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Babel
Babel | Gaston Dorren
8 posts | 7 read | 1 reading | 15 to read
If you were to master the twenty languages discussed in Babel, you could talk with three quarters of the world's population. But what makes these languages stand out amid the world's estimated 6,500 tongues?Gaston Dorren delves deep into the linguistic oddities and extraordinary stories of these diverse lingua francas, tracing their origins and their sometimes bloody rise to greatness. He deciphers their bewildering array of scripts, presents the gems and gaps in their vocabularies and charts their coinages and loans. He even explains how their grammars order their speakers' worldview. Combining linguistics and cultural history, Babel takes us on an intriguing tour of the world, addressing such questions as how tiny Portugal spawned a major world language and Holland didn't, why Japanese women talk differently from men, what it means for Russian to be 'related' to English, and how non-alphabetic scripts, such as those of India and China, do the same job as our 26 letters. Not to mention the conundrums of why Vietnamese has four forms for 'I', or how Tamil pronouns keep humans and deities apart.Babel will change the way you look at the world and how we all speak.
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Hooked_on_books
Hooked_on_books
Babel | Gaston Dorren
post image
Pickpick

In countdown form, this book looks at the 20 most spoken languages in the world. After reviewing certain details for each, it then launches into something interesting about the language, be it history, different grammar for women (Japanese), and the huge influence it has had on other languages (Arabic). I found this completely fascinating!

TheBookHippie Oh I saw this out in the wild and wondered about it! This seals the deal! I‘m going to go get it. 😂♥️ 12mo
Librariana Sounds fascinating! Adding it to the TBR 😊💜 12mo
LeeRHarry Stacked! Sounds interesting. 😊 12mo
See All 10 Comments
dabbe Your pup is just adorable. 🖤🐾🖤 12mo
squirrelbrain I loved Lingo by the same author, so I‘m glad to hear this one is great too. Hey Bindi! She‘s flat-out tired isn‘t she?! 12mo
Hooked_on_books @TheBookHippie You won‘t be sorry! It‘s nice, because you can read it straight through or dip in and out of it. I love a book with options! 12mo
Hooked_on_books @dabbe Thank you! 12mo
Hooked_on_books @squirrelbrain Poor little Bindi is recovering from a week and a half at the doggie hotel. I‘m not sure how much sleep she gets there. 12mo
squirrelbrain Poor Bindi! Hopefully she‘ll catch up on her sleep soon. 12mo
TheBookHippie @Hooked_on_books that‘s my favorite kind of book! 12mo
49 likes4 stack adds10 comments
review
Tives30
Tives30
Babel | Gaston Dorren
Pickpick

I really enjoyed this book, it‘s almost like traveling around the world. I really enjoyed how the author not only talked about particular languages but also touched on histories of certain areas, their cultures and so on. He did a great job keeping each chapter different and unique. Each chapter made me want to learn a different language and travel to that country.

1 like
blurb
Susanita
Susanita
Babel | Gaston Dorren
post image

Favorite book read in August.

#12booksof2020

tagged users iconAndrew65
Andrew65 Great choice. 4y
38 likes1 comment
quote
Susanita
Susanita
Babel | Gaston Dorren

Being large and central, the Spanish Subjunctive Jungle can‘t be treated as a no-go area, but treading carefully and keeping to the marked paths is advisable.

AlaMich I just read this passage myself! 4y
Susanita @AlaMich It‘s so true! 4y
20 likes2 comments
quote
Susanita
Susanita
Babel | Gaston Dorren

If you‘re interested in learning a non-Indo-European language that won‘t have you tearing ALL your hair out, Turkish is an excellent choice.

24 likes
blurb
BookishMarginalia
BookishMarginalia
Babel | Gaston Dorren
post image

Latest #LibraryHaul

138 likes1 stack add
review
Jdroper
Jdroper
Babel | Gaston Dorren
Pickpick

Interesting. I want to read his previous book, Lingo, now.

review
balletbookworm
balletbookworm
Babel | Gaston Dorren
post image
Pickpick

I enjoyed Lingo (Dorren‘s tour through 60 European languages) and was looking forward to Babel, a deep-dive into the 20 most-spoken languages of the world. What‘s nice about Dorren‘s writing is he constructs each chapter to serve the point he wants to make: one might be a Q&A, another a history of the region, another a recounting of his attempt to learn a serviceable amount of language. This is a nuts-and-bolts of language book but very readable.

24 likes5 stack adds