Do you know why English language is superior to Spanish?
English has an irritatingly high incidence of homophones as well as idiomatic words and expressions which make it a bear to learn.
I prefer English for a couple of reasons, probably due in large part to my experience as a native English speaker.
English has no gender, as mentioned above, which makes it a bit freer (not to mention that gender in language is arbitrary, and almost as irritating as any idiom). There's also been some research into gender in language and its social effects. The research is fairly new, and the results aren't in yet, but it could place an odd constraint on communication not present in a gender-neutral language.
English has more words than Spanish, which allows for greater precision in communication (though few people make any real use of this).
Also, Spanish has a wierd construction with blame for events. If you drop some plates, the sentence is something like "The plates dropped themselves to me". It's not the only way to construct that meaning, and it does have situations where it's specifically not used, but it's odd to me to have such an anthropomorphised form at any time. That's kind of a finnicky complaint though.
Of course, I could be totally inept with vernacular as opposed to the official rules (which I suppose I could be incompetent with as well), so my issues may not apply with how the languages are actually used.
I prefer English for a couple of reasons, probably due in large part to my experience as a native English speaker.
English has no gender, as mentioned above, which makes it a bit freer (not to mention that gender in language is arbitrary, and almost as irritating as any idiom). There's also been some research into gender in language and its social effects. The research is fairly new, and the results aren't in yet, but it could place an odd constraint on communication not present in a gender-neutral language.
English has more words than Spanish, which allows for greater precision in communication (though few people make any real use of this).
Also, Spanish has a wierd construction with blame for events. If you drop some plates, the sentence is something like "The plates dropped themselves to me". It's not the only way to construct that meaning, and it does have situations where it's specifically not used, but it's odd to me to have such an anthropomorphised form at any time. That's kind of a finnicky complaint though.
Of course, I could be totally inept with vernacular as opposed to the official rules (which I suppose I could be incompetent with as well), so my issues may not apply with how the languages are actually used.
I'd be more curious why you think it is (or isn't). I've tried learning Spanish a few times and got the basics of conjugations and some simple phrases. I found the gender and conjugations to be a bit odd, but I don't think they make the language bad. It's just a different way. The reason I find English to be "superior" is the lack of accents in most words. I'd prefer if every word used only the 26 characters.
has the benefit of being the native language of a country that currently happens to be the most globally dominant superpower in the world.
The only reason that is true now is down to English being 'the language of trade' long before the current super power existed due to the English Empire
And that is a matter of luck, the dominate language has changed a number of times thoughout history, if things had gone a bit differently then maybe French would have remained the key language rather than English taking over and the US might well be a French speaking country. So, English being 'front and centre' is a legacy more than anything.
English, as a language, is horrible really; most 'native' speakers are unable to speak it correctly and most would certainly get the grammar wrong in its written form. Just look at the "your" and "you're" confusion which is common for example. Not to mention the two ways you can say 'the' depending on the content of the surrounding words.
But, it's what we've got to work with...
Most spanish speakers can't speak it properly either. And context sensitive words appear there as well: y/e and o/u. And irregular verbs are just as bad: ser -> fuese, seriously?
The official rules of language aren't all that relevant. Whatever the Royal Academy of Language says, languages shift over time in response to how people actually use them. In English, we don't write "to-morrow" anymore, and it's not because some guy decided to change the rule of what was proper.
As long as a meaning is derived by the listener/reader that is more or less the meaning conceived by the speaker/writer, the language is working. Arbitrary grammatical rules enhance communicative precision at best, but they can be broken down quite a bit without losing much information content. Besides, a lot of current grammatical constructions can be traced to arcane and largely obsolete etymologies or defunct rules.
I'm a grammar nerd myself, and I love the precision of meaning that good grammar can provide. But the fact that many or even most people don't avail themselves of their languages' potential doesn't affect the values of those languages themselves.
