@laoshu505000 LONG LIVE DEAD LANGUAGES! I can recite mythical texts in Miluk, a Penutian language not spoken for close to a hundred years now. I can discuss the very exotic grammar and fascinatingly highly-specialized fishing and riverine vocabulary of the Chinookan languages. I can conduct halting conversations in Choctaw with patient elders who are proud to have a Nanhollo interested in their language. Useful? Nope. Lotsa fun? Yeah!!! Keep posting these videos my friend.
i agree. My friends always tell me i study useless languages, but i learn languages to start a global conversation, not to get a job. ...okay they really help in getting a job ;D
I agree with you, the only problem is getting my uncle to agree with me, I hide the fact that I'm learning languages from him. To him, the only useful non-English language nowadays is Spanish.
Another possible reason is the Dutch didn't apply the politics of language assimilation in Indonesia, the way the British did in Malaysia. Therefore, while most Malaysians are fluent in English, almost no Indonesian speaks Dutch these days. In any event, considering Malay/Indonesian useless is absolutely wrong, since it is one of the biggest languages in the world. Being spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore & Timor-Leste, Malay/Indonesian currently has nearly 300 million speakers.
I'm not surprised that a Malaysian could call her own language "useless". The language politics there is not the same here, in Indonesia. The government's different treatments towards the 3 major ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malays, Chinese, and Tamils) have led to racial tensions and as such, each group prefers to speak its own language. On the other hand, Indonesia has always treated Bahasa Indonesia as the "unifying language" and therefore, every Indonesian is obliged to speak the language
Very good video, I like how you explain how there are no useless languages. Have you not found that with any different language you learn you actually gain more insights into the human mind? I have found that you actually start to think differently by learning other languages.
People told me that Swedish was a useless language to learn, and then a Norwegian movie came out I reeeaaally wanted to see, and the only version of it I could access had Swedish subtitles!
i jus wanna say real quik that you are amazing man. lol i felt dat from da heart ..much respect to you cuz im 20 and trying to learn swahili so all my freinds say things like your neva gonna use it here (VA) and i should learn spanish and etc.. like they really bash swahili and call it useless here.since ive been working in a nursing home all my co workers speak swahili LOL SO YOUR RIGHT YOU NEVA KNOW and i wanna thank you for being such a positive force n my life right now. kwa heri
Hey I feel the same way man. I'm Chinese/Cambodian and my family is always angry that I'm learning French, Korean, and Japanese. I know they want me to stay traditional and stick to my roots, but when it's forced it's kind of turned off for me. You know what I mean? But maybe in the future when I get away from them for a moment, I'll grow interest. People always tellin me "go for Chinese! Japanese and French? No one at jobs speaks them anymore." All the more to learn it. Hope that makes sense.
All languages are useful in jobs cause u can be a translator in tests for schools and stuff like that... however yes there are some languages which are more useful then others...
When I look at you and listen to you - I love that confidence in you, when you speak 'bout languages:) True joy to see someone with same passion for languages. Lot's of love and respect, fellow-linguist:* :)
i can totally relate to what you are discussing. Like I would much rather learn a "useless language" like Klingon or Japanese rather than Mandarin. Even tho mandarin has the most speakers, there are more interesting aspects to linguistics other than being to use it more than the next language.
you are awesome man i can't believe you speak so many languages i'm with english and japanese but you are mad XD mm i would like you to help me to improve my japanese is there any web site wereby i can find more information about you?
I'm interested to know how many languages you are able to speak by now?! :) It would be cool if you could tell us which ones too! Almost two years ago when I started Japanese I found that I was interested a lot in foreign languages! Now I fee like I want to learn more, but I always find it hard to make a plan on how to learn them and in which order. I don't have much patience, so I tend to rush, though I know that's pretty bad.. how do you manage to know so many without getting a headache? xD
actually there;s a difference between extinct and dead languages
Latin is not extinct but is used sometimes for reading ancient scholary texts. There are such people i think called philogists who can read such languages , such as Sumerian or Akkadian from a stone tablet, though philologists can't speak it in a posed manner.
Extinct languages are languages not used at all, not even in litterary usage, thus latin may become completely dead.
dead languages. Well, i know some people who tried learning dead languages. I tried learning the Tocharian language. There are people who teach the Gothic language and there is one Youtuber who did a vlog in Gaulish. That's learning dead languages for one reason.
Dead languages like Latin or Ancient Greek are still used for ancient high educational texts, but is getting replaced by English. English may end up like Latin or Greek, then become dead like old prussian.
I admire you're drive for learning languages. I am currently learning Japanese and want to learn Turkish, Russian, and German. Posibbly Polish. My carrer goal is to be an ESL teacher in Europe :) Keep up the good work!
@laoshu505000 damn thats a long as time, i am in french right now for highschool... fucking hate it, when i joined french i thought it would be different then what i am doing now.....
Language is not useless. I feel for those who side with losing any language. Language captures character and the culture. It promotes self esteem, motivates the mind to view things from two perspectives. Respect, patience and open mindedness is the first step to acquiring language. I speak to my children in the target language, not for the purpose of material gain or career choice, but for self identity, self acceptance and spiritual wholeness. I admire your ambition to learn. =) Nizhoni.
Language is not useless. I feel for those who side with losing any language. Language captures character and the culture. It promotes self esteem, motivates the mind to view things from two perspectives. Respect, patience and open mindedness is the first step to acquiring language. I speak to my children in the target language, not for the purpose of material gain or career choice, but for self identity, self acceptance and spiritual wholeness. I admire your ambition to learn. =) Nizhoni.
if u want 2 learn a DEAD language... then Livonian is the one... theres less than 300 people who can talk that language. all i know is that it was born in Estonia or Lithuania
@unixblog Well you are trying to define the word usefulness and all you really did was reiterate what Moses was explaining the popular definition for 'usefulness' is. To me usefulness simply means that if you can use it than it is useful, you sir define it in terms like: where you live, future plans, etc. Today with the world wide web you can have a conversation with a Chinese person without ever stepping foot on a plane, just because there is no personal gain doesn't make it useless
Where are you getting your knowledge? Are you saying that most languages are useless for YOU? Are you saying that most languages are useless for the people who live in your town or city?
