Thoth's Pill - an Animated History of Writing

[@muskyoxes]

Thamus: "Your invention of writing will erode people's ability to memorize." Thoth: "Don't worry, my system will use 600 symbols with 10 readings each. It'll take tons of memory to use it."

[@avivastudios2311]

😁

[@IshayuG]

I have a Chinese-Danish dictionary at home where all the Chinese terms are written by hand but all the Danish is written on a typewriter. Why, you may ask? Because most printers and computers at the time couldn’t write Chinese: not enough RAM. 😂 It was released in 1992, and the first Windows release with support for Chinese came out in 1993.

[@StarlitWitchy]

​@@IshayuGwow that sounds fun. I want to see what that looks like. What dictionary was it and which edition?

[@suneenough]

"The name for Moon sounds the same as 'amputate your feet'" Something I never thought I'd hear.

[@cochan7347]

刖 is cut off feet, 月 part is the sound and 刂 part is a knife. 膑 is cut off knees, the left 肉(yeah it looks like 月 but it's a 肉) part means "meat, flesh", and 宾 is the sound, which by meaning is "guest". Such characters are no longer in using because... lack of usage.

[@anim8torfiddler871]

Corrective measures for failing to genuflect to your betters? Short of outright execution? Or just Snack Time? Either way, "Harsh, Bro!"

[@tristate0mind]

The moon is the amputated foot of the Planet. U/O = Planet, S = Shine, M = aMputated fOOt ,

[@urmorph]

We call this sort of thing--PUNS! But it's also the reason any new product intended for an international market has to have its name run through a computer to make sure the word isn't offensive (or funny) in some language.

[@리주민]

I was fine with Chinese doing the meaning character with the sound character...UNTIL THEY FLIPPED IT. Why does the meaning character sometimes go in front and other times behind? Is there a way to tell without memorizing every single word? I mean, can the MOON+BLADE combo have BLADE as the sound and MOON as the meaning, for something like moon craters?

[@emiko74]

Almost 5 years later and this is still one of the most interesting and informative videos I've ever seen.

[@owojohnson1115]

Almost 8 years later and I completely agree

[@Longhunter393]

This is a “major moments in knowledge history” icon. When your average person is able to access, via the internet, a 46 minute video that gives them the same knowledge of a concept as a semester of college… but for free.

[@manh385]

Even 47.24 minute video gives you info of 1000s of years instantly

[@lyssao.8308]

I am going into world language... you're saying this could replace it right? :'D

[@ruddthree8105]

This was the best 47 minutes of my life! *proceeds to create a fictional language using every concept used in this video*

[@imanukekaboom3715]

lol thats what i did

[@alejrandom6592]

lol me 2

[@noralasiah5623]

lol me 3

[@antoin2189]

Me too 🤓😎😍

[@Kitulous]

I just went nuts and created a language using complex phonology (kinda eurocentric tho) and very weird and hard romanization. Now I need to create a pretty script and done.

[@trenza2566]

Major moments in the history of writing stamps: 5:08 6:54 10:12 14:41 19:24 24:41 29:42 32:13 37:19 42:16

[@sasino]

I hated every time she said it, and had to lower my volume 😒

[@trenza2566]

@@sasino YOU HERETIC

[@rachelthesheep]

It made me chuckle after the first couple when they came up, hahaha

[@robdoghd]

i clicked each of these one after the other :)

[@spoke3122]

awww thank you my precious.

[@mykimikimiky]

if this isn't one of the very best videos on YT then ... this comes like the most valuable gift to every poliglot

[@NativLang]

Thank you! :D

[@OtKH00]

I'm sure it would be better if I understood half of what they were saying. XD

[@alejrandom6592]

this

[@malegria9641]

@@OtKH00I’m six years late but to put it in simple English “This comes like the most valuable gift to every person who speaks multiple languages”

[@MsJavaWolf]

History can be very interresting. Unfortunatelly in schools it's usually war after war, king after king and date after date. This video is great.

[@ColasTeam]

I wish it was war after war and king after king. It's usually one huge lesson about farming.

[@0205-z9y]

If you can't make wars interesting you have failed as a teacher in my opinion.

[@RiotAncient]

@@0205-z9y Idk, although some conquests can be fascinating, some people generally don't find humanities incessant bickering and spilling of blood over a line in the dirt all that interesting. Language, invention, cultural shifts, etc are far more interesting. I was always bored in history class as well, and then realized reading library books that history was fascinating, the curriculum was just obsessed with bloodshed. The only thing that I tend to find interesting about conquests is that the culture shifts afterward due to the new rulers, but that is really more of a byproduct.

[@whotelakecity2001]

I agree. That's what I mostly had in history classes.

[@daki2223]

Well politics plays a big part in this too in my schools lesson were based off democratic ideas and to some people this was a teaching of wrong one day I said something Republican and I was told by the teacher in school the whole class too that we should vote democrats because Republicans were in the wrong now that's not the point of my comment when politics are hidden behind the lesson history changes

[@MultiSciGeek]

*MAJOR MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING!*

[@johnwest2707]

+MultiSciGeek omfg XD

[@MultiSciGeek]

John West hahaha. You have to admit it's annoying

[@HarveyDentist]

+MultiSciGeek whe there is this much info, there has to be a brief moment of vibrational shift, & being the exact same sound it helps with memory

[@HarveyDentist]

+MultiSciGeek comic relief if u will ;)

[@asmodei]

+MultiSciGeek major arcana

[@Alex-dn7jq]

Us Greek be like: No vowels? *Absolutely Barbaric*

[@skele1personal666]

The word barbaric comes from the idea that non-Greeks spoke in a series of "Bar-Bar-Bar Bars".

