English isn't going to step down as the lingua franca anytime soon. The thing is, you can spend a lot of effort and time learning German, which will allow you to communicate with roughly 90...
English isn't going to step down as the lingua franca anytime soon. The thing is, you can spend a lot of effort and time learning German, which will allow you to communicate with roughly 90 million speakers located almost exclusively in Europe. Or learn English, which will allow you to communicate with 360 million native speakers, plus all the other millions of people that have it as a second language all over the world.
English is just too consolidated at this point and the United States is still the world's largest superpower and media exporter. Plus, despite its oftentimes nonsensical spelling, the lack of gender, tones and cases make it so much easier than any other candidate (Chinese, German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Hindi... they're all more complicated).
Why, though? It's not necessarily simpler for a speaker of Thai or Swahili or any other non-Western European language. Sure, the idea is nice, but the implementation could use some work.
Why, though? It's not necessarily simpler for a speaker of Thai or Swahili or any other non-Western European language. Sure, the idea is nice, but the implementation could use some work.
How would it do better, though? It's not a world-wide interlingua, more of a pan-European one, making it barely different to speakers with no links to European languages.
How would it do better, though? It's not a world-wide interlingua, more of a pan-European one, making it barely different to speakers with no links to European languages.
The syntax is Romance, according to wikipedia, which means that speakers of languages that do not use tense and other parts of syntax, have to acquire them, creating an unnecessary barrier. As an...
The syntax is Romance, according to wikipedia, which means that speakers of languages that do not use tense and other parts of syntax, have to acquire them, creating an unnecessary barrier.
As an example, Mandarin has no tense (and a much much much more simplified syntax in general, though they make up for it in other aspects), so when learning English (or any other language with tenses) Mandarin speakers often neglect it where native speakers would expect them.
Example sentences from a Native Chinese speaker:
Eng: Give me my shoe.
(The speaker really wants both shoes, but hasn't acquired the plural form, this occurs in even very advanced speakers)
Chn: 把我的鞋子给我
lit. (verb position) I (possessive) shoe give I
Eng: I want to buy egg.
(A Chinese speaker is more likely to omit both the article and plural markers as to conform more with a direct translation)
Chn: 我想要买鸡蛋
lit. I want buy chicken egg
As we can see, it isn't necessary to mark plurals in Mandarin, going to a language where one has to is problematic for those speakers and speakers of other languages that do not have this structure.
As an addendum to how different Mandarin is from Indo-European languages, they also don't change verb forms or pronouns. Which creates another needless barrier if a potential world-language includes them.
Examples (in Native English this time):
Eng: I bought eggs for her.
Chn: 我为她买了鸡蛋
lit. I for she buy (past auxiliary) chicken egg
Eng: She will buy shoes for me.
Chn: 她会给我买鞋子
lit. She will for I buy shoe
What if every country did this, so that people everywhere could get exposure to other cultures from around the world?
Germany has undertaken such efforts in the past. “Since reunification, there has been a tradition of representing political, economic, and cultural interests abroad under the title ‘the year of Germany,’ in countries such as China or Brazil,” Mücher says. Last year, he was part of a team that staged about 1,000 events in Mexico.
What if every country did this, so that people everywhere could get exposure to other cultures from around the world?
Many countries do. China, Thailand, Korea and Japan have all funded cultural exchanges with the US in the past, from sister city projects, museums' art exhibits to encouraging and funding...
Many countries do. China, Thailand, Korea and Japan have all funded cultural exchanges with the US in the past, from sister city projects, museums' art exhibits to encouraging and funding restaurateurs to set up shop.
It's pretty much standard in Europe with the Erasmus program. So many of my colleagues have spent a semester or two abroad, both during High School and University. It does wonders for bringing...
It's pretty much standard in Europe with the Erasmus program. So many of my colleagues have spent a semester or two abroad, both during High School and University. It does wonders for bringing people together and forming friendships in an otherwise disparate continent
It's on motherjones.com. Sites have style guides, quality standards, and a thousand other things that influence their articles and reporting. For example, I'm sure you think either Fox News or CNN...
It's on motherjones.com. Sites have style guides, quality standards, and a thousand other things that influence their articles and reporting.
For example, I'm sure you think either Fox News or CNN is bad, right? You'd more than Iikely be justified in that. Same principle.
English isn't going to step down as the lingua franca anytime soon. The thing is, you can spend a lot of effort and time learning German, which will allow you to communicate with roughly 90 million speakers located almost exclusively in Europe. Or learn English, which will allow you to communicate with 360 million native speakers, plus all the other millions of people that have it as a second language all over the world.
English is just too consolidated at this point and the United States is still the world's largest superpower and media exporter. Plus, despite its oftentimes nonsensical spelling, the lack of gender, tones and cases make it so much easier than any other candidate (Chinese, German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Hindi... they're all more complicated).
Why, though? It's not necessarily simpler for a speaker of Thai or Swahili or any other non-Western European language. Sure, the idea is nice, but the implementation could use some work.
How would it do better, though? It's not a world-wide interlingua, more of a pan-European one, making it barely different to speakers with no links to European languages.
The syntax is Romance, according to wikipedia, which means that speakers of languages that do not use tense and other parts of syntax, have to acquire them, creating an unnecessary barrier.
As an example, Mandarin has no tense (and a much much much more simplified syntax in general, though they make up for it in other aspects), so when learning English (or any other language with tenses) Mandarin speakers often neglect it where native speakers would expect them.
As we can see, it isn't necessary to mark plurals in Mandarin, going to a language where one has to is problematic for those speakers and speakers of other languages that do not have this structure.
As an addendum to how different Mandarin is from Indo-European languages, they also don't change verb forms or pronouns. Which creates another needless barrier if a potential world-language includes them.
What if every country did this, so that people everywhere could get exposure to other cultures from around the world?
Many countries do. China, Thailand, Korea and Japan have all funded cultural exchanges with the US in the past, from sister city projects, museums' art exhibits to encouraging and funding restaurateurs to set up shop.
It's pretty much standard in Europe with the Erasmus program. So many of my colleagues have spent a semester or two abroad, both during High School and University. It does wonders for bringing people together and forming friendships in an otherwise disparate continent
I've never been a fan of Mother Jones, but...wow this article is fantastically written. I wish they wrote articles like this more often.
It wasn't written by Mother Jones...
It's on motherjones.com. Sites have style guides, quality standards, and a thousand other things that influence their articles and reporting.
For example, I'm sure you think either Fox News or CNN is bad, right? You'd more than Iikely be justified in that. Same principle.
The guest writer was an editor for a german magazine, and has only written that one article for Mother Jones.
It would be a nice start if their banks stopped loaning Trump money, like every other bank on the planet has already.