Posted by Dave Thewlis on November 06, 2000 at 18:17:18 from 63.200.128.218:
In Reply to: Re: For lovers of English English posted by David Brooks on November 06, 2000 at 15:52:50:
David, I quite agree with the Atlantic Monthly article. English is probably one of the
easiest languages to communicate in at least enough to get along (lack of word-formation changes,
placement structure, etc.) and one of if not the hardest to communicate in well. As witness
the comparatively few native English speakers who seem able to speak their own language. (Or
should I say 'native American speakers'?)
Article today in San Francisco Chronicle about Germany's attempts to reform the spelling of German
and the consequences thereof -- we're probably lucky nobody really tried with phonetic English!