Worldwide Common Language

[Revoltingest]

You might be joking, but people are already doing that internationally. Its the creole I was talking about, which people here in the USA probably wouldn't understand if we heard it.

Not joking at all.

 

[ChristineM]

Mandarin actually has a lot in favor of it, especially if the written form is pinyin. It has a large population base and literature already, a long history, rather simple conjugation of verbs (as far as I can see....still learning it). The main difficulty is the character set, which is relieved by the use of pinyin.

I believe the past tense is interesting.

 

[Revoltingest]

For starters, we shouldn't need a pronunciation guide in the dictionary. The sounds should have consistent spellings. We'll need a Spelling Czar to invent and enforce Simple Spelling.

I cood bee that zar.

 

[Brickjectivity]

French has almost half a billion speakers, is really quite easy for english speakers considering over 40,000 english words are french or derived from french.

When the NY times regularly uses less than 1000 words in its publication you can be quite confident that you already know enough french to communicate.

Assuming of course you learn the basic inflection first and can speak through your nose

As for pronunciation, try it with a Lancashire accent

Its great for English speakers and about as easy for us as German. What about native Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Malaysian speakers? Is there some worldwide language that would also be attractive to them?

 

[joe1776]

Unfortunately a lot of people hate English. Many learn it, because its required for business. They don't learn it well usually and prefer some sort of a creole. The spelling is challenging, and native speakers are picky. Its hard to speak without an accent. Maybe this is why it hasn't caught on everywhere? Look at all the Spanish speaking people in the USA. They haven't learned English. Why? They must not like it. Like many other languages it seems like it can't fill the bill for a permanent worldwide language.

The first generation of my people to come to America, the Italians, had difficulty with the language. But their young children going to school, didn't.

 

[joe1776]

I cood bee that zar.

Do it! But "could" should be spelled kood.

 

[Brickjectivity]

The first generation of my people to come to America, the Italians, had difficulty with the language. But their young children going to school, didn't.

Its probably easier for us to learn Italian than for Italians to learn English... I can't say for sure, but English has multiple phonetic influences and is aged like a cheese.

 

[ChristineM]

Its great for English speakers and about as easy for us as German. What about native Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Malaysian speakers? Is there some worldwide language that would also be attractive to them?

I have read many software and white goods manuals written in Japlish.

 

[ChristineM]

Its great for English speakers and about as easy for us as German. What about native Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Malaysian speakers? Is there some worldwide language that would also be attractive to them?

Ill still push for englsh simply because its the most common

 

[sooda]

Would it make a difference?

What language would stick the longest and be the most universal?

Why should/shouldn't we promote a worldwide language?

How should it be chosen?

I don't think its necessary.. We have English as the international language of aviation now.. and that helps to communicate with Air Traffic Control.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Ill still push for englsh simply because its the most common

Do you think simplified spelling is a good idea -- getting rid of our nice wordplay and so forth? No more bough, bow and bow or keep them?

I cood bee that zar.

So we simplify English spelling, but then the language is ugly and alienated from all of the literature written in it. Is that better than pinyin?

 

[Brickjectivity]

I don't think its necessary.. We have English as the international language of aviation now.. and that helps to communicate with Air Traffic Control.

We could define a language around that - an official subset of English that includes airline related words. It could be a language learnable in 1 semester called 'Airline'.

 

[joe1776]

Its probably easier for us to learn Italian than for Italians to learn English... I can't say for sure, but English has multiple phonetic influences and is aged like a cheese.

There's no doubt that English is more difficult than it needs to be. In addition to the boneheaded spellings, there's a tendency for English speakers to use highfalutin synonyms in place of plain language.

However, I think the issue has already been decided by history. English is on its way to becoming the international language.

 

[Revoltingest]

Do it! But "could" should be spelled kood.

No, it koodent.

 

[dianaiad]

Would it make a difference?

What language would stick the longest and be the most universal?

Why should/shouldn't we promote a worldwide language?

How should it be chosen?

English.

1. It's already being used as such; air traffic world wide is handled in English.
2. Unlike almost every other language in the world, English has no...hmnn...snooty pride in its history. No matter how hard the English professors tried, we just couldn't force Latin grammar onto English, with its Germanic base.
3. English is not, in any way, a 'pure' language. It is quite happy to steal vocabulary from other languages and keep it. This means that when we have a need for a word that describes a specific event or thing, we'll just grab one from somewhere else and use it. There is no committee for English (as there is for French, Spanish and other languages) that judges whether a word is properly 'English.' In fact, though the basic grammar is Germanic, English vocabulary is Celtic, French, Spanish....I don't think that there is a language on the planet whose vocabulary is not reflected in English.

Other languages are simpler, easier to learn and more logical. English is weird. It's also fun...down, dirty and one can use every swear word ever invented by any speaker of any language....and still call it "English."

 

[ChristineM]

Do you think simplified spelling is a good idea -- getting rid of our nice wordplay and so forth? No more bough, bow and bow or keep them?


So we simplify English spelling, but then the language is ugly and alienated from all of the literature written in it. Is that better than pinyin?

This is how we differentiate American english and british english speakers, we pronounce the seemingly superfluous "u"

Color sounds harsh to me and colour is a warm sound.

But for an international language it would need to be as simple as possible to appease americans ;-)

 

[joe1776]

So we simplify English spelling, but then the language is ugly and alienated from all of the literature written in it. Is that better than pinyin?

Language changes over time and becomes "alienated from all of the literature written in it" even if there's no deliberate attempt to modify it. I recognize that Shakespeare wrote in English but it's not a language that I understand.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Language changes over time and becomes "alienated from all of the literature written in it" even if there's no deliberate attempt to modify it. I recognize that Shakespeare wrote in English but it's not a language that I understand.

That's why they say we should learn Chinese. Its not as phonetic, so its supposedly going to be very slow to change and can incorporate values symbolically in the characters. For example if there is a character for 'Freedom' it might be around for 20,000 years.

 

[ChristineM]

Do you think simplified spelling is a good idea -- getting rid of our nice wordplay and so forth? No more bough, bow and bow or keep them?


So we simplify English spelling, but then the language is ugly and alienated from all of the literature written in it. Is that better than pinyin?

Just as an aside, its

Jag-u-ar

Not

Jag-war

 

[Brickjectivity]

1. It's already being used as such; air traffic world wide is handled in English.

Not everybody flies, and lots of people don't know English.

2. Unlike almost every other language in the world, English has no...hmnn...snooty pride in its history. No matter how hard the English professors tried, we just couldn't force Latin grammar onto English, with its Germanic base.

We have plenty of snooty stuff. The language is popular because of recent world History, but you know what French was just as popular not too long ago. Before that Spanish was very popular. Latin is huge. Arabic variants are everywhere. We've got whole continents where English is not the daily language. Just because English is currently widely spoken doesn't mean its the ultimate worldwide language -- one that will stick. Anyway maybe we don't need a worldwide language.

3. English is not, in any way, a 'pure' language. It is quite happy to steal vocabulary from other languages and keep it. This means that when we have a need for a word that describes a specific event or thing, we'll just grab one from somewhere else and use it. There is no committee for English (as there is for French, Spanish and other languages) that judges whether a word is properly 'English.' In fact, though the basic grammar is Germanic, English vocabulary is Celtic, French, Spanish....I don't think that there is a language on the planet whose vocabulary is not reflected in English.

English is perfect if we already speak it.