Answering Your Language Questions

As I promised, here is the episode!
Link to my main channel!
www.youtube.co...
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and written forms, and may also be conveyed through sign languages. The vast majority of human languages have developed writing systems that allow for the recording and preservation of the sounds or signs of language. Human language is characterized by its cultural and historical diversity, with significant variations observed between cultures and across time.[1] Human languages possess the properties of productivity and displacement, which enable the creation of an infinite number of sentences, and the ability to refer to objects, events, and ideas that are not immediately present in the discourse. The use of human language relies on social convention and is acquired through learning.
Estimates of the number of human languages in the world vary between 5,000 and 7,000. Precise estimates depend on an arbitrary distinction (dichotomy) established between languages and dialects.[2] Natural languages are spoken, signed, or both; however, any language can be encoded into secondary media using auditory, visual, or tactile stimuli - for example, writing, whistling, signing, or braille. In other words, human language is modality-independent, but written or signed language is the way to inscribe or encode the natural human speech or gestures.
Depending on philosophical perspectives regarding the definition of language and meaning, when used as a general concept, "language" may refer to the cognitive ability to learn and use systems of complex communication, or to describe the set of rules that makes up these systems, or the set of utterances that can be produced from those rules. All languages rely on the process of semiosis to relate signs to particular meanings. Oral, manual and tactile languages contain a phonological system that governs how symbols are used to form sequences known as words or morphemes, and a syntactic system that governs how words and morphemes are combined to form phrases and utterances.
The scientific study of language is called linguistics. Critical examinations of languages, such as philosophy of language, the relationships between language and thought, how words represent experience, etc., have been debated at least since Gorgias and Plato in ancient Greek civilization. Thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) have argued that language originated from emotions, while others like Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) have argued that languages originated from rational and logical thought. Twentieth century philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) argued that philosophy is really the study of language itself. Major figures in contemporary linguistics of these times include Ferdinand de Saussure and Noam Chomsky.
Language is thought to have gradually diverged from earlier primate communication systems when early hominins acquired the ability to form a theory of mind and shared intentionality.[3][4] This development is sometimes thought to have coincided with an increase in brain volume, and many linguists see the structures of language as having evolved to serve specific communicative and social functions. Language is processed in many different locations in the human brain, but especially in Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Humans acquire language through social interaction in early childhood, and children generally speak fluently by approximately three years old. Language and culture are codependent. Therefore, in addition to its strictly communicative uses, language has social uses such as signifying group identity, social stratification, as well as use for social grooming and entertainment.
Languages evolve and diversify over time, and the history of their evolution can be reconstructed by comparing modern languages to determine which traits their ancestral languages must have had in order for the later developmental stages to occur. A group of languages that descend from a common ancestor is known as a language family; in contrast, a language that has been demonstrated to not have any living or non-living relationship with another language is called a language isolate. There are also many unclassified languages whose relationships have not been established, and spurious languages may have not existed at all. Academic consensus holds that between 50% and 90% of languages spoken at the beginning of the 21st century will probably have become extinct by the year 2100.[5][6][7]
#metatron #language #questions

[@Leftyotism]

I learned English in school, but I really learned it by watching Breaking Bad with subtitles. lol Helped me a great deal understanding the spoken word much better. Watching Hell on Wheels and their slang in there also helped me a lot understanding English when not spoken with high British clarity. And yes, sometimes I paused and looked up a word. Looking words up as they come along is how I learn new words.

[@faithlesshound5621]

If you have only a couple of weeks before visiting a new country, even though you can't expect to achieve any fluency in the spoken language, at least try to learn the alphabet, so that you can read signs on the road, at railway stations and on shopfronts, etc. However, if you don't actually understand the language, that learning may not stick for long after you leave the country.

[@brawndothethirstmutilator9848]

Learning “please” and “thank you” is probably the most important. You can get a long way as a foreigner just saying “please” and “thank you” over and over while being friendly.

