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English, the global language in the future?

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Divine  #255218  Sat, 12 Aug 06 05:54 PM
 KYsheeplover06 wrote:

I really hope not! I think different languages are extremely interesting...

Being a native English speaker, I'm trying to do my part to save a dying language and learn Welsh. Wink [;)]

I share your opinion KYsheeplover06. I don't mind if English becomes the most important language in international communication, but I do hope that differences between other languages will be saved.

Divine

  
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Axastradra  #255925  Tue, 15 Aug 06 02:58 AM
i think that is true tooo......it can't be the whole world speaking English......
  
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Englishuser  #257826  Mon, 21 Aug 06 09:56 AM
 Anonymous wrote:

I have read an article which predicted English will be the global language inevitably. Are there any different opinions?

Nothing is inevitable. And there are other options. For instance, we could start using Esperanto when communicating with people from other language groups. I, for one, would be more than happy to switch to Esperanto should it gain more popularity. Esperanto is a completely logical language, with no irregularities as far as grammar is concerned, and new words can easily be created using an affix-system in Esperanto. Also, Esperanto is not the native language of any particular group of people in the way as English is the native language of the British and the Americans and a handful of other peoples or the way Italian is the native language of the Italians. Therefore, when people communicate in Esperanto, they do so on a much more equal basis as the language is 'foreign' to everyone. Should 90 per cent of the population of the world really learn a language spoken by merely 10 per cent of the population of the world? And should 90 per cent of the population of the world need to spend decades of their life improving their English whilst others are lucky enough to acquire the language naturalistically, without the need to put so much effort into learning grammar rules, irregular spellings and pronunciations, irregular verbs, inflectional endings among other things. Another option would be to make all future generations native speakers of English. I somehow feel it isn't going to work. One never knows for sure, of course.

  
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Clive Woodward  #258487  Wed, 23 Aug 06 10:27 AM
A couple of posts had to be removed, unfortunately.
Here is the content of those posts. with one of the usernames modified;


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Banned

    
Esperanto is a bit like Latin -- no one uses it on a daily basis. A language has to be alive, it has to reflect the mentality of its speakers. Esperanto might be completely logic which is one of the reasons why it never really has taken off. If you want to learn a language that is entirely based on logic then you should study a computer language such as JavaScript or HTML.
    
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Englishuser
    

Hi [Banned],

What is your relationship with the website [edited by mod]? Anyway, as far as Esperanto is concerned, I'd like to emphasize that many people agree with me when I say that Esperanto ought to be used the international lingua franca rather than English. Another person who thinks like me is professor John Wells. You can read more about what he thinks about Esperanto on his website: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/.

I think it's faintly ridiculous to tell me that I should study a language such as JavaScript or HTML. Instead, you should convince me why I should communicate in English when addressing a Spaniard or a Pole. Why wouldn't we communicate in Esperanto instead of in English? What about international organisations and companies? Why do they so often adopt English as their official language? Simply because the world's sole superpower happens to be an English-speaking nation it doesn't mean that it is any more fair to have other people learn English so as to be able to communicate with people from overseas. Another solution of mine would be to make English everyone's native language.

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Banned
    

     Englishuser wrote:
    Instead, you should convince me why I should communicate in English when addressing a Spaniard or a Pole.



Why exactly do you want me to convince you of anything? It's a matter of facing reality I guess rather than trying to convince anyone. People communicate more in English than in Esperanto simply because English is a natural language while Esperanto is an artificual attempt to fabricate a language. Enlish is alive and grows while Esperanto is an experiment. Just take a look at the world around you and sooner or later you will realize this fact too. Esperanto will never be a global means of communication because nobody speaks it as their native language. How many people think and dream in Esperanto?

     Englishuser wrote:
    What about international organisations and companies? Why do they so often adopt English as their official language?


Because the vast majority of all international organizations and companies are based in the US.

     Englishuser wrote:

    Simply because the world's sole superpower happens to be an English-speaking nation it doesn't mean that it is any more fair to have other people learn English so as to be able to communicate with people from overseas.


How do you define fairness? I mean, anybody can choose whom to communicate with and in which language. If you want to speak Esperanto to your friends, who holds you back?

     Englishuser wrote:

    Another solution of mine would be to make English everyone's native language.

A solution to what? And how exactly would you make English everyone's native language?


 ------------------------------------------------

Englishuser

    

     Banned wrote:

    Why exactly do you want me to convince you of anything? It's a matter of facing reality I guess rather than trying to convince anyone. People communicate more in English than in Esperanto simply because English is a natural language while Esperanto is an artificual attempt to fabricate a language. Enlish is alive and grows while Esperanto is an experiment. Just take a look at the world around you and sooner or later you will realize this fact too. Esperanto will never be a global means of communication because nobody speaks it as their native language. How many people think and dream in Esperanto?


English is not any more natural to a vast majority of people than is Esperanto. For a Portuguese or a Saudi Arabian English is just as strange as Esperanto, and in fact these people would probably pick up Esperanto much faster than English.

     Banned wrote:

    How do you define fairness? I mean, anybody can choose whom to communicate with and in which language. If you want to speak Esperanto to your friends, who holds you back?

