519
It's fascinating that while languages vary wildly by speaking speed, information transfer is fairly similar.
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
519 points (97.4% liked)
Data is Beautiful
4875 readers
16 users here now
A place to share and discuss visual representations of data: Graphs, charts, maps, etc.
DataIsBeautiful is for visualizations that effectively convey information. Aesthetics are an important part of information visualization, but pretty pictures are not the sole aim of this subreddit.
A place to share and discuss visual representations of data: Graphs, charts, maps, etc.
A post must be (or contain) a qualifying data visualization.
Directly link to the original source article of the visualization
Original source article doesn't mean the original source image. Link to the full page of the source article as a link-type submission.
If you made the visualization yourself, tag it as [OC]
[OC] posts must state the data source(s) and tool(s) used in the first top-level comment on their submission.
DO NOT claim "[OC]" for diagrams that are not yours.
All diagrams must have at least one computer generated element.
No reposts of popular posts within 1 month.
Post titles must describe the data plainly without using sensationalized headlines. Clickbait posts will be removed.
Posts involving American Politics, or contentious topics in American media, are permissible only on Thursdays (ET).
Posts involving Personal Data are permissible only on Mondays (ET).
Please read through our FAQ if you are new to posting on DataIsBeautiful. Commenting Rules
Don't be intentionally rude, ever.
Comments should be constructive and related to the visual presented. Special attention is given to root-level comments.
Short comments and low effort replies are automatically removed.
Hate Speech and dogwhistling are not tolerated and will result in an immediate ban.
Personal attacks and rabble-rousing will be removed.
Moderators reserve discretion when issuing bans for inappropriate comments. Bans are also subject to you forfeiting all of your comments in this community.
Originally r/DataisBeautiful
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
As someone who speaks both French and English, I'm surprised to see French as leading "information density" language. Most French terms have been incorporated into English. Language tends to be behind on technology terms. Language doesn't have any noticeable difference in short syllable common words to English. It also seems to me that French speakers have an easier time in being vague. I have the impression that English is more precise.
Looking at the two curves, it looks like they are pretty close but French edges out English because of the speed it's spoken at.
Even when it was fresh in my mind, I was never able to follow French tv because they just go so fast.
Yeah like "qu'est-ce que c'est ?" Which is just "what's that?" (I speak both too) would never have guessed French had more information encoded, french translations are always longer too (but you don't always pronounce all ofc).
I think this moreso demonstrates how tedious written french is. “Qu’est-ce que c’est?” is significantly faster to say than “what’s that?”
I’d wager if the chart was on information density per written letter or word french would be way further behind
Right, the spoken french could be written more or less as Kès-ke-cè.
Yeah, I could also see there being variability between dialects and how much they respectively pronounce in a word. "What's that?" could easily become "waz-at?" which is much quicker to say.
I'd say it's more equal in time used, but otherwise spot on 😁
In most cases, being vague requires more informational transfer. To be vague but still connected to whatever is the signified, you need to give more information around the idea rather than simply stating the idea. Think about being vague about how you feel versus being blunt about it.
I had the same feeling. I honestly just feel like English is a junk drawer of depth borrowing various languages, but maybe average speakers don't try to dig deep into it?
I feel like the multitude of tenses in French help with being more precise.
The tenses don't add precision, IMO. There is a plural them instead of him/her but it sounds the same as the singular him/her. There is a plural you that sounds different, but there is also a polite singular you that is the plural you.
Both were massive empires. Makes sense that imperialism would put selective pressure on language. Historically you're either limited in words by space on a paper or what can be easily repeated by messengers.