Respect! I love this attitude. Languages can be helpful when you least expect them to. You never know whose help you might need, whose love you might find by speaking his/her language. You're a delight, guy, my eyes have seen and my ears have heard hope.
I could not agree more, there is no "useless" language.
When I was learning old greek and latin in school, many people did ask why bother studying "useless" language. My response was usually: "It is the last time in my life I will have time to do something useless".
And by the way, by 2050 about half of todays 7000 languages will become extinct.
Dont forget that learing languages, even "useless" ones like latin or sanskrit, will help you understanding languages better, including your own mother tongue. The more languages you know the easier it will be to learn other languages.
To tell you the truth I actually find it a bit offending when people ask me why i would ever want to learn "their" language... I dont know why, but i guess it feels as though they are questioning my intelligence or something.
Well that is true, but in this case i might find Estonian useless, however the finnish languge is more usefull. Besides some countries do not speak so good english like South America or Japan. In this case it is very important.
what i really consider an useless language is maybe something like catalan, 'cause everyone who speaks catalan is able to speak spanish as well. therefore there are no monolingual catalan speakers.
you are gona go sooooo far, not bad for a black guy ,,,,,,,lol, giver dude hope the best for you really,never limit yourself, sorry bout the black guy stufff lol
i agree, i don't like it when people say that, i hope one day i can learn more languages because i love them too but my parents say its useless so i have to do it on my own
I wanted to address the usefulness of Sanskrit as a language. Let me say to all the naysayers that believe Sanskrit is a useless language are all dead wrong. The reason I say this are due to several circumstances:
*Sanskrit has influenced almost every language in the Indian subcontinent. For example largely spoken Indo Aryan languages in India such as Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Nepali, have borrowed about 50% of the vocabulary from Sanskrit in addition to various grammatical structures.
@descentfromhistory *Even Indian languages that are not from the same language family as Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan/Indo-European) especially the 4 of the 5 major Dravidian languages (Malayalam,Tulu,Kannada,Telugu) have also borrowed heavily from Sanskrit. For example more than 80% of Malayalam words are directly from Sanskrit. The only major language of India to not have been greatly influenced by it would be Tamil.
@descentfromhistory So in regards to you studying Sanskrit I'd say go fully ahead because not only will it ease you into studying other Indian languages. But its large vocabulary has influenced every language of the Subcontinent so a native person from almost every part of India would understand a large portion of words you speak.
A language is "useless" if you are very self centered and don't want to help other people. But then again, how many people do you see that won't help anyone?
Useless is better defined as Geo Locked. Those languages that are Geo Locked and have under several million speakers will not serve you unless you live in that very small area. All of these geo locked languages will learn a WL to do business, education, etc
This is a great video. I am learning German, Dutch and Norwegian, ok they are not as rare as some of the languages you learn but still Dutch and Norwegian are not that popular. People say to me all the time "why do you learn Dutch and Norwegian what will you do with them?" but when I started out learning these languages a job never came into my mind, living in these countries for a few months/years came into my mind. I think it is amazing what your doing. Regards from Ireland.
I am impressed with your passion of languages! I am the same way, it is so fun to learn something new. I'm glad you made a video about this subject because I am tired of hearing people telling me about how my choice in language is useless. Yet one of the languages that I have decided to learn, Akkadian, yes obviously it is extinct but I find Mesopotamia fascinating! It's not useless to me! That is all that should matter, is if it's not useless to you, who cares what others think! =)
Is (im not sure if this is how you say it) Singaporean useless? becuase i had alot of Singapore friends and there very nice when i used to play warcraft and other games
If you are French, for what reason do you need to invest in learning Japanese? No reason, so why put the effort. Sure you might travel to Japan once, but thats it?
switch situation, if you are french and your mom is Japanese, now japanese became very important.
usefullness depends on the region, for example Dutch is usefull in Flanders, but in the neibouring contry like France it could be less usefull, English is the only language which is everywere spoken.
I totally agree with the fact that there is no single "useless language
In Belgium many employers require Knouwledge of Dutch,French,English and to a lesser extent German, so it is regional, from my point of view all languages all precious
I think learning a language is good way to develop one's character, that is, if the person learning isn't simply in it for the money. Plus what harm would it do to a person if (s)he is learning what people with an economic mindset would consider "useless" languages?
Most people have a homo economicus mentality. They have reduced everything down into economic terms: a man is described by how much he can produce and what services he can provide.
The way you speak is very deep, I been trying to learn many languages, like Japanese and French. It is true in what you say about dead languages, but its different in my case, no one around where I live speak it, I know because I listen to them when people speak around me.
Question: Where did you learn to speak the languages you know, I would want to know because I am very interested.
I've been learning languages independently. Don't get discouraged at the fact that you don't have anyone around to practice with. In fact, a lot of the languages I know, I don't have anyone to use them with. I normally just use the internet to practice them. If you need any suggestions or what not, just let me know and I'll try to help you out the best I can. Thanks for viewing my videos.
None of those three languages is useful if you live in a country that doesn't speak those languages. If you live in Vietnam, Vietnamese is far more useful than English, Chinese, and Spanish combined.
Besides, if you want to go by GDP, German and Japanese each have far higher GDP's than the entire Spanish-speaking world.
I agree with you, though my point was primarily to counter Zco4cuerdas' assertion that only English, Chinese, and Spanish are "practical" in the general sense. For example, Hungarian is more practical than Spanish, English, or Chinese if you happen to live in Hungary, so it wouldn't just be "for entertainment".
Considering the point of this video, I probably should have clarified my terminology.
