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Lingo: A language spotter's guide to Europe
Why the Spanish speak so fast, the Dutch are gender-benders and it's hard to add up in Breton...
Welcome to Europe as you've never known it before, seen through the peculiarities of its languages and dialects. Combining linguistics and cultural history, Gaston Dorren takes us on an intriguing tour of the continent, from Proto-Indo-European (the common ancestor of most European languages) to the rise and rise of English, via the complexities of Welsh plurals and Czech pronunciation. Along the way we learn why Esperanto will never catch on, how the language of William the Conqueror lives on in the Channel Islands and why Finnish is the easiest European language.
Surprising, witty and full of extraordinary facts, this book will change the way you think about the languages around you. Polyglot Gaston Dorren might even persuade you that English is like Chinese.
Welcome to Europe as you've never known it before, seen through the peculiarities of its languages and dialects. Combining linguistics and cultural history, Gaston Dorren takes us on an intriguing tour of the continent, from Proto-Indo-European (the common ancestor of most European languages) to the rise and rise of English, via the complexities of Welsh plurals and Czech pronunciation. Along the way we learn why Esperanto will never catch on, how the language of William the Conqueror lives on in the Channel Islands and why Finnish is the easiest European language.
Surprising, witty and full of extraordinary facts, this book will change the way you think about the languages around you. Polyglot Gaston Dorren might even persuade you that English is like Chinese.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2014
About the author
Gaston Dorren
11 books220 followersHaving started to talk before I could walk, I remember my pre-schooler’s frustration at being unable to read. In my teens and later, I learnt a handful of languages sort of well; I've dabbled in many others since.
In recent years, I've published several books about language and linguistics, in both English and Dutch.
* Lingo (2014), about the languages of Europe; also available in Dutch (Lingua), German (Sprachen), Russian (Lingvo), Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian; Italian forthcoming.
* Babel (2018), about the world's 20 largest languages. Spanish, Mandarin (2), Norwegian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese and Dutch translations are scheduled for 2019/20.
* Vakantie in eigen taal (2016), about the Dutch languages.
* Nieuwe tongen (1999), about heritage languages in the Netherlands and Flanders.
I live in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, with my wife, Marleen.
I have a rather catholic taste in fiction. In English, from David Mitchell, Pat Barker and Alain de Botton to P.G. Wodehouse, Jasper Fforde and Rowling's Harry Potter series. In my mother tongue, from Renate Dorrestein and the (van het) Reve brothers to many others of lesser international renown.
When it comes to linguistic non-fiction, I like John McWhorter, Guy Deutscher, David Crystal, Nicholas Ostler, Henriette Walther (French), Karl-Heinz Göttert (German), Lola Pons Rodríguez (Spanish), Marc van Oostendorp (Dutch) and Joop van der Horst (Dutch).
In recent years, I've published several books about language and linguistics, in both English and Dutch.
* Lingo (2014), about the languages of Europe; also available in Dutch (Lingua), German (Sprachen), Russian (Lingvo), Spanish, Swedish and Norwegian; Italian forthcoming.
* Babel (2018), about the world's 20 largest languages. Spanish, Mandarin (2), Norwegian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, Vietnamese and Dutch translations are scheduled for 2019/20.
* Vakantie in eigen taal (2016), about the Dutch languages.
* Nieuwe tongen (1999), about heritage languages in the Netherlands and Flanders.
I live in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, with my wife, Marleen.
I have a rather catholic taste in fiction. In English, from David Mitchell, Pat Barker and Alain de Botton to P.G. Wodehouse, Jasper Fforde and Rowling's Harry Potter series. In my mother tongue, from Renate Dorrestein and the (van het) Reve brothers to many others of lesser international renown.
When it comes to linguistic non-fiction, I like John McWhorter, Guy Deutscher, David Crystal, Nicholas Ostler, Henriette Walther (French), Karl-Heinz Göttert (German), Lola Pons Rodríguez (Spanish), Marc van Oostendorp (Dutch) and Joop van der Horst (Dutch).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 535 reviews
January 4, 2016
This was a kind of whirlwind tour of the history of the languages of Europe. How they began, developed and spread or died. I've been reading quite a few linguistics books recently and this kind of rounds them out in a very light and entertaining way.
Countries are often very fierce about their national language as it is the main, defining point of their nationhood. There are many examples from Basque to Monagasque. One closer to home for me is Irish Gaelic was just about extinct and no one speaks it as their first language, yet it is an official EU language and so everything must be translated into it and also translators must be on hand for simultaneous translation of the language in debates etc. Every single Irishman speaks English, this is a total waste of money.
In Scotland they are planning the same, in case of independence they will need their own language (Glasgow already does. Glaswegian is subtitled on tv. Anyone from south of Tyneside - and possibly further north than that - cannot understand a drunken Glaswegian and they drink more than anyone else in the UK). At the moment Scottish Gaelic is spoken by 1.1% of the population all of whom speak English as well.
And so it is with the languages of Europe. Those tiny principalities like Luxembourg and provinces with enough clout teach these more or less extinct languages to their children and insist they are the official tongue. They've never heard of 'the more we are together the happier we shall be'. But then perhaps I'm just an English-speaking (but Welsh) chauvinist.
__________
Author's individual and right-on attitude to history.
Note on starting the book.
Countries are often very fierce about their national language as it is the main, defining point of their nationhood. There are many examples from Basque to Monagasque. One closer to home for me is Irish Gaelic was just about extinct and no one speaks it as their first language, yet it is an official EU language and so everything must be translated into it and also translators must be on hand for simultaneous translation of the language in debates etc. Every single Irishman speaks English, this is a total waste of money.
In Scotland they are planning the same, in case of independence they will need their own language (Glasgow already does. Glaswegian is subtitled on tv. Anyone from south of Tyneside - and possibly further north than that - cannot understand a drunken Glaswegian and they drink more than anyone else in the UK). At the moment Scottish Gaelic is spoken by 1.1% of the population all of whom speak English as well.
And so it is with the languages of Europe. Those tiny principalities like Luxembourg and provinces with enough clout teach these more or less extinct languages to their children and insist they are the official tongue. They've never heard of 'the more we are together the happier we shall be'. But then perhaps I'm just an English-speaking (but Welsh) chauvinist.
