How many languages must someone know to be a polyglot? Is a bi-lingual person a polyglot or are more required?
Also, On the issue of polyglot v linguist. As "linguist" is not a protected name or a legally regulated profession, such as a medical doctor or accountant, anyone can freely call themselves a linguist.
The OED defines a linguist as "a person skilled in foreign languages" and "a person who studies linguistics". So in modern usage can it not mean both a scientist and polyglot?
I wasted 12 years of my life learning Russian, French, and Chinese, and now I recall only isolated words. I have moved away from being a polyglot to being much more interested in being a linguist. We'll soon have instant machine translation to replace human polyglots and interpreters. Better to put effort into studying language at a sufficiently abstract level that you can knock ALL of them out at the same time (by machine) rather than slave over one at a time.
This reminds me a little of the argument in art about the difference between "fine art" and "illustration." An illustrator once said "The difference is one sits down to pee the other stands up." Uggh not agree with a somewhat sexist thing..on the otherhand, there is a difference....i guess im not any of these, Im someone who studies languages, without a title, or want for one. So Im not a conformist. Sometimes "foreign" languages attract some conformist people, so, its a bit ironic.
if linguists can also be monolingual, are their field of study constrained by primary research to the only language they know. how can they be the best researchers as for in a comparative linguistics perspective which makes research rich, they can only offer from the secondary data of others
We're not interested in what the grammars say, we're interested in how people actually speak---oh, the number of times I've tried to explain this concept to people! (Especially that other idea you raise that certain constructions "aren't possible" among English speakers-modern)
Love your comments on Korean, btw, I've only JUST become able to learn solely by ear w/o wanting to memorize a few glosses for every living language I encounter!
Interesting thoughts. On the main, I don't agree with trading etymological value for hyper-precision. I think claims about words not meaning this or that, when they -should- and -did- mean this or that, are not helpful to either native speaker or learner, and result ultimately in misapprehension of meaning and confusion. I think a writer should feel perfectly free to use any of the three terms in your paragraph to describe a person who doesn't exactly fit these more precise definitions.
That was certainly very useful.Thank you! Still,I am debating as to which major I should choose:Linguistics,German,Comp Studies or something else. I am from Bulgaria and live in the US.I speak English,German,French,Russian, and am getting into Latin. Foreign languages interest me very much.They are the passion of my life but I tend to wonder whether linguistics would be a nice match for me.Anyhow,I got two lingusitic classes next semester and if they go well I might major in Lingusitics.Thanks!
West Europeans - I know are amazing, all of the ones I know speak and write in at least three languages (even write poetry in all languages) ... when they meet you can hear then switch from one language to the other with no problem of losing the conversation... HOW is this possible?
@krazykraut What is worse is a common misuse of the world "Linguist" to mean "translator" or "interpreter".As a linguist who also happened to be a translator, I eventually had to simply learn to ignore it. I think the mistake stems form the 20th century literature when ,I would say, those interested in Language were also multilingual.
In many countries the term Philology is still available (Spain or Greece, for example). I am myself an English Philology student. Philology has also to do with literary studies; not only with linguistics.
Polyglots are not linguists. A linguist is somebody who studies linguistics (grammar, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, biolinguistics, computational linguistics, dialectology, translation, etc)
So many people want to call themselves linguists. The truth of the matter is that they don't have the post grad studies that it requires to do this. As you stated llinguistics is the science of all languages. Only a trained linguist can analyze and decipher a unknown language. Basic fare that these afficianados of language and most polyglots is that they have no training in Phonetics, Phonology, Descripitive Grammar, Semantics, Field Data, etc.
@christopheclugston Trying to dismiss this is like trying to dismiss a surgeon's training saying I do amatuerish medicine on my own. Mike, what was your course workd and where did you do post grad (I'm from Applied Linguistics and speicific language acquisition for WLs)
@christopheclugston Sorry I didn't see your comment when you posted because you responded to yourself. I've continued to do plenty of post-grad linguistics research for many years on my own including field work on Taiwan's aborigine languages and I now know what to do for a dissertation, so I'm ready to do my PhD. Part of my goal living here is give something back to society so I will attend a local university focused on advancing Taiwan's languages and further work on foreign language training.
@Glossika I responded as it was part two of what I was saying: wanted to keep the cohesion of the posts. What sort of program of linguistics are you going to pursue? What university are you considering? Taiwan has a PhD in linguistics? I am in MSEA in linguistics and was unaware of any program there.
