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Home Front: WoT
Jihad Fear in Queens
2006-06-09
Snipped, duplicate. Sorry.
Posted by:tu3031

#6  Some are dialects, some are genuine languages, Zhang Fei. It's my understanding that India, because of all of those historically inpenetrable valleys and lost jungle kingdoms and such, is even more diverse, linguistically, than China... approaching Africa, in fact.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-06-09 20:33  

#5  TW: That would be distinct, mutually unintelligeable languages.

Mutually intelligible languages are typically called dialects.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2006-06-09 20:09  

#4  * India is composed of dozens of former kingdoms, each with a distinct spoken and written language. Think Switzerland, cubed.

That would be distinct, mutually unintelligeable languages. That's why the first thing they do is learn English, so as to be able to communicate beyond their village. Different parts of India even indicate yes and no differently, or so Mr. Wife informed me: half nod and shake their heads like we do in the West, half reverse it (nod for no, shake for yes), and the remainder (these are not mathematical fractions) are so confused that their heads literally go in circles for both.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-06-09 19:43  

#3  BJK: Sounds like it's hard to convince almost all the immigrants who have gone from living in shit to owning their own business and enjoying prosperity that the U.S. is a bad place. This is at least a positive note. But their kids on the other hand.

Two of the people quoted are Sikhs (the bearded guys who wear turbans) and one is a Hindu. They're all South Asians (the region that was once British India, now split up into India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). The Muslims are a hodgepodge who speak various Indian languages. Many Sikhs are from Punjab (in India*), and understand the Punjabi language, which may be a help in penetrating South Asian Muslim groups.

* India is composed of dozens of former kingdoms, each with a distinct spoken and written language. Think Switzerland, cubed.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2006-06-09 18:46  

#2  Robert Wagner has a school named after him? Good going Number Two!
Posted by: Frank G   2006-06-09 12:55  

#1  Sounds like it's hard to convince almost all the immigrants who have gone from living in shit to owning their own business and enjoying prosperity that the U.S. is a bad place. This is at least a positive note. But their kids on the other hand.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2006-06-09 10:56  

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