__________
Author's individual and right-on attitude to history.
Note on starting the book.
September 12, 2018
Anyone who likes languages will like this book. If you aren't a linguist, I am sure there is much in here to interest you, too. Okay, some of it is a little basic, and on other occasions there is waaaay too much detail. But this is fun. It is interesting. I like the short chapters: you learn a few facts about a particular language, then move on. If I wanted a complete history I certainly would have looked elsewhere. This book will keep you entertained and you will learn a few tings along the way. Well researched, well written. Fun.
February 8, 2016
I was expecting...something different. I knew from the cover description that this would not be an in-depth treatise, but I was still surprised at just how superficial most of the discussion in this book was. Just when I'd think the author was gearing up to dig into something juicy or interesting - nope! Chapter's over.
And some of the chapters just seemed kind of pointless. The entirety of the two pages on Danish could be summed up as, "Danish used to be spoken over a very large area. Then there were some wars and that area shrank. Then there were some other conflicts and it shrank again. Now its area is much smaller." ...okay? Cool? That really could have been explained in a short paragraph, and the rest of the chapter dedicated to discussion of the actual language.
The places where a lot of detail was given were often the ones I felt needed it least, e.g. over-long lists of word forms to illustrate a relatively minor point. I particularly noticed this in the chapter on Welsh, but it happened elsewhere, too.
I'm no professional linguist - my knowledge is mostly from two very basic linguistics classes I had in college - but I was still kind of disappointed. I didn't hate this, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.
And some of the chapters just seemed kind of pointless. The entirety of the two pages on Danish could be summed up as, "Danish used to be spoken over a very large area. Then there were some wars and that area shrank. Then there were some other conflicts and it shrank again. Now its area is much smaller." ...okay? Cool? That really could have been explained in a short paragraph, and the rest of the chapter dedicated to discussion of the actual language.
The places where a lot of detail was given were often the ones I felt needed it least, e.g. over-long lists of word forms to illustrate a relatively minor point. I particularly noticed this in the chapter on Welsh, but it happened elsewhere, too.
I'm no professional linguist - my knowledge is mostly from two very basic linguistics classes I had in college - but I was still kind of disappointed. I didn't hate this, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.
September 8, 2022
3.5 stars
This is a neat little book, consisting of very brief chapters (usually 3-4 pages) highlighting some aspect of 60 different languages of Europe. I learned a lot of fun facts and some useful background from it. Some articles are very informative, while others are quite lightweight or lean heavily on humor, and overall I didn’t get as much out of it as this author’s other book, Babel, about the 20 most-spoken languages of the world. Perhaps just because I read Babel first, but also because slightly longer chapters allow that book to delve more deeply and explain more than this one does. Nevertheless, this is definitely a fun read for the linguistically curious!
Below, some fun facts:
- Language families of Europe: Indo-European is the largest, and it has 10 extant branches. Five major ones: Romance, Slavic, Germanic, Indic, and Iranian (other sources combine these last two). And five minor: Baltic, Celtic, and then three that only have one living language apiece: Greek, Armenian, and Albanian. At least one language from each of these families is found somewhere in Europe, as Ossetian comes from the Iranian branch, and Romani from the Indic branch.
- But not all European languages are Indo-European! Several are Finno-Ugric, including Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. Maltese is Semitic. Basque is an isolate with no known living relatives.
- The Balkans feature a diverse jumble of languages: the isolated Greek and Albanian, plus Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian (Slavic), plus Romanian (Romance), plus Turkish. As a result they’ve picked up elements from each other: putting articles at the end of a word, avoiding infinitives, forming the future tense with a single word (which coincidentally, English also does).
- Icelandic has changed so little over the centuries that its speakers can still read medieval sagas for fun, a bit like the way English speakers can read 19th century novels. Isolation alone doesn’t do this; a long history of literacy, close connectedness throughout the country, and lack of youth culture are also potential contributors.
- Spoken Norwegian varies wildly over the country, though everyone manages to understand each other. And there are four candidates for the official written language!
- Until around the 1960s, Swedish had no second person singular pronoun (“you”) appropriate to most contexts; instead, you had to address people in the third person by their name or title with appropriate degrees of respectfulness given their relative standing in relation to yours. (If you were offering the boss of your company coffee: “Would Mr. Director So-and-So like a coffee?” If you were offering it to your maid: “Would Agatha like…?”) The word “du” existed, but was only permissible in very close relationships or with children, otherwise denoting contempt. They’ve since democratized the language to allow widespread use of du, but there are still those who would prefer another form of “you,” such as the plural, applied to more formal situations.
- Ancient Greek exported words to the rest of the world, where many others used them to coin new words, with constructions that would never have been used in Greek. Modern Greek has picked many of these up anyway, essentially borrowing the loan words back!
- Many European languages make numbers very hard, essentially spelling out the addition or multiplication required to arrive at the number, which can make then calculating with it near impossible.
- Celtic languages seem to have quite robust preservation and revitalization movements, compared to endangered languages in much of the rest of the world: Irish, Cornish and Manx all have people genuinely dedicated to learning and using them. Meanwhile, Monaco has made Monegasque, a Romance language no one actually speaks anymore, mandatory in grade schools.
- Esperanto is weirdly complex and difficult for a language once hoped to unite humanity.
This is a neat little book, consisting of very brief chapters (usually 3-4 pages) highlighting some aspect of 60 different languages of Europe. I learned a lot of fun facts and some useful background from it. Some articles are very informative, while others are quite lightweight or lean heavily on humor, and overall I didn’t get as much out of it as this author’s other book, Babel, about the 20 most-spoken languages of the world. Perhaps just because I read Babel first, but also because slightly longer chapters allow that book to delve more deeply and explain more than this one does. Nevertheless, this is definitely a fun read for the linguistically curious!
Below, some fun facts:
- Language families of Europe: Indo-European is the largest, and it has 10 extant branches. Five major ones: Romance, Slavic, Germanic, Indic, and Iranian (other sources combine these last two). And five minor: Baltic, Celtic, and then three that only have one living language apiece: Greek, Armenian, and Albanian. At least one language from each of these families is found somewhere in Europe, as Ossetian comes from the Iranian branch, and Romani from the Indic branch.
