" the US doesn't have more engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, etc is because as kids, we spend too much of our time learning to read and write, memorizing and internalizing all of the pits and foibles of the English language."
This doesn't seem like a plausible explanation to me (then again, it's from The Atlantic, so what can one expect?). My wife is a math/science teacher, and she could opine on this topic for hours - she certainly resents the large blocks of time reserved for reading at the expense of her subjects.
Take a country like Germany, whose language has three genders, with an entire matrix of different corresponding definite and indefinite articles, and endings. It's absurd and time-consuming to learn - and yet the state and results of their educational system are enviable. Shit, they had TOO MANY engineers, doctors and lawyers, and had to import hordes of Turks and such to perform the service jobs.
Having said that, it's clear English could benefit from some fine-tuning. I always thought we should dispense with the letter 'c' altogether, and just use 'k' and 's'. We should jettison 'q' and 'x' as well (even though they are "cool" letters that have a certain mystique for me). And 'y' should be used much more sparingly. (fairy ----> fairie, and so forth). And the "tion" thing, I agree, should really be altered to something remotely phonetically accurate.
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Date: 2015-03-11 01:51 pm (UTC)This doesn't seem like a plausible explanation to me (then again, it's from The Atlantic, so what can one expect?). My wife is a math/science teacher, and she could opine on this topic for hours - she certainly resents the large blocks of time reserved for reading at the expense of her subjects.
Take a country like Germany, whose language has three genders, with an entire matrix of different corresponding definite and indefinite articles, and endings. It's absurd and time-consuming to learn - and yet the state and results of their educational system are enviable. Shit, they had TOO MANY engineers, doctors and lawyers, and had to import hordes of Turks and such to perform the service jobs.
Having said that, it's clear English could benefit from some fine-tuning. I always thought we should dispense with the letter 'c' altogether, and just use 'k' and 's'. We should jettison 'q' and 'x' as well (even though they are "cool" letters that have a certain mystique for me). And 'y' should be used much more sparingly. (fairy ----> fairie, and so forth). And the "tion" thing, I agree, should really be altered to something remotely phonetically accurate.