[@parthiancapitalist2733]

craig pop, no it doesn't. Barbarian actually comes from PIE

[@whatabouttheearth]

alex ubuntu Barbaric? have you seen how many vowels Germans use? lol

[@suryatjandra7120]

Well. Greek alphabet form from phoenician alphabet which you say barbarian. And the word byblos also deliver from the phoenician city call byblos

[@DTux5249]

@@whatabouttheearth I mean German sounds good when it's not stereotyped to hitler shouting *NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN* and Arabic can have a disturbing lack of vowels even when speaking like al-jabr

[@JuiceBoxWizard]

24:08 Writing without vowels, and adding pictures for extra meaning? That's how people text one another! :0

[@zakkiedude132]

😂😂😂👅💦💯💯

[@HensonEXOChanHan]

yh thts dffntly rght ✔✔

[@n2n8sda]

Indeed... there have been many observations that with the advent of the emoticon many people are "going back in time" to a pictographic style of writing to convey meanings

[@az929292]

Lol

[@relax7975]

+ JuiceBoxWizard So true!! (Maybe we're 'going back' to a pictographic style because it's as simple as tapping on a screen, now. You convey complex meanings in a compact way without spending hours 'writing' them) (Though, what about 'emoticons' such as :), :(, XD, :/ , :S , ^^, :D, >< and such? They basically take existing graphs and re-use them. And they're easy and fast to write - they could've been invented way earlier.)

[@gingerale1591]

20:37 "And it's a good solution because, y'know, ignoring your problems makes them go away." *nods in agreement*

[@gu4xinim]

I must congratulate you, this video is incredibly well made and engaging. I can't remember when a 40+ minutes video kept me so interested.

[@alejrandom6592]

nice

[@adrianenciso612]

Should watch history of the world I guess. Is amazing

[@rna3xhelix]

I don’t like movies either.

[@renaephenix]

I sure hope this is sarcasm. Lol

[@JimmyCee-cx1db]

It's the soothing and smart-arse voicing !! Good talent !!

[@kaleine5210]

This video is a MAJOR MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF KZbin!

[@Brakvash]

MAJOR MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING! *cuteness overload!* This narrator has a great voice.

[@periwinkle43]

Ikr

[@368SOUNDSNOISESCO]

I’ve watched this so many times. It’s such a classic of the youtube languages genre

[@SFGJP]

This has to be one of the best things ever posted to KZbin, on par with the greatest Vsauce videos. As a budding linguist, I'm going to shout this video from the rooftops. Major, major kudos.

[@NativLang]

+SuperFlyGuyJohnnyP What... that's huuuge! Thank you.

[@koolkdny]

SuperFlyGuyJohnnyP Major, Major Moments in the history of writing

[@Xubuntu47]

This could, and probably will, be used in college courses. I learned new things about a language I've studied, off and on, for decades. Thai vowels are everyhere! For example, baa, bii, bai, buu, bam, bia(r)= บา บื ใบ บู บำ เบียร้ See how the vowel symbols can be on any side of the "b" (บ)? The last one is the English "beer", the "r" is silenced with the hush symbol. The "ia" ìs on three sides, with three different symbols. Apparently we have King Ashoka to thank for this-I never knew the history before, now I finally have an explanation. Thanks!

[@podemosurss8316]

This video is a MAJOR MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING

[@Klettos1]

This is officially my comfort video

[@CBusschaert]

Why doesn't this have more than a million views yet?? START SHARING, PEOPLE!

[@InnannasRainbow]

I have and you are right, this deserves more views but sadly, so many people would rather find out what Kim Kardashian is wearing.

[@az929292]

Because people are more interested in cock and tities and football rather than doing boring stuff such as "learning".

[@acompletelistofincompletel5410]

Wow, az jus roasted them Millennials. 🔥

[@Barravian]

Potentially the most ignorant comment I've ever seen on KZbin. Since the first thing that pops into my head when read az's comment is the thousands of 40 year old guys with a beer guts jerking off to NFL and not the hundreds of 19-26 year olds I know spending every night in the library; OR the dozens I know backpacking through South America, Asia, Africa trying to get a grip on what's happening in this world; OR the dozens (maybe hundreds) I know spending their evenings and/or weekends reading and trying to improve their skills in their career; OR the 15+ people I know currently building their own businesses and helping thousands of people learn new things and solve problems, all while growing themselves; OR the one that sent this to me. Or the 10 I sent it to. I really don't mean to be a dick, but that comment is just ignorant and inaccurate. I think he was just roasting 90% of the population, not targeting any specific gourp. Edit: I don't think all 40-year-olds (even the one's that like NFL or have beer guts) are lazy uneducated people either. Just used an example to draw contrast.

[@CBusschaert]

Brian Barr praised be thee.

[@אלון-ת2ל]

I rarely comment videos but as someone who's passionate about languages I actually feel the need to tell you that your video was extremely well structured, clear, accurate and entertaining!