- But not all European languages are Indo-European! Several are Finno-Ugric, including Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian. Maltese is Semitic. Basque is an isolate with no known living relatives.
- The Balkans feature a diverse jumble of languages: the isolated Greek and Albanian, plus Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian (Slavic), plus Romanian (Romance), plus Turkish. As a result they’ve picked up elements from each other: putting articles at the end of a word, avoiding infinitives, forming the future tense with a single word (which coincidentally, English also does).
- Icelandic has changed so little over the centuries that its speakers can still read medieval sagas for fun, a bit like the way English speakers can read 19th century novels. Isolation alone doesn’t do this; a long history of literacy, close connectedness throughout the country, and lack of youth culture are also potential contributors.
- Spoken Norwegian varies wildly over the country, though everyone manages to understand each other. And there are four candidates for the official written language!
- Until around the 1960s, Swedish had no second person singular pronoun (“you”) appropriate to most contexts; instead, you had to address people in the third person by their name or title with appropriate degrees of respectfulness given their relative standing in relation to yours. (If you were offering the boss of your company coffee: “Would Mr. Director So-and-So like a coffee?” If you were offering it to your maid: “Would Agatha like…?”) The word “du” existed, but was only permissible in very close relationships or with children, otherwise denoting contempt. They’ve since democratized the language to allow widespread use of du, but there are still those who would prefer another form of “you,” such as the plural, applied to more formal situations.
- Ancient Greek exported words to the rest of the world, where many others used them to coin new words, with constructions that would never have been used in Greek. Modern Greek has picked many of these up anyway, essentially borrowing the loan words back!
- Many European languages make numbers very hard, essentially spelling out the addition or multiplication required to arrive at the number, which can make then calculating with it near impossible.
- Celtic languages seem to have quite robust preservation and revitalization movements, compared to endangered languages in much of the rest of the world: Irish, Cornish and Manx all have people genuinely dedicated to learning and using them. Meanwhile, Monaco has made Monegasque, a Romance language no one actually speaks anymore, mandatory in grade schools.
- Esperanto is weirdly complex and difficult for a language once hoped to unite humanity.
August 31, 2016
An overview of European languages, including several either dead, dying, or spoken as distinct "minority" languages in their countries. Easy to pick up and put down without losing any continuity; folks looking for something more in-depth might likely find themselves frustrated or disappointed. Excellent audio narration - Backman obviously went to great lengths to get the material down correctly.
November 16, 2017
A fast reading, broad sweep of European languages. Just enough information to whet one's appetite to learn more about the development of many of the languages of Europe. I would think this book would be great for a High School library. Chapters are short and focus on a single language so a good book to read a little at a time along with reading something else.
November 26, 2019
Tā kā šī bija jau trešā "valodu grāmata" šogad, neko ārprātīgi daudz es neuzzināju, bet tāpat interesanti.
Parasti tādu grāmatu lasīšanas laikā tādas domas mijas no "šo patiesībā pat varētu iemācīties, neizklausās grūta valoda", līdz "no way in hell" brīžos, kad nonākam līdz izņēmumu un īpatnību sadaļai.
It kā jau var šausmināties par rakstību citās valodās, līdz nonākam līdz nelielam piemēram visiem zināmajā angļu valodā.
If gh stands for p as in hiccough
If ough stands for o as in dough
If phth stands for t as in phthisis
If eigh stands for a as in neighbour
If tte stands for t as in gazette
If eau stands for o as in plateau
Then potato should be spelt ghoughphtheightteeau
Parasti tādu grāmatu lasīšanas laikā tādas domas mijas no "šo patiesībā pat varētu iemācīties, neizklausās grūta valoda", līdz "no way in hell" brīžos, kad nonākam līdz izņēmumu un īpatnību sadaļai.
It kā jau var šausmināties par rakstību citās valodās, līdz nonākam līdz nelielam piemēram visiem zināmajā angļu valodā.
If gh stands for p as in hiccough
If ough stands for o as in dough
If phth stands for t as in phthisis
If eigh stands for a as in neighbour
If tte stands for t as in gazette
If eau stands for o as in plateau
Then potato should be spelt ghoughphtheightteeau
March 7, 2018
Šo grāmatu iepirku pērngad, tikko bija atvērusies grāmatnīca Mr. Page. Iegāju apskatīties un šo grāmatu nopirku. Bodes koncepts nebija slikts, bet lielākā daļa no grāmatām nav manā gaumē. Mākslas grāmatas mājās ir katram, un tā ir tāda grāmatu kategorija, ar kuru īsti nezini, ko pasākt. Beigās iegrūd plauktā un ceri, ka pienāks brīdis, kad varēsi izfīrēt to no mājas.
Grāmatas mērķis ir aprakstīt Eiropas valodas daudzveidību angliski runājošam lasītājam. Angļu valodas pratēji bieži vien iedomājas, ka viņi runā vislabākajā no valodām, tik labā, ka nevienu citu nav vērts mācīties. Daļa nemaz neapjauš, ka viņu valoda patiesībā ir īsts valodu kokteilis, kuru radījuši daudzi iekarotāji un brīva izrunas interpretācija. Taču to var teikt par jebkuru valodu.
Katrai valodai tiek veltītas pāris lapaspuses, un ir jābūt tiešām ar eidētisku atmiņu apveltītam, lai visas interesantās nianses atminētos. Tādēļ grāmatu izlasot prātā aizķēries visai maz, bet kopējais iespaids par grāmatu palicis labs. Pērkot grāmatu es pārliecinājos, ka tajā ir minēta latviešu valoda. Latviešu valodai veltītajā nodaļā tika uzsvērta latviešu vēlme jebkurai nelatviešu personai un ģeogrāfiskajai vietai pieķibināt latviešu galotni un modificēt to savā valodā. Mums tas liekas pašsaprotami, bet pasaulē nav nemaz tik daudz valodu, kur šādā vīzē valodas lietotāji izklaidētos. Šai pat nodaļā man sagruva ilūzijas par autora kompetenci, viņš apgalvoja, ka latvieši Oslo vietā saka Oslos! Tas man lika kritiski izvērtēt viņa citvalodu piesauktos faktus, ja nu arī tie ir Oslos!