@christopheclugston I hope Academia Sinica. Actually Chomsky was just here to give a speech at AS last month. There are many Linguistics PhD programs at the universities here and it's much more popular than in western countries.
Cool thanks for cluing me into another school. Reality is that cutting edge linguistics is in the West: Cognitive linguistics is all the West, AI language is all the West, Computational Linguistics is all the West, first language acquisition is all the West, second language learning is all the West. As usual the West innovates and the East imitates: difference between scientists and technicians (just facts for everyone, disprove this academically not through emotional retorts peps)
@christopheclugston also telling polyglots that they are amateurish when they actually can communicate in many languages is like telling world-class olympic athletes ( or Micheal Jacson with regards to his dancing) that they are amateurish because they don't have graduate level degrees in kinesiology.
Glossika, it's a good thing you have explained all this. It is so irritating to hear people talking about linguists while they are talking about polyglots.
good video :) and i love ur books behind you.. Chaotic yet organized. i ran outta space with mine. from sitting on my sofa (hence the name) i spy with my little eye 13 notebooks and 11 language books spread out all over my floor and my book case is full.. im only 19 something tells me ill be getting more books :/.. i liked the video tho ill be subscribing
Thank you so much. This video finally cleared up the confusion between a linguist and a philologist. (Even though I am pretty young-17) I speak 4 languages (obviously including English) and I am learning many languages around that. However I do have a question. Is there an existing profession that allows one to use the many languages spoken (polyglot) and possibly compare them with other languages, or explain how the language evolves (or is different) based on culture?
@dspolyglot This is the field of philiogy and Historical Linguistics. There is a Neo Philogoical movement going on in some circles. Also there is a field called Evolutionary Linguistics (this is a pan disciplinic area).
Thank you so much. This video finally cleared up the confusion between a linguist and a philologist. (Even though I am pretty young-17) I speak 4 languages (obviously including English) and I am learning many languages around that. However I do have a question. Is there an existing profession that allows one to use the many languages spoken (polyglot) and possibly compare them with other languages, or explain how the language evolves (or is different) based on culture?
1. A person who speaks several languages fluently.
2. A specialist in linguistics. Linguist usually means a specialist in linguistics in most languages, but not in English. It may even have meant that at some time in English, but the usage of all words evolves. Dictionaries have to reflect that. It is pointless to argue against usage and its evolution. I am a linguist in the sense that I speak several languages.
Good points Steve and thanks for your feedback. I guess it largely depends on your circle. I know plenty of linguists who can't speak a foreign language very well, so I'm wondering if a separate word should be used for them such as linguisticist (like physicist).
@lingosteve Lexicoographers have tightened the explication of this word in the recent years. You can also find hackneyed an imprecise semantics for psychologist if you look back. Semantics which preceeds lexicography is part of linguistics--being a polyglot is not (although many programs require that you are fluent in two languages before acceptance into post grad linguistic study)
Just want to touch on one more issue:: I posted some of Champollion from a 1834 "American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West. Josiah Priest. (I have 3 copies). RC Rafinesque and Ch' discuss "American Alphabets" and languages and such for over 35 pages. Hmmmm. This goes to the Reformed Egyptian discovered by the Mormon Prophet. He also "translated" the Book of Abraham from a mummy. Turned out Champy and Joe Smith disagree on the meaning of glyphs. You should find it funny. If you look
I'm going to leave you alone because you clearly don't see what I'm getting at, which is all true, verifiable history and Linguistic claims of the Mormons. Not a joke. I thought it outrageous myself. I have old girl friend with a Summa Cum Laude in Linguistics/ ESL masters and she thinks I'm funny. You should too.If you take the time to research Reformed Egyptian. This is linguistics, part truth and part hilarity. (and part blasphemy, but that's the religious side of their linguistics!) BYE!
@IExposeMormonism And lastly the Linguistic Summa degree is from Berkeley, not a small Jr College. She likes me, because I'm funny and smart. So there!
"Asking a linguist how many languages they speak is like asking a doctor how many diseases they have."
Just thought I'd share, since a lot of people seem to have a hard time distinguishing the differences between polyglot and linguist. One learns languages; the other studies them, but a linguist can be a polyglot and vice versa, although it seems most polyglots simply like to learn languages without getting too in depth with the linguistic aspect of language. I'm fascinated by both.
