Adamic: The Original Language

When we discussed a few theories on The Origin of Language, we only mentioned scientific theories proposed by scholars and linguists. Just as parents love their children, we love all languages, albeit not equally, and thought it would be interesting to discuss what we'll call a historical or mythological language.

There are no words to describe it.
At least there were no words.

Adamic is the language handed to Adam (from the Bible and Torah) from God. There are uncertainties as to whether or not Adamic is the same as God's language, known as the Divine Language. The Adamic language, obviously named after Adam, was the language used by Adam to name things in the Garden of Eden. Thanks to some fairly sexist content in ancient scripture, it is unknown whether Eve spoke this language.

Scholars are not certain as to whether or not the Adamic language was Hebrew, due to the names he gave Eve. We do know that Adam used his language to name Eve. It is prudent to note at this point that his female companion was not originally called Eve. The scripture was not in English, and she was in fact called Isha or Chava. As these names apparently only make sense in Hebrew, some assume that this was the language Adam was speaking.

Other groups, such as the Latter-day Saints (Mormons), believe that the Adamic language came directly from God and is a pure language not subject to change, as this would make it impure. Obviously humans cannot modify things from God since they are always considered pure and perfect. That said, God clearly had no idea of how amazing apple pies are. Given the option between an apple and an apple pie, anyone with their head screwed on knows that pies are probably worth eternal damnation.

The Origin of Language

Language is all around us. However, it hasn't been around since the dawn of time or the formation of the planet, unless you're some kind of linguistic creationist. We don't believe language was created in seven days, and although a deity is all-powerful and probably doesn't have to worry about the expense of producing a dictionary, we have seen enough empirical evidence of change in languages over the ages to assume that they weren't always there.

Like the origins of life and the beginnings of the universe, the origin of language is a topic of much debate and speculation. So much debate, in fact, that for a period starting in 1866, discussion of the topic was banned by the Linguistic Society of Paris. Scholars adhered to this for almost a century since such discussions tended to be fruitless anyway.

The main complaint is that unlike the first uses of tools, primitive human settlements and the invention of the wheel, the arrival of spoken language does not leave behind fossils. The first semblance of words could have been uttered by cavemen and then instantly lost in the infinite vastness of the ether and the great beyond.

Some of the older theories concerning language origin are quite interesting. The linguist Max Müller proposed a few that ranged from copying animal noises (Bow-wow), noises from pain (Poo-poo), mimicry of the natural resonance of things (Ding-dong), and the synchronisation of sound with labour, known as Yo-he-ho. Yo-he-ho could have simply been called Hi-ho had Müller seen the film.

Language capabilities "on".

A few theories are present as to why languages developed. Some believe in the idea that languages literally sprang up from nowhere. American linguist Noam Chomsky proposed, in a cheeky nod to Darwin, the idea that a random evolutionary change occurred in the human brain that subsequently became an on switch for languages. He suggests that before this change the human brain did not have the capabilities for language, but this random mutation or change enabled them.

The origin of language has been touted as "the hardest problem in science". There are undoubtedly hundreds of mathematicians and physicists laughing at this idea right now, but given the huge number of potential theories and lack of consensus amongst scholars on the topic, we can certainly see how it could be the most difficult scientific problem!

Great Places to Learn Languages

Many people want to learn languages and often have it on their to-do lists. Unfortunately, a lot of them never complete this dream and it is, in part, due to not knowing where to start. We've picked five fantastic places where you should go if you want to learn another language. If you're not wanting to learn a language, we suggest you read our 10 Reasons To Learn Another Language first.
 

Usually where your foreign language learning begins.

School

A lot of people forget that they probably learnt a foreign language at some point during school. If you're lucky enough to still have your youth and be in school, then make sure you're paying attention. Languages are invaluable skills and learning them whilst you're young will put you miles ahead of anyone trying once they've, well, let's just say matured.

University

Universities are giant centres of learning and great places to meet people. If you're going to university, you don't necessarily need to be studying a degree in languages in order to learn a language. Most universities have language classes as an option, so even if you're doing a different subject you can always add some language classes into your timetable. If not, ask! Most universities won't mind if you sit in on a class just to learn. Though they probably won't let you take the exam or give you credits for it if you're not paying.
 

If you can read, libraries are a great resource.

