Talk:Mutual intelligibility

Polish mutual intelligibility

As a Polish speaker, I would say the first line in the mutual intelligibility list suggesting that "Belarusian, Ukrainian and Polish[dubious – discuss]" are intelligible should not even make the list. Someone perceptively put the word "dubious" in. Dubious is an understatement; Belarussian and Ukrainian are not even remotely intelligible to a Polish speaker. The occasional word, yes but not enough to give it meaning. There is an imporant split between eastern and western slavic languages. Polish and Belarussian/Ukrainian are on the opposite sides of it. 37.152.237.108 (talk) 10:45, 30 December 2024 (UTC)

I was looking around and most people seem to suggest Ukrainians have an easier time understanding Polish than vice versa. However, a decent number of people say they can have "simple conversations". It really depends on what the threshold for mutually intelligible is – at best, it seems like it can fall in the "partially" category. Mag1cal (talk) 11:20, 15 February 2025 (UTC)

Right. Zero mutual intelligibility is easy to identify (e.g. Navajo/Finnish, Mandarin/Breton...). As is expressed fairly well in the article, mutual intelligibility X/Y can vary considerably if the two languages are cognates, dependent upon the linguistic agility of the individuals in question and a cluster of numerous affective variables linguistic and not, starting perhaps most fundamentally with interlocutors' desire (or not) to communicate. Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 14:53, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

"often claimed by linguists that mutual intelligibility is completely gradual"

This statement needs both clarification (what does "completely gradual" mean?) and at least one reputable citation. Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 12:18, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Mutual unintelligibility section makes false claims

"Mutual unintelligibility is a key criterion used by linguists to distinguish between separate languages" False. No one's going to claim that Spanish and Portuguese are the same language. This is also contradicted in the Britannica article cited: "speakers of closely related languages can still communicate to a certain extent when each uses his own mother tongue. Thus, the criterion of intelligibility is quite relative." All claims in the section need at least reputable references (one of which now employed is not), with appropriate editing to reflect reality. . Barefoot through the chollas (talk) 23:52, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

German language(s) & dialect continuum

I feel like there is significant information missing about German, especially Swiss German (sometimes considered its own language) and the German dialect continuum. The asymmetrical intelligibility between Swiss German and other German varieties seems relevant, for example. I am not well-versed in this area of linguistics, maybe someone else could help? MuItitudess (talk) 10:02, 12 August 2025 (UTC)