EXCELLENT ! I agree on the confusion point! I also think that, even within the subject of philology there is confusion. There seems to be a physical/mechanical (?) direction, in addition to the more familiar cultural/historical philology. The Wiki encyclopedia discusses two types and uses Chomsky as an example of the former.
I studied 3 years of Romance philology and we had linguistics as one of our subjects. But as I didn't finish those studies, I have neither become a philologist nor a linguist, but only :-) a polyglot.
When you talked about philology, I think you described classical philology, and didn't mention what we call neo-philology, which is an academic study of contemperary languages, their culture, literature etc. Ironically, somehow it doesn't necessarly involve knowing historical languages, depending on the branch, but the present ones as well.
Neo-philology is a major branch of philology overall, we distinguish it as 'classical' and 'neo', for diachronic studies and contemperary ones.
Thanks for the reply. I just asked that because the characters used in Japanese are the same. Unless I could see the book contents there's no way I could distinguish.
I am familiar with Chinese characters since I speak some Chinese(First studied traditional characters then switched to simplified ones) and Korean, which I have been studying for some time. I never thought that they originated in Japan or Korea because the characters 漢字 say it all!!
I'm curious as to why you would assume that Chinese script is Japanese? I don't speak any language but English. And yes, I'm aware that Japanese uses two alphabets of sorts and Chinese characters. However, it still seems odd that you would assume that Chinese writing (especially in the absence of Hiragana and Katakana) is Japanese.
Well, if you can't read or write in Chinese or Japanese you'll never know why I wondered if the black dictionary with a black cover written「漢字辞典」(I'm not sure about the last two characters, which I believe are written as 辭典 in traditional Chinese characters) was a Japanese dictionary. 漢字 means Chinese characters and is written in the same way in Japanese and TRADITIONAL CHINESE. In simplified Chinese one would have 汉字 instead.
Also, since Mike is a linguist it's no surprise for me if he speaks/writes Japanese. I have Chinese dictionaries printed in traditional and simplified characters so it doesn't strike me as strange that he might have a Japanese dictionary in his bookshelf.
The absence of hiragana and katakana shouldn't always point out to a Chinese dictionary either.
I didn't say that Chinese characters in the absence of the two Japanese character sets "always point[s] to Chinese." But, that would be the logical assumption.
漢字字典 is not Japanese. It's Chinese. If you open the book, there is no Japanese in it. And Chinese characters did not originate from Japan or Korea like I've seen many mention online. There's a reason why they're called Chinese characters.
I have passable Japanese, not as good as my Korean or Chinese.
I understand that we don't have to learn the scripts at the beginning but why don't FSI courses teach it after for example 50 lessons? just because it's designed for linguists?
I see... linguistic is ABOUT the language but not the language itself.
I don't like to learn about it, I just jump into textes and study them to be able to speak, read and write the language. So that I can discover foreign cultures.
Linguists have to be Polyglots for comparative analysis.
zawmbees 3 weeks ago
How many languages must someone know to be a polyglot? Is a bi-lingual person a polyglot or are more required?
Also, On the issue of polyglot v linguist. As "linguist" is not a protected name or a legally regulated profession, such as a medical doctor or accountant, anyone can freely call themselves a linguist.
The OED defines a linguist as "a person skilled in foreign languages" and "a person who studies linguistics". So in modern usage can it not mean both a scientist and polyglot?
MrScotchpie 1 month ago
you might be a cunning linguist but i'm a master debater
stormbouy 1 month ago
@stormbouy Let's hear it!!!
Glossika 1 month ago
I wasted 12 years of my life learning Russian, French, and Chinese, and now I recall only isolated words. I have moved away from being a polyglot to being much more interested in being a linguist. We'll soon have instant machine translation to replace human polyglots and interpreters. Better to put effort into studying language at a sufficiently abstract level that you can knock ALL of them out at the same time (by machine) rather than slave over one at a time.
mphello 3 months ago
This reminds me a little of the argument in art about the difference between "fine art" and "illustration." An illustrator once said "The difference is one sits down to pee the other stands up." Uggh not agree with a somewhat sexist thing..on the otherhand, there is a difference....i guess im not any of these, Im someone who studies languages, without a title, or want for one. So Im not a conformist. Sometimes "foreign" languages attract some conformist people, so, its a bit ironic.
ippolytos1 4 months ago
Comment removed
ippolytos1 5 months ago
wanker
guishermo111 6 months ago
if linguists can also be monolingual, are their field of study constrained by primary research to the only language they know. how can they be the best researchers as for in a comparative linguistics perspective which makes research rich, they can only offer from the secondary data of others
MrRejikuruvilla 6 months ago
We're not interested in what the grammars say, we're interested in how people actually speak---oh, the number of times I've tried to explain this concept to people! (Especially that other idea you raise that certain constructions "aren't possible" among English speakers-modern)
Love your comments on Korean, btw, I've only JUST become able to learn solely by ear w/o wanting to memorize a few glosses for every living language I encounter!
