Language "categories" (was: undergraduate >Honors in Russian)

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Alina Israeli wrote:

 >> How related is "related"? Obviously both English and Russian are
 >> Indo-European languages, although not in the same subgroup. How
 >> does German end up in category 2 when it's more closely related to
 >> English than Spanish (category 1)? (I grant that everyone seems to
 >> think Spanish is easier, but why?)
 >
 > Common roots and sentence structure.

Funny, I always figured those categories were influenced by supply and
demand. An institution offering a degree in Spanish has so many
applicants with it in their background that it doesn't have to bother
with newbies starting the language at 18, whereas one offering Russian
has to take whoever it can get. Accordingly, the level of proficiency
attained by juniors and seniors would be higher in Spanish than in Russian.

But looking at the list posted by Michael Brewer I can see that it has
largely to do with the degree of difficulty experienced by an American
adult learner -- which after all is what college students are.

I wonder how the rankings would be adjusted if we were talking about
seven-year-olds...

--
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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