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PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 9 of 176 29 May 2014 at 12:20pm | IP Logged |
beano wrote:
How much does English actually dominate? I'm off to Germany next month
and once I leave the airport, I probably won't hear much English spoken there. Tourist
hotspots are different obviously, as are international gatherings, but among the
ordinary working people it's German all the way and there is no English content on TV
or in cinemas. Bookshops may or may not have a token English section, depending on the
size and location of the town. I just don't get the impression that English plays a
major role in the lives of most citizens.
I don't speak French, Spanish or Italian but I have been as a tourist to many places in
Europe where these languages are spoken and I think you would have serious problems
fitting in as a resident if you didn't have at least a working knowledge of the local
language. I imagine it's even more of a requirement in Latin America. Just this week I
watched a documentary about the football stadiums in Brazil being rebuilt for this
years World Cup. None of the Brazilian engineers who were interviewed volunteered to
speak in English.
So yes, English takes precedence in the worlds of business, science and travel and is
being taught to children from infancy, but we are still decades away from a situation
where the majority of people in Europe are comfortable speaking it. I imagine it will
take even longer to fully establish the language in other continents.
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That's a breath of fresh air to read... but I don't see this is sth that is already
completely overwhelming. In fact my original topic was not just about English
dominating. Many strong economic languages have had some effects on smaller languages-
take standard Dutch and Flemish or Limburgs, and in turn English on Dutch. Take French
in Africa, Thai in the northern highlands of Thailand and standard Italian on local
dialects. What is the goal of stanadardizing languages from a top down perspective and
'rooting out' minority languages? Is it conformity with a governments idealogy? Perhaps
now the stage has simply been englarged to the globe. I admit English prob has little
impact in many areas of the world, but it's undeniably ahead of the pack by a long shot
in my opinion
Edited by PeterMollenburg on 29 May 2014 at 12:24pm
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| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5769 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 10 of 176 29 May 2014 at 12:52pm | IP Logged |
I heard Latin was all the rage in its day.
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| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 11 of 176 29 May 2014 at 1:13pm | IP Logged |
Bao wrote:
I heard Latin was all the rage in its day. |
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Indeed it was, but all the rage was far from the current status English has. Correct me
if I'm wrong, but English is far more globalized than any other language has been to
date (in as far as our documented history goes back). IT, entertainment, politics and
globalized economics has certainly provided the necessary avenues for that to occur.
When it comes to money in this world, if you're developing an app, selling a book,
composing a song, doing business, at a conference aimed at marketing something, making
a film, which language will see a possible much higher profitability in terms of
reaching an audience? English. The more it spreads the bigger the market. American
economists have stated that the American economy MUST grow well beyond its borders to
sustain it's growth. Capitalism is a beast that can never be satisfied, particularly
when it's built on sustaining a circle of debt (ie borrowing money to make money), it
must consume, and with the world's number one economy being conducted in the language
that is English, it's inevitable then that English must spread. Add to that other first
world countries like Canada, NZ, Ausrtralia, UK, Ireland, somewhat poorer countries
like India with a massive growth potential and the fervour of English in non-English as
first language speaking countries... the growth is going to continue.
A random example:
English
publishing in ebooks
Capitalism chews everything up in it's path, EVERYTHING becomes a commodity, indcluding
lanuage. English has much more economic value than any other language.
Edited by PeterMollenburg on 29 May 2014 at 1:14pm
4 persons have voted this message useful
| Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5769 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 12 of 176 29 May 2014 at 1:57pm | IP Logged |
PeterMollenburg wrote:
Capitalism is a beast that can never be satisfied, particularly
when it's built on sustaining a circle of debt (ie borrowing money to make money), it
must consume, and with the world's number economy being conducted in the language that
is English, it's inevitable then that English must spread. |
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Similar things can be said about empires that were based on conquering other places. Sooner or later you run out of growth potential, and then the construct will collapse. That is, if is isn't transformed into something different before, then it's only part of it that collapses. Of course before that there are frantic attempts to find other ways to sustain yourself or keep on growing.
Many years ago I read something very simple, and intriguing, namely that we humans tend to interpret occurances and the patterns we observe using a mental framework that is either based on a progressivist attitude, or based on something akin to a 'lost paradise' myth. And that that leads us to some very basic errors in predicting how the tendency we think we are seeing will continue and increase in the future: We expect the future to be like what we believe the past to be.
Coming back to the topic, minor languages are dying out. With them, we lose local culture, and with the local culture, we lose the knowledge people transferred about how they managed to survive in that area, as well as the identity of people as the descendants of those people. We lose countless artemisins. Local culture changes, and more rapidly when it comes in contact with a dominant new culture. But at the same time, the 'dominant' culture also changes. And with them, the languages people speak.
Think of the Norman conquest. Are you speaking French now? Or is it rather English, but an English that was changed and influenced by Norman French? Coming to think of it, why where the Normans speaking French, and not a Scandinavian language?