LexeconKiddo 6 months ago
what was the book?
andresrojas22 7 months ago
Thank you very much for explanation!
TheMartikaa 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
nice video - check out my response on my channel
112ddd211 10 months ago
Comment removed
ippolytos1 1 year ago
Comment removed
ippolytos1 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Jesus christ is king of kings and lord of lords
bass109 1 year ago
Interesting thoughts. On the main, I don't agree with trading etymological value for hyper-precision. I think claims about words not meaning this or that, when they -should- and -did- mean this or that, are not helpful to either native speaker or learner, and result ultimately in misapprehension of meaning and confusion. I think a writer should feel perfectly free to use any of the three terms in your paragraph to describe a person who doesn't exactly fit these more precise definitions.
bravoalphahk 1 year ago
Comment removed
ippolytos1 1 year ago
That was certainly very useful.Thank you! Still,I am debating as to which major I should choose:Linguistics,German,Comp Studies or something else. I am from Bulgaria and live in the US.I speak English,German,French,Russian, and am getting into Latin. Foreign languages interest me very much.They are the passion of my life but I tend to wonder whether linguistics would be a nice match for me.Anyhow,I got two lingusitic classes next semester and if they go well I might major in Lingusitics.Thanks!
Rittley 1 year ago
West Europeans - I know are amazing, all of the ones I know speak and write in at least three languages (even write poetry in all languages) ... when they meet you can hear then switch from one language to the other with no problem of losing the conversation... HOW is this possible?
MISP0N 1 year ago
I get asked how many languages I know every time some one asks what my major is...
krazykraut 1 year ago 4
@krazykraut good one!
Glossika 1 year ago
@krazykraut What is worse is a common misuse of the world "Linguist" to mean "translator" or "interpreter".As a linguist who also happened to be a translator, I eventually had to simply learn to ignore it. I think the mistake stems form the 20th century literature when ,I would say, those interested in Language were also multilingual.
pstcontrl 1 year ago
In many countries the term Philology is still available (Spain or Greece, for example). I am myself an English Philology student. Philology has also to do with literary studies; not only with linguistics.
Polyglots are not linguists. A linguist is somebody who studies linguistics (grammar, historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, biolinguistics, computational linguistics, dialectology, translation, etc)
SpanishHunkyGuy 1 year ago
Comment removed
SpanishHunkyGuy 1 year ago
"Philology was replaced by linguistics"..... ô.O
Sgtpepperslonelyband 1 year ago
i want to learn alot of languages
cdm0014 1 year ago
"Philology was replaced by linguistics" That's just plain wrong...
mortemdei 1 year ago
So many people want to call themselves linguists. The truth of the matter is that they don't have the post grad studies that it requires to do this. As you stated llinguistics is the science of all languages. Only a trained linguist can analyze and decipher a unknown language. Basic fare that these afficianados of language and most polyglots is that they have no training in Phonetics, Phonology, Descripitive Grammar, Semantics, Field Data, etc.
christopheclugston 1 year ago
@christopheclugston Trying to dismiss this is like trying to dismiss a surgeon's training saying I do amatuerish medicine on my own. Mike, what was your course workd and where did you do post grad (I'm from Applied Linguistics and speicific language acquisition for WLs)
christopheclugston 1 year ago
@christopheclugston Sorry I didn't see your comment when you posted because you responded to yourself. I've continued to do plenty of post-grad linguistics research for many years on my own including field work on Taiwan's aborigine languages and I now know what to do for a dissertation, so I'm ready to do my PhD. Part of my goal living here is give something back to society so I will attend a local university focused on advancing Taiwan's languages and further work on foreign language training.
