Languages, words
Jun. 29th, 2004 01:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wispfoxEnglish has insufficient words. Even considering how many words there are (mostly synonyms), there are not enough.
For those who know Spanish:
Why are 'conocer' and 'saber' both 'to know' in English? Hello, _really_ different meanings! ('To be aquainted with someone' and 'to have knowledge about something/one')
Or... 'ser' and 'estar', being 'to be'? ('to be, on a permanent basis' - like, for example, 'I am myself', or 'to be, on a temporary basis' - like, 'I am well')
Or... 'picante' and 'caliente', as 'hot'? (spicy hot vs temperature hot - seriously, I tend to try to use 'picante' _all the time_. But not everyone knows Spanish)
Why do we say that we _are_ hungry, rather than (as in Spanish) we have hunger? (or cold, or hot, or sleepy, or thirsty, or...)
I _do_ use 'have' that way often enough, because that makes more sense in my head. If y'all ever wondered why my grammar is so strange, combine not thinking in words, and knowing two different languages, where my brain often tries to pick the grammar that is closest to how I think or the ideas came out of my head. :)
For those who know Spanish:
Why are 'conocer' and 'saber' both 'to know' in English? Hello, _really_ different meanings! ('To be aquainted with someone' and 'to have knowledge about something/one')
Or... 'ser' and 'estar', being 'to be'? ('to be, on a permanent basis' - like, for example, 'I am myself', or 'to be, on a temporary basis' - like, 'I am well')
Or... 'picante' and 'caliente', as 'hot'? (spicy hot vs temperature hot - seriously, I tend to try to use 'picante' _all the time_. But not everyone knows Spanish)
Why do we say that we _are_ hungry, rather than (as in Spanish) we have hunger? (or cold, or hot, or sleepy, or thirsty, or...)
I _do_ use 'have' that way often enough, because that makes more sense in my head. If y'all ever wondered why my grammar is so strange, combine not thinking in words, and knowing two different languages, where my brain often tries to pick the grammar that is closest to how I think or the ideas came out of my head. :)
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Re: Languages,words
Date: 2004-06-29 06:31 pm (UTC)One thing about English is that it tends to speak more of possessing things in the body and mind rather than being such things. 'Course the hunger thing is a counterpoint. I wonder about the sapirwhorfity of different manners of thinking of concepts. I know that one time after studying intensely for a Japanese final, afterwards, I was much more deferential than I ever am...