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Does international language work? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5135 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes  Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 81 of 91 25 December 2010 at 3:20am | IP Logged | ||
If I had to make a guess, I would say that, at least in part, it's because conlangs don't have the history of conflict and resolution to back it up like a naturally evolved language has. As humans, we're extremely interested in our struggles and accomplishments to get to where we are now, and a constructed language doesn't reflect that rich history. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6664 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 82 of 91 25 December 2010 at 3:31am | IP Logged | ||
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I used to think that reviving Latin would be a good way of having a universal auxiliary language. There is already plenty of respected original material in Latin. There are plenty of people around the world who can read and write in Latin to some degree even though many of them can't speak it. With the exception of the Vatican, Latin isn't associated with any specific country.
Once upon a time, Latin served as an international language for a number of years. Latin splintered into a number of Romance languages. People stopped speaking Latin as a first language because they had other languages and didn't need it. My point is not to argue that Latin or Esperanto should be the international auxiliary language. My point is that languages that have been used as lingua francas (linguae francae?) haven't reached the large numbers of speakers around the world that their supporters would want. Esperanto has been the most successful conlang so far, but English seems to be a more popular auxiliary language despite its obvious lack of neutrality. For better or worse, many people learn English and a select group of other languages for economic reasons. So far, this doesn't seem to be the case with Esperanto. Why do people learn any language? The most common reason is because they're babies who have to learn their native language and have lots of free time to do it. Another reason is because they are students who are compelled to learn a language, and often such people learn languages imperfectly at best. Other people are immigrants who need to work and interact with native speakers of the language of their new country. Sometimes meet foreigners and fall in love with them and want to learn the language of tbeir beloved. Sometimes people are traveling and find a new language useful. These reasons rarely apply for Esperanto. Esperantists tend to be idealistic, more so than typical learners of English or Spanish. Many are people who seriously love languages, like those of us on this forum. Let's face it; we are not typical of much of the rest of the world. If we were, Esperanto would be spoken by maybe a billion people or the language barrier would be very small for a variety of reasons. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| CheeseInsider Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5127 days ago 193 posts - 238 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin* Studies: French, German | Message 83 of 91 25 December 2010 at 7:04am | IP Logged | ||
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I've never liked the idea of using an international language. Yes, I'm also against English functioning as a lingua franca. I'm sure that there are others who also feel that way. Edited by CheeseInsider on 25 December 2010 at 7:04am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6555 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 84 of 91 25 December 2010 at 9:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Might as well use English until a more logical choice comes up. No need to plan these things out.
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| nuriayasmin Senior Member Germany Joined 5248 days ago 155 posts - 210 votes | Message 85 of 91 25 December 2010 at 11:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't believe in artificial languages. In my opinion they will never be more than the hobby of some enthusiastic and surely well-meaning people but the majority of people won't accept them. It would de different if a language like esperanto were taught at schools in all countries but I don't see that to happen in the near future and to be honest, I wouldn't like it. I prefer languages who have a history and have evolved in a natural surrounding, with all its cultural implications, complicated grammar, idioms and whatever - because that's what makes a language alive. I mean, I wouldn't want to replace my kids by robots, either just because they're easier to handle. Sure, that may be exaggerated but it's the way I feel and so I'd even say I'm against artifical languages.
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| zerothinking Senior Member Australia Joined 6377 days ago 528 posts - 772 votes Speaks: English* | Message 86 of 91 25 December 2010 at 11:40am | IP Logged | ||
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Because it's worth the extra effort to learn English and have access to:
1 billion+ native and non-native speakers It's very hard for an international conlang to compete. The international language is usually the language of the richest country or superpower. It makes the most business and economic sense to learn English. When USA falls from this status over time the international language will slowly change over many decades if not centuries. Lingua francas are awesome and I think people who don't like English functioning this way don't understand the huge benefits for such a language to exist. International communication and understanding is vital to economic growth and to some extent peace between nations. There will always be at least local lingua francas because it's just not a viable option for everyone to learn three or four language like us. Most people knowing just one language really well makes more sense anyway. Edited by zerothinking on 25 December 2010 at 11:41am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Keilan Senior Member Canada Joined 5091 days ago 125 posts - 241 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 87 of 91 26 December 2010 at 8:24am | IP Logged | ||
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I think my concern would be that it would become the one world language over time and people would stop teaching their countries language to their children. The exact same risk is present with English or course, but I wouldn't support an international language because it would speed up that process. I honestly prefer things the way they are now, where linguistic diversity is part of humanity. And even the way things are, many languages are dying out, which saddens me greatly. I would rather the communication barrier remains in order to preserve more languages.
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| Raчraч Ŋuɲa Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 5823 days ago 154 posts - 233 votes Speaks: Bikol languages*, Tagalog, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, Russian, Japanese | Message 88 of 91 26 December 2010 at 11:22am | IP Logged | ||
Historically, languages are spread by force, trade or religion, not by idealism. What force will push/pull people into a UIL? Do I need it to talk to my immediate social circle (family, friends)? Will they need it? Will it even cross our minds? If I need to speak to someone who doesn't speak my native language, English is already there. If he doesn't speak English, we can start learning each other's native languages. Why learn another language that both of us never speak? Why make it hard for two person when its possible to make just the other half spend an effort? And if I must learn a UIL as an idealist, it would never be Esperanto. What is in Esperanto that I could not find in a natural language? Esperanto doesn't have a niche in my mind. Edited by Raчraч Ŋuɲa on 26 December 2010 at 11:38am 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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