Glossika 1 year ago
@Glossika I responded as it was part two of what I was saying: wanted to keep the cohesion of the posts. What sort of program of linguistics are you going to pursue? What university are you considering? Taiwan has a PhD in linguistics? I am in MSEA in linguistics and was unaware of any program there.
christopheclugston 1 year ago
@christopheclugston I hope Academia Sinica. Actually Chomsky was just here to give a speech at AS last month. There are many Linguistics PhD programs at the universities here and it's much more popular than in western countries.
Glossika 1 year ago
@Glossika
Cool thanks for cluing me into another school. Reality is that cutting edge linguistics is in the West: Cognitive linguistics is all the West, AI language is all the West, Computational Linguistics is all the West, first language acquisition is all the West, second language learning is all the West. As usual the West innovates and the East imitates: difference between scientists and technicians (just facts for everyone, disprove this academically not through emotional retorts peps)
christopheclugston 1 year ago
@christopheclugston also telling polyglots that they are amateurish when they actually can communicate in many languages is like telling world-class olympic athletes ( or Micheal Jacson with regards to his dancing) that they are amateurish because they don't have graduate level degrees in kinesiology.
murdoch1717 1 week ago
@murdoch1717 Non Sequitur
christopheclugston 1 week ago
Glossika, it's a good thing you have explained all this. It is so irritating to hear people talking about linguists while they are talking about polyglots.
Qcumber 1 year ago
good video :) and i love ur books behind you.. Chaotic yet organized. i ran outta space with mine. from sitting on my sofa (hence the name) i spy with my little eye 13 notebooks and 11 language books spread out all over my floor and my book case is full.. im only 19 something tells me ill be getting more books :/.. i liked the video tho ill be subscribing
dudeonthasopha 1 year ago
Thank you so much. This video finally cleared up the confusion between a linguist and a philologist. (Even though I am pretty young-17) I speak 4 languages (obviously including English) and I am learning many languages around that. However I do have a question. Is there an existing profession that allows one to use the many languages spoken (polyglot) and possibly compare them with other languages, or explain how the language evolves (or is different) based on culture?
dspolyglot 1 year ago
@dspolyglot This is the field of philiogy and Historical Linguistics. There is a Neo Philogoical movement going on in some circles. Also there is a field called Evolutionary Linguistics (this is a pan disciplinic area).
christopheclugston 1 year ago
Thank you so much. This video finally cleared up the confusion between a linguist and a philologist. (Even though I am pretty young-17) I speak 4 languages (obviously including English) and I am learning many languages around that. However I do have a question. Is there an existing profession that allows one to use the many languages spoken (polyglot) and possibly compare them with other languages, or explain how the language evolves (or is different) based on culture?
dspolyglot 1 year ago
Great explanation!
boncku 1 year ago
Most dictionaries define Linguist as
1. A person who speaks several languages fluently.
2. A specialist in linguistics. Linguist usually means a specialist in linguistics in most languages, but not in English. It may even have meant that at some time in English, but the usage of all words evolves. Dictionaries have to reflect that. It is pointless to argue against usage and its evolution. I am a linguist in the sense that I speak several languages.
Cheers
Steve
lingosteve 1 year ago
Good points Steve and thanks for your feedback. I guess it largely depends on your circle. I know plenty of linguists who can't speak a foreign language very well, so I'm wondering if a separate word should be used for them such as linguisticist (like physicist).
Glossika 1 year ago
@Glossika
But then you'd have to explain what a physist is? Was that a question.
romansampo 1 year ago
@lingosteve Lexicoographers have tightened the explication of this word in the recent years. You can also find hackneyed an imprecise semantics for psychologist if you look back. Semantics which preceeds lexicography is part of linguistics--being a polyglot is not (although many programs require that you are fluent in two languages before acceptance into post grad linguistic study)
christopheclugston 1 year ago
I so want to be a polyglot!
ElizabethxPete 2 years ago
Just want to touch on one more issue:: I posted some of Champollion from a 1834 "American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West. Josiah Priest. (I have 3 copies). RC Rafinesque and Ch' discuss "American Alphabets" and languages and such for over 35 pages. Hmmmm. This goes to the Reformed Egyptian discovered by the Mormon Prophet. He also "translated" the Book of Abraham from a mummy. Turned out Champy and Joe Smith disagree on the meaning of glyphs. You should find it funny. If you look
IExposeMormonism 2 years ago
I'm going to leave you alone because you clearly don't see what I'm getting at, which is all true, verifiable history and Linguistic claims of the Mormons. Not a joke. I thought it outrageous myself. I have old girl friend with a Summa Cum Laude in Linguistics/ ESL masters and she thinks I'm funny. You should too.If you take the time to research Reformed Egyptian. This is linguistics, part truth and part hilarity. (and part blasphemy, but that's the religious side of their linguistics!) BYE!
