"English is the language of economics"?

[Flappycat]

This is the phrase uttered by a French businessman that caused Chirac a fit of apoplexy, and it opens up a very interesting question: our world is, no doubt, becoming a multilingual one. Can anyone here imagine a future in which we employ a different language for several different walks of conversation? Language affects a great deal about the way we think and the way we hold conversations. Therefore, in a society that is fluent in several languages, I think it is possible that we will eventually begin to switch from one language to another over the course of our speech to either reflect our mood or to express a particular train of thought. We already do this to some extent with the Spanish language here in America, actually pulling entire phrases from Spanish at times in the middle of our conversations in order to stress a thought in a particular way.

How far can you see this going? Will the nation-state lose significance in terms of the prevalence of a languages?

 

[Nehustan]

Well French is 'la langue diplomatique', and they say English has become the default language of the interent, but as to Economics....I thought it was maths.

 

[d.]

i know that russian (or any slavic language) has the most 'colorful' curses and swear words.

We already do this to some extent with the Spanish language here in America, actually pulling entire phrases from Spanish at times in the middle of our conversations in order to stress a thought in a particular way.

french is used this way in europe also. and english, in non-speaking countries. though i think it's a natural consequence of being bi-lingual more than anything.

 

[michel]

It's an interesting thought. Having been brought up with four languages, and having 'adopted' another one, our family must seem unintelligible at times.

There again, this is only when there is a perfect expression in another language that we are using at the time, and the odd phrase from Spanish, French, Swahili and Walloon gets used. The kiswahili ones are the best, because their words are literally 'musical' (especially the ones invented as a result of colonialization.

From what I understand, Spanish is the most used language, then English. Most people from west European countries speak English anyway.

Oh, and as far as Chirac goes, I think anything that isn't French gives the man apoplexy.

 

[Sunstone]

I'm for a multi-lingual world even though I have no talent or skill for languages. For one thing, multilingualism promotes understanding between peoples and cultures, IMO. Anything that does that is highly desirable in our age with our tragic capacity to blow up the world: We are, I sometimes think, in a race between destroying the world OTOH, and ushering in a new age of human potential, OTOH. For another thing, multilingualism promotes the free exchange of ideas, and so it helps humanity to reach its full potential. There is, so far as I know, no group, culture, or people in this world that have not come up with good ideas which could benefit us all if we only knew of those ideas.

It is probably inevitable, however, that one language will dominate some particular activity, such as business. But I hope Flappycat is right and no one language comes to dominate all aspects of the emerging global culture.

 

[michel]

I'm for a multi-lingual world even though I have no talent or skill for languages. For one thing, multilingualism promotes understanding between peoples and cultures, IMO. Anything that does that is highly desirable in our age with our tragic capacity to blow up the world: We are, I sometimes think, in a race between destroying the world OTOH, and ushering in a new age of human potential, OTOH. For another thing, multilingualism promotes the free exchange of ideas, and so it helps humanity to reach its full potential. There is, so far as I know, no group, culture, or people in this world that have not come up with good ideas which could benefit us all if we only knew of those ideas.

It is probably inevitable, however, that one language will dominate some particular activity, such as business. But I hope Flappycat is right and no one language comes to dominate all aspects of the emerging global culture.

Don't you think though (that for the sake of unity) it would be better to have a single language ?......words are different and may have a different inflection, causing bruised feelings between people.

For example, I am well aware of words that are good Castillian Spanish, but that are actually extremely rude when used in Spanish speaking South America.

 

[d.]

Don't you think though (that for the sake of unity) it would be better to have a single language ?.......

yes - case in point : how many french people do you meet online compared to people from other european countries?

 

[michel]

yes - case in point : how many french people do you meet online compared to people from other european countries?

Good point!

 

[Sunstone]

Don't you think though (that for the sake of unity) it would be better to have a single language ?......words are different and may have a different inflection, causing bruised feelings between people.

For example, I am well aware of words that are good Castillian Spanish, but that are actually extremely rude when used in Spanish speaking South America.

That's a good point, Michel. The interests of world unity might encourage me to advocate one international language, But I would be reluctant to do so if that meant loosing our national languages in the process. I'll have to think about that one!

English is currently the language of both business and science, as far as I know.

 

[Flappycat]

Well, the US has two major languages, the smaller of which is continuously expanding. I strongly doubt that the population is apt to remain monolingual for long. What would be interesting to know is how people tend to converse if they are equally fluent in both languages. What atmospheres or moods are they most adept to expressing, relative to one another? When someone suddenly switches from English to Spanish, in what contexts does this occur? Basically, I'm interested in knowing how "Spanglish" is most likely to sound or be used.

 

[Druidus]

The loss of humanity's multilingualism is a very sad occurrence.

We need a diverse variety of languages. They enable us to see things from new perspectives. Languages have the capability to actually change the physical structure of the brain; this is evidenced in many languages. If we lose a language, who knows what we will lose, culturally, along with it? What perspectives will be lost, because we no longer develop our brains in a certain way?

A global language may seem romantic, but it will end only in depression. Perhaps a global language that is not the national language of any country; but a language of the past or one constructed to be a logical global language. Even then, it would only play a role in global discourse. People would ordinarily still use their mother tongues, but would be at least able to use the global language.