why do all want to learn English?

Adam   Wed May 03, 2006 6:50 pm GMT
"Why do all want to learn and speak English? I know that many people think it is a world language but it is not the beautiest and it is very "barbaric" "

English is the most beautiful language in the world, and is definetely not as ugly as German or French.

One of the reasons I love reading so much - I buy a new book nearly every week or so - is because I love to read in this great language of mine.

It's the English language that makes the British love reading more than than the French do.
Adam   Wed May 03, 2006 6:58 pm GMT
Adam's Top 10 Ugliest Languages In The World


1) German
2) Dutch
3) Arabic
4) French
5) Danish
6) Polish
7) Swedish
8) Russian
9) Czech
10) Chinese
---------------------------------

Adam's Top 10 Most Beautiful Languages In The World

1) English
2) Finnish
3) Italian
4) Hungarian
5) Portuguese
6) Spanish
7) Romanian
8) Fijian
9) Lithuanian
10) Hawaiian
j   Wed May 03, 2006 7:21 pm GMT
I can see two extremes here:
one consider English barbaric;
his opponent states that English "the most beautiful language in the world".

IMHO, calling the world language which is about five centures years old (Wikipedia:Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare.) barbaric - it's clear silliness.

But claiming it "the most beautiful language in the world" is extremely subjective. First of all you don't know ALL languages to say that. Secondly the very concept of BEAUTY in general and regarding language in particular is very vague. There is no proof here.
Adam   Thu May 04, 2006 11:39 am GMT
It's the most beautiful in my OPINION.
F U ADAM   Thu May 04, 2006 1:36 pm GMT
"It's the most beautiful in my OPINION."

Well then it must be TRUE.
Jim C, Jorvikskyr   Thu May 04, 2006 5:12 pm GMT
Dunno about Adam's list, Finnish is a strange choice, as in Scandanavian circles it's regarded as a bit of joke language seemingly.

German, maybe. Dutch and Danish though? nah I think they ar nice, along with French, Arabic, Russian, I dont mind any of the languages on you bad list come to think of it.

You are entitled to your opinions, just some of them we would prefere you kept to your self and your buddys at the Conservative club.
loony   Thu May 04, 2006 5:14 pm GMT
:: Also, to speak of German, in many eastern European countries where Russian was formerly significant, German has since taken the place of Russian, such that regionally it is more significant than even English is.

Yes, German -has- taken the place of Rusisian (though in Czech Republic and Slovakia (Czechoslovakia before 1993) it caused the hate and anger of young generation with occupation in 1968 - btw: Do you watch NHL? Do you know Jaromir Jagr? He's got no. 68 on his back and it's because of the occupation... his grandfather was one of those who were imprisoned - and they were quite a lot)
One more thing... I've replied to this but Czech Republic ISN'T eastern country. We are proud (and we always claimed) that we are in central Europe, eastern countries are Belarus, Romania, the Ukraine and so on...


Adam's Top 10 Ugliest Languages In The World
9) Czech

I'm amazed. German, French, Polish, Russian - all those are uglier? wow... It's not as if I don't like my language but... I'm just amazed... Well, I can't which ona sounds better but in number of the rules and exceptions in language... Czech is really difficult to learn. Certainly more difficult than German or Russian... And on the top of it, I think that scientists said that Czech is second or third in vocabulary (number of words and expressions) in all over the world...
loony   Thu May 04, 2006 5:16 pm GMT
I ment it's difficult to learn all those words...

and, pls, don't mind these typing errors...
Mxsmanic   Fri May 05, 2006 9:23 pm GMT
People don't learn languages because they are beautiful or barbaric; they learn languages in order to communicate.
Boy   Fri May 05, 2006 9:40 pm GMT
Mxsmanic,
You had said something a long ago that languages become neutral once learners are very fluent and advanced. I think your reason holds water to large extent. English sounds neutral on my ears. I can no more rate it either as an ugly or beautiful language. It seems like I am listening or reading stuff in my own native language. I don't know on what criteria people base their opinions on language being ugly or beautiful. It is my feeling that if they know more than one language they will never come to such a conclusion.
Guest   Sat May 06, 2006 5:30 am GMT
>>People don't learn languages because they are beautiful or barbaric; they learn languages in order to communicate. <<

Both. They feed off each other. More for the beauty than the barbarism though.
-   Sat May 06, 2006 5:43 am GMT
I didnt know british like adam are so arrogant! French is considered one of the most beautiful langauge in the world. Why is chinese ugly, how dare you insult 5000 years of chinese history and literature! The english went around colonising the world and imposing their language and culture on them and even wiped out the aboriginals! Yet you are so proud of that! English is what it is today is because of brutal english colonization.
Shariate   Sat May 06, 2006 7:07 am GMT
That is because Imperialism countries force us to learn it
Travis   Sat May 06, 2006 7:19 am GMT
>>That is because Imperialism countries force us to learn it<<

I would say that economic position combined with lingua franca status would be more likely than your use of the blanket term "imperialism", since I doubt that most areas in which English have been pushed heavily (e.g. Germanic-speaking areas of Europe) have been actually subject to imperalism (in the proper sense of the term) by English-speaking countries.
Adam   Sat May 06, 2006 11:42 am GMT
"Dunno about Adam's list, Finnish is a strange choice, as in Scandanavian circles it's regarded as a bit of joke language seemingly. "

Have you ever seen Finnish? Finnish is totally unrelated to Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. Not only is Finnish not a Germanic language, it isn't even an Indo-European language. When it's written down, it's one of the most beautiful languages, unlike Swedish or Danish, which have their Germanic ugliness.

Examples of Finnish -


Puhutteko englantia?....Do you speak English?

Minä osaan suomea ... I can speak Finnish

Minä ymmärrän suomea ... I understand Finnish

Minä en ymmärrä suomea ....I don't understand Finnish

Paljonko kello on ? ....What time is it?

Paljonko tämä maksaa ? ....How much does this cost?

Ostan tämän .....I'll buy this



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