[@TheRusty]

"That's not a lisp you're hearing" - No, but it IS a mispronunciation of a transliteration. Before reaching us, most of the names of Egyptian gods, kings, and places were filtered through Greek. The Greeks (and Romans) pronounced these names in ways that were comfortable to Greek, and wrote them as best they could using the Greek writing system. of course the names themselves come from an Afro-asiatic language with a very different writing system, so a lot gets messed up. And then we take all these Hellenized names, and toss them into English usage, which has a different way of pronouncing certain letter combinations. "Thoth" is actually a great example of this sort of drift. The deity's original name (in Latin characters of course) is "Djehuty." The E and Y are very soft and the U is a long "oo" sound. "Dj" can more or less be pronounced as "T" (though it works better by sliding your tongue on your teeth as you pronounce it) and T is just T. Kemetic, being an early Semitic language also happened to have no vowels in writing. So what the Greeks heard was T'hoot' and the written version would look like "DjT" so they did their best, and penned it in Greek as "Thoth." Vocalized it would be T-hoot-uh. But when taken into English, T and H when combined form a single consonant sound, and a single O is either short or long "oh" usually depending on the next vowel in the word. So you say "Thoth" like someone with a lisp saying "sauce." Another Deity example is Ptah. When English speakers see "Ptah" they want to drop the P, because that's what we've been trained to do (pterodactyl!) In the Greek it's coming from though, "Pt" actually has a sound distinct from "T" and in the case of Ptah, it was transliterating the kemetic "Pitah" which again has a very soft first vowel and would be written "PTH" Other examples: Anubis is Anpw (sort of like "anpoo, but softer and shorter.) Isis is Aset Osiris is Aser or Woser (depending on if you're Upper or Lower kingdom - ended up being Aser with the unification of Egypt) Horus is Heru Set or Seth is Sutekh Ra is Re (Again with the soft, short vowel, it wasn't pronounced "raah" but closer to "rey") Apis is Hapi Apophis is Apep Nephthys is Nebet-het Hathor was transcribed correctly, but English speakers pronounce it incorrectly as "hah-thor; it's actually Hawt-hor" And Serapis was actually a West Asian god that was picked up in the Macedonian conquests, heavily altered to a Hellenic perspective, and then dragged to Egypt and added to the pantheon under the Ptolemies. But he started out "Sarapo" if anyone is curious.

[@magiv4205]

I would like this comment but I'm on my phone

[@GJP95]

Thank you!

[@atouloupas]

Fun fact: the word Egypt (Aíguptos in Greek) comes from the Egyptian hwt-ka-pth, which means "the temple of the soul of Ptah"!

[@grannykiminalaska]

Punkrawk Holy cow. I barely do English. Thanks for explaining

[@EmberLeo]

I noticed and thought the same thing "No, it's T-hot-h, from Djehuti!". I love the detail you go into here, thank you!

[@anim8torfiddler871]

I'm going to have to watch this a few more times. Possibly more than a few. I enrolled in an intensive Russian class long ago. Over the next decades, acquiring Russian-language comics, novels, grammars, dictionaries, and teaching texts, has helped understanding grow - if it's a Tuesday and your weight is on your right foot, you pronounce this word one way. If it's an odd-numbered date, and the sun is over your right shoulder, you pronounce it THIS way. If you are in the presence of a small dog and are wearing anything with Leather, use the nominative case with the neuter form. I've distilled about thirty-seven such hard and un-yeilding algorithms, and find them useful in both understanding and formulating my communications in that jawbreaker of a language. Makes me appreciate the monumental accomplishments of their culture. And why their highway driving is so insane.

[@modalmixture]

In college I took a History of Writing Systems class, once of those mind expanding classes that sticks with you. This video captures almost all the major concepts we learned in 45 minutes. Well done!

[@AustinAlmond]

As did I. This video covers pretty much all of it!

[@alejrandom6592]

me too

[@evan-moore22]

Do you still have the syllabus or reading list from that? Lol sorry I'm so late. Starting to do a lot of research on my own and on the lookout for scholarly books and videos like this one that discuss the development/origins of writing

[@modalmixture]

@@evan-moore22 Check out Florian Coulmas' books, particularly Writing Systems of the World. That was our main text and it had a good historical overview of the evolution of the different sytems.

[@evan-moore22]

@@modalmixture thank you!!!

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

A Hangul note, for around 42:00 : I once took a class in Korean at the Asahi Culture Center in Shinjuku, where I was the only white face. The instructor was showing off the power of Hangul by showing everybody how to write their names, all Japanese until he got around to me. Then he wrote up the equivalent for loid joans, and read it. I said it was not bad, but in Welsh Ll is a single letter of the alphabet, pronounced, more or less, "HL." He made just the slightest adjustment to the Hangul and had Lloyd-Jones in perfect Welsh. I think it is likely that the Koreans are so good, so much better than the Japanese, at learning new languages because their writing system is so good: a syllabary written in Hangul can be almost perfect, whereas one that tries to do it with Katakana for the pronunciation guides will be hopeless.

[@aykarain]

Woah... so you impacted a writing system in a "major" way apparently

[@danielsieker9927]

That is mostly because Hangul is almost an alphabet, right? If I remember this correctly, Hangul uses alphabetical characters, arranges them into syllables and uses those syllables made from alphabet characters as their writing systems, is that accurate?