IExposeMormonism 2 years ago
@IExposeMormonism And lastly the Linguistic Summa degree is from Berkeley, not a small Jr College. She likes me, because I'm funny and smart. So there!
IExposeMormonism 2 years ago
"Asking a linguist how many languages they speak is like asking a doctor how many diseases they have."
Just thought I'd share, since a lot of people seem to have a hard time distinguishing the differences between polyglot and linguist. One learns languages; the other studies them, but a linguist can be a polyglot and vice versa, although it seems most polyglots simply like to learn languages without getting too in depth with the linguistic aspect of language. I'm fascinated by both.
nephrenmalinari 2 years ago 3
Excellent analogy.
Glossika 2 years ago
EXCELLENT ! I agree on the confusion point! I also think that, even within the subject of philology there is confusion. There seems to be a physical/mechanical (?) direction, in addition to the more familiar cultural/historical philology. The Wiki encyclopedia discusses two types and uses Chomsky as an example of the former.
railadvocate 2 years ago
I studied 3 years of Romance philology and we had linguistics as one of our subjects. But as I didn't finish those studies, I have neither become a philologist nor a linguist, but only :-) a polyglot.
Fasulye
Fasulye2009 2 years ago
When you talked about philology, I think you described classical philology, and didn't mention what we call neo-philology, which is an academic study of contemperary languages, their culture, literature etc. Ironically, somehow it doesn't necessarly involve knowing historical languages, depending on the branch, but the present ones as well.
Neo-philology is a major branch of philology overall, we distinguish it as 'classical' and 'neo', for diachronic studies and contemperary ones.
Great video!
RankAndFileGuy 2 years ago
Thanks for the reply. I just asked that because the characters used in Japanese are the same. Unless I could see the book contents there's no way I could distinguish.
I am familiar with Chinese characters since I speak some Chinese(First studied traditional characters then switched to simplified ones) and Korean, which I have been studying for some time. I never thought that they originated in Japan or Korea because the characters 漢字 say it all!!
請多關照！ 朱禮歐
aulasdejapones 2 years ago
I'm curious as to why you would assume that Chinese script is Japanese? I don't speak any language but English. And yes, I'm aware that Japanese uses two alphabets of sorts and Chinese characters. However, it still seems odd that you would assume that Chinese writing (especially in the absence of Hiragana and Katakana) is Japanese.
Hoopermazing 2 years ago
Well, if you can't read or write in Chinese or Japanese you'll never know why I wondered if the black dictionary with a black cover written「漢字辞典」(I'm not sure about the last two characters, which I believe are written as 辭典 in traditional Chinese characters) was a Japanese dictionary. 漢字 means Chinese characters and is written in the same way in Japanese and TRADITIONAL CHINESE. In simplified Chinese one would have 汉字 instead.
aulasdejapones 2 years ago
Also, since Mike is a linguist it's no surprise for me if he speaks/writes Japanese. I have Chinese dictionaries printed in traditional and simplified characters so it doesn't strike me as strange that he might have a Japanese dictionary in his bookshelf.
The absence of hiragana and katakana shouldn't always point out to a Chinese dictionary either.
aulasdejapones 2 years ago
I didn't say that Chinese characters in the absence of the two Japanese character sets "always point[s] to Chinese." But, that would be the logical assumption.
Hoopermazing 2 years ago
漢字字典 is not Japanese. It's Chinese. If you open the book, there is no Japanese in it. And Chinese characters did not originate from Japan or Korea like I've seen many mention online. There's a reason why they're called Chinese characters.
I have passable Japanese, not as good as my Korean or Chinese.
Glossika 2 years ago
Do you speak Japanese? I think I saw a 漢字字典 in the background. Thanks for the inspiring video.
aulasdejapones 2 years ago
I think you're a great linguist Mike.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
I understand that we don't have to learn the scripts at the beginning but why don't FSI courses teach it after for example 50 lessons? just because it's designed for linguists?
loki2504 2 years ago
So are you a linguist?
I see... linguistic is ABOUT the language but not the language itself.
I don't like to learn about it, I just jump into textes and study them to be able to speak, read and write the language. So that I can discover foreign cultures.
loki2504 2 years ago 2