Poll: One world language?

[aakibar]

not to be a bigot or anything but english is the best language also given my inability to learn new languages. But honestly the world language is determined by who controls the world (to some degree) in the 17-19th century it was french and in the past two centuries its english.

 

[moshineko]

I have to say that I'm appalled that the most chosen language is English; it only proves how egotistical we, as English-speakers, are. I voted for 'artificial', because I'm sure that as people of differing races cross over, their native languages and cultures will be taught to their children.

As long as a one-language world is inevitable, I might as well like for it to arrive in around 200 years (it'll make my upcoming story on DeviantArt more believable).

Well, could also have something to do with this being an English-language website, and people supporting the home team? Only natural for you to think that your way, your team, your language, is the best. After all, if it wasn't, why would so many people you know agree with you?

 

[ICanBreakTheseCuffs]

Somewhere in the bible it says that every human being spoke one language and so god stoped that so we couldn't rise to astonishing heights so if we did speak one whole language it would help us do things we would never think possible and if we did speak one language god would come down and disperse us back into several languages which would either prove god exists or not

 

[tkioz]

Imperial Gothic of course.

This. And humanity will reclaim the stars in our great crusade.

But seriously, English. The vast majority if not all computer code is written in english.

And American English at that... which is really bloody annoying, the amount of times I've had to retype centre into "center" for example is just plain shocking. It's also obnoxious considering The Queens English is used in more nations then The Presidents English.

 

[tkioz]

Somewhere in the bible it says that every human being spoke one language and so god stoped that so we couldn't rise to astonishing heights so if we did speak one whole language it would help us do things we would never think possible and if we did speak one language god would come down and disperse us back into several languages which would either prove god exists or not

God wouldn't have the balls to try that by the time we've got one language untiring us this time, we'd kick his ass all the way back to whatever hole he crawled out from.

 

[Nechti_Visara]

I say we all learn a dead language. Or, alternatively we all learn a dying one. That way, everyone has to learn a new language instead of the majority harping on others that already know the selected language.

 

[Yankeedoodles]

one "world language" would be very cool.
i'm german, but english sounds way cooler and isn't hard to learn, so i think english would be a great world language.

really? english sounds cooler than german? and it's easier?
hmm i figured our (U.S.) english had too many colloquialisms and turns-of-phrase to be viable. so many people who immigrate here claim that it is very difficult... guess they're the minority?

They're probably referring to the written English language which - with all its double consonants, silent letters and vowels which never seem to have a set sound - is nothing short of a phonetic train wreck. Honestly, after learning Spanish, in which virtually every sound of every word matches up neatly to a letter, I'm amazed that non-native speakers ever learn to read English at all. Our written language is desperately in need of reform. We have far to many sounds in our language for the Latin 26 letter alphabet to be adequate.

That being said, the spoken English language is amazingly adaptive and its rules of conjugation and grammar are relatively simple.

 

[Elephant Walker19]

I'm simply dumbed by the fact that japanese alomost has as many votes as mandrin.

 

[Danman1]

English, mostly 'cause it's the only one I speak good. I'm just learning french, I can't imagine trying to learn mandarin.
EDIT: goodly* (sorry about that there)

 

[Zeetchmen]

English please, all I can speak and all I will be able to speak is english.

Also everyone else in the world pretty much speaks english anyway

 

[Obrien Xp]

one "world language" would be very cool.
i'm german, but english sounds way cooler and isn't hard to learn, so i think english would be a great world language.

English is considered a Germanic language. It does however have quite a bit of romantic (French) in it though.

Many languages nowadays are changing, I've heard that French and German are interchanging on some things. (Frenchfries was the example I was given, was told that Germans are using pommes-frites instead of der guten deustch word).

 

[Yankeedoodles]

language is a fascinating topic. talking to someone is basically poetry, in that you are trying to convey meaning using words, a conversation is the most basic example, lyrics and poetry are more complex and "rich" examples.