[@ItsPForPea]

I think it's less about the writing system and more about the sound limitations in languages? Japanese have 5 vowels can syllables can only end in a vowel or an /n/ whereas Korean has 7 vowels and a syllable can ends in any vowels or 7 of the consonant sounds.

[@minoadlawan4583]

Seems like Latin alphabet is bette. You can also write Lloyd Jones there.

[@Meadow0Muffin]

I will say Hangul is the most elegant writing system I have ever seen. I wasn't one of those people that could learn it before the end of morning, but four days was pretty impressive to me to learn an entire alphabet.

[@alejrandom6592]

do you speak korean?

[@asheiou]

@@AnimatedTreasure same in Greek though. 그러나 한글을 배우기가 더 쉽다는 것을 알았습니다.

[@el-bg4hr]

Simon opdebeeck That means 'But I've found that learning Hangul was much easier.' I'm sure he's comparing it to learning Greek alphabet.

[@el-bg4hr]

By the way, the reason I think many people and linguists say Hangul is the easiest to learn might be in that Hangul alphabets doesn't change its sound in any case. In English an 'a' can be pronounced as 'ah' or 'ae', 'c' can be 'k' or 'c', etc. Same letter different pronounciation, according to its situations. But I'm only used to English and I'm not sure about other romance languages, so I'd be happy if anyone would let me know about other languages' case. Another reason I find is, what makes Hangul 'easier' from other alphabetical letters (not syllabarical letters) could be that Korean syllables are tied up in one 'letter'. In most alphabetical letters consonants and vowels are equal 'letters'. So one syllable is made with multiple letters, like in 'banana' ba-na-na and 'moniter' mo-ni-ter. But Korean 'letters' are each made up with its consonant and vowel members(?) and makes one syllable. Ba-na-na is 바-나-나, mo-ni-ter is 모-니-터. An abundant pronounciation problem most foreigners have when reading new English words is, they're not sure which consonant and which vowel to link and pronounce together. And Hangul surely doesn't have that problem at all.

[@plorin3015]

Simon opdebeeck Wait..that’s not Greek?

[@nawarelsabaa]

This was Incredibly interesting. As a bilingual (English-Arabic) I can see how much effort went into this. It is a video that I will be recommending to anybody with enough interest in linguistics. I am thinking of submitting a translation of it into Arabic for KZbin to put in the captions, but alas, I do not know the Arabic linguistic jargon. If anyone can help, I'd hugely appreciate it!

[@alejrandom6592]

I will learn Arabic some day

[@Bean-Time]

How does being bilingual help you see how much effort went in to a video?

[@rafaysyed520]

@@Bean-Time because, although the video was in an English medium, the accuracy of the descriptions of all the other languages involved, their phonetics and their writing systems, was incredibly accurate and detailed, which is more apparent if you can read multiple writing systems that were showcased, or spoke multiple languages that were referenced. Ofc no matter how many languages you speak, you can clearly see the effort and appreciate the work in the video, it's just more fun and kinda wholesome when you can see that there was equal care put into the descriptions and representations of multiple/all the languages used.

[@Bean-Time]

@@rafaysyed520 yeah I can I'm trilingual, but for all I know he's speaking gibberish in (one of the languages referenced I haven't seen the video in a while) I get a video about the language you speak, but no one here knows most of the languages he said because they are so old ( I think again I have no idea haven't seen the video in a while)

[@bambino9235]

@@Bean-Time and, from what I can tell, you are also speaking gibberish so you should understand his gibberish perfectly

[@baykkus]

This is very well done, entertaining and informative. It definitely deserves more views.

[@NativLang]

That's a very kind comment!

[@mfcyeahyouknowme]

I wholeheartedly agree, well done!

[@TR4R]

I love your creation NativLang! This documentary is priceless.

[@TheV-Man]

I was so happy when I found a long Nativlang vid! :D

[@javindhillon6294]

I totally agree

[@serenaalyce]

Linguistics professor here. Love this series. Artistic and professional-- well-done. I've been recommending it to my students.

[@H0704]

This is absolutely one of KZbin’s gems! I’ve watched all these separately before, but seeing them in the intended order made them even better! Amazing work!

[@kepler9860]

No one: Not a single soul: Nativlang: *MAJOR MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING!*

[@ArnoldsKtm]

This meme aged like an old man's scrotum

[@RBLXbranefreez]

I seriously love all of your content. I whole-heartedly encourage you to keep making such intriguing content!

[@CacoPholey]

As someone who's always been enamored with writing systems since I got into languages, watching this video for the first time in a while was a treat. Nice work on this one, one of the best linguistics videos I've ever seen

[@fattyMcGee97]

How on earth does this only have 79,000 views?! I can't remember the last time that I enjoyed a youtube video so much whilst learning a lot too.

[@MMajor13]

Holy cow, this was phenomenal to watch! It’s so difficult to teach such a complex topic in less than an hour, yet the style of narration and visual aides made it more than doable. Such a shame that it took me so long to find this!

[@Phoenixspin]

Without writing we wouldn't have KZbin comments and the world would be a better place.

[@SotraEngine4]

Also there would not be usable computers because .... how would you program it?