[@luke211286]

Can't expect someone to learn Georgian or Lao script in just a couple of weeks, especially when it's not related in any way to one's arsenal of languages spoken

[@kilanspeaks]

6:30 I have to disagree here, because Indonesian has been proven to be the easiest language to learn 😁 This is true especially for Italian or Spanish speakers, as our spelling is also phonetic like theirs. On top of that, there’s no grammatical genders, no irregular verbs, no tenses, no tones, no plurals, simple word formation, and we use Latin alphabets. We also have tons of loanwords from English, Dutch, Portuguese, and Latin to give you a head start if you’re from Europe. Of course our everyday vocabulary is totally different from the formal form you’ll learn at your language course but that’s the same with every language on the planet.

[@cheddarsunchipsyes8144]

Cool yo

[@yohanapereira1629]

Indonesian is Malay

[@BakerVS]

When visiting another country, I think that everyone (regardless of skill) should learn to say 'hello, thank you, goodbye' in that language. It's just a sign of respect.

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Yes, and 'I'm sorry'. The basics of politeness.

[@AFVEH]

WTF was that goofy *ss intro? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 This guy is so random and weird sometimes, f*cking love it. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@teresamerkel7161]

Wonderful! You answered a question I had and your recommendation was mass listening. Will do. When I was a teenager in high school no one told me not to study French and Spanish at the same time and alas, they did mix up in my brain. And of course at that time and for years after I also had no chance to practice them anyway. But now at age 70 I am beginning to learn Portuguese (Brazilian.) And you addressed that for me as well. I so appreciate your work. Both channels. love those 72 wings.

[@faithlesshound5621]

Traditionally in English schools, those who were doing well in Latin were encouraged after a couple of years to take up Greek as well: but they were not being studied at the same level until a few years later. A few schools tried it the other way round, with most learning Greek and a few going on to Latin, and they found the results were no different. However, Latin has the edge as it has (or used to have) more immediate utility in law, medicine and related occupations. Most children used to study French, and the minority who took German started it a year or two later.

[@OHHnoYOUdidntMAN]

I hope your language learning goes well! I'm learning Brazilian Portuguese as well, but I'm in my 20's. I'm currently at a B1 level. I would recommend the channel "Easy Portuguese" to be able to hear many natives speak. Boa sorte!

[@darkcow7of9]

Mabey its an old statistic portugese is now listed as the 5th or second but many nations especially in Africa use it as a second language. My bad.

[@emmanuelmacias6381]

Portuguese has about 260 million speakers, distributed across eight different countries. That's a lot, it is indeed a "world language." But it falls quite short of English, which has around 1.5 billion speakers worldwide (according to Ethnologue)

[@JaredaSohn]

I'd love for you to continue answering the questions we posed in that community post as a dedicated video series... and not just because I would like an answer by you to the question I posed 😅, but because it was neat to see all the varying questions that were asked and the answers that you gave!

[@keithkannenberg7414]

Agreed!

[@lugo_9969]

Cmon Metatron.....please investigate the links between Old Latin and the beginnings of Ancient Celtic languages. 2,000 BC or older.

[@manuelramospetruchena4620]

Oh, a knife-ear fan. That's it. Unsuscribed. Just joking. Great video. But elves, really? cheers Metatron!

[@rogerlacaille3148]

I very much enjoyed this upload Maestro....more please😊

[@Languagebeta]

I think Mandarin is the most beautiful language, second is Greek, and third is Russian... that's just my opinion though, and I think French is ugly

[@Isaiah_Rude0925]

Metatron, I'm telling you this with love and with native ears. You can't pronounce the short "i" sound in isolation, lmao You can do it perfectly within the context of a word, like "thin," but when you pronounce it by itself, you say it more like the French "e" as in "que." Not that it matters at all-just a funny little observation.

[@Languagebeta]

I speak Mandarin Chinese, I'm a native English speaker, and I want to learn Mongolian, Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, and Burmese, but I want to go to Taiwan or China

[@lisapop5219]

Korean also uses Chinese characters. It made trying to use the language that much harder

[@TNaizel]

Tons of words come from them so knowing Chinese characters can be helpful to understand the etymology and aid memorization, but they use almost only the Korean alphabet in everyday life

[@S.Tyrannosaurus]

I like Hangul

[@Leftyotism]

6:40 You are never too old to learn a language you want to learn. Passion is the greatest motivator, and you can still learn another language at the age of 80. All you need is motivation and will. Because that's how the brain works. You learn best with joy, and actually remember.