As long as a meaning is derived by the listener/reader that is more or less the meaning conceived by the speaker/writer, the language is working. Arbitrary grammatical rules enhance communicative precision at best, but they can be broken down quite a bit without losing much information content. Besides, a lot of current grammatical constructions can be traced to arcane and largely obsolete etymologies or defunct rules.
I'm a grammar nerd myself, and I love the precision of meaning that good grammar can provide. But the fact that many or even most people don't avail themselves of their languages' potential doesn't affect the values of those languages themselves.
English, as a language, is horrible really; most 'native' speakers are unable to speak it correctly and most would certainly get the grammar wrong in its written form. Just look at the "your" and "you're" confusion which is common for example. Not to mention the two ways you can say 'the' depending on the content of the surrounding words.
But, it's what we've got to work with...
Really??? My eight year old son understands the difference between your and you're (and so would most kids in his class). I think you underestimate native English speakers there.
As for two different ways of saying 'the', I assume you mean 'thee' and 'the', and if so I think it's down to dialect. I have never said 'thee' except when reading 'Olde Worlde' English...
Really??? My eight year old son understands the difference between your and you're (and so would most kids in his class). I think you underestimate native English speakers there.
Good, I'm glad of that... however given the number of native english speakers who get it wrong and not just once but consistently well
As for two different ways of saying 'the', I assume you mean 'thee' and 'the', and if so I think it's down to dialect. I have never said 'thee' except when reading 'Olde Worlde' English...
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I find it depends on what I'm saying as to how I pronunce it; it confused a couple of guys from Italy at work with that when I used both in a single sentence.
Oh, and pet peeve; people saying 'two times' instead of 'twice'. It just sounds... wrong.
Anyway, is the answer that the origin of the word 'superior' is Middle English, so the Spanish just stole the word because they didn't have any imagination?
as a native spanish speaker, i can give another point of view:
spanish verbs and gender and all that special cases are really difficult to get for a non native spanish. I prefer English in this case. Also, as it have been said previously, English has more words, so you can express what you want more clearly. Spanish phrases are usually longer and gives you some turnarounds to tell the same than in English. I think that these 3 things makes english "superior", especially in the bussiness world:
- Easier to learn the basics
- Easier to express
- faster to express the same thing
spanish verbs and gender and all that special cases are really difficult to get for a non native spanish. I prefer English in this case. Also, as it have been said previously, English has more words, so you can express what you want more clearly. Spanish phrases are usually longer and gives you some turnarounds to tell the same than in English. I think that these 3 things makes english "superior", especially in the bussiness world:
- Easier to learn the basics
- Easier to express
- faster to express the same thing
[size=2]I think it's more flexible but that's only because I know English a lot better than I know Spanish. However, I've watched Football in Spanish and Soccer in English. And I've watched soap operas in both languages. And I must say communicatively speaking, Spanish is superior. Matter of fact, I won't watch the World Cup unless it's in Spanish. I heard English-speaking announcers and wanted to throw up in my throat. There seems to be a lot more emotion and feeling communicated in Spanish speakers than in English speakers (US and UK). Again, just IMO. [/quote]
that's just because spanish people are more involved in soccer/football than english people. Usually soccer is the most important sport in those countries. I will give you a counterexample: Try to watch an NBA game in english and in spanish. American commentators go crazy in NBA games.
[size=2]I would not want to be a non-native and have to try to spell in english though, that would suck. [/quote]
[size=2]It's easier really, cause people memorize the written word so he/she just have to "see" the word. Native speakers learn to talk before they learn to write or read, so they use the sound of the word
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[size=2]Most spanish speakers can't speak it properly either. And context sensitive words appear there as well: y/e and o/u. And irregular verbs are just as bad: ser -> fuese, seriously? [/quote]
There are context sensitive words too, but they don't change the meaning of the phrase. As a non-native speaker, it's difficult to tell when a native-speaker is telling your o you're, without taking the context in the equation
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