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Originally Posted by Legrand
Hello Simple,
I've studied intensively Latin for 5 years. It's very different from many languages because one cannot start to understand a sentence before all the words are said. In this language the place of the word in a sentence has no meaning. The way the word terminates will tell you if it is a subject, a verb, a complement, etc. The subject or the verb could very well be at the end, the beginning or the end of the sentence. It's only after the sentence is said, that the word's relation start to take a meaning in the mind.
It those really change a mindset of someone. To understand what someone is trying to say in Latin, the listener has no choice to let him or her finish completely his or her sentence before starting to think of what to answer.
Never did study Chinese, but did get to know a lot of them. Their sense of identity to oneself is very different from the English-speaking people. And this comes mostly from how their language is structured.
Regards,
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what an excellent idea! - this would change human relationships completely -
something else monsieur le francais:
I was often wondering why your la lune et le soleil - changed to the german die Sonne und der Mond. (for english speakers - the female and male designations swopped around as civilisation spread in N. Europe).
So first its interesting that time was measured by the moon in ancient cultures and equatorial ones where the sun passed overhead twice a year and made absolutely no sense as a guideline to timelines. Whereas in the cloudy north, where we often don't get enough sun let alone moon, at least we have the length of a shadow to guide us on when spring comes and when to plant things ...
And, could this be the reason: in hunting tribes it didn't matter when things were planted - except in women ... and in ancient tribes how women's cycles get synchronised all at the same time would make the connection with the moon clearer (and were women's cycles synchronised at full moon? because this would fit nicely with the men going off on hunting jaunts at full moon?). But for the settled and more spread out agricultural cultures, the sun is far more relevant for fertility.
i feel as though there's something missing from this idea, but it maybe a start.
Salut