[@alephnull3404]

+SotraEngine4 Also we wouldn't have been able to create those computers in the first place because nobody could've invented transistors, capacitors, resistors, diodes, and cathode-ray tubes without learning hundreds of years of previous science first.

[@Ho1yhe11]

you guys need to watch the ted talk by john graham on the greatest machine that never was

[@acompletelistofincompletel5410]

That shade was so subtle… I almost didn't see it. 🙊

[@alejrandom6592]

right, this

[@Alkis05]

This video should win some kind of award! I wish we all could just understand one another. If we could all understand one another I think it would make the world a really better place. I remember how learning english opened up a huge section of the internet to me. I've learned a lot since then. Imagene whole sections and communities in the world and in the internet that is totally unavailable to us just because of language. How much longer until everyone can speak a common language or communicate telepathically?

[@zliu4208]

Language( it doesn’t have to be vocal) is essential for communication, but understanding is based on other things as well, like common experience. Language won’t stop misunderstanding

[@alejrandom6592]

esperanto

[@budgetcoinhunter]

A common language is taking over humanity, and surprisingly, it's English. Mandarin and Spanish may have more speakers each, owing to the sheer volume of Chinese citizens and overwhelming colonization by the Spaniards, but English is the most widely-dispersed language, thanks to major innovation by Anglophones (English-speakers), especially the United States. These are clearly more recent developments (within the past 150 years), but English is the official language of all air traffic controllers, first language developed for display on computers, and the primary language of the internet. Just look at how many postings on the internet have some variant of "English isn't my first language" to understand that this is happening.

[@Treviisolion]

If English continues its dominant place in the economic, technical, and scientific spheres of the world, then within a century you can expect that most people will be at least somewhat fluent in English, with many even being considered native English speakers, though this won’t necessarily be in the same English varieties that native English speakers today are native speakers of, but likely new ones that are heavily influenced by the local language. They will likely always be close enough to the current English varieties that they will maintain intelligibility with them, and people will likely always try and push their varieties closer to the standard (unless America falls from its place of dominance after English has spread far and wide and then a different variety of English may become the standard, such as Indian English). Either way, even at that time, you’ll still have to learn cultural contexts in order to fully understand everyone else, learn to understand the peculiarities of their dialects, unusual uses of words, and other things that will likely still be around. If we get a way to communicate telepathically, you will still need to learn a different language in order to fully understand it without major breaks in the flow of communication. For example many languages distinguish between a feminine and a masculine ‘I’ while English does not. If you just directly translate to English you lose that information, which could potentially be important information, especially if the person speaking does not match your gender expectations, or is specifically using a different gender than their gender identity to identify themselves as a tomboy or being more effeminate, which you might not realize if you can’t see them such as through text communications. You can encode such information, but either you have to restructure English sentences into awkward constructions, such as turning “I went shopping.” into “The effeminate me went shopping.” which to a native speaker adds an unintentional connotation of putting on airs, whether sarcastically or intentionally, which is not the connotation you want to add. Alternatively, perhaps someday we can directly send all the information we are encoding to that person and leave the brain to retroactively turn that information into sentences that’ll help them remember while fundamentally remembering the information instead of the exact word usage, but I imagine that will take a long time as it wouldn’t be able to take the sentences we’re trying to say and turn them into information directly because it would miss all the specific context that may modify the intent and meaning of what we say. Assuming neuralink becomes hardware capable of doing this though, maybe in 50 years if we’re lucky this will become a thing.

[@TangomanX2008]

@@Treviisolion Interesting comment. One thing though, the "gender" of a word isn't "information." It is just a property of the word in that language. In a different language it can have a different gender or no gender at all. Getting the gender right in a language isn't information, it is properly speaking that language. no more. no less.

[@valmarsiglia]

This is really interesting, because as a graphic designer one of the things I do most is create icons, often for very specific ideas -- what's a good single, simple image for trust, for example, or for strategy as well as tactics, so that they're clearly differentiated? As someone with a lifelong interest in linguistics, it's weird that it's never occurred to me that I'm basically recreating the early stages of language development in my work, so I thank you for that epiphany! Great channel too, just stumbled on it, and now I'm on a binge!

[@DarkMoonDroid]

Indeed! I'm considering developing an alphabet as well as a language which provides such non-concrete things. I can't use English to even describe what I mean here. I need to do more than "communicate" "ideas" to someone else. I need to be able to cause them to have an experience and impose my sovereign will. The words I just used to say that have connotations which I do not intend. But I am unable to cause you to have the experience that I'm having. Thamous was correct.

[@alejrandom6592]

how is it going

[@johnbabu3322]

Outstanding video. Should be a reference point for anyone wishing to cover a complex topic comprehensively, efficiently and in an entertaining fashion. Should be required viewing in any high school or university linguistics introductory classes. The script, narration, animations, transitions across times and cultures, the major moments feature to emphasize on the most important takeaways, the summary of everything at the end, the music, the overarching linking of the whole journey to the Thoth myth, everything is thoroughly researched, beautifully executed and made with a lot of heart. Congrats to the whole team behind this video. This video I’m sure, will be the Rosetta Stone for many (as it was for me) in understanding the evolution of human writing

[@carlchurchill3588]

This is incredibly well researched and comprehensive, fantastic work.

[@guyshnek6336]

As a Hebrew speaker and Arabic learner, this video was so fascinating! The entire Semitic language tree finally makes sense to me.

