The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry

The New Adventures of Mr Stephen Fry » Topic: Planet Word http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word Just another bbPress community en-US Mon, 20 May 2013 19:28:23 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/search.php charlottesmith on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-279885 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:46:33 +0000 charlottesmith 279885@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ For anyone who's not seen Fry's Planet Word it is a fascinating exploration of language in all its forms: from cutting edge linguistic research to the glories of world literature. <a href="http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/SeriesDetails.aspx?SeriesID=24080" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/SeriesD.....esID=24080</a> caera on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-279245 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:05:59 +0000 caera 279245@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Language is a way to express your feeling and thought. Grammar of any language is important because any change in grammar affects the sentences of that language. Patrick.R on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-278183 Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:34:42 +0000 Patrick.R 278183@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I've viewed four episodes and have been absolutely enthralled with what I've seen and heard! Language study has been a bit of a hobby for me over the past few years. Stephen's study and numerous discussions of language all over the world let the viewer know just how diverse, fascinating and ever changing human language is. I hope that it is released on DVD! merryway on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-277090 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:30:00 +0000 merryway 277090@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Who else is insanely in love with this documentary so far? The subject is fascinating and Stephen is lovely as ever. I'm really looking forward to another episodes. And watching Stephen getting worked up about football was just naughtily delightful. x-P ESgt on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-277078 Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:53:14 +0000 ESgt 277078@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ <blockquote><cite>laidbacklady <a href="//www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-244833"">said</a>:</cite> As someone who finds language and etymology fascinating I'm really looking forward to this series. </blockquote> Suggestion: Could the BBC please publish the language tree, as vaguely glimpsed in the first Planet Word episode, as a wall poster. Like the one of the Tree of Life which they made and distributed in conjunction with the OU to commemorate the two-hundredth Darwin anniversary. [Spell checked externally]. RuthyTu on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-276654 Sat, 24 Sep 2011 15:34:20 +0000 RuthyTu 276654@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ The grammatical error at the end of the trailer for "Planet Word" is a big turn-off for much of the potential audience. And no, I don't mean pedants. Brian Barker on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-276480 Sun, 18 Sep 2011 05:57:28 +0000 Brian Barker 276480@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ I hope that the BBC will mention the success of Esperanto in his new BBC TV programme "Planet Word" when it airs on 25th September. Many ignorant people describe Esperanto as "failed" - other ignorant people say that if human beings were meant to fly, God would have given them wings. Esperanto is neither artificial nor a failure however. As the British Government now employs Esperanto translators it has ceased to be a hobby. More recently this international language was used to address the United Nations in Bonn. During a short period of 124 years Esperanto is now in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide. It is the 22nd most used language in Wikipedia, ahead of Danish and Arabic. It is a language choice of Google, Skype, Firefox, Ubuntu and Facebook. The new online course <a href="http://www.lernu.net" rel="nofollow">http://www.lernu.net</a> has 125 000 hits per day and Esperanto Wikipedia enjoys 400 000 hits per day. That can't be bad <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif" title=":)" class="bb_smilies" /> pebbles on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-244933 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:22:19 +0000 pebbles 244933@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ Oh, I think these changes suit the differences between American and European culture rather well, as far as I (being German) can grasp them anyway <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_smile.gif" title=":-)" class="bb_smilies" /> I'm looking forward to this programme (with two "m"s and an "e" if you like <img src="http://www.stephenfry.com/bb-content/plugins//bb-smilies/default/icon_wink.gif" title=":wink:" class="bb_smilies" /> ) too. At least I'm curious about what he'll have to say about whether language shapes one's way of thinking, or how deep these differences go if it does. laidbacklady on "Planet Word" http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/topic/planet-word#post-244833 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:55:08 +0000 laidbacklady 244833@http://www.stephenfry.com/forum/ As someone who finds language and etymology fascinating I'm really looking forward to this series. I shall be particularly interested in what Stephen says about American English - at least, I'm hoping he's going to comment on this. I recently returned to England after living for several years in the Caribbean. Although the island had been alternately British and French during its colonial history and the official language was English, I was disappointed to see how very Americanised it was becoming. Considering the shameful way that Britian treated the sugar producing Commonwealth countries when we joined the EEC, they don't owe us any loyalty but it was still sad to see how firmly this little country is now oriented towards America. I was a long way from friends and family and my sense of isolation was increased by the use of American, rather than English spelling. I assume that American spelling is an attempt to simplify the language. It may well do this, but in the process an enormous amount has been lost. 'English' English is a rich and beautiful language in which the different cultures that have contributed to it can be clearly seen. It is also possible, with much of our language, for anyone with a smattering of Latin or Greek to make a good guess at the meaning of an unfamiliar word. The Americans have chosen to remove all traces of linguistic heritage, getting rid of diphthongs, replacing 'c' with 'k' and replacing 're' at the end of a word with 'er' in a way that makes me feel that they are deliberately stamping out any evidence of etymology. This feels almost sacrilegious - and certainly makes life harder for the cultured reader. For example the English 'paediatrics' is obviously to do with children. The American 'pediatrics' could just as easily be to do with feet! What is going on here and why do they feel it necessary to do this? America is a different country, widely separated from England and it is natural for its language to evolve separately. I don't have a problem with that. But that language is NOT English and I get very cross when Americans insist that it is! America is not a cultural desert; it has produced some wonderful artists, writers and musicians. I don't understand, therefore, why they have chosen to descrate our language in the way that they have, and hope Stephen will be including some commentary on this.