Katras nodaļas beigās atrodama neliela piezīme, par vārdiem, kas iefiltrējušies angļu valodā (no latviešu neviens), un vārdu, kuru derētu paņemt (latviešu aizvakar). Visādi citādi grāmata ir tieši tas, ko sagaidīju. Stāsts par pēdējo prūsi, par to, kā nomirst un atdzimst valodas. Par to, kādēļ franči izmanto dīvainu skaitļu sistēmu, kur viņi rāvuši tos klusos burtus. Par to kādēļ krievu valoda šķiet tik grūta un par to, ka somu valoda, iespējams, ir visvieglākā valoda pasaulē. Par dīvaino Balkānu valodas saimi, kurā nemaz nav tik daudz valodu cik nacionālisma. Par to, kādēļ spāņu valoda šķiet ātra un kādēļ Esperanto tā arī nekad nekļuva par universālu valodu.
Bija nodaļas, kuras es tā arī nespēju sagremot, piemēram, velsiešu daudzskaitļi, gramatiku. Radās priekšstats, ka ar ķīniešu intonāciju valodu man būtu vienkāršāk izlasīt. Grāmatas lielākais pluss ir tas, ka vari izlasīt pāris nodaļas un atlikt malā, atpūtināt smadzenes. Iespējams, ka man tā arī vajadzēja darīt, nevis pāris stundās izlasīt visu un brīnīties par pamatīgu putru galvā.
Grāmatai lieku 8 no 10 ballēm, ja vēlies ko vieglu un izklaidējošu par lingvistiku, tad droši ņem ciet, būsi gan izklaidēts, gan ieguvis pārpārēm interesantus faktus par Eiropas valodām.
Grāmatas mērķis ir aprakstīt Eiropas valodas daudzveidību angliski runājošam lasītājam. Angļu valodas pratēji bieži vien iedomājas, ka viņi runā vislabākajā no valodām, tik labā, ka nevienu citu nav vērts mācīties. Daļa nemaz neapjauš, ka viņu valoda patiesībā ir īsts valodu kokteilis, kuru radījuši daudzi iekarotāji un brīva izrunas interpretācija. Taču to var teikt par jebkuru valodu.
Katrai valodai tiek veltītas pāris lapaspuses, un ir jābūt tiešām ar eidētisku atmiņu apveltītam, lai visas interesantās nianses atminētos. Tādēļ grāmatu izlasot prātā aizķēries visai maz, bet kopējais iespaids par grāmatu palicis labs. Pērkot grāmatu es pārliecinājos, ka tajā ir minēta latviešu valoda. Latviešu valodai veltītajā nodaļā tika uzsvērta latviešu vēlme jebkurai nelatviešu personai un ģeogrāfiskajai vietai pieķibināt latviešu galotni un modificēt to savā valodā. Mums tas liekas pašsaprotami, bet pasaulē nav nemaz tik daudz valodu, kur šādā vīzē valodas lietotāji izklaidētos. Šai pat nodaļā man sagruva ilūzijas par autora kompetenci, viņš apgalvoja, ka latvieši Oslo vietā saka Oslos! Tas man lika kritiski izvērtēt viņa citvalodu piesauktos faktus, ja nu arī tie ir Oslos!
Katras nodaļas beigās atrodama neliela piezīme, par vārdiem, kas iefiltrējušies angļu valodā (no latviešu neviens), un vārdu, kuru derētu paņemt (latviešu aizvakar). Visādi citādi grāmata ir tieši tas, ko sagaidīju. Stāsts par pēdējo prūsi, par to, kā nomirst un atdzimst valodas. Par to, kādēļ franči izmanto dīvainu skaitļu sistēmu, kur viņi rāvuši tos klusos burtus. Par to kādēļ krievu valoda šķiet tik grūta un par to, ka somu valoda, iespējams, ir visvieglākā valoda pasaulē. Par dīvaino Balkānu valodas saimi, kurā nemaz nav tik daudz valodu cik nacionālisma. Par to, kādēļ spāņu valoda šķiet ātra un kādēļ Esperanto tā arī nekad nekļuva par universālu valodu.
Bija nodaļas, kuras es tā arī nespēju sagremot, piemēram, velsiešu daudzskaitļi, gramatiku. Radās priekšstats, ka ar ķīniešu intonāciju valodu man būtu vienkāršāk izlasīt. Grāmatas lielākais pluss ir tas, ka vari izlasīt pāris nodaļas un atlikt malā, atpūtināt smadzenes. Iespējams, ka man tā arī vajadzēja darīt, nevis pāris stundās izlasīt visu un brīnīties par pamatīgu putru galvā.
Grāmatai lieku 8 no 10 ballēm, ja vēlies ko vieglu un izklaidējošu par lingvistiku, tad droši ņem ciet, būsi gan izklaidēts, gan ieguvis pārpārēm interesantus faktus par Eiropas valodām.
March 14, 2017
Не уявляла, що буває таке науково-популярне мовознавство. Більш популярне, але при тому не менш наукове. Розважальне мовознавство. У стилі розмови за червоним сухим вином на терасі затишної європейської кав'ярні. І говорите ви з поліглотом з вогниками у очах, який подорожує не тільки країнами, а й мовами. І роздинками кожної ладний поділитися з вами. Але має міру - він вміє вчасно зупинитися.
Книжка має кілька десятків розділів, і кожен присвячений якійсь європейській мові.
Не буду спойлерити, але з неї можна набратися безліч цікавинок, з якими хочеться ділитися з друзями.
Наприклад, що фінни і угорці не розуміють одне одного, бо хо їхні мови і споріднені, але надто давно вони розійшлися. Що найбільше схожа на спільну прамову з сучасних мов - литовська. Що у російській є дуже багато символів з грецької. Що французька довго не могла відірватися від материнських грудей латини. Що безліч суфіксів до слова "жінка" в італійській можуть описати все, що ви думаєте про цю жінку. Що носії слов'янських мов дуже легко розуміють одне одного, це як купи одну і отримай в бонус десять. Що мови розвиваються у напряму втрати відмінків і набуття артиклів. І навіть розділ є про українську, хоча, він якраз трішки розчарував.
