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Falsehoods programmers believe about languages (www.lexiconista.com)

submitted 3 months ago by rimu@piefed.social to c/programming@programming.dev

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I can’t believe nobody has done this list yet. I mean, there is one about names, one about time and many others on other topics, but not one about languages yet (except one honorable mention that comes close). So, here’s my attempt to list all the misconceptions and prejudices I’ve come across in the course of my long and illustrious career in software localisation and language technology. Enjoy – and send me your own ones!

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[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (21 children)

Most of these just seem like basic educational issues except this one imo:

Every language has words for yes and no.

I want to see more than like 1 or 2 counterexamples. I'm pretty interested in linguistics on an amateur level. Don't believe I've heard of that one before now.

edit: in retrospect I do think I remember hearing this about Irish and Latin and some older languages. Interesting to know there are so many. I know the theory that language is related to thought patterns is semi-debunked, but I can't help but think that things like this indicate something about the cultures associated with a language.

[–] HandwovenConsensus@lemm.ee 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Well, I only know of two off the top of my head, but I really doubt they're the only examples: Irish and Mandarin Chinese.

I think some Irish don't even habitually use them when speaking English. If you ask them "Are you ok?" they'd answer "I am" or "I am not."

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