From where I'm from in the UK, there are so many people who consider languages to be "useless" solely because they've barely stepped out their own doorstep, and only been abroad to France very few times. I think many people consider languages to be useless because they're simply ignorant, and don't know the reality of how learning a language, even really obscure ones, can come in useful if your lifestyle or travel MAKES it useful.
Indeed, I am currently learning learning Japanese, something I've been willing to do for a long time, but never gotten the time. I think that it is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. I am not sure about other people's opinions on this, but I don't care. I simply love Japanese, and also consider learning Sanskrit just for my own knowledge's sake.
However, I must admit that I think the Japanese and Chinese made all those symbols of their out of pure boredom...
any tool that allows people to communicate and express themselves and thier ideas can never be called useless! language and the variety of them are blessings. i can't imagine being satisfied only knowing one. the more the better :D
Thanks for talking about this. When I started learning Czech about 10 yrs ago, loads of ppl said to me "what's the point?". Made me so angry at the time, it had never struck me before that some ppl only want to learn languages if they really have to. That level of ignorance still annoys me actually, so I generally avoid talking about learning languages.
I can relate to that! My parents and a few others have told me that learning Vietnamese, Japanese, Danish, etc. are all useless, but the real kicker is that you NEVER know when you'll need it! There have been times where my Japanese was needed on the job, or translating something for my parents from Japanese to Chinese. You just never know...
I agree fully, you never know when you'll need it, though even to discuss that kind of misses the point that I think Moses was making. Why does a language have to be considered 'useful' if you're doing it for enjoyment?
@Deorca I feel the exact same way. I usually avoid talking about it unless someone understands why I do it, because otherwise people just say "why?" or they find it unbelievable that I want to learn new languages (and I mean that literally. They literally don't BELIEVE me lol.) It's kind of annoying, but it's something that I like to do, so who cares? haha And actually, I made a bunch of friends in a new country because of it, and I'm going there this summer, so see? Not useless at all ;)
I admire your attitude, Mr. McCormick. I also agree with you 110%. I have learned that there are various native american languages, some of which are endangered. The language of the Chitimacha tribe in Louisiana is being revived, however. Perhaps YOU could be a part of preserving or reviving dead or endangered native american languages. What do you think about that?
It's rather odd that the same people who may fully support any number of other things, like one hobby or another, or sports (which could well be seen as being useless...), would then go on to say that language learning (even if it were to be reduced to the status of a "hobby", purely for the enjoyment of learning new things... though it's more than that...) is useless...
Personally, I've always had a plan to eventually learn an old dead language, like Middle Egyptian. Not just for educational and historical reasons, but for selfish ones too. Nobody would have a clue what my grocery list would read, muahaha!
Learning a language opens up the door to communicating with potentially millions of other people in the world, not to mention so much more. How is that in any way useless?
If no one speaks it anymore, it can at least help you to understand an entire culture of the past. That's not useless is it?
I agree with what you are saying. Just one question, though. When you say that learning a language opens up the door to communicate with millions of people, isn't it true that for some countries where people already speak pretty good English as a second language, this door was already open? Take Sweden for example, where I'm from. Most people here are good English speakers even though it's not our native language. Will learning Swedish still open up doors that was closed before?
True, true...but if I were going to Sweden (which I will in the future) I'd want to at least be able to speak a little Swedish out of respect and politeness. Also, it would make it easier to understand TV and such; you wouldn't always have to be asking people what things meant.
It's funny because I'm actually trying to learn Swedish at the moment, I just started. :)
NephilaClavata I completely agree with what you said before about "dead" languages. They are definitely not useless because, as you said, it opens up a door to the past and establishes a connection with people from another time in history (even when people call them dead languages bothers me, because it makes it sound like they're totally useless or irelevant). I am currently studying Ancient Greek and Anglo-Saxon and, while it is tough, it is well worth the work!
I can tell you that it does, definitely. The first year I lived here in Sweden I could speak almost no Swedish, and like you say, most ppl speak pretty good English. I learned Swedish pretty quickly, and there was a huge difference, I fitted in much better straight away, no-one had to translate for me, conversations weren't stilted.
Yes, it's handy having English to fall back on where it's available, but it's not the same as being able to speak the native language.
I get this same thing all the time. Its like people just don't get why someone would spend their time to learn a language just for fun. I have a good friend that I told I was going to start learning Japanese the other day. He told me that I should learn it because I won't be going to Japan and I won't need it. I just stick with Romance languages because that is where the money is. I almost cut him off that day as my friend. I don't think I got that angry in a while.
He just didn't realize that to me, it didn't matter whether I could use the language to make money, which if it happens that why, thats a plus but I just love languages regardless. I hear a new language on the radio or meet someone who speaks another language and I get so excited (I was going to use another word there in place of "so excited")! I just love the process, it doesn't matter to me whether I can find a job because of it or not.
There's no such thing as an useless language since it's all subjective. For instance, Latin could be the last one i would learn but for a philologist this language might be of crucial importance. So i think it's quite "useless" to label a language this way, i would rather talk of more practical languages which allow you to communicate with a larger number of speakers and find lots of interesting contents (often that also means: more fun).
I agree. People should learn languages because they are interested and passionate about languages, and not only because it will help them "get a job" or because these languages are "useful". I often get the same comments about useful/useless languages which I find irritating. If we all limit ourselves to learning so called useful languages then we will all be speaking the same languages and the world will be a very boring place.
I speak Esperanto, and I know constructed languages aren't everybody's cup of tea, but Esperanto isn't useless. I love speaking it because you can literally meet people from any country using it. You never know where the next person you speak Esperanto with is going to be from.
Hey I forgot to ask you why you drop cantonese and chose to study mandarin instead of it? Are you going to study cantonese some day? What do you think about cantonese? I love it ! and I love also vietnamese ! My can practice it everyday if I decided to learn it seriously but now I'm busy with indonesian.
