So I was just thinking about the English language, and how it has a relatively common habit of either:
1. Using words that are spelled the same way, but are pronounced differently, and have different meanings. (ex: Bow - To bend at the waist to another person as a sign of respect, or, A string weapon used to shoot people with, the front end of nautical ship)
2. Using words that sound the same, but are spelled differently, and equally have different meanings (Ex. Bow/Bough Bow - The stuff I said above, Bough - A tree branch)
And there are tons of other examples of this that spring to mind, and I was curious, I can't think of any language that I have had a passing knowledge of (couple years of Spanish, and a smattering of French, both of which I've since forgot) that had a similar habit in it's structure.
Now, I'm not talking about the effects of slang, as that can drastically change meanings, and that happens in English too, so that's fine. Like how balls can mean round objects you play with, or testicles. Similar in Spanish to how juevos can mean eggs or testicles (something I learned after the person stopped laughing, when i told them what my favorite "spanishy food" was, and I told them juevos rancheros was a dish I liked, and she laughed, telling me I basically said that I liked salsa on my balls.
But yeah, food related fetishes aside, are there any "official" usages of words in other languages that follow the two above rules I mentioned from English? Mostly just a curiosity, but it stems from when I occasionally hear people who have English as their primary language, scoffing at people trying to learn it, and say it's really hard to learn. And I think "well...yeah, come to think of it, a language that has the same word 2-4 times, but meaning different things, and you can only make sense of it in context would make it hard to learn."
So anyone have any insight on this? Any language that will use the same word for multiple things/pronunciations (or character for the Asian languages if you are knowledgeable) that really only come into clarification based on the context they are used in? Because I'm thinking this might be somewhat unique (and annoying) to the English language, but my knowledge base is significantly limited.
1. Using words that are spelled the same way, but are pronounced differently, and have different meanings. (ex: Bow - To bend at the waist to another person as a sign of respect, or, A string weapon used to shoot people with, the front end of nautical ship)
2. Using words that sound the same, but are spelled differently, and equally have different meanings (Ex. Bow/Bough Bow - The stuff I said above, Bough - A tree branch)
And there are tons of other examples of this that spring to mind, and I was curious, I can't think of any language that I have had a passing knowledge of (couple years of Spanish, and a smattering of French, both of which I've since forgot) that had a similar habit in it's structure.
Now, I'm not talking about the effects of slang, as that can drastically change meanings, and that happens in English too, so that's fine. Like how balls can mean round objects you play with, or testicles. Similar in Spanish to how juevos can mean eggs or testicles (something I learned after the person stopped laughing, when i told them what my favorite "spanishy food" was, and I told them juevos rancheros was a dish I liked, and she laughed, telling me I basically said that I liked salsa on my balls.
But yeah, food related fetishes aside, are there any "official" usages of words in other languages that follow the two above rules I mentioned from English? Mostly just a curiosity, but it stems from when I occasionally hear people who have English as their primary language, scoffing at people trying to learn it, and say it's really hard to learn. And I think "well...yeah, come to think of it, a language that has the same word 2-4 times, but meaning different things, and you can only make sense of it in context would make it hard to learn."
So anyone have any insight on this? Any language that will use the same word for multiple things/pronunciations (or character for the Asian languages if you are knowledgeable) that really only come into clarification based on the context they are used in? Because I'm thinking this might be somewhat unique (and annoying) to the English language, but my knowledge base is significantly limited.