Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)

From: Lee Sau Dan (danlee_at_informatik.uni-freiburg.de)
Date: 03/18/05 

Date: 18 Mar 2005 21:11:48 +0800

>>>>> "phippsmartin" == phippsmartin <phippsmartin@hotmail.com> writes:

    phippsmartin> We also don't know if the Romanian and the Slavs
    phippsmartin> could understand each other's language. If I speak
    phippsmartin> to someone in English and they understand me because
    phippsmartin> he understands English and he speaks to me in
    phippsmartin> Chinese and I undertstand him because I understand
    phippsmartin> Chinese, does that mean that English and Chinese are
    phippsmartin> related?

And that scenario is not a mere imagination. It often occurs between
Chinese immigrants in the US, where the immigrats and their children
talk in that way. Parents speak to children in Chinese, and children
respond in English. Both sides understand the other without problems.
(Grandparents, if present, would often complain because they can't
follow the conversation or quarrel.)

And of course, that doesn't mean Chinese and English are related
languages. 

-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     §õ¦u´°                          ~{@nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee

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