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vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

Tweets

Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      A language without an esoteric tier will soon degenerate and die in a different way: by becoming a language mostly for stupid people thinking stupid thoughts. A preliminary stage is a divide of growing mutual unintelligibility emerging between high/low versions of a language.

      1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes
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    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      This divide is starkly visible in all Indian languages (a bad thing) but barely visible in English (a sign of health). A scholarly speaker speaking “shudh” (pure) Hindi sounds almost like Sanskrit and incomprehensible the way Latin does to average English speakers.

      1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
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    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      Conversely, a full-blown use of a deep-slang street version of Hindi, like Bambaiyya (think strong Geordie or AAVE in relation to English), can be almost as unintelligible to people schooled exclusively in official-sanskritized “high-culture” version, like many South Indians are.

      1 reply 0 retweets 7 likes
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    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      Prediction: tailwinds of digitization, auto-translation, robust street use, and demographics notwithstanding, most 2nd tier languages are going to die of stupidification because they are below critical mass of creatives working in high culture and keeping it close to low culture

      2 replies 3 retweets 9 likes
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    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      Coda: I found a translator partner for German version of Breaking Smart easily. In French, I was approached by a French digital agency. In Spanish, I had a couple of individuals interested and an incomplete translation exists it the project didn’t get done.

      1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
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    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      This tells you the limits of informal, extra-institutional translation possibilities. Traditionally published books that are reasonably successful will easily appear in 6-7 languages. Self-published ones like my book Tempo (~5k copies, so low end of “successful”) are unlikely to.

      2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes
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    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      A lot of the value of existence of institutionalized high culture layers in languages is: cultural globalization. When high culture dies, books stop being translated into other languages as the translation gap between self-published and traditionally published demonstrates.

      2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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    8. Detlef Guertler‏ @DetlefGuertler 8 Jun 2019
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      Replying to @vgr

      Can easily happen the other way round. 2nd or 3rd tier languages can survive and thrive because of cultural regionalization. When region becomes more important, there will be a growing demand for something that can positively define identity.

      2 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
    9. Detlef Guertler‏ @DetlefGuertler 8 Jun 2019
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      Replying to @DetlefGuertler @vgr

      Take the example of Catalan. A language as definition what's special about a region. Highly subsidized by regional government, yes, but that's what governments do to demonstrate uniqueness.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
    10. Detlef Guertler‏ @DetlefGuertler 8 Jun 2019
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      Replying to @DetlefGuertler @vgr

      If national institutions and narratives continue to be the main source of identity, there is little need for investment in language culture. But I wouldn't bet on that outcome.

      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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      Replying to @DetlefGuertler

      I’d say for a language to thrive the effort pie chart is: 60% street use and texting/signage/ads 20% free market mass oral media (video/audio/music) 10% free market textual long form 9.9% scholarly work in universities free of state interference 0.1% direct state effort

      11:23 AM - 8 Jun 2019
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Detlef Guertler‏ @DetlefGuertler 8 Jun 2019
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          Replying to @vgr

          Have you ever been to Barcelona?

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr 8 Jun 2019
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          Replying to @DetlefGuertler

          No 🙂 different pie chart?

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
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