BeanDog expressed it quite finely:

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English has higher information density per syllable, in my experience. [/quote]

[color="#1C2837"]Also The meaning of words and sentences in english depend on the context. "Fu.k you" yelled out loud in the middle of a crowd could be directed at a single person, to a group or to the entire crowd. Nobody will ever know until more information is added.

[color="#000000"][color="#1C2837"]One thing I can add to all that has already been said is the pronoun "you" being used for the singular as well as for the plural (in spanish they are two different words tu/ustedes). It also doesn't change when a "respectful treatment" is required ("usted" for "tu").
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[color="#000000"] [color="#000000"] [color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]You are a silly boy = (tu eres / vos sos / usted es) un niño tonto. (usted is for respectful treatment used mostly when directed to adults or unknown persons)
[color="#000000"] [color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]You are silly boys = (ustedes son / vosotros sois) niños tontos.
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[color="#000000"] [color="#000000"] [color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]English has a superior grade of synthesis that seems to be designed to communicate an idea simpler and quicker than in Spanish. Spanish is flooded with emotional connotations that while enriching the language they add (to me unnecessary) noise to the information.[color="#000000"]
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[color="#000000"]EDIT: EOLs seems to be gone again. Please stop screwing the css!

[color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]You are a silly boy = (tu eres / vos sos / usted es) un niño tonto. (usted is for respectful treatment used mostly when directed to adults or unknown persons)
[color="#000000"] [color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]You are silly boys = (ustedes son / vosotros sois) niños tontos.[color="#1c2837"]

you don't need the usted/es or tu in there. That taken into account, the sentences have the same amount of syllables in both languages.

I'm sure with perfect grammar what you say is true, but neither language is really spoken with perfect grammar.

[quote name='owl' timestamp='1307924135' post='4822552'] [color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]You are a silly boy = (tu eres / vos sos / usted es) un niño tonto. (usted is for respectful treatment used mostly when directed to adults or unknown persons)
[color="#000000"][color="#1c2837"]You are silly boys = (ustedes son / vosotros sois) niños tontos.

you don't need the usted/es or tu in there. That taken into account, the sentences have the same amount of syllables in both languages.

I'm sure with perfect grammar what you say is true, but neither language is really spoken with perfect grammar.

[/quote]

That's what I find to be one of the most important differences. Speaking bad spanish is very badly seen. It denotes social status. Not saying "usted" to the proper person can be socially problematic.

That's what I find to be one of the most important differences. Speaking bad spanish is very badly seen. It denotes social status. Not saying "usted" to the proper person can be socially problematic.

not really as long as you use the usted form of the verb. Maybe it's different in spain, but I rarely heard tu or usted the way it is used in your examples in mexico in any social class. Sometimes it's used when the subject might be fuzzy or in more complex sentences, but most sentences don't have subjects when they are implied by the verb.

So English is easier to learn, but Spanish is more efficient? I guess both languages are object oriented too. Spanish may have a larger memory overhead though, with the use of masculine/feminine words.

[quote name='owl' timestamp='1307925213' post='4822558']
That's what I find to be one of the most important differences. Speaking bad spanish is very badly seen. It denotes social status. Not saying "usted" to the proper person can be socially problematic.

not really as long as you use the usted form of the verb. Maybe it's different in spain, but I rarely heard tu or usted the way it is used in your examples in mexico in any social class. Sometimes it's used when the subject might be fuzzy or in more complex sentences, but most sentences don't have subjects when they are implied by the verb.
[/quote]

I'm not following. Give an example. In Spain they only say "tu" for the singular you and "vosotros" for the plural. In central america most countries do use "usted" a lot but between friends they use "tu". In Argentina we say "vos" instead of "tu".

My point is that not having to take into consideration the gender, the different conjugations, social treatment (beyond sr./mrs) or even plurality in the case of "you" etc makes English an great language for communicating information. Honestly who cares if "salt" is a feminine or masculine noun (it is feminine in spanish). Or having to remember all the variations of the words for the different conjugations. It's a waste of time and processing for the whole point of transmitting an idea.

Hopefully more people will switch to English. I imagine it won't take long for an international language to take hold in this day and age especially with the Internet. Once the world is speaking the same language things will be interesting. </optimism> (Tower of Babel is a space elevator ).

Hopefully more people will switch to English. I imagine it won't take long for an international language to take hold in this day and age especially with the Internet. Once the world is speaking the same language things will be interesting. </optimism> (Tower of Babel is a space elevator ).

Nice try. There's an increasing likelihood that the language will be Chinese, probably Mandarin or Cantonese. Either way, have fun. Tonal languages offer more absurd fun than Spanish or English.

Hopefully more people will switch to English. I imagine it won't take long for an international language to take hold in this day and age especially with the Internet. Once the world is speaking the same language things will be interesting. </optimism> (Tower of Babel is a space elevator ).

Maybe if it's soon. There's an increasing likelihood that the language will be Chinese, probably Mandarin or Cantonese. Either way, have fun. Tonal languages offer more absurd fun than Spanish or English.

[quote name='owl' timestamp='1307925213' post='4822558']
That's what I find to be one of the most important differences. Speaking bad spanish is very badly seen. It denotes social status. Not saying "usted" to the proper person can be socially problematic.

not really as long as you use the usted form of the verb. Maybe it's different in spain, but I rarely heard tu or usted the way it is used in your examples in mexico in any social class. Sometimes it's used when the subject might be fuzzy or in more complex sentences, but most sentences don't have subjects when they are implied by the verb.
[/quote]
I was under the impression that owl was in/from South America. Brazil actually. Am I wrong?