Libraries

We can't call universities centres of learning and leave out libraries. Libraries are not only full of books, of which good libraries will have a lot, but probably full of many books on languages. On top of that, modern libraries have computers and you know what most computers are connected to now...

The Internet

You can find pretty much anything on the internet. Most things you find you never wanted to see, but amongst the spam and pornography there are millions of websites for learning languages, as well as communities and even social media (such as Facebook and Twitter) for language learners and enthusiasts. Get browsing!
 

There

Where is there? There is where the language is spoken. Our favourite way to learn languages is in a foreign country. Have a look around for opportunities for study or work in a country you're interested in. Don't forget the 10 Things To Learn Before Going Abroad and, before you know it, you'll be surrounded by the language. Once you're exposed to the language  almost every minute of every day and it'll be hard not to pick it up.

Devious Uses of Foreign Language Skills

Here at The Lingua File, we often promote learning foreign languages and using them for good. Communicating with other people, learning more about other cultures and even learning more about your own language are just a few of the great benefits of speaking a foreign language. What if you have ulterior motives or just a bit of a mean streak? We've compiled a list of a few naughty things you can do with your skills. Have your evil moustaches at the ready.
 

Avoiding People You Don't Want To Talk To

If you've ever been to any big cities, you know that there are tonnes of people around who feel the need to stop and hassle you for various reasons. Whether it's giving you flyers and other bits of rubbish that you don't want to carry, stopping you to talk about Jesus or convincing you to donate to a charity you've never heard of, using a foreign language can quickly help you distance yourself from those pesky marketers or religious lunatics. A quick "je ne comprend pas" or a "no entiendo" can work wonders in stopping those who only hinder you on your journey to the pub.

Bitching About Things

Sometimes you don't have anything nice to say, yet feel the need to say it anyway. If, for example, you exhibit a British level of politeness and don't want to say anything bad about a restaurant you're in, you could vent your disappointment in your foreign language without ever having to upset anyone. Does that dress actually make her bum look big? You'd be safer muttering it in Swahili than in her mother tongue. If asked, you can always say it means something poetic and beautiful.
 

Quiet cussing is perfectly acceptable.

Swearing 

There are few places in the world where a loud profanity won't go unnoticed. If you ensure that you swear in a foreign language avoiding obvious well-known expressions, you can probably get away with it. Screaming "joder" when you stub your toe is fairly acceptable in Manchester, just as shouting "bollocks" probably won't upset anyone in Madrid.

One-Night Stands

Even this one is a bit strong for us. However, if you're so inclined and you like the idea of never having them call you the next day, then think about pretending to be on holiday. Just make sure they don't live in your neighbourhood as you're bound to bump into them again and then you'll have some explaining to do.

Outing Racists

Not that bigots and racists should be allowed to hide. Finding them isn't necessarily evil but tricking them so that they reveal that they are errs on the side of devious. Using a foreign language can quickly help you find these people and let you know that you should never associate with them again.

E-Prime: To Be Or Not

When learning foreign languages, there are always a few verbs that are considered very important to learn first. Without a doubt, the most important in most languages is the verb to be and its many, many conjugations. It's especially important in English.

What would happen if you just got rid of the verb to be? What if you carried on using English without this seemingly indispensable verb? What you would be doing is operating under the rules of E-Prime.

Two bees or not two bees... that is the question.

E-Prime, which is short for English Prime is, to put it simply, English without the verb to be or any of its conjugations or contractions. It has been suggested that using E-Prime can reduce misunderstandings and help clarify language. That said, we are fairly sceptical of it.

The concept was devised by D. David Bourland, Jr. and was immediately met with criticism and controversy. Clearly scholars love the verb to be and won't allow for anything bad to be said about it. The system could have a few benefits, however. It could be used as a rule for drinking games amongst language nerds (anyone for King's Cup or Ring of Fire?) or just a bit of fun to test your mental faculties and linguistic abilities.

The main reason that E Prime was conceived was part of a continuation of the work in general semantics by philosopher Alfred Korzybski. The E-Prime system, though an idea with good intentions, seems to be so riddled with problems and criticisms that we wouldn't expect anyone to rush to adopt it. What it takes from the English language seems to be far greater than what it would add. It could make the language clearer, but that would take most of the fun out of English!

