The Loom of Language: An Approach to the Mastery of Many Languages
Product ID: 12192475
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Here is an informative introduction to language: its origins in the past, its growth through history, and its present use for communication between peoples. It is at the same time a history of language, a guide to foreign tongues, and a method for learning them. It shows, through basic vocabularies, family resemblances of languages―Teutonic, Romance, Greek―helpful tricks of translation, key combinations of roots and phonetic patterns. It presents by common-sense methods the most helpful approach to the mastery of many languages; it condenses vocabulary to a minimum of essential words; it simplifies grammar in an entirely new way; and it teaches a languages as it is actually used in everyday life. But this book is more than a guide to foreign languages; it goes deep into the roots of all knowledge as it explores the history of speech. It lights up the dim pathways of prehistory and unfolds the story of the slow growth of human expression from the most primitive signs and sounds to the elaborate variations of the highest cultures. Without language no knowledge would be possible; here we see how language is at once the source and the reservoir of all we know. Review: Great book on languages, their origins, and their construction - This book is a thick "hard slog", but worthwhile and a must-read for any student of Western languages. It's not about learning a particular language, it's about how languages work and generalizations that can be made to learn multiple languages. Review: Worth buying the hard copy, ie not just kindle - Heard great things about this book. Great read. Some sentiments are dated; you'll see. But a great read
| Best Sellers Rank | #67,412 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #2 in Semantics (Books) #1,474 in Textbooks (Special Features Stores) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 471 Reviews |
R**H
Great book on languages, their origins, and their construction
This book is a thick "hard slog", but worthwhile and a must-read for any student of Western languages. It's not about learning a particular language, it's about how languages work and generalizations that can be made to learn multiple languages.
B**R
Worth buying the hard copy, ie not just kindle
Heard great things about this book. Great read. Some sentiments are dated; you'll see. But a great read
J**S
Absolutely essential to understand language learning, (especially European)
Excellent overview and detailed explanation of the process of learning a foreign language (or two or more). Written in 1942-3 and published in 1944, still relevant today. I was concerned about the quality of the reprint available today (new copies), but was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the book I received. A hefty book, 692 pages but a very well bound paperback. If you are interested in the history and comparisons between languages of Europe, you should read this book. Highly recommended.
P**T
A fun read, but getting a bit dated.
It is a bit dated, but a good read about the interconnectedness of the Indo-European language family, and how English straddles the both the Germanic and Romance languages -- and how that can be used to learn (or at least understand in written form) a large number of other languages. Of interest is the "museums" in the back, which show cognates between major languages and their English gloss. Quite an eye-opener. The style of writing is clearly dated now (describing certain languages or cultures as "backwards" is my favorite example), and the author is quite dry at times, but clearly still knowledgeable.
C**Y
Fascinating.
I love this book and read it in high school at least 10 times. Although many of the earlier theories expounded here have been fleshed out and refined over the 76 years since it was first published, it is fascinating. I found the 'Language Museum' portion of it especially interesting. Romance and then Germanic language vocabulary is compared side by side; French/Spanish/Italian/Portuguese version of eg house are compared, and then Swedish, German, and other Germanic vocabulary for eg father are compared--fascinating. A true classic.
T**N
Worth the time!
The loom of language A scholarly yet practical treatise on Western languages and how to learn them with a deeper knowledge of how and why they are as they are. The benefit is gained in an understanding of the origins and mutations of languages as they developed which makes learning related languages easier and intuitive. Its only shortcoming for the 21st century is that it takes a fair bit of effort to research the linguistics terminology Bodmer so casually uses, apparently in the expectation that all readers will be familiar with them...as I was not! I know a lot more about language now, though, and found the time and effort necessary to gain an understanding of his thesis well worth the expenditure.
F**A
ANSWER
Awesome!
V**D
A good buy
I got the book as a 'good' statues and I will confess the book is as brand new. I been studying multiple languages for a few years and a friend of mines suggested this book. I'm going to start reading it Monday. Will give an update on the book itself.
O**O
Very good
Very good
M**O
Approaches languages with a eurocentric worldview
Not very useful for people who want to understand / learn non European languages
F**O
La primera ojeada al libro es muy alentadora
Una ojeada preliminar por encima del libro me convence de que me llevará horas y horas de estudio ponerme al día con este libro, que ha sido un acierto comprarlo.
M**A
Utile
Libro davvero illuminante. Ti fa fare collegamenti davvero utili per imparare più lingue. Altamente consigliato.
M**R
Wenn Volumen nicht abschreckt: zugreifen!
Das Standardwerk -- ein Riesenwälzer voller faszinierender Tiefen-Einblicke in Sprachgeschichte und -struktur. Man liest sich fest. Man kann es überall aufschlagen, egal, ich kann es nicht mehr aus der Hand legen. Aber definitiv nur was für die Harten, die dicke Bretter bohren, pardon, dicke Bücher verdauen können.
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2 weeks ago
1 week ago