Right now Arabic still has English beat--depending on what dictionary you look at, Arabic may have up to 4 million words! Right now I, a native English speaker, am learning Arabic, so I guess I am experiencing what speakers of German and French go through when they learn English.
English language nears 1 million word milestone.
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People in England should learn either Welsh, Irish or Arabic I think, I may my self one day.
>>Right now Arabic still has English beat--depending on what dictionary you look at, Arabic may have up to 4 million words! Right now I, a native English speaker, am learning Arabic, so I guess I am experiencing what speakers of German and French go through when they learn English.<<
However, what count would you get if you limited yourself to Modern Standard Arabic? This is considering that the Arabic dialect continuum in its entirety is probably as wide as (if not wider than) the Romance languages or the Chinese languages, whereas if one discounts the "-lish"es, English is still a unitary language which is mostly crossintelligible across its whole (excluding Scots of course), even if it may remain as such for only a few centuries more.
However, what count would you get if you limited yourself to Modern Standard Arabic? This is considering that the Arabic dialect continuum in its entirety is probably as wide as (if not wider than) the Romance languages or the Chinese languages, whereas if one discounts the "-lish"es, English is still a unitary language which is mostly crossintelligible across its whole (excluding Scots of course), even if it may remain as such for only a few centuries more.
"Eh bien, Adam, sur ces 1 million, il faut soustraire 650.000 mots franco-latins, non "
How do you know? Have you counted 'em?
How do you know? Have you counted 'em?
***People in England should learn either Welsh, Irish or Arabic I think, I may my self one day***
JIM in EBORACUM: Just people in England? Scots need not bother? Or the Welsh need not bother to learn Irish or Arabic? In about about three hour's time I'll be off down to Wales for the Easter holiday, coming back late Monday afternoon. As I'll be going down the A1M I'll be passing about 12 miles from Eboracum...somewhere around Wetherby.....and on my way back home again I will yell out to you a few words of Welsh I'll learn while I'm there...hope you hear them, espcially if you're on top of the new Yorkshire Wheel...on GMTV yesterday we saw the sun rise over Eboracum from the top of the Wheel....your city looked really lovely....especially Eboracum Minster...OK...OK....you prefer the updated Eofforwic....reckon the Romans had long gone by the time the Minster graced the York skyline.
I think that magic date for the 1m words should have been 21 May 06. I reckon the English Language Words Enumeration Computer Screen currently shows 999,906 in use worldwide....ooops.....just gone up to 999,911.
JIM in EBORACUM: Just people in England? Scots need not bother? Or the Welsh need not bother to learn Irish or Arabic? In about about three hour's time I'll be off down to Wales for the Easter holiday, coming back late Monday afternoon. As I'll be going down the A1M I'll be passing about 12 miles from Eboracum...somewhere around Wetherby.....and on my way back home again I will yell out to you a few words of Welsh I'll learn while I'm there...hope you hear them, espcially if you're on top of the new Yorkshire Wheel...on GMTV yesterday we saw the sun rise over Eboracum from the top of the Wheel....your city looked really lovely....especially Eboracum Minster...OK...OK....you prefer the updated Eofforwic....reckon the Romans had long gone by the time the Minster graced the York skyline.
I think that magic date for the 1m words should have been 21 May 06. I reckon the English Language Words Enumeration Computer Screen currently shows 999,906 in use worldwide....ooops.....just gone up to 999,911.
Anyway, English has a lot more than one million words if you consider the OBSCURE technical terms of medicine, law, technology, biology, etc, etc.
If you consider the OBSCURE technical terms of medicine, law, technology, biology, etc, etc., then MOST European languages have more than a million words...
" Just people in England? Scots need not bother? Or the Welsh need not bother to learn Irish or Arabic?"
I cant speak for people in the rest of our isles, but yes they should aswell. I simply meant that, being neighboured to areas like Wales and Ireland where a certain amount of people speak these languages (and more should), it would be nice if we could speak them aswell, in the same way as alot of Canadians speak French as they are neighboured to Qubec.
I think it would certainly give a boost to these languages, If you wen't to Wales and spoke in Welsh in the same way you try to speak German or Spanish when you go to those countries, then when the Welsh or who ever come to England, they can speak English. Obviously this would never work because it's something like less than 20% of the Welsh speak Welsh but it is a nice idea. Ill include Cornish in the list of languages to learn (so i don't offend anyone), and go on Gaelic as well.
Arabic also because it is a very beutifull language, and especialy when its written. Though Mandarin would possibly be more appropriate due to the fact it will soon become the new language of business (seemingly).
Strange, I was off down to Wales today, but Ive got a party to go to so i can't, I was going to go see my Welsh speaking cousins. Ill keep an ear out for you, Ill be on the top of the minster (it has better views, good tip for you tourists) I think they let you climb it still?
I cant speak for people in the rest of our isles, but yes they should aswell. I simply meant that, being neighboured to areas like Wales and Ireland where a certain amount of people speak these languages (and more should), it would be nice if we could speak them aswell, in the same way as alot of Canadians speak French as they are neighboured to Qubec.
I think it would certainly give a boost to these languages, If you wen't to Wales and spoke in Welsh in the same way you try to speak German or Spanish when you go to those countries, then when the Welsh or who ever come to England, they can speak English. Obviously this would never work because it's something like less than 20% of the Welsh speak Welsh but it is a nice idea. Ill include Cornish in the list of languages to learn (so i don't offend anyone), and go on Gaelic as well.
Arabic also because it is a very beutifull language, and especialy when its written. Though Mandarin would possibly be more appropriate due to the fact it will soon become the new language of business (seemingly).
