srah blah blah

katie - September 12, 2003 - 1:34 PM - ℓ

A resounding YES to that question. I'm sure it's very hard to be a non-English speaker trying to learn English, because their inclination will be to want to use different words...

richard - September 12, 2003 - 3:15 PM - ℓ

srah asks: How does it affect our view of the world?

I don't know.

Jez - September 12, 2003 - 4:02 PM - ℓ

No lo s�. No conozco nadie que te pueda responder.

Jez - September 12, 2003 - 4:05 PM - ℓ

But then again, you would say: je connais Johnny Depp if you knew personally, or if you were saying that you were aware of his existence. So the word is also fairly ambiguous in French and Spanish too.

Mer - September 12, 2003 - 4:44 PM - ℓ

I love conundrums like this (conundra?).

I don't think people learning English have a problem going to a one-word for two-meanings system. In going from English to French, I (nor my classmates) didn't mind learning one word for 2 meanings, it was always the other way 'round that gave us trouble. Right? The 2 kinds of "to be"'s in Spanish, for example. (Or is that, "to have"'s? (soy/estoy...)

srah - September 13, 2003 - 1:06 AM - ℓ

That's to be.

And the first time I went to France, I couldn't understand why people kept asking me if I knew this or that famous person... not realizing that connaitre could mean to know of a musical group or actor...

Stephen - September 13, 2003 - 6:16 PM - ℓ

It's a strange question. I still have to think about whether I should use savoir or connaitre in certain situations. I know (savoir, c'est sans doute) that it will never come completely naturally for me.