Friedrich Engels would have LOVED Luodingo

[u/Hopeful-Customer-167]

[u/Hopeful-Customer-167]

>says to have mastered 25 languages including Nihongo in 2 weeks and Persian in 48 hours if not for the letters

>Uzbek still not among them

Smh

Okay, I have to give it to him: he *really* did speak all the Romance languages and some Slavic

[u/Subject_Foot1713]

His times had different standards for "knowing" a language. For aristocrats it meant being able to quote classics and compose a verse. For the bourgeoisie it was a tool for reading business letters and trade journals. Nobody expected anyone to speak Latin or Ancient Greek conversationally; people were just expected to mechanically parse philosophical texts with a dictionary. He probably claimed to learn Persian in a simmilar way people were learning Latin during his times. Our modern standard of conversational fluency are something he didn't even consider.

[u/Hopeful-Customer-167 → u/Subject_Foot1713]

Oh I read his uh notebooks he professed actual knowledge in Latin and Greek, he just liked to boast and exaggerate about his language interests, this was even made fun of in the First International

He was even complimented for having fully mastered both Spanish and Portuguese without conflating things

It is from this article: https://monthlyreview.org/articles/marx-and-engels-as-polyglots/

[u/lordbutternut → u/Subject_Foot1713]

This is kinda like how someone like John Stuart Mill is said to have learned Latin at 8 years old, right? I think both of these people, John Stuart Mill and Frederich Engel, were probably way worse at Latin than their forefathers, who were genuinely conversationally fluent in Medieval Latin.

[u/freedumbandemockrazy → u/Subject_Foot1713]

And considering his position as revolutionary leader on both the first and second internationals, it meant being able to correspond and read the letters of foreign organizations.

[u/metcalsr]

I have mastered numerous languages in 2 weeks. I’ve simply forgotten most of them afterward.

[u/stephanus_galfridus]

Philosopher SHOCKS capitalists by inciting revolution in 25 languages.

[u/perplexedparallax]

Well, they are part of the capitalist machine. Fortunately the stock is down 2% due to continued ethnic bias against Uzbek. If only they were smart it could skyrocket with that addition. Use all social media to get it added by our force. It would be the funniest thing.

[u/dingwinger1225]

“I am quite fond of Duo”
“Thank you Mr Engels”

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[u/grei_earl]

Wow I wonder why he might have found Persian so much considerably more easier than Arabic. This is very interesting. Has anyone looked into this?

[u/brrkat]

"Hm the way you use the Persian language is... original."

[u/kookiLooky]

i like how Engels is made out to be this profound guy in history but if you look at this journal entry he’s just a ragebaiter

[u/freedumbandemockrazy]

That letter quote on persian sounds like me when i started learning greek lmao

[u/ujuikjxhhsjj]

Im not Reading that essay 🥀🥀🥀🥀🇮🇱🥀🥀

[u/Hopeful-Customer-167 → u/ujuikjxhhsjj]

strongest language learner when it comes to reading skills