From: jl@glen--canyon.com
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 21:57:08 +1100, Bill Sloman
wrote:
>On 1/02/2026 8:36 am, john larkin wrote:
>> On Sat, 31 Jan 2026 21:42:27 +0100, Jeroen Belleman
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 1/31/26 16:34, john larkin wrote:
>>>> On Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:21:44 +0100, Jeroen Belleman
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 1/31/26 00:53, john larkin wrote:
>>>>>> On Fri, 30 Jan 2026 22:49:12 +0100, Jeroen Belleman
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 1/30/26 21:00, Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester wrote:
>>>>>>>> Bill Sloman wrote:
>>>>>>>> |------------------------------------------------------
-----------------|
>>>>>>>> |"Languages aren't learned any faster if you learn them
young" |
>>>>>>>> |------------------------------------------------------
-----------------|
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It is much easier for a child to learn a language than it is for an
>>>>>>>> old person.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> An often repeated myth, entirely untrue.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Adults can learn a new language in much less time than a
>>>>>>> child, provided they are motivated and immersed. Those are
>>>>>>> the keys, motivation and immersion.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Jeroen Belleman
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Adults rarely acquire a new accent at native level.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://news.mit.edu/2018/cognitive-scientists-define-cri
ical-period-learning-language-0501
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John Larkin
>>>>>> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
>>>>>> Lunatic Fringe Electronics
>>>>>
>>>>> True, but those natives probably don't have the linguistic
>>>>> abilities of the foreign speaker. Your thinking is shaped
>>>>> by language, and speaking more languages is enriching.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm native Dutch, but I've been told I have a French
>>>>> accent now.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jeroen Belleman
>>>>
>>>> Which language is best for thinking about electronics?
>>>>
>>>> I think circuits in pictures, not words, but people are very
>>>> different.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> John Larkin
>>>> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
>>>> Lunatic Fringe Electronics
>>>
>>>
>>> That has to be English, I think. Anyway, for quite some time now,
>>> English has been the common language of science and technology,
>>> electronics included. It has been French for a while, and Latin
>>> for a long period before that. And ancient Greek before that, and
>>> and ,,,
>>>
>>> Jeroen Belleman
>>>
>>
>> English is shockingly irregular.
>
>Not really. It's just another language which evolved. Imagining English
>was ever designed is plain silly.
>
>> One word can mean six things and
>> there are a zillion words to express a concept.
>
>Quite a lot of word meanings are context dependent. Dictionaries deal
>with this by quoting word use in the various different contexts.
>
>> Plus there are places like the UK with their own weird versions.
>
>At one level English is the language spoken in England, and the
>derivations spoken in the US and Australia are the weird versions.
>
>Some of the oddities of US English reflect the fact that some of the
>evolution of British English over the past few centuries didn't make it
>across the Atlantic.
>
>> Given the concept that ambiguity generates creativity, maybe English
>> is a good language to invent in.
>
>The idea that ambiguity generates creativity is one that I haven't come
>across. Google throw up a few examples from the past few years, so it
>may be currently fashionable word salad.
>
>Ambiguity didn't feature in any of the ideas I've had that ended up
>patented, nor in any of the 25-odd ideas that my father got patents for.
>I'm not familiar with all of Alan Dower Blumlein's 128 patents, but the
>none of the ones I do know about had anything ambiguous about them.
With all the patents in your family, you must be very wealthy.
John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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