I know a lot of languages have some aspects that probably seem a bit strange to non-native speakers…in the case of gendered words is there a point other than “just the way its always been” that explains it a bit better?
I don’t have gendered words in my native language, and from the outside looking in I’m not sure what gendered words actually provide in terms of context? Is there more to it that I’m not quite following?
Yup, and that’s why when it’s reasonable i try to cut down on those vestigial parts. For example US english uses the word “the” way more than UK english, so as an american I try to omit “the” whenever it wouldn’t sound totally wacky. For example British people say “he’s in hospital” but americans say “he’s in the hospital”. UK people say “in future”, while Americans say “in the future”. In these cases “the” adds nothing to the sentence.