Cultural capital standing list of world's major languages

Shuimo   Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:29 pm GMT
Cultural capital, according to Shuimo, means all the culturally valuable resources a language has at its disposal, especially the availability and abundance of literature, historical documents, philosophical writings!

So here is the standing list of all the major languages of the world in terms of cultural capital, with a little explanation!

No1 Chinese, the doubtless winner!
Just imagine China's thousands of years of resplendent history with galaxies of literary, poetic talents woven into its rich cultural tapestry!
Even a heavyweight lifting Olympic champion wud physically humble before the weight of old Chinese cultural capital alone! Then even the most profoundly pedantic in the world has to sigh before the profundity and depths of Chinese culture!

No 2 English
Shuimo was at one moment considering whether English, the de facto lengua franc now, should share the top place with Chinese. But then given that English has a far shorter history and far less cultural heritage than Chinese, it has to be satified with second place! US/UK does have lots to boast in recent modern history!

No 3 French
Given France has given births to a number of famed writers and thinkers, French holds lots of good cards in its hands!

No 4 Russian
Russian literature is quite a spectacle! But then good Russian thinkers are sorely scarce!

No 5 German
German seems to be in its element only when modern muddy philosophy is mentioned!
German literature is almost non-existent except some writings by Goethe.


No 6 Arabic
Quran alone is enough to put Arabic in the map!

No 7 Spanish
Don Quixote has always seemed to be all that Spanish could boast having?! Perhaps with some addition by Latin American writers?

No 8 Italian
Only Dante comes to mind!

The rest of the languages of the world is almost nil if culturl capital can be spoken of them, thus can be effectively ignored!


Dispute is expected, but you must give reasons!
PARISIEN   Sun Dec 20, 2009 2:36 pm GMT
<< German literature is almost non-existent except some writings by Goethe >>

- Schiller, Grimm, Fontane, Rilke, B. Brecht, Th.Mann, G. Grass, don't they ring a bell? and Heidi?
tbot   Sun Dec 20, 2009 3:25 pm GMT
Your argument is a bit problematic, because much of the cultural capital of the Chinese language(s) was actually written in Classical Chinese in its various forms over time. If you are going to lump all of that together, then you would also have to lump the modern Romance languages together with Latin, modern Greek with ancient Greek, Hindi with Sanskrit, and so on. These groupings would all likely stack up well against one another, and I'm not in any position to say which one has the most depth.

English can probably only be taken back to Old English - I'm not sure if Proto-Germanic was ever a written language. So it is a much younger language, but you are right that it has established an enormous amount of cultural capital in recent history. A lot of that is vacuous, but hardly all.
maxwell Blanck   Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:36 pm GMT
Given that all Western languages are just dialects of each other, wouldn't it be a fairer comparison to lump all Indo-european languages together when comparing them to Chinese?

Now, you can add in all the ancient writings (at least in Greek, Latin, Hittite, and Sanskrit) along with the more modern stuff. The question then becomes: is Chinese culture weightier than Western Culture?
The sophisticator   Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:08 pm GMT
What a silly list. How do you dare to dismiss german and italian cultures this way? Only Goethe and Dante... you're pure trash
rep   Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:20 pm GMT
<<I'm not sure if Proto-Germanic was ever a written language.>> Be sure,Proto Germanic was written in runes.
Franco   Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:52 pm GMT
Earliest runnes appeared in 1 century AD and they are derived from the Greek alphabet. I doubt timespan of Proto-German reaches until so late. There had to be some differences between the Germanic languages at those times.
Way   Fri Dec 25, 2009 8:45 am GMT
There had three different Germanic languages before that time of Proto-German.
Shuimo   Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:08 pm GMT
maxwell Blanck Sun Dec 20, 2009 4:36 pm GMT
Given that all Western languages are just dialects of each other, wouldn't it be a fairer comparison to lump all Indo-european languages together when comparing them to Chinese?

Now, you can add in all the ancient writings (at least in Greek, Latin, Hittite, and Sanskrit) along with the more modern stuff. The question then becomes: is Chinese culture weightier than Western Culture?
-------------------------------

Hmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnn, I sort of agree!
If you lump all these dialects of the west together, they might be neck in neck with Chinese!
Delhi   Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:30 pm GMT
Chinese literature would make a perfect toilet paper for Indians in need, oh yes indeed.
Shuimo   Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:38 pm GMT
Delhi Fri Dec 25, 2009 4:30 pm GMT
Chinese literature would make a perfect toilet paper for Indians in need, oh yes indeed.
------------------

Weeeeeeeeeell, for starving Indians willing to use Chinese-used toilet paper AS their facial napkins dare to speak of literature.......

What a show of Indian shamelessness! !
Chinese industrial revolu   Fri Dec 25, 2009 6:25 pm GMT
Chinese food makes me sick
too much mercury and lead in it
Freedom Lover   Sat Dec 26, 2009 2:50 am GMT
Chinese culture is a threat to individual liberty and privacy. They detest those who go their own way.

All what's in their mind is to take over the entire world, impose their culture, and eventually enslave other people once their culture is imposed on non-chinese.

I prefer the western culture that emphasizes and put a high value on personal accomplishments.

The oriental cultures of Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans frown individualism and they tend to prefer group accomplishment instead. If you assert your individuality in the midst of their society, then you're nowhere to go, so if I where you, I look for another society.

LONG LIVE INDIVIDUALISM AND WESTERN CULTURE.
doomsayer   Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:03 am GMT
<<All what's in their mind is to take over the entire world, impose their culture, and eventually enslave other people once their culture is imposed on non-chinese.>>

Isn't that what the West did, when it had the chance?

Now, it's China's turn.

It's hard to predict the future with any accuracy, but I wonder if China will go one step farther and eliminate all the non-Chinese, rather than just enslave them? ("living room", and all that)
Freedom Lover   Sat Dec 26, 2009 4:12 am GMT
<< Isn't that what the West did, when it had the chance?

Now, it's China's turn. >>

At least western culture put a high emphasis on individual liberty and privacy while Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures suppress them.