Do you feel that Romance languages are really more verbose/wordy/prolix/less straightforward than Germanic languages?
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Years ago, my professor of Linguistics drew this on the blackboard: She said, pointing to the straight line: "This is Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Nordic (or whatever) mentality, behavior, thought, argumentation, languages, text structure…" She pointed to the spiral: "This is Latin mentality, behavior, thought, argumentation, languages, text…" I don't know if she took that from an actual academic study, or maybe she was just making a joke, playing with a popular myth, stereotype, or sharing her personal impression... Do you know of any study or concrete information about that? I have to say I have the same impression. Studying in Italy (as a Brazilian, we should share some of this mentality background), I find that Italian language/mentality is even less direct than Brazilian. Maybe it's just my impression, but I think Italian academic texts are more prolix than in Portuguese, and definitely more than in English. I work with translation Italian-Portuguese, and I often feel the need to cut off some words to make it sound more natural to Portuguese speakers. But I'm not sure if this is true in general, it could be just my impression. Something definitely true: anything related to studies, to be considered quality for Italians, it has to be complex. Even to get your driver’s license in Italy is hell! They test your capacity to memorize a ton of useless information. You practically have to memorize a whole manual with 200 pages to pass the driving exam. Some people joke that driving school in Italy feels like college. (I had to retake my expired driver's license, in Brazil it was so much more practical and less theoretical... Italy is the opposite). The Italian education system is very traditional and heavily based on memorization. I've had lessons with Brazilian, Portuguese and English professors... I can tell you: Italian professors tend to be the ones that least try to make things easy and clear - they talk to themselves for hours trying to elaborate in a complex way... and when I talk to Italians, some of them even feel proud of it, saying that means quality. That's a huge culture shock. Any thoughts and experiences? Back to the question: do you feel that Romance languages are really more verbose/wordy/prolix/less straightforward than Germanic languages? [link] [comments] |
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