[@zyaicob]

As an Amharic speaker, hi cousin

[@garretttedeman]

Fantastic! ...And again we remember whats so awesome about the internet. Please share -- Great post!

[@foolwise4703]

Wow - I am seriously impressed! This is an incredible amount of knowledge compressed into a comparatively short video, and precisely worked out and well presented too! My biggest congratulations!

[@beccangavin]

I love when I stumble on gems on KZbin and this was definitely a gem. I so completely enjoyed this entire video.

[@jwlpod]

This lil documentary makes me so unbelievably happy. I watch it all the time and have never gotten bored of it yet :)

[@paianis]

I would buy this on physical media if you made it.

[@NativLang]

Hmm, good feedback, and good to know. :)

[@TheSquishyFudge]

I second Paianni's comment! :D

[@GrowthOrigin]

Offer the content as a "name your own price" with a "suggested price of $5". Leave it that way for 2-4 months then put it on KZbin for free.

[@paianis]

ClassicDoc Blu-ray is superior to KZbin in terms of video bitrate, and support for lossless/uncompressed audio. That would be my preferred format.

[@alejrandom6592]

lo me too

[@fnersch3367]

After 40 years of study I find this to be one of the best presentations on this subject. Thanks.

[@AClockWorkKelly1]

One of my all time favorites on KZbin . .. . i come back to this every year or so just to remind myself of the whole story

[@AClockWorkKelly1]

Back again

[@khemenut1060]

That moment when you get nostalgic about writing... *sniffs*

[@alejrandom6592]

:')

[@alexandernyberg8668]

Yeah you just can't get your washing bill in cuneiform anymore

[@taradaves3096]

Just watched for the umpteenth time, it always fascinates and never gets old. I'd love to see more in-depth videos like this!

[@Alkis05]

this video deserved to win a prize. Highest quality there is.

[@creamofthecrop4339]

You got "p" and "m" mixed up at 42:41

[@alanjyu]

I really loved how this video explains logographic writing systems, abjads, alphabets, abugidas, and syllabaries.

[@senileyoungster]

i just had the weirdest/coolest experience with this documentary. i put it on and lay in bed after lunch but i was sleep deprived and needed a nap so i fell asleep really quickly. idk if its cause i was just napping and not sleeping deeply but i could hear the whole documentary while i was asleep but i was dreaming the visuals?? like my mind in a dream state created all the visuals all the images to match the narration in such incredibly vivid detail that i didn’t realize i had fallen asleep. i thought i was still watching the documentary. i only realized what happened at the very end when i woke up as the video was ending!! now im actually watching it back and realizing how crazy this was cause my visuals look nothing like the animation. i was seeing a full on movie like with real people i even had some like sorta recognizable actors playing some of the historical figures (and i remember even thinking wow ive seen that person before cant believe they’re in this documentary wow). idk if this makes any sense but it was super cool and weird and im still shook lol

[@Sera-Marie]

This is fantastic. Like incredibly well researched, animated, scored, etc. It has not aged a day of those six years since it's upload either. It still feels fresh. If I had been shown something like this in school it would have changed where I went with my tertiary education and beyond. Everything about this is just fabulous. Thank you.

[@LlewellynvonHellen]

Everyone has to see this.

[@mofojackson]

Wow! The labor to research and then compile and finally create the story and accompanying animations is on one of the most top notch levels I've ever seen! Thank all you so incredibly much for this outstanding history lesson on the story of wtiting!

[@unboxingpress]

the creation of this video itself is a MAJOR MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING :-)))))))))) luv luv luv luv luv luv luv this. been wanting to find something like this. thank u thank u, love it!!!!!!!!

[@NativLang]

+The Creative Process Diet This gave me HUGE smiles!

[@unboxingpress]

+NativLang u are a genius. no but seriously though. all i want to do is sit & watch NativLang on youtube

[@NativLang]

So very kind! It's comments like this that inspire me to keep going.

[@fattnezz]

These videos are why KZbin became the entity it became. Thank you NativeLang

[@denisbrezovsky5271]

I think it should be added that the knowledge of stroke order matters too if you are trying to read, as the way characters look often varies significantly between different fonts/scripts and the stroke order can clarify what the reader is looking at.

[@acompletelistofincompletel5410]

Couldn't agree more.

[@KarasuInaiga]

So that’s why they kept emphasizing it!

[@alejrandom6592]

yes

[@dbneptune]

I never thought I’d see so many MAJOR MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING! In the same video! This was awesome!

[@coulton-davisjazz2872]

This is exactly what I was looking for, and all the information in it CHECKS OUT. I am a lover of ancient alphabets! This will help me explain why this is so fascinating and important in the history of culture.

[@LoveScreamTrue]

Everyone, and I mean a 100 percent of people should see this. Amazing and knowledge-compressed production!

[@revjohnlee]

For most of my life, I thought I was good with languages and was fascinated with learning them. It came easy to me and when I traveled, a few weeks would usually see me literate in a new language. Slowly, it dawned on me that it was the writing systems that interested me; the languages were just a bonus. I should have figured this out from my "Rosetta Stone"; I usually looked for a Coca Cola sign to begin working things out for myself. That was many years ago. A brain tumor has since intervened and robbed me of many of the skills I once had but I am still fascinated by writing and, I suppose, linguistics... purely as an untrained amateur. Your simple video here is one of the best tools, of any media, I have encountered to explain various writing principles. You've done a great job. Keep up the good work.

