[dragonwriter]

> I'd like to hear opinions on how the use of sigils and the other syntax oddities like Int:D, Int:U, given, when, etc improves the codabliity/readability of Perl 6 vs other languages.

Given/when is not really a syntax oddity, it's (in the simplest case), a structurally and semantically common construct in other languages that goes by various names (case/when, switch/case, etc.), the name is unique to Perl but the naming fis all over the map between other languages, and Perl matches English much better than most others (though it would do so more precisely if “when” was “when it is”), so that's a plus for readability except for people who come to Perl more fluent in some other programming language than in English.

Other uses of when might be unique to Perl, but they generalize the use from given/when (and have the much the relation to English), so there is a deep consistency there; learning a concept that is more limited in other languages buys you more in Perl.