Film Club: Les Choristes

Following a suggestion from one of our Twitter followers we watched Les Choristes (The Chorus for you monolinguals out there!) and, needless to say, loved it.

There's a reason we're fond of French cinema. We rarely watch a French film that doesn't have an exceptional retelling of human trials and tribulations. On top of that, it's in French. We think (as native English speakers) that the French language sounds significantly nicer than English. Phonetically it's a more pleasing language and what a film to show it off!

"Difficult" boys deserve nothing but coal.

Without throwing out any real spoilers, the film centres around a school for "difficult" boys. "Difficult" meaning generally naughty. The protagonist is their teacher who eventually arranges to form a choral group with the students in his class.

Phonaesthetically speaking, the language works well with singing and the film passes through the classic no-frills approach of storytelling often found in most of our favourite French films. It mixes the good with the bad and comes out with a nice emotional range and a good pace that makes it very easy to watch.

We'd advise anyone who speaks French to definitely watch it. Given the subject matter, it's very universal so we reckon it'd be a good shout even with subtitles for those who don't speak French. Hopefully there are no dubbed versions out there because as we previously mentioned in our dubbing or subtitling post, subtitles are the way to go, especially in a film with audio as important as this one.

Have you seen Les Choristes? What did you think of it? Tell us below in the comments.

Which Is The Best Language To Learn?

So you're probably as hungover as we are... and you probably promised that you'd do so many things this year. What are they? Lose weight, quit smoking, see your family more? Learn a language is one of the most common resolutions... and we hope you picked that one! But which language should you learn?

Following a study by George Weber in 1995, languages were evaluated based on six factors, ranging from number of speakers to how influential the countries where they're spoken are.

If you're learning a language to find love, then perhaps you should be playing the numbers game and picking one with the most speakers. Or one that would find you the best jobs. Without further ado, here they are:

English

We all knew English would probably be in this list. It is our mother tongue here at The Lingua File, and its influence across the globe in terms of film, literature and television helps it top this list. It's also used as a lingua franca in many places and tends to be learnt by most people in the tourism industry, probably because its native speakers tend to be terrible at learning other languages.

It's hard to find a nicer place than Nice!

French

French is a beautiful language and France is a beautiful country. If you needed more reasons to learn the language you can also consider that it is spoken in Canada, principally in Quebec, as well as many nations in Africa thanks to France's imperial past. France and Canada are both first-world countries and French also features heavily as an official language for organisations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the International Olympic Committee, FIFA and many others.

Spanish

Spanish would be pretty good. The language is rich with pretty sexy nations. Spain and the majority of South American countries speak Spanish. The language comes with a rich culture, great films and great party music. 

Russia has also given us matryoshka dolls.

Russian

The language of the world's largest country is not only incredibly interesting, but also incredibly useful. Russia has a decent economy and is still considered one of the world's major powers. Plus you can watch spy films where the bad guys are Americans!

Arabic

With so many oil-rich nations in the Middle East and Arabic being the main language, having a good grasp of Arabic will help you along. If money isn't your thing then you should consider that Arabic is a macro-language spoken from North Africa to the Middle East and is awash with history and culture.

We also have the Chinese to thank for fireworks.

Mandarin Chinese

Chinese has plenty of native speakers and would be a good place to start. With China becoming stronger and stronger economically, it's always going to be a useful language to speak. Although in the past Chinese businesses have had to speak English, things are starting to turn around.

German

As one of the strongest economies in Europe, Germany is a good place to be, and as a result, German is a good language to learn. Knowing the language of Europe's economic powerhouse can't possibly hurt when it comes to finding jobs or generally planning your career.

Japanese

Aside from Japan being one of the coolest countries we can think of, Japanese is useful due to a large number of native speakers and Japan's economy. Plus you can always watch loads of cool animé films without dubbing or subtitles!

Brazil also has beautiful beaches full
of lovely people.

Portuguese

With Brazil having one of the world's largest economies, Portuguese has found itself as one of the most important languages in the modern world. If you already know any other Romance languages you should take the plunge and invest your time in Portuguese.

Hindi

India is going from strength to strength economically and the most-spoken language in the sub-continent is always considered a good one to learn. The culture in Hindi is massive so you'll never be short of materials to help you learn.

If after all this you can't decide or are still not sure, why not pick a language from the easiest languages to learn?