4.2.3.7. Making comparisons

Languages use a variety of means of indicating that one item is bigger, darker, longer, nicer, etc. than another item, or that one person runs faster than another, or is smarter than another. I haven't, in general, been discussing the variety of ways in which languages may express particular meanings, because it would be hopeless to cover even a fraction of the possibilities. I would like to take this opportunity to point out to you how important it is to let the language be itself. You may be interpreting things through an English filter, and you want to avoid that. So let's suppose that you have two ropes, both of which are very long, by local standards, but one is slightly longer than the other. You ask your LRP to tell you “This rope is longer than this one.” What she says is perfectly clear to you. You hear her say, in her language, “This rope is not long, and this rope is long.” You become frustrated. You tell her, “No. You misunderstood me. You can't say 'this rope is not long,' because it is long. It just isn't as long as the other rope.” You just goofed. You filtered the new language through your English grid. It just so happens that in that particular language, to say that one rope is longer than the other you do indeed say something which literally sounds like “This rope is not long and this is long.”

Techniques: Each time I suggest a technique for learning to understand a particular sentence pattern, I tend to use simple examples which illustrate that sentence pattern and little else. As we have gone along, this has become increasingly misleading. By now your LRP has considerable flexibility, since you can understand all sorts of complex sentences combining many of the notions I have discussed. So for once, I'll exemplify a pattern by embedding it in a complex sentence. Where is the comparison in the following? “Give your friend a book which is heavier than the one I am holding.” You need to be encouraging the LRP to use more and more complex sentences as you go along. She will have a sense for what you can understand and can try to use increasingly natural sentences to communicate with you as time goes on.