Well, I was suppose to start with Cantonese, but at that time I couldn't find any resources. However, I started learning Cantonese later on. I can actually speak some, but it's all out of place..-_-
Great vid man! Aome of my friends say that languages like Estonian, that have about a million or even less speakers are useless. Which is stupid at my opinion. I think that every language regardless of it's origin nor the amount of speakers is special!
hello there.. I'm just a guy who wants to learn Russian, and I would like to know your oppinion on Paul Pimsleur language learning system??
dgosin01 1 week ago
@laoshu505000 LONG LIVE DEAD LANGUAGES! I can recite mythical texts in Miluk, a Penutian language not spoken for close to a hundred years now. I can discuss the very exotic grammar and fascinatingly highly-specialized fishing and riverine vocabulary of the Chinookan languages. I can conduct halting conversations in Choctaw with patient elders who are proud to have a Nanhollo interested in their language. Useful? Nope. Lotsa fun? Yeah!!! Keep posting these videos my friend.
Linguiphile 2 weeks ago
i agree. My friends always tell me i study useless languages, but i learn languages to start a global conversation, not to get a job. ...okay they really help in getting a job ;D
CocoDelicious42 1 month ago
I agree with you, the only problem is getting my uncle to agree with me, I hide the fact that I'm learning languages from him. To him, the only useful non-English language nowadays is Spanish.
LanguageLearner24 1 month ago
Another possible reason is the Dutch didn't apply the politics of language assimilation in Indonesia, the way the British did in Malaysia. Therefore, while most Malaysians are fluent in English, almost no Indonesian speaks Dutch these days. In any event, considering Malay/Indonesian useless is absolutely wrong, since it is one of the biggest languages in the world. Being spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore & Timor-Leste, Malay/Indonesian currently has nearly 300 million speakers.
agakbingungnih 2 months ago
I'm not surprised that a Malaysian could call her own language "useless". The language politics there is not the same here, in Indonesia. The government's different treatments towards the 3 major ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malays, Chinese, and Tamils) have led to racial tensions and as such, each group prefers to speak its own language. On the other hand, Indonesia has always treated Bahasa Indonesia as the "unifying language" and therefore, every Indonesian is obliged to speak the language
agakbingungnih 2 months ago
Very good video, I like how you explain how there are no useless languages. Have you not found that with any different language you learn you actually gain more insights into the human mind? I have found that you actually start to think differently by learning other languages.
konnichiwa53 3 months ago
People told me that Swedish was a useless language to learn, and then a Norwegian movie came out I reeeaaally wanted to see, and the only version of it I could access had Swedish subtitles!
You never know!
SpongyOLlama 3 months ago
@SpongyOLlama Swedish is not useless, rofl.. By learning swedish you will understand swedish, danish, norwegian and small bits of icelandic.
ObLiViOnZThEkIllEr 1 month ago
I applaud your passion for communicating with different cultures and your intellectual discussions on the topic of foreign languages!
: )
jjlinert 4 months ago
i jus wanna say real quik that you are amazing man. lol i felt dat from da heart ..much respect to you cuz im 20 and trying to learn swahili so all my freinds say things like your neva gonna use it here (VA) and i should learn spanish and etc.. like they really bash swahili and call it useless here.since ive been working in a nursing home all my co workers speak swahili LOL SO YOUR RIGHT YOU NEVA KNOW and i wanna thank you for being such a positive force n my life right now. kwa heri
DBerrGT 4 months ago
Hey I feel the same way man. I'm Chinese/Cambodian and my family is always angry that I'm learning French, Korean, and Japanese. I know they want me to stay traditional and stick to my roots, but when it's forced it's kind of turned off for me. You know what I mean? But maybe in the future when I get away from them for a moment, I'll grow interest. People always tellin me "go for Chinese! Japanese and French? No one at jobs speaks them anymore." All the more to learn it. Hope that makes sense.
MoarPewPewPlz 5 months ago
One of my peeves: when I study a language, people ask me what use it is.
criskity 6 months ago
All languages are useful in jobs cause u can be a translator in tests for schools and stuff like that... however yes there are some languages which are more useful then others...
chavvysavvy1 6 months ago
And I totaly agree with you on the usefull/useless languages.
Krasnodarka 6 months ago
When I look at you and listen to you - I love that confidence in you, when you speak 'bout languages:) True joy to see someone with same passion for languages. Lot's of love and respect, fellow-linguist:* :)
Krasnodarka 6 months ago
You should learn Welsh
TheSchizopodcaster 6 months ago
i can totally relate to what you are discussing. Like I would much rather learn a "useless language" like Klingon or Japanese rather than Mandarin. Even tho mandarin has the most speakers, there are more interesting aspects to linguistics other than being to use it more than the next language.
OffLastSacrifice 6 months ago
What about elvish. That language got to be useless.
DrKojiin 7 months ago
OMG get to the point already bro, im sry but i think u repeat the same stuff over a few times, and sidetrack mad much
HarvesterOfSorrowFOO 7 months ago
@HarvesterOfSorrowFOO heh
laoshu505000 7 months ago
@laoshu505000 like dont take it offensively, im just sayin
HarvesterOfSorrowFOO 7 months ago
@HarvesterOfSorrowFOO Oh, not at all. You're right. I talk in circles a lot. I'm still learning. Thanks for viewing and commenting.
laoshu505000 7 months ago
@laoshu505000 no prob now that i look back i thought about it and it seemed like i was a lil harsh
HarvesterOfSorrowFOO 7 months ago
@HarvesterOfSorrowFOO Nah, it's ok. Don't worry about it. It's in the past..you didn't know.
laoshu505000 7 months ago
@laoshu505000 Why can't more reply chains in youtube be like this?
HeavyMetalHindu 9 hours ago
@laoshu505000 where did you get ur hat?
TheChuktaylor3 4 months ago
What is the quickest way you deem as being the fastest way of learning a language?
HydroEthiopians 8 months ago
Esperanto is the most useful language on earth, thanks to English.