Цікаво буде не тільки філологам. Наприклад, сподобався розділ-детектив, де треба відгадати, якою мовою написане речення. А потім дають підказки, за якими оригінальними буквами і знаками розпізнавати мови. Книжка для тих, хто мислить, любить мандрувати і завжди готовий розширяти власні горизонти. Приємно зверстана і прошита, свою нікому не віддам)
Книжка має кілька десятків розділів, і кожен присвячений якійсь європейській мові.
Не буду спойлерити, але з неї можна набратися безліч цікавинок, з якими хочеться ділитися з друзями.
Наприклад, що фінни і угорці не розуміють одне одного, бо хо їхні мови і споріднені, але надто давно вони розійшлися. Що найбільше схожа на спільну прамову з сучасних мов - литовська. Що у російській є дуже багато символів з грецької. Що французька довго не могла відірватися від материнських грудей латини. Що безліч суфіксів до слова "жінка" в італійській можуть описати все, що ви думаєте про цю жінку. Що носії слов'янських мов дуже легко розуміють одне одного, це як купи одну і отримай в бонус десять. Що мови розвиваються у напряму втрати відмінків і набуття артиклів. І навіть розділ є про українську, хоча, він якраз трішки розчарував.
Цікаво буде не тільки філологам. Наприклад, сподобався розділ-детектив, де треба відгадати, якою мовою написане речення. А потім дають підказки, за якими оригінальними буквами і знаками розпізнавати мови. Книжка для тих, хто мислить, любить мандрувати і завжди готовий розширяти власні горизонти. Приємно зверстана і прошита, свою нікому не віддам)
August 21, 2019
Lasot šo grāmatu nācās atcerēties studiju gadus un salīdzinošās valodniecības kursu. Īss pārstāsts par Eiropas valodām, to īpatnībām, izcelsmi. Katras nelielās nodaļas beigās ir neliela atkāpe par to, ko no katras konkrētās valodas ir aizguvusi angļu valoda (grāmata vairāk paredzēta angļu val.runājošajiem). Visinteresantākā nodaļa likās par zīmju valodu. Zvaigne nost par 2 kļūdām,ko atradu tekstā.
October 15, 2016
I don't think I can truly express how much I loved this book? It really surprised me - I don't recall why I downloaded it, probably some Kindle deal day, but it must've sat there unread for a year or so, I actually put it in my 'Holiday Reads' folder twice, but when it came to the actual holiday thought it would be too much hard work. Silly me.
It's a witty and interesting whirlwind tour through European languages since the Greeks. Where they came from, how they evolved, languages that died out, languages that have been resurrected. Learned at least what some of those squiggles under and above some letters mean, along with why my Finnish friend Liisa spells her name with two i's.
If you've ever thought to yourself, well why don't they just spell it like that or why does this language put words in this order? Why are something masculine and feminine and others not - you'll likely learn all about that in this book.
One of my favourite parts was at the end of each chapter, there was a word English has loaned from each language - along with often a word that doesn't exist in English that probably should.
As someone who's learning Swedish, this book was so insightful, as someone who's had brief dalliances with several other languages through life, I feel again so much more informed - knowing the why not just the how.
It's a witty and interesting whirlwind tour through European languages since the Greeks. Where they came from, how they evolved, languages that died out, languages that have been resurrected. Learned at least what some of those squiggles under and above some letters mean, along with why my Finnish friend Liisa spells her name with two i's.
If you've ever thought to yourself, well why don't they just spell it like that or why does this language put words in this order? Why are something masculine and feminine and others not - you'll likely learn all about that in this book.
One of my favourite parts was at the end of each chapter, there was a word English has loaned from each language - along with often a word that doesn't exist in English that probably should.
As someone who's learning Swedish, this book was so insightful, as someone who's had brief dalliances with several other languages through life, I feel again so much more informed - knowing the why not just the how.
September 23, 2018
Really? ...that's it? Too sketchy...
March 3, 2015
A fun, humorous and broadly accessible look at the language landscape of Europe. For the various languages featured (some European languages are omitted, but the major ones are covered along with some unusual lesser-known tongues) the author alternately delves into:
-interesting or dismaying features, such as spelling or grammar quirks;
-history, evolution, spread/retreat, or death/revival;
-links or contrasts with related or nearby languages/dialects;
-notable linguists who helped shape certain languages;
and much more.
The book avoids getting bogged down in linguistics jargon or dry theory and facts, but nevertheless remains very informative. And even if you do get bored of its easily digestible chapters, the author occasionally shakes things up, for example with a humorous tract on how to merge two complicated languages, Slovak and Bulgarian, into one easy language, Slogarian. The content, format and humour ultimately make this a pleasant read for anyone with at least a passing interest in languages and linguistics, and it's likely to inspire you to read more on the subject.
That said, there are a handful of flaws:
* Some odd image choices, and many are window dressing (pictures of statues and flags) instead of anything informative (linguistic maps and diagrams, for example)
* The map inside the cover leaves something to be desired (shading and/or colour-coding for example) and it's duplicated inside the back cover as well, when a family tree of languages would have been a welcome replacement.
* As noted in another review, the chapters can be very short and some languages receive far more attention than others. Poor Ossetian has a 3-page chapter during which you'll learn its general location, number of speakers and its linguistic branch, but nothing else. (I wonder how this "language spotter's guide" expects me to spot Ossetian with such scant information.) I had hoped to get a slight impression of each language's vital statistics and characteristics along with some example sentences, but this isn't guaranteed.
* While the book's obviously intended to be quite accessible to the layman, I expect some may still feel daunted by some of the terminology or concepts and all the name-dropping of various places, locations, people and peoples throughout history. In particular I think the author made a misstep by referring to cases a few times early in the book, including the frightening revelation that Finnish has 15 cases. I expect a large chunk of Anglophones won't know what cases are as a result of mainly being exposed to caseless languages (e.g. English, French, Spanish). If you're patient you might be able to contain your curiosity until he finally explains what cases are on page 180.
But, all in all, a very fun read.
