The Hardest Language To Spell
3,948,961
Published 2016-06-17
Xidnaf claims Thai is "World's Most Complicated Writing System":
• World's Most Complicated Writing Syst...
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* SPOILER *
Watch - Don't read - Unless you want answers...
In this video I tackle the claim that Thai is the world's hardest writing system. Sit back as I share what it's like to learn to write Tibetan, and I think you'll change your mind.
The Tibetan script is also an alphasyllabary that surrounds consonants. Tibetan also has tones to deal with. But Tibetan is much older and requires you to do some serious backflips to read and write its bizarre alphabet.
Besides... it just looks cool.
CREDITS
Narration, art and animation by Josh from NativLang
Music by Kevin MacLeod:
The Show Must Be Go
Hyperfun
Cambodian Odyssey
Himalayan Atmosphere
Vadodora Chill Mix
Our Story Begins
Arid Foothills
Big Mojo
Jalandhar
Public domain and CC-BY image and sfx:
docs.google.com/document/d/1eIHv-svE1m29I3YsihI4J0…
All Comments (21)
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“What is the least spoken language in the world” Sign language
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Duolingo wants to know your location
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That last pun was unforgivable, I feel tibetrayed.
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As a native speaker of Tibetan, I never realized that Tibetan spelling is such bizarre. When we were at school, we just followed the teacher and memorized those spellings. Yes, we memorize them rather than recall the letters through their sounds. We accepted it as normal to speak one way and write in another way.
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me reads a word in tibetan: bgstpklprongkkcyk tibetan: rong
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And people complain about English having silent letters!
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As a Tibetan speaker, thanks for explaining my pain very accurately. Reading and writing Tibetan is very difficult. It sure could use an update to make it simpler especially since the language could very well die soon, under attack from the Chinese government inside Tibet. If it were a bit easier to learn for new learners, that could ensure it’s survival, at least outside of Tibet. Thanks for a very well researched video, quite impressive, and your pronunciation is spot on.
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Thank you for explaining our Tibetan language beautifully..🙏 I do feel proud I am Tibetan and had learned that awesome language
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"So how difficult do you want this new language to be?" "dbyesgs"
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How much silent letters do you want? French: yes.
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My mother tongue is Sinhala, majority spoken language in Sri Lanka. Sinhala is also coming from Sanskrit. The alphabet consists of 60 letters, 18 for vowels and 42 for consonants.
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I speak English, Tagalog, Spanish, and I'm learning Thai right now. I started with Thai script and everything else became less complicated to learn. ✨ It's so much fun to learn languages!
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Okay Youtube, I watched it. You can stop now.
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German: here is a map, go home English: here is a compass, go home Japanese: here is a map, go to Mars. Tibetan: here is a geiger counter, go to the andromeda galaxy.
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Them :Thai is hard to speak Me: [ In Jisoo's voice] mai mee tang ka..
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Beautifully explained! Tibetan language sure is hard because spoken and written are completely different. I can read a full page in Tibetan script, and not understand 99% of what I had just read. I speak Tibetan every day, but spoken language sure is totally different from the written language. One sound alone can be written in sooooo many different ways, and each would have its own meaning, and that's another reason my brain goes 🤯🤯🤯 when reading Tibetan language. Beautiful, hearty culture nonetheless. #FreeTibet🙏🏽
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Spelling? We don't have spelling in chinese, you write a thing and maybe the other guy knows how to pronounce it maybe not, who tf knows
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How many letters would you like to make the sound "e" Greek: yes
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When you complain English has silence letters, Tibetan: Bkra shis bde legs. (Tra shi de lek)
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This learned scholar’s observation about languages along with his cartoons have won my subscription.
