A Matter of Language

[Darth InSidious]

God forbid that we impose all our irregular verbs on the rest of the planet.

Better ours than Greek's.

[Jvstice]

I think it's a bad thing for the world to adopt one language, but I think there are plusses as well. But it's really the same double edged sword.

 

There are concepts that often appear in one language, and not the words of another. For instance, in english, there is one word love. Greek has three different more specific terms (eros (romantic love), philos (brotherly love), and agape (unconditional love)) that are variously translated into the same english word but have vastly different meanings. I've heard that there's a similar difference in Eskimo words for snow vs english ones, but I don't know from my own knowledge. I've heard the claim that there are 30 different types of snow as classified by the eskimoes. Or what about the difference between the spanish estar and ser, one denoting a permanent state, the other a temporary state of affairs? By comparison, english only has "to be" and doesn't differentiate by the actual verb.

 

Reducing the number of words around the world often has the effect of reducing the number of concepts, and making everyone think more alike about issues because every one thinks less in depth about issues than they would have if they'd kept their native languages in the first place. So in a way it does bring more unity, but at a cost of making much of the world stupider.

 

1984 anyone?

[Ctrl Alt Del]

Or what about the difference between the spanish estar and ser, one denoting a permanent state, the other a temporary state of affairs?

It's actually the contrary, but I get your meaning.

Reducing the number of words around the world often has the effect of reducing the number of concepts, and making everyone think more alike about issues because every one thinks less in depth about issues than they would have if they'd kept their native languages in the first place. So in a way it does bring more unity, but at a cost of making much of the world stupider.

My opinion? That's hardly the case. Just the exchange or elimination of words can't do that to a culture. Granted, it'd still be incredibly difficulty to adapt english on so many places and dialects are completely inevitable.

[Jvstice]

It's actually the contrary, but I get your meaning.

sorry. It's been a long time since I took it and I didn't double check before posting which was which. I hope the point is still clear

 

My opinion? That's hardly the case. Just the exchange or elimination of words can't do that to a culture. Granted, it'd still be incredibly difficulty to adapt english on so many places and dialects are completely inevitable.

I see your point as well. Perhaps I should specify that it's not suddenly, but over time that I think it is probable.

[Bee Hoon]

We have people from all sorts of places here - Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Brazil, Portugal and God knows where else.

<3

 

More people DO speak Chinese, most of them are average joes with no relevance to the rest of the world who, like many Americans, will never leave China. So yeah, more people speak Chinese, but Chinese is not the most widely spread language.

Don't discount Mandarin just yet (Mandarin a.k.a. putonghua is the predominant dialect. It's not easy to learn (although to be fair, I haven't tried all that hard). I would say that the main problem is learning the intonations, and building up a vocabulary in it.

 

Reading-wise, English is probably easier as if you're familiar with certain words and their roots, you can make an educated guess as to what it means. With Chinese characters, you either know it or you don't.

 

Anyway, I'm against having a single global language. It's good for more people to become multilingual, but I'm sure that most of you realise that a lot of meaning gets lost in translation. A lot of things are simply more poetic in certain languages. Plus a global language would mean losing centuries of literature in other languages.