The language you use will change the options of expression open to you. I personally find eastern languages particularly interesting (as they have their roots far from Latin based languages), as they have no just different words, but different concepts.

Only bits I remember from memory is stuff like opportunity and problem are the same word in Japanese (I think it's Japanese), because they see them as the same thing, and when you think about it, they basically are. A problem can have numerous different solutions, so "opportunity" makes sense.

I don't think language will ever be united in 1 language, I think the capacity for us to become multilingual, and mix languages is more likely.

Someone's probably already pointed this out but, if not: you're probably thinking of the Chinese word for "crisis". It is a commonly held incorrect belief that the hanzi making up that word are the chinese words for "danger" (wei) and "opportunity" (ji). And while "wei" does translate as "danger", "ji" actually translates to something like "critical moment" rather than "opportunity".

 

[Custard_Angel]

No language will ever, or should ever, be the "one world language".

Just imagine the pointless wars that break out as every race strives to make their language "the" language.

An artificial language you say?

People have a hard enough time trying to learn one language. Just walk around and listen to people butchering their own language (like, oh my god totally, ya know?). Imagine how much trouble would be involved in teaching over 6 billion people how to speak a new language.

Impossible.

 

[razing32]

I think it should be a neutral language like Esperanto.

Choosing one existing language over another may seem unfair to some cultures.

Also , the more common a wide spoken language becomes the more smaller communities loose their cultural heritage and language.I believe we are losing a few tens of dialects a year - I mean them going completely extinct.

 

[Sparcrypt]

Engligh. It's taught to a lot of other cultures and those who speak it natively are often reluctant to learn anything else.

Naturally biased as I am a native Engligh speaker

 

[Zakarath]

Binary. The machine overthrow is coming...

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Those who said French 0.9% are correct, French is the Language of the Diplomats.

Yeah... in 1885...

the european union has most of it's stuff in belgium and france. they talk french in both countrys.

most of the diplomatic missions around the world speak french nowadays, why is that ?

 

[Bruin]

Yeah, just like it's irrelevant that today the "Western" culture we embrace is based off of classical Greece and Rome (sarcasm)...

Latin is a dead language in the sense that no major populace speaks it.

However, if people spoke it, it wouldn't be a dead language.

Because people would be speaking it.

Do you see how this works?

Much of the grammar is the same, many of the words are cognates, and Latin is something people in many countries study. Countries outside of where Latin originated. It's used for so many things these days we all practically know Latin in some form or another.

Therefore, it's not irrelevant.

English is a mix of Norman French and Old English, which is itself derived from Germanic. So since both German and English are derived from some ancient Germanic should we start speaking it too???

Mandarin isn't derived from Latin
Neither is Russian or anything Germanic.

Only Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian and a few others.



Besides, you're talking about destroying people's cultures. Because that's what it is. Culture is heavily dependant on Language, if you started Latin immersion schools across the globe, you're basically going to destroy everyone's culture in two generation.

No one is going to stand for that.

And why should Asian people learn Latin? Why should Russian? Their language has nothing in common with Latin.



If there is one world language, the move towards that language will be both natural and gradual. Not the resurrection of a dead language that has no contemporary relevance.

English has an enormous amount of Latin influence. It's hard not to notice it. After all, you're in a FORUM.

Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, English, a bit of German and their derivatives. This includes Dutch, Portuguese, Etc.

And I'm not talking about actually doing it. I'm not proposing everybody demolish their old languages in favor of Latin. I think it's the one the majority of the world has in common, considering more than a quarter of the world's population at one time lived under Roman rule, and these days, much of the world speaks a Latin-derived language. I think it'd be a very easy language to implement if we had to come up with a language for the world to speak.

I think it's the most practical choice, is all. I'm not saying we should actually do it.

 

[x434343]

English already has 1.8 billion speakers worldwide. One of the highest rates.

 

[LamborghiniJackson]

Times New Roman for teh lulz