-interesting or dismaying features, such as spelling or grammar quirks;
-history, evolution, spread/retreat, or death/revival;
-links or contrasts with related or nearby languages/dialects;
-notable linguists who helped shape certain languages;
and much more.
The book avoids getting bogged down in linguistics jargon or dry theory and facts, but nevertheless remains very informative. And even if you do get bored of its easily digestible chapters, the author occasionally shakes things up, for example with a humorous tract on how to merge two complicated languages, Slovak and Bulgarian, into one easy language, Slogarian. The content, format and humour ultimately make this a pleasant read for anyone with at least a passing interest in languages and linguistics, and it's likely to inspire you to read more on the subject.
That said, there are a handful of flaws:
* Some odd image choices, and many are window dressing (pictures of statues and flags) instead of anything informative (linguistic maps and diagrams, for example)
* The map inside the cover leaves something to be desired (shading and/or colour-coding for example) and it's duplicated inside the back cover as well, when a family tree of languages would have been a welcome replacement.
* As noted in another review, the chapters can be very short and some languages receive far more attention than others. Poor Ossetian has a 3-page chapter during which you'll learn its general location, number of speakers and its linguistic branch, but nothing else. (I wonder how this "language spotter's guide" expects me to spot Ossetian with such scant information.) I had hoped to get a slight impression of each language's vital statistics and characteristics along with some example sentences, but this isn't guaranteed.
* While the book's obviously intended to be quite accessible to the layman, I expect some may still feel daunted by some of the terminology or concepts and all the name-dropping of various places, locations, people and peoples throughout history. In particular I think the author made a misstep by referring to cases a few times early in the book, including the frightening revelation that Finnish has 15 cases. I expect a large chunk of Anglophones won't know what cases are as a result of mainly being exposed to caseless languages (e.g. English, French, Spanish). If you're patient you might be able to contain your curiosity until he finally explains what cases are on page 180.
But, all in all, a very fun read.
October 23, 2021
Nikt nie pisze w taki sposób o językach jak Gaston Dorren: "Bałkany to taki językowy dom dziecka. Turecki ma w sobie coś z introwertyka". Coś pięknego. Diametralnie różni się od poprzedniej. Jestem absolutnie nieobiektywna, ale za to jaka zachwycona. Zapomniałabym dodać, że Dorren zaczął się uczyć polskiego. No i jak go nie kochać?
January 13, 2022
Przeciekawa książka, po której już zawsze będziecie inaczej patrzeć na różne języki. I do tego jest wspaniały rozdział o językach migowych!
January 27, 2017
The author acknowledges that he employed Wikipedia in conducting research for this underwhelming volume; however, he could also have acknowledged that Wikipedia is, in fact, a more in-depth and more readable alternative to 'Lingo.' This book is simply not worth the time, nor the money. Save both, and read about languages on Wikipedia instead.
April 27, 2024
Bardzo przyjemny zbiór ciekawostek o europejskich językach
July 14, 2016
An enjoyable book of language trivia. You'll learn why French has all those silent letters, if it's reallytrue that Spanish is spoken faster than other languages or if it just sounds that way, and whether that oft-referenced language (Sami) really does have 20 unique words for snow.
I really liked the end of each chapter which included words from each language that are loanwords in English, many of which migrated through one or even multiple other languages on their way. Along with that is a single word from that language that is particularly unique. It makes you realize how imprecise many concepts are in English, some requiring entire phrases to convey.
The book isn't that long and the writing is pretty fast-paced, but at times too fast. I found I had to re-read some sections to follow them. The author is a linguistic journalist so he mostly explains concepts for the lay audience, but a few sidebars introducing concepts with their background might have still been helpful. Another aspect I struggled with is all the political events that had major effects on the language evolution. I'm definitely an ignorant American regarding most of the history in this book, so it was a little tougher to follow and relate to those sections.
The chapters are pretty inconsistent and some were much more interesting than others. I feel like the less interesting third could have been cut, but it is amazing the sheer number of languages still being used in contemporary times in Europe, even if only by a small number of people, so my recommendation is to read the first part of each chapter and just skip past those that don't strike your fancy.
I really liked the end of each chapter which included words from each language that are loanwords in English, many of which migrated through one or even multiple other languages on their way. Along with that is a single word from that language that is particularly unique. It makes you realize how imprecise many concepts are in English, some requiring entire phrases to convey.
The book isn't that long and the writing is pretty fast-paced, but at times too fast. I found I had to re-read some sections to follow them. The author is a linguistic journalist so he mostly explains concepts for the lay audience, but a few sidebars introducing concepts with their background might have still been helpful. Another aspect I struggled with is all the political events that had major effects on the language evolution. I'm definitely an ignorant American regarding most of the history in this book, so it was a little tougher to follow and relate to those sections.
The chapters are pretty inconsistent and some were much more interesting than others. I feel like the less interesting third could have been cut, but it is amazing the sheer number of languages still being used in contemporary times in Europe, even if only by a small number of people, so my recommendation is to read the first part of each chapter and just skip past those that don't strike your fancy.
March 31, 2017
I mean, I read it? As mentioned by some other reviewers, I didn't appreciate it's lack of depth. Also mentioned by other reviewers, it was a breezy read, which I appreciated when I couldn't make it through a chapter. I was hoping for more of a historical and sociological look at the languages and less linguistic analysis (I know, it's about languages, and I totally own that a linguist doesn't have to write a book to cater to my interest on sociologically analyzing stuff). It was clear that the authoress a passionate, language loving goofball, but I just wanted him to stay on topic with a language, sometimes going too far off topic for my taste. All that said, there was a lot to think about in the book and a lot of takeaways for armchair language loving travelers, and I'm glad I kept with it to the end.
July 30, 2015
Fun book of linguistics tidbits and trivia for the languages of Europe (including some that I'd never realized were still spoken - Ossetian, Galician, Frisian, Channel Islands Norman, Shelta, Sorbian (? that one I'd never heard of) - and some that have been resurrected - Manx, Cornish). A lot of grammatical and linguistic terms were thrown at me, so I did a lot of Googling at times, but a really fun read for summer (and sorry, this won't be coming out until December in the US).
October 30, 2024
Great information on a wide range of languages but the format became repetitive by the end.
Especially entertaining were the words in various languages for a unique concept.