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| AlexTG Diglot Senior Member Australia Joined 4641 days ago 178 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Latin, German, Spanish, Japanese
| Message 13 of 176 29 May 2014 at 2:15pm | IP Logged |
Eh, call me selfish, but as long as a few dozen languages continue to exist so I never run out of new
languages to learn I'm happy. And the smaller the number of languages in existence the greater percentage
of the world's new literature I'll be able to read. I'm thankful Senghor and Cesaire wrote their poems in French
rather than their tribal languages.
Edited by AlexTG on 29 May 2014 at 2:16pm
1 person has voted this message useful
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5479 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1
| Message 14 of 176 29 May 2014 at 2:24pm | IP Logged |
Bao wrote:
Many years ago I read something very simple, and intriguing, namely that we humans tend
to interpret occurances and the patterns we observe using a mental framework that is
either based on a progressivist attitude, or based on something akin to a 'lost
paradise' myth. And that that leads us to some very basic errors in predicting how the
tendency we think we are seeing will continue and increase in the future: We expect the
future to be like what we believe the past to be.
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I read something recently along similar lines. So I agree, my lost paradise assumptions
are probably way off. Very decent point indeed Bao! You know what my lost paradise prob
goes something like this- I read a lot of articles recently based on the prediction
that French will once again become a major world language by 2050 as the African
population booms. All in all it was all based on one article, from a biast French
source. I took it upon myself to find a less biast analysis which stated in all
probability it is a likely scenario that French will indeed rise in prominence but
unlikely to challenge top spot (English). That's great! I love French! Then I read much
about the real economic goals of the western 'pillagers' of Africa and that it's indeed
likely that French could be ever so gradually deliberately 'pushed' off the continent
by English (U.S. mainly) in their pursuit for every more capital gain. All in all it's
all possible I guess, but you're more than likely correct- what the future holds is
highly likely to be nothing what we expect based on the past model.
Bao wrote:
Coming back to the topic, minor languages are dying out. With them, we lose local
culture, and with the local culture, we lose the knowledge people transferred about how
they managed to survive in that area, as well as the identity of people as the
descendants of those people. We lose countless artemisins. Local culture changes, and
more rapidly when it comes in contact with a dominant new culture. But at the same
time, the 'dominant' culture also changes. And with them, the languages people speak.
Think of the Norman conquest. Are you speaking French now? Or is it rather English, but
an English that was changed and influenced by Norman French? Coming to think of it, why
where the Normans speaking French, and not a Scandinavian language? |
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Yes indeed, all very relevant. I am speaking a hybrid of some Germanic language with
close ties to Frisian mixed with an evolved version of Norman French, throw in a
sprinkling of Danish and some other languages and we arrive at modern English. If I lay
down my distaste of globalization and think of English in isolation residing in England
alone, it's an interesting language indeed, one that suits a culturally diverse world
with mixed roots, but doesn't fit so well in terms of spelling/phonology predictability
for its learners yet does away with gender and other such complications. Anyway I'm
waffling. Perhaps I should wage a mental war on governmental ideoligies instead of
languages themselves... Ah how I love facebook, the media, the cia, the war on terror
and how being image conscious is soooo important.... Did you know coke zero helps you
lose weight (not)? Yet it DESTROYS your body! Sense my frustration... sense my distaste
for a rediculous world hell bent on power and selling crap by any means necessary?
1 person has voted this message useful
| drygramul Tetraglot Senior Member Italy Joined 4471 days ago 165 posts - 269 votes Speaks: Persian, Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2 Studies: French, Polish
| Message 15 of 176 29 May 2014 at 2:29pm | IP Logged |
beano wrote:
So yes, English takes precedence in the worlds of business, science and travel and is being taught to children from infancy, but we are still decades away from a situation where the majority of people in Europe are comfortable speaking it. I imagine it will take even longer to fully establish the language in other continents.
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Besides business, science and travel, it's almost universal in the european metal music scene. We have folk, black or viking metal bands that sing in English, which is kind of a contradiction, so that I have a very hard time finding German singing metal bands.
I don't listen to pop music, so I don't know about that, but sure many songs at the Eurovision song contest are English spoken, although that's an official language in just a couple of countries.
And in Germany they use often English expressions or words in everyday news or programs. More than Italy for sure.
1 person has voted this message useful
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4625 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian
| Message 16 of 176 29 May 2014 at 2:33pm | IP Logged |
PeterMollenburg wrote:
When it comes to money in this world, if you're developing an app, selling a book,
composing a song, doing business, at a conference aimed at marketing something, making
a film, which language will see a possible much higher profitability in terms of
reaching an audience? English. The more it spreads the bigger the market. |
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In Europe, more books are published in German than in any other language. France has a very strong film industry (which makes inroads in non-Francophone countries) and the Spanish language music scene is huge. In South Africa, publications in Afrikaans still sell strongly.
Not everything is geared towards English. Sure, English does big business worldwide but there are other significant markets where product can thrive. Focussing on a tighter area might even bring greater rewards than an already-saturated English-speaking market.
1 person has voted this message useful
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