Rich Robin
@richrobin.bsky.social
Retired professor of Russian at the George Washington University, DC: Russian language pedagogy, Russian media. Armchair interests in media production, historical linguistics. Curator: Russian Song Translation Database: https://tinyurl.com/a6efhfjj
I guaranree you that Russian cyber operations against us will get stronger.
March 3, 2025 at 1:35 PM
I guaranree you that Russian cyber operations against us will get stronger.
We can argue whether Spanish is foreign or an ethnic minority language for the U.S. But that’s hardly a reason to throw out what in most cases is an accurate word for languages spoken in other countries but not among large populations in one’s own.
February 19, 2025 at 6:45 PM
We can argue whether Spanish is foreign or an ethnic minority language for the U.S. But that’s hardly a reason to throw out what in most cases is an accurate word for languages spoken in other countries but not among large populations in one’s own.
“Foreign” is what Roman Jakobson would call a shifter, whose meaning depends on the speaker or the addressee. (For Jakobson, shifters were the pronouns I, you, and we.) Russian is unflinchingly foreign to over 99% of people living in the U.S, but not to people in Russia.
February 19, 2025 at 6:45 PM
“Foreign” is what Roman Jakobson would call a shifter, whose meaning depends on the speaker or the addressee. (For Jakobson, shifters were the pronouns I, you, and we.) Russian is unflinchingly foreign to over 99% of people living in the U.S, but not to people in Russia.
Sure. Certain languages are, in fact, “world” languages: they are used across large swaths of the globe: the 19th century languages of colonization, plus Chinese, Arabic, and so on. But Swedish? Afrikaans? Welsh? Navajo?! (So “unworld” that it served as the basis for our World War II codes.)
February 19, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Sure. Certain languages are, in fact, “world” languages: they are used across large swaths of the globe: the 19th century languages of colonization, plus Chinese, Arabic, and so on. But Swedish? Afrikaans? Welsh? Navajo?! (So “unworld” that it served as the basis for our World War II codes.)