My favourites:
gönnen (German) -opposite of envy:to be gladdened by someone else's fortune
Ûssel'lie (Guernsey Norman)
-continual opening and closing of doors
Kilkanaście (Polish)-'some-teen',an unspecified number between 13 and 19
Pesamenteiro/a (Portuguese)
-literally a 'condolence person',used for a funeral crasher, a quasi-mourner who attends only for the food and drink.
Madárlátta (Hungarian) - food taken for an outing but brought back home uneaten
Especially entertaining were the words in various languages for a unique concept.
My favourites:
gönnen (German) -opposite of envy:to be gladdened by someone else's fortune
Ûssel'lie (Guernsey Norman)
-continual opening and closing of doors
Kilkanaście (Polish)-'some-teen',an unspecified number between 13 and 19
Pesamenteiro/a (Portuguese)
-literally a 'condolence person',used for a funeral crasher, a quasi-mourner who attends only for the food and drink.
Madárlátta (Hungarian) - food taken for an outing but brought back home uneaten
April 13, 2022
An actual linguist would probably be turned off by the superficiality of this book, but for readers with a general interest in languages it can be fun. Every language has a history, and all have some features which seem perfectly normal to native speakers, but that come across as quirks when translated into English.
Take the case of Italian and its plethora of diminutives, pejoratives, augmentatives, and affectives. In Latin nouns had only one diminutive, so domina (woman) / dominula (small woman). Simple enough, but the evolution to modern Italian added a number of new ones to express subtle nuances, so today there is donnina, donnetta, and donnicina. Suffixes can even be piled on one after the other, so donnettaccia: is a woman, “ett” makes her small, and “acci” unpleasant.
English, on the other hand, has one primary diminutive: -ie, as in sweet / sweetie, but there are also a number of words which started as diminutives but are no longer recognized as such, as in kitten (a small cat) and darling (a small dear). The author also uses the example of buttock as half of a full sized butt, but when I checked this against the word history at etymonline[dot]com I did not get that sense. However, I found that butt in the sense of “butt heads” comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhau meaning “to strike”, and is present today in words such as button, halibut, turbot, and rebut. The fact that I find this interesting goes a long way to explaining why I was reading this book in the first place.
The book also mentions, as an aside, that Scandinavian languages do not have diminutives at all, but did not elaborate further.
And here’s a random fact I found interesting: “the word ‘million’ is...fairly young – literally meaning ‘a big thousand’, it was formed by taking the Italian word for a thousand, mille, and adding the suffix -one, meaning big.”
The author complains about the multiplicity of vowel sounds in English, and he has a point: “The main nuisance about English vowels is that there are so many of them. If you’re British, you’ll agree that the vowels following the p are different in each item of this list: par, pear, peer, pipe, poor, power, purr, pull, poop, puke, pin, pan, pain, pen, pawn, pun, point, posh, pose, parade. That makes twenty different vowels (including the so-called gliding ones, such as oi and the long i and u).” However, perhaps he doth protest too much. He himself is Dutch, and in Mariano Sigman’s book The Secret Life of the Mind he writes that Spanish has five vowel sounds, French up to seventeen (including nasals), but Dutch has forty, yes forty. English seems like a model of simplicity by comparison.
There are sixty short chapters, each focusing on one of Europe’s languages. The tone is light and breezy and there are lots of interesting little factoids. For example, after giving a one-paragraph history of Malta, the author writes, “And so Malta today is a Catholic island with a Semitic (hence Afro-Asiatic) language that’s written in the Latin script (unlike all other Semitic languages) and looks a lot like Italian, except for the odd ż and ħ, which are typical of Polish and Serbian respectively.” In discussing the phonetic consistency of Finnish he reminds us “Those who learn English as a foreign language are forced to grapple endlessly with its illogical rules. Photograph is stressed on the first syllable, photography on the second and photographic on the third. Finnish, however, stresses words on the first syllable.” Finally, the author points out something that I noticed when I reviewed an Esperanto grammar book (q.v.): it’s not as simple and straightforward as you might have heard,
The book if full of things like that, interesting, but with no practical value unless you aspire to always be the boringest person at every party. [Wait, that reminds me: here’s a completely unrelated stream of consciousness aside: in his book 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War, Charles Emmerson writes of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who craved adulation, that he was “a man who sought to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.”]
Each chapter ends with a footnote that shows some of the words English has picked up from the language being discussed, if any. For instance, English added ‘slew’, ‘galore’, and ‘trousers’ from Irish, but there are no loanwords from Albanian, although the note points out the country’s currency, the lek, is named after Alexander the Great.
So, this book is a lot of fun. It is a quick read, and many of its chapters are only a few pages long, so it fits easily into bite-size pieces of reading time. If you have a layman’s interest in languages this will fit the bill nicely.
Take the case of Italian and its plethora of diminutives, pejoratives, augmentatives, and affectives. In Latin nouns had only one diminutive, so domina (woman) / dominula (small woman). Simple enough, but the evolution to modern Italian added a number of new ones to express subtle nuances, so today there is donnina, donnetta, and donnicina. Suffixes can even be piled on one after the other, so donnettaccia: is a woman, “ett” makes her small, and “acci” unpleasant.
English, on the other hand, has one primary diminutive: -ie, as in sweet / sweetie, but there are also a number of words which started as diminutives but are no longer recognized as such, as in kitten (a small cat) and darling (a small dear). The author also uses the example of buttock as half of a full sized butt, but when I checked this against the word history at etymonline[dot]com I did not get that sense. However, I found that butt in the sense of “butt heads” comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhau meaning “to strike”, and is present today in words such as button, halibut, turbot, and rebut. The fact that I find this interesting goes a long way to explaining why I was reading this book in the first place.
The book also mentions, as an aside, that Scandinavian languages do not have diminutives at all, but did not elaborate further.
And here’s a random fact I found interesting: “the word ‘million’ is...fairly young – literally meaning ‘a big thousand’, it was formed by taking the Italian word for a thousand, mille, and adding the suffix -one, meaning big.”
