Why Is Korean So Hard? - BLARB
It made me realize this isn't a language issue, but an identity crisis disguised as a technical skill gap. Heritage speakers, who are second and third-generation immigrants, understand their family's language perfectly but can't speak confidently.
That makes global claims of this sort (claims about our language defining our world) untestable even in principle. It’s not a scientific hypothesis; it’s a rather strange (and in my view implausible) metaphysical claim that no one can ever confirm or refute. That is part of why linguists are so much less intrigued by global Sapir–Whorf-style claims
... See moreGeoffrey K. Pullum • Linguistics: Why It Matters
wait do kids actually have a natural affinity for language learning, or is it just that almost no adult gets to spend 2-5 years in a total immersion environment for their language of choice, one in which every single native speaker around them adores them and their efforts by default and is highly motivated to pay special attention to new speakers... See more
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