SeventhSun 9 months ago
you are awesome man i can't believe you speak so many languages i'm with english and japanese but you are mad XD mm i would like you to help me to improve my japanese is there any web site wereby i can find more information about you?
ederno5150 9 months ago
Just curious, but have you ever considered learning any of the Native American languages?
NelsonStJames 9 months ago
Like ur videos
good work keep it up
maxiraq2008 9 months ago
keep ur good work up bro! ur good!
yourhero00 9 months ago
I'm interested to know how many languages you are able to speak by now?! :) It would be cool if you could tell us which ones too! Almost two years ago when I started Japanese I found that I was interested a lot in foreign languages! Now I fee like I want to learn more, but I always find it hard to make a plan on how to learn them and in which order. I don't have much patience, so I tend to rush, though I know that's pretty bad.. how do you manage to know so many without getting a headache? xD
MystiqueBliss 9 months ago
@unixblog I'm not shooting down your opinion, I understand your point, but you're forgetting the intellectual aspect of it.
FeralArtist 10 months ago
actually there;s a difference between extinct and dead languages
Latin is not extinct but is used sometimes for reading ancient scholary texts. There are such people i think called philogists who can read such languages , such as Sumerian or Akkadian from a stone tablet, though philologists can't speak it in a posed manner.
Extinct languages are languages not used at all, not even in litterary usage, thus latin may become completely dead.
papasmurfXXX 10 months ago
dead languages. Well, i know some people who tried learning dead languages. I tried learning the Tocharian language. There are people who teach the Gothic language and there is one Youtuber who did a vlog in Gaulish. That's learning dead languages for one reason.
Dead languages like Latin or Ancient Greek are still used for ancient high educational texts, but is getting replaced by English. English may end up like Latin or Greek, then become dead like old prussian.
papasmurfXXX 10 months ago
Спасибо, Thank you, Gracias... I admire your work and share your philosophy.
dgo0082 11 months ago
I admire you're drive for learning languages. I am currently learning Japanese and want to learn Turkish, Russian, and German. Posibbly Polish. My carrer goal is to be an ESL teacher in Europe :) Keep up the good work!
SlowlyTheWorldTurns 11 months ago
dude how long did it took you to learn japanese?
AznAndy562 11 months ago
@AznAndy562 I've been learning Japanese for about 10-11 years already.
laoshu505000 11 months ago
@laoshu505000 damn thats a long as time, i am in french right now for highschool... fucking hate it, when i joined french i thought it would be different then what i am doing now.....
AznAndy562 11 months ago
Sup Randy Moss.
stevensantosgarcia 11 months ago
This is why I love being a linguist. EVERY language is "useful" (yes, even the dead ones!) Great video, Moses.
Tishepe ehmot entotk! ("Thank you" in Coptic; see, useful!)
dzheremi 11 months ago
a language is only useless if you think its useless.
thetimothyjr2155 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Language is not useless. I feel for those who side with losing any language. Language captures character and the culture. It promotes self esteem, motivates the mind to view things from two perspectives. Respect, patience and open mindedness is the first step to acquiring language. I speak to my children in the target language, not for the purpose of material gain or career choice, but for self identity, self acceptance and spiritual wholeness. I admire your ambition to learn. =) Nizhoni.
DineLaughter 1 year ago
Language is not useless. I feel for those who side with losing any language. Language captures character and the culture. It promotes self esteem, motivates the mind to view things from two perspectives. Respect, patience and open mindedness is the first step to acquiring language. I speak to my children in the target language, not for the purpose of material gain or career choice, but for self identity, self acceptance and spiritual wholeness. I admire your ambition to learn. =) Nizhoni.
DineLaughter 1 year ago
Comment removed
DineLaughter 1 year ago
I agree with the points made in this video but it could be 10 times shorter.
iambobo1 1 year ago
if u want 2 learn a DEAD language... then Livonian is the one... theres less than 300 people who can talk that language. all i know is that it was born in Estonia or Lithuania
thehomersapien 1 year ago
@unixblog Well you are trying to define the word usefulness and all you really did was reiterate what Moses was explaining the popular definition for 'usefulness' is. To me usefulness simply means that if you can use it than it is useful, you sir define it in terms like: where you live, future plans, etc. Today with the world wide web you can have a conversation with a Chinese person without ever stepping foot on a plane, just because there is no personal gain doesn't make it useless
andrewl5201 1 year ago
@unixblog
I can not see how *most* languages are useless.
Where are you getting your knowledge? Are you saying that most languages are useless for YOU? Are you saying that most languages are useless for the people who live in your town or city?
NaomiChambers 1 year ago
Respect! I love this attitude. Languages can be helpful when you least expect them to. You never know whose help you might need, whose love you might find by speaking his/her language. You're a delight, guy, my eyes have seen and my ears have heard hope.
Tere, tere, Hiir!
RedKhandro 1 year ago
Are you playing in an NBA team? no offense
OhThatGuy9 1 year ago
@OhThatGuy9
psssh most worthless comment ive read in here...fuck you racist...get the hell outta here bitch
Greyhoundz99999 1 year ago
@Greyhoundz99999 Hey, im not a racist. He's face just seem'd familiar.
OhThatGuy9 1 year ago
@OhThatGuy9 Were you born retarded? no offense
DontFuckWitDreDay 5 months ago
I could not agree more, there is no "useless" language.
When I was learning old greek and latin in school, many people did ask why bother studying "useless" language. My response was usually: "It is the last time in my life I will have time to do something useless".
And by the way, by 2050 about half of todays 7000 languages will become extinct.
MrGummibaerli 1 year ago
@unixblog Coo. I respect your opinion. Thanks for commenting here.
laoshu505000 1 year ago 9
LOL @ people who are saying he looks like Randy Moss. He looks nothing like him
stephniz 1 year ago
Dont forget that learing languages, even "useless" ones like latin or sanskrit, will help you understanding languages better, including your own mother tongue. The more languages you know the easier it will be to learn other languages.