The author complains about the multiplicity of vowel sounds in English, and he has a point: “The main nuisance about English vowels is that there are so many of them. If you’re British, you’ll agree that the vowels following the p are different in each item of this list: par, pear, peer, pipe, poor, power, purr, pull, poop, puke, pin, pan, pain, pen, pawn, pun, point, posh, pose, parade. That makes twenty different vowels (including the so-called gliding ones, such as oi and the long i and u).” However, perhaps he doth protest too much. He himself is Dutch, and in Mariano Sigman’s book The Secret Life of the Mind he writes that Spanish has five vowel sounds, French up to seventeen (including nasals), but Dutch has forty, yes forty. English seems like a model of simplicity by comparison.
There are sixty short chapters, each focusing on one of Europe’s languages. The tone is light and breezy and there are lots of interesting little factoids. For example, after giving a one-paragraph history of Malta, the author writes, “And so Malta today is a Catholic island with a Semitic (hence Afro-Asiatic) language that’s written in the Latin script (unlike all other Semitic languages) and looks a lot like Italian, except for the odd ż and ħ, which are typical of Polish and Serbian respectively.” In discussing the phonetic consistency of Finnish he reminds us “Those who learn English as a foreign language are forced to grapple endlessly with its illogical rules. Photograph is stressed on the first syllable, photography on the second and photographic on the third. Finnish, however, stresses words on the first syllable.” Finally, the author points out something that I noticed when I reviewed an Esperanto grammar book (q.v.): it’s not as simple and straightforward as you might have heard,
What makes Esperanto such a challenge for Anglophones? First of all, it has a case system. When a man does something in Esperanto, he is a viro: la viro vidas hundon, ‘the man sees a dog’. But when the roles are reversed, he turns into a viron: la hundo vidas viron, ‘the dog sees a man’. (The dog, you will notice, undergoes the same transformation.) This may not be awfully difficult, but it takes a lot of getting used to for those of us not accustomed to cases – that is, nearly everyone north, west and south of Germany. (And for speakers of French, Italian and Spanish, la viro sounds plain wrong. Il viro or el viro would be OK – but la viro? Why the sex change?)
The book if full of things like that, interesting, but with no practical value unless you aspire to always be the boringest person at every party. [Wait, that reminds me: here’s a completely unrelated stream of consciousness aside: in his book 1913: In Search of the World Before the Great War, Charles Emmerson writes of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who craved adulation, that he was “a man who sought to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.”]
Each chapter ends with a footnote that shows some of the words English has picked up from the language being discussed, if any. For instance, English added ‘slew’, ‘galore’, and ‘trousers’ from Irish, but there are no loanwords from Albanian, although the note points out the country’s currency, the lek, is named after Alexander the Great.
So, this book is a lot of fun. It is a quick read, and many of its chapters are only a few pages long, so it fits easily into bite-size pieces of reading time. If you have a layman’s interest in languages this will fit the bill nicely.
Read
September 3, 2024Jeśli "Babel" był wielodaniową ucztą dla amatorów językoznawstwa i poliglotów in spe, "Gadka" jest torebką słodyczy: więcej i może bardziej kolorowo, ale mniej treściwie. Dla jasności - rozdziały (w rozmiarze co najwyżej felietonów) są zajmująco napisane i dobrze się je czyta, ale traktują najczęściej o jednym aspekcie danego języka, do tego pobieżnie. Nie obyło się bez usterek tłumaczeniowych - co irytuje szczególnie w książce o językach - za to dodatkowy fragment odautorski specjalnie dla polskiego wydania oraz pomysłowe podziękowania (nie zdradzę, o co chodzi!) pozostawiają pozytywne wrażenie.
March 23, 2016
This book was a joy to read! It's written in relatively layman's terms, so is easily accessible for the casual linguist or even just someone who is a little language-curious. I enjoyed the humour sprinkled throughout the book, too. The content is somewhat whirlwind (as can be expected, since it claims to be a guide to a whole continent of languages!) and sometimes I wish it had gone into a little more detail, but the Further Reading section at the end will be sure to quench that particular thirst of mine. Would definitely recommend this book.
May 22, 2015
Arrrrggh, there are so many languages in Europe! When will I ever have time to learn the mighty Turkish or the noble Armenian? This book is basically all the jokes that language teachers like to tell about their pet subject, along with occasional photos of a lovely lady with a tenuous connection to the country, but it was good fun and now I want to read a separate book about every single language mentioned.
December 22, 2017
Enjoyable book to have around, to dip into when you don't have time to immerse yourself in something less bite-sized. It's entertaining throughout, with judicious use of humour that never gets glib, and full of interesting information, though I imagine little to keep someone with more knowledge of linguistics surprised. Manages to find a new and usually interesting angle from which to approach every language/chapter.
June 3, 2018
Entertaining, interesting and at a perfect level of comprehension. I feel closer to my fellow Europeans.
November 1, 2024
Przyjemna lektura, jeśli kogoś interesuje lingwistyka i wszelkie dziwnostki językowe. Książka ciekawa, ale przez formę jaką przyjął autor ciężko dobrze "wgryźć' się w poszczególne wątki. Rozdziały są bardzo krótkie (zwykle koło 4-5 stron na język), więc wiele z poruszanych kwestii jest potraktowanych dość powierzchownie.
April 24, 2024
3.75
Lingwistyka to mój kryptokonik, którym często pędzę by zmienić bieg rozmowy z narzeczoną z zakupów na jutro na temat zależności pomiędzy językami indoeuropejskimi.
Dlatego ostrzegam zawczasu - pozycja nie dla każdego. Jeśli chcecie się dowiedzieć, czemu ghoughphtheightteeau to "ziemniak" po angielsku, to zapraszam.
Lingwistyka to mój kryptokonik, którym często pędzę by zmienić bieg rozmowy z narzeczoną z zakupów na jutro na temat zależności pomiędzy językami indoeuropejskimi.
Dlatego ostrzegam zawczasu - pozycja nie dla każdego. Jeśli chcecie się dowiedzieć, czemu ghoughphtheightteeau to "ziemniak" po angielsku, to zapraszam.
January 8, 2021
Klink femmer til den her selv om det tok 9 måneda å les. Morsomt skreve og ikke minst jævli bra oversatt. Glede mæ til den internasjonale oppfølgern, Babel:)
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