Re: Rating Languages

Quoting David Peterson <DigitalScream@...>:

> In a message dated 9/24/01 10:43:11 PM, amber@OJNK.NET writes:
>
> << Of course, if the only thing putting you off is the alphabet, and if
> you
> already can read the Arabic script, try hitting it from the Urdu
> direction,
> rather than Hindi. (At the colloquial level, they're virtually the
> same). >>
>
>     What are the differences, anyway?
So I'm given to understand, they are, as Amber said, virtually the
same at a basic, colloquial street-market level. Both languages stem
from Indo-Aryan, but the differences lie in where they derive their
educated vocabulary.  Hindi draws its from Sanskrit, while Urdu draws
its from Arabic.  When you read scientific journals written in them,
they're virtually mutually unintelligible.  (The similarity at that
level in one example I saw, which I have since forgotten, consisted
in a single genitive suffix.)

==============================
Thomas Wier <trwier@...>

"Aspidi men Saiôn tis agalletai, hên para thamnôi
  entos amômêton kallipon ouk ethelôn;
autos d' exephugon thanatou telos: aspis ekeinê
  erretô; exautês ktêsomai ou kakiô" - Arkhilokhos