To tell you the truth I actually find it a bit offending when people ask me why i would ever want to learn "their" language... I dont know why, but i guess it feels as though they are questioning my intelligence or something.
svsimon 1 year ago
Well that is true, but in this case i might find Estonian useless, however the finnish languge is more usefull. Besides some countries do not speak so good english like South America or Japan. In this case it is very important.
MrLinder 1 year ago
what i really consider an useless language is maybe something like catalan, 'cause everyone who speaks catalan is able to speak spanish as well. therefore there are no monolingual catalan speakers.
alejopecora 1 year ago
You are so right! I came from Estonia to Germany, when I was 7 years old. I hope I never forget " Eesti keelt".
LineCaro80 1 year ago
@LineCaro80 mäletad siis ikka we? ;P
megashitto 1 year ago
@megashitto : Ja, ma mäletan veel eesti keelt natuke. Minu isa rägib minuga eesti keelt. Olen nüüd 23 aastad saksamaal. Aga kirjutada on väga raske.
LineCaro80 1 year ago
@LineCaro80 mäletad siis ikka we? ;P ma ise norrakas btw
megashitto 1 year ago
I just watched the Vikings game and this guy looks exactly like Randy Moss, WOW
ginogeno 1 year ago
@ginogeno I don't look like him man..
laoshu505000 1 year ago 8
dude no offense but u look like u related to Randy Moss.. seriously u might be/./
KeenoMajeeno1 1 year ago
@KeenoMajeeno1 maaan, why people keep sayin that...lol
laoshu505000 1 year ago
u look and sound like randy moss. especially with the beard
walkman123456789 1 year ago
@walkman123456789 That's so funny because people keep saying that. I don't think I look like that guy at all
laoshu505000 1 year ago
you are gona go sooooo far, not bad for a black guy ,,,,,,,lol, giver dude hope the best for you really,never limit yourself, sorry bout the black guy stufff lol
terrancelueckgen 1 year ago
you are gona go sooooo far, not bad for a black guy ,,,,,,,lol, giver dude hope the best for you really,never limit yourself
terrancelueckgen 1 year ago
you are gona go sooooo far, not bad for a black guy ,,,,,,,lol, giver dude hope the best for you really,
terrancelueckgen 1 year ago
i agree, i don't like it when people say that, i hope one day i can learn more languages because i love them too but my parents say its useless so i have to do it on my own
jdsmart118 1 year ago
Hey, if You need someone to talk in Lithuanian, I would really like to. :)
aiwars94 1 year ago
I wanted to address the usefulness of Sanskrit as a language. Let me say to all the naysayers that believe Sanskrit is a useless language are all dead wrong. The reason I say this are due to several circumstances:
*Sanskrit has influenced almost every language in the Indian subcontinent. For example largely spoken Indo Aryan languages in India such as Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Nepali, have borrowed about 50% of the vocabulary from Sanskrit in addition to various grammatical structures.
descentfromhistory 1 year ago
@descentfromhistory *Even Indian languages that are not from the same language family as Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan/Indo-European) especially the 4 of the 5 major Dravidian languages (Malayalam,Tulu,Kannada,Telugu) have also borrowed heavily from Sanskrit. For example more than 80% of Malayalam words are directly from Sanskrit. The only major language of India to not have been greatly influenced by it would be Tamil.
(cont'd in next post)
descentfromhistory 1 year ago
@descentfromhistory So in regards to you studying Sanskrit I'd say go fully ahead because not only will it ease you into studying other Indian languages. But its large vocabulary has influenced every language of the Subcontinent so a native person from almost every part of India would understand a large portion of words you speak.
descentfromhistory 1 year ago
the word CUNT sounds best when a british cunt is saying the word cunt!
Manflesh300 1 year ago
A language is "useless" if you are very self centered and don't want to help other people. But then again, how many people do you see that won't help anyone?
dslcharge 1 year ago
Learn greek. It's pretty "useless", hehe!
sourmelee 1 year ago
You're a complete joke as Christophe Clugston has pointed out. Geo Locked is the term you idiot.
AnthonySullivan 1 year ago
Useless is better defined as Geo Locked. Those languages that are Geo Locked and have under several million speakers will not serve you unless you live in that very small area. All of these geo locked languages will learn a WL to do business, education, etc
christopheclugston 1 year ago
@christopheclugston You don't know what your talking about. This guy drives a truck not a Geo.
AnthonySullivan 1 year ago
Sign language is really fun! you should try it!
lyndon5017 1 year ago
So, you aren't going to learn acient egyptian anytime soon? xD
xThunderxWolfx 1 year ago
This is a great video. I am learning German, Dutch and Norwegian, ok they are not as rare as some of the languages you learn but still Dutch and Norwegian are not that popular. People say to me all the time "why do you learn Dutch and Norwegian what will you do with them?" but when I started out learning these languages a job never came into my mind, living in these countries for a few months/years came into my mind. I think it is amazing what your doing. Regards from Ireland.
callmemrmilkman 1 year ago
There are no useless languages! :)
smartwarlord 1 year ago
I am impressed with your passion of languages! I am the same way, it is so fun to learn something new. I'm glad you made a video about this subject because I am tired of hearing people telling me about how my choice in language is useless. Yet one of the languages that I have decided to learn, Akkadian, yes obviously it is extinct but I find Mesopotamia fascinating! It's not useless to me! That is all that should matter, is if it's not useless to you, who cares what others think! =)
heavenlyrikku 1 year ago
Is (im not sure if this is how you say it) Singaporean useless? becuase i had alot of Singapore friends and there very nice when i used to play warcraft and other games
angelf1 2 years ago
Nothing is useless, but they can be worthless.
If you are French, for what reason do you need to invest in learning Japanese? No reason, so why put the effort. Sure you might travel to Japan once, but thats it?
switch situation, if you are french and your mom is Japanese, now japanese became very important.
