@Bosanac

Ich weiss nicht.

In your face, whoever it was that said to me as a teen that I'd never need to know any German.

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@Karlos

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In your face, whoever it was that said to me as a teen that I'd never need to know any German.

Was it almost every single native English speaker you came into contact with due to their bizzare collective pride in being unable to speak any other language per chance?

@Bosanac

That is a terrible indictment. Accurate, however.

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@languages

The value of languages other than the lingua franca (currently English) is overrated.
The sooner the entire planet speaks a single language, the better off we'll all be.

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@agami

The problem is that no one single language has the vocabulary to cover all the needs - something that require a whole sentence in one language can be summed up in one small single syllable word in another language.

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@kolla

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kolla wrote: @agami The problem is that no one single language has the vocabulary to cover all the needs - something that require a whole sentence in one language can be summed up in one small single syllable word in another language.

All the needs?

English is doing a pretty good job so far. I've certainly not experienced any vocabulary shortcomings.
But lets for a moment entertain that what you state is true, and that no existing Earth language can cover all the "vocabulary needs". Then the onus is on us (as a species) to come up with a new lingua franca that does.

The moment this new super language is created, I will happily learn it and insist upon its universal usage, because:
The sooner the entire planet speaks a single language, the better off we'll all be.

Until then, I will be a proponent of English as the first truly global language.

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@agami

It rather depends on how this global language comes about, right? There's a naivety in the assumption it would arrive by mutual consent. Have you met humans before? Languages are a major part of people's identity.

If there is to be a single language it almost certainly won't be the result of some Esperanto like attempt to unify the world. It will happen through domination one one form or another.

A single language, as a second language for all, is a good idea, but the world would lose more than it would gain if it were at the expense of all other languages.

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@Karlos

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Have you met humans before? Languages are a major part of people's identity.

Don't get me started on humans.
There's a lot more that comes together to form an individual's or group's identity. Removing language from that equation will leave their identity intact. If language was the only thing doing the proverbial heavy lifting, then they didn't have a distinct identity to begin with.


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but the world would lose more than it would gain

I beg to differ. The gains would outweigh the losses.

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@agami

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Removing language from that equation will leave their identity intact

Are you serious? People's identity incorporates their culture and history, which their language encodes. You can't just "remove language" from it leave it intact.

Good look persuading billions of people to give up Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Sanskrit, etc. because your new language has it covered.

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@agami

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The sooner the entire planet speaks a single language, the better off we'll all be.

Not going to happen in your lifetime.

Which “English” do you want to become the only language btw?

There is The Queen’s English and there are mistakes. Nothing else.

@Bosanac

I'll go further. Everyone speaking one language is not going to happen without large scale conflict and/or eradication of people's culture and history. Or just the people, if necessary.

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@Karlos

Who needs choice? Who needs freedom?

The politburo knows best!

@Karlos

If only people would just do as they are told eh?

@agami

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All the needs? English is doing a pretty good job so far. I've certainly not experienced any vocabulary shortcomings.

Kada ste zadnji put čitali Kur'an?

@Bosanac

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Not going to happen in your lifetime.

So we should therefore not bother?
I know it won't happen in my lifetime, but I am for moving the proverbial needle forward, however much it can be.
Much like "Think global, act local", I say "Think tomorrow, act today".

And what that also means, is that I will not waste time on apologising for not speaking German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, or any other shrinking language.


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Which “English” do you want to become the only language btw?

Every variation of English, under a single umbrella label of just "English".
Its promiscuity is one of the key reasons it is presently the de facto lingua franca.

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@agami

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So we should therefore not bother?

Correct.

@agami

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Its promiscuity is one of the key reasons it is presently the de facto lingua franca.

It is the Lingua Franca because the sun never set on the British Empire.

@Karlos

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Or just the people, if necessary.

It starts with "cancelling", then book burning, then genocide.

Every single time.

@Bosanac

Anyway, about 64 bit operations on 68080...

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@agami

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And what that also means, is that I will not waste time on apologising for not speaking German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, or any other shrinking language.

How very inclusive. English is spoken as a primary or secondary language by around 2bn people in the world and it became that way, by and large, via all the routes that modern "liberals" claim to despise so. Ironically, as they busy themselves trying to "decolonise" thought and teaching everywhere else, it never seems to occur to them that the very language they use to express their ideas in was the end result of some of the most pervasive examples of colonisation there has ever been.

Last edited by Karlos on 19-Oct-2022 at 09:58 AM.

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