milky  +  286263 Fri, 27 Oct 06 01:36 PM English is being learned and used by millions of people in many parts of the world with no intention or opportunity in their lives of ever directly communicating with a so-called native speaker, milky Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004 Senior Member 3,149 Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

	Maple  +  286582 Sat, 28 Oct 06 01:32 PM True, if not pay much attention to "and used". And it's also true that paleography is being learned by millions of people in many parts of the world with no intention or opportunity in their lives of ever directly communicating with ancient people. What's the point in it? Let me guess:  The process of learning a language representing certain civilizations itself can be rewarding. Maple Joined on Tue, Jul 11 2006 An ESL student in China Contributing Member 1,110

	milky  +  286587 Sat, 28 Oct 06 02:05 PM <What's the point in it?> The point is that not all communication in English is between native speakers and non-native speakers. milky

	Maple  +  286622 Sat, 28 Oct 06 03:36 PM English can be used among non-English-native speaking peoples. Yes. For example, some Africans and Europeans (from none-English-speaking countries) come to Shenzhen these days for business purposes. They all speak English in, let's say, Saige Electric Market, trading with our Chinese businessmen. And I'm sure others can give many more examples.It's the truth that English is a universal communicating utility nowadays. Maple Speak English

	milky  +  286691 Sat, 28 Oct 06 05:33 PM  Maple wrote: And I'm sure others can give many more examples.It's the truth that English is a universal communicating utility nowadays. Indeed. milky