Customer Reviews

Native Tongues

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One thousand words is not enough to review this book. Conversely the book defines one thousand words...and more. If you are interested in words and their origins, peoples names and what the names mean, you will find this book difficult to put down. Read it, if you can find it.

I just finished reading this book, and while I'm not an expert on every language that Charles Berlitz attempted to write about, it is very clear that Mr. Berlitz didn't even bother to have his book proofread. It was full of:

1) Typos ("person" in Zulu is "umuntu", not "uminto", page 184)
2) Incorrect translations ("excuse me" in Japanese is "sumimasen", not "moshi moshi", page 228)
3) Myths presented as fact (English was not selected over German as the official language of the United States by only one vote, pages 43-44 and ON THE COVER)
4) Dubious theories presented as facts (the most accepted theory for the origin of the word "gringo" is that it comes from the Spanish word "griego", or "greek". The claim that it comes from the song "Green Grow The Lilacs", page 66, is not even a well backed theory)
5) An obvious Eurocentric worldview (page 35, in most languages "sun" is a masculine? Maybe in most European languages, but not in most of the world's languages).

If you want to read interesting factoids about languages that may or may not be true, then this is the book for you.

There are a lot interesting facts concerning all different languages, words and phrases; while it is very interesting it really bothers me that none of it is cited. This book is authored by Charles Berlitz, so maybe, since he is an authority on language he doesn't need to cite his work, but it would have been nice. Either way it's an engaging read, however, I wouldn't go around quoting it without backing up some of the statements with a source to confirm them.

This book was fun and interesting. I particularly enjoyed the attention "Native Tongues" paid to some Asian, African, and Native American languages. If you looking for a non-complicated book about human languages, then this is the right book for you.

"English was selected over German as the official language of the United States... by one vote."

"California is the name of the queen of the Amazons"

"The word 'mile' comes from the Latin 'mille', one thousand, referring to a thousand complete paces..."

For anyone interested in languages, especially, this book compiles a large amount of fascinating trivia - about 340 pages worth.

Este é, sem dúvida, um dos melhores livros que eu já li, sendo ao mesmo tempo leve e profundo, sério e divertido, popular e acadêmico. Recomendo para todos aqueles que gostem de ler um bom livro, daqueles que não conseguimos largar até chegar a última página. Indispensável a qualque biblioteca.

This is an incredible book! I study languages free-lance and this book is very helpful! It is in a non-technical style of language that makes it especially easy to use. The quantity as well as quality of facts is staggering! DOWNSIDE: It's out of print. Try an antiquarian book search to find it. That's where I got mine!

This is a big collection of facts about different languages divided in 39 chapters with titles such as: How languages started; Alphabets; 1066 and the French invasion of English; Language incidents that changed history; Words of love and admiration; English vs American; What's in a name: places and peoples; The world's shortest phrasebook in the most languages (8 words and phrases in 26 languages).

The facts are very different from each other in type and length. Here's one of the shortest, just to illustrate how useless some of the facts are: "The Navaho word for 'train' means 'many wagons, no horse.'". The longest ones are half a page. One fact may, or may not be related to the previous one.

If you enjoy reading trivia that you probably won't remember for long, then you'll like this book, it really contains a lot of (useless) information in it's 300 pages.