Language Scripts

[ClashofCivs]

Going by aesthetics which of the above scripts do you like the best? Consider both the cursive and print forms as well as calligraphy.

Persian and Urdu use variants of the Arabic script.
Devanâgarî and Bengali are the scripts used in many langauges of India.

Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic (of all forms), and Devanâgarî seem to be among the most interesting. Middle Eastern Scripts are generally very good. Devanâgarî is perhaps the most unusual of the list.

 

[Pangur Bán]

I like the Gothic Script personally:

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Gotta give the nod to Latin. This topic is written in it, after all, as is everyone's favorite CFC topic.

 

[Achinz]

Chinese, of course. Its calligraphy has been an artform for millennia.

 

[KaNick]

I'm somewhat partial to Japanese.

 

[Karl Lenin]

What is the difference between Chinese and Japanese script?

 

[Achinz]

Originally posted by Karl Lenin
What is the difference between Chinese and Japanese script?

Off hand, I'd say that Japanese is derived from Chinese and that it is somewhat simpler. But the calligraphic forms look similar.

But purists would cite separate forms for the Japanese script(s) and I leave it to them to elaborate.

 

[h4ppy]

Latin all the way.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

There are several Japanese scripts, iirc, one of them being based on the Latin alphabet.

 

[h4ppy]

Do you know why the script is called "latin?" I will tell you why. Before latin script people could not write stuff. That is when King John, the prince of Latvia, decided to make writing. So he did, and they named his script after Latvia.

 

[SeleucusNicator]

Originally posted by h4ppy
Do you know why the script is called "latin?" I will tell you why. Before latin script people could not write stuff. That is when King John, the prince of Latvia, decided to make writing. So he did, and they named his script after Latvia.

Why do I get the impression that this message was brought to us by the Central Committee of the Latvian Communist Party?

Ironically enough, that means it would have been originally written in Cyrillic.

 

[Chieftess]

‚É‚Ù‚ñ‚² (Japanese). It's a very beautiful script IMHO.@(Just discovered something really neat about Win XP's Japanese Language input. It easily converts to a Japanese Keyboard! Nice! Guess I can sell my old Japanese computer now. )

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

Gaelic is the most beautiful language on Earth, both to hear and read, though Middle English gives it a run for its money, and so do Sindarin/Quenya and English with Scottish inflection and accent.

It even looks vaguely like a Tolkein language, doesn't it?

 

[h4ppy]

I see the Scottish didn't know how to count. (pg. 231)

 

[Mikoyan]

Hebrew, definately Hebrew.

 

[Archer 007]

Latin.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by SeleucusNicator
There are several Japanese scripts, iirc, one of them being based on the Latin alphabet.

That would be romaji- "roman letters". It is just an attempt to use roman letters to produce Japanese pronounciations and is used mainly by people who can not read Japanese scripts. For the benifit of tourists, railway stations and main roads are signposted in romaji.

It used to be used to teach Japanese as a second language, but that is less common now.

 

[Achinz]

With samples from others, here's a famous Chinese one, courtesy of Castor Chan:

 

[Goober]

Canadian, particularily the Western Canadian dialect.

 

[Plexus]

If all goes to plan, you'll all be reading and writing it in 30 years:

I give you Berrian.