It is unfair that those who're native speakers of English needn't learn an international language as their native tongue is pretty much considered "the global language" these days. Esperanto is the solution. Should Esperanto be more widely used as an international lingua franca non-English-speaking people would be more equal when talking to Americans or Brits, for instance. When a Colombian, for instance, talks to an American, they'll most likely be speaking English. Their interlocutor will usually master the language better than they, which means he or she is a more powerful communicator. This is not always the case, of course, as people can acquire near-native or native-like skills in a foreign language, but this doesn't change the fact that you had to work very hard to acquire such sophisticated skills in a second language whilst others got it all almost automatically, without the need to put so much conscious effort to learn their English.

     Banned wrote:

     A solution to what? And how exactly would you make English everyone's native language?


A solution to a communicational problem. Every single day people all over the world, from all walks of life, find themselves in a tough position as they do not speak English well enough. As it is, it's difficult to lead a life without knowing a word of English. So, how would I make English everyone's native language? Well, how do you make your children native speakers of another language than the one you learnt as an infant?

As I know you're most aware of there is a website called [removed by mod]. What's your relationship with the site mentioned? Which of the moderators am I talking to?
  
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monfrancom  #258614  Wed, 23 Aug 06 05:45 PM

 Mike In Japan wrote:
When one considers that the countries on the following list, and a multitude of other countries, have deep historical if not current connections with Britain and British English, I think it is quite likely that the use of Bitish English is far more widespread and popular than one might think at first glance.
Aden (Yemen)
Ascension Island
Anguilla
Australia
Bahamas
Bahrain
Barbados
Basutoland (Lesotho)
Bechuanaland (Botswana)
Bermuda
British Cameroon
British Guyana (Guyana)
British Honduras (Belize)
British Somaliland (Somalia)
British Solomon Islands
Brunei
Burma (Myanmar)
Canada
Cayman Islands
Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Cook Islands
Cyprus
Falkland Islands and dependencies
Egypt
Fiji
Gambia
Gibraltar
Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati & Tuvalu)
Gold Coast (Ghana)
Grenada
Hong Kong
India (included Pakistan & Bangladesh)
Iraq
Ireland
Jamaica
Kenya
Kuwait
Malaya (West Malaysia)
Maldive Islands
Malta
Mauritius
Montserrat
Newfoundland (Canada)
New Hebrides (with France) Vanuatu
New Zealand
North Borneo (Sabah)
Nyasaland (Malawi)
Oman
Papua New Guinea
Palestine (Falestin/Israel)
Pitcairn Island
Qatar
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia)
Sarawak (East Malaysia)
St Helena
St Kitts
St Lucia
St Vincent
Seychelles
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanganyika (Tanzania)
Tonga
Transjordan (Jordan)
Trinidad
Tristan Da Cunha
Trucial Oman (United Arab Emirates)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uganda
Western Samoa
Zanzibar (Tanzania) Aden (Yemen)
Ascension Island
Anguilla
Australia
Bahamas
Bahrain
Barbados
Basutoland (Lesotho)
Bechuanaland (Botswana)
Bermuda
British Cameroon
British Guyana (Guyana)
British Honduras (Belize)
British Somaliland (Somalia)
British Solomon Islands
Brunei
Burma (Myanmar)
Canada
Cayman Islands
Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
Cook Islands
Cyprus
Falkland Islands and dependencies
Egypt
Fiji
Gambia
Gibraltar
Gilbert and Ellice Islands (Kiribati & Tuvalu)
Gold Coast (Ghana)
Grenada
Hong Kong
India (included Pakistan & Bangladesh)
Iraq
Ireland
Jamaica
Kenya
Kuwait
Malaya (West Malaysia)
Maldive Islands
Malta
Mauritius
Montserrat
Newfoundland (Canada)
New Hebrides (with France) Vanuatu
New Zealand
North Borneo (Sabah)
Nyasaland (Malawi)
Oman
Papua New Guinea
Palestine (Falestin/Israel)
Pitcairn Island
Qatar
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia)
Sarawak (East Malaysia)
St Helena
St Kitts
St Lucia
St Vincent
Seychelles
South Africa
Swaziland
Tanganyika (Tanzania)
Tonga
Transjordan (Jordan)
Trinidad
Tristan Da Cunha
Trucial Oman (United Arab Emirates)
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uganda
Western Samoa
Zanzibar (Tanzania)

I note your reference to britain and british english in your opening remark.  Canada is in your list, but United States isn't.  Why is that?  Canadian spoken english is no more british than united statesan english.

  
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Englishuser  #258624  Wed, 23 Aug 06 06:42 PM
 Monfrancom wrote:

I note your reference to britain and british english in your opening remark.  Canada is in your list, but United States isn't.  Why is that?  Canadian spoken english is no more british than united statesan english.

I'm sorry if I'm out of it but perhaps Mike in Japan lists Canadian English as British English influenced English because of the Canadian spelling system.

  
Meral_90  #258957  Thu, 24 Aug 06 07:47 PM

 Ville_maddengurl wrote:
i think its already global...

I agree with you..

  
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Jhumjhum  #259275  Fri, 25 Aug 06 06:49 PM
 Meral_90 wrote:

 Ville_maddengurl wrote:
i think its already global...

I agree with you..

ditto
  
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John Baker  #262557  Mon, 04 Sep 06 03:26 PM
It's Great.... Everyone can speak with every one..... I think that it's right;.
  
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