[Taxacom] pronunciation of Latin, concluding remarks

[Dan Lahr]

One could argue that making Latin pronunciation mandatory empowers only
Europeans. Asians would have to learn yet another western type of
pronunciation, while Americans from the North would have to learn a
difficult pronunciation for them, and Americans from the South would have
to learn their second foreign language (no, Portuguese and Spanish
Pronunciation rules are NOT the same as Latin), besides English which is
already difficult and costly (remember there is a little problem called
lack of money around here).

I would be happier if people learned taxonomy and nomenclature instead.

Kind regards,

Dan



On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 2:35 PM, Roger Burks <burks.roger at gmail.com> wrote:

> There has been some research indicating that it becomes very difficult
> to pick up some sounds after childhood. This blog:
> http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-bilingual-brain/
>
> discusses some of that. It is not greatly surprising to me to find
> North American individuals expressing helplessness here, with
> Europeans expressing empowerment. To a certain extent people from the
> USA, with its horrendous language education, can appear handicapped in
> language learning.
>
> There is variation, of course, but definitely there is an advantage
> for those who have heard a wide variety of spoken sounds at an early
> age (through television, visiting friends, and so forth). It is not
> due to always laziness, but sometimes due to real problems that are
> challenging to overcome. That does not mean that correct pronunciation
> should not be tried, but it does mean that difficulty and occasional
> failure should not be used as a means of discrimination against those
> are trying their best.
>
> Roger
>
> On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 1:20 PM, Pierre Deleporte
> <pierre.deleporte at univ-rennes1.fr> wrote:
> >
> > Who says "impossible ?" It's just difficult, but maybe well worth the
> pain.
> > Many people learn foreign languages. And motivated scientists are not
> > children.
> >
> > It's difficult, not impossible, for non-native-English-speakers to learn
> > some fairly correct English as professional language.
> > This makes a lot of people on Earth.
> > And they better learn to prononce E,glish some "academic" British or
> > American way, rather than using any obscure vernacular accent far from
> > any academic standard (and possibly difficult to understand for many
> > English speakers as well) - this for efficiency of communication and
> > profit for all.
> >
> > So, why not make the effort for using some approximately standard
> > "academic" Latin?
> >
> > Now, I suspect that not the same persons would have to make the maximal
> > effort in this case...
> > As a native French speaking person, I feel very, very easy to pronounce
> > Latin differently than with an incredibly strange and unintelligible
> > English accent. Because I expect some latin pronunciation for Latin
> > words, and of course for latinized words as well.
> >
> > Anyone his turn, hey?... :-)
> >
> > Pierre
>
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-- 
Daniel J. G. Lahr, PhD
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Dept. of Zoology
University of Sao Paulo, Brazil