So it depends on the situation
mememe84 2 years ago
usefullness depends on the region, for example Dutch is usefull in Flanders, but in the neibouring contry like France it could be less usefull, English is the only language which is everywere spoken.
I totally agree with the fact that there is no single "useless language
In Belgium many employers require Knouwledge of Dutch,French,English and to a lesser extent German, so it is regional, from my point of view all languages all precious
misteranonymous12345 2 years ago
I think learning a language is good way to develop one's character, that is, if the person learning isn't simply in it for the money. Plus what harm would it do to a person if (s)he is learning what people with an economic mindset would consider "useless" languages?
jcsf9 2 years ago
Most people have a homo economicus mentality. They have reduced everything down into economic terms: a man is described by how much he can produce and what services he can provide.
tomispev02 2 years ago
Even Hmong isn't useless if it gets you a date with a good looking Hmong girl!
usenetposts 2 years ago 30
hahahaha!
laoshu505000 2 years ago
The way you speak is very deep, I been trying to learn many languages, like Japanese and French. It is true in what you say about dead languages, but its different in my case, no one around where I live speak it, I know because I listen to them when people speak around me.
Question: Where did you learn to speak the languages you know, I would want to know because I am very interested.
XXRasenganxChidoriXX 2 years ago
I've been learning languages independently. Don't get discouraged at the fact that you don't have anyone around to practice with. In fact, a lot of the languages I know, I don't have anyone to use them with. I normally just use the internet to practice them. If you need any suggestions or what not, just let me know and I'll try to help you out the best I can. Thanks for viewing my videos.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
English, Chinese and Spanish. The rest is for entertainment.
Zco4cuerdas 2 years ago
None of those three languages is useful if you live in a country that doesn't speak those languages. If you live in Vietnam, Vietnamese is far more useful than English, Chinese, and Spanish combined.
Besides, if you want to go by GDP, German and Japanese each have far higher GDP's than the entire Spanish-speaking world.
VictimOfBoredom 2 years ago
No language is useless, period.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
I agree with you, though my point was primarily to counter Zco4cuerdas' assertion that only English, Chinese, and Spanish are "practical" in the general sense. For example, Hungarian is more practical than Spanish, English, or Chinese if you happen to live in Hungary, so it wouldn't just be "for entertainment".
Considering the point of this video, I probably should have clarified my terminology.
VictimOfBoredom 2 years ago
Oh, I didn't mean it in a mean way..haha
laoshu505000 2 years ago
@VictimOfBoredom Bitch bitch bitch. Cry cry cry.
xThunderxWolfx 1 year ago
What is your problem...?
Who was bitching and crying?
VictimOfBoredom 1 year ago
From where I'm from in the UK, there are so many people who consider languages to be "useless" solely because they've barely stepped out their own doorstep, and only been abroad to France very few times. I think many people consider languages to be useless because they're simply ignorant, and don't know the reality of how learning a language, even really obscure ones, can come in useful if your lifestyle or travel MAKES it useful.
MrJamesR82 2 years ago
Japanese has been considered useless as well. This kid at school said it "wasn't very useful" because I live in the UK,where French is the biggie.
tokuanimecitvguy 2 years ago
Yea, i remember hearing someone else say that Japanese was useless. There's no such thing as useless languages.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
Indeed, I am currently learning learning Japanese, something I've been willing to do for a long time, but never gotten the time. I think that it is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. I am not sure about other people's opinions on this, but I don't care. I simply love Japanese, and also consider learning Sanskrit just for my own knowledge's sake.
However, I must admit that I think the Japanese and Chinese made all those symbols of their out of pure boredom...
masterd000 2 years ago
I agree. I'm adding you for future videos!
DJRick313rd 2 years ago
5:36-5:38
lolollollollol
NV417 2 years ago 3
malaysian? isn't it called Malay?
NV417 2 years ago
Hey Moses - don't know if you know any Czech, but I know you know Russian, so maybe you can understand this phrase I picked up when learning Czech -
Kolik jayzků umíš, tolikrát jsí člověkem
Deorca 2 years ago
excuse me, but lao shu, why did you pick this name?
also you ever watch porno in other languages? does it help one in one's journey to learn other languages?
akathetruthteller 2 years ago
great job Moses....
u're a good person
M7MD12341234 2 years ago 3
any tool that allows people to communicate and express themselves and thier ideas can never be called useless! language and the variety of them are blessings. i can't imagine being satisfied only knowing one. the more the better :D
ichimaru378 2 years ago
hi I'm from Saudi Arabia and i saw your clip when you are speaking Arabic i think that was wonderful ..
keep going bro we are supporting you
alzaeeeeeeeem 2 years ago
How many languages do you know???like on an expert level??
natrullan 2 years ago
I don't really consider myself an expert in anything because I'm still learning new things everyday.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
Thanks for talking about this. When I started learning Czech about 10 yrs ago, loads of ppl said to me "what's the point?". Made me so angry at the time, it had never struck me before that some ppl only want to learn languages if they really have to. That level of ignorance still annoys me actually, so I generally avoid talking about learning languages.
Deorca 2 years ago 4
I can relate to that! My parents and a few others have told me that learning Vietnamese, Japanese, Danish, etc. are all useless, but the real kicker is that you NEVER know when you'll need it! There have been times where my Japanese was needed on the job, or translating something for my parents from Japanese to Chinese. You just never know...
akujinnoeso 2 years ago
I agree fully, you never know when you'll need it, though even to discuss that kind of misses the point that I think Moses was making. Why does a language have to be considered 'useful' if you're doing it for enjoyment?