[@Abshir1it1is]

That Coke signs are your Rosetta Stone honestly made me burst out laughing. That's such an odd and interesting way of learning a new language. Effective too since Coke is sold in nearly every country. And I'm sorry to hear about your health problems. I wish you the best.

[@DarkMoonDroid]

@revjohnlee I have heard of examples where "abnormal" growth results in abnormal ability. Esp. in the brain. I wonder if the years it went undetected were some of your more productive years. Best to you. 💗

[@TheRealChiults]

This masterpiece is just so great! I probably already have commented this somewhere here but, to me it's the best video on youtube. It's like the fifth time I watch it in the past few years, because it's so fantastic! Seriously, congratulations on such good work.

[@diferentization]

Great job, really interesting, easy to get and understand, love the narrator, she did an excellent job and your investigation, was magnificent, really enjoy watching it, by now I think is my 4th time. Hope to see more like this in the future, great fan here.

[@noahv7528]

Jesus Christ the mispronunciations... don’t phase me because this video is informative, well made, surprisingly accurate, and ridiculously charming

[@shelookstome8727]

Wow, this was a brilliant video! So interesting and well researched. I definitely learnt a lot. Definitely needs more views :D

[@NativLang]

+areyousatisfied Thanks!! Invite the guests... I'll save seats and buy the popcorn! ;-)

[@shelookstome8727]

+NativLang haha sounds like a brilliant plan!! :)

[@kamilo4989]

This video is everything I've always wanted to know about writing and language. I knew people were ovviously thinking about the history of writing but it's so nice to finally find a competent resource on the subject. Thank you.

[@roseblack1301]

Thank you so much for this! A lot of histories are incredibly eurocentric, so it's great to see a broader view of things.

[@michaelsauder]

One of the best videos I've ever seen on KZbin. Thanks!!

[@UpcycleElectronics]

It is rare to keep me engaged for 47 minutes on YT, well done. (Liked/Subscribed)

[@knicklas48]

I encountered this video years ago and I still think it's one of the most interesting and informative things I've ever seen on youtube.

[@wonderstruck.]

Correction: the Hangul at 42:38 are swapped. The p sound is ㅍ, and the m sound is ㅁ, not the other way around. Thanks for including Hangul though 😊

[@Depressed_Dinosaur]

Fantastic job here, Josh. The narrator deserves to be applauded for doing a great job as well. Thank you, both of you.

[@Alexaflohr]

The idea of grouping characters by their phonetic properties is absolutely brilliant. I'm surprised I haven't heard of it before.

[@MarcoRoepers]

And then there is music notation, which is also an interesting script.

[@jackfletcher7503]

YESSSSS

[@itzreaps]

it reminds me a lot of old irish tbh- the way it was written, anyway

[@knamedisme]

“仓颉” the chinese deity who created writing, has a bird head too ;) Funny isn't it.

[@DTux5249]

knamedisme how did you get those hán zí

[@olichan4837]

DeluxeTux5249 more like hàn zì, both 4th tone

[@DarkMoonDroid]

😮 YES!

[@DarkMoonDroid]

@knamedisme, can you tell us more? Who was it? Where can I find the story?

[@alejrandom6592]

life is weird

[@Nicolasmrmr]

I love so much the way she says "maybe it's this dizzying variety of writing systems. Or maybe Thoth's pill is starting to wear off" 39:12

[@anitathakur9340]

What was she referring to when she said that?

[@xoreign]

This is a very education and high quality video. This should be shown in linguistics class over colleges.

[@omp199]

It's not about linguistics at all. It's about writing systems.

[@xoreign]

@@omp199 Writing systems classes tend to be under the linguistics department. At least in my experience at my college.

[@nyuh]

wow i just watched the history of basically every writing system family and every writing system type oh my god this is such an amazing vid like masterpiece how havr i not watched this yet

[@istvanmarqueznagy6256]

This is a masterpiece! Thank you for this perfect and detailed summary with intriguing narration and animation.

[@MarcoManuelS]

This is so beautiful... I can't explain you how, but I think this video sort of changed my life, in a way. I'm touched by how you let us all see how universal and yet singular can writing be. Often, when we are told about the history of writing (or for that matter, the history of anything), we focus on just the things that shaped OUR system. That sets a tendency to judge the past as primitive, and everything that's not the way we do it, as imperfect. But you truly depicted THE history of writing, from east to west and all the way down to the americas. A history about us all. Thank you, for this revealing.

[@rachelnstephens]

I appreciate speaking a language that relies on an alphabet much more after watching this video.

[@aneesh2115]

An alpha syllabary will be better. It is much easier I am an India I know

[@alejrandom6592]

what language?

[@captainwaffles1178]

@@alejrandom6592 idk maybe spanish

[@Sadboy80629]

nah

[@rachelnstephens]

@@alejrandom6592 English...