Strange, I was off down to Wales today, but Ive got a party to go to so i can't, I was going to go see my Welsh speaking cousins. Ill keep an ear out for you, Ill be on the top of the minster (it has better views, good tip for you tourists) I think they let you climb it still?
"Adam has been a bit contraversial in the past, that is why people have reacted like this."
No. It's just that "Guest" is a mouthy git.
I wasn't spamming posted this on here. It's a language forum.
No. It's just that "Guest" is a mouthy git.
I wasn't spamming posted this on here. It's a language forum.
" haven't the faintest idea where Adam comes up with such absurd statistics. "
I didn't come up with the statistics.
The article says: "The Global Language Monitor (GLM), a San Diego-based linguistic consultancy, reckoned that on 21 March (the vernal equinox) this year, there were about 988,968 words in the language, "plus or minus a handful". At the current rate of progress, the one-million mark will be reached this summer."
But it also says: "Another study, the Life and Times of the English Language, by Robert Claiborne and published in 1990, puts the number of words at no more than 600,000."
Which means that French, which has only 100,000 words, has 6 to 10 times less words than English but, even then, "Academié Française, the body that defines the language, recognises only 25,525."
I didn't come up with the statistics.
The article says: "The Global Language Monitor (GLM), a San Diego-based linguistic consultancy, reckoned that on 21 March (the vernal equinox) this year, there were about 988,968 words in the language, "plus or minus a handful". At the current rate of progress, the one-million mark will be reached this summer."
But it also says: "Another study, the Life and Times of the English Language, by Robert Claiborne and published in 1990, puts the number of words at no more than 600,000."
Which means that French, which has only 100,000 words, has 6 to 10 times less words than English but, even then, "Academié Française, the body that defines the language, recognises only 25,525."
All this reminds me of a Blackadder episode, that BBC comedy series, set in 18th century England, in which Samuel Johnson (played by Robbie Coltrane), who was the first man ever to write an English dictionary, brings a copy of his new dictionary, which it took 10 years for him to write, to the Palace to show Prince George, who will become the book's patron.
But Blackadder, Prince George's servant, who likes annoying people for fun, speaks to Samuel Johnson using long, complicated words, hoping that Johnson has forgotten to put them in his dictionary. So when he speaks, Johnson is quickly adding new entris into his dictionary.
Johnson: "In this book there is every word in the English language."
Blackadder: "EVERY word, Sir?"
Johnson: "Every word, Sir!"
Blackadder (with a cheeky smirk): "Well, then. Will you please be so kind as to allow me to offer you my sincerest.....contifibularities?"
Johnson: "Contifibularities?"
Blackadder: "Contifibularities, Sir. It's a common word down our way."
Johnson: "Oh, damn!"
Blackadder: "Oh, I am sorry. I'm anaspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulations."
But Blackadder, Prince George's servant, who likes annoying people for fun, speaks to Samuel Johnson using long, complicated words, hoping that Johnson has forgotten to put them in his dictionary. So when he speaks, Johnson is quickly adding new entris into his dictionary.
Johnson: "In this book there is every word in the English language."
Blackadder: "EVERY word, Sir?"
Johnson: "Every word, Sir!"
Blackadder (with a cheeky smirk): "Well, then. Will you please be so kind as to allow me to offer you my sincerest.....contifibularities?"
Johnson: "Contifibularities?"
Blackadder: "Contifibularities, Sir. It's a common word down our way."
Johnson: "Oh, damn!"
Blackadder: "Oh, I am sorry. I'm anaspeptic, frasmotic, even compunctuous to have caused you such pericombobulations."
"French... has only 100,000 words"
This is - put quite simply - a falsehood. There is simply no way English could have 6-10 times more words than French.
This is - put quite simply - a falsehood. There is simply no way English could have 6-10 times more words than French.
« Guest » :
« "Eh bien, Adam, sur ces 1 million, il faut soustraire 650.000 mots franco-latins, non "
How do you know? Have you counted 'em? »
Non, bien sûr. Mais Adam n'a pas compté les 1 million de mots non plus. Mais, tu sais, plus on élargit le spectre lexical, plus la proportion des mots franco-latins augmente. Par conséquent ce n'est pas 650.000 mots qu'il faut soustraire, mais plutôt 800.000—850.000.
Adam : « French, which has only 100,000 words ».
Mais tu n'y es pas du tout ! Le français compte 300 mots, tout au plus ! C'est bien connu : il n'y a pas plus de 300 mots français dans la langue anglaise...
« "Eh bien, Adam, sur ces 1 million, il faut soustraire 650.000 mots franco-latins, non "
How do you know? Have you counted 'em? »
Non, bien sûr. Mais Adam n'a pas compté les 1 million de mots non plus. Mais, tu sais, plus on élargit le spectre lexical, plus la proportion des mots franco-latins augmente. Par conséquent ce n'est pas 650.000 mots qu'il faut soustraire, mais plutôt 800.000—850.000.
Adam : « French, which has only 100,000 words ».
Mais tu n'y es pas du tout ! Le français compte 300 mots, tout au plus ! C'est bien connu : il n'y a pas plus de 300 mots français dans la langue anglaise...
Its not a competition, Its not "look my dictionary is thicker than yours!" at all. Its just the nature of English, the creation, and "stealing" for lack of a better word of words, that in any other country would be regarded as slang, but to the Oxford English dictionary are ellagable to become official. I wouldn't take offence at the news article that Adam posted. Im sure in France, the average French man uses as many words day to day as any one else.
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