How do I master the English language as an ESL? Is there a certified /lit/ guide?
>>24949518The foundation that everyone worships as the master:>KJV Bible. Some others for flavor:>Chaucer>Shakespeare>Milton>Austen>Dickens>Melville
>>24949518Read a bunch of good books. Talk with educated people.
>>24949521>>24949521Chaucer? Lol get realGrammar textbooks, unironically. You can even find English grammar books partially written in your mother tongue for people like yourself. We all love literature, and reading the classics is edifying and important but you need a foundation to build upon.
>>24949652and yes, you need to engage with English speakers frequently. Not just the intelligent, either.
Start with Greek
>>24949684lolled
>>24949518You don't. Your thoughts are limited by the language you were born into. You are coming from a less technical language to the single most technical language with the largest vocabulary in the history of the world. There's no escape.
>>24949847>Your thoughts are limited by the language you were born into.Nonsense from a linguistic perspective.
>>24949857No, it's not.
>>24949861I literally have a degree in linguistics. Any actual linguist will tell you it is.
>>24949866Your literal degree in linguistics should tell you that that's not an argument.
>>24949878The fact remains that nobody takes strong Sapir-Whorf seriously anymore. Out of curiosity, what's led you to the conclusion that it's the case?
>>24949847My native language is portuguese and I find it much more complex and nuanced than english.
>>24949881>nobody takes strong Sapir-Whorf seriously anymore.Not an argument.
>>24949885In what way?
>>24949881The creation of the distinction between weak/strong sapir-worf is itself an admission that the theory is fundamental correct (and politically problematic)
>>24949847Bullshit. English is borderline caveman speech when compared with other more complex languages such as German or Latin.
>>24949906I'll give you german, latin isn't that complex.
>>24949890How do you figure? Language can nudge cognition in subtle ways but it can't limit what thoughts you're capable of having at all.
>>24949917That's just silly. Look at german and philosophy
>>24949926What thoughts can be expressed in German that it's fundamentally impossible to express in another language, and why can't someone who has learned German as a second language well enough grasp them?
>>24949889More tenses and moods, personal infinitive, more irregular verbs, pt has grammatical gender a/o/as/os (a cobra, o olho) (the snake, the eye), pt has multiple object pronouns
>>24949930I would be refuting myself if I could think of any since I don't know german
>>24949934So it's basically French.
>>24949938Then look up what someone who knows German has said?
>>24949942About what?
>>24949958About thoughts that can be expressed in German but not in another language, and why someone who has learned German as a second language can't grasp them. (In German if need be, I read the language though not very well.)
>>24949963Look anon I appreciate your seriousness but germans are the last people you should expect an objective opinion on this. You can be C1 and they will think you're retarded.
>>24949963I don't speak German
>>24949906And Chinese is even more stripped back than English. Doesn't stop it from being one of the most complex languages out there when it comes to literature.
>>24949973Classical/Literary Chinese*Mandarin is a bitch
>>24949668if you can read 4chan posts then your english is good enough to make learning grammar a waste of time
>>24949847>Your thoughts are limited by the language you were born intoThis isn't true. I'm German. My thoughts are in English when I read. They're in English as I'm typing this. But perhaps I'm a special case because I hardly interact with people IRL and all my online interactions are English, so I've trained myself to think in English too.
