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Is Chinese going to be the lingua franca? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| egill Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5697 days ago 418 posts - 791 votes  Speaks: Mandarin, English* Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 233 of 249 28 April 2011 at 1:01am | IP Logged | ||
I wouldn't consider an illiterate Chinaman to not be fluent in his/her native tongue. Sure you can argue that that's not true fluency, but then you would have to concede that an illiterate Scotsman or Frenchman aren't truly fluent in their languages either. I don't think the orthography results in such a fundamental difference in how we ought to view the language. Besides, most words in Chinese are made up of multiple characters, and far less mystical and different from "normal" words than one might think. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| gaoyoude1 Diglot Newbie United Kingdom fluentinmandarin.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4214 days ago 6 posts - 16 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: French, Spanish | Message 234 of 249 14 May 2013 at 3:31am | IP Logged | ||
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I think it is unlikely that Chinese will become the lingua franca any time soon, for
reasons related to Chinese culture. China has for centuries been a largely closed off country and has really only started to open up to the West over the last 30 years. Even in this last 30 years, Chinese culture and modern politics advocates non- interference in the affairs of other countries. China has historically not pursued expansion on the scale that the British, Spanish and Dutch empires did. I think it is most likely that Chinese will become a much more influential language in business, but even though Chinese is a major language of the internet, issues discussed are largely domestic ones, and Chinese websites are relatively detached from the major US 'controllers' of the internet, therefore I think the development of Chinese as a major internet language will also be limited in the near future 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Sterogyl Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4368 days ago 152 posts - 263 votes Studies: German*, French, EnglishC2 Studies: Japanese, Norwegian | Message 235 of 249 15 May 2013 at 6:36am | IP Logged | ||
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I also think so, and I would like to add that the Chinese characters would represent a real obstacle. As long as such an inefficient writing system as the Chinese one is being used, it is very unlikely that this language is to become a lingua franca.
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| leroc Senior Member United States Joined 4312 days ago 114 posts - 167 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 236 of 249 15 May 2013 at 7:16am | IP Logged | ||
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=pG225d z89TY. I would explain why I think Mandarin won't become a lingua franca but this video is sufficient.
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| BrianDeAlabama Groupie United States Joined 4520 days ago 89 posts - 113 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 237 of 249 15 May 2013 at 7:25am | IP Logged | ||
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I'd eventually like to study Mandarin myself but don't think that Chinese will overtake English. I think that the
Gutenberg press coming before the world wide missionary movement of Christianity and the King James Bible has secured a very long lasting footprint of the influence of the English language. Also, societies that adopted Protestant beliefs systems experienced greater freedoms as they left the Roman Catholic Church's rule. Freedom's expansion flourished and the English speakers brought their English Bible into every continent in the World and into many countries. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Paco Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 4278 days ago 145 posts - 251 votes Speaks: Cantonese* | Message 238 of 249 15 May 2013 at 12:56pm | IP Logged | ||
I have some reservation to the claim that Chinese writing system is inefficient. I would like to propose another possibility. Chinese writing system is admittedly complex, which is largely attributed to the fact that Chinese characters are logograms, as opposed to, e.g., English being phonograms. But it is also this fact that might have facilitated reading. Besides, in my experience, writing Chinese is no slower than English. So, I would not claim Chinese writing system is inefficient. But there is no objective data to prove either views. Perhaps you are right; perhaps both of us are wrong. By the way, I think it is fair to say learning to write Chinese takes more time than learning to write English, which might be one of the hurdles before Chinese becomes a lingua franca. Other hurdles certainly include what BrianDeAlabama has mentioned, namely English is already established so well. If a language is to be deliberately chosen to be a lingua franca, I believe Esperanto is no doubt one of the candidates. I have not studied the language yet, but from what I have read and heard, Esperanto is logical and simple, and equally important is that Esperanto is not attached to a long-lived culture, which makes it desirable to serve as a lingua franca. The purpose of a lingua franca is, in my humble opinion, to facilitate general communication, hence opening doors for further understanding of different peoples and cultures. It is not necessary to be a door itself, to particular peoples and cultures. All that said, the only thing we are able to design is our own little worlds... Edited by Paco on 15 May 2013 at 7:39pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 239 of 249 15 May 2013 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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Mandarin will continue to increase its worldwide profile due to economic muscle, political influence and sheer weight of native speakers. As to whether it will become a lingua franca, it is way to early to say.
A lot of people are uncomfortable with the thought of another lingua franca emerging to challenge English, particularly if they don't speak this language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4445 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 240 of 249 15 May 2013 at 11:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Every language has its geographic distribution. Even if you say English is an
international language, it is not an automatic guarantee you travel to every country in the world you will be understood to the same degree. You go to W. Africa for instance, many countries have adopted French as an official language. In the Caribbean islands businesses serve tourists from mainly North and Latin America. A majority of the people are able to speak English & Spanish. In Asia in the 1980s Japan was the dominant economic power. People in a number of neighboring countries go to Japanese classes. In parts of S-E Asia the local population once resented the Chinese being successful establishing themselves that in many countries speaking Chinese in public was banned in the 1950s - 70s and many Chinese were expelled. And in recent years in many of the same countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia people started learning Mandarin. The Chinese language although is spoken by more people but it still hasn't got the same geographic distribution as English. Certain places like China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia you can get service speaking Chinese. But in a hotel in Japan for instance, you are more likely going to be understood in English than Chinese. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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