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7/7/12 21:05![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
owlectomyI was going to do a linguistics rant but I don't think I will as it's all stuff I've said before and you, dear readers, are not the ones I would be ranting at.
I do think it's funny how when it comes to linguistics, people can say "LOOK I HAVE OPINIONS" and then a person will point to actual research and people will ignore the research and carry on saying "LOOK I HAVE OPINIONS." Of course, there are a lot of fields where this is true -- lots of hot-button political topics, and lots of health (especially mental health) issues.
For something that affects you every day, or something that you use every day, you tend to feel certain that you have an intuitive understanding of how it works. But language is more like a car: you may know how to turn on the ignition, how to change gears, how to back up out of a long curvy driveway, but the cam shaft and the pistons and the spark plugs keep on doing what they're built to do, with very little direct observation.
Only, with cars, there are engineers and mechanics who actually know how they work in great detail. When it comes to language, even the best mechanics are still arguing about how the thing actually works and how it got there in the first place.
I am glad I studied linguistics even though I didn't really do anything with the degree, because it's one of the most fascinating and intricate things our brains can do and we don't know how brains do it.
I said I was not going to do a linguistics rant, so this is not a linguistics rant, but ChinesePod would be a lot more fun if there were a little less "Dating hot Chinese girls yeah!" on the site. ...And I spend a lot of time on Japanese learning sites, so I know I don't have my expectations calibrated overly sensitively.
I do think it's funny how when it comes to linguistics, people can say "LOOK I HAVE OPINIONS" and then a person will point to actual research and people will ignore the research and carry on saying "LOOK I HAVE OPINIONS." Of course, there are a lot of fields where this is true -- lots of hot-button political topics, and lots of health (especially mental health) issues.
For something that affects you every day, or something that you use every day, you tend to feel certain that you have an intuitive understanding of how it works. But language is more like a car: you may know how to turn on the ignition, how to change gears, how to back up out of a long curvy driveway, but the cam shaft and the pistons and the spark plugs keep on doing what they're built to do, with very little direct observation.
Only, with cars, there are engineers and mechanics who actually know how they work in great detail. When it comes to language, even the best mechanics are still arguing about how the thing actually works and how it got there in the first place.
I am glad I studied linguistics even though I didn't really do anything with the degree, because it's one of the most fascinating and intricate things our brains can do and we don't know how brains do it.
I said I was not going to do a linguistics rant, so this is not a linguistics rant, but ChinesePod would be a lot more fun if there were a little less "Dating hot Chinese girls yeah!" on the site. ...And I spend a lot of time on Japanese learning sites, so I know I don't have my expectations calibrated overly sensitively.