How do linguists go about translating a forgotten language? How does that work when there’s no one left to help?
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Rosettas stone is ofcourse the holy grail but there are many patterns to discern in old languages even if we have no literal translations. The key is to look at the source (for example something might be a story or a written note or a message). If you then look at related languages you might find similarities in certain words or construction of sentences. Then there is also the fact that some words are far more common than others. That means that if a certain word is repeated a lot it might help to decipher its function or even meaning. So translation then becomes more of an art than a science. It also helps to look at the culture the language is associated with. For example in the Netherlands there are many words for different kinds of rain. If you use that knowledge you might discern the meaning of words related to common subjects. I know this is also how we look at differente alphabets but I’m not sure of an example of a lost language that has been successfully translated in this manner but i know for sure this is how they go about it.
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