[@jameshumphreys9715]

I speak English and it is my language I speak that speak fluent in. I'm learning Welsh, Arabic and Turkish at the moment Welsh as it my home country. Turkish as we have a Turkish community here in my home town of Bridgend, I had been to Turkish twice Arabic see if I can get use to something a different writing system, however even if I had the money, I couldn't go to countries with poor human right records, especially if I have to becareful what I have to say. I love to be fluent in the language above but also fluent in languages that asylum seekers are coming from that you might have a lack of translators and if people from those countries a majority of them don't speak English.

[@teemo8870]

Funny start ... not sponsored... 😂

[@byronwilliams7977]

Lmfao yeah that was funny

[@nassersi]

I would have a question about how to keep a conversation partner in a state of being aware that they are talking to someone for whom the language is foreign after all. I'm talking to a Russian friend of mine. The longer the conversation lasts and the better we understand each other...the faster she speaks, stops intoning clearly, mixes into her sentences laughter, emotions and especially phrases from movies, books that I don't know but are common knowledge for Russians...and I stop understanding. For example, if he wants to ironically express respect, he says after the person's name "three times ku" which refers to a well-known Soviet film... Such a conversation not only requires knowledge of the language, a good ear, but also a high knowledge of the culture.

[@ChadKakashi]

14:27 that’s just me and my brother. My brother hates how French sounds and I love it.

[@ChanyeolsHaneul]

Thank you for answering my question. 😊

[@brianpalas]

I like the last question that you selected for this video. I've always wondered why some languages are considered beautiful, and others ugly. For me, Germanic and Slavic languages sound absolutely beautiful, but French is almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard. Of course, personal preference does play a part.

[@pandakicker1]

I love your answer for the first question. I think that people who know more about etymology in general for English will be able to do what you’re describing more accurately. In my experience, most people who speak English natively do not have as much knowledge of etymology through Latin as you and I do. It is still excellent advice! I find this works for me! (:

[@BozheTsaryaKhrani]

there was a study on what make a language more beautiful and their conclusion was breathyness the speakers gender and how close it is to you language

[@GigaDavy91]

Thank you so much for answering my question

[@janetmackinnon3411]

So interesting! Thank you again.

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

I know it's not related to this topic, but I think a lot of your audience as well as myself would like to get your take on Matt Easton from Scholagladitoria turning his back on Shad Brooks from Shadiversity and cutting off all association with him, over his apparent "far-right' content on his secondary culture channel Knights Watch. I know your friendly with both, and it's a really sad situation. I'd been subscribed to both for years.

[@minutemansam1214]

I don't know why people would care about Metatron's opinions on this. He isn't an involved party. I think people should let it go. It's not like Matt name dropped Shad causing his army of goons to go and harass him.

[@Unpainted_Huffhines]

There's a lot of reasons. I mention one in the comment, they're something like peers in the KZbin medievalist community. Let it go? It happened abrubtly a day ago, people who are fans of both channels are bound to be curious. And, its highly likely that fans of those channels, will be fans of other adjacent channels. I'm aware Metatron is an uninvolved party, that's why Im curious about his opinion. Uninvolved parties can in fact have thoughts or opinions on occurences that they aren't personally involved in.

[@jimnahirniak4816]

All all you want, but if you aren't fluent enough to understand the answer, it won't help

[@edwardgrenke6417]

You have presented excellent advice and answered my question!

[@Languagebeta]

I use a Taiwanese accent in Mandarin

[@patricialavery8270]

A fictional language that nobody speaks,like Esperanto?😉.Just joking but I will always associate Esperanto with Arnold Rimmer.lol.Yup, I think I pointed out you slide into a certain kind of English accent now and then.German is my least favorite so far.Germans always seem angry.I went to school with Germans,so I know they can be quite jolly people,but it's the sound of the language.

[@minutemansam1214]

If you listen to a regular German speak it isn't a particularly harsh or angry sounding language. Especially since Germans tend to be more quiet and soft spoken.