Deorca 2 years ago 5
@Deorca I feel the exact same way. I usually avoid talking about it unless someone understands why I do it, because otherwise people just say "why?" or they find it unbelievable that I want to learn new languages (and I mean that literally. They literally don't BELIEVE me lol.) It's kind of annoying, but it's something that I like to do, so who cares? haha And actually, I made a bunch of friends in a new country because of it, and I'm going there this summer, so see? Not useless at all ;)
pinkpumpkinn 1 year ago 3
I admire your attitude, Mr. McCormick. I also agree with you 110%. I have learned that there are various native american languages, some of which are endangered. The language of the Chitimacha tribe in Louisiana is being revived, however. Perhaps YOU could be a part of preserving or reviving dead or endangered native american languages. What do you think about that?
Linguist1967 2 years ago
It's funny you've mentioned that because those are my intentions.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
Excellent. I hope you'll make videos on endangered and reviving languages in the future. I wish you the best with that.
Linguist1967 2 years ago
Excellent. Go for it and I hope you'll discuss what you hope to do along those lines in detail in a future video.
Linguist1967 2 years ago
Reading Homer and Beowulf in the original is definitely worth it : )
17mathieu 2 years ago
It's rather odd that the same people who may fully support any number of other things, like one hobby or another, or sports (which could well be seen as being useless...), would then go on to say that language learning (even if it were to be reduced to the status of a "hobby", purely for the enjoyment of learning new things... though it's more than that...) is useless...
TheRealCaptainCarrot 2 years ago
Comment removed
AvanRJ 2 years ago
Personally, I've always had a plan to eventually learn an old dead language, like Middle Egyptian. Not just for educational and historical reasons, but for selfish ones too. Nobody would have a clue what my grocery list would read, muahaha!
NephilaClavata 2 years ago
That was a good one ! : D
Jonnemanne 2 years ago
That's the spirit!!
Milehighkingpin 2 years ago
Learning a language opens up the door to communicating with potentially millions of other people in the world, not to mention so much more. How is that in any way useless?
If no one speaks it anymore, it can at least help you to understand an entire culture of the past. That's not useless is it?
NephilaClavata 2 years ago 2
I agree with what you are saying. Just one question, though. When you say that learning a language opens up the door to communicate with millions of people, isn't it true that for some countries where people already speak pretty good English as a second language, this door was already open? Take Sweden for example, where I'm from. Most people here are good English speakers even though it's not our native language. Will learning Swedish still open up doors that was closed before?
TheCrazyStudent 2 years ago
True, true...but if I were going to Sweden (which I will in the future) I'd want to at least be able to speak a little Swedish out of respect and politeness. Also, it would make it easier to understand TV and such; you wouldn't always have to be asking people what things meant.
It's funny because I'm actually trying to learn Swedish at the moment, I just started. :)
NephilaClavata 2 years ago
NephilaClavata I completely agree with what you said before about "dead" languages. They are definitely not useless because, as you said, it opens up a door to the past and establishes a connection with people from another time in history (even when people call them dead languages bothers me, because it makes it sound like they're totally useless or irelevant). I am currently studying Ancient Greek and Anglo-Saxon and, while it is tough, it is well worth the work!
17mathieu 2 years ago
I can tell you that it does, definitely. The first year I lived here in Sweden I could speak almost no Swedish, and like you say, most ppl speak pretty good English. I learned Swedish pretty quickly, and there was a huge difference, I fitted in much better straight away, no-one had to translate for me, conversations weren't stilted.
Yes, it's handy having English to fall back on where it's available, but it's not the same as being able to speak the native language.
Deorca 2 years ago
very true! happens to me all the time with certaine customers.
dayron25 2 years ago
no language is useless
daysin1234 2 years ago 23
@daysin1234 have you heard him said ,,no language is useless". ?
aZnchuux3 1 year ago
I get this same thing all the time. Its like people just don't get why someone would spend their time to learn a language just for fun. I have a good friend that I told I was going to start learning Japanese the other day. He told me that I should learn it because I won't be going to Japan and I won't need it. I just stick with Romance languages because that is where the money is. I almost cut him off that day as my friend. I don't think I got that angry in a while.
zocurtis 2 years ago 3
He just didn't realize that to me, it didn't matter whether I could use the language to make money, which if it happens that why, thats a plus but I just love languages regardless. I hear a new language on the radio or meet someone who speaks another language and I get so excited (I was going to use another word there in place of "so excited")! I just love the process, it doesn't matter to me whether I can find a job because of it or not.
zocurtis 2 years ago 3
Yea, I know what you mean. This is how the average person thinks unfortunately.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
There's no such thing as an useless language since it's all subjective. For instance, Latin could be the last one i would learn but for a philologist this language might be of crucial importance. So i think it's quite "useless" to label a language this way, i would rather talk of more practical languages which allow you to communicate with a larger number of speakers and find lots of interesting contents (often that also means: more fun).
DiaN7X 2 years ago
I agree. People should learn languages because they are interested and passionate about languages, and not only because it will help them "get a job" or because these languages are "useful". I often get the same comments about useful/useless languages which I find irritating. If we all limit ourselves to learning so called useful languages then we will all be speaking the same languages and the world will be a very boring place.
manray247 2 years ago
Nice rant. I wholeheartedly agree.
I speak Esperanto, and I know constructed languages aren't everybody's cup of tea, but Esperanto isn't useless. I love speaking it because you can literally meet people from any country using it. You never know where the next person you speak Esperanto with is going to be from.
AtomikNY 2 years ago 5
Yea, that's right.
laoshu505000 2 years ago
Hey I forgot to ask you why you drop cantonese and chose to study mandarin instead of it? Are you going to study cantonese some day? What do you think about cantonese? I love it ! and I love also vietnamese ! My can practice it everyday if I decided to learn it seriously but now I'm busy with indonesian.
loki2504 2 years ago
Well, I was suppose to start with Cantonese, but at that time I couldn't find any resources. However, I started learning Cantonese later on. I can actually speak some, but it's all out of place..-_-
laoshu505000 2 years ago
Great vid man! Aome of my friends say that languages like Estonian, that have about a million or even less speakers are useless. Which is stupid at my opinion. I think that every language regardless of it's origin nor the amount of speakers is special!
laury150 2 years ago 3