So in a world with just 2 languages, for example, English and Spanish, and assuming there is only one person speaking each language and the other person doesn’t know how to speak your language, how did people at the beginning of civilization learn and teach a language since no one knows the other language?
I think you can learn the vocabulary by pointing to an object and saying the word but what about the grammar and special rules? I would assume this is because the ancient languages are simple, right?
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It’s not that ancient languages were simple – they weren’t, they were just as complex as modern languages. It’s that learning grammar doesn’t necessarily require translation. You can learn a language from somebody who does not speak your own language just fine, though it may take longer than just having some key words or concepts translated. Your start by learning basic words and phrases and eventually you understand enough to have the grammar explained to you, or just learn it through repetition. Moreover, consider that you don’t really have to have good grammar to understand and be understood in most situations. You might have a lot of frustrating misunderstandings, but if that’s your only option you’ll survive
Also, consider what you’re talking about when you’re saying “the beginning of civilization”. Because there never really could have been a point in history where there were just two different languages that were completely mutually unintelligible. All language evolved from other language, so at the time in human history when there really were just two languages, well then those languages had to have been very closely related to each other and probably mutually intelligible. As a result, there have always been people who have understood multiple languages, as long as multiple languages have existed.
Learning languages is something humans can actually do quite well, our brains are wired for it. However, it takes immersion to basically force your internal monologue/brain to start shifting to trying to use another language.
When you have no CHOICE but to learn another language for things like food, water, shelter, assitance…you very quickly learn how to communicate.
Further, the case you have of there 1 person per language doesn’t work as that’s never been a thing. Language didn’t just pop out of thin air, it was a natural evoulation over a LOOONNG time from grunts and pointing to actual words.
Regarding grammar, practice. Humans are natural pattern observers/matchers (hence why things like steretypes are so important despite people always trying to say not to believe them) and when immersed, you pick up the patterns over time.
In an age where most learning is done via a book and a teacher and classroom, it’s a hard cioncept to understand, having that immediate NEED and URGENCY to learn this NOW.
When you have that urge…learning goes much faster than highschool language classes would imply.
[Pidgin languages](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin) were common when people from different continents first met for international trade. It’s a simpler way of communication that can eventually evolve into a real language with actual grammar (Creole).
There is a very interesting example of a Creole sign language developing at a school for deaf children in Nicaragua (where they were exclusively being taught to read lips and text in Spanish). People are hardwired for language. Grammar appears surpringly quickly in rudimentary communication.
Words like nouns and verbs first you want concrete and demonstrable things and then less concrete things
This is a trained linguist so it goes faster than an untrained random person, but here’s a cool demonstration of how to get someone to start to teach you a language when you don’t have any language in common: https://youtu.be/sYpWp7g7XWU
That’s not how language evolves. It doesn’t spring into anyone’s mind full-fledged. It’s a matter of a primitive hominid pointing at water and saying “Sa”. Its neighbors adopt the sound as representing water, just as they’ve adopted the sound “OOOH” meaning “predator in the area”. Soon, someone says “Bo Sa” and leads the others to water….”I’ve found water.” This is extremely valuable and leads to many, many other utterances,
But nearby tribes don’t inherit the whole game. They get parts of it, and the value in explicit vocal communications is undeniable, and they create their own words. “Sa” eventually becomes “water.” “Bo” eventually becomes “I did”.
Other languages develop, as the human species develops. Pretty soon we’re speaking Latin, and can’t understand someone speaking ancient Greek.
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