> In fact, Mandarin, like English, Riau Indonesian, Swahili, are among very few languages that linguists identify as being unusually exoteric and easy
It would be helpful if you provided a source for that.
Even still, much of that the author is complaining is with regards to the writing system of Mandarin, not Mandarin itself, while the point you seem to be making seems to be about the Mandarin language itself. I personally concur with your assertion that Mandarin is an easy language, but I agree with the author that the Chinese writing system is a big hurdle for learners. I think that there is no argument that there would be less to learn to communicate in Chinese if Chinese correspondence used a more phonetic writing system.
> The author holds some 19th century views on languages and assumes that languages have some logical design whereas all languages arbitrarily grammaticalize and accumulate cruft over time.
Can you elaborate on where in the article you have received this impression? The thrust of his argument on why Mandarin is hard seems to be that Chinese and Western societies have only recently had contact, and hence they lack familiar language features that might aid the Westerner in their study of Mandarin.
It would be helpful if you provided a source for that.
Even still, much of that the author is complaining is with regards to the writing system of Mandarin, not Mandarin itself, while the point you seem to be making seems to be about the Mandarin language itself. I personally concur with your assertion that Mandarin is an easy language, but I agree with the author that the Chinese writing system is a big hurdle for learners. I think that there is no argument that there would be less to learn to communicate in Chinese if Chinese correspondence used a more phonetic writing system.
> The author holds some 19th century views on languages and assumes that languages have some logical design whereas all languages arbitrarily grammaticalize and accumulate cruft over time.
Can you elaborate on where in the article you have received this impression? The thrust of his argument on why Mandarin is hard seems to be that Chinese and Western societies have only recently had contact, and hence they lack familiar language features that might aid the Westerner in their study of Mandarin.