Learning Journal 6

[Maddie Philips]

Knowing a language's history can help a person understand it, because there are certain historical and cultural factors that help people understand language better. An example of this is my class on the history of English in terms of Greek and Latin. By knowing the history of words, I can understand how they are put together, and therefore better understand what they mean. This class has even helped my understanding of French, because the Greek and Latin roots are much the same as those found in English. This can help be applied to Basque too, because understanding how loan words entered the Basque language, as well as which ones, can be great for better speaking Basque. By knowing that things introduced by the Romans were given Latin-based words in Basque, like "oliba" for olive, you can start to predict what certain things might mean, before technically knowing the words for them.