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How popular do you think English would be | ||
Tags: Lingua franca | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 9 of 13 12 December 2012 at 4:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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It is not hard to point to cases where history changed due to a complete accident. I have mentioned the Spanish Armada, but it is also worth pointing to a few of historical flukes which decided the events on English soil just after the year 1000: 1) the heirs of Canute the great died fairly young and Edward the Confessor didn't have any sons - so William the Bastard felt he had a claim to the English throne, 2) King Harald of Norway invaded England in 1066, and even though he fell at Stamfordbridge the army of king Harold Godwinson had to hurry down to Hastings to meet the army of William, who therefore met a army of truly tired soldiers .. and it was an added fluke of history that the Anglosaxon king Harold died in the battle.
Another fluke: the Mongol armies under Batu Khan which had crushed the Russian states in the 1200s were ready to annihilate the states in Eastern Europe, but then Ogadei Khan died and the campaign abruptly stopped. Half of the population of Eastern Europe and Central Europe might have fled Westwards, and the centuries 1200 to 1500 might have become a new dark age if Ogadei had survived for just 5-10 years more. Actually England might have carried on its war with France with few changes, but the rest of Europe could have become something quite different. A third fluke (a + b): Napoleon AND Hitler could both have left Russian alone, and then chances are that France resp. Germany would have covered most of continental Europe today. Would England have survived in that situation? And with or without an unconquered England, how much influence in Continental Europe would the United States of (North) America have had (or wished to have)? A fourth one: Hannibal could have followed up on his victory at Cannae by annihilating Rome. No Rome, no Roman empire, but instead a commercially minded superpower based in Northern Africa with a Semitic language. Even if some kind of Southern European power might eventually arise instead of the Romans the development would have been delayed, and the constant turmoil in the Middle East might have produced another world religion than Christianity - or none at all. The Celts could have kept their stance in Gallia several centuries longer, and Britain would be part of a Celtic cultural sphere stretching all the way down to Spain. And a possible future fluke: a large solar storm might wipe out our power lines, transformer stations, computers and satellites. Can the world survive without Xfactor and stupid American sitcoms? Without air traffic? Without Google and Wikipedia? Not only might English split into dialects at an accelerated rate, but fewer people would learn foreign languages including English - especially if they were starving and just thought about ways to survive one day more. Or maybe we should just leave history as it is. Edited by Iversen on 13 December 2012 at 2:44am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4668 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 10 of 13 12 December 2012 at 5:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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My grandmother didn't learn English.
The languages of her ''time'' were French, German and Italian. My grandfather learned only Russian. My parents learned English only. So, I guess, the change came after the 2nd world war. Edited by Medulin on 12 December 2012 at 5:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5453 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 11 of 13 12 December 2012 at 6:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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Medulin: Did people in Yugoslavia learn English and not Russian during the Cold War?
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Presidio Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4581 days ago 39 posts - 150 votes Speaks: English*, Russian, German Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Gulf) | Message 12 of 13 12 December 2012 at 8:56pm | IP Logged | ||
-- What a strange question. It's like asking, "How popular would German be right now if they had won World War Two?" What exactly are you trying to glean from this question? One has to first look at what would have had to have happened in order for it NOT to be the Lingua Franca, "remaining only the language of the UK." 1. After WWII America would have had to have done exactly what it did after WWI - bring all forces home and leave it to other nations to determine the fact of those countries that were defeated. The decision not to maintain a large military force in Western Europe for the next 45 years would have minimized the influence of English and likely ensured the Soviet Union's "liberation" of the Continent. 2. America would have had to not become an economic powerhouse in the world, incentivizing businesses and governments the world over to ensure that key people spoke the language. 4. America would have had to not have the cultural impact it has had worldwide in the areas of cinema, music, and television. Same with England with the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Beattles. I hear comments from people in Sweden and Denmark that the English influence had reached the point of the youth in their country prefer English slang and the movies and music of the United States and Great Britain. 5. America would have had to not develop and perfect the Internet, instead leaving it to someone else who may or may not have done so, and in the process may or may not have allowed the freedoms that come with it. 7. America would have had to not become one of the founding members of the United Nations, and certainly not a permanent member of the UN Security Council. And they would have also had to ensure that the UN wasn't seated in New York City. I know that English influence is troubling to many, but I don't see a reason for those who speak English to apologize for it. But to those that are bothered by this I say "take heart." America's influence in the world is indeed waning. We have not kept our fiscal house in order and we are starting to go the route of Greece, Spain and Portugal. This while China's, Russsia's and India's influence is growing around the world. Businesswise we have become more of an importer than an exporter. We are dramatically scaling back our military while the countries of Russsia and China begin a concerted effort to build theirs up. That and other factors will show a drop in the influence of English worldwide in the coming decades. This has simply been the way of all superpowers down through history: Corruption from the inside out. . Edited by Presidio on 12 December 2012 at 8:58pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4622 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 13 of 13 12 December 2012 at 11:53pm | IP Logged | ||
And people would moan about the lazy Spaniards having no desire to learn foreign languages and expecting everyone else to understand their language. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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