|
|
Comment about Tom’s new article.
"All people talk about is superstitious nonsense: "cultural identity", "diversity", etc. Where are the actual benefits? "
Diversity is beauty. How would you like to have a garden with only one sort of flowers in it?
"That was a very stupid thing to say. There would be no civilization whatsoever without literature."
I wasn't making a historical point. It may well be that prose and poetry were in some way crucial to the formation of modern society. I don't care to express an opinion about that. I was just saying that in my view, literature (= fiction and poetry) is of little importance to our civilization TODAY. It provides entertainment, it spreads some ideas, in some cases helps develop people's empathy, but it does not really move things forward the way science and philosophy do. "Telegraph machines are not (at least for most of us) a part of our identity." That's precisely my point. People are not attached to telegraph machines anymore, because they died out so long ago. People mourn the loss of things they grew up with. Once people begin to get less exposure to Polish in their childhood, they will become less attached to it. In my scenario, Polish would become something like the telegraph machine -- you've heard of it, you can read about it in Wikipedia, but it's not really something you miss. Just something from the "old times". P.S. I couldn't resist responding to your opinion that "Doom 3" is rubbish. :-) Here's my opinion for what it's worth: "Doom 3" a very solid game made with attention to detail (one of the best in the year it came out), although it is by no means a milestone as the original "Doom" was. I agree it is quite a departure from Doom 1 and 2 -- they attempted to put in an actual plot (which is not that good) and create a horror-movie experience (quite successfully, as the game is pretty scary in many places).
"Diversity is beauty. How would you like to have a garden with only one sort of flowers in it? "
Once the world adopts one universal language, you will still be able to open your browser and listen to ancient audiobooks in 21st-century French, Spanish, and all the other extinct languages. There's no need for humanity to compromise international communication and spend immense effort on translating between different languages just to enable some people to get some esthetic pleasure.
I agree that a universal language would be useful to have. I don't think English would be a good choice though. It would be better to use a constructed language which would be culturally neutral. I don't think that Esperanto would be a good fit though because it's very eurocentric and not truly international. It didn't have the benefit of modern linguistic knowledge when it was designed either so it's full of problematic elements.
Once the world has one global language, different speakers in different areas will start to add and change words, slang, adopt a pronunciation that they find easy to use... and you'll get different languages again, starting from pidgins, probably. Chinglish, Espanglish, Germenglish... Then you'll have to do it all over again, and force everyone to use a new global language.
And you will still need translators, and good ones too, and pay them a lot of money, because terrorists, criminals and spies won't just switch to English and let everyone eavesdrop their conversations and understand easily. And if everything must make sense, then I think we should get rid of soccer/football: what's the point watching someone chasing a ball and pay a lot of money too for it, running the risk of being caught in a fight between hooligans? And let's get rid of beer too, because what's its use, when there's already water that is cheaper and healthier? Then we will have much more time to study useful subjects like math and economy, which will make us realize that we'd better get rid of the countries in the Third World too because they are not useful, like languages, football, and beer.
English is more or less the Lingua Franca of the new and developing Europe anyway........English universality here is a foregone conclusion, and, like it or not, English is the "natural" means of pan European communication, but no way should ANY of this Continent's many diverse Languages be allowed to perish, not that anything so dire would be allowed to happen anyway.....national pride and independence of spirit will always flourish in this, the most exciting and exhilarating of all the Continents, but there again, I am just a wee bit biased.
Likewise, whether the most conservative and "Little Englander" minded of my fellow Brits like it or not, the dissing of the quid Sterling £ in favour of the Euro € is inevitable.....it simply has to happen in the fulness of time. There is a vilage in Somerset, England, called Dunster and all the local shopowners and store keepers there are already accepting € on a par value with the £ in payments, now that there is very little variation now in the one for one rates. Not before time. I am extrenely proud of my native Language and his long history and I love every minute of my working life when it earns me my £s in the course of my daily grind......the use of the English Language is my bread and butter, and now, even in this leisure time Forum I somehow derive great pleasure in setting it down in type here, and whether or not fellow forum members are even remotely interested in my ramblings is, quite honestly, rather immaterial to me! ;-) Oh how I enjoyed writing that bit......... Long may English reign supreme in this Forum, which, of late, has tended to become just a wee bit grotty in some of its threads, sadly.....never mind. Hogmanay we are now slowly recovering from.....now for Burn's Night coming up very soon...on the 25th. Scotland's very own national Bard and fine exponent of our very own lied.....our very own version of the English Language.
"All people talk about is superstitious nonsense: "cultural identity", "diversity", etc. Where are the actual benefits?"
Whoa! If you have read the comments in the language section, you know how important languages are to their "owners". I'm very practical, but I recognize that people value the beauty of their languages and they don't want to give them up. I may think their languages sound like the clattering of shoes or ducks quacking, but to them their languages are personal, beautiful and worth a fight. We had "diversity" training at my workplace a couple of years ago. I'm not making this up. This was at a national healthcare company. It's not something that we can "avoid" in the United States unless we "live in a cave." There are pockets of diversity in the States, but "no one" wants to offend anyone. I imagine that Poland has a more unified culture. There are probably many things that you enjoy and take for granted there. I suppose that saying "Merry Christmas" in Polish is not hotly debated in the news in Poland, for example. I'm a little surprised that you want to put yourself out of a job. I thought that you were a translator. I admit that I haven't fallen in love with the Polish language, but many people (including some who post here) seem to think it is a great-sounding language and make the effort to learn it as a foreign language. If foreigners still learn your language as a boutique language, I doubt that your Doom-dubbing compatriots are going to give up their language anytime soon, short of the demands of a one world, one language government.
