Langue!

As an amateur linguist, I have spent the better part of my recent life dabbling in a few languages, and I must say that I've found a few that I thoroughly enjoy. Here's a quick list of languages that I love, and languages I hate.

Languages I dig:

1) Ancient Greek. It's like a giant logic puzzle. Nightmarishly complicated, but always rewarding and with an enormous and excellent body of extant literature.

2) Icelandic. Fun and jangly. While most languages are virtually unrecognizable from their predecessors 500 years prior, Icelandic has remained virtually unchanged since the 12th century. So a modern Icelander can still read classic Icelandic texts from way back in the day. Try doing that with English.

3) Latin. Your grandfather's language is still fun and erudite without being complex. It is the picture of Roman elegance, with straightforward grammar and a sound that is pleasant without being cutesy (see Italian). It's also a nice entry-level language to get you into all the other romance languages.

4) German. Yeah, yeah, I know. But it's so jaunty and idiosyncratic, and it is quite endearing once you get to know it. Also, I honestly think that there is nothing better than German poetry. If you don't believe me, check out "Mondnacht" by Eichendorff, which is genuinely beautiful.

Languages I strongly dislike:

1) French. Maybe I'm being overly iconoclastic here, but I just don't get the appeal of French. Of all the Romance languages, its literature interests me the least (Don Quixote, the Divine Comedy, or The Remembrance of Things Past--which one would you pick?). It's whispery and endearing, yes, but it's also nasal and awkward and very difficult to hear. Not to mention that we have them to blame for our horrendous English spelling.

2) Russian. This is a truly tone deaf language. I'm sure it could grow on me if I let it. But I simply don't intend to.


For languages I know almost nothing about but wish I knew more, see Dutch and Irish (Gaelic).

Saddam and the Kurds

On Sunday, Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging for the deaths of 142 Shi'ite villagers in Dujail in 1982. It seems that every community in every country reacted differently to the verdict, from the widespread criticism of the death penalty in Europe, to glee from Iraqi-Canadian ex-pats. I am not morally opposed to the death penalty, although hanging does seem an archaic means of execution. The bigger issue, I think, is that this could allow Saddam Hussein to avoid a trial over the Kurdish genocide.

For Saddam, the killing of 142 Shi'ites was by no means an isolated incident, but he killed Shi'ites randomly. He killed Kurds systematically. The al-Anfal campaign that Saddam conducted between 1986-1989 killed tens of thousands of Kurds and forced the relocation of hundreds of thousands more. He used poison gas against entire towns of Kurdish civilians. The Kurdish people deserve the right to force Saddam to sit and hear testimony from the families, wives, executioners, and everyone else affected by or involved with that wretched campaign. The Kurds deserve their day in court, and the world deserves to see a wicked man shamed once again.