You were right, that book was utterly fascinating. I had no idea the incredible varieties of languages out there. I agree, the Semitic languages (though definitely a bit over my head) were very interesting. I may have told all of my friends how they worked because I was so fascinated. His explanations about how languages potentially developed seemed compelling, though I liked it best when he started speculating about why "modern" languages were in general more simply structured than past ones. Thank you for the recommendation! I enjoyed it very much. If you would also like a new language book to read, David Crystal's Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language is a really fun and accessible read.
In answer to your statements about Damocles, I agree that it is a strange book, but it is a book I have been wanting someone to write for a long time. It always seems like authors skip the language-learning aspect in any sci-fi novel in order to focus on other things. That's fine, I suppose, but I always thought the language part of it was both interesting and fun. Your book managed to really delve into that topic and show how that alone can be an incredibly important part of meeting and understanding an alien culture, and how that can easily go wrong even with a bunch of experts trying their absolute hardest. I thought all of your characters were fun and interesting, but I do think that anyone but Loul Pell would have led the plot into disaster. Thank you for taking the time to answer, and for your book recommendations. Happy writing!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9...
In answer to your statements about Damocles, I agree that it is a strange book, but it is a book I have been wanting someone to write for a long time. It always seems like authors skip the language-learning aspect in any sci-fi novel in order to focus on other things. That's fine, I suppose, but I always thought the language part of it was both interesting and fun. Your book managed to really delve into that topic and show how that alone can be an incredibly important part of meeting and understanding an alien culture, and how that can easily go wrong even with a bunch of experts trying their absolute hardest. I thought all of your characters were fun and interesting, but I do think that anyone but Loul Pell would have led the plot into disaster. Thank you for taking the time to answer, and for your book recommendations. Happy writing!