[@TheMCzorro]

There's something extremely relaxing in the aesthetics and the sound of this video. Really takes me back. I still occasionally come back to it

[@impishDullahan]

Brilliant and informative. Shame I don't have friends who are as interested in languages and their various facets to share this with. Also, a question for any that might find themselves perusing through these comments and would like to share a little bit of knowledge with me. I've been playing around with scripts for one of my conlangs (Why learn a language when you can construct your own?), and I haven't found anything quite like the script I'm working on right now (maybe Korean but it seems more of a syllabary to me ). It's like a mix between an ideographic script and an impure abjad. Essentially, you have a variety of strokes at your disposal, each with their own associated consonant. You then use those strokes to make an picto/ideograph and and read the strokes in the stroke order. The vowels are determined if and where the following stroke's start touches/intersects with the one before it. So I'm wondering if there's anything similar from which I could draw or be inspired by to further it?

[@tch4884]

Interesting... My only question is why invent a new writing system? I’m not judging or saying it’s dumb, I’m just curious. (and the Korean language has and alphabet not a syllabary, called Hangul)

[@jacklocklear8546]

because inventing a new writing system is kinda badass, just saying

[@asher1_]

Korean Hangul is a featural system

[@AbandonedVoid]

I'm not sure there's anything quite like it, because your system is developing speech and writing almost side-by-side for this to work. We had gestures and speech long before we invented writing.

[@RobertWarrenGilmore]

That's a really cool idea. Is there any kind of systematic mapping to semantics? If I learned your writing system, could I infer the meaning of a new ideograph, or would I have to be told the meaning of each new one separately?

[@sereysethalimkheang459]

This is the best explanation of writing system throughout history ever!

[@Ahmedkareem44]

that moment when you find a new education channel :D

[@felipeberlim3587]

One of the best and most educational videos on KZbin. Amazing!

[@hermeticxhaote4723]

I am an occultist into Thoth and I approve of this video

[@anim8torfiddler871]

Your animation and cinematic storytelling are wonderful. Starting five decades back I've been animating, traditional then CG 2D & 3D, educational, spots, games, etc. Your design, timing, AUDIO + graphic unity and economy are breathtaking. Reminds me there are endless possibilities for animation. Humbling, and inspiring. Dang. I'll have to provide links to this for some of my animation /storyboarding classes. Knowing how much labor this requires, it would be nice to know how a production like this is funded apart from YT monetization. (Ok, scanning the Credits I see "Kickstarter," but that's terra incognita to me, having only done commercial & commissioned work... Clearly a labor of love. I've produced dozens of 30-second spots, some took 15 people working for six weeks, so I know how much you poured into this. Your program here amazes!)

[@JohnPetrucci73]

Absolutely incredible video!! :)

[@NativLang]

Thank you for saying so!

[@joeyuzwa891]

I see no Jesus beard or massive arms, definitely not John petrucci

[@alejrandom6592]

Most underrated language video, ever

[@omp199]

It's not about language. It's about writing systems.

[@CusterFlux]

"Bandits take you" ;) @35:30

[@DTux5249]

CusterFlux yes

[@brandonvistan7444]

Someone should make an Indian Bandit ASMR.

[@Riinkun]

I love this video a lot, I think it's a great one to introduce people to stuff like writing systems and their evolution. As a Hebrew speaker it's also neat to see how little has changed about the writing system over such a long period of time (to the point where people can still read old texts like the one at 35:15 perfectly!) Also if you needed any more introduction to how having no vowels can sometimes suck- the wiki article at 35:22 is about the Arabic language, but the redirect option at the top is to a Jewish evening prayer, both written as ערבית. The ערבית for Arabic is pronounced "Aravit" while the one for the prayer is "Arvit." Like the video says, there are vowel markers that are still used but the only times where they're really ever used for modern day adult/teen-oriented texts is when the word is really uncommon or in scriptures like the Torah.

[@Himesua]

I was watching this with such excitement right up to the point where they got to King Sejong. I've done some pretty deep work on the Korean alphabet and its history, so I was sad to see two letters switched. It may be a simple task to learn most of the sounds for the Hangeul jongmo/letters, but it is very easy to mix them up.

[@alansteyrbach6926]

The word ГРАФIА on the pill (45:47), understandable in both Russian and Ancient Greek, is fascinating to see and just gives a little smile. ГРАФIА is essentially a Graphia or Graphics - "the way of writing something".

[@jigjagshwa]

THIS VIDEO! Is one of my favorite videos on this site! So well done! I wish there was something similar that I could find for languages in general

[@Gyroglle]

Ignoring my problems will make them go away you say? MY LIFE FINALLY HAS MEANING

[@richardcampbell4506]

This is one of those videos I come back to again and again. So much information presented clearly and concisely. Thank you

[@thurinuso9234]

I think that emojis are "Major Moment of the History of Writing!" because they show something more than we got used to. Emojis show writer's emotions. If it 'breaks' to the official language, we will be witnesses of a great process!

[@KuraSourTakanHour]

Emoji's aren't just for showing emotions; in fact, it is a reinterpretion of the Japanese word Emoji 絵文字, adding to the word moji 文字 for Character, so literally means Picture Character/Letter. The Emo in Emoji sounds like it's derived from Emotion, but that's coincidence. You can use emoji to make basic sentences, and it can get complex if you get creative. Tell me what you think I say in Emoji, 🙏🏼✍🏼👁❤️🚀➕🧀

[@Alice-gr1kb]

Mr マックラ pray write I love rockets and cheese

[@prezentoappr1171]

@@KuraSourTakanHour emoticons are vast god shimeji moment