Poll: One world language... that isn't yours.

Direbaka

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Jul 10, 2010
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I don't know the details of some of those languages so I didn't vote for anything, however there are a few things that should *not* be in some global language.

1. Gender based nouns. I do not need to know if a cup of coffee is masculine, feminine, or neuter. (Took some german in college, could memorize the words and the grammar, just not the genders)

2. Tone differences between different words/syllables. Chinese dialects do this (the ones I know of at least) and when I can say "Meaty arm" and "Eyeball" by just changing my tone, it gets confusing. In addition it prevents the tone from implying as much emotion in my opinion.

3. Multiple written and verbal languages. I love how the japanese language sounds, but two syllable languages and one symbol language wrapped up together make for a hard time learning it all.

4. Complicated grammatical structure. I never studied russian language, but I have heard that there are specific ways to say a person's name based off of what type of sentence you are using it in. I could be misinformed about that, but the concept is still there. Grammar is difficult even for native speakers of some languages (I am sure there are many errors in this very post) so making it complicated will just make things worse.

Well that lists all of the languages I have either studied some, or heard complaints that I agree with. I will finish this with one thing. Language is a defining part of human civilization. A single world language would help with modern communication, but destroy some of our cultural heritage. Without the nuances of language, would poets and playwrights have anything interesting to say?


TL;DR version: A world language needs to be easy to speak, write, understand, and learn. Language should be, however, as complicated and diverse as it is in order to keep our culture and literary heritage.

P.S. English is not my favorite for the global language either, it is complicated, broken, and difficult to learn. It is, however, what I speak and write best, if not very well.
 

wasalp

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Dec 22, 2008
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Squilookle said:
So the world decides to unify everyone under a common language, but doesn't know how to do it. So, they decide everyone must vote for the language they think would be best that isn't their primary language already. That means for most of you English is out. What would you vote for?

Personally I'd vote for Spanish. That language is simply music to my ears.
Yeah could you add english to the poll, its not my first language but it sure is an easier one to learn.
 

Retardinator

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Nov 2, 2009
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Squilookle said:
Next time, try reading the whole OP.

...or the title of the poll.

...or the title of the thread.
Believe it or not, English is not my first language. And I think there's more non-native speakers around here who would vote for it.
 

KrakFoxx

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Oct 29, 2009
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German or Esperanto. German because i like it and i'm learning it, Esperanto because it was made to be easy to learn and it's "neutral".
 

tehroc

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Jul 6, 2009
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I read One Word Language but I'll stick with that choice anyways, Marklar.
 

Xpwn3ntial

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Dec 22, 2008
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I voted for German, but I think Italian would be the best language. You can sound so relaxed hearing it. Japanese is a close third.
 

Lawnmooer

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Apr 15, 2009
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German... I like the sound of it...

But ideally I'd want everyone in the world to speak latin... Just seems logical...
 

Doclector

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Aug 22, 2009
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Russian.

Because. Metro 2033. Night/day watch. The cold war russian is dead. Long live, badass russian!
 

CRoone

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Jul 1, 2010
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I voted Esperanto. 16 grammatical rules that always apply sounds good to me (I like studying languages, but I've never been great with grammar).

Out of the other options, though...
*I'm not interested in learning French, German, or Hindi at all.
*I'm not really interested in learning Russian, though I'd choose it over those other three if I had to, because I think it sounds kind of cool.
*I'm already learning Spanish and Japanese, so I can't fairly vote for those two.
*I wouldn't mind Chinese, but though its words are similar to Japanese at first glance, the sentence structures are different, so it might cause problems in trying to learn it.
 

not_the_dm

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Aug 5, 2009
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rokkolpo said:
Serenegoose said:
oh man, Dutch. All kinds of voting for Dutch. I don't know why, but I love that language, and I don't know how to speak it. :(
YAY someone likes Dutch.

Don't feel bad though.
Only Dutch people know how to speak Dutch.
(and many of those fail at it)

OT: Irish!
I love the accent.
Good thing I have an Irish friend who can indulge me at any moment.
Did you mean Irish Gaelic as opposed to just Irish?

OT: Easy, Sumarian. Not to be confused with Babylonian as they both use cuneiform script.
Zi Dingir Anna Kanpa! Zi Dinger Kia Kanpa!
 

rokkolpo

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Aug 29, 2009
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not_the_dm said:
rokkolpo said:
Serenegoose said:
oh man, Dutch. All kinds of voting for Dutch. I don't know why, but I love that language, and I don't know how to speak it. :(
YAY someone likes Dutch.

Don't feel bad though.
Only Dutch people know how to speak Dutch.
(and many of those fail at it)

OT: Irish!
I love the accent.
Good thing I have an Irish friend who can indulge me at any moment.
Did you mean Irish Gaelic as opposed to just Irish?
Just Irish.
The Gealic didn't stick to me.
 

Eatbrainz

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Mar 2, 2009
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Either russian or german, i'm leaning toward german because i just watched Bill Bailey sing the hokey cokey in german.
 

Irony's Acolyte

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Mar 9, 2010
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I voted Esperanto because I think that if we are going to make a language that everyone learns, it should be one made for that exact purpose. A "trade" language if you will. It means that everyone will be on the same level when it comes to learning it.

As for the existing languages I think that English is the best one right now, not because I already speak it as my primary language, but because its already so widespread. Its just in the best position to become the "world" language.