason the statement would be in English, of course, but I sit, and there's a sink attached to the tank reservoir which is about the only way I'd get water on the seat. Furthermore, that's not an appropriate response to 'clean up your food from yesterday' and let's not start a house fire next time someone bakes a potato.

It's not that they don't know enough English, they understand just fine. There's no pretending that they don't understand. I'm not here to clean up after them but they're not here to listen to me tell them otherwise.

Discarding the will to make snide comebacks, does that generally make the situation clearer?

It's exact situations like this that make me terrified of ever living with another human being. I try to play out the situation in my head, and no matter what it always devolves into intense animosity, angry arguing, fist fighting, and ends with someone or both of us going to jail. Granted, the household I grew up in was extremely violent, with fights happening almost daily, so I can't imagine a peaceful home that doesn't involve one member being a servile coward...

Go to a hostel for vacation and find out how normal people interact for a bit. Or get a housemate. The way to get over the feelings of expecting the 'average' person to be disagreeable is to broaden your experiences. After that, work on your personal barriers so that people acting that way becomes unacceptable to you.

[Imic]

Largely a con-lang, or so I've been led to believe?

Nope. It’s one of, if not the oldest language in Europe which still has native speakers. It’s related to Scots Gallic and Breton, one of which is still spoken, and one of which no-one knows how to speak. Welsh is gibberish though. It’s like the Finnish of the British Isles.
If you were talking to someone else, I’m sorry, please don’t kill me, I’ll just go into the corner and cry.

[ChairmanPoo]

Imic, I like the Irish and the Irish language and I very much thunk that efforts should be made to preserve it. And it's a language with ancient roots, goes without saying...

.... baina ez da Europako zaharrena hitzkuntza, laguna 

[Teneb]

Imic, I like the Irish and the Irish language and I very much thunk that efforts should be made to preserve it. And it's a language with ancient roots, goes without saying...

.... baina ez da Europako zaharrena hitzkuntza, laguna 

Hark! CharimanPoo reveals his status as an alien!

[Imic]

I like it too, unlike most people I have ever met. It’s easier to learn than English and makes more sense, but it can be hard for English speakers to learn it.
There was also no definitive word for yes up until recently, you just had to say ‘I will do thing’ or ‘I like thing’ instead of just ‘yes’. And that’s why you’ll find some Irish people occasionally avoiding saying ‘yes’, saying ‘That I will’ instead or some such.

As it’s said, An bhfuil cead agam dul go dí an leithreas.

Also, Cathfimíd rud a dhéanamh faoi Teneb. Tine, bfhéidir...

There should be a general language thread. Is there one already, or have they all been locked for too many arguments?