JOHNNY: Once the world has one global language, different speakers in different areas will start to add and change words,....And you will still need translators.
Johnny, this is purely theoretical. In practice, English already is the lingua franca, and your sentiments about the need for numerous translators have not materialized. JOHNNY: And if everything must make sense, then I think we should get rid of soccer/football: what's the point watching someone chasing a ball and pay a lot of money too for it, running the risk of being caught in a fight between hooligans? I already believe this--and have believed it--for years. What particularly bewilders me is how soccer encites riots; it just "won't compute" in my brain. But then, I am not only an American (we seldom riot over games), but I am an intellectual nerd who really does think the brouhaha over bouncing around a ball is lunacy.... I want to make it clear that while I strongly support the need and existence of a lingua franca, it need not necessarily be English.
Damian, I noticed a few spelling errors in your post, which is wildly out of character for you. Were you sleepy? ;-)
Seriously, though, Damian, whether or not you like or respect it, many of us devour every word of your posts. You and two or three others on this board are fonts of information too valuable to ignore. Best regards...
<<if everything must make sense, then I think we should get rid of soccer/football<<
I'd get rid of baseball first. It's boring.
As the US presidential election showed, when diverse cultural groups are brought together and able to communicate in the same language then eventually prejudices and discrimination get broken down and wither away.
If we attempt to get rid of languages it will be the next source of major conflict in the world, like religion.
And the vast majority of people care little for the "interests of humanity". If you like English then it's no problem to study it, but if you don't you're bound to resist. For example, it's likely China (or whichever country will become the next 'rival') will become powerful and decide that Chinese should be important out of pure geopolitical reasons and not in the "interests of humainty". Countries aligned with China will choose Chinese rather than English for political and not pragmatic reasons. Thus we will once again not have an international language. I admit that Tom has some good points, however they are only possible in theory. They would not work in practice, like communism. <<If I hadn't had to learn Polish in high school, I would've had more time to develop my programming skills. >> <<Every subject you teach at school has to be justified, and where's the justification for non-English languages? All people talk about is superstitious nonsense: "cultural identity", "diversity", etc. Where are the actual benefits? >> Ok, so Johan decides to be a programmer but Sara decides to be a writer. Where is the benefit for Sara in learning programming? For Sara there is no justification for teaching programming. By the way, the fact that you play video games regardless of language is proof that you don't really follow your belief that practicality is the only important thing. Everyone acknowledges that video games are a waste of time, you ought to be learning science in the 'interests of humanity'.
Jasper - I re-read my last post and, yes indeed, you are right - it was riddled with typos! There was I proclaiming my pride and love for my native Language and then I go and mangle it in the very same post!
It's very apparent that I didn't see fit to proof read effectively before I clicked the button in a forum devoid of a log in system and editing facilities, and especially in a forum such as this one, where all due respect should be paid to the English Language, which I so clearly did not do. I reply on spell-checkers far too much, but in my own defence I don't normally need a S-C when I don't type at reckless speed and then not bother to scan with the eye what I have consigned to print. What sort of example did I set for people who are working hard to learn as much as they can about the correct forms of English and look to those natively born conversant with its correct usage and then see such obvious errors from someone who has no acceptable excuse for their commission? You asked if I was sleepy - well, let's say I was, and lame as it sounds, I most probably was anyway, even at that time of day (18:42hrs). Blame the ongoing Hogmanay festivities over here, the highlight of the Scottish year, and everything that goes with our celebrations. So yes, I was a wee bit sleepy, shall we say, but whether you beieve this of a Scotsman during Hogmanay or not, alcoholic excess was definitely not a factor...well, not really, shall we also say......I do know my limits....most of the time. No way will I ever succumb to this kind of occupational hazard all too existent in my line of work. Normal sleep patterns do get seriously disrupted at this time of the year, but it's all a case of "back to normal" tomorrow morning - Monday 05/01/09 - when Scotland goes back to work again...well, those not involved in 24/7 on-going emergency/essential services occupations. Of necessity we in Scotland also have 02 January as a public holiday in addition to 01 January, whereas the poor souls down in England and Wales have to make do with just the one day. Both 25 and 26 December are public holidays all over the UK (Christmas Day and Boxing Day respectively) but, discounting the aforementioned emergency/essential services everything closes down for Christmas Day, but the post Christmas sales start on Boxing Day with most of the larger stores being open, as well as many food retailers, newsagents, etc. Banks and commerce closas down though. The same goes for New Year's Day, and, as I have already said, so is 02 January here in Scotland. I was actually working yesterday, Saturday, but in my job public holidays don't mean very much anyway, and in my case will definitely not from now on. Hoping 2009 will be a good year all round for you, in spite of such "gloom and despondency" on the global economic front. ;-) Rainbows invariably appear after the rain when the first rays of the sun break through, don't they? PS: Thanks for your nice words, Jasper. PPS: This post has been proof-read carefully...well, reasonably so.
Damian, I have the same problem. My lack of diligence in proofreading my posts sometimes later embarrasses me when I reread those posts, and find relatively simple mistakes in grammar... We of the human species do tend to get lazy at times, don't we?
|
