@JasperLoy When she first showed up I think she said something to the effect that she had retired from a job (teaching?) related to language (English?), so I think she is a professional word-monger of some kind.

@Cerberus How did you find that?

@Mitch google.com/…

Oh.

I found the article after the image.

Google Images links to the article.

Hm... The Atlantic has interesting articles. I bet they make all that stuff up though.

I have seen a more comprehensive graph or image, though, I believe.

A while aho.

@JasperLoy For someone who knows English, German is harder than English because French vocabulary has a lot in common with educated English words but English doesn't share it with German (television and television and Fernseher).

@JasperLoy Oh...that's a different situation. It all depends on the area of math that you care about.

Also (re French and German) German syntax is harder because it has both gender (like French) but also two extra cases, and you know all those phrasal verbs and prepositions that English has that you have to learn for practically every situation? Well German has the same thing, but all the prepositions are changed around. So your English intuition is wrong as often as it is right.

@Mitch You mean "harder than French"?

I don't think I agree.

Grammar and common words are very, very different between English and French.

Once you already know basic French, perhaps academic literature is comparatively easier than with basic German.

But otherwise...

@Mitch I don't agree with this either. You don't really need to know the case structure very well in order to read German.

And French prepositions are no easier than German or English ones.

So many disagreements, fascinating.

french is terrible I wish I could unlearn it and move elsewhere

Hey!!

French is cool and beautiful.

I will not tolerate any such disparagement!

is it true that it sounds like "Hon hon hon .. hon .." :) ?

!!urban hon hon hon

@cyril hon hon hon the sound of French laughter, in all its nasally glory

Dutch really sounds like an alien language though

Here's what I hate about this site. A bunch of ignoramuses giving wrong answers and spreading ignorance.

@Robusto Calm down, calm down.

I'm perfectly calm. I can hate ignorance without getting exercised about it.

> L'habit ne fait pas le moine

I thought "at face value" would be judging with appearances.

"Not satisfied with this plan, Councilman Simmons, has counter proposed the so-called 'Citizens Self-Protection Act'." Is the comma after Simmons appropriate?

Also, hello.