[@patricialavery8270]

My lab partner was ,I think,Bavarian, and soft spoken but mostly you hear speeches and stuff.I imagine those are like BBC newsreaders,not how regular people talk.@@minutemansam1214

[@EstNix]

oh I see, thank you for letting me know!

[@arrowackskorsou8194]

Mas mas mas por favor! 😂

[@tarvos_trigaranvs]

I would (and probably the community too would) like to hear your speaking-to-a-friend accent! :D

[@ABCantonese]

Can you use escusi (bad spelling? I got this from Aziz Ansari on TV) in the same way as "excuse me"? Scenario: I'm asking someone to please move as I'm trying to get off a train.

[@zachj61]

There certainly is something towards the aesthetic nature of particular phonemes, but also for the broader flow of a spoken language. Some might be naturally more melodic or poetic (eg with common suffixes or syllabic count), while others would be lesser so (eg tonality). These may or may not manifest enough for beauty in regular speaking, but be amplified while singing. Some languages are more or less flexible with word order too, which will affect their usability in poetry (eg word play or rhyming).

[@MCRice-el7os]

I dig the question and answer about age - caregiver to both adopted parents ( meaning I am not worried about their genetics effecting me) dementia father made me think about doing something to keep the ‘brain’ active so began to try a language ( if one continues with crossword puzzles etc - to me it’s just rehearsing what you already know - so- at around 50 trying is fun( I was 48-at the time) cannot speak much of anything but English - can understand French Spanish - Italian-Russian (sorry Metatron- don’t care for Italian) learning helps the mind

[@GabrielfoBR]

9:52 Maybe this person got confused with the little known fact that Portuguese is the most spoken first language in the southern hemisphere (definetely not in the world). Also, thanks for answering my question!

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Metatron. This channel must be especially useful for all those who need elf with their language studies.

[@Leftyotism]

Question: What do you think of the German language?

[@termination9353]

What is the correct translation of Exodus 3:14?

[@maryhildreth754]

I think there is a fictional language that you could learn and actually use from time to time. Klingon.

[@MrKristian252]

I didn't know this was your 2nd channel until you said so

[@yanneyanenchannel]

I really enjoyed this. Would love to see more of these Q&A videos for sure!

[@WineSippingCowboy]

Like 👍 Number 100. 6:27. "No Asian language which is easy to learn." True 👍 for a monoglot like Americans 🇺🇲, Australians🇦🇺. But in your case, Metatron, and for anybody who speaks a Romance language, there is an Asian language which is easy to learn: Chavacano. It is a Spanish 🇪🇸 creole spoken in The Philippines 🇵🇭. And I traveled there last year, 2022. I, a speaker of Mexican Spanish, understand 80+ percent of it. Indonesian 🇮🇩 or Malay 🇲🇾 is not as easy as Chavacano. But Indonesian or Malay have no verb tenses and no conjugations! Some of the words appear in Tagalog and other languages of The Philippines 🇵🇭. Tagalog is harder but not as hard as Mandarin or Japanese. I am learning Tagalog now. It code-switches to Spanish 🇪🇸 and American English 🇺🇸 often. Example. Tagalog permits 3 number systems: Tagalog, Spanish and English! 🤯🤯🤯 You are right ✅ More English speakers than Portuguese speakers. India 🇮🇳 has 1 billion people. English is an official language there. Because the population of India 🇮🇳 is more numerous than that of Brazil 🇧🇷, English has more speakers than Portuguese.

[@simoklownz2267]

I will love your view and analysis of Bahasa Indonesa

[@Leftyotism]

I like this question roundups!

[@fearofworlds2527]

As a language enthusiast, did you ever consider learning any endangered or dying languages, if for no other reason than to help them be remembered by someone? Personally, I have been captivated by Ainu and want to learn it, a nearly extinct language isolate which just so happens to be where I want to live.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

Well, in Asian countries, you can speak English as many educated people speak some degree of English.

[@WineSippingCowboy]

British Commonwealth 🇬🇧 nations and The Philippines 🇵🇭, where I was last year, 2022, have English as an official language.

[@Deibi078]

fictional language Japanese

[@amj.composer]

True, people really be learning anime language